BCT Editorial – 5/7/07

This page was last updated on May 12, 2007.

Skewered; Editorial; Beaver County Times; May 7, 2007.

This is yet another example of a Times editorial treating an opinion piece as it would an alleged news article.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject editorial.

“In vetoing the $124 billion funding bill for the war in Iraq, President Bush said politicians in Washington should not be micromanaging the war and should let military leaders do their jobs.

“Columnist Joseph L. Galloway of McClatchy Newspapers skewers that argument by revealing Bush’s hypocrisy.”

[RWC] As a reminder, “columnist” is newspaper lingo for a professional opinion writer. A columnist is like a letter-to-the-editor writer except the columnist gets paid. A columnist is not a news reporter, though there’s not really much difference given the current state of so-called news articles.

“‘This past week was a circus of the ridiculous as President Bush went on television every day threatening to veto a bill providing the billions needed to continue to prosecute his war - only the second veto The Decider has exercised in his six years in power - on grounds that the Democrats were trying to substitute the judgments of politicians for that of the military commanders on the ground.

“‘Bush’s daily diatribe overlooked the fact that the politicians of his administration had shoved their own flawed judgments down the throats of our military commanders every day since planning of the invasion began early in 2002.’”

[RWC] The Times and Mr. Galloway seem to ignore the fact the Constitution (Article II, Section 2) states, “The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several states.” That same Constitution does not give Congress any direct power over the military.

Note neither the Times nor Mr. Galloway provide no evidence to support the claim “that the politicians of his administration had shoved their own flawed judgments down the throats of our military commanders every day since planning of the invasion began early in 2002.”

“Like U.S. Rep. John Murtha, Galloway’s words carry extra weight because of his contacts within the U.S. military and his own wartime experiences. (He saw war up close and personal during Vietnam and is co-author of ‘We Were Soldiers Once ... and Young.’)”

[RWC] While I respect the service of anyone who serves our country in the military, that doesn’t mean their “words carry extra weight.” In Mr. Murtha’s (D-PA) case, let’s not forget he was an unindicted coconspirator in Abscam.

FYI, Mr. Galloway’s Vietnam experience was that of a war correspondent for UPI.

Finally, veterans are just like the rest of us. Regardless of experience, their opinions are tinged by their economic, political, and social beliefs.

“Never forget that Iraq is the mess it is because of meddling civilians named Cheney, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, et al.”

[RWC] Let me get this straight. The VP, Secretary of Defense, and Deputy Secretary of Defense are simply “meddling civilians?”

Finally, we have the obligatory “Iraq is a mess” because of us comment. If the Times doesn’t believe Iraq was a mess before we got there, it has a pretty high mess threshold.