Say Anything Blog

Typical of the press/media, they left out the first 20 minutes of Sanchez’s remarks. The ones that smacked them squarely in the face. Here it is in its entirety. Won’t be seeing the first half of this reported in many places.

Hinderaker does an excellent write up on this point. John? They gonna crap on you again for this, but you already know that.

UPDATE:
Here is the first half of his comments in a slightly easier to read format.

GOOD AFTERNOON LADIES AND GENTLEMEN

SOME OF YOU MAY NOT BELIEVE THIS BUT I AM GLAD TO BE HERE. WHEN SIG ASKED ME IF I WOULD CONSIDER ADDRESSING YOU THERE WAS NO DOUBT THAT I SHOULD COME INTO THE LION'S DEN. THIS WAS IMPORTANT BECAUSE I HAVE FIRMLY BELIEVED SINCE DESERT SHIELD THAT IT IS NECESSARY FOR THE STRENGTH OF OUR DEMOCRACY THAT THE MILITARY AND THE PRESS CORPS MAINTAIN A STRONG, MUTUALLY RESPECTFUL AND ENABLING RELATIONSHIP. THIS CONTINUES TO BE PROBLEMATIC FOR OUR COUNTRY, ESPECIALLY DURING TIMES OF WAR. ONE OF THE GREATEST MILITARY CORRESPONDENTS OF OUR TIME, JOE GALLOWAY, MADE ME A BELIEVER WHEN HE JOINED THE 24TH INFANTRY DIVISION DURING DESERT STORM.

TODAY, I WILL ATTEMPT TO DO TWO THINGS - FIRST I WILL GIVE YOU MY ASSESSMENT OF THE MILITARY AND PRESS RELATIONSHIP AND THEN I WILL PROVIDE YOU SOME THOUGHTS ON THE CURRENT STATE OF OUR WAR EFFORT. AS ALL OF YOU KNOW I HAVE A WIDE RANGE OF RELATIONSHIPS AND EXPERIENCES WITH OUR NATIONS MILITARY WRITERS AND EDITORS. THERE ARE SOME IN YOUR RANKS WHO I CONSIDER TO BE THE EPITOME OF JOURNALISTIC PROFESSIONALISM - JOE GALLOWAY, THOM SHANKER, SIG CHRISTENSEN, AND JOHN BURNS IMMEDIATELY COME TO MIND. THEY EXEMPLIFY WHAT AMERICA SHOULD DEMAND OF OUR JOURNALISTS - TOUGH REPORTING THAT RELIES UPON INTEGRITY, OBJECTIVITY AND FAIRNESS TO GIVE ACCURATE AND THOROUGH ACCOUNTS THAT STRENGTHEN OUR FREEDOM OF THE PRESS AND IN TURN OUR DEMOCRACY. ON THE OTHER HAND, UNFORTUNATELY, I HAVE ISSUED ULTIMATUMS TO SOME OF YOU FOR UNSCRUPULOUS REPORTING THAT WAS SOLELY FOCUSED ON SUPPORTING YOUR AGENDA AND PRECONCIEVED NOTIONS OF WHAT OUR MILITARY HAD DONE. I ALSO REFUSED TO TALK TO THE EUROPEAN STARS AND STRIPES FOR THE LAST TWO YEARS OF MY COMMAND IN GERMANY FOR THEIR EXTREME BIAS AND SINGLE MINDED FOCUS ON ABU GHARAIB.

LET ME REVIEW SOME OF THE DESCRIPTIVE PHRASES THAT HAVE BEEN USED BY SOME OF YOU THAT HAVE MADE MY PERSONAL INTERFACES WITH THE PRESS CORPS DIFFICULT:

"DICTATORIAL AND SOMEWHAT DENSE",

"NOT A STRATEGIC THOUGHT",

LIAR,

"DOES NOT GET IT" AND

THE MOST INEXPERIENCED LTG.

