"Al Qaeda turned it on but is powerless to turn it off"

"Get regular with Relax. Start every day the Relax way. Your system will feel so great, you'll want to relax on the top of the Empire State." sings cigarette girl with stars in her eyes Mia Farrow in the "Get rid of her" scene of Woody Allen's masterpiece, "Radio Days." The blogosphere's Ernie Pyle, Michael Yon has gone big time. Watch for his dispatches from the front on Fox News! starting today.

"Al Qaeda turned it on but is powerless to turn it off," writes the blogosphere's own Ernie Pyle, Michael Yon, in his first must-read dispatch for Fox News, "Ernie is Dead" [via Pajamas Media]. Even as head-in-the-sand Democrat leaders fiddle while Rome burns and -- hectored into submission by their radical nutroots and shooting themselves in the foot -- decide to withdraw from a scheduled August presidential debate with Brit Hume on Fox in Harry Reid's Nevada, Fox gets the scoop:

Some of the soldiers streaming into Iraq are new to battle; others are serving their second, third and fourth combat tours. Some have fought across Afghanistan, in Africa or in some corner in a secret fight, on a special team of some sort, killing men in jungle camps in South America, in wars few people have heard about.

Around the world, dangerous American soldiers will close in on men tonight and kill them in small battles that will never be discussed. Al Qaeda turned it on but is powerless to turn it off.

Boy, this boy can write. 'Reminds us of pre-TV broadcasters' use of the listener's imagination to spin a web of wondrous images -- you know, like in Woody Allen's spellbinding "Radio Days," which we just happened to catch in the wee hours this morning. Great flick!!! More from Michael:

Terrorists started this war with killing and are suing for peace with more killing, lashing out at schoolyards, marketplaces and soccer matches, blowing up kids, women and men on their way to work or worship. All to win the battle for headlines, which they are certain to get; the greater the savagery, the bigger the font.

Our soldiers, those from countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany, France (yes, France) and the United States, are better in all aspects but one: The terrorists somehow manage to beat us in our respective medias. We may own the air, but terrorists own the airwaves.

Then comes the death of Ernie in our time:

I believe we are losing the war in Afghanistan, but I have strong hope for Iraq. Nearly all of America and Europe believe Iraq is a lost cause, but there is hope here and it lives in the thousands of stories about this place that are never told because they have not been witnessed by our media, or at least not reported.

Under that strange high moon rising to meet its eclipse, I thought of Ernie.

Ernie Pyle. His was a name I hardly knew just two years ago, except in some vague way I knew he had been a writer, at war.

That changed when people compared my work to his and sent a couple of Ernie's books to me. After reading them, I thought the comparison extremely flattering but not deserved. There are some obvious and even stylistic similarities.

I say "folks" a lot; so did Ernie. [Sorry, Richard] Ernie had a particular heart for the infantry; I spend most of my time with infantry. But while Ernie talked bluntly about the ugly parts of war, I simply lack the skills to make anything ugly look pretty.

You've got a tougher, post-Jane-Fonda audience, Michael, but with Fox News giving you a microphone, the truth may still out before it's too late. The Democrats, meanwhile -- if we're lucky -- will be shouting into the wind.

Comments

[goomp]

May the words of Michael Yon echo through the minds of the people of our country. We can and should be leaders of freedom throughout the world but not if we deny the existence of evil enemies whom we must eliminate by force.

[Teresa]

Better late than never. Too bad it's taken so long for them to figure out Michael can really do the job for them. He's been at it a very long time. I hope this is the beginning of the pendulum swinging back onto the side of the free world taking back the airwaves and headlines.

[Richard Lawrence Cohen]

That's quite all right, Sissy. He's earned the right.

[hnav]

well done...

thank you.

[Hogarth]

The Democrats, meanwhile -- if we're lucky -- will be shouting into the wind.

I don't know, but they sure do seem to excel at pissing into it.

[MAD BLUEBIRD]

Frankly any lawyer that sues ina terrorists behalf should be barred for life from practicing law and any judge who rules in a terrorists behalf should lose their jobs