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 Greetings! You are reading an article from The Mudville Gazette. To reach the front page, with all the latest news and views, click the logo above or "main" below. Thanks for stopping by! March 7, 2007 NBC in IraqBy Greyhawk"Finally we feel there is security, it's better" said a man who brought his daughter outside to see the US soldiers. - NBC News report from Sadr City A great quote from Iraq, the sort a journalist can get every day if they want to. Last month I wrote of Mike Yon at MilBlogs Mike's story adds the details and life that no press release can. Though sometimes you'll find a gem of a quote included like that in the third paragraph above, it's more often than not like the difference between reading the final score of a football game you hadn't seen and reading a full account by a reporter who did, and knows more than the score.Mike's still delivering gems from the war zone: On the 18th, we drove from Baghdad to Ramadi for a “Transfer of Authority” from the 1st Brigade 1st Armored Division, to the 1st Brigade of the 3rd Infantry Division....but as should be obvious from the first word of this post, someone other than Geraldo has shown up to report from Iraq. NBC News anchor Brian Williams, who, in fact, just gave us an opportunity to follow Yon's advice regarding Lt General Ray Odierno: And this is what the general heard Monday about how warmly the locals now view the Americans.Along with Williams, retired General Wayne Downey And Williams has even carried the message to MSNBC's Hardball program, where host Chris Matthews was deeply concerned that the Walter Reed story might be hurting troop morale ("Is it clear that the people feel that we're letting them down at home?"). Williams seems to think that's not the case. The conversation then turned to Iraq (by the way, note the "so called surge" reference - Williams knows the score.): MATTHEWS: Now I want to ask you the big question. How is the surge going in Baghdad?Yup. Kudos to Brian Williams and NBC. But the last quote - and the best on troop morale - is from Mike Yon: "If their morale could be bottled, it would probably sell like crack, then be outlawed." Update/Related: Video of day two of US and Iraqi ops in Sadr City. Posted by Greyhawk / March 7, 2007 12:10 AM | Permalink 9 Comments |
November 26, 2010America@war [Greyhawk]
I think anyone who's ever pondered the "comment" option - once only available on blogs and bulletin boards, now ubiquitous on almost any web site - will appreciate this:
The so-called faculty of writing is not so much a faculty of writing as it is a faculty of thinking. When a man says, "I have an idea but I can't express it"; that man hasn't an idea but merely a vague feeling. If a man has a feeling of that kind, and will sit down for a half an hour and persistently try to put into writing what he feels, the probabilities are at least 90 percent that he will either be able to record it, or else realize that he has no idea at all. In either case, he will do himself a benefit. That's wisdom from the past, captured for posterity at the US Naval Institute, shared via the web on the institute's 137th anniversary. From their about page:
"The Naval Institute has three core activities," among them, History and Preservation: The Naval Institute also has recently introduced Americans at War, a living history of Americans at war in their own words and from their own experiences. These 90-second vignettes convey powerful stories of inspiration, pride, and patriotism. Take a look at the collection, and you'll see it's not limited to accounts from those who served on ships at sea, members of the other branches are well-represented. I'm fortunate to have met USNI's Mary Ripley, she's responsible for the institute's oral history program (and she's the daughter of the late John Ripley, whose story is told here). She also deserves much credit for their blog. ("We're not the Navy nor any government agency. Blog and comment freely.") We met at a milblog conference - Mary knew (and I would come to realize) that milbloggers are the 21st-century version of exactly what the US Naval Institute is all about. Once that light bulb came on in my head, I mentioned a vague idea for a project to her - milblogs as the 21st century oral history that they are. "Put that in writing," she said (of course - see first paragraph above!) - and here's part of the result. Shortly after the first tent was pitched by the American military in Iraq a wire was connected to a computer therein, and the internet was available to a generation of Americans at war - many of whom had grown up online. From that point on, at any given moment, somewhere in Iraq a Soldier, Sailor, Airman or Marine was at a keyboard sharing the events of his or her day with the folks back home. While most would simply fire off an email, others took advantage of the (then) relatively new online blogging platforms to post their thoughts and experiences for the entire world to see. The milblog was born - and from that moment to this stories detailing everything from the most mundane aspects of camp life to intense combat action (often described within hours of the event) have been available on the web... And et cetera - but since you're reading this on a milblog, you probably knew that. And you know that milblogs aren't just blogs written by troops at war, that many friends, family members, and supporters likewise documented their story of America at war online in near-real time, as those stories developed. The diversity in membership of that group is broad, the one thing we all have in common is the impulse to make sense of the seemingly senseless, and communicate the tale - for each of us that impulse was strong enough to overcome whatever barriers prevent the vast majority of people from doing the same. Everyone at some point has some vague idea they believe should be shared - we were the people who, from some combination of internal and external urging, found and spent those many half hours persistently trying to write it down. But where will all that be in another 137 years? Or five or ten, for that matter. That's something I've asked myself since at least 2004 - when I wrote this:
Membership in the ghost battalion has grown in the years since, and an ever growing majority of those abandoned-but-still-standing sites are vanishing. Have you checked out Lt Smash's site lately? How about Sgt Hook's? If you're a long-time milblog reader you know the first widely-read milblog from Operation Iraq Freedom and the first widely-read milblog from Afghanistan are both gone from the web. If you're a relative newcomer to this world you may never even have heard of them - or the dozens upon dozens of others who carried forth the standard they set down. If you have a vague notion that something should be done about that, (a notion I've heard expressed more than once...) then you and I and the good folks at the US Naval Institute are in agreement. Preserving the history documented by the milbloggers is just one of the goals of the milblog project, the once-vague idea that we're now making real. And it's a big idea, if I say so myself - too big to explain in one simple blog post, so stand by for more. Likewise, it's too big a task to be accomplished by just one person. So if you're a milblogger (and exactly what is a milblogger? is a topic for much further discussion on its own) I'm asking for your help. All I'll really need is just a little bit (maybe just one or two of those half hours...) of your time, and your willingness to tell the tale. We've already made history, it's time to save it. (More to follow...) Posted 4:02 PM | Permalink |
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The Mudville Gazette is the on-line voice of an American warrior and his wife who stands by him. They prefer to see peaceful change render force of arms unnecessary. Until that day they stand fast with those who struggle for freedom, strike for reason, and pray for a better tomorrow.
