Casualties of war are often measured in the most tangible sense — by those injured or murdered. However, one casualty that often gets overlooked in times of war is the truth.

Today it was revealed that thousands of leftists were outright murdered at the onset of the Korean War in 1950. The story was initially denied and unreported because editors of newspapers — and the military — thought such reporting would be treasonous. Journalists wondered why no due process was being afforded these detainees. Hmm, sounds familiar.

Though the truth is often overlooked in matters of war today, I wonder if such atrocities could have occured then had the rapid dissemination of information via modem and satellites been available. Some things never change, though. Dissenters in times of war are often ridiculed, labeled as treasonous and unpatriotic. Only when the war becomes a massive failure in both objective and public opinion terms do those labels waft away.

Posted by Mike Matthews in Political Landscape