T H E E X A M I N ER18 SU N DAY, J U LY 26, 2009
COMMENTARY
DIM BULB: WHO: Malaysia's Syariah Court WHAT: Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a 32-year-old model, was
sentenced to be flogged with a rattan cane after pleading guilty to drinking beer in a nightclub in 2008. Malay
Muslims caught drinking face prosecution in the religious Syariah Court. WHY IT'S DIM: Shukarno's sentence
-- six lashes plus a $1,400 fine, equal to nearly 20 percent of the country's per capita income -- is draconian, even
by Malaysian standards. Though consuming alcohol carries a maximum sentence of three years in jail, most male
violators get away with just a small fine. CURE: Protest the unequal treatment of women living under Muslim law.
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I
t's time for a post-Cronkite
post-mortem, but not on the
late "icon" himself -- the
"most trusted man in Amer-
ica," the "voice of God," "the gold
standard," the "proxy for a nation,"
or, in plainer English, the lush-lived
celebrity "anchor" who died this
month at age 92.
No, the Cronkite post-mortem
that's needed is for the zombies who
conjured up the hollow rapture and
the living dead who fell for it.
Harsh words? You bet. But I don't
know how else to begin to assess
a nation that sees fit to celebrate,
crown, even worship a man who
said his "proudest moment" was
when he declared on CBS, having
misinterpreted the 1968 Tet Offen-
sive as a victory for North Vietnam,
that the Vietnam War was unwin-
nable for the United States.
"If I've lost Cronkite, I've lost
middle America," almost every
Cronkite obituary approvingly
quoted President Lyndon B. John-
son as having said in response
-- never mind that Cronkite was
flat-out wrong in his reporting.
This was the infamous "stale-
mate" broadcast in which Cronkite
editorialized inunprecedented man-
ner: "It is increasingly clear to this
reporter that the only rational way
out then will be to negotiate, not as
victors, but as an honorable people
who ... did the best they could."
Despite his obit-omnipotence,
Cronkite alone wasn't responsible
for LBJ's offer again to negotiate
with Hanoi, his decision not to run
for re-election, the ultimate flag-
ging of America's commitment to
South Vietnam, or 1 million-plus
boat people who fled the communist
regime, but the famed broadcaster
was without doubt a key influence in
persuading the nation, particularly
its elites, to accept, if not court,
American defeat in Vietnam.
So, to use his own words, was
Cronkite an honorable journalist
who did the best he could?
No. What may -- may -- have
resulted from forgivable misim-
pressions because of the "fog of
war" long ago crystallized into
obdurate lies. Cronkite never clari-
fied the record, never admitted that
the Tet Offensive -- the Viet Cong's
surprise holiday attack on cities
across South Vietnam -- resulted
in a military and political fiasco for
North Vietnam.
This was becoming appar-
ent even before the dust had
settled in 1968, as we learn in Peter
Braestrup's indispensable "The Big
Story," one of the signal historical
works of the 20th century, which
meticulously analyzes the media's
failure to assess Tet correctly as a
defeat for North Vietnam.
Even Leftist journalist Frances
Fitzgerald in her Pulitzer Prize-
winning "Fire in the Lake" reported
that Tet had "seriously depleted"
Viet Cong forces and "wiped out"
many of their "most experienced
cadres," noting that such losses
drove "the southern movement
for the first time into almost total
dependency on the north." Her con-
clusion: "By all the indices available
to the American military, the Tet
offensive was a major defeat for the
enemy."
And the enemy agreed. In a 1995
interview with the Wall Street
Journal, Bui Tin, a member of the
North Vietnamese general staff
who in 1975 personally received the
unconditional surrender of South
Vietnam, called North Vietnam's
losses in Tet "staggering."
Communist forces in the South,
he explained, "were nearly wiped
out by all the fighting in 1968. It
took us until 1971 to re-establish our
presence, but we had to use North
Vietnamese troops as local gueril-
las. If the American forces had not
begun to withdraw under Nixon in
1969," he added, "they could have
punished us severely."
And who knows? If Cronkite had
not used Tet to nudge for negotia-
tions, maybe American forces would
not have begun to withdraw.
Bui Tin said North Vietnamese
commander Gen. Vo Nguyen Giap
told him Tet was "a military defeat
though we had gained the planned
political advantages when Johnson
agreed to negotiate and did not run
for re-election."
Well, who could blame him? The
president had "lost Cronkite."
And so be it. The president lost
Cronkite, the United States lost
Vietnam. But why are the rest
of us still stuck with Cronkite's
Orwellian packaging as "America's
most trusted newsman" 41 years
after he totally and calamitously
and obstinately blew Tet?
The ongoing genuflection before
"Uncle Walter" reveals something
mighty weird about this body politic
-- something beyond the ken of a
mere journalist, something more
in the line of work of a really good
shrink.
Examiner Columnist Diana West is
syndicated nationally by United Media
and is the author of "The Death of the
Grown-Up: How America's Arrested
Development Is Bringing Down Western
Civilization."
But there's still Cronkite's offensive history Thomas is Supreme Court's
least activist justice
Re: "Thomas is Right's radical
judicial activist," From Readers, July
16, & "Supreme Court designed to be
aristocratic," From Readers, July 22
Mr. Taylor and Mr. Drudi have
both incorrectly stated that
Supreme Court Justice Clarence
Thomas is an "activist" judge.
Perhaps they do not know the defi-
nition.
An activist judge is one who
makes rulings based on his/her
personal beliefs rather than what
the law was intended to say. Of all
the current justices, Thomas is
probably the least activist because
his rulings are based on an assump-
tion of innocence and what the law
actually says.
This has led to some pretty dis-
tasteful rulings on his part, but only
because he applied the laws as they
were written. If a bad law is on the
books, Thomas applies it rather
than ignoring it or relying on his
own opinion. This is the correct role
of a judge. The legislative branch
makes law, not the judiciary.
Benjamin Garber
Leesburg
Metro doesn't apologize
for late trains
On Friday morning, I was at the
Vienna Metro station at 4:45, wait-
ing for the train that is supposed
to leave at 5 a.m. But at 5 a.m., the
train was not there. At 5:05, still
no train.
The platform was crowded with
people waiting for the 5:00 train
and people who normally take the
5:10 train. Finally, around 5:12, a
train arrived. Metro made no apolo-
gies for the no-show 5:00 train or
the late 5:10 train, which made me
late for work -- and not for the first
time.
Kathy Schrecengost
Manassas Park
Council member's
pandering ignores law
D.C. Councilman Jim Graham's
pandering attempt to name a bas-
ketball court after President Barack
Obama is just another example of
the historical hubris shown by our
elected officials toward the rule of
law.
The D.C. Code states that "no
public space in the District shall
be named in honor of any living
person."
This is the same law cited by
council members when denying a
similar honor to Mamie "Peanut"
Johnson, a District resident who
was one of three African-American
women who played professional
baseball in the Negro Leagues.
During her three-year career as a
pitcher for the Indianapolis Clowns,
she amassed a 33-8 record. Isn't she
worthy of having a ball field named
after her?
Council members have histori-
cally acted in their own self interest,
oftentimes in contravention of the
wishes of their constituents. For
example, the council overturned
a citizen-driven term limits refer-
endum. We must hold our elected
officials accountable and demand
they abide by the same laws as any
other citizen.
Ralph J. Chittams Sr.
Washington

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