THE WEIRS TIMES, Thursday, September 30, 2010
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NORTH from 8 percent of those eligible -- was actually higher than it was in the 2009 election. Set aside for a moment
that most Afghan voters had to ignore the risk of violence, walk to their lo- cal polling stations and wait in long lines -- and that turnout was higher than it is in most of our “off-year” elections. Ask instead how those who reported this story man- aged to get it so wrong. The answer, of course, is that there is an agenda in many of our media. Those who “shape the news” have a predisposition for the negative and make a conscious choice to ignore “good news” that contra- dicts their bias. Therefore, “news” from
here tends to spotlight corruption in the Karzai government, the tribula- tions caused by perva- sive opium production and American military losses. Reports datelined “Kabul” and stories filed from Kandahar and Herat frequently cite the inef- fectiveness of the Afghan National Security Forces. Yet when Gen. David Pe- traeus commended the ANSF after the recent elections for “safeguard- ing a weapon with greater potential than any other: the people’s right to vote,” he was all but ignored. The consistent theme in
the U.S. media is that we are engaged in a war that cannot be won. “Report- ers” here and editors at home have decided their theme: Afghanistan is a lost cause. It’s all George W. Bush’s fault for ignor- ing “the necessary war” and picking a fight with Saddam Hussein. Negative news infatua-
tion disorder is the only rational explanation for the exuberant coverage of the palace intrigues per- petrated by Washington insiders depicted in Bob Woodward’s new book,
“Obama’s Wars.” Instead of covering the troops fighting this war and con- centrating on the far more relevant issue of how it is being fought, it’s far easier -- and apparently more fun -- to focus on inter- necine battles within the present administration. Some of the salacious gossip Woodward chroni- cles does, of course, mat- ter to the outcome of the campaign in this difficult and dangerous place. In one passage widely cir- culated in advance of the book’s release, the presi- dent is quoted as saying: “We can absorb a terrorist attack. We’ll do everything we can to prevent it, but even a 9/11, even the biggest attack ever ... we absorbed it and we are stronger.” If this comment is cited accurately, it is a stunning, unprecedented and particularly heartless perspective for a demo- cratically elected head of state. Totalitarians often speak
of the punishment their followers will tolerate. But no other Western presi- dent or prime minister -- even in the midst of World War II -- is quoted as saying his civilian popu- lation should be expected to “absorb” nearly 3,000 killed and nearly as many injured by an adversary in order to fulfill a politi- cal goal. Thank goodness few of
the warriors we are cover- ing here in Afghanistan are even aware of the in- trigues swirling in Wash- ington or the negative news so fascinating to our media elites. The troops here are too busy fighting America’s real enemies.
Oliver North is the host
of “War Stories” on Fox News Channel, the found- er and honorary chairman of Freedom Alliance, and the author of “American Heroes.”
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