Too many times for it not to stick. You must consider the source, those who "despise" the military and cannot accept that anyone who joins the military or makes it a career can be an intelligent and decent person. Maybe if you hear it from one who is there and who should know:
Via WSJ Opinion Journal [emphasis mine]
Letter From Iraq
Here's an email we received from a U.S. military officer who asks us to withhold his name:I am currently stationed here in Iraq and have been here for the past 11 months; I am an adviser to the Iraqis and meet them on a daily basis. I have been in many locations in the country and am involved on a daily basis together with the Iraqis fighting the insurgency.
The media manipulation by the insurgents is brilliant and extremely effective. The press has become a puppet for the insurgents; the insurgents know exactly what they are doing with these "massacres" (quoted here because the investigation has not been completed, nor have any charges been filed) and the political nightmare they will cause the current administration. Bodies are produced for film, and there is zero fact-checking by the media--the media eat up this "news" like there is no tomorrow. A couple of hundred bucks paid by the insurgents to a few guys/ladies in the town where this "massacre" occurred to make up some bad news and pine for the BBC's or CBS's or whoever's cameras is a nice month's salary for many and money well spent by the insurgency.
All the Arabs (Sunni and Shia), Kurds and Chaldeans I have come to know well here will tell you that Arabs are emotional people who tend to exaggerate. A lot. Experience has shown that "50 insurgents hiding out in XX location" is five, at most 10. "Three hundred dead" at the morgue is at most 40. "A huge cache with WMD" is 45-50 weapons. It is a cultural norm and is accepted over here as a norm. It is reported in the West as fact. With no fact-checking.
When we convoy, all in the town/village know when and where there is a bomb/IED/VBIED that is targeting coalition forces. This is not so true in Baghdad, but in the outlying towns all know. What is the culpability for those people in the village/town? Would the Marines be guilty in the U.S. under the same circumstances?
I do not know whether or not the Marines are guilty. A Marine's job is to "close with and destroy the enemy by fire and maneuver," and I can guarantee its effectiveness. But the insurgents have the ear of the press. Hopefully the politics will be put aside for the investigation and the facts will be told, whatever they may be.
You see, you must go in with a mindset already set to believe the worst about brave young men and women, patriotic young men and women, bravehearts who believe in discipline, advancement on merit, and getting the job done. With that negative mindset, the insurgents can convince you of anything they want, and they do. Just like Code Pink, Jack Murtha and the Sheehanista crowd who think Iraq would be better off today if still under the brutal and insane rule of Saddam Hussein, these lazy reporters believe Iraqis prefer the violence and beheadings over the support and help of our military. It is a sick outlook. One that we must be on constant guard against.
Related:
Do you know who this is?
Hint: he is described as a "budding journalism student"
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