Live from Iraq! An Army family on the front lines

Great to hear from you. I hope all is well with you and your family. It is so great to get messages from old friends and to see the intrest in supporting all the good we are trying to accomplish.

It would be great if you could get the word out on the type of things the military is doing over here. There is too much neagtive press about what is going on. Just the other day, an Iraqi doctor approached me on the street and thanked my soldiers for being there. He also offered me some sagacious advice. He told me we need to get more positive media on the air waves, because all the neagtive press does now is hurt the great strides we have made; water, electricty, fuel, security and not to mention getting the schools to begin operating. The AL Jezra network recently reported that we were on the streets beating children and stealing gold from Iraqis. Follow this up with a segment from CNN on how the troops in Iraq are not well recived. Where once this educated Doctor made a dollar a month for his services under the old Regime, he now can make 100 dollars a month. In the last 2 weeks my men and I have visited over 300 homes in the Mosul area, almost 99% of who we talked to were greatful for all we have done and continue to do.

Our soldiers have been in Iraq for over 11 months; the 101st ABN DIV (AASLT) is the only unit that still remains from the original group that led the attack to Baghdad; a testament to the excellence and professionalism of every one of the soldiers in the company and the division.

Unfortunately, the media has not been reporting all the good and positive things that our soldiers are doing daily, or about how much they personally believe in the cause. We know the impact we are having daily through the smiles and greetings we receive from the majority of the Iraqi people, they know the sacrifices we are willing to make and have made for freedom; freedom for all. This is about protecting people and their humanity and their rights to live free from oppression...

One has to wonder on the purpose and intentions of media "coverage" in Iraq. To me, it appears as though the media's, and the Left's, sole purpose and reason for being is to support terrorist/terrorism/fascism/socialism (redundant, no?) and oppose any attempts to bring freedom and true peace to the world. Am I wrong here?

No Sir!! You are absolutely correct!!

Actually there is an independent Iraqi news organization trying to get off the ground. They've hired tv execs from the U.S. as "advisers". It's called Iraqi Media Network. Problem is, most of the people here don't trust them because they think that because the folks at the State Dept. are helping to fund it, it plays nothing but U.S. propaganda. I've seen it, it's not anymore true than when you hear the DUmmies say that Fox gets their daily talking points from Karl Rove. Brokaw at NBC did a hatchet job on the IMN about a month ago. Seems that funding for the current IMN channel and a second all news channel were in the $89 billion spending bill that congress just passed for over here. Ol' Cornhusker Tom had that stupid smirk on his grille the whole time he was introducing the story.

What is needed is legitimation of independent perspectives. That is what FNC and talk radio are about, and what "the press" opposes. "The press" consists of people who are coopted by the PR power of journalism including journalists. Who is more zealous than the journalist to make the point that journalists are objective--and that people who disagree "are not journalists?"

The PR power of journalism is a homogenizing influence.

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