ABC lists "The Fallen"

[Buckeyehead]

First off, let me be clear that my prayers go out to those who gave their lives in the War on Terror; there is no greater sacrifice one can make than to give one's life for one's country.

Having said that, let's clear up a few things about Ted Koppel's show tonight.

FALLACY: Sinclair Broadcasting violated ABC's first amendment right to free speech by pre-empting tonight's Nightline broadcast in the markets they serve. This, of course, is nonsense. The first amendment provides the right to speak freely, but it does NOT afford the "right" to have one's free speech broadcasted over another's network. To believe otherwise is to believe that I, as an American citizen, could call ABC tomorrow and request 30 minutes of air time to exercise my free speech rights on TV tomorrow night. Does anyone think ABC would grant my request? Would they be guilty of "censorship", or denying my first amendment rights by telling me "no"?

FALLACY: ABC's reading of the dead for 30 minutes invites "open discussion" (as some here have asserted) of the War on Terror. Bullshit! Presenting the positives AND negatives would invite "open discussion". Focusing entirely on the worst of the worst of war - "the fallen" - is presenting a position on the issue. You want "open discussion"? You got it.
Since ABC already gave you the bad, I'll give you the good:

There were 190 acts of international terrorism in 2003, a slight decrease from the 198 attacks that occurred in 2002, and a drop of 45 percent from the level in 2001 of 346 attacks. The figure in 2003 represents the lowest annual total of international terrorist attacks since 1969.

And...

There were 82 anti-US attacks in 2003, which is up slightly from the 77 attacks the previous year, and represents a 62-percent decrease from the 219 attacks recorded in 2001.

Did Ted Koppel mention this? No.

FACT: The War on Terror is working. Cutting off money lines, incarcerating combatants in Gitmo and killing the SOBs in Afghanistan and Iraq IS WORKING to reduce the terror threat.

Oh yeah, one more...

FACT: More Americans have been killed in America the last 12 months than have "fallen" in Iraq and Afghanistan during that time. Any bets on whether ABC will read off that list any time soon?

There's a lot of BS out there, so take the time to educate yourselves, lest ye be duped by guys like Ted Koppel...

http://www.state.gov/s/ct/rls/pgtrpt/2003/31569.htm

 

[daddyphatsacs]

There were 82 anti-US attacks in 2003

How many of them occurred in Iraq? Or did that study omit the Iraq war? We attacked them for Hussain being a terrorist, so we should count every anti-American attack in Iraq in those numbers.

More Americans have been killed in America the last 12 months than have "fallen" in Iraq and Afghanistan during that time. Any bets on whether ABC will read off that list any time soon?

I see the point you are trying to make here, but I'm not sure if you hit it or not.

I have a hard time believing that ABC is taking a political stance by putting this on the air. How is it any different than ESPN or CNN doing a tribute show to Tillman? I guess that the media is only supposed to broadcast all good things that happen in Iraq from now on. That way all Americans will not question how or what is going on, just as long as they can get in their SUV's and eat their fast food, they are cool.

It is unpatriotic to question the war in Iraq.....

 

[WestOgma]

FACT: The War on Terror is working. Cutting off money lines, incarcerating combatants in Gitmo and killing the SOBs in Afghanistan and Iraq IS WORKING to reduce the terror threat.

First off, the facts that you have cited about the 'reduction' of the terror threat do not take into account the insurgency in Iraq against our soldiers even though some(most) in the Bush administration have referred to the insurgents as being terrorists- the department of state which generated this chart didn't think that they counted... so go figure. If those attacks were factored the attacks and deaths of americans by the hands of terrorists would be much much higher. But with that considered, there is also another factor when analyzing facts like this: terrorism doesn't manifest itself quickly, the things we do today won't have immediate repercussions as much as they will have future ones. Right now through our handling (or lack there of) of the war in iraq, the civilians who have died by our bombs (estimates are between 5-10 thousand ) and the recently released pictures of torture at gitmo we are sowing the seeds of terrorism that cant be measured in statistics now but will grow and expand in the future. A war on terrorism is like a war on evil, or a war on drugs, it sounds like a great thing and some positive steps can be taken but to assert that the war is working based on these statistics which don't even factor in the insurgency in iraq is very misleading and flat out wrong. The victory in the war on terrorism will not take place on the battlefield but in the hearts and minds of those across the world, a battle we are losing right now...contrary to what those statistics show.

 

[tibor75]

http://www.militarycity.com/valor/honor2.html

 

[Woody1968]

More Americans have been killed in America the last 12 months than have "fallen" in Iraq and Afghanistan during that time.

I also see your point, but you are neglecting to demonstrate the statistical differences. There are millions of Americans in America, but there are only 132,000 Americans in Iraq. If you calculate the rate of deaths in relation to the total population, you can see that you have a 1 in 800 or so chance of being killed in Iraq, this is much, much higher than the violent death rate in the United States.