Posted by Tina
How the Party of Defeat Lost Fallujah, by Ben Johnson
* A NEW ASSESSMENT PRODUCED BY THE U.S. ARMY HAS FOUND THE MILITARYS FIERCEST FOES DID NOT RECEIVE THEIR TRAINING from al-Qaeda, Ansar al-Islam, or Hezbollah, but from Harvard University, the Columbia School of Journalism, and the New York Times editorial board. *
* An assessment produced by analysts at the U.S. Army’s National Ground Intelligence Center (NGIC) has found the hardest-fought battle of the Iraq War, the siege of Fallujah in April 2004, was lost not on the battlefield but in the court of public opinion. The authors called media coverage crucial to building political pressure to halt military operations, in the Arab world and within Coalition member nations. The report stated: The outcome of a purely military contest in Fallujah was always a foregone conclusion Coalition victory. But Fallujah was not simply a military action, it was a political and informational battle…The effects of media coverage, enemy information operations, and the fragility of the political environment conspired to force a halt to U.S. military operations. *** Specifically, the report mentioned false claims of civilian casualties, singling out Al Jazeera and Al-Arabiyah footage. Children were shown bespattered with blood; mothers were shown screaming and mourning day after day. Leaked anonymously on the internet, the United Press International (UPI) news service reports that it has confirmed the Army reports accuracy. It confirms the thesis of the book David Horowitz and I wrote together, Party of Defeat: that the most effective efforts against the war have emanated from American politicians and journalists. *
Please read the entire article; better yet, read the book!