This interesting piece from the Belmont Club makes one wonder if there's any meaningful difference in the minds of our troops between CNN, CBS, et al. and Al Jazeera. In summarizing the fight against Muqtada al Sadr's Mahdi army there's this:
In what was probably the most psychologically revealing moment of the battle, infantrymen fought six hours for the possession of one damaged Humvee, of no tactical value, simply so that the network news would not have the satisfaction of displaying the piece of junk in the hands of Sadr's men.
Another important detail comes in the next sentence:
'Squeezed into a few downtown blocks, Sadr militants began using children to shuttle ammunition,' soldiers said. Youngsters carrying large plastic bags darted from corner to corner, and the soldiers would not shoot them. 'We all grew up knowing you don't hurt women and children,' Taylor said. 'And they used that to their advantage.' The US estimates that 20 civilians were killed in operations around Najaf. The Najaf hospital claims 81. When the Russians retook Grozny after a disastrous first foray, they returned to the operational formula of Marshak Konev in Berlin and rained down 8,000 artillery shells per hour on the town, killing perhaps 27,000 before attempting it again. The vastly more powerful Americans did not, yet triumphed.
The comparison between the American view of war, and their skill at fighting it, and that of other nations, both today and throughout history, is truly gratifying for anyone who embraces just war doctrine. Read the whole analysis. It makes one proud of our men in our elite military, though certainly not of the civilians in our elite media.
