It seems the people who write for the major news media are falling into the same trap that many print journalist and TV news reporters did in January 30, 1968, in the Republic of Vietnam, during the start of the Tet Offensive. In the recent attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, as in Vietnam, the Taliban scored a psychological victory in the info war. The Vietnam Tet Offensive attacks triggered a U.S. public opinion’s turn against the
Vietnam War and the Taliban may be trying the same thing.
The New York Times, January 19, 2010, “Kabul Attack Shows Resilience Of Afghan Militants,by Dexter Filkins said: ”A team of militants launched a spectacular assault at the heart of the Afghan government on Monday, with two men detonating suicide bombs and the rest fighting to the death only 50 yards from the gates of the presidential palace.”
Most should be underwhelmed by the “spectacular assault” only “50 yards from the gates of the presidential palace” where all insurgents were killed and only three Afghan soldiers and two civilians were killed. Unfortunately, a lot more were injured. Initial news reports that said the insurgents penetrated the palace and that American troops had run to the rescue were all wrong.
The attacks in Kabul had to have been designed to erode American claims of progress in the capitol and refute the Afghan government claim that some Taliban are talking about a reconciliation. It probably was not a coincidence that the Afghan government had earlier announced that they were in negotiations with some members of the Taliban. As any military officer knows that in the heat of battle, first reports are usually wrong.
The desperate communist attacks in Vietnam, including on Saigon, where most reporters lived and worked, caught the press by surprise. However, the military had been expecting an attack and had been on full alert since January 24. The attack in Kabul, as in Saigon, probably brought many reporters in danger more than ever before including those “embedded” with a battalion of Marines. The New York Times is often guilty of editorial interpretation of events instead of reporting the news. I often wonder if the New York Times shouldn’t be sold with the National Enquirer and other sensational tabloids.
