Members of the Islamic Army of Iraq gave CNN a video that depicts sniper attacks on U.S. troops, and the station aired it on the Oct.
18 episode of Anderson Cooper 360. The video is real. The American soldier who was killed is real though anonymous, at this point.
And the Iraqi murderers who taped his execution? They re real, too. I think CNN should recognize it made a terrible mistake and pull it, said Rep.
Brian Bilbray, R-Calif., according to the San Diego Union Tribune. Rep.
Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who chairs the House Armed Services Committee, doesn t want CNN reporters to be embedded with U.S. troops.
CNN broadcasted truths about American soldiers in Iraq and Republican politicians like Hunter and Bilbray implied they aided terrorists: Truth is terrorism. That attitude is inherently anti-democratic. Midterm elections are only weeks away, and at the core they signify a referendum on the Iraq war and President George W.
Bush. Republicans decry CNN s attempt to give the public access to truths coming out of Iraq, but who sent these soldiers to die? I agree with Hunter on one point.
Maybe the Pentagon should stop embedding journalists with U.S. troops.
The American people are sick of filtered media representations of the war. We don t want night-vision footage of shock and awe fireworks displays. That s why homemade footage coming out of Iraq much of it made by U.
S. soldiers themselves is so popular on websites like YouTube.com.
It s easy to cast a vote condemning soldiers to death if you never have to confront the reality of the situation even if the war has actually decreased America s safety. But when you watch actual footage from Iraq and see that raw tension in our soldiers that fear that bullets and shrapnel and IEDs and death are everywhere you re less likely to bang out an internet treatise declaring the righteousness of freeing the Iraqi people. I ve been against the war in Iraq since day one.
But I m not a pacifist and I don t think a full troop withdrawal would be ethical at this point. The CIA made Saddam Hussein who he is; to remove him from power now and abandon Iraq to civil war would be wrong and cowardly. Still, America needs to leave Iraq someday, and citizens cannot form valid opinions without information which Republicans like Hunter and Bilbray expect journalists to censor.
To me, conservatives like these are the true idealists in America. They draw outlines of issues, ideas and people in their heads Saddam Hussein looks a lot like Lucifer then refuse to color anywhere but inside the lines. Reality cannot assail their ideals.
So when an honest journalist like Anderson Cooper airs truth, certain Republicans cower behind faulty logic: Showing the video disrespects the seriousness of death, so true Americans will remain blind to the deaths of their countrymen. I don t agree with that logic. I don t think it s healthy to preach the virtues of a war while hiding the war from the public.
And new media move us closer to the truth every day. So do Democrats. Watch Current, a cable TV station started by former Vice President Al Gore and available on NYU campus cable on channel 23.
The station uses its audience to generate content. According to the Current website, about one-third of its programming is viewer-created. Internet voting decides which pods are worth a TV spot.
Even the programming that isn t created by viewers is low-budget, firsthand journalism. Traditional media give us talking heads they tell you what to think about Iraq and North Korea. YouTube and Current give us experience.
Video clips from young journalists in North Korea and American soldiers stationed in Iraq show us what s going on and allow us to think for ourselves. When you can immerse yourself in the daily life of a U.S.
Marine in Iraq when you can taste the fear of a sniper in any Baghdad building you start to think for yourself. You might even wonder if those heads on Fox News are fair and balanced. Personally, I ll form my opinions from video taken on the ground in Iraq before listening to Bill O Reilly or Sean Hannity.
As this kind of media overtakes traditional programming, nobody will think twice about airing a video like the one contributed by the Islamic Army of Iraq. And politicians like Hunter and Bilbray will have to watch truth.
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