With the reality of war getting closer every day, America has a battle to fight other than the one against the terrorists that killed more than 6,000 Americans. America’s media has been at the forefront of every battle we have fought since the Persian Gulf War. To protect the safety of our soldiers, this cannot be allowed to happen anymore.
In the Persian Gulf War, CNN crews traveled with many soldiers, broadcasting their battles with the Iraqi soldiers live on television. While informing the American public and gaining its top ratings, CNN also served as Iraq’s intelligence system. While Iraq did not seem to gain much of an upper hand by watching CNN, we cannot allow anything to occur which would have the possibility of threatening our soldiers’ safety. Reporting troop movements live via satellite could compromise our soldiers’ safety as well.
In Kosovo, television crews broadcast our planes leaving bases on live television. This proved to serve as advance warning for Kosovo air defenses. There is no viable reason to do anything that would allow enemies to know the location and movement of our soldiers.
As war looms in the near future, Secretary of State Colin Powell ordered that no civilian reporters or cameras will be allowed to travel with infantry units or travel on our ships. This may save many lives because the Afghanistan soldiers will not be able to know where we are by watching the news.
Our soldiers are heroes on par with the firefighters in New York City. They have given an oath that they will use all means to protect our country from all forces, foreign or domestic. By giving this oath, U.S. soldiers have offered their lives so that all Americans can sleep another night under the blanket of freedom. Americans are all indebted to soldiers, past and present, for the sacrifice they have made so that we can live in freedom. Now is our time to protect our troops by not reporting their locations and movements.
While our technology has improved so much that we can broadcast live anywhere in the world, we must show restraint for the benefit of the country.
Afghanistan held off Russian forces for a year before Russia finally pulled out. They may prove to be a formidable foe. Whether or not Afghanistan has a tough military, the media should not do anything that would help the Afghan army in any way.
Reporters that travel with combat units make for a security risk. All reporters are looking for the best scoop, and in that search, they may compromise the security of orders. Our soldiers should not feel compelled in any way to have to protect civilians, but rather should keep their mind on their orders and their enemy. By having civilians there, our soldiers may be distracted or divert from orders to protect the reporters’ lives.
The military also has what is called combat camera. Those soldiers that are in combat camera are field trained and can fight if the situation arises. By utilizing combat camera soldiers, we would be assured that no secure information would be released, and the Afghan army would not be able to get intelligence updates from television news stations.
Our number one priority in this upcoming conflict is to win the war of terrorism, while saving as many American lives as possible. This will only be possible with the full cooperation of all Americans – especially the media.