The Good: Things have definitely turned around in Fallujah as the Awakening councils have turned to politics. Certainly a lot different than 2004, as I'm sure David Bellavia could tell you. There was also a 5K Fun Run recently. I'm guessing there was running going on in 2004 by young military-aged males, but it was probably not very fun (H/T Gateway Pundit). Also, Iraq's port in the Persian Gulf, Um Qasr, is slated to be overhauled to make it more economical. First on the chopping block will be all the Soprano-style militias that currently control the joint.
The Bad: Three soldiers were killed in a rocket attack down south. A young Iraqi girl was killed on accident by US forces during an escalation of force incident. Also, the fingers of a group of contractors that were kidnapped in late 2006 have been obtained by US authorities. Hopefully, they can be found in the near future...
The Ugly: The Pentagon Study on the Al-Qaeda links to Saddam that didn't exist aren't going to be released on the internet, but a CD can be mailed to the press?!? I don't understand why unclassified info would be released to the elite in the press, but not those unwashed, boorish blogger types. Also, apparently Americans don't know shit about Iraq, since they can't even cite a ballpark figure of how many military deaths have happened in Iraq. C'mon people, it's the most well-documented statistic out of Iraq. Is American Idol really that important?
Fallujah 5K: As a smoker...not my idear of fun, but good for them!
See what the others have said:
5 comments:
March has not been a good month for soldiers - I hope it is not a sign of things to come for the summer in Iraq.
Your link points out that the media is not covering the war like it did early on - one reason why Americans "don't know shit." Maybe politics has taken the front seat. Still, when the media does announce people killed in Iraq, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish between “Iraqi people” and “soldiers.” Maybe Americans don’t listen very well to what is actually being said - I think the media takes advantage of that. America has become a nation of scanners - reading only the misleading headlines. We are basically lazy people only wanting the Cliffsnotes. If the fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan escalates before the elections, it will probably be deemed more newsworthy. While listening to a Public Radio station yesterday, I did hear some reports on the Pentagon study on Al-Qaeda links to Saddam, but it was probably only what the media wanted me to hear. Will I look more closely into the study? Probably not, but I will let you give me your opinion when you blog it.
My point would be yes, politics is what we're all dealing with now, bec. November is coming.
The war, on the other hand, has been going on, is going on, will continue to go on, and there seems to be no end in site. (No matter who gets elected in November.)
So this constant harping on America doesn't care, America doesn't know what's going on, America doesn't completely support the troops -- just as we are not in your shoes, you are not in ours. And what we get bombarded with ALL FREAKING DAY is Hillary and Barack.
Yes, we understand you're in a war, but, Lt. Nixon, you, yourself, can barely handle a weapon. I know guys that I just hope and pray they make it thru each day. So I'm trying to give my support as I can, as so many others do.
The ones that don't care are not going to change. So the ones that hear "nobody cares" are US, the ones that do and keep being made to feel guilty that we're not doing enough.
K.
My comment on "people not knowing shit" or whatever was obviously not directed towards anyone who peruses the milblogosphere. It's more directed at Americans who don't even know there's a war going on over here, but know all about Brad and Angelina's life.
Actually, I think -- I hope -- we're over Brad and Angelina. But those people that care about Brad also wouldn't know how many kids were killed by abusive parents or how many people died in drunk driving accidents last year. It's not within their realm.
I have never thought the media really "covers" the war -- they say what is sensational or touching or whatever they think will grab people. Doesn't mean it's 100 percent truthful coverage of what happened.
And I can do my part for the guys that I help and it has NOTHING to do with reading blogs, believe me. And -- off on another tangent here -- some people's blogs are nothing but a reprint of whatever anybody else is talking about.
So at least yours is original material.
Also to Bag Blog -- as bad as it is, I have taken to putting at the very beginning of e-mails, "Don't Scan, READ." And, unlike this note, most of mine aren't all that long.
The Thunder Run has linked to this post in the blog post From the Front: 03/13/2008 News and Personal dispatches from the front lines.
Post a Comment