Tuesday, June 06, 2006
When will we Support the Troops?
I'm sure self-righteous, smug Michael Duffy and Time magazine would say they Support the Troops.
Though this doesn't prevent them from declaring them Guilty until proven innocent in their disgusting "expose" on the alleged "massacre" at Haditha: "The Shame of Kilo Company." With a headline like that, I guess we may as well cancel the investigation -- Time magazine has already decide the outcome and is using their sensationalist, Micahel Moore-esque reporting to impugn the valiant effort of all of our brave soldiers, and slander America in the eyes of the world.
Michael Yon responds:
In the absence of clear facts, most people know that a rush to judgment serves no one. What word, then, properly characterizes the recent media coverage of Haditha, when analysis stretches beyond shotgun conclusions to actually attributing motive and assigning blame? No rational process supports a statement like: “We don’t know what happened, but we know why it happened and whose fault it is.”
Yon, who has actually observed action on the front lines in Iraq puts this in the proper context: Brave, real-life Americans are dying in order not to put Iraqi civilians in danger. For example, Sgt Ben Morton whose wife Elaina later committed suicide:
On many missions when I tagged along, the commander would say things like, “Be careful about throwing flash-bangs [grenades without fragments] into rooms. Don’t throw them unless you really have to. Practically every Iraqi house has children, and flash-bangs can kill the small kids.”How is that for context, Michael Duffy. Reporting like yours changes the political equations, and gets soldiers like Sgt Morton killed.
There was hot intelligence that some terrorists were in a certain location. I watched part of the mission unfold from the TOC, but had left before Recon platoon hit the house. SGT Ben Morton from Wright, Kansas, who lived just next to me in Mosul, was a fine soldier, a highly respected young man who earned two Bronze Stars with V (for valor) and a purple heart. Ben’s Recon platoon was conducting the hasty raid in Mosul. The intelligence was correct.
Ben was the first up the stairs, and he took four bullets. Only then did his buddies throw flash-bangs and eventually shot down the terrorist who killed Ben. All the Iraqi kids were fine. But Ben Morton died. Soldiers cried that night.
But I know, you support the troops. I'm sure you're proud of yourself.
