Who links to me?
I already mentioned this in my blogrolls best post but I thought it deserved a post of its own.
This morning David Ignatius has an article titled Courage in Coverage praising two men I am very proud to call friends. 24 Steps to Liberty and Treasure of Baghdad. In fact they are two of my three Blogs of the Month for March.
After reading his article I wrote an email to Mr. Ignatius and I thought I would share it with you all.
Hello Mr. Ignatius,
I was very pleased to see your article today praising my friends 24 Steps and Treasure of Baghdad. These are brave men and their blogs and news coverage are quite moving and deserving of recognition.
I thought you might be interested in an interview I conducted with them for my blog earlier this month.
I also thought you also might want to visit a couple blogs by American Soldiers serving in Iraq. I think you will find them every bit as brave and truthful as 24 Steps and Treasure of Baghdad.
They are two men serving in the US Army in Iraq. Their blogs are T.F. Boggs and AMERICAN CITIZEN SOLDIER.
This is the side of the story you are failing to report. The truth about Iraq includes what these men have to say. When you ignore it you are ignoring half of the truth. That is the point many of us are trying to make.
I hope you follow up your article with another praising these brave Americans who are risking their lives to help 24 Steps and Treasure of Baghdad and their loved ones have a better life.
No matter how you feel about this war they deserve your recognition every bit as much as 24 steps and Treasure of Baghdad.
Blog on!
The Ugly American
I have to wonder if he heard Hugh Hewitt’s interview with Michael Ware this week. I would love to hear his feedback on the interview.
******Update********
Gateway Pundit has some statistics that put the lie to the half truths told by the MSM.
The US Forces in Iraq just finished the month with the lowest total fatalities, despite the Civil War declared by democrats, since February of 2004, and the second best month since the War in Iraq began three years ago.
This is an amazing wartime achievement for the men and women of our military serving in Iraq!
To answer the first question: Saddam was murdering between 36 Iraqi civilians per day to 137 Iraqis per day. This was very bad! This week FOX News reported that deaths in Baghdad are averaging 30 per day. Certainly, this is very sad news, but it is not the slaughter that Iraqis were used to seeing under Saddam Hussein.
read the whole thing.
****Update*****
In fairness to Mr. Ignatius I thought I should post his email reply to me.
I wrote a whole column praising military blogs and bloggers last Christmas.
They’re great!
If anyone has a link to this article I would love to see it.
Linking Posts
Great post. I appreciate you mentioning me in your response to Mr. Ignatius. If I find the energy I might have a post in response to his article but I am not sure. His article seemed like a man trying to defend his honor at a time when his profession is under attack. I think the article was terrible if you want my true opinion but I can leave that for my post. He says it is the media’s job to report the truth-both good and bad. Ok cool, fine with me. But when the bad is 95 percent of the news and the good (good being something like only 1 person died in Iraq today) is only 5 percent of it then something is wrong. If the media really wanted to do their job they would quit paying their Iraqi stringers to only bring them the gory and mostly exaggerated stories. If they went anywhere in Iraq they would find good stories plentiful. For Mr. Ignatius to say that journalists are simply doing their job he must have the truth-wool pulled way down over his eyes and if he is what passes for a good journalist that gets published in major newspapers then I have no faith at all in the media.
Comment by T F Boggs � March 31, 2006 @ 3:27 pm
TF, I think you’re being unfair. I don’t have complete faith in the media either but keep in mind how they operate in Iraq. They go out without weapons. They have to rely on Iraqi security, not us. I believe they are just doing their jobs. I’ve talked to a number of reporters who are upset that they can’t get out more. And TF, whose fault is that? Well, it’s not theirs. I don’t know of any respectable news organization that tells its Iraqi stringers to go find bad news. It’s not that simple. As I said, every single reporter I’ve talked to has expressed frustration about not getting to those good stories. But they don’t roll out with a gun, in a convoy. And looks what happens when they do roll out–Jill Carroll. Just my two cents. Semper Fi!
