This is from Robert Fisk’s ‘The Great War For Civilisation’, p767. He’s writing about the 1991 Gulf War.
But long before this war had concluided with the wholesale slaugthter of fleeing Iraqi troops – and in the disgrace of our betrayal of the hundreds of thousands of brave Iraqis who rose against Saddam at our request – journalists had become mere cyphers, mouthpieces of the generals, discreetly avoiding any moral questions, switching off their cameras – as we would later witness – when the horrors of war became too obvious. Journalists connived in the war, supported it, became part of it. Immatuirty, inexperience, upbringing: you can choose any excuse you want. But they created war without death. They lied.
I love this book.