IN SOME CASES I HAVE NEVER EVEN MET YOU, YET YOU FEEL QUALIFIED TO MAKE CHARACTER JUDGMENTS THAT ARE COMMUNICATED TO THE WORLD. MY EXPERIENCE IS NOT UNIQUE AND WE CAN FIND OTHER EXAMPLES SUCH AS THE TREATMENT OF SECRETARY BROWN DURING KATRINA. THIS IS THE WORST DISPLAY OF JOURNALISM IMAGINABLE BY THOSE OF US THAT ARE BOUND BY A STRICT VALUE SYSTEM OF SELFLESS SERVICE, HONOR AND INTEGRITY. ALMOST INVARIABLY, MY PERCEPTION IS THAT THE SENSATIONALISTIC VALUE OF THESE ASSESSMENTS IS WHAT PROVIDED THE EDGE THAT YOU SEEK FOR SELF AGRANDIZEMENT OR TO ADVANCE YOUR INDIVIDUAL QUEST FOR GETTING ON THE FRONT PAGE WITH YOUR STORIES! AS I UNDERSTAND IT, YOUR MEASURE OF WORTH IS HOW MANY FRONT PAGE STORIES YOU HAVE WRITTEN AND UNFORTUNATELY SOME OF YOU WILL COMPROMISE YOUR INTEGRITY AND DISPLAY QUESTIONABLE ETHICS AS YOU SEEK TO KEEP AMERICA INFORMED. THIS IS MUCH LIKE THE INTELLIGENCE ANALYSTS WHOSE EFFECTIVENESS WAS MEASURED BY THE NUMBER OF INTELLIGENCE REPORTS HE PRODUCED. FOR SOME, IT SEEMS THAT AS LONG AS YOU GET A FRONT PAGE STORY THERE IS LITTLE OR NO REGARD FOR THE "COLLATERAL DAMAGE" YOU WILL CAUSE. PERSONAL REPUTATIONS HAVE NO VALUE AND YOU REPORT WITH TOTAL IMPUNITY AND ARE RARELY HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR UNETHICAL CONDUCT.

GIVEN THE NEAR INSTANTANEOUS ABILITY TO REPORT ACTIONS ON THE GROUND, THE RESPONSIBILITY TO ACCURATELY AND TRUTHFULLY REPORT TAKES ON AN UNPRECEDENTED IMPORTANCE. THE SPECULATIVE AND OFTEN UNINFORMED INITIAL REPORTING THAT CHARACTERIZES OUR MEDIA APPEARS TO BE RAPIDLY BECOMING THE STANDARD OF THE INDUSTRY. AN ARAB PROVERB STATES - "Four things come not back: the spoken word, the spent arrow, the past, the neglected opportunity." ONCE REPORTED, YOUR ASSESSMENTS BECOME CONVENTIONAL WISDOM AND NEARLY IMPOSSIBLE TO CHANGE. OTHER MAJOR CHALLENGES ARE YOUR WILLINGNESS TO BE MANIPULATED BY "HIGH LEVEL OFFICIALS" WHO LEAK STORIES AND BY LAWYERS WHO USE HYPERBOLE TO STRENGHTEN THEIR ARGUMENTS. YOUR UNWILLINGNESS TO ACCURATELY AND PROMINENTLY CORRECT YOUR MISTAKES AND YOUR AGENDA DRIVEN BIASES CONTRIBUTE TO THIS CORROSIVE ENVIRONMENT. ALL OF THESE CHALLENGES COMBINED CREATE A MEDIA ENVIRONMENT THAT DOES A TREMENDOUS DISSERVICE TO AMERICA. OVER THE COURSE OF THIS WAR TACTICALLY INSIGNIFICANT EVENTS HAVE BECOME STRATEGIC DEFEATS FOR AMERICA BECAUSE OF THE TREMENDOUS POWER AND IMPACT OF THE MEDIA AND BY EXTENSION YOU THE JOURNALIST. IN MANY CASES THE MEDIA HAS UNJUSTLY DESTROYED THE INDIVIDUAL REPUTATIONS AND CAREERS OF THOSE INVOLVED. WE REALIZE THAT BECAUSE OF THE NEAR REAL TIME REPORTING ENVIRONMENT THAT YOU FACE IT IS DIFFICULT TO REPORT ACCURATELY. IN MY BUSINESS ONE OF OUR FUNDAMENTAL TRUTHS IS THAT "THE FIRST REPORT IS ALWAYS WRONG." UNFORTUNATELY, IN YOUR BUSINESS "THE FIRST REPORT" GIVES AMERICANS WHO RELY ON THE SNIPPETS OF CNN, IF YOU WILL, THEIR "TRUTHS" AND PERSPECTIVES ON AN ISSUE. AS A COROLLARY TO THIS DEADLINE DRIVEN NEED TO PUBLISH "INITIAL IMPRESSIONS OR OBSERVATIONS" VERSUS OBJECTIVE FACTS THERE IS AN ADDITIONAL CHALLENGE FOR US WHO ARE THE SUBJECT OF YOUR REPORTING. WHEN YOU ASSUME THAT YOU ARE CORRECT AND ON THE MORAL HIGH GROUND ON A STORY BECAUSE WE HAVE NOT RESPOND TO QUESTIONS YOU PROVIDED IS THE ULTIMATE ARROGANCE AND DISTORTION OF ETHICS. ONE OF YOUR HIGHLY REPECTED FELLOW JOURNALISTS ONCE TOLD ME THAT THERE ARE SOME AMONGST YOU WHO "FEED FROM A PIG'S TROUGH." IF THAT IS WHO I AM DEALING WITH THEN I WILL NEVER RESPOND OTHERWISE WE WILL BOTH GET DIRTY AND THE PIG WILL LOVE IT. THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT YOUR STORY IS ACCURATE.

