Civilians, children, and war

Civilian deaths are a terrible, tragic reality of war. While all casualties are painful, the absolute worst result of a military operation by air, land, or sea is the death of a child. Nobody fighting modern warfare wants kids to die, except evil, ideologically corrupt forces like al Qaeda and the Taliban.

On Christmas, alleged al Qaeda terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab tried to murder innocent civilians, including children, on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam to Detroit. 620 AM WTMJ News Radio in Milwaukee has this dramatic account from the Keepman family, which survived the failed attack. The husband, wife, and daughter were bringing two newly adopted Ethiopian children home for the first time when they were nearly murdered in the sky:

"No matter what happened, these kids would never know if we didn't make it. We wanted them to think this was a game," explained Patricia.

"They were very concerned when they saw the flight attendant. They were very withdrawn. So I told them that they were just being very funny and silly, and this is what they do on airplanes, since they'd never been on one, and we got them to giggle about it.

But then, the gravity of the situation came over the whole family.

"As the seriousness progressed, and we knew that this could possibly be it, my husband and daughter put their hand through their seats and we all held hands in a circle and sang 'Jesus Loves Me' and we prayed, and we just made it as much of a game as we could and make them completely innocent as to what was happening."

Had the suspected al Qaeda terrorist's detonator worked, or if brave passengers and crewmembers hadn't responded so quickly, the two adopted Ethiopian children would not have seen snow falling for the very first time later that night. What did these children do to deserve nearly being blown apart in mid-air? Nothing. A terrorist group simply didn't think they deserved to live.

According to reports, Abdulmutallab, who is from Nigeria and allegedly trained in Yemen, brought this war back to the American homeland. Many miles away in Afghanistan and Iraq, thousands of U.S. troops are trying to keep these acts outside our country's borders, and have undoubtedly saved thousands of American lives with their unsung heroism since the 9/11 attacks. Yet when Afghan or Iraqi children are tragically killed while targeting the enemy on the battlefield, the national and international media usually give the accusers a platform to smear our troops. The press often grants the benefit of the doubt not to the men and women who put everything on the line to protect these children from being kidnapped, raped, or enslaved, but the terrorist groups that actively try to murder them. This blog has talked about the media's misconduct in its handling of the alleged Haditha 'massacre' in Iraq, in which all but one Marine awaiting trial have now been cleared of all criminal charges despite an initial media uproar over the allegations.

The latest case in point: Afghan President Hamid Karzai is blaming NATO forces for the alleged deaths of ten civilians, including eight children, in Afghanistan's Konar Province on December 26. As a BBC report on the incident editorializes, "if the civilians deaths are confirmed, it will be a blow to Gen Stanley McChrystal, the commander of Nato forces in Afghanistan, who has vowed to limit such casualties, says our correspondent." Yet the same BBC article quotes Reuters saying Kunar's governor admits the civilian deaths can't be confirmed "because of the presence of the Taliban" in the area. Perhaps we can connect the dots and analyze whether a terrorist group with a longstanding disrespect for the lives of children was using them as human shields during a coalition exercise? Articles by CNN and the New York Times fail to even mention that the area is inaccessible due to a Taliban strangehold, which is flat-out irresponsible reporting.

I wasn't in Kunar Province on Saturday and I don't know what happened. I do know the U.S. military has pledged to investigate and said it takes Karzai's complaints very seriously. I also know I have corresponded with U.S. troops and families about personal stories of Americans saving children during battles or risking their lives to go into a village and hand out candy bars. Countless acts of terror, like the near-tragedy on Christmas in Detroit, prove al Qaeda and the Taliban is trying to murder innocent children. So why does the media trumpet civilian deaths while largely ignoring all the good U.S. troops do for children, and go a step further by omitting key facts that expose the terrorists and their propaganda?

If you confront a journalist with these arguments, you will likely be told that "the media can't take sides in a war." I say that is total nonsense, because killing children is evil, while fighting to protect them is a moral obligation that America has answered the call to enforce. Journalists took sides in World War II because Hitler, Hirohito, and Mussolini were indiscriminately murdering civilians and children to advance their dark ideologies, and attacking or planning to invade the United States.

We took the fight to Europe and the Pacific, where thousands of children were accidentally, tragically killed by the Allies in order to defeat these murderous regimes. To ensure a U.S.-led victory, much reporting was censored and sanitized by the U.S. government. If journalists refuse to honestly report that al Qaeda and the Taliban are slaughtering innocents, or spotlight the wide gap between the good of American troops and evil of our enemies, how can we win the war of ideas during the decisive conflict of this century? It is a frightening question that must be urgently addressed by our military, media, and national leadership.