Grading the war
Victor Davis Hanson grades the war effort. He gaves an "A" to the strategy and a "B-" to the tactics. His worse grade is for message, a "D."
His title of messge is much more apt than the "War of Ideas" mantra of the media. It is hard to think of bin Laden et al coming up with a superior idea to democracy and freedow. But one of the real weaknesses has been getting our story out to not only the arab world but to the audience at home. For example what has happened in Falluja and Najaf has been portrayed as a climb down by the US, but in reality it was just achieving our objectives by other means. Then there is the liberal pornography of the prison photos that were a self inflicted wound that the media contiues to pour salt into.
I think one of the problems is that during the Vietnam war the military got caught up into spinning the war one way while the media was spinning it another way. This has led them to unilateral disengagement on this front. They still have the daily press briefings, but it is not apparent that they have anyone who is reading what is written and responding with correct information on a regular basis. Then there is al Jazeera which appears to be the jihad network. It appears that US forces could predict where the next ambush will be by following their reporters who have a knack for being on the scene when something bad happens. Hopefully their phone is tapped for info on these attacks, becuase that appears to be the only logical reason for allowing them to continue to operate on behalf of the enemy in a war zone.
Victor Davis Hanson grades the war effort. He gaves an "A" to the strategy and a "B-" to the tactics. His worse grade is for message, a "D."
His title of messge is much more apt than the "War of Ideas" mantra of the media. It is hard to think of bin Laden et al coming up with a superior idea to democracy and freedow. But one of the real weaknesses has been getting our story out to not only the arab world but to the audience at home. For example what has happened in Falluja and Najaf has been portrayed as a climb down by the US, but in reality it was just achieving our objectives by other means. Then there is the liberal pornography of the prison photos that were a self inflicted wound that the media contiues to pour salt into.
I think one of the problems is that during the Vietnam war the military got caught up into spinning the war one way while the media was spinning it another way. This has led them to unilateral disengagement on this front. They still have the daily press briefings, but it is not apparent that they have anyone who is reading what is written and responding with correct information on a regular basis. Then there is al Jazeera which appears to be the jihad network. It appears that US forces could predict where the next ambush will be by following their reporters who have a knack for being on the scene when something bad happens. Hopefully their phone is tapped for info on these attacks, becuase that appears to be the only logical reason for allowing them to continue to operate on behalf of the enemy in a war zone.
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