Posted on 06/19/2004 9:08:00 AM PDT by Cannoneer No. 4
When I saw the online post this week from a Conroe-area soldier in Iraq, I felt a cold fury coming over me.
Somewhere over in Iraq, serving faithfully in what are no doubt trying conditions, putting his life at risk, deprived of family and normal creature comforts, Staff Sgt. Mitchell Brown works every day to try and build a better Iraq. In his post, he questioned why so many Americans don't support what he's doing.
Meanwhile, back here, Americans grow increasingly disenchanted with the war as they are fed a steady diet of bad news by the national media. Coverage of bombings, convoy attacks, political chaos all contribute to drain support from the war, and yield poll results like the early June Gallup Poll that showed 52 percent of Americans said it was not worth going to war in Iraq. It was in response to the above Gallup poll that Brown felt compelled to post the following opinion on The Courier's Web site:
"I have seen a lot of good men die in this country and it pains me to see that the American people do not support us here. I keep hearing how the people support the troops but not the war. I see no difference. How do you support me but not what I am forced to do?
"I see Iraqi people everyday and I see what we have helped them to accomplish. Since I have been here I have fought terrorists, murders, rapists, and other criminals but we have also rebuilt schools, helped stop a slave trading ring that abducted young girls. We have helped these people to dream the dream of freedom.
"Most Iraqis are very thankful for what we do here in fact I think the percentages of support for us are higher here than back home."
When I read those words, and see his passion for doing the right thing in a foreign land, and juxtapose them against the daily diet of negative press that serves only to undermine his work, I get angry. I want to know why Americans -- who overwhelmingly supported the war in the beginning -- feel like they have the luxury now to question the war's aims? Men and women have died over there; are we really ready to say it was a waste?
And then I know why they're thinking these things -- they're not hearing the other side.
Remember the photos of abuse at Abu Ghraib prison? Who could forget -- they were plastered across the front pages of virtually every newspaper in America. But what about the newly released horrible video images of the brutal torture that was a regular occurrence at Abu Ghraib before 130,000 U.S. troops ousted Saddam?
According to a columnist from the New York Post, only a handful of reporters came to view a Pentagon presentation of videos documenting the horror of Saddam's torture chambers. When a group of American guards sexually humiliate Iraqi prisoners, we see the allegations in all their glorious detail in virtually every media outlet, and we watch daily updates as they are prosecuted. But when we have an opportunity to report the daily, unremitting horror that was Abu Ghraib before Saddam was ousted, and to add desperately needed context to what the U.S. is doing in Iraq, Americans see virtually nothing.
I'm the editor of a daily newspaper, so I can understand why bombings, political brawls and the daily U.S. body count are getting headlines; images of blasted, burned vehicles and chanting Iraqis are more visually arresting and editorially compelling than video of a G.I. building a school. But the national media's obsession with the negative in Iraq is depriving Americans of the context they need in order to make fully informed decisions. Along with the roadside bombings and photos of grinning G.I.s and Iraqi prisoners, We need the school-building shots and the videos of Saddam's torture chambers -- or we're in danger of undermining the mission being accomplished every day by men like Sgt. Brown. He's there; he believes in what he's doing. If more Americans saw what he was doing, I bet they would too.
YES WE DO! Don't let the lib media get you down, the majority of Americans support this mission, no doubt about it.IMHO
Love your homepage, thanks, it's a good reminder.
ping
Thanks for the ping!
Your'e welcome!
WE DO SUPPORT YOU!...Great article and it breaks my heart, too.
...AMERICA HOME OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE!
Bumping the reality of the negative impact the 30 % of losers who live in America, who hate America, GW and our military. They are better known as the lunatic left, DemonicRats!
Thanks. It just sort of keeps growing.
Freedom of the press is a high ideal,but, license for reporters is something else again. When major newspapers and networks can publish outright, baldfaced lies, there is a problem of major porportions at hand. We have allowed the creation of a frankenstein and it has to be dismantled. Unfortunatley the only way for that to happen is for the general publc to educate themselves as to how they are being used, this will require effort. Effort requires getting up from the couch/recliner and getting in motion. The public is motion/effort averse. Where to now?
*Bovine by-product
ping
How then shall we proceed?
I hope Staff Sgt. Mitchell Brown gets an opportunity to peruse this site. He'll realize many aren't buying into all the doom and gloom.
bump!
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Friend of HILLARY...
DAN RATHER...
Kisses up to...
HUSSEIN & CASTRO...
....on CBS.
The Enemy is now Within...
and always has been.
Aloha, Ronnie: I couldn't agree more. But when he showed the photos first - that sealed it for me. What a GD traitor! He apparrently is a US citizen and does this crap? I first got a virus, apparently, after my first anti-Rather email I sent to him. No kidding. Check others here too with the same thing done to them.
No Joke!
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