This is really surreal . Some tanks are kicking the crap out of some nut with small arms holed up in a building in Umm Qasr, and I'm watching it live on TV. Wow. I'm trying to decide if this is a good thing or not...

 

Exact same thing going through my head now too. Did they just turn this war into Reality TV?



There is gonna be a serious shitstorm if we end up watching an Allied troop get killed on TV. You can pretty much identify a lot of these soldiers, that must be making some families CRAZY right now.

 

Now I've seen everything...the 3 Iraqis caught in this firefight were driving a PINK PICKUP TRUCK with a 7.62mm machine gun mounted on the top. Not to make light of the war or situation but a PINK PICKUP TRUCK?!

To make the strange even stranger...the truck has an NYPD sticker on it! Uhhhhhh.....

 

Not good

 

I haven't heard/seen this...which channel are you watching?

I wonder if these "120 Iraquis" are really there or not...seems like most of the reporters are just spouting lots of speculation with very little actual information. I really want to watch some more of this, but I gotta get some sleep .

I hope the peaceniks are gratified that we haven't simply leveled all those buildings to get at the bad guys.

 

CNN

 

I can't tear myself away from the coverage, it really is fascinating.

 

hmmm... a "made for TV" war - complete with "embedded journalists"

It's kind of like car crash footage - you shouldn't enjoy viewing it - but it is very compelling nonetheless...

 

Frankly, the level of coverage that the war is getting sickens me.

I see two things happening...one directly and one indirectly. Directly, I see the media as an immediate threat to the lives not just of the US soldiers, but of all of the participants in this conflict on both sides.

I am concerned with the real and near real time reporting of troop movements and firefights, as I think it gives away too much information and potentially worsens and in some cases draws out the fighting.

Indirectly I am afraid that this level of coverage will completely dull the sense of extreme violence and tension involved in a war. Will war become just another reality TV series? What's next...will they have a regular show televising prison executions?

At what point does our thirst for entertainment...our "right" for information...stop?

I'm sorry for my rant...but as the son of a retired military officer with nearly 40 years of service I shudder to think how much more at risk my father would have been had society not only condoned, but encouraged such coverage in the past.

It's quite likely that I would no longer have a father if that were the case...

 

Yeah me too...even after my last post, I stayed up until about 3:30 watching. I finally quit when I heard the Iraqi information minister spouting propagandistic drivel about how Iraq is winning the war and we're being "pushed into the swamp that we will never get out of." How can anyone get in front of a camera and say stupid crap like that?

And brantshali, I too am concerned that the presence of reporters could jeopardize people, but keep in mind that it was the military's idea to bring these embedded reporters along, and they have the full authority to cut the transmission at their discretion. So I think the guys on the ground are aware of the dangers of providing too much information, and would surely end the transmission if they thought there was a real problem with it.