Panel: U.S. Underreported Iraq Violence

[Mazer]

Originally Posted by vernarial

If you look at any Military advertisement, they always show the good things about being in the military. You see people skydiving or rockclimbing or working on computers. You never see the bad side of war. You never see people maimed or dead. Or the fact that you might have to kill someone elses family member. They never show the realities of war.

So not only are you accusing our troops of politically motivated censorship, you're also saying that they're dumb enough to believe that recruitment ads paint a complete picture of military service.

I understand that you respect our volunteer soldiers and marines even though you don't support their mission. But try to remember that the president and the military are two separate entities, and the politics of the one do not reflect on the deeds of the other. Our troops sign up to protect our country, not the party line.

That goes for you too, Jack. The troops are not trying to build up popular support for their mission, they're simply trying to accomplish it. In Iraq the military filters the relevant information from the background noise so they can plan their strategies accordingly. The filtering process makes the information suitable for military use, not necessarily for reporting in the mass media, but so what? We civilians don't actually need the pentagon to tell us what's happening over there. And when it comes to policy making here at home, well, the president already has an agenda and full disclosure isn't going to change his mind. Besides, Bush couldn't be any more unpopular than he already is so your story changes nothing. Those who believe that the military is the long arm of the Republican party will go on believing it while the troops themselves will continue to honor their oaths to obey the guy in charge no matter who he happens to be this year, all the while quietly keeping their political opinions to themselves.