Heroes and Villains

Press coverage of the “daring,” “dramatic” mission to rescue a downed US airman followed the logic of a Hollywood movie.

Last Monday, a day after Donald Trump threatened to commit war crimes by blowing up Iranian power plants and bridges—“Open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell—JUST WATCH!” he wrote on Truth Social—America’s most prominent newspapers led with the United States military’s efforts to find a downed airman. In detailed narratives, the press described a “dangerous” (New York Times), “dramatic” (Washington Post), “daring” (New York Post), “sprawling, high-risk rescue mission” (Wall Street Journal), which saw the safe retrieval of a weapons system operator shot down in an F-15E the previous Friday. Similar accounts ran in Politico, Axios, Reuters, CBS News, and other outlets, indicating heavy media-briefing by the administration. This was a tale that had it all: An injured US colonel hiding behind enemy lines. A race against time to prevent an Iranian propaganda coup. CIA deception efforts. Rescuers pushing through adversity and hostile fire to eventually triumph. Other details filled in the picture: the plane’s “Dude 44” call sign; the downed airman’s proof-of-life message to the US military (“God is good”); and Trump’s description of the mission, quoted in several articles, as an “Easter miracle.” The blanket coverage, The Intercept’s Katherine Krueger wrote, was “eerily reminiscent” of media reporting ahead of the US invasion of Iraq, when much of the press laundered the George W. Bush administration’s shaky intelligence.