War Not Going Fast Enough; ABC Focused on Bombing Victims, Not 16 Killed in Pakistani Church; Dan Rather Blamed U.S. for Funeral
1) The war isn’t going fast enough for ABC News as John
McWethy complained: "Two weeks after the Pentagon said Taliban forces
had been ‘eviscerated’ by U.S. bombing, the Taliban still appear to be
firmly in control." NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski offered the same theme
but he, like CBS’s David Martin and unlike McWethy, ran a clip from
Donald Rumsfeld blaming al-Qaeda for the civilian deaths.
2) ABC’s Peter Jennings showcased some jumpy video from
Al-Jazeera of a few guys in the back of two pick up trucks as he claimed
it proves there are "recent volunteers" amongst "some of
the foreign forces who’ve been supporting the Taliban."
3) Terrorists killed 16 Christian worshipers at a church
in Pakistan on Sunday, but instead of mentioning that ABC focused on
highlighting two civilians killed by U.S. bombing. "An old woman
cried out to God in pain," David Wright relayed before stressing:
"The victims included children as young as four." On FNC, Fred
Barnes predicted: "If this had been an errant American bomb that hit
this church it probably would have gotten bigger play in the American
press, particular on the network news shows."
4) The U.S. is to blame for the killing of 16 Protestant
worshipers in Pakistan? That seemed to be the implication of what Dan
Rather said on Monday night: "Religious tensions are running higher
after the U.S.-led terror war in Afghanistan touched off such events as a
funeral today for Pakistani Christians gunned down during church services
yesterday."
5) CNN’s Jeff Greenfield fondly recalled for Don Imus:
"If you think back to the response when we went to war in World War
II, the country passed a 91 percent marginal tax rate. Almost nobody paid
it, but the idea was, we’re all in this together."
Correction: A missed pluralization in the
October 29 CyberAlert which quoted ABC News President David Westin:
"...that’s perhaps for me in my private life, perhaps it’s for me
dealing with my loved one, perhaps it’s for my minister at church."
That should have read "...dealing with my loved ones..." (Thanks
to the MRC’s Mez Djouadi a RealPlayer clip of Westin, refusing to say
the Pentagon was not a legitimate target, is now up on the MRC home page.)
1
The
war isn’t going fast enough for ABC News as John McWethy complained on
Monday night: "Two weeks after the Pentagon said Taliban forces had
been ‘eviscerated’ by U.S. bombing, the Taliban still appear to be
firmly in control." An ABC News consultant added that the bombing is
driving the population against the U.S.
NBC’s Jim Miklaszewski offered the same
theme as McWethy, but unlike McWethy, he ran a soundbite from Secretary of
Defense Donald Rumsfeld blaming al-Qaeda for all civilian casualties.
Miklaszewski also reported: "As for that Red Cross food warehouse in
Kabul bombed twice last Friday, a senior U.S. military official now says
it was bombed on purpose because the food was being stolen by Taliban
troops."
Over on the CBS Evening News, David Martin
also relayed Rumsfeld’s point about civilian casualties: "21st
century technology still is not error-free and inevitably a target is
misidentified or bombs go astray. But Rumsfeld says the civilian
casualties accidentally caused by American bombing are nothing compared to
the civilian casualties deliberately caused by the September 11th airliner
attacks which the U.S. blames on Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaeda network and
his Taliban protectors."
Rumsfeld:
"The responsibility for every single casualty in this war, be they
innocent Afghans or innocent Americans, rests at the feet of Taliban and
al-Qaeda."
Jennings introduced ABC’s October 29 World
News Tonight status report on the war effort: "The Secretary of
Defense said today that those people who are questioning the effectiveness
of the U.S. bombing campaign in Afghanistan are too impatient. And the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said much the same thing. The
Pentagon is being pressed harder to be specific about what it has
accomplished so far. The bombing campaign against the Taliban is now
entering its fourth week and the Taliban are still standing. ABC’s John
McWethy is, as always, at the Pentagon. John, the questioning, and the
criticism, is becoming more persistent."
McWethy began by passing along how Joint
Chiefs Chairman Richard Myers maintains the war is going as planned, but
then McWethy countered: "Two weeks after the Pentagon said Taliban
forces had been ‘eviscerated’ by U.S. bombing, the Taliban still
appear to be firmly in control."
