The Spectrum argued that the American media has done a bad job of scrutinizing the military's actions in the war on terrorism and the war in Iraq ("Media Ignores Combat Deaths, Reality of War," Nov. 15). I agree that in our democratic system of checks and balances the media does play an important role in criticizing the actions taken by our government and the military. The terrorists and insurgents, whom our military is successfully fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan as I write this, understand this all too well. Lacking the technological or the basic resources to defeat or destroy our military, they must of necessity destroy our political will to fight. In our age of information and 24-hour news, the media has become our enemies' strongest weapon.
Our media has a strong power to shape our opinions. By criticizing our military and focusing on the human and economic costs of our war the media has the power to give rise to the phenomenon of "war weariness" on those who are not even fighting the war.
The American media is not being as scrutinizing of our actions as it could be. I think they are doing this because they understand, for once, that they are the only hope for our enemies to win. You can have no doubt that those men and women currently succeeding on the battlefields, and those of us who will soon be there, do have the will to win. Our morale is high, we will never give up, we will complete the mission and we will win all battles. What remains to be seen is if politicians, the media and the American public have the same will.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