I DO NOT BELIEVE THAT THIS IS WHAT OUR FOREFATHERS INTENDED. THE CODE OF ETHICS FOR THE SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS STATES:
...PUBLIC ENLIGHTENMENT IS THE FORERUNNER OF JUSTICE AND THE FOUNDATION OF DEMOCRACY. THE DUTY OF THE JOURNALIST IS TO FURTHER THOSE ENDS BY SEEKING TRUTH AND PROVIDING A FAIR AND COMPREHENSIVE ACCOUNT OF EVENTS AND ISSUES. CONSCIENTIOUS JOURNALISTS FROM ALL MEDIA AND SPECIALTIES STRIVE TO SERVE THE PUBLIC WITH THOROUGHNESS AND HONESTY. PROFESSIONAL INTEGRITY IS THE CORNERSTONE OF A JOURNALIST'S CREDIBILITY

THE BASIC ETHICS OF A JOURNALIST THAT CALLS FOR:

1. SEEKING TRUTH,

2. PROVIDING FAIR AND COMPREHENSIVE ACCOUNT OF EVENTS AND ISSUES

3. THOROUGHNESS AND HONESTY

ALL ARE VICTIMS OF THE MASSIVE AGENDA DRIVEN COMPETITION FOR ECONOMIC OR POLITICAL SUPREMACY. THE DEATH KNELL OF YOUR ETHICS HAS BEEN ENABLED BY YOUR PARENT ORGANIZATIONS WHO HAVE CHOSEN TO ALIGN THEMSELVES WITH POLITICAL AGENDAS. WHAT IS CLEAR TO ME IS THAT YOU ARE PERPETUATING THE CORROSIVE PARTISAN POLITICS THAT IS DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY AND KILLING OUR SERVICEMEMBERS WHO ARE AT WAR.

MY ASSESSMENT IS THAT YOUR PROFESSION, TO SOME EXTENT, HAS STRAYED FROM THESE ETHICAL STANDARDS AND ALLOWED EXTERNAL AGENDAS TO MANIPULATE WHAT THE AMERICAN PUBLIC SEES ON TV, WHAT THEY READ IN OUR NEWSPAPERS AND WHAT THEY SEE ON THE WEB. FOR SOME OF YOU, JUST LIKE SOME OF OUR POLITICIANS, THE TRUTH IS OF LITTLE TO NO VALUE IF IT DOES NOT FIT YOUR OWN PRECONCIEVED NOTIONS, BIASES AND AGENDAS.

IT IS ASTOUNDING TO ME WHEN I HEAR THE VEHEMENT DISAGREEMENT WITH THE MILITARY'S FORAYS INTO INFORMATION OPERATIONS THAT SEEK TO DISSEMINATE THE TRUTH AND INFORM THE IRAQI PEOPLE IN ORDER TO COUNTER OUR ENEMY'S BLATANT PROPAGANDA. AS I ASSESS VARIOUS MEDIA ENTITIES, SOME ARE UNQUESTIONABLY ENGAGED IN POLITICAL PROPAGANDA THAT IS UNCONTROLLED. THERE IS NO QUESTION IN MY MIND THAT THE STRENGTH OUR DEMOCRACY AND OUR FREEDOMS REMAIN LINKED TO YOUR ABILITY TO EXERCISE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS - I ADAMANTLY SUPPORT THIS BASIC FOUNDATION OF OUR DEMOCRACY AND COMPLETELY SUPPORTED THE EMBEDDING OF MEDIA INTO OUR FORMATIONS UP UNTIL MY LAST DAY IN UNIFORM. THE ISSUE IS ONE OF MAINTAINING PROFESSIONAL ETHICS AND STANDARDS FROM WITHIN YOUR INSTITUTION. MILITARY LEADERS MUST ACCEPT THAT THESE INJUSTICES WILL HAPPEN AND WHETHER THEY LIKE WHAT YOU PRINT OR NOT THEY MUST DEAL WITH YOU AND ENABLE YOU, IF YOU ARE AN ETHICAL JOURNALIST.

