<\body> Stories in America: Newspaper with strong military readership calls for Iraq pullout

Thursday, July 05, 2007

Newspaper with strong military readership calls for Iraq pullout

This is from Editor & Publisher:
Even though U.S. casualties in Iraq continue to mount -- and we have now been there longer than we were involved in World War II -- surprisingly few newspaper editorial pages have come out for any kind of withdrawal (even a very slow one) or timeline for a pullout. Polls show that about 2 in 3 Americans favor the start of a withdrawal, and even Republican Sen. Richard Lugar, a strong conservative, came out for it last week, but newspapers have remained largely silent.

But yesterday, on Indepedence Day, a McClatchy newspaper with a heavy military presence in its circulation area came out for withdrawal.
The headline: "Bring Home U.S. Troops." It concludes that this war "isn't worth a single more American life."

The paper is The Olympian in Olympia, Wash. Nearby are Ft. Lewis (which has sent tens of thousands of troops to Iraq) and McCord Air Force Base. Daily circulation is about 32,000. The president and publisher is John Winn Miller. Vickie Kilgore is executive editor.

“The Fourth of July is a time when Americans celebrate the values that have made us a great nation," Miller tells E&P today. "So it seemed like an appropriate time to editorialize on what has become a national disgrace.

"It is a particularly important and local issue for us because we are a military community with Ft. Lewis and McCord Air Force Base in our area. We seen too many of them killed, so many that Ft. Lewis considered stopping individual memorials. Our men and women have done their duty with honor. It is time to honor their sacrifices by ending this ill-conceived mission.

"A total of 134 service members assigned to Fort Lewis have died in Iraq. A total of 208 service members with ties to Washington state have died in the war."

Today, Sen. Pete Domenici became the latest veteran Republican in Congress to break with the White House on Iraq policy.

2 Comments:

At 7/05/2007 7:22 PM, Blogger JACK BOO said...

But..but...but...I THOUGHT THE MEDIA WAS CONSERVATIVE! My world is now officially upside down.

This is really incredible news. "The Olympian" no less! I mean, yeah sure, we just heard how reporters donate money to Democrats at a 9:1 ratio, but hell, it's not like they throw their money to Dems at a 10:1 ratio or something. Now THAT would have got my attention.

Gosh, what next? Stars and Stripes, (that other little paper that military personal read when they can't get a hold of The Olympian), advocating the military switch from hand grenades to water balloons?

 
At 7/05/2007 8:02 PM, Blogger JACK BOO said...

Oh, and by the way...

The editor of The Olympian, John Winn Miller, called Cal Thomas a "radical" for a piece he wrote about bias in the media. Probably not the best word to choose to prove your paper is not biased.

And who owns the The Olympian? No less than those notorious rednecks and noted warmongers --the McClatchy Company.

The McClatchy Company...Looks like a good stock to buy low.....

http://finance.yahoo.com/q/bc?s=MNI&t=1y

(Geez, you'd think they'd be doing better with so many of our servicemen gobbling up those Olympian editorials every day.)

 

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