January 31, 2006
"This Makes It Real"
ABC's Bob Woodruff was wounded in Iraq covering the Iraqi forces. He and his cameraman suffered serious but not fatal wounds and are being treated in Germany.
That is the story so far, but the blow-dried talking heads want to make this into a cause célèbre. On ABC's "Good Morning America," Diane Sawyer, Elizabeth Vargas and ABC News President David Westin talked about Woodruff's injuries:
SAWYER: "To that point, being in the Iraqi vehicle was part of the story. The story right now is the Iraqi troops traveling with the American troops."VARGAS: Are they prepared enough to take over the security of Iraq so that American forces can come home? That is the big single issue in Iraq right now, and I covered the story when I was there, Bob was out covering the story. You can't assess their readiness unless you're traveling with them and observing them do their job.
WESTIN: My initial reaction is we've all talked about this as a very real possibility, but this makes it real. I mean, we've talked about it, we knew someone was going to get hurt. We discussed what can we do to try to minimize that risk, how cautious can we be. But now it's really one of us, and two of us, actually. What choice do we have? As long as the United States is over there, and our men and women are over there and they're in harm's way, this is a story we have to...[emphasis added]
Excuse me? The wounding of an American newsman makes it real? So much for the two thousand plus American troops who have given their lives, so much for the thousands of Iraqi's murdered by Al Qaeda and their fellow travelors. That wasn't "REAL." But this is!
Idiots!
Posted by GM Roper at January 31, 2006 07:35 AM | TrackBackWestin simply stated the obvious truth. Most journalists are not aware of/not willing to admit the personal danger that they are in when they are embedded in a military unit in Iraq. But it's something they can't deny now and so in that sense, yes, it's become more 'REAL' to those who are in Iraq covering the war. I don't think Westin was talking about the reality of war in the context of professional soldiers at all. Why you've chose to muddle the two together makes me wonder...
Posted by E. Nonee Moose at January 31, 2006 09:00 AM