Right Voices

Liberal Watchdog Group, Media Matters for America, Wants Limbaugh Booted Off Armed Forces Radio

A liberal group that monitors conservative media wants Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to remove radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh from the American Forces Radio and Television Services, formerly known as Armed Forces Radio.

According to Media Matters for America, which describes itself as the first organization to systematically monitor the media for conservative “misinformation,” Limbaugh has spent the past four weeks trivializing and condoning the U.S. mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at the Abu Ghraib prison.

“It is abhorrent that the American taxpayer is paying to broadcast what is in effect pro-torture propaganda to American troops,” the group’s president and CEO David Brock wrote to Rumsfeld. “I ask you to consider removing Mr. Limbaugh from the radio network to protect our troops from these reckless and dangerous messages.”

Limbaugh’s hour-long show on the American Forces Network is taxpayer-funded and broadcast to almost one million U.S. troops stationed in more than 175 countries and U.S. territories, including Iraq, Brock said.

What is the reckless and dangerous message? This is what Rush said:

On his May 4 radio show — in response to a caller who suggested that what happened at Abu Ghraib was like a “college fraternity prank” — Limbaugh agreed.

“This is no different than what happens at [Yale University's] Skull and Bones initiation, and we’re going to ruin people’s lives over it and we’re going to hamper our military effort, and then we are going to really hammer them (the culprits) because they had a good time,” Limbaugh said.

“You know, these people are being fired at every day. I’m talking about people having a good time, these people, you ever heard of emotional release? You heard of a need to blow some steam off? These people (prisoners) are the enemy. Our people are being fired at, shot at, these are young people that have volunteered to go over there and they’re having bullets fired in their way, bombs and mortar fire aimed at ‘em by the people that they are guarding and charged to get information from. Everybody has a breaking point. Now, I’m not suggesting that it’s common, normal in disciplined military structures for people to lose control. I’m suggesting that it might be understandable. ”

In the same broadcast, Limbaugh remarked that what happened at Abu Ghraib, in his opinion, should not be standard operating procedure. “But I don’t think that it is,” he said, “and I think everybody is overreacting.”

He also said the U.S. is “investigating itself to the point of paralysis” and the U.S. is going to “end up with people afraid to pull the trigger.”

This is not pro-torture propaganda.

I can understand why this organization would want Rush to be removed from the air. They can’t have someone out there with an intelligent voice stating what many of us think and telling America to focus on what is important and to stop overreacting to the actions of a few service members when there are tens of thousands who are doing their job without incident and doing it very well.

Rush is right, America is investigating itself into paralysis, on many levels, and we have to stop.

Yes, I can understand why Media Matters for America wants Rush silenced on Armed Forces Radio. Why would they want anything to be broadcast to our troops that may give them hope? That might lift their morale with the knowledge that there are those of us in America who appreciate what they are doing and the sacrifices they are making. The liberal media would never want this.

How is this groups purpose any different than that of say a liberal first amendment smashing machine?