An event is news if it is the opposite of what should be. And the more rare the event is, as compared to what should be, determines the legs of the story.
At least that was what I was taught as a young student and news photographer.
On May 17, acting from tips by Iraqi citizens, Coalition Forces raided a safe house in Ramadi. In the process, they destroyed a shop that was converting stolen cars into IEDs. Among the ordnance confiscated were machine guns, riles, artillery rounds, bomb making materials, rocket propelled grenades, and a suicide vest.
The Marines ’stacked up’ outside the door of a brick and stucco building near Haqlaniyah, Iraq. The stack, a modern version of Greek phalanx where metal breastplates have been replaced with ceramic and Kevlar and rifles have replaced pikes and swords, is the formation of choice for Al Anbar streetfighters.
The Daily Dispatch generally doesn’t do document dumps. But when Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki announced the National Unity Government on May 20, the event was so important, and the MSM follow-up was so shallow, that we have decided to reprint the entire 34-point program he enunciated, with some light commentary of our own.
As poorly as MSM treats our Soldiers and Marines, Iraqi patriots are treated even worse. Iraqi democrats who risk their lives daily to oppose Baathist tyranny and jihadist terror are treated variously as Keystone cops, mad mullahs, nefarious liars, or argumentative idiots. This, as you will read, is an injustice.
The agriculture of Iraq was assassinated by Saddam Hussein as inexorably as his enemies. Blessed by abundant water, indigenous traction animals, and sun-drenched growing seasons, the land of the two rivers, site of the Garden of Eden, was the cradle of high-yield agriculture. Its staples included wheat, barley, date palms, figs, olives, sugar beets, sugarcane, cotton, tobacco, alfalfa, and a plethora of garden edibles – beans, eggplant, okra, tomatoes, cucumbers and onions; apples, melons, grapes, apricots and citrus groves.
One generally assesses the truth of a discovery by the number and credibility of persons who attest to it, rather than by the speculations of those who can neither attest to it, nor refute it. By this standard, one must admit: Saddam Hussein continued his WMD programs long after the Gulf War of 1991 — even to the threshold of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
One-by-one, an impressive list of Baathist insiders have testified to the persistence of Saddam’s pursuit of biological, chemical, and nuclear weapons. And their credibility has been enhanced by corroborating evidence from the recently-released archives of the Baathist regime.
In the Summer of 2005, the press tent at Camp Fallujah, Iraq was a stone throw away from Fallujah surgical.
A few hundred yards further was the heli-pad the medevac helicopters used.
Most days I never heard the whomping sound of rotors beating against the tent–but then again, most days I was outside the wire with a platoon of grunts.
“I stand solemnly before the souls of our martyrs and the precious blood offered by Iraqis, and seek inspiration from our people’s steadfastness, sacrifices and suffering – the incarceration, torture, killing and terror they’ve faced. Just as as we did away with the tyrant and the days of oppression and despotism, we will do away with terrorism and sabotage.”
(On May 17, 2006, AEI hosted the “War of Words” veterans in a panel discussion entitled “Veterans Speak Out on the Coverage of the Iraq War.” DD will publish their statements on May 17, 18 and 19.)
Lt. Lawrence Indyk,
U.S. Army
(On May 17, 2006, AEI hosted the “War of Words” veterans in a panel discussion entitled “Veterans Speak Out on the Coverage of the Iraq War.” DD will publish their statements on May 17, 18 and 19.)
Former Marine Sgt. J.D. Johannes,
Embedded combat reporter