Let's Focus on the Bad News in Iraq

This is my obligatory political rant. For the most part, this blog has been about my unique experiences in Iraq. I've purposely avoided political opinion. I mean, why should the world care what a 29 year old college drop-out thinks? But now I think that I should give it a shot. It's kinda like drugs. Everybody's gotta try it once. So here goes.

I am sick and tired of the media reporting about the good news coming out of Iraq.

That's right, you heard me. I am sick of hearing about all the schools being built, and all the Iraqi children vaccinated by Army medics. I sick of hearing about how the economy of Iraq is getting better, and how all Iraqis have cell phones and satellite dishes now. I really don't give a damn.

It seems like the mainstream media has become so polarized and stupidified that it portrays America as being evenly split between two factions. Either you are zealot who blindly agrees with everything the Bush administration says. Or you follow the inanity of the anti-war movement and take the diatribes of morons like Michael Moore or Cindy Sheehan seriously.

Whatever you call them, the Cons, or Righties, or Reds complain about how the media never reports on the good news in Iraq. These people speak for half the country. And they've decided what the major issue should be. They've decided that this half of the country shouldn't focus on the bad news. Neither should they focus on the good news. Instead, they should focus on what the media is focusing on.

Meanwhile, the Libs, or Lefties, or Blues have focused on what is truly important to the people of Iraq today. The fact that no WMD's were found two years ago. They sound just like a broken record. WMD's. WMD's. WMD's.

Now hold on. I know what you're thinking. Back up there a minute, guy. How dare you call that poor grieving mother, Cindy Sheehan a moron?

I said it, and I don't regret it. I'm sorry that her son died. She's experiencing a sorrow I can't imagine. But the moment she decided to channel her grief into that specific political cause, she forfeited her right to sympathy from me. Not only is she demoralizing troops that are risking their lives right now. She's dishonoring other soldiers who have died and increasing the sorrow of other mothers and fathers who have lost their sons.

It doesn't get much more moronic than an interview with Mark Knoller of CBS in which Cindy Sheehan, when speaking about the terrorists coming in from other countries into Iraq, referred to them as "freedom fighters."

"Freedom fighters."

Well...on August 17, the "freedom fighters" carried out a coordinated attack in Baghdad against the evil imperialistic American Empire. Did they attack an American base?No, they attacked a bus station used by Iraqi civillians. Two car bombs went off within minutes of each other. Three buses packed with passengers burned up. But wait, there's more. In a brilliant move of strategy, 15 minutes later, with a third car bomb, the freedom fighters attacked nearby Al-Kindi hospital, where emergency personnel were moving their casualties. 43 people were killed. But as an Interior Ministry official said, "The casualty figure could rise as there are charred bodies all over the place,"

LINK

Now, if you're not stunned by these heroic freedom fighters yet, let me tell you about another battle in their glorious revolution. On July 14, also in Baghdad, a suicide freedom-bomber drove his vehicle up to an American Humvee and detonated. He killed one US soldier and 27 Iraqi civilians. 13 of those civilians were children who had gathered around the humvee, because the American soldiers were passing out sweets. Obviously, that freedom fighter had to have been very brave, not allowing his sympathies to stop him from carrying out that attack. Those children were apostates who were accepting candy from the evil imperialist Americans, so clearly they deserved to die.

LINK

The freedom fighters carried out another attack August 9 in Baghdad, of which I'm having a little trouble finding any media coverage more in depth than a couple sentences. I guess MSM was too busy reporting on all the good news to have given that story very much attention. Let me supplement that with what little I know about this incident.

An American convoy was passing through a traffic circle in Baghdad which is surrounded by a busy marketplace. This marketplace is used by, I assume, the area's mostly Shi'ite and Christian population. A suicide car bomber attacked the convoy and detonated near the first vehicle. Soldiers who responded to the scene reported seeing body parts laying all over the road, including body parts small enough to be considered child-sized. I haven't heard of any accurate body counts for this attack, but I've heard figures around thirty and forty from foreign nationals. (iraqibodycount.net reports that between 3 and 6 died. I know that's way off.)

In that blast, one American soldier died. His name is Miguel Carrasquillo. He was a brother in arms, a member of my battery, and for a while was also my roommate back at Fort Stewart. He died while engaging the suicide bomber as he drove towards the convoy. I will remember him as one of the bravest men I've ever known.

Cindy Sheehan, he is the true freedom fighter.

In a recent op-ed, retired Army general Wesley Clark said that Bush is in danger of repeating the mistake of Vietnam. "Failing to craft a realistic policy and effective policy and instead demanding that the American people show resolve." The fact that people like Cindy Sheehan are calling for withdrawal in Iraq is, in itself, not remarkable. But the fact that MSM pays so much attention to her is really bad news.

I realize that America has it's own share of bad news with the hurricane Katrina disaster. But I have no doubt that that's going to be taken care of. Iraq's future is much less certain. Just a few days ago Iraq suffered one of it's bloodiest days since the invasion. A suicide bomber attacked a group of men in the district of Kadhimiya. The men weren't soldiers. They were day laborers looking for work. They were poor men with no steady employment just looking for a way to support their family. The suicide bomber pulled up in a bus packed with explosives and posed as a possible employer. He detonated when the men gathered around and took out one hundred twelve men. LINK

That's one hundred twelve families ripped apart. One hundred twelve lost sons and brothers. One hundred twelve separate tragedies that only receive a single day's thought from the MSM because they aren't American. Because they don't have an opinion on whether Mayor Nagin, Governor Blanco, or President Bush deserves the most blame for the destruction of New Orleans. Because the moral cowards want to parade around a grieving mother who is, quite literally, insane.

Sure, there's plenty of good news in Iraq. But let's focus on the bad news. Let's impress on everyone what a tragic mistake it would be to prematurely pull our forces out of Iraq. Let's make sure everybody remembers what kind of inhuman monsters we're fighting. Let's finish what we started.