Poughkeepsie Journal: Media missing, or ignoring, Iraq progress
As a Marine patrolling the streets of an-Nasiriyah, Iraq, I saw Operation Iraqi Freedom up close. Since my August return, I have followed the war on television. These two perspectives are vastly different, as the news media seem to trivialize the positive events that constitute the overwhelming majority of occurrences, while sensationalizing the relatively few negative aspects of the war.
In Iraq, after the remarkably rapid fall of one of history's most savage and entrenched tyrants, I witnessed Shiite Muslims singing as they made a pilgrimage forbidden by Saddam Hussein for more than two decades. I saw history made when Iraqi citizens toting banners peacefully assembled to air their grievances to the newly constituted an-Nasiriyah city council, escaping Saddam's fascist rule by exercising their natural right to free speech for the first time.
I took photographs of Iraqi children waving American flags. I enjoyed food prepared by Iraqi families as a thank you to their liberators, and saw delight on the faces of Iraqi children receiving their first taste of chocolate, from Marines.
I stood guard as American medical personnel treated sick Iraqis, some of whom had never before received medical attention. Occasionally, our progress was halted by the tragic news of an American casualty elsewhere in the country. During these times, we reflected on the news, learned from it, and continued with our mission of keeping the area secure, aiding in the establishment of democratic institutions and forging a bond of friendship with the Iraqi people.
Allies in place
Having spent four months in Iraq, I listen in disbelief as news anchors speak of our nation acting ''unilaterally.'' This is absurd. I flew into Iraq on a British plane and personally served with Polish, South Korean and Italian troops to liberate, secure and stabilize the country. The flagrant and ubiquitous misuse of the term ''unilateral'' insults our coalition brothers, some of whom paid the ultimate price.
Unfortunately, casualties are a fact of war. I watch the news as the same tragic event is dissected and analyzed from every angle, often for days, until the next report of a casualty surfaces and the process repeats itself.
Rarely do I see a story about a school opening, power being restored, the distribution of humanitarian aid or the enjoyment of basic human and civil rights. And yet I watched those uplifting events occur each day for four months. It seems that, when a story concerning the coalition's progress is reported, it is a blurb or mere filler.
Our battalion of approximately 1,000 Marines returned without suffering a combat fatality. That's an amazing accomplishment in a city that started the war as a stronghold for the vicious Saddam Fadeyeen guerrillas and served as the site for the now-famous ambush on Jessica Lynch, Shoshana Johnson and their compatriots. But I have never heard this accomplishment touted anywhere. Even this newspaper welcomed home the Hudson Valley's Marines by trumpeting in a headline and lead paragraph the lone negative of our tour in Iraq rather than the innumerable positives.
Through the murky haze of news coverage, I saw how the triumphant homecoming of the USS Lincoln from the combat zone in May was twisted by the media into a nefarious event. This happened because reporters and editors, the overwhelming majority of whom don't have a shred of military experience, disagreed with the commander in chief, his generals, and every serviceman I know, on what the definition of ''the end of major combat operations'' means.
Our news outlets have largely chosen to ignore the fundamental fact that Allied progress has dwarfed the setbacks that are an inevitable part of war. Despite the inaccurate characterization of the war and its consequences by the press, an-Nasiriyah, Iraq, and the world are freer, safer and better places to live in now than they were before Operation Iraqi Freedom.
(Kieran Michael Lalor, a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom, is the founder and executive director of the Eternal Vigilance Society. For more information, visit www.eternalvigilancesociety.org)
For the Poughkeepsie Journal
Kieran Michael Lalor
January 23, 2005
Section: OPINION
Page: A10