Michael Yon On The Importance Of Media
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in WarThe citizen journalist gives us some sage wisdom and advice from the frontlines.
From The Weekly Standard…first the wisdom:
During the beginning of the war, when some of us called an insurgency an insurgency, our patriotism was questioned. Is there any question now? Are there just a few “dead-enders” that we are still “mopping up”? When I called a civil war a civil war a full year ahead of the media, out came the dogs. When I predicted success in Mosul even while the guns were hot, many mainstream journalists thought I was hallucinating. But these were all things I learned from being embedded for months with our troops. There was tremendous progress in Iraq in 2005, and I reported it, all while warning about the growing civil war that could undermine everything. I reported extensively on a unit that was getting it right–the 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment (Deuce Four) of the 25th Infantry Division–and as I traveled to Mosul, Baqubah, and other places, I was mostly alone as a writer.
Then the advice…no, the warning…
Early this spring, when I reported from Afghan farms about this year’s bumper opium crop, people thought I was using that opium. Now it is common knowledge that the opium trade is fueling a Taliban comeback. Mark this on your calendar: Spring of 2007 will be a bloodbath in Afghanistan for NATO forces. Our British, Canadian, Australian, Dutch, and other allies will be slaughtered in Afghanistan if they dare step off base in the southern provinces, and nobody is screaming at the tops of their media-lungs about the impending disaster. I would not be surprised to see a NATO base overrun in Afghanistan in 2007 with all the soldiers killed or captured. And when it happens, how many will claim they had no idea it was so bad and blame the media for failing to raise the alarm? Here it is: WARNING! Troops in Afghanistan are facing slaughter in 2007!
But will we heed the warning? My guess is we will not. And how sad is that? People will die because we can’t accept the realities of how out of control things have gotten. Seriously, sometimes I just want to throw things I’m so angry at how short sighted we’ve become in this fight.
In any event, please, please, please read the whole thing. Yon is on the ground and knows the ins and outs of the WoT like few others.
And drop a donation in his tip jar if you get a chance.
This entry was posted on Saturday, October 21st, 2006 and is filed under War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
