Military’s relationship with media, aid workers explored

Friday, June 8, 2007

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They were panelists during the opening session of the Patuxent Summer Institute, convened by The Patuxent Partnership and St. Mary’s College of Maryland.

‘‘What makes [the United States] different,” said P.J. Crowley, a retired Air Force colonel who was spokesman for the federal government and for the U.S. military for 28 years, ‘‘is the free and open exchange of ideas.”

A good military-media relationship, he added, ‘‘is vitally important.”

The panelists talked about how the media’s coverage of wars has changed over the past 60 years.

‘‘The Gulf War was made for CNN,” said Crowley, who added that it might have been the first time the military realized the value of having a good relationship with the press.

The panel also discussed how the military has occasionally leaked false information to the press as a way to distribute misinformation. And they cited examples of how the media has made the public aware of military wrongdoing — events that might have otherwise gone undetected, including the way prisoners were treated at Abu Ghraib and the poor conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Michael Isikoff, a Newsweek investigative reporter who has covered the war on terrorism, said the media ‘‘failed in its reporting of the invasion of Iraq” by not asking ‘‘the hard questions” in the weeks and months prior to the start of the war.

This is part of the theme of his book, ‘‘Hubris, The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War,” which he co-authored with David Corn.

‘‘The press was somewhat intimidated in 2002 and 2003” by the nation’s renewed sense of patriotism following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and suggested that corporate media executives saw coverage of the war as an opportunity to improve their stock prices.

‘‘The media loves to go to war,” he said. ‘‘It’s good for business.”

He later added that since the war began, ‘‘the media has made up for this by showing us the chaos” created by the war.

‘‘We’re failing in Iraq,” he said, ‘‘because the narrative the Bush administration put forward [prior to the invasion] has been discredited.”

‘‘It’s not always a nice relationship,” said Ralph Begleiter, a former CNN world affairs correspondent who is now on the faculty at the University of Delaware. ‘‘It’s the military’s job to be the team player. It’s the media’s job to be the adversary. Both sides recognize this. It’s not necessarily something that should be reconciled. The two are not incompatible.”

As she made her opening remarks to the 75 or so men and women who were in attendance for the opening session of the Patuxent Summer Institute, Bonnie Green called the two-day event ‘‘a work in progress.”

Green is the executive director of The Patuxent Partnership, which collaborated with the college to stage the two-day event, held in the campus’ Cole Cinema.

‘‘It’s programs like this,” she said, ‘‘that support the workforce development ... and promote the teaching of science, technology, engineering and math in our public schools.”

The afternoon panel Wednesday talked about the military’s relationship with non-governmental organizations that offer assistance to people living in war zones and places where natural disasters have struck.

Retired Vice Adm. James Blenn Perkins III, who was in charge of port operations at Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1992, discussed the United Nations Security Council’s efforts to bring food into that country when a civil war caused widespread famine.

‘‘I’ve never seen such devastation,” Perkins said. ‘‘Not before and not after.

‘‘This was not a natural famine,” he said, ‘‘it was clan-induced.” The convoys carrying the supplies of relief food from the Mogadishu docks were often hijacked soon after they left the safety of the port.

It was his job to offer military security to the trucks carrying the supplies to those in need. But, he said, some NGOs declined the military’s assistance. As a result, many of the supplies never made it to their intended destinations.

Working in Mogadishu’s joint civilian-military operations center, Perkins said he dealt with ‘‘saints, intransigents and phonies.

‘‘Ninety-nine percent of these people were doing the Lord’s work,” he said, ‘‘but every once in awhile I’d have to deal with the others, too.

‘‘I came away with a great respect for the NGOs,” he added. ‘‘We learned a lot of lessons, and we need to spend a lot of time relearning those lessons.” Perkins suggested that sending NGO representatives to speak at the War College would be beneficial to future military-civilian operations around the world.

‘‘The care and feeding of NGOs is not a military function,” he said, ‘‘but we need to seek them out and find out how we can cooperate.”

‘‘The role of the military,” said Stephan E. Klingelhofer, senior vice president of the Washington, D.C.-based International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, ‘‘is primarily to win wars, or to prevent wars. The role of [NGOs] is to provide a place to help their neighbors.”

He said Americans take it for granted that help is available in times of need, either from government agencies or from neighbors, church groups, civic organizations or friends. ‘‘But that’s not true in many parts of the world ... International organizations are resented in many parts of the world.”

His job at ICNL, he said, ‘‘is to mediate between governments and these organizations” and convince the parties that cooperation would be beneficial for both sides.

‘‘We explain that it would be good for the government,” he said, ‘‘to have these organizations that can provide services that the government can’t provide.”

Klingelhofer also works with the military at disaster relief sites and in war zones.

He recently returned from Afghanistan and applauded the relief work being done there by the American NGOs and the military.

‘‘Most often,” he said, ‘‘these people turn out to be our best ambassadors. If it weren’t for the NATO troops, we couldn’t do our job there.”

In Iraq, he said, ‘‘soldiers saw a need [to help people living in the communities] and were trying to help.

‘‘In the Middle East, and throughout the world,” he said, ‘‘there are people who want to do the right thing. They need to be empowered. We’re working at mediation, working with these people who seek change, to make it happen. We encourage civil society to be strong and to help these people.”

Klingelhofer and Perkins were joined on the panel by Bill Roberts, a SMCM professor of anthropology and former Peace Corps volunteer.

E-mail Paul C. Leibe at pleibe@somdnews.com.