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She couldn't have been brainwashed if she had stayed out of a war zone in
the firt place.

And still no words of remorse for her translator. <<<<

You are correct, death is the chance we all take when we enter a war zone, for any reason.

Could it be that the translator was killed after she left the scene? and that she knows nothing about it?

I have no love for the left or the peace loving fools, who think that shining the light of love, will solve a war that is more evil than any we have fought.

I do understand a writer wanting to go to the war zone, in fact, I do not understand how one can be a good writer, if one does not know the real truth of what went on.

I had lost a foster son in Viet Nam, watched all the news, knew all about what happened every day......10 years later,
not connected with Fred, I found that I needed to know the real truth about Viet Nam, if I was to write about it.

Working in a truck stop solved that, the men who had been there, the real men, taught me what I did not know from staying home and being a good mother and citizen.

At 850koa.com you can listen to radio programs on the air, I hope they have archieved the programs as one of the reporters, returned from Iraq a couple weeks ago.

I think his name was Stephen Stubbs, he said he had a blog on his webpage there about his trip.

I was lucky enough to hear several of his calls home and the first when he returned to his morning news program.

I listened to his first calls, saying what you expect, making connections, not getting to the team he was to go out with, etc.

Then about 2 am one morning, he phoned during the Rick Barbor program, it had been one hell of a day, and he kept saying that he needed to hear a normal voice, to please talk to him.

He was out of Bagdad, with the Iraq Police, with the American Military at a distance.

They had been on patrol, all was calm, they were back at the station and all hell broke loose. Full attack on them and the station.

His praise for the Iraq Police and the army that he had worked with, was the highest, watching, being with and their attempts to keep him safe, was the finest effort that the men could put out.

Even to the Machine Gunner who stands in the back of the truck, to get in as many shots as he can, until the last minute before he is shot or seeks safety.

Stephen told of having been out that morning, on Patrol, thru several small villages, a boring nothing trip, with nothing happening in any of the villages.

On the return trip, something had changed, They came to the bridge that they had crossed only hours before, stopped and
checked it out, it had been wired and set to explode, 5 or 6 caches of explosives, ready to go.

Our Military Explosive Team, came and took care of the problems, it took hours, waiting, on the wrong side of the river.......hot and thristy.

Did you know that Saddam had all the bridges mined several years ago?

Saddam buried caches of explosives on them, in such a manner that you do not see them, they are deep enough to escape detection and all it takes is the timer and a few wires to set it off.

All the roads and bridges, started getting ready about two years before we got there, it just made sense to me, about or before our 9-11.

Stephen told of going to towns that had Never had running water before, but do now, thanks to our hard work.

Yes, there are electric shortages, the terrorists blow up the lines and plants as quickly as we repair them.

Stephen was so impressed with the children, that he is working with the Military men and women, not the officers, but the real Military who are on the ground, they have a plan to get the school supplies for the Iraq children, he was going to open a fund for it.

I heard him the first morning he was back on his news program, among the things he said was:

On the subject of politics, he was middle of the road before he went to Iraq.

His trip to Iraq was the most important trip/thing that had happened to him in his career. (Rick said he had worked with him for 20 years, so we are talking about a middle aged man).

Then Stephen said:

"Never again will I look on the war in Iraq the same again, we need to be there and we must finish the job, it is worth while to do this job".

I of course am hoping that Jill went to Iraq for the same basic reason that Stephen did, which was to find the truth for himself.

It is sad that her truth, can never be the same as Stephens was.

Had my life been different, I think, it is possible that I would have been one of the fools that had to go and see the truth for myself, no, I was never on the left and my memory of WW2, is clear enough, that I feel I know a lot about war,
and have not been there in person.