Take Off the Gloves

If and when we finally decide to win in Iraq, we should look back to January 12th, 1938. On that day, Franklin D. Roosevelt issued Executive Order Number 8381. What this did was “Define Certain Vital Military and Naval Installations and Equipment”. Simply put, it gave the President the right to censor specific military issues. Stop screaming for a minute and listen.


“On 17 August 1942, a nationally syndicated columnist wrote that she had received “a very stern letter” about her remarks on the weather, “… and so from now on I shall not tell you whether it rains or whether the sun shines where I happen to be.” The columnist was Eleanor Roosevelt and she was referring to an article in which she had described weather conditions during one of her official visits around the country with her husband, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, during World War II. That the First Lady would receive such a reprimand reveals much about the nature, scope, and effectiveness of censorship in wartime America.”

That paragraph was taken from the book “Secrets of Victory: The Office of Censorship and The American Press and Radio in World War II” by Michael S. Sweeney. Was there an outcry at the time? Did people view it as the apocalypse of democracy? Was the government viewed as “Evil Big Brother” silencing individual voices of reason? No, it was simply seen as what it was; a necessary step taken to win a war.

The President should throw every news reporter, newspaper columnist and anyone else that is involved in the media out of Iraq. Anyone caught sending video or emails from Iraq concerning the war should be charged with treason. Even camera phone pictures should be band. This would be the first of two steps that would guarantee victory.

The second step would be to give the military unrestricted ability to wage war. No more Mr. Niceguy. The order should be to do whatever it takes; crush, kill, destroy, anything for victory. They would be free to win without scrutiny from a press that has an obvious agenda. We have the mightiest military in the world; this should be a cake walk.

The left has politicized the war, they are critical of every move and the press is complicit in it. Let them howl and let them rant. Most Americans are against the way the war is being fought because they are under the impression that we are losing. Most Americans want to win. Let’s fight it to win; we will let the press know when it’s over.