Joe Pitts: “Since September 11, journalists have been working overtime to report on the war on terrorism. They have done a good job.…”

“Since September 11, journalists have been working overtime to report on the war on terrorism. They have done a good job. Terrorism, the Taliban, Afghanistan, are not well understood by the American people, and our newspapers and electronic media have been working hard to educate us. I have one serious concern, though. Some of our news organizations have decided not to use the word 'terrorist' to describe the suicidal maniacs who took so many lives 4 weeks ago. Now, I understand that reporters want to be objective. I understand that if they are going to be trusted and taken seriously, the media does not want to take sides. But reporters also have a duty to report the truth. There comes a point when this kind of even-handedness stands in the way of the truth. The truth here is that the killers were madmen and terrorists, willing to take the law into their own hands and kill thousands of innocent men, women, and children. The lie is that they were victims of Western imperialism who died valiantly for their cause. This is not a debate even the media should be removed from, it is a debate between good and evil. If we refuse to tell the truth or call a spade a spade, we are making the killers just a little bit stronger. We should call bin Laden's killers terrorists, because that is what they are.”