Editors' Note: LTC Tim Ryan is Commander, Task Force 2-12 Cavalry, First Cavalry Division in Iraq. He led troops into battle in Fallujah late last year and is now involved in security operations for the upcoming elections. He wrote the following during "down time" after the Fallujah operation. His views are his own.

All right, I've had enough. I am tired of reading distorted and grossly exaggerated stories from major news organizations about the "failures" in the war in Iraq. "The most trusted name in news" and a long list of others continue to misrepresent the scale of events in Iraq. Print and video journalists are covering only a fraction of the events in Iraq and, more often than not, the events they cover are only negative. ...


<a href='http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/05/breaking2453389.0680555557.html' target='_blank'>http://www.worldtribune.com/worldtribune/0...0680555557.html</a>

I think its a good read. I was not aware of alot of what he wrote about.

"If it bleeds, it leads"

jw

<a href='http://pao.hood.army.mil/1CD_2-12Cav/ltcb.htm' target='_blank'>http://pao.hood.army.mil/1CD_2-12Cav/ltcb.htm</a>

No rebuttal for this guy, obviously oblivious to what's really going on in Iraq, from any of you liberals?

Didn't effin think so.

RebelKev Wrote:No rebuttal for this guy, obviously oblivious to what's really going on in Iraq, from any of you liberals?

Nuke em. :D

Tulsaman Wrote:

RebelKev Wrote:No rebuttal for this guy, obviously oblivious to what's really going on in Iraq, from any of you liberals?

Nuke em. :D

:rolleyes:

....you obviously didn't read the article.

RebelKev Wrote:

Tulsaman Wrote:

RebelKev Wrote:No rebuttal for this guy, obviously oblivious to what's really going on in Iraq, from any of you liberals?

Nuke em. :D

:rolleyes:

....you obviously didn't read the article.

:D

I'm here for comic relief.

RebelKev Wrote:Didn't effin think so.

I'll bite. I don't check this area so much any more. I guess I'm like most of the other liberals in that regard. This place isn't pleasant.

Anyway. I skimmed his screed. I'll bite.

Dick Cheney told us we would be greeted as liberators.

Against those words, the daily and weekly bombings are significant.

And chew on this:

Quote: believe one of the reasons for this shallow and subjective reporting is that many reporters never actually cover the events they report on. This is a point of growing concern within the Coalition. It appears many members of the media are hesitant to venture beyond the relative safety of the so-called "International Zone" in downtown Baghdad, or similar "safe havens" in other large cities. Because terrorists and other thugs wisely target western media members and others for kidnappings or attacks, the westerners stay close to their quarters. This has the effect of holding the media captive in cities and keeps them away from the broader truth that lies outside their view.

You're damned right the reporters aren't leaving the Green Zone. It ain't safe out there. Media are having a tough time staffing bureaus. It seems reporters prefer the relative safety of the West Bank or Gaza.

Now think this through: If Iraq is too unsafe for reporters to cover without being embedded in a military unit or inside the heavily fortified Green Zone -- then how badly can they distorting the reality, really?

The fact is, Iraq is a ****ing mess. It makes Detroit look like Disney World.

And some of this is systemic.

Television has covered blood and guts stories pretty much from day one. Every local station does it. It's much cheaper buying a police scanner and running out to murder scenes and head-on collisions than it is putting in the enterprise needed to put more thoughtful stuff on the air.

Damn Schad, can you not debate facts anymore? This man, who IS there, by the way, says it isn't as bad as the media portrays and you STILL believe the media. That, well, .....that's pathetic. As far as you liberals thinking it's hostile to be here, let me say, you guys never made it civil with Conservatives either. ....We could just take it. Hell, I made you a damn moderator for Christ Sakes. This IS the board YOU moderate. Shall I get another liberal that can stand the heat? If so, Dogger seems to fit that bill. Let me also say that I have, for the most part, been impartial on this site, leaving it UP to the Mods. I know damn well I am too biased to moderate this board.....which is why I wanted 3 libs and 3 conservs as Mods and I HAVE been warned by Conservative Mods many times on my conduct....which is why I chose them.