Comment by Sgt Pink � March 31, 2006 @ 3:33 pm
Thanks you for the link. I’ll be posting more from my correspondent as he gets a chance to send them in. As an even newer blogger than you are (I read your very first post) any links are greatly appreciated. Hugh Hewitt was very nice to have provided another link, it was a big day yesterday!
Sgt. Pink, I see your point in one way, but let me ask you this; Who is winning the information war right now?
The terrorists have been targeting journalists on purpose in order to shape the coverage to their liking. The journalist are letting themselves be penned up and refusing to take risks. Who’s winning?
Gaius
Comment by Gaius Arbo � April 1, 2006 @ 2:37 am
Gaius, being in Iraq as a volunteer without a weapon, without the protection of our American military–is that not taking a risk? I mean, we have military training. These guys (and gals) go in there without any idea about combat. They come with us on raids, on operations etc. That’s taking a risk just being down-range. But look at what the media do to them when they get nabbed–like Jill C. They say, stupid journalists are taking risks. They have to be responsible. They have families, too. We take risks. But we also have SOP. So do the media. Come on, I don’t want to defend all of them. Some real jerks among their ranks, agendas, anti-military, etc. As for the info war, that’s not their problem. Blame it on PsyOps. The reporters are only supposed to report what they see, and man they see the same bad **** we do. The terrorists target journalists because they consider them agents of the government, spies, infidels. They behead them. I know what I’d do if someone tried to get me. I’d go down in a blaze of fire. You can’t blame them for being penned up, and when they do get kidnapped, who has to go after them? You and me, dude. I don’t want to risk my life for some idiot journalist who doesn’t take seriously the risks imposed on them. Okay, yesterday was two cents. Now there’s a nickel.
Comment by Sgt Pink � April 1, 2006 @ 6:59 am
Thank you for your service Sgt. Pink. I have heard many servicemen say “We are just doing our job”. Do you feel the same way?
When you do your job in war time you get a little hazard pay, and maybe a medal or two when you get shot, or have your buddies killed.
Reporters have a job to do as well. I am sure some volunteer for purly altruistic reasons just like as soldiers like you do. However many of them volunteer because they get paid extravagent amounts of money, many careers are built in journalism do to a short time covering a war.
Their job if they do it right is to take those risks and get out and get the real stories. If your job is to go out on patrol you certainly can’t elect to stay back at the base.
Make sense?
Comment by The Ugly American � April 1, 2006 @ 7:37 am
How many journalists these days are actually going out with the troops at all? How many are holed up in the green zone?
Not all journalists are idiots yet there enough bad ones to make all their reporting suspect these days. In the second world war journalists went out into equal or greater danger, what’s different now?
Were there journalists who never went near the frnt lines in that war - yup, I’ll bet there were. But where is the equivalent of an Ernie Pyle today?
BTW, I am not in the service, my son is.
Comment by Gaius Arbo � April 1, 2006 @ 8:59 am
Hi, I am one of those reporters. I also enjoy your blog and Ernie Pyle is my hero after my father, who was in Vietnam. I don’t want to get into a political debate but I do want to point out a couple of things. I spent 1 1/2 years in Iraq. Never got a dime more for my service–no raise, no hazard pay, nothing. We don’t live in the Green Zone. We live in the Red Zone, without protection. And I suppose the difference between other wars and this one is that journalists have no immunity in Iraq. We are specific targets as journalists. That’s never happened before in the history of combat reporting. Sure, if you’re out with the troops, as I was during many combat operations, you are as vulnerable as they are. And that’s not to take a thing from our troops. Journalists died during OIF 1, 2 and 3. There are a lot of bad ones, idiots. But we do get out. And really the only way we see the country these days is by being embedded. Lots of troops have journalists with them. I hope they tell the truth. By the way, my career was not made in Iraq. I was just a hack doing my job and now I’m trying to find an assignment in my newsroom.
Comment by J � April 1, 2006 @ 9:32 am