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Score One for Bill Roggio
By John
USA Today's Baghdad correspondent, Caesar Soriano, isn't happy. Soriano feels that criticism of the mainstream media for their negative coverage of the Iraq war is the collective effort of "chairborne rangers," basement dwellers to whom Soriano challenges:
If you think you can do better, I've got a spare bed in the Baghdad bureau.
Bill Roggio, the independent journalist currently embedded in Afghanistan, didn't take kindly to Soriano's jab. Bill fowarded me his sharply worded reply to Soriano this morning, a communique that USA should strongly consider publishing.
Hello Cesar,I'd take you up on the offer of "the spare bed in the Baghdad bureau" but this Chairborne Ranger is currently embedded in Kandahar, Afghanistan. I'll head back to Iraq for the second time this year after I make my next stop in the Horn of Africa. No doubt Michael Totten and Michael Yon, two other notable Chairborne Rangers, have similar plans.
You should also ask another group of Chairborne Rangers, such as Smash, Greyhawk, OpFor, and the other military bloggers who did their blogging from the combat zones to see if they need a rack. Oh, and I'll be bypassing Baghdad to go outside the comfort of the hotel, so you can keep the spare bed.
Best wishes, be safe and enjoy the pool!
Bill Roggio
Co-Editor, The Counterterrorism Blog
http://counterterrorismblog.org
Co-Chairman, The Counterterrorism Foundation
http://counterterrorismblog.org/foundation.php
Blackfive also posted Bill's reply, and included a rather hefty list of MSM-critical milbloggers who are currently deployed in-theater or have recently been deployed in-theater.
Soriano's point is a mild mutation of the old "chickenhawk" line, designed to pack a heavier punch since he reports from Baghdad. But Roggio touches on an issue that was heavily discussed at the milblogging conference last April, the simple fact that most MSM reporters and stringers in Iraq attend CENTCOM briefings from within the safety of the Green Zone, rarely -if ever- leaving "the wire" to get the nitty-gritty stories.
Credit to Soriano for getting out there and doing his job. But if he's really, truly interested in countering allegations of biased reporting, he needs to stop writing egotistical puff-pieces, get outside the wire, and report on stories that aren't spoon fed from CENTCOM public affairs officers.
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Comments
This was excellent!
But while we're on the topic of the CENTCOM briefings....what happened to MG Rick Lynch who used to do the Baghdad Brief on Thursday mornings (my time EST)? He was the best! While I'm sure MG William Caldwell's mother loves him....he is a stiff. No one checked with me before they rotated Lynch out of there.
Anyway, good for Bill and all the others. Thanks for posting this.
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You guys see the photo of Tony Snow (Whitehouse Press secretary) and Dan Bartlett flying in a helicopter the 6 miles from the airport to the Green Zone?
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/060613/ids_photos_ts/r3452815600.jpg
Man, that's gotta make you feel confident about what's going on in Iraq. $500 billion budget for Dept. Def., and we can't even keep a 10k stretch of highway safe.
Yowsah!
You're off topic again Marmoset. Please stay with the subject of the post.
That said, Baghdad is a combat zone guy...I'm not sure what's so surprising about Tony and Dan wearing body armor and kevlar while in transit?
Also, if that entire 500 billion went to keeping a single stretch of highway safe, I would see your point. It doesn't, so I'm not sure that's a very effective comparison. We stretch that money over a 2 million man force that spans the globe, we do not channel it into entirely the Baghdad AO.
You're welcome to post here Marmoset, but please stay on topic and do your homework before posting again.
It was a very nice idea! Just wanna say thank you for the information you have shared. Just continue writing this kind of post. I will be your loyal reader. Thanks again.
Thank you very much!
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Perhaps Caesar Soriano will offer that rack to Paul Mulshine instead?