How the media loses the war

My friend Curt, who blogs at Flopping Aces, has made a couple of major news discovery: First, the story about Shiite men burning Sunni men alive is almost certainly untrue. Second, the man the MSM identifies as the source for this story has identified himself as an Iraqi Captain is not who he claims to be — which means that he exists for the sole purpose of feeding false stories to a credulous anti-War press, staffed by people who will swallow any story that suits their biases.

It’s a staggering story of media incompetence (which is the nicest thing I can think to say about it) and about the effect that incompetence has on the US’s ability to win this war. You’ll want to read it all here, at Curt’s back-up site, which he set up to handling the overwhelming traffic flowing in from LGF, Michelle Malkin, Captain’s Quarters, Lucienne, and longtail bloggers — that is, the rest of us out there.

By the way, as you read this whole story — and I hope you broadcast it widely — keep in mind what Michael Novak wrote in the Weekly Standard before this story broke:

If I were an Islamist, a terrorist, a sworn foe of democracy, here is what I think I would have learned from the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. This is what I would write down in my hard-earned manual of instruction.

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BY THE WILL OF ALLAH, in all wars to come, may it prepare our brave martyrs for combat operations!Today, the purpose of war is sharply political, not military; psychological, not physical. The main purpose of war is to dominate the way the enemy imagines and thinks about the war. Warfare is not, these days, won on a grand field of battle. Nor is it won by the force that wins series after series of military victories. Nor is triumph assured by killing far higher numbers of the enemy. The physical side of warfare no longer holds precedence.The primary battlefield today lies in the minds of opposing publics.The main strategic aim of war today is to dominate the mind of the enemy’s public, and then ultimately to dominate the mind of that public’s leaders.***What we have discovered in Iraq is the weakest link in the ability of the United States to sustain military operations overseas. That link is the U.S. media. They are Islamists’ best friends.Experience shows that the mainstream press of the United States is alienated from the U.S. military. In addition, the American press is extremely vulnerable to anti-U.S. propaganda. Thus, the American public will be fed nearly everything that foreign adversaries–our band of brothers–wish to feed it about the war. Therefore, I write: Maxim # 1: To defeat America, impose upon the imagination of its media your own storyline.

I’ll reiterate what I said above: Please, broadcast, broadcast, broadcast, whether through your blog or in emails you send to friends. Either the MSM will not correct itself, which means it’s up to the bloggers to spread the truth, or, if sufficient bloggers agitate, maybe the MSM will get the story that, once again, it is the story.

One more thing: whenever you come across this story on the internet, be sure to click the del.icio.us or digg it, or any other social networking icon available on a given post, in order to give this story greater blog strength. You’ll see, for example, that Curt has a whole number of social networking links you can use.
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