Guilty until proven innocent

By Frank Salvato
web posted November 22, 2004

In this era of 24-hour, on-demand access to the news, the
American public has grown accustomed to the pre-judgment of
individuals at the center of high-profile events. We saw it with the
OJ Simpson case. We saw it with the Martha Stewart case. And
we saw it with the Abu Ghraib prison scandal. In each, the
mainstream media ran with analysis that included information that
was relevant, irrelevant, rumor and innuendo -- information that
was not in context with the situations. The rational mind
understands to take this analysis with a grain of salt. Sadly, we
are not all gifted with rational minds.

The newest issue on the media's legal docket revolves around a
young Marine in Fallujah. An embedded reporter with the 3rd
Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment shot footage of what appeared to
be a young US Marine shooting a wounded Iraqi lying in a
Fallujah mosque. This news footage has created a stir that has
started the media's pre-judgment machine.

Like it or not, the mainstream media has quite a bit of influence in
the United States, as well as around the world. Although it didn't
have enough influence to sway the last presidential election to an
ultra-liberal with a past that includes actively campaigning against
his country during a time of war, it does tend to be quite effective
when wielding its power against those who don't have close to a
billion dollars in the bank.

When thinking about that young Marine in Fallujah we must
remember a few things in order to keep the images the
mainstream media is providing us in context.

While the US troops, along with their coalition allies, are fighting
this war against terrorism from within the boundaries of the
Geneva Conventions their opposition is not. In fact, the terrorists
are doing everything they can to make the Geneva Conventions a
liability for our troops. They are exploiting the limitations of
humanity.

It is against the conventions for the terrorists to be wearing
clothing that would designate them as civilians, yet they do. This
affords them the opportunity to blend in with the innocents of any
given area while they move about in preparation for their next
attack. This also puts all the innocents around them at risk, but
then, when one is used to beheading innocents in order to make
political statements, it can be assumed that they couldn't care less
about putting innocents in harms way.

It is against the conventions for them to use places of worship as
operational points for their aggression, yet they do. In fact, at a
recently captured mosque there were signs on the walls of the
great hall designating areas for each of the terrorist groups who
had come to Fallujah to wage terrorist attacks. The allies have
come across mosque after mosque that has been used for
ammunition depots. And it has become commonplace for our
troops to receive gun and rocket fire from within the walls of
these "places or worship."

It is against the conventions for them to feign death when
confronted with absolute defeat, yet they do. In many instances
our troops have had to deal with bodies of defeated terrorists
that have been rigged with explosives, booby-traps meant to
take the lives of our soldiers and those of our allies. While the
terrorists are well on their way to getting to know the "72 virgins"
Allah allegedly gave them upon their "martyrdom," the true
freedom fighters in Iraq are dealing with death rigged with death.

Combine all of that with these facts:

* The day before the incident in question a booby-trapped
corpse set-up by the terrorists killed a young Marine

* The Marine in question had been injured earlier on the same
day as the shooting

* These Marines and allies had been conducting non-stop
operations to free Fallujah from the terrorists who oppressively
occupied that city

It is plain to see where the benefit of the doubt should be
afforded.

All of that being taken into consideration, it is disappointing to
hear US Ambassador to Iraq John Negroponte say, "no one can
be happy" about the incident, "but the important point is that the
individual in question will be dealt with." It should be even more
disturbing that the mainstream media is leading the way in
"dealing with" the young Marine in question.

We the People have to make a decision on whether or not we
actually want to win this War on Terror. Listening to how the
mainstream media and the liberal left in this country want us to
deal with the issue of terrorism -- fighting on an "uneven
battlefield," legal action against our troops at the ready -- it is
hard to believe they want us to win.

Frank Salvato is a political media consultant and the managing
editor for TheRant.us. His pieces are regularly featured in
Townhall.com. He has appeared as a guest on The O'Reilly
Factor and numerous radio shows. His pieces have been
recognized by the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention and are
periodically featured in The Washington Times as well as other
national and international publications. He can be contacted at
oped@therant.us. Copyright © 2004 Frank Salvato

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