Must Read from Michael Fumento!
BY Herschel Smith
17 years, 9 months ago
God bless Michael Fumento. I am glad to see that someone is bringing the story home of our boys over there. The MSM is too cowardly to go to Ramadi. My son deploys early in 2007. The sentiments that are expressed in the story are felt by me too, and my son is not over there yet. I intend to print this and make my son read it before he deploys. Keep up the good work Michael. I follow you diligently.
On July 9, 2006 at 10:18 pm, Lefty said:
The MSM is too cowardly to go to Ramadi.
‘Zat so? This must have been filed from that other Ramadi, then.
Then, of course, there’s U.S. troops defy insurgency in Ramadi one neighborhood at a time filed by Alex Rodriguez of the obviously-not-a-part-of-the-MSM Chicago Tribune (no links on these because I’m Lexis-Nexis-ing them out of a library database that you don’t have access to, but you can look them up). Then there’s Todd Pitman of the AP, who’s embedded in Ramadi and maintains a blog — usually held behind the paid-access wall of newspapers, but you can find a full article cited at Leatherneck.com. Or how about U.S. and Iraqi Forces Push Into Ramadi from AP’s Antonia Castaneda, filed from Ramadi.
Wow…even the French are there. Agence France Presse filed Iraq’s once notorious Wolf Brigade mending its ways in Ramadi from Ramadi. Dahr Jamail And Ali Fadhil of Inter Press Service filed IRAQ: BATTLE FOR RAMADI CLAIMS VICTIMS BEFORE IT EVEN STARTS from Ramadi. The Economist ran Murder is certain under the combined dateline of Baghdad and Ramadi.
Ah, here we go. A decidedly non-MSM source. The New York Times printed Dexter Filkins’ article U.S. and Iraq Take Ramadi A Neighborhood at a Time on June 27th, datelined Ramadi. That one, I have to tell you, is particularly difficult to read right from the lead. David Swanson of Knight Ridder spent two weeks a couple of years ago documenting activities in Ramadi. Tom Lasseter was there for them last year and in 2004 (may still be…I’m just skimming). USA Today‘s Kimberly Johnson in May.
As I scan the search, articles by Pitman and Castaneda come up time and again. These guys are living there and filing tons of column inches worth of stories. And that’s only stuff from the last six months. So that’s, what…three major wire services and two or three large papers, at the very least, as determined by a really, really quick skim of a basic news search. Even though the military is apparently not enthusiastic about having reporters in Ramadi.
Hardly anything, I’m sure you’ll agree.
Just because the Observer doesn’t have the coverage you want doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist.
On July 10, 2006 at 12:15 am, Breakerjump said:
Wow, you missed the point by a mile “Lefty”. Just because you define by one degree doesn’t mean the rest of the world defines by the same degree. Reality shock, I know.
On July 10, 2006 at 6:14 am, Lefty said:
Oh? And what, pray tell, was the point of the line I cited? I gather that the point of the post is that The Captain thinks Michael Fumento is doing a bang-up job. Good for him.
But to state outright, and without qualification, that “the mainstream media is too cowardly to go to Ramadi” is both false, and insulting to the men and women who are, in fact, risking their lives to be there and file their stories.
It’s not an issue of definition, it’s an issue of fact.
Reality shock, I know.
On July 10, 2006 at 6:16 am, Lefty said:
And Captain, this is purely a technical aside, but if you live in Charlotte, it might be worth noting that your blog is keeping Left Coast time. That’s probably adjustable, assuming that it’s not deliberate for some reason.
On July 10, 2006 at 7:53 am, Herschel Smith said:
“Lefty,”
Are you of the impession that when someone from MSM files a report “from Ramadi,” it is actually “from Ramadi?” Michael Fumento has to dress out in full combat gear to go into Ramadi. He has almost died more than once. The Marines get mortar fire every night and shot at every day.
The MSM is primarily holed up in Baghdad.
Oh, it is perfectly OK with me that my blog is keeping west coast time. I know that. If you look at the “About” page, you will see where the servers are located. We tell you this information. If we tell it to you, it stands to reason that we already know this.
Mommy says its time for a nap now “lefty.”
On July 10, 2006 at 8:11 am, Lefty said:
Wow, condescending, yet rude. It’s impressive that you manage to use so much dripping sarcasm to express so little of value.
