Henninger: Media responsible for IEDs being weapons of mass destruction by showing their gruesome results
In a column for The Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal.com, deputy editorial page editor Daniel Henninger claimed that the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by insurgents in Iraq "qualifies as a weapon of mass destruction" because the "mass media distribute the dead, dismembered victims into our living rooms morning and night."
In his April 7 column for The Wall Street Journal's OpinionJournal.com, Journal deputy editorial page editor Daniel Henninger claimed that the use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) by insurgents in Iraq "qualifies as a weapon of mass destruction" because the "mass media distribute the dead, dismembered victims into our living rooms morning and night." Henninger was one of many conservatives in the media to join with the Bush administration in attacking "negative" media coverage for undermining public support for the Iraq war.
From Henninger's April 7 column:
Because of the practices that Islamic fundamentalism has chosen as instruments of policy -- in lower Manhattan, Madrid, London, Baghdad, Bali and for the future -- a whole range of settled customs in time of war deserve more organized thought than they have so far received. Beyond the Geneva Conventions, any such list would include the debate over Guantanamo and stateless combatants, prisoner interrogation methods (is "waterboarding" torture, or not?), the fight over electronic surveillance and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the custody status of suspected terrorists like Jose Padilla, and the fight over the provisions in the Patriot Act.
We are past the point of legal abstraction. We know the nature of the enemy's tactics, the use of loaded airplanes and the pursuit of WMD. Suicide bombings -- human beings used as weapons to kill civilians -- have become the portable gas chambers of terrorism. The use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) qualifies as a weapon of mass destruction, insofar as mass media distribute the dead, dismembered victims into our living rooms morning and night, causing some to give up.
As Media Matters for America previously noted, Henninger wrote in his March 24 OpinionJournal.com column that the media coverage of the Iraq war "amounts to a kind of contemporary brain-washing."
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definitions changing before our own eyes. When we cannot find them there, we will find them here. Is this guy a journalist. If so, he is not schooled in journalist ethics.
that Bush was correct. There are WMD's in Iraq.
Daniel Henninger is full of sit. The insurgents themselves were filming the events and showing them on Al-Jazeera.
is what, part of the underground media? Besides, isn't the job of the news organizations to report what's really going on?
doesn't the WSJ print all the "Good" News in Iraq; the "Good" News that all the Lefty Media is not reporting? This question goes to Fox News also.
HENNINGER: "...is "waterboarding" torture, or not?"
Maybe Mr. Henninger would like to definitively settle the debate that's raging in his mind over this issue-once and for all, himself, first-hand.
IEDs "qualifies as a weapon of mass destruction" because the "mass media distribute the dead, dismembered victims into our living rooms morning and night."
Wow. Something is now a WMD because images of its victims get broadcast a lot? And not, as we all used to think, that it actually created a large number of victims in the first place? Bizarre.
Furthermore, his contention is badly flawed. The mass media is simply not broadcasting such images "day and night." It's hardly ever doing so at all. If the media actually did what Henninger is accusing them of doing, public support for the war would drop even lower.
And finally, about this "negative" media coverage that Henninger complains of, what "good news" has he been writing about?
at least our soldiers can come back then to destroy WMD here. Is he arguing for censure? I think he is. I think he is the guy at the wrong positin and should be fired if that is indeed what he wants and what he accomplishes to do.
FACTS, and REALITY, are liberal things. Conservatives like Henninger understand that the bewildered herd of the American public must be protected from them. They must not hear the ugly reality. That way our betters, the political elite can go about making our decisions for us without us thinking we actually ought to have any say in the matter. Ours is only to spout mindless patriotic slogans, the more meaningless the better, and do what we are told. Pony up our children for the continued slaughter since of course people like Henninger and Bush most certainly arent ponying up THEIRS. The media has to get with the program and stop spreading vicious truths and reality to those of us that have no business thinking for ourselves, therefore have no NEED of any such petty annoyances as reality.
do any reporting on the events of 9/11/01?
Seems like that date should have been awarded a Press Blackout, so as not to encourage the terrorists.
If the WSJ DID give coverage to 9/11, how does Henninger justify this? Or does he CONDEMN it?
I'm really trying to understand, here.
...wouldn't settle for images. I'd do what the American soldiers did when they reached the concentration camps. Those soldiers went into the neighboring towns and made those people walk past the bony corpses piled like firewood.
