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Imagine how little traction al Qaeda et al. would have gotten during the Greatest Generation. Things never would have reached the point of 9/11, because the recent resurgence in Islamic imperialism would have been nipped in the bud in 1979. Imagine the America of George Patton permitting the 444-day kidnapping of our embassy personnel in Iran — or any of the terrorist acts that have followed in its wake. We would have dealt with the terrorists decisively and without apology, and that would have ended the matter.

Muslims would have been insane to attack America in the 1940s. Terror attacks would have accomplished nothing, because the media would have used them to rally the public behind our government's overwhelming response. In contrast, today's media amplifies the effects of terrorism, but does everything in its power to discourage a response.

The Media Research Center marked the 5-year anniversary of 9/11 by releasing a report of network coverage of the War on Terror. After analyzing 496 related stories that aired on ABC, NBC, and CBS nightly news from 9/11 through the end of last August, here's what they found, from their executive summary:

• Most TV news stories about the Patriot Act (62%) highlighted complaints or fears that the law infringed on the civil liberties of innocent Americans. This theme emerged immediately after the law was first proposed in September 2001, less than a week after the 9/11 attacks. Only one report (on NBC) suggested the Patriot Act and other anti-terrorism measures "may not be enough."
• ABC, CBS and NBC heavily favored critics of the Patriot Act. Of 23 soundbites from "experts" (such as law professors or ex-FBI agents), 61 percent faulted the law as a threat to privacy rights. Of 19 soundbites from ordinary citizens, every one condemned the Patriot Act, despite polls showing most Americans support the Patriot Act and believe it has prevented new acts of terrorism.
• Most of the network coverage of Guantanamo Bay focused on charges that the captured al-Qaeda terrorists were due additional rights or privileges (100 stories) or allegations that detainees were being mistreated or abused (105 stories). Only 39 stories described the inmates as dangerous, and just six stories revealed that ex-detainees had committed new acts of terror after being released.
• Network reporters largely portrayed the Guantanamo inmates as victims, with about one in seven stories including the word "torture." The networks aired a total of 46 soundbites from Guantanamo prisoners, their families or lawyers, most professing innocence or complaining about mistreatment. Not one report about the Guantanamo prisoners included a comment from 9/11 victims, their families or lawyers speaking on their behalf.
• Most network stories (59%) cast the NSA's post 9/11 terrorist surveillance program as either legally dubious or outright illegal. Exactly half of the news stories (64) framed it as a civil liberties problem, while 38 stories saw the President provoking a constitutional crisis with Congress and the courts. Only 21 stories (16%) focused on the program's value as a weapon in the War on Terror.
• ABC, CBS, and NBC were five times more likely to showcase experts who criticized the NSA's surveillance program. Of 75 total soundbites, 41 of them (55%) condemned the program, compared to just eight (11%) from experts who found it worth praising. The CBS Evening News has so far refused to show any pro-NSA experts.

It's not only the media that's changed since WWII. We've changed too. Our spirits corroded by a constant onslaught of moonbattery, many of us have been brainwashed into despising ourselves enough to tolerate a media that is effectively allied with evil barbarians who are trying to kill us.

There was a time when a media that constantly carped on how poorly the war was supposedly going, that endlessly exaggerated our alleged poor treatment of the enemy, and that undermined our war effort by deliberately revealing classified information would have been run out of town on a rail. This is why we could defeat the Nazis and Imperial Japanese, but are having such a hard time with bumbling savages who are still living in the Seventh Century.