California Conservative

Unfortunately, you won’t see a photo like the one above in the mainstream news. Just look at our troops showing Iraqi kids how they do pushups. Not only are the kids close to our men, but they are actually learning from them, participating in the activity!

What will it take to get balanced news out of Iraq?

I received an email from an Army Veteran, who has a great idea on getting the word out about the success that our military is achieving in Afghanistan and Iraq. The mainstream alphabet agenda media has tried to turn this into a “George Bush thing” at every turn, but they refuse to face reality: George Bush is not the one with boots on the ground in Iraq, fighting, bleeding, and dying in the War against Terrorism. When George Bush (though he is our president) speaks out on progress and victory, he is slandered by the media. When military commanders speak of progress, the media template is predictable:

1) Find other Vets who disagree to shoot holes in the progress report.

2) Run more body counts as “proof” that we are fighting an “unwinnable war”

3) Back it up with words from a Senator or an “unnamed source.”

If these criteria were truly a test for truth, I could prove just about anything I wanted, and shape reality and history to suite my own worldview.

Where can we really go for truth regarding the progress in Iraq? What is the one minority group in America that is not defended by the ACLU? What individuals make up the only group which has not been interviewed, polled, and asked about the progress in Iraq, except when an occasional dissenter is found?

The troops serving in the Middle East with boots on the ground!

How ironic! The very group most qualified to speak is the one who has not been given a voice! For an excellent perspective, read the email I received:

What I wanted to share with you is an idea that I came up with about a week ago that you might find interesting. Others may have already thought of this, but I haven’t seen it on any of the websites that I’ve looked at. What I was thinking about was creating a program that is produced, directed and reported by all military folks.

This would NOT be an extension of Armed Forces Broadcasting or connected in any way with the defense dept. The stories and the content would be all the conception of soldiers who are now or have been on active duty. The name of the program would be: “From a soldier’s view”. The title has a dual meaning—actual events seen from the view of soldiers on the ground and the viewpoints expressed are those of our troops, in support of their own comrades.

I have a lot more details that I could tell you about, but I would like to hear from you to get your opinion first. I don’t know the right people to develop a project like this, but you might. Let me know what you think.

The idea for the show is a fresh perspective of our war on terror as seen from the view of our troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. What I visualized was a broadcast that is anchored in a studio in the U.S. The “anchors” (I would like to see a man and a woman dressed in uniform) are the ones who begin and end the program in front of a camera at some sort of a table or desk and throughout the program introduce each weekly segment.

For this to be both informative and have authenticity, there would need to be a few (at least two) camera crews on site in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The topics that are introduced in the studio would be “fleshed out”, so to speak, by recorded interviews on the ground where our troops are stationed. Obviously, clearance from the military would
have to be arranged and locations and many names would have to be omitted for security reasons. Even with those limitations, I believe there are a lot of stories out there that are waiting to be told that the public needs to hear, without jeopardizing the safety of our troops.

Let me share some of my story ideas:

1. WHY WE WENT TO WAR. I believe that this can be handled in a non-political way, using the facts that led us to enter into the conflicts in Iraq and Afganistan. For example, showing photos of gravesites in the Kurdish region where Saddam gassed his own people (thousands!). The violations of the UN sanctions by Saddam and the UN resolution to support the U.S. in overthrowing him. The CIA and British intelligence reports that showed that Iraq had and was producing more chemical weapons. The discussion of said reports and the overwhelming support given by the U.S. congress supporting our presidents plan to battle the Taliban in Afganistan and Saddam and other terrorist groups in Iraq. Nothing would need to mentioned of the “Bush lied” misinformation campaigns that have formed since that time. The facts will speak for themselves.

2. WHAT WAS OUR MISSION WHEN WE FIRST ENTERED IRAQ AND AFGANISTAN AND HOW IS IT DIFFERENT NOW?
This could look at the initial phase of the conflict that included the toppling of Saddam and his army + our defeat of the Taliban forces in Afghanistan. Since that time, the
fighting has been more involved with rooting out terrorist onclaves and cells in both countries. Progress made in both regions could be covered in many broadcasts.

3. WHO ARE THE MEMBERS OF THE COALITION IN THE FIGHT AGAINST TERROR?
Over a period of several months, articles and interviews with the coalition members describing what their mission is could be included in the broadcast.

4. ON SIGHT FILMING OF OUR TROOPS ON ONE OF THEIR DAILY MISSIONS.
This is very important. The folks back home need to see how our soldiers are putting their lives on the line every day for us. (No Al-Jazeera photos of our vehicles blowing up are allowed!)

5. WHAT IS THE FUTURE OF OUR MISSION? The President has stated several times that we will not leave the region until Iraq and Afghanistan are able to defend themselves. How is our progress toward meeting that goal going?

Sincerely,

Sgt. Norm Ernst
Veteran, U.S. Army Engineers 1970-1972

Great ideas, Sgt. Ernst.

Get the word out! America deserves the truth — not by-partisan squabbling!

Until then, I guess I’ll keep watching the Iraq updates (The Freedom Journal) at The Pentagon Channel.

RELATED:
For more military perspectives on Iraq, read here.

UPDATE:
Michelle Malkin: The Soldier On The Bridge

Cross-posted at Rightfielder

This entry was posted on Monday, January 2nd, 2006 at 3:46 pm and is filed under Author: RightFielder, Iraq, Middle East, Military, Photos. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.