In October 1986, CBS anchor Dan Rather claimed he was attacked from behind and beaten into the Manhattan pavement. He reported his assailant delivered a relentless series of blows and repeatedly demanded, “Kenneth, what is the frequency?” The bizarre episode spawned an R.E.M. anthem and, for a time, Rather was thought to be delusional. Vindication arrived a decade later when the perpetrator was identified by a prison psychiatrist as William Tager, already behind bars for murdering an employee of NBC’s “Today Show.”

Tager believed the news media was beaming harmful signals into his brain and sought the frequency in an attempt to block the transmission. But now the tables have turned and the mentally unstable are directing the malignant flux back towards CBS. Retired National Guard Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, armed with an aging Kinko’s fax machine, infected Rather’s newscast with badly forged documents. The reeling network is left only to prop up the secretary for Bush’s squadron commander in a feckless attempt to affirm the content of its exposé. While it’s patently obvious that George Bush shirked his Vietnam-era obligations, these caustic transmissions have duly killed the message and possibly Rather’s career as well.

As much as we’d like to hop on a swift boat and speed away from Vietnam, she remains the siren that can’t be quelled. And the parallels to today’s morass only serve to extend her reach across the sea of time. CBS, some years ago, alleged that General William C. Westmorland orchestrated a conspiracy to hold down enemy troop estimates in 1967 in an effort to bolster support for the war. CBS was sued (as they may be again) and between the Pentagon Papers and Professor Magruder, everyonewas shown to have lied about the war. After we come to discover that Iraq had no WMDs or ties to Al Qaeda, we are back to 1967: Systematic undercounting of hard-core insurgents – officials argue the number remains between 4,000 and 6,000 – is frustrating U.S. field commanders. Col. Dana Pittard, whose unit repelled the takeover of Baquba, puts the number closer to 120,000.

Despite mounting casualties, endless kidnappings and dire intelligence projections, the President remains “catastrophically optimistic” about his war. He recently lambasted John Kerry for flip-flopping on Iraq, declaring, “Mixed signals are the wrong signals to send to our troops in the field, our allies and, most of all, our enemies.” Lt. Gen. James Conway couldn’t agree more. First ordered to keep out of Fallujah, then to attack and then to withdraw after three bloody days and the brink of victory, Conway had sharp words for the White House. “When your order elements of a marine division to attack a city, you need to understand what the consequences will be and not perhaps vacillate in the middle of something like that. Once you commit you have to stay committed.” Conway somberly added, “I think we certainly increased the level of animosity that existed.”

Sue Niederlander, for one, harbors no love for the administration. She was arrested at a Laura Bush rally after asking the First Lady why her son needed to die in Iraq. Army First Lieutenant Seth Dvorvin was blown up trying to defuse a roadside bomb in February and all his mom got was a lousy pair of handcuffs and a ride in the paddy wagon. As she was spirited away, Niederlander’s nettlesome queries trailed over her shoulder: “Why the senators, the legislators, the congressmen, why aren’t their children serving?” With a shortage of cops on the streets, we may well be ill equipped in the days to come; just imagine how many Sue Niederlanders we’re gonna have to contend with after the President reenacts the draft.

For all this, and the frosty reception given by the U.N. this week, W. continues to ride high and proud. “You cannot lead the war against terror if you wilt or waver when things get tough,” the president said. “Some folks look at me and see a certain swagger, which in Texas is called ‘walking.’” Or in the case of Rangers relief pitcher Frank Francisco, it is called throwing a chair into the stands and breaking a fan’s nose.