Before politicians could approve of war, they'd have to walk through the vets' hospitals. And before someone could slap an "I Support the Troops" magnet on the rear of their SUV, they'd have to do regular duty at the vets' hospitals. Once they saw the bedsores, the misery, the stumps, the eyes that no longer see, and once they laid their hands on such misery, then they're entitled to begin to assert that they support the troops. Of course, they'd also have to approve tax increases and legislation that provide proper longterm healthcare. And so on.
You comment regarding the car magnets is right on. Casualties from the Vietnam war too can still be seen at any VA hospital. It doesn't go away.
Peet, the refuse of war is all around us. There are vets' hospitals all across this country. Most Americans would be shocked to see their insides. They'd say what the German citizens said when they were forced to walk through Dachau, "I didn't know. I didn't know." But we do know. We all know. In the darkness of our insufficient hearts, we know what we've done to our fellow citizens.
I know... you know. I get the impression many just don't want to know... too much of a burden? Too much to think about. I don't know.
I love the toughguys posting here, blaring about invading this or that country (you know the crowd)... It becomes very different when it gets personal (a brother, son serves... may be maimed or killed). Then, suddenly, no ones as tough any more.
This admin has done an excellent job at hiding the reality of this 'war'... it'll be a long time cleaning it up. It makes me very sad.
"In the darkness of our insufficient hearts, we know what we've done to our fellow citizens," I think this knowing is muffled by denial and distraction. Folks go home to their comfy couches and watch their big screen televisions and are thus distracted from the costs of war. But some morsel of them understands that the costs of war aren't conveyed in photo ops, where Bush jogs with an amputee.
I hope so.
Really means "I CHOSE to not know. I CHOSE to be ignorant and blind".
No excuse held water then, and no excuses hold water NOW, IMHO. You "didn't know" because you were willfully, purposefully ignorant because it was easier, less painful, and allowed you to go on with your life without thinking.
No excuses.
and those not in the VA have serious psychiatric problems, like aggression, depression, PTSD, addiction etc. It not only affect the soldiers, though. Also their spouse and children suffer from it which, for the kids, increases the risk for the development of psychopathologies.
Very difficult. The hardliners call the ptsd folks 'soft' or whatever... again, unfair and unjustified. The trauma of war is immense.
and there is nothing soft about it. Most of the time, those getting PTSD had encountered many more traumatic incidents before they went to war, eg. as a child or teen. Further, some people have a biological predisposition. Nothing soft there: its all hardware.
Of course, those calling soudiers with PTSD softies are those that no nothing about psychiatric illnesses and are probably not willing to learn anything new on those topics.
Anyone who went to Vietnam carries feelings inside them that could never be put into words. It's like there is something missing. But for most, this feeling also comes with the knowledge, that every day alive afterwards is a blessing.
We, as a nation have ignored a lot of the Vietnam Veterans for so long, that they'll never have this knowledge.
We are in the process of doing the same to the returning Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. Every day more of them end up homeless. Everyday more families split up.
We have to figure out some way to make them whole again.
that now we have at least the wits not to say that our soldiers are child killers. There are a few bad guys (possibly also hardware, see above), or those that get instructions from above (mmm, just like concentration camps), but most are doing their job and try to survive and make the world a better place.
If in some smothering dreams you too could pace Behind the wagon that we flung him in, And watch the white eyes writhing in his face, His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin; If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs, Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--- My friend, you would not tell with such high zest To children ardent for some desperate glory, The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est Pro patria mori.
- Wilfred Owen
1 DULCE ET DECORUM EST - the first words of a Latin saying (taken from an ode by Horace). The words were widely understood and often quoted at the start of the First World War. They mean "It is sweet and right." The full saying ends the poem: Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori - it is sweet and right to die for your country. In other words, it is a wonderful and great honour to fight and die for your country
Yeah those terrorists or the insurgency or whatever they want to call them this week have no idea how effective their bombs are unless they read about it in the paper.
Right.
We have always been at war with Eurasia.
Or was it Europa?
I'm gonna start dating my checks 1984.
War is peace!
Freedom is slavery Ignorance is strength.
actually... :-)
Papers like the WSJ help push America into this Illegal war. Anyone who would listen to them now is fool. It's great listening to old white newspaper guys pontificate on aspects of this war. I can't get enough of it.
Automobiles are WMD because I see dead drunk people on my news program... Same with TORNADOS, and..and, OLD AGE! If it is on my telly, and causes me grief, it is a WEAPON!
