A 'Forgotten' War

[Warrior-Mentor]

New York Post
November 13, 2007

A 'Forgotten' War

As Iraq Improves, Coverage Dries Up

By Ralph Peters

LAST weekend's news coverage of our veterans was welcome, but deceptive. The "mainstream media" honored aging heroes and noted the debt we owe to today's wounded warriors - but deftly avoided in-depth coverage from Iraq. Why? Because things are going annoyingly well.

All those reporters, editors and producers who predicted - longed for - an American defeat have moved on to more pressing strategic issues, such as O.J.'s latest shenanigans.

Oh, if you turned to the inner pages of the "leading" newspapers, you found grudging mention of the fact that roadside-bomb attacks are down by half and indirect-fire attacks by three-quarters while the number of suicide bombings has plummeted.

Far fewer Iraqi civilians are dying at the hands of extremists. U.S. and Coalition casualty rates have fallen dramatically. The situation has changed so unmistakably and so swiftly that we should be reading proud headlines daily.

Where are they? Is it really so painful for all those war-porno journos to accept that our military - and the Iraqis - may have turned the situation around? Shouldn't we read and see and hear a bit of praise for today's soldiers and the prog- ress they're making?

The media's new trick is to concentrate coverage on our wounded, mouthing platitudes while using military amputees as props to suggest that, no matter what happens in Iraq, everything's still a disaster.

God knows, I sympathize with - and respect - those who've sacrificed life or limb in our country's service. I just hate to see them used as political tools.

How many of you really believe that those perfectly coiffed reporters care about our soldiers and their families? Does anyone think those news anchors will invite any Marines in wheelchairs home for Thanksgiving?

Still, for the 100-proof nastiness of the intelligentsia, you have to move to the "entertainment" world. Hollywood declines to make a single movie about any of our Medal of Honor winners in Iraq - but has deluged us with left-wing diatribes, as activist actors and directors parade by with their limp bayonets fixed.

"Stars" who enjoy incredible privileges that our troops will never experience treat us to vicious propaganda - such flicks as "In The Valley Of Elah," "Rendition" and the released-on-Veterans'-Day-weekend (gee, thanks) "Lions For Lambs."

And then there's the forthcoming "Redacted," which wants us to grasp that our psychopathic military's basic skills are the rape and murder of innocent civilians.

Immeasurably self-important, Hollywood tells itself these movies are acts of courage.

In some of the films, the victims - of their own leaders - are our troops. In others, the victims are innocent Muslims falsely linked to terrorism. But the unifying thread is that the only heroes are stay-at-homes who bravely fight for the truth.

A number of critics have noted that the American people refuse to pay an hour's wages to see these films. Last weekend's release, "Lions For Lambs," earned less than $7 million, despite starring Tom Cruise, Robert Redford and Meryl "America's in Peril" Streep. And that was the big-bucks earner so far.

Scriptwriters, directors and vanity-project actors (how many have been to Iraq?) scratch their heads and deplore our apathy. They fail to grasp what's truly happening: We, the citizens and moviegoers, simply reject these films' underlying message.

Because the real message of all of these in-the-toilet flicks isn't just that the war in Iraq or the struggle against Islamist terrorists is bad - it's that America is evil. At best, we're the moral equivalent of our enemies.

You know down in your guts that isn't true. I know it isn't true. But the Reese Witherspoons and Tommy Lee Joneses, the Charlize Therons and Robert Redfords have a clearer perspective from Malibu and Sundance than we do: America not only isn't worth defending; we're a danger to all humanity. Our troops are the semi-literate tools of the powerful.

Well, the names on the marquees come and go, but our troops are always there for us. In good times and bad, those in uniform see us through. And, yes, our troops are defending the right of wealthy fools to make goofball propaganda films insulting them.

Now listen to what a real soldier (no makeup, no script), the assistant division commander of the U.S. Army's 1st Cavalry Division in Baghdad, had to say about the changes on the ground in Iraq during an internal end-of-tour interview: "As we've changed the environment for the Iraqis, the Iraqis are the bigger part of the solution now - and I don't mean the security forces [but] the population."

Brig.-Gen. Vincent Brooks stressed that the citizens have learned that "extremists of any ilk" are the real threat: "They've tasted what happens when those elements are sidelined. They long for the glory days of Baghdad, they really do."

