The Talk Show American

THE TALK SHOW AMERICAN: Radio Host Mark Larson Decries War Reporting

Friday, May 26, 2006

Radio Host Mark Larson Decries War Reporting

Award-winning broadcaster Mark Larson, who is heard on over 2,500 radio and television outlets worldwide, believes much of what Americans are learning from the mainstream media belies real progress in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Larson recently returned from a tour of Afghanistan with an unprecedented round of interviews with top American generals and local officials.

"I heard this last week from another senior official over there that they are very concerned about a lot of these network reporters who will sit there in the hotel in Baghdad and never go out and see anything,� Larson recounted.


"What they are doing is buying all of the nastiest footage that they can get . . .�


In testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee last summer, General John Abizaid, head of Central Command, confirmed: "I can tell you that when my soldiers . . . ask me the question whether or not they�ve got support from the American people or not, that worries me.�

That concern of Abizaid got Larson invited inside a commanders summit, which he described as "a bonus that we didn�t expect and that was phenomenal in terms of understanding . . .�

Larson said he was able to ask a number of coalition partners that if the U.S. hadn�t stirred things up by getting Saddam out of there, would the region be better off?

According to Larson, the universal answer was that even without the catalyst of the U.S. intervention, the fanatic Jihad against the West would have grown and would have by no means stayed localized.

Part of that new world of understanding that Larson came away with he said was perhaps best articulated by Abizaid, who told him about the grim reality of Central Command: "When I talked with him [Abizaid] in September, he said, �Listen, when you talk about the whole area of influence in Central Command - 27 nations - this is a rough neighborhood.��

Larson got the opportunity to visit the Afghan West Point and witness its first anniversary.

"So, three years from now they will have the first graduating class,� Larson said. "This was the first time that any of these locals had gotten a chance to see something other than the poverty and the years of war, strife, and Taliban.�

Afghanistan, Larson noted, is a couple of years ahead of the progress curve (having been invaded ahead of Iraq by coalition forces).

"I was very impressed with what is happening,� Larson explained. "I spent a whole day with the military police and they just routed out about 20-30 percent of the corruption there. They figure they got a good handle on that.

Larson took umbrage with how, in his opinion, CNN has been reporting as if Afghanistan "is coming unglued.�

To those in the know on the ground, said Larson, the recent Taliban upsurge is nothing but the usual spring offensive.

The broadcaster recounted a talk he had with the Afghan Defense Minister, Abdul Rahim Wardak, a former Soviet-fighting mujahideen who also received some military training in the U.S. "He laughed, shrugged it off and said they have been doing this for years.�

Larson told of a recent chat he had with Gen. John M. Custer, U.S. Central Command director of intelligence, who talked with him about how the U.S. had reduced the number of operating bases in Iraq from 80-plus to fewer than 60.

"People don�t hear those figures,� Larson lamented. "You know, they say we are making a bigger footprint and we are enlarging some of the bases, which is true on some of those, but that [reduction in number] is significant and that gets continually ignored.�

Larson sees the U.S. presence in the Middle East as anything but ill-advised.

"Imagine if either Saddam was in charge, or Saddam and the Taliban were in charge, and you have Iran going where they are going . . .�


His pragmatic approach owes at least in some measure to the troops he encountered � troops who typically told him, "Sure, I�d like to go home, but I�ve got a job to do.�

"You see that kind of inspiration, and you see on the other side all of the stuff that the national media thinks is boring,� Larson said. "Forget the good news, let�s do the body count.�

But Larson�s personal perception of his nation at war is unshakably optimistic, and he said that it was in no small measure due to the servicemen and women he met.

Case-in-point, a female warrior he encountered at a Central Command airbase, emotionally told the broadcaster how she and her comrades spent their spare time going into the villages bringing toys and treats to the kids.

Then there was the big burly soldier who drove an oil truck from Kuwait into Iraq on a regular basis: "Here�s this gruff kind of down-home southern guy who . . . says how much fun it is to reach out to the people and earn their good will.�

And there�s the guy in the U.S. Blackhawk helicopter whose eyes shined as he described how the crew drops new soccer balls to the kids.

"You never hear about it,� Larson said with disgust.

"The thing that is frustrating to me is that you hear from people who say �I was for the war in Iraq, and, OK, Saddam was bad, but what else is on TV - I�m kind of tired of this.� Well, you know, anything worth doing is not going to be something that is immediately neat and tidy and done tomorrow morning.

"It wasn�t exactly tidy up right after Germany surrendered. We are so into gratification that we want it done yesterday.�


When asked if mainstream media ever got it right, he recalled a recent article in The New York Times concerning the area in Iraq where ancient Babylon once thrived � the place where Saddam Hussein was going to build a special palace.

The broadcaster noted that the area was about 60 miles southwest of Baghdad and that the Times wrote that it was one of the most peaceful spots in the country.

"I thought, �They are admitting that there are peaceful spots in the country.� This is progress, but then, they had some archeologist saying U.S. Marines and coalition people are filling sandbags without regard to archeological treasures. So they had to get in a hit.�

Still, with Larson and those like him, the other side of story will be told.

His radio show is broadcast on AM news radio 600 KOGO, in San Diego, Calif. For more on Larson's insightful experience, visit his Web site: www.marklarson.com.

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