RebelKev Wrote:Damn Schad, can you not debate facts anymore? This man, who IS there, by the way, says it isn't as bad as the media portrays and you STILL believe the media.

He also acknowleges, in a round about way, that Iraq is too dangerous for media too leave the Green Zone or their embeds with military units. And this has been reported elsewhere.

That's pretty f-in dangerous. More dangerous than the West Bank, for instance.

Sunni terrorists/insurgents/whatever are killing people almost daily. Election workers. Police. Governors. Marines.

And it looks like many or most Sunnis will quietly boycott the election.

Dude, it's bad. Iraq is the biggest foreign policy blunder since Vietnam.

Ummmm, I think you missed his entire point. He says that these same reporters that are saying it's sooooo bad, yet will not even leave the green zone. ....so......they don't KNOW what's it's like.

As for me, I'll take the Colonel's word for it.

Also, you are finally saying that we are fighting terrorists. Where would you rather fight'em Schad? Bowling Green, Ky.? Or Iraq? This is unlike Vietnam because we MUST win this war. There IS no withdrawal. I think 9/11 proved that. You would have us leave the middle-east and say to hell with Israel. Sorry bud, I don't see that happening. We leave no friend behind. When we do......we are defeated.

RebelKev Wrote:Also, you are finally saying that we are fighting terrorists. Where would you rather fight'em Schad? Bowling Green, Ky.? Or Iraq?

Many, if not most of terrorists we are currently engaged with did not exist before the Iraq War began.

To be certain, our confrontation with Iraq has drawn a certain number of radical Islamists from other parts of the region. But, many, if not most of these insurgents were shop keepers, mid-level government bureaucrats and other elements of Iraqi society before the war.

The sum result of the Iraq War was to create more anti-American radicals than we dispatched with.

It's a horrific blunder.

Quote:This is unlike Vietnam because we MUST win this war. There IS no withdrawal.

We broke it, we need to fix it. There is a moral imperative here. In that sense, I tend to agree.

I also agree in the sense that I have no ****ing clue how we get out of this mess.

Quote:I think 9/11 proved that.

Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.

Quote:You would have us leave the middle-east and say to hell with Israel.

If you are asking whether I think the largely hypothetical defense of Israel is worth $1 billion a week, 1,700 dead American soldiers and the further radicalization of new segments of Middle Eastern society -- then the answer is no, I don't think its worth it.

Quote:Many, if not most of terrorists we are currently engaged with did not exist before the Iraq War began.

To be certain, our confrontation with Iraq has drawn a certain number of radical Islamists from other parts of the region. But, many, if not most of these insurgents were shop keepers, mid-level government bureaucrats and other elements of Iraqi society before the war.

The sum result of the Iraq War was to create more anti-American radicals than we dispatched with.

It's a horrific blunder.

That’s a crock. The terrorists we are engaged with were ALWAYS terrorists. As far as horrific blunder, or which YOU, with all your knowledge of war, likes to compare with Vietnam, that also BS. By the way, when was it that you were in any uniformed service? Yeah, I didn’t think so either.

Quote:We broke it, we need to fix it. There is a moral imperative here. In that sense, I tend to agree.

I also agree in the sense that I have no ****ing clue how we get out of this mess.

We broke what, Iraq? Shall I remind you that he gassed his own people, attacked Kuwait, lost to us with a treaty to which he signed, and fired at our brave pilots daily? How about the fact that he constantly kicked inspectors out of his country, a contingency placed on him with his signing of the treaty? That’s OK. You don’t NEED to know how we get out of this. You don’t have the experience to even make a judgment about it.

Quote: Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11.

