In 2006, Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz found that NBC correspondent Richard Engel had strong political feelings: "I think war should be illegal...I'm basically a pacifist." That pacifist opinion is still surfacing, Kurtz reported Monday, although he didn’t recall the sentence from 2006:
Richard Engel, NBC's chief foreign affairs correspondent, has kicked up a fuss with some decidedly pessimistic comments on the war in Afghanistan.
"I honestly think it's probably time to start leaving the country. I really don't see how this is going to end in anything but tears," Engel said last week on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." He added: "The idea of going in to nation-build and win hearts and minds, I think, over the long term is kind of a loser."
That sounds awfully opinionated for a working reporter, but Engel says in an interview that he wasn't "taking sides. If it came across that I was giving my opinion or advocating one particular policy or another, I was just trying to reflect what I'm seeing on the ground....A lot of Afghans tell me that over the long term there can't be a military solution to this."
But if a reporter is a pacifist, does he really need to take an unscientific survey of the locals to declare there are no military solutions? There's more:
Engel, who recently returned from Kabul and is going back Tuesday, says he's "not a military commander" and that it is probably necessary to beef up U.S. forces in the short term. But, he says, "the idea of sending in more troops for a population that isn't asking for protection just seems problematic."
Jon Banner, executive producer of ABC's "World News," takes issue with Engel's remarks: "The audience has to be convinced that our reporters are objective and unbiased, and I'd be concerned that expressing a personal opinion dilutes that, or worse."
That sounds right. But this Jon Banner is the same guy who dismissed the lack of ACORN coverage on ABC with "We’re not in the business of noise." Perhaps he was just sticking for Charlie Gibson giving a radio interview in which he said ACORN should be "left to the cables." That doesn’t help sell the notion that ABC’s current top reporter is objective and unbiased.
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.
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That's why you're not paid
October 12, 2009 - 07:02 ET by HockeyKidMr. Engel, that's why you're not paid to think--you'd be overpaid at any level. You're supposed to report what's going on. You know, who, what, where, when, and (to a lesser extent) why? Is that so hard?
"Beauty is only skin deep, but liberal's to the bone." - me
Richard Engel is Correct
October 12, 2009 - 07:11 ET by allanfHe can't do it. So he needs to get out of the way and let those who can do it lead.
"I'm basically a
October 12, 2009 - 07:39 ET by notonmywatch"I'm basically a pacifist"
Yeah. Internal enemies always hide under that label.
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Yeah, and we all know
October 12, 2009 - 09:25 ET by BDYeah, and we all know pacifists make the best tactical and strategic decisions, right?
We have a
October 12, 2009 - 07:02 ET by motherbeltWe have a "Peace-prize-winning" President; so what's he supposed to do?
Obama has taken credit for "ending" the war in Iraq. Is he now supposed to take credit for continuing or enlarging the conflict in Afghanistan?
MSM providing cover for oBama
October 12, 2009 - 07:16 ET by Sergeant ROCKThis won't be the only such report. Others will say the same thing and oBama followers will declare the 'poll' pressure is too great and he had no other choice but to withdraw.
"I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."
George Mason
Do you know what an opinion is?
October 12, 2009 - 07:16 ET by KC MulvilleThis made me laugh: "If it came across that I was giving my opinion or advocating one particular policy or another, I was just trying to reflect what I'm seeing on the ground ..."
I'm beginning to see why these people don't think they're giving opinions. They don't know what an opinion is.
We Should Bring Them Home
October 12, 2009 - 07:34 ET by JustAlWe:
1. Have a regime leader who thinks "victory" is a dirty word.
2. Have a regime leader who thinks the Taliban "has a place" there.
3. Have a regime leader who sees the head of the SEIU once a week, the head of our armed forces in Afghanistan once a quarter.
4. Need these troops to guard our borders and airports, let the bast___s sit in Afghanistan and plan their lives away, just keep them out of the US.
5. (Our family), have worried through a total of 5 deployments to Iraq with the son and nephews, and do not want them going into a meat grinder with their hands tied by an anti-American POS/TOTUS.
Just my opinion.
→ JustAl
October 12, 2009 - 07:38 ET by Cool ArrowI don't know where we got the idea that war means "making nice"
We should be killing until there is a surrender. I'm talking about "Sign here, you worthless piece of sh!t" surrender.
If that ain't the goal, get the he!! outta there.
Excellent points, JustAl
October 12, 2009 - 08:40 ET by GalvanicFirst, as a retired military member myself, let me extend my thanks to your family and my pride in your son and nephews for their selfless service. May we prove worthy of it.
Engel's comments are nothing more than his opinion based on the information he actually has access to and his personal predelictions toward pacifism -- in other words, they tell us nothing about the big picture. Worse, his bias suggests that if the situation becomes more favorable, he likely won't recognize it, and if he does, he won't acknowledge it.
Think of the Tet Offensive in '68. As Irecall, Westmoreland had made the statement about "We can see the light at the end of the tunnel in November '67 following some bloody combat in the Central Highlands around Dak To and Pleiku." He certainly got the strategic assessment wrong, but the war was still winnable. But when the Tet Offensive broke out in January '68, Cronkite lost all objectivity and decided that the war was unwinnable, despite the heavy blow the allied forces inflicted on the NVA and especially the destruction of the Viet Cong in retaking the cities and towns. This isn't to say that Westmoreland had a good strategy for following up on those gains, but Cronkite's assessment helped turn away a large amount of American public support for the war, which had already been eroding.
Engel's lack of objectivity is harmful, but no longer shocking. It's what we've come to expect from the MSM.
Yeah ...let's pull out.
October 12, 2009 - 07:45 ET by supercon"the idea of sending in more troops for a population that isn't asking for protection just seems problematic."
They'll be fine. In many ways the Taliban are just like community organizers who like to stone little girls to death and cut off hands. They simply want to reach out to the rest of Afghanistan. Engel is a fool. Just because he does not understand the larger picture or knows how to solve the problem he assumes that no one else can. Pulling out of Afghanistan would have consequences that would reach across the globe and could spark a much more serious crisis.
" if Republicans are able to stop Barack Obama on health care, 'it will be his Waterloo, it will break him...." -Sen. Jim DeMint
why go back there?
October 12, 2009 - 08:00 ET by jon_torlinIf he's "basically a pacifist" then why is he going back? Why isn't he screaming his head off to stay at home out of the war zone?
The idea that he doesn't think he's taking sides is laughable, soon as he uttered that, he took a side.
Go home, ya bloody peacenik, the world's a dangerous place.
-Jon
Will future headlines read:
October 12, 2009 - 08:10 ET by Sergeant ROCK'Nobel Peace Prize Winner, Barrack Hussein oBama, sends 40,000 troops to Afghanistan'
"I ask, Sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people. To disarm the people is the best and most effectual way to enslave them."
George Mason
Using his "logic"
October 12, 2009 - 08:03 ET by FastEdHow long will it take the repeating cowards to get OFF the Oman bandwagon and insist "healthcare by congress" be abandonded?
Proud member of the MOB - Move Over Barack, we want our country back!
There is no sense in being stupid, if you can't prove it! - my dad V
IF
October 12, 2009 - 09:13 ET by jessieHIF we pull out of Afganistan, leave this idiot, Engel, there.
Suspicions
October 12, 2009 - 09:58 ET by Red JeepI have had suspicions about reporters like Engel for a long time. When they are on air giving their 2, 3 minute reports do they really know of what they speak or are they just making it up? Are they reporting to bolster the liberal thoughts/feelings of the day? Afghanistan is the size of Texas. How do you go, as a lone reporter, to a country that big and be knowledgeable of all that goes on there, not knowing the language, customs or who to trust? Makes no sense to me.
Lara Logan
October 12, 2009 - 10:26 ET by jon_torlinWhat about Lara Logan? Wasn't she just saying that more troops ARE needed? Was that her opinion? Don't get me wrong, I agreed with her that more troops are needed, but she's also a reporter like Engel, was she wrong to say what she did?
Just a thought.
-Jon
I wonder if he would have
October 12, 2009 - 10:44 ET by Radical1979I wonder if he would have felt this way about WWII. We should have just let Hitler and Japan overrun the world because war is unpleasant. What kind of "men" are we raising in this country?
I can only presume...
October 12, 2009 - 11:26 ET by wolfemanicI can only presume that Richard believes ....
If terrorists want to kill us, their just going to have to come here.
"I Think," but that's not an opinion.
October 12, 2009 - 12:13 ET by CobraMan"I honestly think it's probably time to start leaving the country. I
really don't see how this is going to end in anything but tears," Engel
said last week on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." He added: "The idea of going
in to nation-build and win hearts and minds, I think, over the long
term is kind of a loser."
Let me let get this straight: The man repeatedly used the words "I think" in his report" but then claims that he wasn't expressing his opinion? Yea, right, and I think he's a fool to making such a blatantly idiotic claim. But, hay, I'm just trying to reflect what I "see on the ground."
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Time to Leave?
October 12, 2009 - 12:40 ET by retspookretspook
Fist of all let me just say, I spent 2 years in Afghanistan and then worked training Afghan Freedom fighters during the soviet occupation of that country. I came to know the afghans pretty well. They are not a people to mess around with and they do not like foreigners in their country. I just heard that Obama is considering paying the Afghan people to put down their weapons and join us against the Taliban and we will pay them more than the Taliban pays them. I sincerely hope this is not the new U.S. Policy in Afghanistan. They will take money from us and the Taliban and laugh all the way to the bank. Also, this idea that we cannot fire at the enemy if civilians are around. The civilians are the Taliban and they are laughing their butts off at this Policy. If we are not going prosecute this war with everything we have in ourf arsenal then we need to get the Hell out..
retspook
All the progress in the
October 12, 2009 - 13:12 ET by humanzeeAll the progress in the war against terror gone in a blink of an eye.This president and his foreign policy have only further emboldened Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
I wonder what the world will be like in 2012.
What an Idiot
October 12, 2009 - 14:57 ET by Thinking.Man"I basically think War should be illegal"
Um if you're a pacifist, how are you going to enforce the illegality of war you moron?
One might even argue that WAR is usually someone trying to stop someone else from illegal action?
With these leftist geniuses in the press and government I am truly amazed the barbarians are not already at the gate.
I'm no Pacifist
October 12, 2009 - 15:02 ET by Thinking.ManI think if B-Daddy is going to hang the troops out, and it looks like he is, then get them out of there, we don't need another political friendly fire scre.ing like we got in Somalia.
We can win, no question about it, the problem is that B-Daddy and the Crazy-Eyes-Pelosi followers badly wan't a loss and at the same time look good losing, it's insane but welcome to the dark side, aka leftist politics.
I feel safer knowing that
October 12, 2009 - 15:36 ET by RR GOPI feel safer knowing that these journalists are going to defend us against the terrorists over here...thank goodness!
One of the 34% who thinks George W. Bush was a great President. One of the 86% who wants to bring back the stock and pillory.