The news media needs to take a walk to Ground Zero

[cbspock]

This morning our news media has been all over the story of 4 causulaties in Afganistan, because a bomb missed its target. Give me a break, we have 6000 dead here in NY. Plus this is a war, what do they expect, no casualities. We gave them two chances to give up Bin Laden, they didn't, so too bad for them.

-Chris

[byrdman]

I definitely agree.

Al

[Sheri]

Me, too! My husband and I watched that on the news, and he said "hello?? Excuse me?? You guys flew planes into 3 buildings and another one into the ground, and you're moaning and groaning over 4 fatalities?? Sorry. Who brought that on?"

[LoonEchoes]

Afghan civilians are not responsible for the terrorist attacks, and they shouldn't be punished for the actions (or lack thereof) of their extremist government. This is not a war against the Afghan or Islamic people; it's a war against terrorists and the governments who harbor them. The answer isn't to get revenge by killing more innocent people but to bring justice against the guilty people.

[Sheri]

Agreed. It is unfortunate and tragic when innocent civilians are killed. However, such tragedies go hand in hand with war. And 6,000 innocent lives ago, we were not flying war planes over Afghanistan.

[Roger]

There are two psychological wars going on. First, in the Muslim world: we need to try not to drive Muslims onto Bin Laden's side. Bombing was initially necessary to get control of the skies. Now, we are at a danger point. If the bombing goes on much longer, there will be an unstoppable stampede in the Islamic world to back Bin Laden. The second psychological war is in the West, and especially in the USA. We need to carry on as a society and not be intimidated into giving up any more of our way of life than is absolutely necessary. Obviously however, if we get specific threats, we should heed them rather than needlessly risk lives. There is a tension here. You could see it in Bush's press conference. Bush was trying to reassure the American public but the FBI had just issued a warning that another terrorist attack was imminent. I'm sure that in future there will be no more specific warnings from any part of the US government because the President will have muzzled them. As they say, in war the first casualty is the truth.

Roger

[shaniafan4eva]

True, this is not a war against the people of the countries, but against the Taliban and the governments, and terrorist groups, in particular Osama Bin Laden.

However, I agree with Chris. Of course it isn't good that innocent people were killed, but hello, theres 6,000 people dead. And those people are Americans, which makes it all the more important.

[cbspock]

Loon, I was not saying to go out of our way to target civilians, but casualties will happen.

War is nasty and bloody, that is why it is to be avoided. But since they brought it on..we fight to win, and there is going to be casualities on both sides. If you hadn't noticed 6000 innocent americans are already dead. It is a war against Afganistan, they are harboring the terrorists. We gave them fair warning, hand over the terrorists or face the same punishment as the terrorists. They didn't, so they deserve what they get.

If the civilians over there don't like it let them complain to their gov't.


-Chris

[This message has been edited by cbspock (edited 10-15-2001).]

[This message has been edited by cbspock (edited 10-15-2001).]

[DOC BILL]

If indeed we are committed as a country and a world to fight a war against terrorism there will be many more civilian causulties-many of them will occur in this country. That's a fact we all need to deal with. This group of folks don't have a defined army to battle. They are faceless and live amoungst us. We will need to seek them out and deal with them as we find them. This is a world problem and as such the world needs to understand that there is a cost for the freedom from terrorism-and that cost will be paid with innocent lives. I am quite sure though that the innocent lives lost in this effort will be small compared to those that would be lost at the hands of the terrorists over time if they are not controlled. 6000 in New York is only the latest example. Freedom always has and will have a cost and unfortunately that cost is generally paid by the innocent. I'm proud that our military has worked so hard to keep that cost as minimal as they have and I hope they continue that course. I also hope the world is tolerant and understanding of the price we all must pay in this effort. DOC

[cbspock]

Well said doc!
We should all support the 'guardians of our freedom'.

As to the media, they are trying to cover this like Desert Storm, but this is far from a conventional war. I also wish they would stop speculating on all the anthrax incidents, all they do is get people paranoid.

-chris



[This message has been edited by cbspock (edited 10-15-2001).]