Media Watch
Globe Wants More Americans to Die in Afghanistan

Reminiscent of Vietnam

February 2002

The Boston Globe wants more American troops to die in Afghanistan.

That is an accurate statement of what they said.

In the lead Editorial on Jan. 7, it wrote, “It is worth risking some [American] casualties to put bin Laden out of business.”

This is reminiscent of what the Globe and the NY Times said about Vietnam.

In an editorial in 1962 the Times wrote that Vietnam “is a struggle this country cannot shirk.” It continued to support the war until public opinion went against the effort.

At the beginning of Vietnam, it kept promoting the sending of more and more American boys (the average age was 19) into that country instead of helping the Vietnamese to fight their own war. Now it is repeating the same mistake, with the help of its satellite, the Globe, although Pres. Bush has wisely resisted sending any more of our boys than absolutely necessary.

The Globe and NYTimes are very strident until something goes wrong and then they seek the best political way out. “Who me?” they say. “I never favored the Vietnam War.”

Politics Raises Its Head

The Globe continues its attempt to make the conduct of the war into a political attack against President Bush and his leadership.

It said that toppling the Taliban was nice, but it doesn’t mean a thing until you capture bin Laden. The President will never make them happy. Here is what they said:

“[T]he ultimate war aim was never confined to a regime change in Afghanistan. The true purpose of going to war in Afghanistan was to protect the American population from future terrorist atrocities like those of Sept. 11.

“To achieve this goal, American forces must do what officials such as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Colin Powell have said they intend to do -- ‘decapitate’ bin Laden's Al Qaeda organization and ‘rip up’ the terrorist cells spread through dozens of distant countries.

“Given these goals, it is hard to justify the decision to pursue bin Laden ... with only precision-guided bombs and Afghan fighters belonging to a loose alliance called the Eastern Shura.”

They want more American boys over there. They also never utter that it was Bill Clinton who left our Armed Forces in such terrible shape and in so many missions across the world that we simply don’t have the resources that are necessary.

The newspaper was magnanimous enough to say, “As a general principle, the great care given to protecting US troops from casualties is praiseworthy.”

Let’s Send Renee Loth

Maybe Renee Loth can join a squad headed by Jane Fonda and they can liberate the women of Afghanistan.

If it were not such a serious issue, it would be humorous to watch as the Globe attempts to divide men and women with this statement which it managed to interject somehow: “[T]he liberation of Afghan women and girls ought to be celebrated by everyone who cherishes human rights.”

Will those extreme feminists ever realize that men and women are all on the same team in America? And our troops are not bellboys that the extremists at the Globe can order around to die as they wish.