Mike & Friends Blog
Michael Prysner
Michael Prysner is a veteran of the war in Iraq and an anti-war activist
Journalists banned from major Afghan offensive
Washington tries to hide the war
A statement from March Forward!
Remember the massive military operation involving several thousand U.S. troops, heavy bombing and artillery that “made the sky light up,” carried out by U.S. forces in Afghanistan over the first two weeks of October? Probably not. Convenient logistical problems caused all the journalists trying to cover the offensive to lose their embeds.
“A capacity issue” kept the New York Times, AFP and other well-known media outlets away from the battlefield from Oct. 1 through Oct. 15. NATO was quick to claim an unverifiable victory, with one official proclaiming that “The Taliban took a scrubbing.” No one was in a position to contest this.
Of course, the reporters were not denied access because there was no place for them to stay. The Pentagon brass knows that they need to conceal the deaths of innocent Afghan civilians and American GIs to bolster popular support for the war. They knew that this operation would involve especially large numbers of both and decided that they could not take the risk.
The offensive was part of a larger push to avoid the appearance of defeat in Kandahar. GIs who have witnessed both the devastation caused by the occupation and the Afghan people’s refusal to accept foreign domination can see that this war is not only unjust; it is also unwinnable. We see the reality of the war that the U.S. government wants to hide from our families, our friends, people in the U.S. and the rest of the world. If the truth about the war continues to become more and more apparent, the international prestige of U.S. imperialism and the myth of its invincibility will be shattered. Working people in the U.S. will grow more and more outraged over their tax dollars being squandered on a senseless war.
Normally, the top brass can rely on the corporate media to dutifully print misleading stories about “victories” and “steady progress.” However, as casualties reach record highs, the defeats and stalemates are getting harder to ignore. Petraeus and his generals decided that for these two crucial weeks they could not allow even the slightest chance that the truth would get out. During these two weeks, 32 U.S. troops were killed in combat—but the Pentagon does not want us to know about that. They want the war off the front pages.
This shocking exclusion of journalists in one of the largest offensives of the nine-year war is part of a larger effort to hide the reality of the occupation. Embedded journalists already face tight restrictions and censorship. Any story displeasing to the Pentagon will have a journalist yanked from the country and banned from going back.
This is the “great democracy” we live in, with its supposed “free press.” We are sent to die in a war that Washington and the Pentagon are deliberately trying to hide from the public.
When the politicians and generals say that we are fighting for the liberation of the Iraqi and Afghan people, or that we are fighting to defend the United States, they are lying. These wars are about nothing more than profit for military contractors, oil corporations, and other big business interests.
It was also a lie when they told us that we would be taken care of when we got home. Instead, an underfunded and uncaring Veterans' Administration has left us on our own to deal with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Traumatic Brain Injury, and many other physical and psychological wounds. Unemployment and homelessness among veterans is catastrophically high.
Veterans and active duty troops are in a unique position to expose the Pentagon’s lies. We know first hand the horrors of the occupations; no press blackout can take that away. Spc. Bradley Manning, if he indeed did leak documents to WikiLeaks, is a hero and has set the standard for all of us in the military.
If we are expected to kill and die in this war, if our families are expected to wait for us endlessly at home, and if working people are expected to fund the war with hundreds of billions of our tax dollars, then we all have the right to know the truth.
The banning of journalists from such a major military operation is more proof that Washington knows that the war is both unjust and unwinnable. It is more proof that they will continue to lie, as they have from the beginning, to conceal the reality of the war. And it is more proof that we have the right to refuse to take part in this war, and should instead stand up and fight against it.
Click here to suggest an article
Mike's Blog
-
June 5th, 2013
Here's How We Built a Movie Theater for the People – and Why the MPAA Says It's #1 in the World
This past week, the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), the main federation of Hollywood's six major studios, posted on their web site a list of what they believe ...
-
March 23rd, 2013
This evening is going be a big moment in turning our country around on the issue of gun violence. That's why I desperately want you ...
-
March 21st, 2013
I am hosting a nationwide series of house parties this Saturday night where tens of thousands of people will gather together in living rooms to ...
-
March 15th, 2013
The response to my Newtown letter this week has been overwhelming. It is so very clear to everyone that the majority of Americans have had ...
-
March 13th, 2013
America, You Must Not Look Away (How to Finish Off the NRA)
The year was 1955. Emmett Till was a young African American boy from Chicago visiting relatives in Mississippi. One day Emmett was seen "flirting" with ...
-
February 26th, 2013
My Final Word on Buzzfeed and Emad Burnat's Detention at LAX
Thanks to everyone for bearing with me as I spend so much time on what happened to Emad Burnat. It's important to me because he's ...
-
February 26th, 2013
Michael Moore Responds to Buzzfeed Story on '5 Broken Cameras' Co-Director Emad Burnat
On Tuesday, February 19th, Emad Burnat, the Palestianian co-director of the Oscar-nominated documentary '5 Broken Cameras,' was detained with his wife and son at Los ...
-
September 11th, 2010
If the 'Mosque' Isn't Built, This Is No Longer America
OpenMike 9/11/10 Michael Moore's daily blog I am opposed to the building of the "mosque" two blocks from Ground Zero. I want it built on ...
-
December 14th, 2010
Why I'm Posting Bail Money for Julian Assange
Yesterday, in the Westminster Magistrates Court in London, the lawyers for WikiLeaks co-founder Julian Assange presented to the judge a document from me stating that ...
-
May 12th, 2011
Some Final Thoughts on the Death of Osama bin Laden
"The Nazis killed tens of MILLIONS. They got a trial. Why? Because we're not like them. We're Americans. We roll different." – Michael Moore in ...
-
November 22nd, 2011
Where Does Occupy Wall Street Go From Here?
This past weekend I participated in a four-hour meeting of Occupy Wall Street activists whose job it is to come up with the vision and ...
-
September 22nd, 2011
A STATEMENT FROM MICHAEL MOORE ON THE EXECUTION OF TROY DAVIS
I encourage everyone I know to never travel to Georgia, never buy anything made in Georgia, to never do business in Georgia. I will ask ...
-
December 16th, 2010
Dear Swedish Government: Hi there -- or as you all say, Hallå! You know, all of us here in the U.S. love your country. Your ...
-
November 2nd, 2010
This letter contains (almost) no criticisms of how the Democrats have brought this day of reckoning upon themselves. That -- and where to go from ...
Comments
2