Friday, February 03, 2006

Oliver North Follows Up On Amanpour's Iraq War Comments

Oliver North writes in Townhall today about Christiane Amanpour's comments following the serious injuries suffered by ABC journalists Bob Woodruff and Doug Vogt.

On Monday night, CNN's "Chief Foreign Correspondent" Christiane Amanpour told the number two news network's Larry King that the war in Iraq "has basically turned out to be a disaster, and journalists have paid for it, paid for the privilege of witnessing and reporting that and so have many, many other people who have been there." She then continued, "… for some reason, which I can't fathom, the kind of awful thing that's going on there now on a daily basis has almost become humdrum. So, when something happens to people that we identify, like Bob and like Doug, we wake up again and realize that, no, this is not acceptable, what's going on there, and it's a terrible situation."

Statements like these -- so full of self-importance and clearly made to advance a political perspective, obscure important facts. They also illuminate some very unflattering aspects about the modern "news business."

All but ignored in the "noise" was the poignant and extraordinarily sensitive statement of Bob Woodruff's wife Lee: "We realize that our family is going through something that thousands of military families have experienced over the last three years since the war began and throughout our history. Bob's name may be more recognizable, but his story is no more important. He would be the first to insist that the attention should be focused on the members of the U.S. military whose heroic actions he has reported on for years."
An interesting article from a man who has both witnessed and participated in his share of battles.

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