THE SUN HERALD

                                    It's easy to be neutral

                                    until you're in danger

                                    Just as our national media was Ho Chi Minh's strongest weapon
                                    without which he could have never driven our forces from
                                    Vietnam, the media has become bin Laden's strongest weapon.
                                    He's continually provided with details of our tactics, force
                                    structure, battle plans, shortcomings, and critically, our
                                    psychological state (as we speak, chaotic). He's also provided with
                                    a medium of communication with terrorist cells and the worldwide
                                    Muslim community upon which his success depends.

                                    Since WWII, to the detriment of most U.S. military operations that
                                    followed, the media has operated with unquestioned license,
                                    piously preaching 1st Amendment rights and their sanctified
                                    personal journalistic neutrality with allegiance to none. They
                                    bravely espoused these "rights" while secure in the knowledge that
                                    the country bound to their protection was never under threat of
                                    defeat or serious damage.

                                    With this war, however, will eventually come the realization that,
                                    unlike other recent wars, with the probability of eventual massive
                                    casualties and destruction of war on the homeland, their retreat to
                                    the safety of this nation cannot be guaranteed. Many wonder at
                                    what point the national media might begin to reassess their innate
                                    "neutrality" and the moral legitimacy in exercising their "rights"          and
                                    begin to realize that "neutrality" and 1st Amendment rights are not
                                    guaranteed by the al-Qaida. Hopefully, the media will come to its
                                    senses before their doors are kicked down.

                                    ARMOND 'SI' SIMMONS 

                                    Pell City, Ala. 

                                    psysim@coosahs.net