FINALLY, I WILL LEAVE THIS SUBJECT WITH A QUESTION THAT WE MUST ASK OURSELVES--WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR MAINTAINING THE ETHICAL STANDARDS OF THE PROFESSION IN ORDER TO ENSURE THAT OUR DEMOCRACY DOES NOT CONTINUE TO BE THREATENED BY THIS DANGEROUS SHIFT AWAY FROM YOUR SACRED DUTY OF PUBLIC ENLIGHTENMENT?

H/T and thanks to militaryreporters.org

I first heard this squid’s name in July ‘05.

Navy SEAL to receive Medal of Honor
Navy
Lt. Michael P. Murphy died in June 2005. He is the first SEAL to receive the honor since the Vietnam War.
Lt. Michael P. Murphy, the first to be awarded the highest military award for combat in Afghanistan, was killed during a 2005 mission.
By Tony Perry, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
October 12, 2007

Marcus Luttrel documents that day in “Lone Survivor”.

And yet Lt Murphy’s hometown TV station is screamingly silent on this. Just why is that? Perhaps someone from News12 Long Island would care to drop by and explain. I would go ask them, but you must pay a subscription fee for that privilege.

Hat tip to Scott at Powerline and Tony Perry at LATimes.

And to the family of Michael P. Murphy, your sacrifice is not in vain. Your son knew the cost that he could, and did pay. And we honor him.

Funny, I first saw this at EurekAlerts through my bloglines feed, and not anywhere else, so far.

You would think good news like this would be trumpeted from the roof tops.

Ozone hole is smaller. Guess that is about as good news as a substantial drop in deaths in Iraq. Both are getting the same non-coverage.

Saw this at Xinhua this AM, thought it would be a nice eye opener.

At least the leftards are finaly figuring out who the enemy is.

h/t Xinhua.

Gang, and random passers through, I would like to bring a newly printed novel to everyone’s attention.

House to House, the combat narrative of the battle of Fallujah as recounted by Staff Sergeant David Bellavia. For all you civs I highly recommend this as a primer for what soldiers do and how they cope.

For the vets, he pulls no punches. You got those memories shut away and are happy that way you may want to skip this one. He is neither clinical nor detached. Lays it right out there with no apologies or glossy prose, like a 3 days bloated corpse.

Here is the Amazon link, for all you online bookrats. I broke my rule about paying retail for books and got my copy at Borders Books.

Check this troop out.

I have long been a bit pissed about the treatment Filipino Scouts and other soldiers and guerilla fighters have received from us. We asked them to stand against the Imperial Japanese Army, alone, without support for nearly 2 years, after Mc’s return they suffered from massive reprisals against civilian population. Before hand, they received massive reprisals against civilians to force them to surrender American’s still in the Islands. In many cases they did, after Americans came forward and told them to do so in order to save their children and women.

Many people contend that we owe them nothing. They fought in defense of their country. Or that Japan was the legal ruling authority and they were criminals for resisting the lawful directives of the Emperor. Or blahblahblah. The same “reasoning” is applied to the Hmong, Rhade, Anamese, Kurds, Shia, etc etc.

This gets little play in the States, except among those who remember our Allies past.

America has a track record of asking people to do things for us, and dropping them in the fire or gutter as soon as politically convenient. And BOTH political parties are guilty of this. Is it any wonder we have a hard time getting people around the world to trust us? Is it really a surprise that our enemies are successfully using this very history to sow seeds of doubt among the people of the world, including our own population?

Who should be held responsible for the Filipinos being treated as peons after fighting at our request? After willingly sacrificing their lives and those of many families in defense of American interests? In defense of Americans, personally, in many cases.

This is an important question, because this repeated behavior on the part of USG is one of the roots of our problems in the world today.

