I am late on posting about former General Ricardo Sanchez’s remarks because I have been busy with the day job and have only read the media reports on his speech. Knowing the mainstream media like I do I automatically assumed the reports were false and now that I have had to time to read the transcript of what he actually said my skepticism was justified.

If you have ever wondered if the criticism of the mainstream media being biased and agenda driven is justified then read the press reports about General Sanchez’s speech and then compare it to the actual full transcript of what Sanchez said. You can only conclude the criticism of the media of being biased and agenda driven is completely justified and they don’t even bother hiding it even more.

You can start by reading the New York Times, BBC, CNN, and MSNBC. The only media source that I could find that briefly mentioned Sanchez’s criticism of the media was the Stars & Stripes. The Stars & Stripes even published a follow up article dedicated to Sanchez’s criticism of the media. I have found no other media source that has done so. If anyone else has read a media article that mentions Sanchez’s comments on the media than feel free to leave a link in the comments section. The Stars & Stripes follow up editorial of Sanchez’s remarks I don’t agree with in it’s entirety but it is a credit to that news organization for responding to it.

It is incredible that no other report mentioned anything about his criticism of the media that consumed nearly half of his speech and totally justifies the criticism he leveled at them. Additionally the headlines ran of his speech were cherry picked to bash the Bush Administration when Sanchez’s remarks equally bashed the ineptitude of the entire US government including Congress and other government agencies such as the State Department. Additionally the phrase “America living a nightmare with no end in sight” that has been championed by the media is printed with no context of the Japanese proverb he used to present it with. Additionally none of the media outlets published the full quote:

There is no question that America is living a nightmare with no end in sight. Since 2003, the Politics of War have been characterized by partisanship as the Republican and Democratic parties struggled for power in Washington. National efforts, to date, have been corrupted by partisan politics that have prevented us from devising effective, executable, supportable solutions.

Reading the full quote changes the context of the quote quite a bit, doesn’t it?  General Sanchez is saying that America is living through a “nightmare” because of the partisan politics in Washington that is dividing the country which no media outlet reported.  Anyone surprised?

The media frenzy of Sanchez’s remarks is so full of cherry picked quotes and misrepresentation that it is best that you just read the full transcript yourself because the media is obviously hoping you won’t because you might read something like the fact that Sanchez supports the current efforts in Iraq and not the spin the media is giving you:

America has no choice but to continue our efforts in Iraq. A precipitous withdrawal will unquestionably lead to chaos that would endanger the stability of the greater Middle East. If this occurs it would have significant adverse effects on the international community. Coalition and American force presence will be required at some level for the foreseeable future. Given the lack of a grand strategy we must move rapidly to minimize that force presence and allow the Iraqis maximum ability to exercise their sovereignty in achieving a solution.

How come the above quote wasn’t in the New York Times or the headline on CNN? I think we all know the answer to that question.

I actually agree with most of what Sanchez said in his speech though a good chunk of his analysis of what is going on in Iraq now is dated. It is obvious that General Sanchez has a huge chip on his shoulder because of all the blame that was put on him over the Abu Graib scandal by both the media and politicians that led to the end of his career and this speech is a clear indication of this. His combative tone and lack of willingness to accept responsibility for anything that went wrong during his tenure in Iraq assured that the media members present were going to twist his remarks in order to distort what he said one last time in order to demonstrate their collective power of creating public perceptions of people. Creating perceptions instead of reporting facts is obviously what the media excels at and this is the real lesson from General Sanchez’s remarks.

You can read more views on this at:
Captains Journal
Milblogs
Michael Yon
Blackfive
Iraqi Bloggers Central