McWethy observed how none of the expected
defections have occurred before moving to civilian deaths: "Adding to
U.S. problems, reports of growing civilian casualties are shaking
important American friends in the region. Leaders of Egypt, Pakistan and
Saudi Arabia warn that in their view the air campaign has already gone on
long enough."
Following a soundbite from Rumsfeld saying he
is interested in the concerns of coalition members, but it’s a big task
that the U.S. is working hard to achieve, McWethy asserted: "In
Afghanistan itself the American air campaign also appears to be having
some unanticipated consequences."
Barnet Rubin,
an ABC News consultant from New York University, contended: "The
bombing campaign has made many Afghans, even those who are against the
Taliban, feel they that are under attack. And so it has pushed them either
toward the Taliban or at least has made them very reluctant to ally with
the United States."
McWethy wrapped up by noting the U.S. is now
air dropping ammunition to Northern Alliance forces.
On Monday’s NBC Nightly News, Jim
Miklaszewski declared at the top of his piece: "Despite the long term
objectives, Pentagon officials are now beginning to express some
frustrations and doubts over the slow pace of the war. American war planes
continue to hit military targets today, but despite three weeks of air
strikes, U.S. military officials tell NBC News for now the war in
Afghanistan has ground to a stalemate. The officials say that in putting
together the war plan the Pentagon made two serious miscalculations.
First, it was believed once the U.S. started the bombing, opposition
forces like the Northern Alliance, would aggressively attack the Taliban
military....The second mistake, misreading the enemy. It was hoped
intensive bombing would force large numbers of Taliban military to defect.
Instead, the Taliban forces are digging in. At the same time [over Al-Jazeera
video of injured civilians], the Pentagon is on the defensive against
charges American bombs are killing hundreds of civilians. Rumsfeld says
the ultimate blame lies with those who started the war."
Rumsfeld:
"The responsibility for every single casualty in this war, be they
innocent Afghans or innocent Americans, rests at the feet of Taliban and
al-Qaeda."
Miklaszewski
concluded: "As for that Red Cross food warehouse in Kabul bombed
twice last Friday, a senior U.S. military official now says it was bombed
on purpose because the food was being stolen by Taliban troops."
2
Video of
a few guys with guns in the back of pick up trucks is newsworthy to
ABC’s Peter Jennings. On Monday’s World News Tonight, he showcased how
some jumpy video from Al-Jazeera of maybe about eight guys in the back of
two pick up trucks in a desert proved there are "recent
volunteers" amongst "some of the foreign forces who’ve been
supporting the Taliban" in order "to fight for Islam."
Jennings announced over the video clip:
"We got the first pictures today, since the beginning of the U.S.
campaign against the Taliban, of some of the foreign forces who’ve been
supporting the Taliban. These pictures come from Al-Jazeera television,
which broadcasts in the Arab world. They say that these are recent
volunteers. Several of them say they are there to fight for Islam."
3
Terrorists
killed 16 Christian worshipers at a church in Pakistan on Sunday, but
instead of mentioning that as did the NBC Nightly News with a full story
on it Sunday night, ABC again concentrated on highlighting civilians
killed by U.S. bombing.
Sunday’s World News Tonight featured a full
story on the deaths of two people in Northern Alliance-controlled
territory. "An old woman cried out to God in pain," David Wright
relayed. "Her daughter says the jets circled overhead before dropping
their bombs," he reported before stressing: "The victims
included children as young as four."
Anchor Elizabeth Vargas set up the October 28
story caught by MRC analyst Jessica Anderson: "Today marks the
beginning of the fourth week of the American air strikes in Afghanistan.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the bombing campaign was proceeding
as expected and he indicated fighting might continue during the Islamic
holy month of Ramadan. There is also a new round of civilian casualties,
as ABC's David Wright reports from Afghanistan."
From northern Afghanistan, Wright checked in:
"Villagers buried their dead today on Afghanistan's Shamali Plain,
north of Kabul. The grave is shrouded because this victim was a woman.
