How the troops support the MSM

Pretty much the same way that the MSM supports the troops. At least, that’s what I get (in part) out of the interview Blackfive had with Gunny Eric Duane, of the I MEF’s Regimental Combat Team 7, 3^rd Civil Affairs Group:

B5: Has the main stream media had any affect on your ability, your team’s ability or the Iraqis ability to improve their conditions?

No I don’t think so. The Marines don’t get much media intake other than Stars & Stripes, CNN and Fox news and only occasionally. To be honest, when we are done with the days work they last thing we want to do is watch the news. It’s time to unwind and relax. We also operate in a an area where Iraqi people don’t seem to pay much attention to media unless they are in it. We have had our local police chief on Fox news, in the papers and some of our city council members in the papers but none of this has had any negative affects on our operations.

B5: Do you think the media has fairly portrayed our efforts in Iraq?

Not in my experience. During this deployment I have tried to stay away from negative things like MSM because I don’t want it to affect my own morale thereby affecting the mission. Mission accomplishment is every Marine‚Äôs priority and I don’t want to be deterred by MSM negativity. In other areas like media embeds we have had great success. Embeds are able to see things from the ground perspective and it usually gives them a positive outlook on what we are doing here.

Well worth reading in its entirety, as is this report on police recruitment in al Anbar province. You won’t find this sort of thing in the mainstream outlets of course, not even the casual nod of acquaintance that objectivity used to get, back before the relentless drumbeat of negativity became as familiar to us as our own heartbeats.

The “Patient Accumulation of Success” is not so catchy – nor remunerative – a title as is “Fiasco” a book written by a – wait for it: Washington Post correspondent. Not having read it, but familiar with the reviews, it seems to me that the underlying philosophy of “Fiasco” is backwards-looking, pessimistic and history-challenged – there never has been a good war, only bad choices and worse ones.

Except as a second rough draft of history (journalism itself being the first), it doesn’t matter how meticulously researched and scrupulously detailed the book is: If that kind of steer-by-the-wake retrospective wins out over an informed and cautious optimism as we shape national policy going forward, stand by for sequels: “Bloodbath,” followed closely by, “Jihad II – How I spent my European Vacation,” and finally the last book of the series: “Mr. Anthrax Goes to Washington.”

We simply have to win. We’ll have to do so with or without the support of the politically motivated and tediously negative tub-thumping frame-meisters in the mainstream media. If our adversaries get their way, we’ll only get one book to read, and they’re going to make us memorize it.

Well – the ones of us that are left will have to, anyway.