{From the Right] Talk Show Truth Squad Headed for Baghdad

[From the Right] Talk Show Truth Squad Headed for Baghdad

Talk Show Truth Squad Headed for Baghdad
Tuesday, July 5, 2005 12:56 a.m. EDT

A delegation of top talk show hosts and family members of victims of 9/11 is heading to Baghdad, where the talkers will broadcast live from the U.S. Armed Forces Central Command (CENTCOM) headquarters in an effort to break through the curtain of anti-war media bias.

The left wing media hates the idea of a "Truth Tour" breaking through the haze of their anti-war rhetoric. Organized by Howard Kaloogian, co-chairman of Move America Forward, a conservative non-profit organization that supports our troops and the war against terrorism, the group will leave from Centcom Headquarters in Tampa Florida on Thursday.

"Our troops risk their lives every day so that we may enjoy liberty and peace," Kaloogian said. "Yet, it seems that it makes a better news story to report only on the difficulties and challenges our troops face.

"It’s time we provide an outlet for our brave troops to tell us about some of their accomplishments and the good news coming out of their valiant efforts in Iraq.

"I’ve been in touch with the men and women serving in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. They are universally proud of their service and committed to the fight against terrorism in Iraq & Afghanistan because they know it is better to fight the terrorists on their shores, rather than here in America.”

Joining the former San Diego state assemblyman will be family members of 9/11 victims including Debra Burlingame the sister of Charles F. "Chic" Burlingame III, the pilot of American Airlines Flight 77, which was crashed into the Pentagon; Deena Burnett widow of one of the organizers of the rebellion against the terrorist hijackers aboard Flight 93 which crashed in the fields of Pennsylvania); and Marc Flagg, whose parents were killed aboard American Airlines Flight 77.

"The family members of the victims of the 9/11 attacks wanted the chance to thank our troops face to face and I am honored to provide an opportunity for them to do so,” Kaloogian said.

Among the radio hosts who will travel to from Tampa where they will host a "Thank You BBQ" for the troops at Centcom headquarters will be: Melanie Morgan (KSFO 560 AM - San Francisco, CA); Michael Graham (WMAL 630 AM – Washington, D.C.); Dennis Prager (Nationally Syndicated, based out of KRLA 870 AM – Los Angeles, CA); Mark Williams (KFBK 1530 AM – Sacramento, CA); Martha Zoller (WDUN 550 AM – Atlanta/Gaineville, GA); Lt. Col (Ret.) Buzz Patterson (National – RighTalk Radio Network); and Brad Maaske (providing live reports to the Ray Appleton Show on KMJ 580 AM – Fresno, CA).

The delegation will also include two writers from David Horowitz's FrontPage Magazine.

They will have a stopover in Kuwait before going on to Baghdad and will be broadcasting live during stopovers along the way.

"The reason why we are doing it is we are sick and tired of seeing and hearing headlines by the mainstream media about our defeat in Iraq," Melanie Morgan, explained to Fox News.

She said the media is "imposing a Vietnam template on this war," saying that "This is not Vietnam. War is war, and it's dangerous, and the killing is taking place all of the time. At the same time, where there is danger, there is success and there is a mainstream media that is determined to shut out that success."

She added that the "Truth Tour" is going to Iraq to support American troops who, she says, see a disconnection with what they experience and what's being reported in the United States which is leading to "morale problems."

Morgan, told Fox she and the other talkers are tired of "hotel journalists" from "the mainstream media" who "sit around in a hotel bar" cribbing other writers' quotes and clips "so they don’t have to go out and cover the war."

"We are not going to engage in hotel journalism," she said.

"If that's what they are going to do, than my hat would be off to them, but that would mean they would have to go around, un-embedded, without military escort," observed Dahr Jamail, an American freelance writer who was un-embedded in Iraq until February.

Jamail, who Fox reported runs a Web log and has written for the BBC, Asia Times and The Nation, added "That would mean talking to ordinary Iraqis."

Talk show host for KFBK in Sacramento Mark Williams explains that group will report "what we see and what we are told. We believe that the emphasis has been placed on the negative and if Americans knew what really was going on over there they would have an entirely different picture."

"We are Americans first and journalists second, as opposed to the crop of 'pinkos' that tell us on the news every night that America is going to hell in a hand basket," he added.

Col. Buzz Patterson , host of "The Buzz Cut" on Rightalk, told Fox, "The war is being won, if not already won, I think." Patterson, who is retired from the U.S. Air Force, added "[Iraq] is stabilized and we want the soldiers themselves to tell the story."

"If we see things that aren't going well, sure, we're talk show hosts, we'll talk about it," Patterson said. "But there has been no balance. I'm concerned that there are all of these positive things not being reported."

Leftists such as the ultra-liberal "New Republic" editor Peter Beinart, are outraged that a group of established journalists is daring to challenge the virtual liberal monopoly on reporting from Iraq. "This is the most pathetic thing I've heard in a long time. They should be ashamed of themselves," Beinart whined.

"They have no idea what journalism is, and to pretend they are journalists is laughable," Beinart said. "You do not achieve victory by not facing reality. I think these are the kinds of people that will lead us to lose there."

It seems that in his elitist view only anti-war liberals and Bush haters are entitled to call themselves journalists.

The talk show hosts are paying their own way, said Mark Williams. "We're paying our own accommodations. My wife and I are paying $15,000 for this trip. We're cargo. We're given a smelly cot and the same accommodations as the troops. Basically, all the U.S. military is doing for us is letting us pay our own trip into war."

Move America Forward will be hosting audio clips of the dispatches from the radio talk show hosts participating in the "Live From Baghdad” program at the website – www.MoveAmericaForward.org.

 

"We are not going to engage in hotel journalism," she said.

Green Zone Journalism, methinks.