Slighting This Greatest Generation

Washington Post ^ | Oct. 9, 2005 | Bing West

[alienken]

Slighting This Greatest Generation We Focus on the Bad Apples and Ignore the Courageous Heroes By Bing West Recently the refractory city of Fallujah reemerged as a front-page story. Fallujah first leaped to national attention last November when it became the scene of the fiercest urban combat in the past 35 years. During that battle, 100 Marine squads engaged in more than 200 firefights inside small, dark cement rooms against suicidal jihadists. A single such ferocious gunfight between police and gangs anywhere in America would receive overwhelming and immediate press attention. The Marines did that 200 times in one week in Fallujah. Since then Fallujah has received scant press attention. I was in Fallujah in September, shortly after Pfc. Romano Romero, 19, was killed by a roadside bomb -- the 160th American to die in and around the city since the Iraq war began. The Marines staked out the area and days later shot two Iraqis brazenly placing another explosive device at the same spot. This grueling routine of counterinsurgency did not merit front-page coverage. U.S. Marines patrol Fallujah in November 2004. » Yet Fallujah has suddenly popped back up as major news. Why? Because allegations have emerged that American soldiers beat prisoners there two years ago. The allegations were about beatings, not about torture or murder. At the time of the alleged incidents, in late 2003 and early 2004, violence in Fallujah was escalating. The 1st Battalion of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment had suffered 94 casualties inside the city -- one every other day. They warned the Marines who were rotating in that they would be bloodied, because the insurgents were massing. The paratroopers were right....

....

[alienken]

This is a very well worded article about the obvious unbalanced carping from the anti-war, liberal media.It had to be excerpted and I had real trouble condensing to 100 words.Check out the whole article.

[rlmorel]

Most disturbing about this is the media coverage. I live in the Boston area, and I picked up the Boston Globe today, and there was another "Death milestone" article prominently figured. It is standard procedure for the NYT, Boston Globe, Washington Post, CBS et al. to put the phrase "This is the US casualty in Iraq since the declared end of major combat" But now, they seem to be jacking up this exercise by making every 10th casualty a milestone. No wonder the liberal media thinks Iraq is like Vietnam. They are trying their damnedest to make it so.

[catroina54]

....I look at the wannabe punks in my neighborhood,and at the well able types all around---
and think of one of my kids that put everything down,walked away from it and joined the Marines in '01..
the 4 years have gone by,she would have graduated from college etc.
I watch the other kids get on with their lives totally unconnected/unconcerned from this.
yeah,u know it---she reupped.

[rlmorel]

The HTML chopped out part of my response...it should have said:

It is standard procedure for the NYT, Boston Globe, Washington Post, CBS et al. to put the phrase "This is the (INSERT CASUALTY TALLY HERE) US casualty in Iraq since the declared end of major combat"

[andyandval]

They are trying their damnedest to make it so.

The main stream media are the most dangerous enemy in the Global War on Terror.

Period.

[raynearhood]

"Yet Fallujah has suddenly popped back up as major news. Why? Because allegations have emerged that American soldiers beat prisoners there two years ago. The allegations were about beatings, not about torture or murder. At the time of the alleged incidents, in late 2003 and early 2004, violence in Fallujah was escalating. The 1st Battalion of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment had suffered 94 casualties inside the city -- one every other day."

Yeah, I agree that the media coverage is outrageously unbalanced, but, as a soldier who has done two tours in Iraq, I know that we have got to be nearly blameless and not do things like beat prisoners.... Not solely because of the bad media coverage... mostly though, because we are better than that. We are supposed to honorable in victory. Although I don't think this kind of thing should hit the news, I always hope that if the allegations are true - IF they are true - then an example is made to secure the Honor of the military I proudly serve in.

[alienken]

This says everything about her character. Youmust be proud.

[El Gato]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/10/07/AR2005100701703.html

Why was valor considered front-page news in 1945 and abuse considered front-page news in 2005?

Poor conduct, like shipwrecks, makes news. On the other hand, saving a ship should also make news. For saving a Marine in what is called "the house from hell" in Fallujah, Sgt. Kasal has passed into Marine legend. Yet Fallujah Redux as a front-page story is based on allegations of bad conduct, not of heroism. If a story about louts two years ago merits the front page today, then stories of heroes merit equal attention today and tomorrow.

But it doesn't because stories of heroes cannot easily be spun to bash Bush nor to support the terrorist cause. Those are the main items on the agenda of the MSM and everything else is subordinate.

[Siena Dreaming]

Boston is John Kerry Land. The land that elected a Vietnam-bashing creep who turned the whole country against our Vets.

No surprise that the Boston paper would be the worst in the country regarding the War and our Vets today.

[Thombo2]

"The msm are the most dangerous enemy in the Global War on Terror."They are literaly a 5th column in our country,a dagger pointed straight at the heart of democracy.Oh yeah, let's not forget their "fellow travelers" in academia.

[imintrouble]

Thank you for sharing your child - for bring her up to pursue her dream - including the good of her nation - it is a most unselfish act, of the volunteer and the family as well.

My gratitude for your gift to all of us.

I have three family members and one in particular who has grown into manhood through his service in the Navy. He has signed on for a career now and has blossomed in ways we never dreamed possible.

Young people who choose to serve must have a special calling.

[RedRover]

Bing West is the author of a terrific book about the battle for Fallujah. It's well-worth checking out at Amazon: No True Glory: A Frontline Account of the Battle for Fallujah