The media and war

By Daryl Montgomery and Jack Kemp

After reading J.R. Dunn's article, "The Media Have Changed War," a legal proposal has come to mind. Since what is sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander, I propose a McCain-Feingold law for military operations. No news about troop movements or reinforcements can be reported by the press 90 days before a military operation. After all, if this type of behavior is "fair and Constitutional" for a civilian press at home, it should be the rule at the front.

However, in overseas battlefields, all offending journalists will be subject to being stopped by force, incarceration, military tribunals. In some extreme battlefield cases, the journalists will be clubbed with rifle butts or shot while they are in the act of giving away positions - and they can hold an investigation after the fact. It should have happened to Geraldo when he was embedded with troops early in the Iraq War and he gave away those battlefield plans.

(Jack Kemp is not the former politician of the same name.)