NEWSWEAK

This Newsweek BS has my blood pressure so high, I could blow the dial right off the sphygmomanometer. Every time these a$$hats in the MSM get wind of a story that paints a negative picture of the US military, they can't wait to run with it. It turns out that the "journalists" that produced this creative writing piece had nothing more than one anonymous source (who has since backed out on them), and a couple of "no comments" from the Pentagon. That's weak as hell, by anyone's standards. Especially when we're talking about a story with the volatile potential this one had. But they ran with it anyway.

I'm not sure what prompted this lack of adherence to basic jouralistic standards. Are they that blinded with hatred for President Bush that they've tossed caution - and ethics - to the wind? Or is it that they find it so easy to believe that military personnel are all prone to behaving like thugs? My guess is that it's a combination of both. As someone who has spent the last eighteen years serving in the military in one capacity or another, I find it hard not to take their attitude toward us personally.

Newsweek has since "retracted" the story. While Al-Jazeera has reported on the retraction, the damage has already been done. People are dead and it's Newsweek's fault. More people will die, and Newsweek bears some responsibility for that too. Maybe it's time to put America's trial lawyers to good use (for a change). I'm thinking we need a class action suit against Newsweek and it's parent company on behalf of those dead or injured in the riots.