President George H.W. Bush to America:
The media & the Gulf War
The Gulf War received extensive media coverage from August 1990 to January 1991, which heavily contributed to the public's assumptions about the sanitary and successful nature of war. However, most were uninformed about the true nature of the war. Furthermore, the public had an unprecedented high approval rating for the president and his foreign policy. The war coverage became clearly skewed in favor of the Bush Administration.
concluding thoughts
The Vietnam War will remain one of the greatest foreign policy disasters in U.S. history that no future administration would want to relive. In cases like Vietnam, the executive branch will exercise its constitutional powers in order to protect its policies and prevent political fallout—regardless of its scale.
In order to prevent the government from dominating the public’s information-flow, an independent oversight committee must be established. Of course, the executive branch should not release information that might compromise the lives of American servicemen. Instead, the information released should be fair and allow the American public to judge the merit of any administrative policy.
The primary objective of such a committee would be to provide complete and fair information to the American public and call into question any attempt by the executive branch to filter any information for political purposes. After all, the U.S. government is not a separate entity—it is an extension of the consent of the American people. Therefore, it must be transparent at all levels for it to function effectively. It is the American public that holds accountable elected officials and thus, any attempt to deceive the public for political purposes cannot be condoned.
In order to prevent the government from dominating the public’s information-flow, an independent oversight committee must be established. Of course, the executive branch should not release information that might compromise the lives of American servicemen. Instead, the information released should be fair and allow the American public to judge the merit of any administrative policy.
The primary objective of such a committee would be to provide complete and fair information to the American public and call into question any attempt by the executive branch to filter any information for political purposes. After all, the U.S. government is not a separate entity—it is an extension of the consent of the American people. Therefore, it must be transparent at all levels for it to function effectively. It is the American public that holds accountable elected officials and thus, any attempt to deceive the public for political purposes cannot be condoned.