An impressive soldier and a man of conscience, Brooks acknowledged to his staff that the months ahead "will be difficult." Success "will be challenged for indigenous reasons and, frankly, for external reasons, by those who don't want to see Iraq be stable and prosperous."

But the general stressed his belief that "the Iraqi people can do this." That's Hollywood's nightmare. And the "mainstream" media's.

[Pete]

Thank You for the post, it was a good read.

[Gypsy]

Originally Posted by Warrior-Mentor

A number of critics have noted that the American people refuse to pay an hour's wages to see these films. Last weekend's release, "Lions For Lambs," earned less than $7 million, despite starring Tom Cruise, Robert Redford and Meryl "America's in Peril" Streep. And that was the big-bucks earner so far.

Scriptwriters, directors and vanity-project actors (how many have been to Iraq?) scratch their heads and deplore our apathy. They fail to grasp what's truly happening: We, the citizens and moviegoers, simply reject these films' underlying message.

And there you have it. The opinions of most of those folks who pretend to be someone else for a living just don't matter.

IF anyone made a movie about the war that was HALFWAY balanced I would pay to go to the theater to see it, and I think many others also would. We are a capitalist society and this is a money-making opportunity. Will no one step up? Does the left have such a lock on the movie industry? I really don't get it.

[dennisw]

As usual, modern Hollywood is missing the mark. They no longer see the U.S. Market as the prime market; they only see the global market - and they don't believe a good movie showing the heroic side of the war in Iraq or Afghanistan will play globally. I believe they are just trying justifying the product they want to make. Morons, the lot of them. The whole economics has been skewed. If our market is so small, why is China producing so many products to be sold in the U.S?

Global market. How much revenue can they get from the global market? I read one time that if the LA/OC area was a separate country, it would be the 9th largest in GNP worldwide. How much does someone in India or Pakistan pay in real dollars to go to a movie? What, a dime? They thought the Mel Gibson movie about Christ would flop, but I believe it did around $300 million in the primary domestic market. To orient movies towards a global market is a ruse and not a clever one at all. There liberal movie making agenda is dripping with red ink, and I’m surprised the money folks have put up with for so long.

With little success, I tried to find out what kind of revenue Black Hawk Down generated. If BHD did not make money then maybe the Hollywood moguls are right, but I can hardly believe it.

Why is Hollywood so deluded? Because it is run by persons who are moronic, narcissistic sycophants, uneducated and lack any kind of reasonable moral compass. What do they know about real life? They have lost sight of their market. In a similar article to one posted above, it said the director of The Kingdom was horrified when the test audiences cheered each time a terrorist was killed. Horrified? These movie makers have no idea what kind of movie Americans are dying to watch. Any other industry would be surveying the population to accurate assess demand, but not Hollywood. They’re too smart. They’re going to tell us what we should watch and believe. They have an agenda.

Probably the most intriguing question involved is the Jewish question. American Jews probably hold most of the significant power strings in Hollywood. You would think that if any group would be pro Israel and anti-jihad it would be them. Where are the elite Hollywood Jewish leaders?

There was a recent letter to the editor in our local paper which blamed the troubles in the Middle East on Israel. “If only Israel would relocate all the problems would go away,” is how the author put it. I mentioned this to an American Jewish acquaintance and he said he thought the person was right. Right? I said it sounds like you’re apologizing for being Jewish. Are American Jews embarrassed by Israel? Are they embarrassed by the part they play in this worldwide drama? I guess we do learn nothing from history.

I mean, Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers are great art, but WWII was sixty years ago. I hope the folks on this board who are deployed are keeping journals. The tide will turn and when it does we will need real stories about real Americans killing real shitbags.

[3SoldierDad]

Originally Posted by dennisw

I mean, Saving Private Ryan and Band of Brothers are great art, but WWII was sixty years ago. I hope the folks on this board who are deployed are keeping journals. The tide will turn and when it does we will need real stories about real Americans killing real shitbags.

Absolutely...


Three Soldier Dad...Chuck

[jwt5]

There was talk for a while about Bruce Willis trying to push for a movie to be made about the 1-24 Infantry Regiment out of Ft. Lewis and its time in Mosul. You might remember Michael Yon covering the unit back in 2006.

Well, I followed it closely as I was looking forward to the first real Pro-Military movie about Iraq, but from what I understand no one in hollywood wanted to pick it up....

I'm getting tired of personal politics....