Even in death, only her immediate family is allowed to see her face. Local
doctors say she was one of two who died and 10 hurt when American bombs
meant for the Taliban frontlines went astray yesterday. The Pentagon has
had no comment. These aren't the first civilian casualties in this war,
but it is the first time that U.S. bombs have struck civilians on the
Northern Alliance side, and it underscores the risks for U.S. policy. Even
when the target's the frontline, the trouble is, people live here.
"An old
woman cried out to God in pain. Her daughter says the jets circled
overhead before dropping their bombs. All of the wounded were taken to
this Italian surgical hospital, the only modern medical facility in this
part of Afghanistan. The victims included children as young as four."
Kate Rowlands,
identified as with "Emergency Surgical Center for War Victims,"
asserted: "Any victim of bombardments or war is not just a surprise.
I mean, it's a tragedy and it's a shock and it shouldn't happen."
Wright
concluded by emphasizing the anger at the U.S.: "In the villages hit,
people are angry, especially those on the Northern Alliance side. 'You
killed these people. Now you can kill me too,' said this man. Today in
Kabul itself, there were new bombing raids. According to witnesses at
least 13 more civilians died."
Referring to the killing of the 16 Protestants
in a church in Pakistan, on Monday’s Special Report with Brit Hume on
FNC, Fred Barnes predicted: "If this had been an errant American bomb
that hit this church it probably would have gotten bigger play in the
American press, particular on the network news shows that seem to be more
interested in American collateral damage, or collateral damage caused by
American bombing."
That’s certainly true for ABC News. On
Sunday, NBC Nightly News ran a full story from Keith Miller on the church
attack, but ABC’s World News Tonight didn’t touch it on Sunday or
Monday night. Good Morning America barely got to it as news reader Antonio
Mora read a short item about it during Monday’s 7:30am news update. As
for CBS, which didn’t have a CBS Evening News on Sunday, see item #4
below.
4
The U.S.
is to blame for the killing of 16 Protestant worshipers in Pakistan? That
seemed to be the implication of what Dan Rather said on Monday night:
"Religious tensions are running higher after the U.S.-led terror war
in Afghanistan touched off such events as a funeral today for Pakistani
Christians gunned down during church services yesterday."
Rather’s brief item in full from the October
29 CBS Evening News: "In Pakistan, religious tensions are running
higher after the U.S.-led terror war in Afghanistan touched off such
events as a funeral today for Pakistani Christians gunned down during
church services yesterday. Three masked gunmen fired on the Protestant
congregation, meeting in a Catholic church, with automatic weapons,
killing at least 16 people. No one has claimed direct
responsibility."
I’m confused. So "religious tensions
are running higher" because of a funeral for the victims of a
terrorist attack, not because of the attack itself? And the attack was
fueled not by hatred of Christians and/or Westerners, but by a reaction to
the war?
5
Bring
back a 91 percent tax rate, or at least prepare for gas prices "like
Europeans have been paying forever." Monday on MSNBC’s simulcast of
the Imus in the Morning radio show, CNN’s Jeff Greenfield fondly
recalled: "If you think back to the response when we went to war in
World War II, the country passed a 91 percent marginal tax rate. Almost
nobody paid it, but the idea was, we’re all in this together."
MRC analyst Ken Shepherd took down
Greenfield’s recollection and warning to Imus:
"We may
be in for a, I think we are in for a much less comfortable life than we
all assumed seven weeks ago. I mean, don’t worry, Don, they’re not
going to pass a confiscatory tax program. You know, they’re not going to
take away, you know, any of your houses, but I do think that, if you think
back to the response when we went to war in World War II, the country
passed a 91 percent marginal tax rate. Almost nobody paid it, but the idea
was, we’re all in this together. You’re not going, you know, we’re
going to ration food, we’re going to ration gasoline.
"Now,
let’s take that last example. It’s not inconceivable to me that one of
the fallouts of this, if things broke a certain way, was that our access
to cheap, plentiful oil might be put into question, that would be because
of our relationship with the Saudis, because of our, okay. Now, is this
country prepared to pay anything like the price of gasoline that Europeans
have been paying forever, which is roughly two to three times what we pay?
Is this country prepared to, to, to give up, or at least to realize that
the kind of instant response to life, jump in the car and drive wherever
you want, gas is cheap, may in time be altered? I don’t know."
Maybe that could be avoided if media figures
like Jeff Greenfield would bring some pressure on liberal politicians to
allow more domestic drilling.