I was just getting ready to excoriate you warmongering Dakotans for shipping your “hate packets” to other states and lo&behold someone beat me to it. Damnit!

Does anyone believe this mullah will die a peaceful death in his old age? Or eat a dagger in the abdomen one morning after prayers? Anybody want to wager on this Muslim’s cause of death? I highly doubt it will be systemic organ failure due to advanced age.

China and Russia have had several very public police and military exercises of late. So have India and the US. Japan and the US. Indonesia and the US. Hell, Chad and the US have done several active, realtime anti-terror operations in the last 3 years. China and Russia have been playing The Game for hundreds of years, with Russia taking it in the keister most of the time. Short of using nukes Russia will never beat out China. These periods of friendly cooperation are cosmetic, at best.

This article is just one of many, follow the related links. BBC has done a few, and I think Fox has, also.

In the end, global political inter-relations are higgledy piggledy, just as they always have been and will be forever more. Amen.

People should be far more concerned with Russia and Iran dancing. That is where the problems are developing.

From our brothers across the Gulf, Al Jazeera. A fairly evenhanded article, better than CNN or the Big3 will do it.

This,"He said Bush used the province to highlight Anbar as an example of how successful the “surge” strategy has been in the region, pointing to a drop in attacks by Sunni fighters.

The drop in violence is attributed to Sunni Arab leaders joining forces with the US military to combat al-Qaeda fighters, although it is unclear whether they will back a unified Iraqi government as well.” is not nearly as snarky as American press usually are.

h/t Al Jazeera.

Here is an interesting tidbit. American workers are the world’s most productive. What will the doomcriers do!

“The average U.S. worker produces 63,885 U.S. dollars of wealth per year, the International Labor Organization said in its report.”
And.
“The U.S., according to the report, also surpass all 27 nations in the European Union, Japan and Switzerland in the amount of wealth created per hour of work — a second key measure of productivity.”

It ain’t long, but boy is it going to piss a pile-o-leftards off.

h/t Xinhua and editor Lu Hui.

Yet another apostasy uttered from within the Temple Of The Goreacle.

This has got to be pissing Algore off. He has decreed that all debate and research concerning “global climate change” is over.

These guys can expect a lump of coal upside they heads come Goremas season.

This is the money shot."The scientists said the source of the halogens is natural”. That has got to be pissing Algore right off.

This, from Egypt, could be the beginning of Islam’s Reformation.

“Egyptian grand mufti says Muslims can convert.”

Paul Schemm

Agence France Presse

“The essential question before us is can a person who is Muslim choose a religion other than Islam? The answer is yes, they can,” Grand Mufti Ali Gomaa said in a posting on a Washington Post-Newsweek forum picked up by the Egyptian press on Tuesday.

Will this man be hailed by the western press for his vision? Will he be ranked with Martin Luther and Calvin? Will he be stabbed to death after morning prayers one fine day?

h/t to the Daily Star of Beruit, and as always, read it all.

And this sentence should be pounded into the heads of the left. “Gomaa is a civil servant, the top religious adviser of the state, and technically speaking the deputy justice minister,” he said. “So his views on the matter carry authority.” The equivalent in America would be to have Jerry Falwell or Bishop Donald Wurhul as Deputy Secretary of Justice.

Surrendering to Islamic terrorists will insure America has an Imam as the highest authority in our judicial system.

Is this the sentence that really has Hillary pised off?

“Edelman’s letter does indicate the Pentagon might be planning how to withdraw, saying: “We are always evaluating and planning for possible contingencies. As you know, it is longstanding departmental policy that operational plans, including contingency plans, are not released outside of the department.”

And why is that information at the end of the article? Seems that should have been in the opening paragraph somewhere.

Anybody remember Senator Leaky?

Algore is certainly not reining in his priests very well! I mean, did he or did he not declare all debate and research at an end? Did he not decree that Global Warming is solely and only caused by human agriculture and industrial activities? Apparently someone did not get the memo.

“It’s the coupling of the world’s two great fluid systems that actively defines climate,” said Michael Freilich, director of Nasa Earth Science Division and former project scientist on QuickScat.

h/t to Molly Bentley at BBC. A very good article. I agree wit the basic premise, losing QuickScat is one of the stupider things Congress and NASA have decided to do in the last few years.

I always thought the primary mission of the Space Shuttle was for maintenance and upgrading of satellites in orbit. Wasn’t it?