March 15, 2007 [LINK / comment]
Many conservatives and patriotic-minded Americans are prone to resenting the mainstream media for having an anti-war bias, or an anti-Bush bias. There is much truth to that, of course, but a fair-minded person would notice that there is a lot of reporting that is very sympathetic to the war effort. Last Friday, United Press International Defense Correspondent Pamela Hess appeared on C-SPAN, and actually broke into tears as she described the valiant, dedicated work our troops are doing to make the people of Iraq feel safer. Their combination of professionalism, bravery, and compassion for the victims of terrorists is truly awesome. Any American who does not feel a profound sense of gratitude for the efforts of our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan must not have a heart. Ms. Hess wrote a recent news report on The battle for Haditha.
The spectacular recovery of former ABC News anchor Bob Woodruff is one of the most heartwarming stories to come out of this tragic war so far. If he can bounce back from such severe head injuries, and resume work as a journalist within the space of one year, there is no reason why our forces in Iraq cannot defy the odds and turn back the tide of Islamo-fascism. Woodruff made a special series of reports "To Iraq and Back," focusing on the painful struggle of wounded war veterans to get going again; see ABC.
Another ABC reporter, Martha Raddatz, was on C-SPAN as well as the Charlie Rose show (PBS) last week, plugging her new book, The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family. Like Ms. Hess, she got emotional talking about what heroic efforts our troops are making (See c-spanstore.org.) On the other hand, she was criticized by newsbusters.org for negative words about President Bush in January.
Finally, CBS correspondent Kimberly Dozier has also recovered nicely from the injuries she suffered last year. She returned to her colleagues in January (see cbsnews.com) and has made various public appearances since then. I note with pride that she is a fellow graduate degree holder from the U.Va. Department of Government and Foreign Affairs, and in fact, I probably saw her at least a few times when I was taking classes there in the early 1990s.