Wow, now I really feel terrible... The almost 80 people that were blown up today at a Mosque in Iraq would never of died if I just had not turned on my TV and heard about it on CNN! How can a supposed journalist blame the killing in Iraq on the journalists! Does this slime have no shame at all - defend the Bush debacle at all cost seems to be more important for this "journalist" than the truth! There is a special place in Hell for people like this clown and he can't get there fast enough!
WMD? The reason we went war?
We can't be citizens and participate in democracy unless we're informed. I remember Vietnam, when papers posted each days' casualty count and how many helicopters and B-52s were lost. That's we need again...and more: and if we don't have the stomach for it, we shouldn't be there.
Everyone needs to know what's being done in their name.
Especially now, when the only sacrifice is by the troops.
Our leadership wants all of the glory, but will accept none of the blame.
That is EXACTLY the point. The rightwing doesnt want us informed and thinking we have any business participating in democracy in any capacity beyond cheerleader for decisions made FOR us. They dont think we have any business telling our betters what we think or thinking we have any input into actual policy
Holly, your comment on Vietnam and publishing the casualty numbers on the front page is right on. The media buries the cost of this war, because there is a corporate mentality that it would "harm" a fear-mongering populace. If a paper had the guts to publish the cost of Iraq on the front page, what would be the outcry?
Printing "body counts" doesn't help the war effort, y'see. They learned that lesson in Viet Nam- corpses just don't seem to excite people, apparently. Who knew how embarrassing they can be?
And you KNOW that even now we're not getting the full picture, not even close.
"We don't do body counts." Tommy Franks
This administration and the conservative news shows are sounding like a bunch of whinning crybabies and trying to shift blame to whoever they can find except for where the true blame really lies!
1. How in hell does newspaper reporting make an IED a "WMD?" That has to be about as STUPID a comment coming from the chickenhawk right as I've ever heard . . .
2. What makes this guy Henninger such a weapons expert? Does he have any military experience?
And for Holly: the Stars and Stripes newspaper carries a daily casualty list of U.S. military personnel, or at least they did when I was in Kuwait late last year . . .
I'm usually not one to judge people on physical appearance BUT, let's try a little game Lush Limbaugh plays all the time, making fun of, and drawing conclusions based on appearance alone.
Henninger- Lying weasel, big time
Sean Hannity- Smug arrogance
Ann Coulter- Wild eyed kook
Bill Bennett- Smarmy hypocrite
Bill Frist- Shifty eyed liar
Bill O'Reilly- Leering creep
The list goes on, any others?
Chris Mathews, fast talking Con Man
Ollie North, Military Shredder
John Negroponte = Death Squad Commander extraordinaire
Those pictures & the many many more that have been "censored" by this administration is only validation for not getting into this war in Iraq When we could have truly been fighting the war on terror. We arent giving up(in Iraq) because we never agreed it was right. We will be ready to go after alqueda & osama anytime ,If theres enough money left.
So, I am to believe that if the press didn't report on and/or show the results of IEDs, they would just go away?
More fantasy from the right wing. The only thing that would truly happen is that the administration could continue to hide the results of this war of choice and avoid ANY consequences (instead of most) arising out of this failed policy and criminal administration of it.
It's hard to believe that fools like that are actually functional in our society...
I am sorry Henninger but we may need a urine specemin please. You blatantly lie when you stated "The use of improvised explosive devices (IEDs) qualifies as a weapon of mass destruction, insofar as mass media distribute the dead, dismembered victims into our living rooms morning and night, causing some to give up."
The news coverage of Iraq has been nothing but a G-rated movie, completely benign, and arguablly negligent in its factual coverage. I would like him to explain the footage we do see following an IED or suicide bomber that show only charred car part remains and a puddle of blood. Where are the bodies? Where are the children remains? Show me even one dead image of a fallen hero? Objective reporting would have to show the civilians we have also killed. Any mention of that? Hell they even censor the sodiers returning in coffins from Dover.
This Goebbels wannabe is now chastizing the media for showing the carnage. Lets burn books and have all media coverage screened by the DOD. PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
are fooling (still) one third of this country. I just came off reading the "Smerconish sissy" posts, more of the same: Tough talking weasels who look like they got their books knocked outta their hands in High school. I meet these macho pantywaists (Living in Orange County, Ca., hard not to), it's lotsa fun to push them beyond the cowboy movie slogans to the point where they admit they vote GOP because they feel "safer".I would call them little girls,except I don't want to be insulting to the little girls I know who have the spine to laugh at this posing.
Let them keep talking. Seems to be wising up those that aren't totally zombified. (36% approval rating? that's still a lot, but I'm an optimist)