 
 
 Furthermore, I will occasionally use satire or parody herein. The bottom line: it's my house. I like having visitors to my house. I hope you are entertained. I fight for your right to free speech, and am thrilled when you exercise said rights here. Comments and e-mails are welcome, but all such communication is to be assumed to be 1)the original work of any who initiate said communication and 2)the property of the Mudville Gazette, with free use granted thereto for publication in electronic or written form. If you do NOT wish to have your message posted, write "CONFIDENTIAL" in the subject line of your email. Original content copyright © 2003 - 2011 by Greyhawk. Fair, not-for-profit use of said material by others is encouraged, as long as acknowledgement and credit is given, to include the url of the original source post. Other arrangements can be made as needed. Contact: greyhawk at mudvillegazette dot com  Tending Distant Far from hearth and home, watching What tales we'll tell When things grim Some distant sunset, vision fading Saluting fallen friends whose names - Greyhawk, Baghdad, December 2004 |
At least 90 Shia pilgrims have been killed and more than 150 wounded in a double suicide bombing in the central Iraqi town of Hilla, police said.
Two bombers wearing explosive vests blew themselves up in a large crowd.
It was the deadliest in a number of attacks against pilgrims heading to the city of Karbala for a religious event.
Peace and freedom are so... American. Saddam Hussein reportedly tortured and murdered 40,000 plus civilians at random every year, just to beat his oafish chest. Come May, by forcibly removing this horrific crud, George W. Bush will become responsible as Commander in Chief for saving 160,000 innocent lives. We doubt if one single D-rat Congressman or Senator will so much as whisper a hint of such a saving grace.
Sentimental we may be, but the thought that America's brave troops stand fast, preserve morale in face of malicious home-front calumnies, moves one to tears. Borne as on Eagle Wings, each warrior serves a great tradition: "Floating Star-spangled Banners, advance, Bearing Justice as Victory's Trophy" (JPB, to Sousa's "Stars and Stripes Forever").
As Churchill proclaimed to Franklin Roosevelt: "Sail on, O Ship of State! Sail on, O Union strong and great-- humanity with all her fears, with all her hopes for future years, is hanging breathless on thy fate."
God Bless America! God Bless our brave and noble citizens in uniform. Our dreams, our hopes and prayers are with you: May we at home prove worthy of your sacrifice.
Pray for NBC. It's never too late to see the light.
Seriously, I was shocked when I saw that broadcast.
David,
I think it's pretty obvious why the troops are motivated to put a stop to things like that.
and that crud Matthews trying to goad and qualify all of Williams' responses -- I know you've only been there a few days and it must be hard to judge... pitiful attempt at undermining Williams' report. but delightful to hear "the surge" qualified and the contrast between the boots in Iraq and the stooges in DC
It will be interesting to see if NBC et al. tries to rein in Williams' exuberance and optimism over the next week -- or at least his balanced reporting on things going right and Iraqis who want the Coalition to STAY... after all... it's hard to entice viewers to "Come see the show" with good news... which Matthews has a hard time getting his spittle up to "report".
Says it all. Men with a job to do, and no time to worry about children in Congress arguing over whom is more correct on the math test. Men who know what their mission is about, support their mission, support their leadership, and receive the support of their leadership in the accomplishment of that mission.
Men who act instead of whine, work instead of play, and stand in the doorway when the ghosts and wolves try to enter.
Congress ain't worth their spit.
Subsunk
I'm also shocked. Wow.
IT was also NBC IIRC that showed the soldiers saying how they didn't care for the "We support the troops but not the war" crowd (that was the video that touched off William Arkin's "obscene amenities" rant). Is there something in the water at the NBC head office? And if so can we get it also into the water at CNN?
'Couldn't get the trackback to work. Here's my post (and keep up the excellent work!):
"Ah, the power of those market forces"