Wednesday, December 3, 2003

CNN reporter, keep your opinions (and anti-Bush bias) to yourself

I was infuriated on Thanksgiving day when I heard a CNN reporter in Iraq characterize President Bush’s unannounced visit with troops as political gamesmanship.

Whatever happened to the days when news reporters just reported the news and kept their biased, uninformed opinions to themselves? Guess maybe many of them left with Walter Cronkite and the other reporters of the “greatest generation.”

The president’s trip to eat Thanksgiving Day chow with troops demonstrated an understanding of his duties as commander-in-chief. I’m not sure whether he came up with the idea himself or if one of his military advisors suggested it, but the act took great personal courage on his part. Air Force One flying anywhere is a target, but flying into the Middle East under any circumstances is beyond risky. Announced or not, the security risks were substantial, and I’m sure his security staff got quite a few more gray hairs from the experience.

The CNN reporter’s baseless comments to the troops were an affront to the troops themselves. What he’s essentially, and incorrectly, telling them is that they’re not important enough for their commander-in-chief to come visit just because of who they are or what they’re doing; he has to have a political reason! What about the families of the troops? Is he telling them that their loved ones aren’t important enough for the president’s attention? I don’t think he gave a second thought to the implications of his comments.

Regardless of the president’s motives, his gesture conjures memories of another Bush, in another era. In October 1983, in Beirut, Lebanon, then-vice president George Bush, his dad, risked coming into a war zone just two days after a terrorist truck bomb killed 241 servicemen.

He came at a time when tensions were at their height and snipers still directed rounds at rescuers trying to find survivors or recover those killed in action. He came at a time when other politicians decided to wait until things cooled down a bit before they grandstanded and made a magnanimous appearance for the cameras, after things were safe.

There were no cameras on that day in 1983, except for one military photojournalist there to document the visit. It was just the vice president and the troops. He said he wanted to see for himself the results of the terrorist attacks, learn how it happened and how it could be prevented from happening again.

As a Marine there at the time, I can tell you, having him take the risk to come see for himself meant a lot. Seeing him taking the same chances as the rest of us made the agony a little easier to bear. Most of us weren’t crazy about being in Beirut, and we certainly didn’t sign up into America’s premiere assault force to be assigned as sitting ducks with a cloudy mission and inadequate rules of engagement.

But those were decisions made by another president (Reagan), and I believe Bush saw that day how an ill-defined mission, no matter how good the intentions, could tie the hands of a military force and cause men to be killed. I think he learned a lot about the awesome responsibility of a commander in chief, and to this day I believe it tempered his decisions seven years later as he deployed his forces for Desert Shield and Desert Storm. He gave them a clear mission, overwhelming force, and he left the war to the generals and sergeants.

I’d like to think that maybe Bush senior whispered into the ear of Bush junior at some point and gave him the benefit of his experience. Who knows, maybe he came up with the idea of spending Thanksgiving with the troops.

But, suppositions about our president’s motives are irrelevant. The response he got from his troops made it evident that the effect was positive, and that the commander-in-chief had done his duty.

And the clueless members of the media who choose to assume the worst can take a flying leap. If they don’t get it now, they never will.

Randy Gaddo

Peachtree City, Ga.

[The writer is a retired Marine, who was the photojournalist documenting the senior Bush’s visit to Beirut in 1983. Gaddo is director of leisure services for Peachtree City.]