Amidst exposing other media myths about Iraq, Victor Davis Hanson points out the irony of a press corps that repeatedly accuses the Bush administration of incompetence:

Weigh that success [in Iraq] against the behavior of the media that sees mostly American incompetence. At CBS, Dan Rather insisted to us that a clearly forged memo, but one that fit his own ideological agenda, was authentic. Michael Isikoff relied on one anonymous — and unreliable — source about the purported desecration of a Koran that had serious consequences for thousands in the Middle East. CNN’s executive Eason Jordan admitted that his network passed on coverage of a mass-murdering Saddam Hussein — and later he wrongly alleged that the American military deliberately targeted journalists in Iraq.

Now we hear Time Baghdad Bureau Chief Michael Ware, in a drunken, live interview (“In fact, I'm drinking now…I try to stay as drunk for as long as possible while I'm here”) from the heart of dry Muslim Iraq, recklessly throwing around charges that American soldiers are guilty of manhandling Iraqi women (“We've seen allegations that women have been mishandled or roughly handled. That always inflames passions”) and terrorizing civilians (“We've also seen insurgents criticize other insurgent groups, 'cause you're not doing enough to get the chicks out! I mean, that's how important it can be, this is a matter of great honor, and it's a spark”). Ware’s are precisely the lies and fantasies that feed the Islamists.

Indeed, the better example of ineptitude in this war lies with the media that demands from others apologies for incompetence that it will never offer itself. Few professions today ask so much of so many others and so very little of themselves.

thats complete bullshit. the micheal ware interview that hes talking about is available here http://throwawayyourtv.com/2006/03/bill-maher-interview-with-michael-ware.html

not once do they alledge that u.s. soldiers are terrorizing (except for an instance that the army is apperantly investigating), or that u.s. soldiers are manhandling iraqi women. that was a hypothetical, and it was prefaced by "it hasnt happened yet". and his comments about drinking got a laugh, whether or not he was, he was completely coherent and well-worded.

and, "Indeed, the better example of ineptitude in this war lies with the media that demands from others apologies for incompetence that it will never offer itself." cbs fired people for just the allegation that they used a forged memo- a pretty clear apology, and newsweek retracted the koran story and apologized for it, and as for eason jordan, i dunno what hes referring to specifically, but the american military definitely deliberately bombed al-jazeera, and with the administration's attitude toward the press in general, i really dont doubt it.

i only occasionally come to this site, and this is the second time youve posted something by this guy (that ive noticed). why is it that you have no problem being lied to (particularly in how distorted his view of the micheal ware interview was)?

ujedujik, CBS ran with the bogus memos story for weeks before anyone was fired. They only fired one person and that was after a huge bashlash was developing. That's not an apology, that's cover your butt.

I'd love to see a link on the koran story as well because if they retracted it they did so well after the damage was done and the case forgotten. People were actually killed in Pakistani riots because of that story which was a total fabrication at best and a distortion of something prisoners actually done at worse.

A retraction is a far cry from doing proper research BEFORE PUBLISHING.

making no mistakes is better than making mistakes and then apologizing for them i agree, but what my comments were referring to was victor davis hanson saying, "...the media that demands from others apologies for incompetence that it will never offer itself."

the newsweek retraction was big enough news that it was reported on (rather than merely printed in the small retraction box hidden somewhere)
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/05/16/newsweek.quran/

and from that story
"Whitaker disputed the notion the Newsweek report was the sole cause of the rioting that rocked eastern Afghanistan last week.

He said "many elements" contributed and noted that Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said last week the U.S. commander in Afghanistan put more emphasis on local politics than anti-American sentiment stirred by the magazine report."

and its impossible to tell whether an apology is sincere or if its just "cover your own butt". all apologies are meant to cover your own butt, just some are also sincere.

If you had submitted a book proposal in 2000, the premise of which is that the US would depose the government of Afghanistan (who had expelled the USSR after 10 years) and taken down the fourth largest army in the world (Iraq) with the loss of less than 3,000 people they would politely respond: "We don't do science fiction".

Come on. This is the most successful military operation in history. Do you think that Gore or Kerry could come close?

From the " target="_ ">WaPo: