New York Times seems surprised that people die in war
The New York Times ran an article this last weekend entitled SEAL Team 6: A Secret History of Quiet Killings and Blurred Lines written by a fire-team-sized group of journalists, Mark Mazzetti, Nicholas Kulish, Christopher Drew, Serge F. Kovaleski, Sean D. Naylor and John Ismay, in which they express their dismay that SEALs have actually killed the enemies of our country, pretty much on command;
The SEALs’ armorers customized a new German-made rifle and equipped nearly every weapon with suppressors, which reduce gunshot sounds and muzzle flashes. Infrared lasers enabling the SEALs to shoot more accurately at night became standard issue, as did thermal optics to detect body heat. The SEALs were equipped with a new generation of grenade — a thermobaric model that is particularly effective in making buildings collapse. They often operated in larger groups than they had traditionally done. More SEALs carrying deadlier weapons meant that fewer enemies escaped alive.
Fewer enemies escaping alive translates to more good guys leaving alive. It’s simple math. But, if you were a regular reader of the Times (still convinced that they provide you with unbiased news that matters) you would come away from the article believing that they are a band of hatchet-wielding blood-thirsty savages that kill indiscriminately anyone who doesn’t speak English fluently.
Take, for example, the first paragraph of the article;
They have plotted deadly missions from secret bases in the badlands of Somalia. In Afghanistan, they have engaged in combat so intimate that they have emerged soaked in blood that was not their own. On clandestine raids in the dead of the night, their weapons of choice have ranged from customized carbines to primeval tomahawks.
The hatchets again. I’m not going to pretend that I know much about any special operations forces, but I do know the people who fight our wars. The NYT seems to think that the indiscriminate killing of non-enemies is some sort of habitual practice and because everything about SEALs is so secretive, they can accuse them of the murder of innocent people in the furtherance of our national policies. I can assure the casual reader that no innocent non-combatants are intentionally killed in combat, mostly because it serves no purpose and it’s a waste of resources, time and ammunition.
Are there civilians who get themselves killed, yes, of course. Especially with an enemy that hides behind innocents as a tactic. The enemy also kills non-combatants by the scads because they see civilians as tools, self-propelled sand bags.
It’s funny (not ha-ha funny, though) that the New York Times in the hundreds of words that they printed on this piece, didn’t bother to mention how the SEALs who went after bin Laden in Abbottabad didn’t kill any of the women or children in the compound, accidentally or intentionally. In fact, they did their best to be careful that none of bin Laden’s family was killed.
You know, if it had been al Qaeda and they busted into the White House under the same circumstances, they would have ended the Obama blood-line right then and there in the most gruesome manner possible.
Someone should tell the New York Times’ Mark Mazzetti, Nicholas Kulish, Christopher Drew, Serge F. Kovaleski, Sean D. Naylor and John Ismay that this country is engaged with an enemy which would kill them for no other reason than that they are Americans. The SEALs, Delta, the snipers, the sappers, the pilots, the riflemen are in the business of making sure that the enemy doesn’t get that opportunity by killing those enemy people first. If it makes them feel outraged to think that it’s all done by tomahawk, well, fine, they can think that. I’m just glad that the bad guys are dead and I don’t care how they got that way.
Category: Media
George Orwell perhaps put it best: “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”
It’s also the only reason tools like that group writing for the NYT have the freedom to write their naive, Pollyanna-inspired drivel.
I try to sleep peaceably HONDO. Some of the people in my life just give me no peace.
(chuckling) Dude, yer killing me here.
I always heard the retired one stars get all the chicks.
Now I have this “Hondo Envy” to deal with. Thanks Dave.
I was wondering what the feeling was called. HONDO ENVY. I am afraid if they ever find HONDO they will put something on him AJAX won’t take off.
Careful Sparks or they might come after you.
Whew! If I were you (and after seeing this video, sadly I’m NOT), I’d be visitin’ Dave on your next vacay. Well, going to Dave’s place, not necessarily visiting HIM.
HAHAHAHAHA epic dude epic.
That is funnier than a ball of mating copperheads.
Mmmm…apparently a misspelling at :39 (Unless I missed the joke).
Hmmmmm…….I don’t seem to notice any writing at :39
🙂
Indeed what words Dev, what are you talking about bro?
Take everyone of those “pussyfied” slugs and drop them on the front line…and video it!!
“They have plotted deadly missions from secret bases in the badlands of Somalia.” That’s the stuff of dime-store novels. It’s crap, but it’s funny (ha-ha) crap.
Was their “highly-placed source” Charlie Sheen or Michael Biehn?
It was Jimmy Janos
I was thinking the same thing, except there was no reference to SEAL 6 trying to take over the government with mind control devices
Just think. Between all those bodies wasting skin, space, and breathable air, and not enough brainpower to fire a single synapse, let alone fire a single round of any decent sized caliber.
Mind you, the NYT is probably upset that the SEALs are doing their job “too well.” Maybe they want a level playing field so the bad guys get a chance to win.
Mark Mazzetti, Nicholas Kulish, Christopher Drew, Serge F. Kovaleski, Sean D. Naylor and John Ismay are pussies.
New York Times’ Mark Mazzetti, Nicholas Kulish, Christopher Drew, Serge F. Kovaleski, Sean D. Naylor and John Ismay
There are 6 man-panty wearing, metrosexual, limp wristed, girly men, right there, that would probably have a meltdown if cinnamon were to get accidentally sprinkled on their double non-fat soy latte.
Pussies
That’s funny right there! I have an SF (former) bud who loves soy-lattes-no-water (whatever that means!) and I tease him about “sissy drinks” when we place our orders …. then he busts my chops about my venti-latte.
In regard to your comment, Old Trooper, I could not help recalling Serge, right here:
I loved Serge!
“a band of hatchet-wielding blood-thirsty savages that kill”
Better us than them, NYT.
Are they “assault tomahawks”? The deadliest kind.
“a band of hatchet-wielding blood-thirsty savages that kill”
I’d call that a compliment.
“a band of hatchet-wielding blood-thirsty savages that kill even more blood-thirsty and incredibly cruel savages that delight in locking their prisoners in cages, soaking them in gasoline, then burning them alive.”
There, fixed it for you.
Many thanks Poe. Now it sings!
At least they are OUR savages too!
I find it strange that this bunch of girlie-men focused so closely on only one SEAL team, as if the other 5 don’t count for nuttin’. Maybe it’s just as well. What they don’t know…. 😉
UNOFFICIAL RESPONSE FROM FORMER NSW TECH AND FRIEND OF DEVGRU BUSINESSMEN:
Kiss My Royal Irish Ass!
That is all!
Note: No NYT reporters were harmed in the crafting of this comment.
Damn shame, I was hoping a few of their heads would explode when they realize we don’t give a shit.
But Master Chief …. why CAN’T I scalp them?
So just how many of these snot-headed candyassed creampuff fartweasels have ever even spent any time on a Military Installation talking to actual vets, let alone served themselves? I’d say they haven’t, I think they just hang out in their prissyassed metrosexual salons and coffee shops singing “Sieg heil Jane Fonda” while they have sexual fantasies about her and Rosie O’Doughnut!
Uh, Proud, they don’t have sex fantasies. They only read about them.
Why do you think trashy porn like ’50 Shades of Gray’ was such a hotcake seller? Those dickless wonders bought it ‘for their signif others’, but read it under the blankets with a flashlight, in case anyone might catch them with it.
Didn’t you know that?
I have no doubt about that, I’m certain that being a PC metrosexual neuter-boy is prerequisite to getting hired by the NYT.
“…while they have sexual fantasies about [Fonda] and Rosie O’Doughnut!”
Scrub, scrub, scrub! SCRRRRUB that brain!
Where is that damn bleach?!!!
Here. You can borrow my bottle. I have lots available.
That is hysterical.
The hyperbole in those brief excerpts is the stuff of not just dime-store novels, but also the film noir industry, the gritty films like ‘Asphalt Jungle’ and ‘On the Waterfront’ from the 1950s, and the current wave of graphic novels which are sometimes turned into movies.
That bunch of wienie desk jockeys need to get out of their cubicles and into the fresh air of places like Fallujah, where the entire infrastructure is disintegrating and sewage flows freely in the streets.
THAT is what the SEALs and others like them are blocking and stopping.
These sniveling, driveling pukes in NewYawkCeetee would curl up and die if they had to live that way.
Can I send them a nasty note, or should I just make fun of them?
Primeval weapons? Tomahawks? Do those nitwits think the SEALs spend their time doing flint knapping for axe-heads?
I’m surprised that they didn’t call them prime evil tomahawks.
Nah, they meant to write “automatic, semi-automatic assault tomahawks with extra large magazines”, but they had to edit it down cause they ran out of space.
Huh. They sound like my kind of guys!
The SEALS, not the NYT geeks. Heh.
Whew, you had us worried there for a second.
Well, I think I found photos of the NYT team that wrote the article. But since they all look roughly the same, I’m only going to link to one photo:
(smile)
Ah, look at her.
The way she is holding the cup, all warmy with her flannel onezee.
Makes me sick to think that photo was taken at 3:30 pm on a Thursday.
This is a portriat for the “Pussification of America”.
(giggle snort). Now THAT’S funny.
I’m sure he’s looking forward to his nightly warm enema given him by his Mommy for being a good little boy and keeping his bed and onesie pajamas pee-pee-free for a whole week!
That punk would wet his onesie jammies if Master Chief shot him the same look from his last official Navy photo!
And he’d scream while he did! I bet the little creampuff of a bedwetting pisscake’s wearing “footsie” pajamas as well!
You know it! The first time I saw that picture, I said “how in the hell would any self respecting man allow a picture like that to be taken, and be serious!?!?
It is not a man and she is serious.
The key word is ‘self-respecting’. In this case, it was a complete lack thereof.
Secret missions, dead bad guys, less dead or wounded good guys…well done NYT for explaining why it’s in your best interests to not have the SEALs out looking for you…don’t fuck with the US…
Our guys kill those who terrorize, intend to terrorize, or claim to terrorize the citizens of the United States.
To paraphrase John 15:13 — Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends
I am glad the SEALs consider all of us in this great nation friends though many deserve not to be called thusly…
I also remember this one: I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
The US Navy SEALs are indeed the good shepherds, we should all of us be grateful for their dedication to our nation.
Just because I am not religious in nature doesn’t mean I’m not well versed biblically.
It’s never hurt me to be a literate, educated man among the masses.
Doing hatchet jobs on the military is nothing new for those pukes at the New York Times but I do believe this is the first one where they actually used hatchets to do it.
Sometimes people need a reminder that war is about killing people and breaking shit.
Let me clear something up right now!
They are not hatchets!
They are special made to order tomahawks!
Hatchets are for splitting shingles and cutting wood. Tier 1 tomahawks are designed to instill fear in and kill the ememy.
Big friggin’ difference!
And the US Naval Enlisted Cutlass is used too!
So do you friggin’ homework first ladies of the NYT …
I thought they were talking about the IMBTB: the Inverted Multi-Purpose Ballistic Tomahawk Bayonet.
http://www.duffelblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/imbtb-750×400.jpg
Roger’s Rangers. Roger’s Standing Orders (1789):
#2 Have your…hatchet scoured…”
#19 Let the enemy come…and finish up with your hatchet.”
“They have plotted deadly missions from secret bases in the badlands of Somalia.”
Journalists use the language in very subtle ways to influence their readers. In the above sample, for instance, the use of the word “plotted,” rather than “planned.” “Planned” would suggest the application of intelligent thought, while “plotted” suggests
“scheming,” something nefarious and under-handed. People doing good work “plan,” people doing evil “plot.” So without even calling special operators “evil,” the authors of this article are still able to give their readers that impression. They will be able to say, “We never called them evil,” while their readers will defend them as “unbiased.”
Very perceptive of you. Meanwhile, the us of ‘badlands of Somalia’ implies that there is even a small part of Somalia that is not a dried-out, active volcano-pocked, overheated, salt-laden wasteland, with parts that are a mere 85 feet below sea level, inhabited by a few herds of unfortunate goats and people whose poverty level is so low that a homeless beggar in NewYawkCeetee has a bigger income than the entire population of Somalia.
The earth is ripping open there. Some day, it will rip wide open and begin to split off from Africa. I’m sure those idiot yuppie hipsters will think it’s the next ideal vacay spot to visit.
. . . people doing evil ‘plot’.
So, since those . . . Navy types are always “plotting courses” – does this mean they’re all evil? (smile)
(ducks behind cover from the soon-to-be-received incoming rounds)
“The SEALs, Delta, the snipers, the sappers, the pilots, the riflemen are in the business of making sure that the enemy doesn’t get that opportunity by killing those enemy people first.”
“Some men are coming to kill us.
We’re going to kill them first.”
007 in “Skyfall”
The NYT piece has the earmarks of an investigative story that didn’t manage to go anywhere. There’s no real news “hook” to it in the sense of a metaphorical smoking gun.
What might have happened is that the Times thought things would go in a certain direction, but when that didn’t pan out decided to run with what they had because of the time and effort invested. All the tomahawk stuff was putting lipstick on the pig.
To the NY Times writers: shut your damn pussy mouths. You bunch of sniveling panty waist dicks. What does it matter if the SEALs used tomahawks to dispatch the enemy. To quote your favorite person, what difference does it make. I don’t care if they used a pool cue or beat them to death with their fucking Kevlar. Whatever gets their blood pressure to zero. As Archie Bunker said, “Would it make you feel any betta if they was pushed outta windows.” Pussies.
C2G, you’re being awfully reserved today. You feeling okay?
What the bed wetters don’t understand is that we were/are in the business of breaking shit and killing bad guys. That was/is our mission. Their mission is to sit around a table with their equally pussified friends and bemoan that their betters are making sure they’re able to get their chilled Pinot Grigio and cheese plate and bitch about how tough their day was and whether they are going to go to the Hamptons and hang out with Biff, Tad, and Muffy at the art fair.
I guess Obama & the Left has gotten all the mileage out of the SEALS they can get, so under the bus they go!
Before this discussion goes any further, you have to understand the desperate need that these clueless wannabes have, to even sweep the rug that Ernie Pyle and Dickie Chappelle walked on.
‘tomahawk’ is also the name for a specific projectile, i.e., the Tomahawk missile. If that word had been used that way, it might have been correct.
‘customized carbines’ – this most likely describes rifles of some sort that were painted in camouflage colors and patterns, to make them less detectable, or flat black with no ‘glitter’ spots, which makes them less likely to be seen by a spotlight or even night vision.
‘combat so intimate they were soaked in the blood’ – Seriously, any combat medic will be ‘soaked in the blood’ of anyone he treats in the field, so this bit of hyperbole is a sham. It almost sounds like the writer was engaged in wishful thinking about those 72 non-existent virgins, doesn’t it?
These cringingly bad nonjournalists give journalism a bad name. It’s just as well that the Navy added JO (Journalist) to the MCS rate a while back. I would want it changed, too, out of the sheer annoyance at being painted with the same brush as these petits dames of tabloid copy. They should stick to writing copy for the Sunday ads section.
When it comes to journalism, nothing sells like sensationalism. These girlieboys had a bad day trying to sell their wannabee fantasies and make it appealing to the masses.