[Ninian Dryhope]

"Every death in Iraq -- be it U.S., Coalition, or civilian -- is reported as if it were the assassination of Lincoln or Kennedy."

So true. The many folks being killed in Houston every week usually just merit a tiny notice in the back pages. The MSM is beating the Iraq is a mess drum because they see Bush as being a bigger threat to their way of life than the militant Islamists.

[syriacus]

All you hear about are kidnappings, beheadings, and suicide bombings. Every death in Iraq -- be it U.S., Coalition, or civilian -- is reported as if it were the assassination of Lincoln or Kennedy.

It seems to me, that many of the reporters in Iraq are liars, making feeble excuses about their inability to report on "good news." Four talking heads on Russert's roundtable this morning repeated the canard that "it is too dangerous to collect the good stories in Iraq"

I ask those pessimists,

if it is dangerous to collect the good stories, then

Isn't it even more dangerous to collect the "bad" stories"?

Limerick to the MSM in Iraq: Who do you think you are fooling?

You newsmen will tell us you fear
For your lives, so you cannot go near
To a school dedication.
YET, you've NO hesitation,
In filming a bombing, it's clear.

[TXnMA]

One reason is that the U.S. military has started giving basic first-aid instruction to as many soldiers as possible -- not just medics and corpsmen -- through a program called Combat Lifesavers.

It's about time!

Back in the early 60's, the USAF sent me to an intensive first aid instructor's course. Then it was my job to teach "Buddy Care" to our unit.

We were in one of the most secure outfits -- in the most secure facility anywhere overseas -- but everyone in our detachment took the week-long training. (That included our detachment commander who, FWIW, always outranked the commander on the base where we were "tenants"...)

For security reasons, all members of our unit were forbidden to go anywhere near a combat zone. Yet, here, 40+ years later, the Army is just now doing the same sort of training for combat troops.

What's up with that?

It is great, though, to see technical advances like chitosan packs being put right with the troops who are there when the injuries occur...