Open Letter to the Mainstream Media

Open Letter to the Mainstream Media:

Our enemies in Iraq and Afghanistan have been developing a new weapon, a weapon so deadly that it can turn the tide of war and force US forces out of the region for decades to come. The weapon will not only drive a stake into the morale of American fighting men and women but it will turn the tide of domestic sentiment irreparably. To date we have seen the deployment of this weapon on a daily basis, but as military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan have continued, the sophistication of this tool has increased at a frightening pace.

The weapon is you, the American Media.

Our enemies are by no means stupid and unsophisticated, rather they are savvy operators who rapidly shift and refine their tactics in order to defeat the US Goliath. Any amateur who can read a history book knows that the key to defeating the Americans is not to prevail on the battlefield or to mount consistent terror operations in North America, rather it is simply winning the battle for public opinion. The strategy is rather simple: persuade the public to THINK they are losing the war and in turn the public will influence its government to withdraw the military and ultimately cede defeat. In this scenario, the enemy can lose every direct encounter with US Forces and still win as long as the everyday American sees escalating casualty counts, regular media appearances of enemy leaders such as al-Zarqawi and Bin Laden, conspicuous public attacks on troops and civilians, and half-truth and/or concocted images of atrocities by American troops. How is this accomplished? Well, the second part of the equation is to identify a willing partner to be the wholesale distributor of the propaganda. Who can imagine a more willing accomplice than a media whose seething hatred for the current administration knows no bounds? The stage is now set. As gatekeepers to the information and stories consumed by millions of Americans on a daily basis there are no bounds to the volleys of digital shots that can be fired by Al Qaeda and the Iraqi insurgents. Does it matter that the war in Iraq has claimed a mere fraction of the casualties of other American wars of similar duration (WWII- .05%, Korea -4%, Vietnam- 4%)? Does it matter that the video of Bin Laden and al-Zarqawi are shot in caves and safe houses late at night in the presence of maybe a dozen sympathizers and not during the day amongst the population for fear of being killed or captured? Does it matter that the number of IED and homicide attacks has declined exponentially in the past year? Does it matter that the insurgency uses innocent civilians for human shields while they fire on US troops? Does it matter that many of these atrocities are the result of doctored ambush sites (e.g. a safe house miraculously turned into a mosque overnight in March 2006)? No, what matters is that each of these incidents is melted and formed into a bullet that is loaded into the media outlet chamber and fired into the heart of the American populace. We are subject to endless editorials, TV images, and body counts that seem to resonate directly from Al-Jazeera as opposed to the NY Times…all creating the false witness that we are losing the fight and not only have succumb to the high body count but have now lost our morality as Americans. Frightening….

Anyone who has good aim, a willing weapon, and an unlimited supply of ammunition can kill an elephant with a BB gun. However, if one takes the weapon away, now all the shooter can do is throw the BB’s at the elephant, who after a while gets annoyed, turns and tramples the shooter. It’s time to take away this weapon from our enemy and deny him unlimited access to the American public. As Americans of all political affiliations, we need to recognize the fact that our mainstream media has become the favored weapon of our enemies in the war on terror in a Machiavellian pursuit of awards and ratings. We owe it to our fighting men and women to actively seek the truth and in turn deny our enemies the appeal of our ignorance. If not, our soldiers will become the next generation of Vietnam Veterans and we will have lost the war on terror.

Sincerely,

Your Consumers