Ted Koppel's Nightslime—like Ted Kennedy's Deadocratic Party—want to make Iraq "another Vietnam" so bad they can't stand it. Doing its own part to assist al-Qaeda and the other terrorists' propaganda movement, the ABC show will cynically use the names of our heroes as a mere prop in that campaign.

'Nightline' to Read Off Iraq War Dead
By BILL CARTER
Published: April 28, 2004

In a conscious echo of a famous, Vietnam War-era issue of Life magazine, the ABC News program "Nightline" will broadcast Friday night the names and faces of every soldier killed by hostile fire since the start of the war in Iraq.

hat about Afghanistan, where many of our fallen heroes also gave their lives for the cause of Freedom? Does ABC now believe that's a "Forgotten War"?

Are accidental deaths not worthy of any mention, either? Or injuries? Apparently they're all just chopped liver to ABC.

Ted Koppel, the program's anchor, will deliver a brief introduction before reading the more than 530 names, as photographs and captions with the ages and hometowns of the dead appear on the screen. "Nightline" will not include those who died by accident and other causes because of time constraints; Mr. Koppel will barely have two seconds for each name.

Time constraints? If this was so important to them, they'd block off and preempt the time necessary to read each name for more than two seconds. They have the power to require every affiliate to carry such extended programs. But they'd rather not.

Fifteen-minute slots are reserved by the network only for Bush-bashers like Richard Clarke.

"I have always felt, and I said it when I was in Iraq last year, that the most important thing a journalist can do is remind people of the cost of war," Mr. Koppel said in a telephone interview yesterday.

You keep telling yourself that, Ted. Maybe someday someone will accidentally believe you. But don't hold your breath.

Leroy Sievers, the executive producer of "Nightline," said in a telephone interview yesterday that his inspiration for the program was a June 1969 issue of Life, which presented photos of all the men killed during one week in Vietnam.

Cynical then. Cynical now. No wonder Sievers is so "inspired" by it.

Although that issue is now remembered as a crystallizing moment for opposition to the Vietnam war, Mr. Sievers denied the program carried any political message. "There is no intended political statement," Mr. Sievers said. "If that was the intention, we would spell it out."

Nothing to see here. MoveOn.org Move along, move along.

"Spell it out"? That's rich. How about "unintended, we didn't mean to, it was just an unforeseeable accident" political statement—would you spell that one out too?

But William Kristol, the editor of The Weekly Standard, said the message was clear to him. "This is a statement with a capital S, and it's a stupid statement," he said. The program's conceit, he added, was a selective one, chosen to emphasize the controversy over the war in Iraq while neglecting to mention the casualties in Afghanistan or those killed by terrorists.

Thank you, Mr. Kristol. At least I'm not the only one here thinking about our brave men and women fighting the bloodthirsty terrorists in Afghanistan as well as in Iraq and elsewhere.

Mr. Koppel did not dispute that "Nightline" is looking for impact.

Thanks but no thanks, Ted. I-M-P-A-C-T isn't even close to a correct spelling of "intended political statement."

"You can read the headlines every day - two soldiers killed, three Marines killed - and it doesn't have the same impact as seeing one page of these photos," he said.

I see too what's always missing from those headlines on your network: How many cowardly bad guys the brave members of our armed forces permanently took out of the fight. Terrorists 530, Good Guys 15,345 on the Liberal Scoreboard™ just doesn't have the same "impact" as displaying only one side of that, now does it?

Our Marines, Soldiers, Sailors, and Airmen and women are fighting for a reason, Ted. Obviously, someone needs to spell it out for you, so here it is: F-R-E-E-D-O-M. Including the freedom of cynical hacks like yourself to spout off terrorist-aiding propaganda such as your show's "Here's How Well You've Done, Terrorists - Keep Up The Good Work!" episode.

"All of a sudden you look at all those young people and it really hits you."

What would really hit you, Ted (if this pro-terrorist propaganda campaign of yours had any chance of working and making politicians order our fighting men and women to retreat and withdraw from Iraq) are terrorists. But for our troops and the extraordinary jobs they're doing every day, the terrorists would be freer to make it over here and set off dirty bombs in Manhattan and slam planes into your ABC office building.

But he said "Nightline" was not taking political sides.

That was nice of you to make another attempt at spelling, Ted. But that's three misses out of three. So you're out of our Nation's War-On-Terror Spelling Bee. You can always apply again and reenter the contest next year.

"If the motivation to go to war is good, is justifiable," he said, "then the cost, whether it is 500, or 5,000, or 50,000,

Freudian slip, or just wishful-thinking on Ted's part?

is something people will accept. Should the motivation not be good, then 5 is too many."

Ted's paraphrasing Shakespeare (a notoriously bad speller, too) for us now: "Methinks I could not die anywhere so contented as in the King's company, his cause being just and his quarrel honorable. / That's more than we know. / Or more than we should seek after; If his cause be wrong, our obedience to the king wipes the crime of it out of us. / But if the cause be not good, the King himself hath a heavy reckoning to make...." Henry V 4.1.126-136.

Captain Picard™ of the Enterprise™ would be very proud.

The White House declined to comment officially. But a senior Administration official, who requested anonymity, said: "If that's what Mr. Koppel chooses to do, it's his program. We don't make program decisions for them."

"The White House mourns the loss of every soldier," the official added. "It's good that Americans that have given their lives in a sacrifice for freedom and democracy be recognized."

