Freedom's Fidelity

Monday, August 25, 2003

If you've never read Chief Wiggles's blog you should, it's linked over on the right. He's an intelligence officer currently serving in Iraq, and offers positive, at times heart warming, stories of the goings-on over there. Most mainstream newspapers are headlined with bad stories, cause we all know that "Iraq Slipping Away" sells more than "Group of Soldiers Help Open Iraqi Schools" He offers an insight that you won't find anywhere else, and each one of his journal entries teaches a life lesson. His determination combined with his compassion for serving the people of Iraq makes me proud to be an American, proud to have this man representing us. You should visit his old site too and read some past entries, you'll be glad you did. In the meantime here is some of his reaction to the UN bombing last week:

At times I feel that it is impossible to make sense out of such a senseless, meaningless loss of life and property. What kind of people are they anyway?

What is even more disturbing is the fact that many of these acts of terrorism are committed by non-Iraqi people, those from other countries who have traveled here for the sole purpose of disrupting our efforts to give to these people a life free from fear, bondage, and torture. As if their small random acts of violence will even put a dent in our resolve to continue in our efforts to provide security and freedom to these people.

What kind of place is it that will deliberately breed such contempt and hatred for people, hatred that knows no bounds or limitations and will stop at nothing to accomplish their goal of killing innocent human beings? People that will do such things are blinded by their own relentless hatred that they cannot even see the good that is being done over here.

Maybe our efforts for the most part are going unnoticed: the schools and hospitals that have been opened, the playgrounds and housing projects that have been started, and the many jobs that have been created. Where is all the talk about the thousands of good things that have been done? Why is the media not assisting to promote the word that many great things are occurring day after day? Where is the truth in reporting that makes good news as sellable as bad news?

(.....)I am fine, if any of you are wondering. Life goes on as usual, these acts of terrorism hardly causing us to skip a beat in the process of reconstruction. Our resolve is firm and commitment in tack, for we will succeed and be victorious.

This is the right thing to be doing; righteousness will prevail over the evil intentions of misguided hate filled people. Keep the faith. Do your part in assisting us to be able to continue until we are finished with our plans. We need your help. Tell everyone you know that we will not give in to their negative reporting and we will not give up until we are done.

Chief, I don't know how many people are reading this, but I am doing what I can to spread the word. Keep on going, you are an inspiration and your determination is making countless Iraqi's lives better. That is an objective fact.

Update: Not three hours after I accuse the "mainstream media" of not reporting good news in Iraq, InstaPundit points to this relatively good news piece from *gasp* the New York Times:

As the area around Baghdad endured a week of repeated violence, a happier scene unfolded in this city, a two-hour drive to the south.

American soldiers, without helmets or flak jackets, attended graduation ceremonies of the Diwaniya University Medical School. At ease with the Iraqi students and their parents, the American marines laughed, joked and posed in photographs. One by one, the students walked up to thank them, for Marine doctors had taught classes in surgery and gynecology and helped draw up the final exams.

(...)So far, most of the anger shown here has not been directed at Americans. With hundreds of thousands of dollars pouring into the area, the city and its surrounding areas are rapidly being restored and in some cases improved.

Since April, groups of marines have been fanning out across Qadisiya Province to oversee an array of projects intended to revive the local economy, its government and education systems, while putting Iraqis back to work.

In interviews, Marine commanders rattled off a list of local projects: 86 schools renovated; the police station, courthouse and jail reopened. Some 2,500 police officers, many of them graduates of a one-week human rights course, patrol the streets. Hundreds of local men earn $15 a week clearing weeds from local irrigation canals.

The marines are even able to go beyond immediate postwar needs and move toward strengthening the civil society. They are supervising construction of a women's shelter here, and they make regular deliveries to a local nursing home. They have even set up a Rotary Club.

"We are in lock-sync with the Iraqis," Colonel Malay said. "We want what they want."

That Halliburton controlling the media conspiracy theory is beginning to look more plausible, eh?

posted by Paul  permalink | |