# Pentagon threatens to fire on independent reporters **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [March 21, 2003, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pentagon-threatens-to-fire-on-independent-reporters/163165 "2003-03-21T17:44:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pentagon-threatens-to-fire-on-independent-reporters/163165/41 "2003-03-21T21:57:09Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Neurotik \* > \*\*Ah yes, because I was the first one to tell everyone “Fuck you.” > > Is playing the poor, abused, misunderstood martyr fun? Just curious. \*\* Actually, the “Fuck you” was directed specifically to another poster, not everyone (although I formally offer you one now). That is why I used that handy little quote button, and was obviously responding to a specific post. I would have though that one that is obviously the arbiter of who can and cannot read; you would have the skill to see this. I guess that what they say is true. Those that can’t do, teach. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pentagon-threatens-to-fire-on-independent-reporters/163165/42 "2003-03-21T22:18:24Z")
I think any pit thread, no matter what misunderstanding was the cause of it, eventually turns into an arguement. ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pentagon-threatens-to-fire-on-independent-reporters/163165/43 "2003-03-21T22:26:43Z")
I think any pit thread, no matter what misunderstanding was the cause of it, eventually turns into an arguement. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2003, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pentagon-threatens-to-fire-on-independent-reporters/163165/44 "2003-03-21T22:42:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by World Eater \* > \*\*I think any pit thread, no matter what misunderstanding was the cause of it, eventually turns into an arguement. \*\* [Monty Python] No it doesn’t! [/Monty Python] ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 10:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pentagon-threatens-to-fire-on-independent-reporters/163165/45 "2003-03-22T10:23:29Z")
**Binarydrome** , there’s precisely dick in your OP to suggest satire. The Dopers figured it out in two posts (with **Airman Doors** being the first, BTW), leaving the ball in your court: You’re an idiot for getting whooshed by something more obvious than “Two-Headed Elvis Births Live Grey,” or you’re an idiot for posting a punchline but neglecting the actual joke. There’s no politics here. There’s just you, dancing like a loon 'cause we can see right through you. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pentagon-threatens-to-fire-on-independent-reporters/163165/46 "2003-03-22T13:20:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scruff \* > The US/UK Coalition Command (as opposed to the Pentagon) **is** demonstrably controlling the information that comes out of the war front. And rightly so, as has been said, for reasons of operational security. Well, I’m glad we all agree that “loose lips sink ships”. > [@](#): > > But over and above that, the military command does control what reporters get to report, by controlling where they get to go and what they get to look at. Um… not exactly. The administration has been telling independent journalists to get out of Bagdad because, frankly, they’re in the line of fire, or at least potentially so, and the Pentagon isn’t going to hesistate to bomb or shoot just because an independent reporter is standing in front of Hussein’s favorite bunker. Independent reporters can’t be stopped from going where they choose, but it should be made perfectly clear that they do so at their own risk. Which is how it’s always been. And, if you think about it, it’s a damn fine line between investigative reporting and outright spying. If you are mistaken for either a spy or an enemey combatant or sympathizer while on a field of battle you become a target. That’s war. That should have been clearly explained to these numbskulls before they packed for the front. > [@](#): > > I think it is safe to assume that this command is trying awfully hard to enure that only images supporting the fiction of the “surgical” war get out. It’s called “propaganda” and it’s NOTHING new. _Of course_ the military only wants positive images of their campaign going out. > [@](#): > > If it’s anything like the last one, we won’t see pictures of burning appartment buildings and wrecked hospitals, but we’ll get lots of footage of laser-guided munitions hitting bridges and American soldiers rounding up Iraqi deserters and so forth, along with occasional pictures of some damage done by the retreating Republican Guard, which the brave civilians from Halliburton are repairing. WTF? Are you even watching TV? How about doing something old-fashioned like reading a newspaper? (A lot of them even have colored pictures these days). We’ve seen burning buildings live on all the networks - damn if I can tell whether it’s a government office building or apartments. Last night while I was watching channel 5 there were plenty of pictures of people wandering around outside rubble, tearful relatives by hospital bedsides, and so forth. Of course, that _could_ have been old footage, or even staged, by the Iraqis - oh, wait, they’d _never_ do something like that, only the US military lies on camera. And I guess you missed the part about Rumsfield saying they weren’t planning to obliterate the infrastructure - like bridges - this time. In fact, last night the reporters from Bagdad (you know, the ones that Pentagon is supposedly going to delibrately target and shoot) commented several times that, unlike last Gulf War, the lights and power were still on, the plumbing worked, etc. etc. As for the deserters – so what? We knew there were going to be surrendering Iraqis this time, in fact, we were counting on it. The military is better organized to handle them this time and, in fact, they _aren’t_ slowing down the advance. And, frankly, I wouldn’t characterize these guys as “deserters”. Deserters slink off in the middle of the night. At least some of these guys are marching behind a white flag in military formation. I don’t think they enjoy getting frisked by the USMC or marching along with their hands over their head, but no one is getting knocked over the head and dragged through the mud by their heels. Unless, perhaps, they make trouble, in which case _c’est la guerre_, motherfucker. > [@](#): > > THIS REALLY FUCKING ANNOYS ME. :rolleyes: I’m sorry, I’ll ask the Air Force to use the quiet bombs. > [@](#): > > By perpetrating the fiction that this is a clean and “bloodless” war, we are doing a disservice to the courage and integrity of the men and women who are fighting in a foreign country and might well die there. Excuse me? Who is perpetrating this fiction? The Pentagon admitted a couple months ago they were ordering bodybags _by the thousands_. The wreck of the Sea Knight helicoptor - smoking debris and all - has been broadcast multiple times. Two of the local papers (at least - I only read two) have described burned and severely injured civilians in the Umm Qasr and Basra regions. What the fuck do you want to see? Disembowled men slowly bleeding to death on the sand while flies lay their eggs on their intestines? Uh, yeah, that would REALLY go well with the dinner broadcast, don’t you think? The ONLY comment I’ve seen/heard anywhere near what you state is the comment that casualties _so far_ have been lighter than expected. Which is NOT something to complain about! > [@](#): > > By hiding/minimizing the Iraqi military casualties and the unintentional (but unavoidable) civilian casualties, we are hiding the blood price that is being paid for the land. Do you have _proof_ of this, or do you just assume that the men and women of the military have no integrity whatsoever? That all reporters are spineless dupes? Are you _disappointed_ there are no mass casaulties? (So far…) > [@](#): > > I was opposed to this war, mostly because I felt that Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld were being (shall we say) disingenuous in their public statements of why we needed to do it. Well, yeah, me too - and for other reasons. That doesn’t mean there’s a massive cover up. > [@](#): > > But war is occasionally necessary. And in a war, people on all sides get put in harm’s way (sometimes intentionally, sometimes accidentally, sometimes just because God has a twisted sense of humor). Very true. I do question whether this war is actually “necessary” or not, but now that we’re in it, I hope to God we get out of it with minimal death and maiming. We’re going to have some, and that’s bad enough. ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2003, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pentagon-threatens-to-fire-on-independent-reporters/163165/47 "2003-03-22T15:54:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Derleth \* > \*\*…There’s no politics here. There’s just you, dancing like a loon 'cause we can see right through you. \*\* Did you miss the part where I apologized to folks for the misunderstanding and political assumption that I made? Is there some act of contrition that I should perform? Give me a break. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pentagon-threatens-to-fire-on-independent-reporters/163165.md?page=2)