Meaning, we pick and choose our fights; and ours is with the terrorists and bloodthirsty mass-murderers of Americans, not with some pissant anti-Bush, anti-America, terrorist-aiding show host.

The "Nightline" program will appear just one day short of the anniversary of President Bush's declaration of an end to major combat operations, when he appeared on the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln under a banner reading "Mission Accomplished."

The Lincoln's banner was for the ship itself—which had just successfully completed a record-breaking 10-month mission—not for our entire operations in Iraq.

But don't let any facts like that stand in the way of your propaganda there, Times. I'm sure the terrorists appreciate it.

Mr. Koppel said the show was not timed to mark that anniversary. "That is purely a coincidence," he said.

I said you were out of the Spelling Bee, Ted. Please leave or I'll call security and ask them to remove you from the premises.

No, technically it's not part of Opération Libérale (excuse my *vomit* French *vomit*) Mayday Anniversary Bashfest. It's tied to the ongoing leak-and-innuendo campaign that's being spearheaded by the 9-11 Anti-Bush Commission. The Dems are pushing their "This administration has failed"® meme on every front.

Trying to turn the deaths of our brave heroes into "530 failures" crosses the line. There aren't words to describe how disgusting Ted Koppel, Nightline, and ABC are with this stunt to mulch up our troop's bodies to fertilize their latest crop of Bushbash Merde.

The terrorists have a word, however. It's spelt T-H-A-N-K-S.


Update:

ABC affiliates based in Asheville, North Carolina (WLOS 13), Charleston, West Virginia (WCHS 8), Columbus, Ohio (WSYX 6), Pensacola, Florida (WEAR 3), St. Louis, Missouri (KDNL 30), Springfield, Massachusetts (WGGB 40), Tallahassee, Florida (WTXL 27), and Winston-Salem, North Carolina (WXLV 45), will not be airing Nightghoul tonight. The owner of these eight stations, Sinclair Broadcast Group, has decided to preempt it. Here's the company's statement (emphasis in original):

ABC Nightline Pre-emption
The ABC Television Network announced on Tuesday that the Friday, April 30 edition of "Nightline" will consist entirely of Ted Koppel reading aloud the names of U.S. servicemen and women killed in action in Iraq. Despite the denials by a spokeswoman for the show, the action appears to be motivated by a political agenda designed to undermine the efforts of the United States in Iraq.

There is no organization that holds the members of our military and those soldiers who have sacrificed their lives in service of our country in higher regard than Sinclair Broadcast Group. While Sinclair would support an honest effort to honor the memory of these brave soldiers, we do not believe that is what "Nightline" is doing. Rather, Mr. Koppel and "Nightline" are hiding behind this so-called tribute in an effort to highlight only one aspect of the war effort and in doing so to influence public opinion against the military action in Iraq. Based on published reports, we are aware of the spouse of one soldier who died in Iraq who opposes the reading of her husband's name to oppose our military action. We suspect she is not alone in this viewpoint. As a result, we have decided to preempt the broadcast of "Nightline' this Friday on each of our stations which air ABC programming.

We understand that our decision in this matter may be questioned by some. Before you judge our decision, however, we would ask that you first question Mr. Koppel as to why he chose to read the names of 523 troops killed in combat in Iraq, rather than the names of the thousands of private citizens killed in terrorist attacks since and including the events of September 11, 2001. In his answer, we believe you will find the real motivation behind his action scheduled for this Friday. Unfortunately, we may never know for sure because Mr. Koppel has refused repeated requests from Sinclair's News Central news organization to comment on this Friday's program.

Despite the moonbattalion's very expected howls of "censorship," SBG is not a government agency. It is a private corporation. Understandable that the socialist throng always manages to confuse the two.

If a Moonbat Commune Network, Inc. wanted to preempt Rightline's reading of all the names of lumber workers and drivers horribly maimed and injured by enviroterrorists who've put nails in trees or damaged logging roads, that would be its prerogative. Rightline wouldn't be posting a response like this one:

VRWC Statement on Moonbat's Decision to Pre-Empt Rightline
We respectfully disagree with Moonbat's decision to pre-empt Rightline's tribute to America's maimed and injured lumber workers and drivers which will air this evening. The Rightline broadcast is an expression of respect which simply seeks to honor those who have been attacked while working to supply the logging needs for this country. VRWC News is dedicated to thoughtful and balanced coverage and reports on the events shaping our world with neither fear nor favor -- as our audience expects, deserves, and rightly demands. Contrary to the statement issued by Moonbat, which takes issue with our level of coverage of the effects of enviroterrorism on our citizens, VRWC News and all of our broadcasts, including "Rightline," have reported hundreds of stories on enviroterrorist acts. Indeed, on the first anniversary of the maiming of a mill worker in 1987, VRWC News broadcast the name of the victim of that horrific sabotage attack. In sum, we are particularly proud of the journalism and award winning coverage VRWC News has produced since then. VRWC News will continue to report on all facets of the war in our country's forest lands and the War on Enviroterrorism in a manner consistent with the standards which VRWC News has set for decades.

Anyone who says this fictional Rightline is trying to cynically exploit the names and lives of those injured workers so it could score points for its side of the political aisle, would be right.

For a true news agency, reporting is about confirming and publishing new and relevant facts, not about making statements while trying to spin it as something else (e.g., "honoring the dead"). Let the families, groups, and organizations directly representing the dead do such honoring themselves, and then report on their events. Don't be the originators of those events. The latter isn't reporting.

	3:53 AM

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