BY BOB CAREY, CONTRIBUTING WRITER
During World War II every major city in the U.S. had a daily newspaper, and some had two – a morning paper and an evening paper. Almost consistently on the front page of these “dailies” was a map, sometimes two maps.
One map would show Europe with a demarcation of what territory the Allied armies then controlled and what the Nazi forces still controlled. Every time “our” line advanced, the American people cheered up.
The other map would be the Pacific Ocean showing all the groups of islands and atolls that the Japanese controlled and what the Allied forces had retaken. Almost every American was familiar with the “Carolines” and the “Marianas.”
Many American units embedded American newspaper journalists, Ernie Pyle being the most famous in the Pacific and Walter Kronkite covering Europe, along with Edward R. Murrow and his “London Calling” program for sort of “back up.”
Americans knew nearly every detail of how the war was going. They knew the hell that the U.S. Marines were facing on Guadacanal, how many ships the U.S. Navy had lost in the “Battles of Iron-bottom Sound.” and where “The Big Red One” unit in the U.S. Army was racing into next.
Now I want you to picture in your mind the political nation that is called Afghanistan. Can you see it?
Now picture where the American lines are and where the “enemy” lines are.
We need some explanation here.
I call Afghanistan a “political nation.” That is because, when cartographers make maps, they draw these political maps to define where nations are. Actually, there is no such thing as Afghanistan.
What that area consists of is a bunch of “territories” controlled by “war lords” who don’t see themselves as being part of a nation.
These “war lords” have been fighting each other for thousands of years, and they are going to go right on fighting each other forever, long after we have gone. And this spreads over into what we call Pakistan and whatever used to be called Persia, too.
This is no different than what used to be in what we call North America.
There used to be hundreds, yes, hundreds of “American” Indian tribes covering this area, all fighting with each other to protect their own areas where they obtained food and animal skins for clothing and shelter. You have heard of the Cherokee and the Iroquois, but have you ever heard of the Chequessetts? I didn’t think so.
Now in talking about the Afghan War I cannot talk about the “Allies” – because they have all become “fed up” and gone home. There are no more “Allies.” Make no mistake about it – this is the “American War” – no matter how many foreign nationals were killed in the 9/11 attack.
Now exactly what is the enemy? Is it The Taliban? Is it units of the now infamous Al Qaeda – spelled a half-dozen different ways? Is it Afghan people themselves dressed in “friendly” uniforms? Just who the hell are we fighting anyway?
If the American press talks about the Afghan War at all – it is on page three in what “dailies” are left – and on TV, it is after they talk about ObamaCare, “the IRS Scandal” and what Governor Christie is screaming about next.
There are American servicemen and women over there – they are made of flesh and blood – and they were born, bred and raised right here in the “good ol’ USA” – and the American press has no right to ignore them.
These are American sons, fathers, brothers, daughters, mothers and sisters.
I don’t give a rat’s hind end what your philosophy is, American press, it is your duty to report to the American people what is going on with our heroic servicemen and women.
How the American press is almost totally ignoring the life and death struggle going on in the Middle East is a disgrace.
During WWII there were mine fields and the troops knew how to handle them.
In this Afghan War the opposing forces are using IEDs that can be placed anywhere – along highways, in “booby traps,” in unexpected places. Our troops are thus suffering loss of limbs and brain damage from these monstrous weapons, but do you read or hear anything about it in the press reports? Never!
The only time we learn about some war incident in this area is when the Defense Department announces a helicopter going down with a loss of life.
We never know if it went down in our territory or theirs, and we seldom learn what brought it down.
And you wonder why newspapers are dying and nobody is watching the nightly news on TV any more.
Journalists look around and see fewer and fewer job openings.
You brought it on yourselves by prioritizing news the way you see it and not the way it needs to be.