Never said it did, nor did I ever THINK they did. MY statement was about our being resolute in this mission. I never thought Saddam was an imminent threat. However, I was NOT about to allow him to place a weapon of mass destruction, to which Kerry, Boxer, Clinton, Gore, and Kennedy thought he had, in the HANDS of a terrorist. 9/11 changed everything.

Quote: If you are asking whether I think the largely hypothetical defense of Israel is worth $1 billion a week, 1,700 dead American soldiers and the further radicalization of new segments of Middle Eastern society -- then the answer is no, I don't think its worth it.

1700? Where did that number come from? As far as comparing it to Vietnam, we lost 500 a week there. This is NOTHING like Vietnam. Bush wants to win this. Johnson did not. Israel is worth protecting. They are not hurting anyone and only want to be left alone. Lemme guess, some weaker kid is getting pushed around at school; your opinion is to let him get pushed around? Figures. The military is there to protect people. De Opresso Liber.

RebelKev Wrote:

Quote:Many, if not most of terrorists we are currently engaged with did not exist before the Iraq War began.

To be certain, our confrontation with Iraq has drawn a certain number of radical Islamists from other parts of the region. But, many, if not most of these insurgents were shop keepers, mid-level government bureaucrats and other elements of Iraqi society before the war.

The sum result of the Iraq War was to create more anti-American radicals than we dispatched with.

It's a horrific blunder.

That’s a crock. The terrorists we are engaged with were ALWAYS terrorists.

You fundamentally misunderstand what is occurring in Iraq.

Quote:I was NOT about to allow him to place a weapon of mass destruction, to which Kerry, Boxer, Clinton, Gore, and Kennedy thought he had, in the HANDS of a terrorist. 9/11 changed everything.

There is basically no evidence to suggest that he would have.

The war was conducted on a thinly-supported hypothesis -- that Saddam presented a threat to the United States -- and it ultimately turned out to be bogus.

Quote:This is NOTHING like Vietnam. Bush wants to win this. Johnson did not.

Johnson started a draft, which suggests a certain amount of seriousness.

Quote:Israel is worth protecting.

Even if one argues Israeli security has been enhanced in some small way by this great Iraqi adventure -- and it's a fairly tough argument to make -- the cost to the United States is absolutely tragic.

I fundamentally misunderstand what is happening in Iraq? Are you SERIOUS? This is EXACTLY what the Iraqi stated in another thread. It is YOU that has no CLUE what is going on there other than what you see in the ever-so-liberal press. As far as johnson's draft.....that was never to protect this country. THIS is. As far as no evidence to prove his aggressive attitude to the United States......he tried to assassinate HW Bush.....in case you forgot, and he ordered the firing on American, that's AMERICAN pilots daily.

Like I said Schad, you guys lost. Americans do not believe you can defend this country. Your policy of "get the guys that did this", I.e. the singular approach, is idiotic and fruitless. We are hitting them at their base. G-D bless George W. Bush.

RebelKev Wrote:I fundamentally misunderstand what is happening in Iraq? Are you SERIOUS?

Yes.

Quote:As far as johnson's draft.....that was never to protect this country. THIS is.

:roflol:

Quote:As far as no evidence to prove his aggressive attitude to the United States.... he tried to assassinate HW Bush.....

Yeah. It was about ten years ago.

President Clinton responded by bombing Saddam's intelligence building into rumble.

Through diplomatic channels, he made it clear that the rest of his country would face the same fate if he ever tried anything like that again.

Saddam's support of anti-American terror ceased, and there was essentially no evidence to suggest it would start again.

Quote:we made it clear that the rest of case you forgot, and he ordered the firing on American, that's AMERICAN pilots daily.

They never hit a thing.

And when it looked like there was a remote chance Iraqis were getting talented enough to do so, we bombed their anti aircraft facilities with impunity.

Are you suggesting this game of grab-*** over the No Fly Zones of Iraq -- in which no American was ever injured -- is evidence that Saddam was planning to strike the United States?

Quote:We are hitting them at their base.

:roflol: