Harry Smith's Cronkite Moment

On this Morning’s Early Show, co-host Harry Smith turned himself into a one man anti-war protest by delivering a two minute commentary on the loss of life in Iraq and the lack of progress being made. His statement may have been intended as an expression of grief over the losses suffered by CBS, the deaths of crew members James Brolan and Paul Douglas, and the injuries sustained by CBS News Correspondent Kimberly Dozier, but it was clear that Smith and CBS are now firmly against the war in Iraq and believe the cost of the war is too high. It was Harry Smith’s "Walter Cronkite moment." For those who do not understand the reference, it refers to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Cronkite">Walter Cronkite’s statement on the "CBS Evening News" on February 27, 1968 that the US was stuck in a stalemate in Vietnam. Today, Smith began his diatribe against the war in Iraq implying that death is so common in Iraq that we are desensitized to it:

"Unlike Captain Funkhouser [a soldier killed in the blast that injured Kimberly Dozier and the subject of the previous story] most of the death in Iraq is anonymous, nameless, faceless, it flashes by on our television screens, barely grazing our consciousness. Perhaps that was true for us, too, until this week."

We may not know the names of all those who have died or know their faces, but their deaths effect us. When we hear on the news that more people have lost their lives, it does more than "barely graze our consciousness." We feel sorrow for the loss of life, and we grieve with the families. The loss of life is not something that gets any easier to accept the more often it happens. Whether it is our American troops or other coalition forces, or the lives of innocent Iraqis, we grieve.

Smith went on to suggest that based on polls, Americans want an end to the war, and complained that more troops are being sent to Ramadi, a town in Iraq.

"Americans are weary of the war. The polls show it. Impossible as it may seem, we were still standing in front of a giant map just this week, trying to explain why three years and three months after the initial invasion, more troops are needed in Ramadi."

More troops are needed in Ramadi because it is a town in the Sunni Triangle which is easily infiltrated by foreign fighters due to it’s geographic location. That securing Ramadi is essential to overall victory in Iraq, doesn’t seem impossible to comprehend.

Smith ended the piece by again focusing on the losses suffered in Iraq:

"This war is breaking our hearts, one family at a time. Our family was hit this week. And now we, too, know what it's really like."

Again, we all feel a sense of loss every time there is a casualty in Iraq. But, Smith is supposed to be a journalist, not a commentator, and there’s a difference. The fact that Smith would be anti-war comes as no surprise, given his previous reporting on Iraq (see here, here, and here). Yet, it is Smith’s job to report the news, not give us his opinion on what is happening in Iraq. Come Monday, he’ll be back on T.V. interviewing members of Congress and Bush Administration officials about the war. How can we trust him to be fair now that we know how he really feels?

A full transcript of his commentary follows below.

Harry Smith: "And unlike Captain Funkhouser most of the death in Iraq is anonymous, nameless, faceless, it flashes by on our television screens, barely grazing our consciousness. Perhaps that was true for us, too, until this week. Grief. I haven't cried yet this week, because I still feel like someone hit me in the gut. We're all still trying to catch our breath. It's all too raw. And almost impossible to comprehend."

"We, you at home, and we at CBS News, assume that if there is news to report from Iraq, someone will be there to do it. For most of the last three-plus years that someone for CBS News was Kimberly Dozier. And for much of that time our cameraman in Baghdad was Paul Douglas. James Brolan was a fixture there too."

"Part of the grim daily process of reporting news from a war that in large part, has fallen off the front pages, and out of the consciousness of our daily lives. Americans are weary of the war. The polls show it. Impossible as it may seem, we were still standing in front of a giant map just this week, trying to explain why three years and three months after the initial invasion, more troops are needed in Ramadi. Troops, commanders on the ground have been asking for, for a year. "

"And the Pentagon told us this week that attacks against U.S. troops and Iraqi civilians has hit a record. More than 600 a week. It's grim. And dangerous. And routine. It was a routine patrol, in fact, that Kim, and Paul, and James were on when they were hit. Death is so a part of daily life in Iraq, that unless it hits home, we tend not to pay attention."

"Almost 2500 American service people have been killed in Iraq. Unless they die in particularly large numbers, we tend not to report it. Their families are no less bereaved. Yet the stories of their sons or daughters' courage, and service to country, go mostly untold."

"This war is breaking our hearts, one family at a time. Our family was hit this week. And now we, too, know what it's really like."