The Means

So, CNN.com reported today in this story that the daring rescue of several hostages, including three Americans and Ingrid Betancourt - who was a high-profile former Presidential candidate in Colombia - was performed under somewhat false pretenses. You see, wrapped up in the elaborate and rather clever plot to deceive the FARC captors, were a few individuals who wore bibs containing the symbol of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). This, it turns out, is an egregious deception that is, in fact, a war crime, as laid out in the ICRC charter and international law. In effect, in rescuing these hostages, who suffered countless horrific personal horrors during their 5+ years in captivity by the leftist group, the Colombian government broke international law.

To which I say:

SO FUCKING WHAT.

It's not a surprise at all to me that CNN is nitpicking this operation; the only surprise to me is that it took them this long to do it. You see, these uber-liberal organizations like CNN, MSNBC, CBS, Huffington Post, ACLU, Moveon.org, and the like, don't care at all about the end result of things - even if the end result is a universally accepted and praised outcome (like, for instance, the rescue of these hostages). No, to these groups, what's more important is HOW the result came about. Or, to put it more simply, they care more about the means than the ends. Creative thinking is not something that fits into their overall philosophy. And yet, of course, these are the same groups that chastised the Bush administration for a lack of creative thinking in lambasting them for failing to prevent 9-11.

But, that aside, CNN has really overstepped their bounds here. Though I'm not the only one to point this out about this story, it's still really irresponsible of CNN to do this. They note that their reporting of this story may make it more difficult for ICRC members to operate in war zones in the future. You think??? Of course it is going to be.

But, here's the crazy thing about it - there was no gun to CNN's head that said they had to report on this particular method! Don't act like Colombia is the irresponsible one here - you (CNN) are literally putting lives at stake by your "scoop." Kudos and Huzzah, assholes!

Without a doubt, my little blog that no one reads isn't going to influence CNN or other media organizations at all. Not only will they not take any notice, but few other people will either. But, even if I were a multi-million hit a day website, CNN, et al would not change their philosophy on the matter. It doesn't matter to them (Newsweek is particularly bad on this front, by the way) whether they are putting lives at stake with shady reporting, as long as they receive their viewers and/or readers, that's all that matters.

It makes me sick. Rot in hell, CNN.