Winter Soldier: Can the Mainstream Media Handle the Truth?

Host Brian Kilmeade jumped in and remarked "It’s about...it’s about 20."

Williams replied, "No, it’s not about . It’s 28. I say it that way because we’re going to spend 15 minutes talking about this, I’ve not seen one death, one name of a soldier, one name of a person that allows us to do this."

Host, Gretchen Carlson asked quizzically "Why do we do that as a society." Williams answered "Because it’s our voracious appetite to bring on ratings. That’s what it is. We know it as a fact. Let’s be honest about it." Carlson agreed "Of course, it’s the ratings." She then moved to place the blame on the public, "It’s the appetite, we’re feeding the beast. The audience..."

"Well, cart before the horse, horse before the cart. I don’t know who drives it," Williams responded. "I think right now if we woke up this morning and instead of talking about Heath Ledger, we talked about the troop who died last night by the IED..."

Kilmeade defended the media by stating, "We talk about the war plenty. I was actually embedded. I was there for the invasion." "I got ya," offered Williams. Kilmeade continued, "I think everybody in this country knows we’re at war."

Williams countered, "Nobody in this country knows who died yesterday and if I know about Heath, I want to know about the troops."

Kilmeade then asked whether there was any realistic way to talk about each of these deaths individually. Williams resolved that "We can talk about all of the troops from yesterday and I’m sorry if we’re going to sit here and have this discussion about Heath Ledger, I want to tell America [looking into the camera] 28 troops died since January 1st. That’s what I want to talk about."

The hosts relented and offered Williams the chance to tell them about one of the troops who died since January. Thirty seconds later, they went to commercial. Montel never returned. Just days later, it was announced that Fox declined to renew it’s contract with the Montel Williams show.

Last year, Joe Scarborough an early and ardent supporter of the invasion of Iraq concluded that the U.S. could not win the war. He stated, "And you're hearing that from a guy who's been a hawk from his earliest days. But I'm also a realist...When the facts change, so does my mind. You know, what do you do? Well, bottom line is, if you keep your feet in cement and you don't change with the realities on the ground, then you're responsible for the killing of a lot more U.S. troops."

Well, Joe, next week a group of brave men and women will gather to share with the world the realities on the ground. Will you be there to listen?

I offer then, a challenge to the media. A self-imposed stop loss - no weekend get away, no excursions to the world of eye candy reporting. For four days next week, censor the celebrity and political hijinks. You cheered the troops on while turning your back on the truth, the least you can do now is hear their stories and report them to the public.

Hey, Scarborough, Matthews, Blitzer et al - can you handle the truth?

Note: IVAW has coordinated live video and audio feeds of the entire Winter Soldier weekend. For more information visit, How to Watch

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