Picture Perfect

The Star Tribune's editorial position (via their premiere columnist) on the Midwest Heroes advertising campaign, featuring US military members and their families expressing their views on our efforts in Iraq and asking for the American people's support:

My intent here is to expose the agitprop tactics of a political group campaigning on the bodies of fallen soldiers in a transparent attempt to cover the war's lies.

They exploit the fallen and are a disservice to the troops. More than that, they are lies.

The Star Tribune's editorial position on the mass distribution of photos from a military prison, allegedly showing US troops engaging in torture:

A new batch of horrific Abu Ghraib torture photos has turned up on Australian television and at salon.com. It's not getting much attention in the United States, but it is drawing expressions of disgust and outrage abroad. The difference is remarkable, because those were American soldiers engaged in the abuse.

Actually, some of these photos and videos are worse than those seen previously, and the American public deserves to see them all.

I think we can all stop playing rhetorical gotcha games with these people regarding their editorial mission, it's all there, pretty as a picture. They have tried to erode popular support for our efforts in Iraq ever since it was politically feasible to do so. And you can read the excitement between the lines that they believe they are getting close to accomplishing their mission.

This merely emphasizes the need for a group like Midwest Heroes to exist. Their first hand accounts and perspective will not be told by the politically motivated organs of information in the mainstream media. And when these citizens find alternative means to get their story out, by purchasing time elsewhere, they are ridiculed and stomped on and silenced where they can be. All while we're told that instead we really need to view pictures of an infinitesimal fraction of our soldiers at their weakest, lowest moment.

I agree with the Star Tribune that, in a way, it is pathetic that private groups are engaging in the activity of whipping up support for our country's troops and the successful accomplishment of their mission. But it's only pathetic because they are forced to do it at all, because no one else will.

Click here to view the Midwest Heroes ads.