From: Cub Driver look

conversations with returning military
types, plus read some letters and e-mails from folks still in country, and
there certainly does seem to be a huge disconnect between what they are
saying
about conditions in Iraq and what is reported on the news. Something is
screwy.

Well, I don't know. Is it screwy or just standard operating procedure?

Ah, yes, there is that, since the days of Vietnam.
One specific example I was thinking of was with our local volunteer fire
department. All nine of them were reservests or Guards and were activated for
the war. (Their loss was devastating for our community, btw, being firemen,
EMTs and citizen's patrol police force [some with military police training],
our only police for being highway patrol and county sheriff who are usually far
away and busy.) Anyway, some of these guys are back, and the letters and
e-mails of those still over there are virtually public property. They are
*furious* over the post-war reporting on Iraq, one describing the fellow who
intones the CBS radio news as "Lord Hawhaw." I find it interesting that, in
contrast to Vietnam, where most of the troops were young unmarried guys, many
too young to legally buy a drink when they came back from their tour, who could
easily be ignored by the larger society, the troops in Iraq are older, and
especially with the Reservists and Guards, well established in their home
communities, people whose opinions are respected and valued. So when they say
the real story about Iraq is not being told, people tend to listen, especially
when they back it up with their own videos and almost real-time messages from
the front.
Example: a day or two ago AOL on its opening page had a blurb, "Fierce
Fighting West of Bagdad." I was with a guy recently back. He read that,
scowled, muttered an obscenity and began clacking away on the keyboard. Very
shortly we had info from guys *who were actually west of Bagdad* telling us,
within the confines of military security, what the real deal was.
So you have a bunch of guys and gals, ranging in age from 15 to 78, some who
have been to Iraq, some who are about to go, way to hell and gone in rural USA,
who know from the horses mouth what the situation is in Iraq from direct
personal knowlege who are reading and listening to "professional" news reports
that they *know* are, to be kind, less than entirely accurate. I don't know if
there has ever been such a situation ever in history. Something big will surely
come out of this revolution in information sharing.


Chris Mark