An excerpt from Cold Fury's sweet rant on the disheartening damage President Clinton just did (a great post, by the way: read the whole thing):
The Marines and Army are involved in a couple slam bang fights as we speak, reducing a couple large pockets of Al Qaida fighters that have festered for a long time without intervention. Yet day after day, we hear nothing about where the fighting is going on, what’s really happening, who is being apprehended or killed, why the fight is in a particular place, what the strategic significance is, or how our young men and women are making us proud with their dedication to the mission and the country and their workaday, exceptional-is-the-new-ordinary heroism. Instead the only headline I ever see is “two Americans killed.” Or “five Americans killed.” Or “seven Americans injured in bombing.” Really? The only impression I get from the MSM is that the U.S. troops are basically lined up like metal ducks in a shooting gallery, being picked off one at a time without actually doing anything positive, not carrying out missions, whatever. I guess they are just wandering around in the ‘Raq, wearing do rags, listening to the Stones, smokin’ dope and waiting for their hitch to end.
It's such a Woman Thing to ask your husband "What are you thinking?" when he's quiet. (I know, I know, I've listened to Seinfeld, but it's hard not to ask.) More often than not these days, my husband's response is "Iraq". He's thinking about Iraq. Constantly. What he was doing this day last year, what he could've done better, how they could've f-ed up the bad guys a little more in this situation or that, and what he'll do differently the next time he goes. He thinks about it all the time -- about how he can be a more effective soldier, not how poor and miserable he was.
And at no point was he just walking around waiting to get killed or go home.
My husband takes his job seriously, and he took it extra-seriously while he was in Iraq. He put a couple of soldiers in jail for disobeying the rules, for pete's sake. He didn't sit around reading existentialist garbage and thinking about how, like, life has no meaning and war is not the answer. He's not a puppet, he's not a sitting duck, and he's not a mindless automaton under the control of the Bushitler Oil Junta. He's a man who helped the US Military take one more step towards winning the War on Terror.
So maybe, just once, he and the other brave men and women like him could get some good press for a change. Or some indication to the American public that they're winning this war. Is that too much to freaking ask?
Posted by Sarah at November 19, 2005 05:15 PM | TrackBackYou know, I think the headlines about the number of our soldiers killed reflect the fact that the American public has a great concern for them and values their lives. No one who reads past the headlines would get the impressions that our troops are just sitting around. There was a great deal of reporting, for example, about our increased activity near the Syrian border. And within the last week I saw a report on CNN--the epitome of the "liberal media"---that our offensive there was showing results.
So many of the complaints about the "MSM" involve exactly the same mistake that the MSM is supposed to be guilty of---selective reporting. Cherrypick stories and headlines, and of course you can make the reporting seem incredibly skewed.
Posted by: Pericles at November 20, 2005 02:59 PMSarah,
Your husband is a Real Man who is just trying to be better than he was before. Real Americans know and expect this from him. The MSM are NOT Real Americans. And I'd venture to say, the foreign press wouldn't recognize Real Men even when they slapped them on the face.
Real Americans are proud of you, proud of your husband, intensely proud of Mrs. Sims and her husband's sacrifice, and just generally tickled pink with the way all of you have comported yourselves during this historic, but difficult time. Personally, I compare you all to the Rosie the Riveters, Private Ryan's of Normandy, and the heroes of WWII, male and female, who saved our country, and saved free civilization. You have all done so well when challenged and so bravely continued your duties when called.
While the press will never praise you, Real Americans know you. They love and admire you. Your blogging has significantly improved the number of folks who realize what a national treasure folks like you and your husband are.
It is never easy to live with Real Men. But then, you knew that already, didn't you? Now the rest of us know it too. And we've seen what Real Women are made of as well.
God Bless You all, dear. Don't get discouraged. We are behind you and we want to you be safe and successful. Press on.
Subsunk
Posted by: Subsunk at November 21, 2005 04:20 AM