A Soldier's Perspective

Sad Headlines

"Britney Spears' mom: She's 'just figuring things out'"
"Iran moves to execute porn stars"
"Golfer, 76, saves drowning dog, plays 18 holes"
"Teacher Resigns After Garter-Belt Pose"

These are just some of the headlines as you bounce the internet. Not much is being said about Iraq, but there are a few stories on the front pages, all of course negative:

"Retaliation Feared After Shrine Attack"
"A Year Later, Golden Mosque Is Still in Ruins"

But, nowhere do you read this headline: "Soldiers seize, destroy bomb factory"

And this is not a minor thing either.

The find consisted of one vehicle-borne improvised explosive device; 54 82mm mortars; 27 155mm artillery shells; a 500-pound bomb; 64 anti-tank mines; two 200-pound bombs; three 100-pound bombs; 30 130mm projectiles; 200 artillery boosters; 300 five-gallon cans full of nitric acid; 15 bags of anti-personnel mines consisting of 100 mines per bag and enough explosives-making material to create more than 300 IEDs.

A friend recently used a great analogy to describe the situation in Iraq. It is like a baseball game where the winning team is up 54 to 3. As the game goes on, all the sports reporters and announcers rave about the three points the losing team scored and how the winning team screwed up to allow them. The few infield errors the winning team made are overanalyzed and much discussion is made about how they could have prevented those three points without them.

Lately, the media has begun to mark the "occasion" of 3,500 troops who have died fighting for freedoms for people who have never known them. How many of the enemy have been killed? A ton more, that is for sure. Where are the tallies of the godless terrorists we have taken off the planet? How many lives have been saved because we bombed a terrorist training camp and killed 15 insurgents or terrorists? I'd venture to say that we killed at least ten times what we've suffered. But, that is not the focus of our high and mighty media. That is not the focus of the anti-war crowd. That is not the focus of our selfish politicians.

300 FIVE-GALLON CANS FULL OF NITRIC ACID people!!! That is 1,500 gallons!!! That is significant and yet our media cannot find space to let us know that because Britney Spears is too important a topic to miss. Paris Hilton's jail sentence must not fall off our collective radar.

The 4th IBCT, 1st Div. has captured several suspected terrorists, opened a school, rescued a kidnapped Iraqi Soldier, destroyed several weapons and explosives caches and other feats with the help of Iraqi security forces and the local population of the Rashid District while deployed this year.

But, this is not news worthy?! JD Pendry is a genius and this is the proof right here.