The reporting on recent casualties in Afghanistan is even more abominable than I noted on Friday.
Bill Roggio reports:
The news reports of a major Taliban offensive in southeastern Afghanistan are inaccurate, as Coalition offensives and Taliban attacks have been lumped together to give the impression of a coordinated Taliban assault in multiple provinces.
…It is important to understand how the fighting was initiated, as the current reporting is giving the impression of a coordinated Taliban uprising. This provides the Taliban with a propaganda victory, as their power is perceived as far greater than it actually is, which can negatively influence the government and peoples of the Coalition forces serving in Afghanistan. The narrow passage of the extension of the Canadian mission in Afghanistan (by a 149-145 vote in Parliament) illustrates the fragile nature of the support for the mission in some Western nations.
Of course it is important to understand the nature of the combat, and if the PNB press were as dedicated to reporting facts as they claim to be, we might even have had information that reflected reality. Instead we have stories that reflect the predetermined attitudes of the left. To wit; the Taliban is gaining strength and resistance by the West is ultimately futile. Nichola Goddard’s life was wasted.
I want to know, if we have Al-Jazeera, why do we need the AP?
If the AP had been constituted the same way in World War II as it is today, the reporting from Iwo Jima would have had headlines screaming; “2,000 Marines die in the first 18 hours of fighting”.
The flag was raised on Mt. Suribachi on day 4 of the attack. The battle went on for another 32 days. Headlines would have been “A dead Marine every 2 minutes for 36 days” and “Marines suffer 6,821 deaths. Some ask – For what?”.
The strategic value of Iwo Jima would never have been mentioned, and the fact that 20,000 fanatical enemy soldiers died would have been covered by a story headlined – “Japanese widows grieve”.
Here’s an example of how it was actually reported. Don’t miss the audio link.
Iwo Jima was not the end of the Pacific war. In fact, it was the first battle on Japanese soil. We finished the War with Japan on August 15, 1945 – nearly 4 years after Pearl Harbor.
The Battle of Afghanistan will not end the War against Islamofascism – unless we lose. Whether we still have the will to win even this battle is an open question, in part because that will is being undermined by the AP’s characterizations.
H/T SDA, where it is noted that Roggio is going to be embedded with Canadian Forces in Afghanistan starting next week. I’ve added an additional Counterterrorism Blog link to the blogroll for your convenience.