First, I was trying to be nice when I pointed out the clock. It is not “reasonable” to assume that just because your server is located somewhere, that the media published from it would carry the timestamp of the server. Remember how the “new media” makes location irrelevant and all? Anyway, if you feel like being nasty about it, that’s your lookout. But if you’re posting from Charlotte, it would make more sense to have an East Coast timestamp. Speaking as someone who does that sort of thing for a living — server maintenance and all.
Second, when a story is filed by a reporter “embedded with US Marines/Army/whatever in Ramadi,” as many of those I cited were, then yes, I think it’s quite reasonable to assume that they’re actually — and I know this is a stretch for you — in Ramadi. It takes real force of will to assume that everyone who tells you anything is lying…unless, apparently, they’re Michael Fumento. I give the guy full marks for doing his job. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to sit back and discredit other people doing the same job just because I don’t happen to agree with what they’re saying.
Of course, it’s your site, so you can engage it whatever little illusions hold your worldview together. But don’t expect anyone else to buy arguments that don’t recognize facts.
Sheesh.
On July 10, 2006 at 10:30 am, Breakerjump said:
It’s is an issue of both definition and degree.
On July 10, 2006 at 3:10 pm, Michael Fumento said:
Insofar as I repeatedly noted in my Weekly Standard article that Todd Pitman was with me in Ramadi, it’s hardly a state secret. Todd is a good reporter and courageous, but his one-time stint in Ramadi (he’s back at home in Africa right now) cannot make up for the lack of MSM coverage in Ramadi or other areas outside Baghdad. As I noted in response to a letter to the Weekly Standard, it’s easy enough to google “Ramadi” and find lots of articles on the place but with datelines that almost always read “Baghdad.” In one example I gave, an LA Times story listed FIVE reporters on a single Ramadi story. Four were in Baghdad; one in Washington! I just read Time magazine’s cover story on the alleged massacre in Haditha. They sent NO ONE to the scene! Their entire “investigation” was by e-mail! For all they know, every e-mailer was a charter member of Al Qaeda in Iraq. You just can’t make these things up; the MSM IS that bad.
On July 14, 2006 at 1:28 pm, Todd Pitman said:
When you all talk of Ramadi, you need to know that foreigners, at least, and that means most foreign reporters, can’t just walk or drive around there on their own. It is not possible, you wouldn’t last a second. That means you are dependent on the military to get there and be there, and there are limited slots. Ramadi was the No. 1 requested embed assignment for reporters in Iraq (that means, reporters in baghdad and other reporters coming from outside who wanted to go to Iraq) and the bottom line is, there is limited space. The US military has indeed allowed reporters with their troops in Ramadi in recent months, and that has allowed more coverage. Nothing more. It’s not a question of cowardess etc, its a question of access. Many news agencies don’t have enough people on the ground and don’t have tons of money to spread reporters aroudn either, they can’t be everywhere.
On July 14, 2006 at 3:32 pm, Herschel Smith said:
Todd,
(If it is in fact Todd Pitman; I cannot tell from the e-mail address you left, using initials which appear to have absolutely no similarity with your name. You are aware that as site administrator I see all e-mail addresses even if viewers do not?)
Thanks for your visit to my web site, however it might have been focused on this specific post (in which the MSM was discussed and yours and Michael’s name had been brought up). As you note above, Michael had good things to say about you (if in fact you are Todd Pitmann). I had no comment that pertained to you (if in fact you are Todd Pitman). My (in retrospect, all too brief) comments pertained to the media generally. Regarding the cowardly way in which I see the MSM behaving, let me add this question: how committed is the MSM to getting the Ramadi story? Are they committed enough to hire Blackwater folks to provide security? If this would cost a small fortune, then simply do not say that the story was “from Ramadi.” Perhaps the MSM is committed enough only to say the story is from Ramadi, not to actually be there when they tell it. Finally, I have witnessed almost no questioning being done of the Pentagon by the MSM on Ramadi. When I say that the MSM is guilty of an abject failure to cover this story (as I did in a previous post), it pertains to more than just not being there. At a mininum, the MSM could ask questions at press briefings. My grandmother and my dog spot can do that. To conclude, I still think it is cowardly to say that a story is “from Ramadi” if it is not actually from Ramadi. In fact, it is more than cowardly. It is a lie.