www.townhall.com/opinion/columns/michellemalkin/2005/11/02/173917.html
A When you read The New York Times (if you still bother to read it), always ask: What is the Times NOT telling me? The answers are invariably more compelling -- and newsworthy -- than wha t the paper actually deems "fit to print." Last Wednesday, the Times published a 4,624-word opus on American casual ties of war in Iraq. "2,000 Dead: As Iraq Tours Stretch On, a Grim Mark, " read the headline. The macabre, Vietnam-evoking piece appeared promine ntly on page A2. Among those profiled were Marines from the First Battal ion of the Fifth Marine Regiment, including Cpl. Here' s the relevant passage: Another member of the 1/5, Cpl. Jeffrey B Starr, rejected a $24,000 bon us to re-enlist. Corporal Starr believed strongly in the war, his father said, but was tired of the harsh life and nearness of death in Iraq. But he died in a firefight in Ramadi on April 30 during his third tour i n Iraq. Sifting through Corporal Starr's laptop computer after his death, his fa ther found a letter to be delivered to the marine's girlfriend. The paper's excerpt of Corporal Starr's letter leaves the reader with th e distinct impression that this young Marine was darkly resigned to a se nseless death. Late last week, I rece ived a letter from Corporal Starr's uncle, Timothy Lickness. He wanted y ou to know the rest of the story -- and the parts of Corporal Starr's le tter that the Times failed to include: "Obviously if you are reading this then I have died in Iraq. I kind of p redicted this, that is why I'm writing this in November. I don't regret going, everybody d ies but few get to do it for something as important as freedom. It may s eem confusing why we are in Iraq, it's not to me. I'm here helping these people, so that they can live the way we live. Reader Michael Valois questioned the Times' reporter, James Dao, about h is selection bias and forwarded me the exchanges. A defensive Dao (who d id not respond to my e-mail inquiry) argued "there is nothing 'anti war' in the way I portrayed Corporal Starr." Dao then had the gall to berate the reader: "Even the portion of his email that I used, the one that you seem so off ended by, does not express anti-war sentiment. It does express the fatal ism that many soldiers and marines seem to feel about multiple tours. If you have, you should know the anxiety and fear parents, spouses, and tro ops themselves feel when they deploy to war. And if you haven't, what ri ght do you have to object when papers like the New York Times try to des cribe that anxiety and fear?" Mr Dao sounds a bit unhinged playing the far-left chickenhawk card. Onl y people who have traveled to Iraq can criticize a paper's war-related c overage? And Dao's dead-wrong about Corporal Starr's presumed "fatalism." If you don't believe Corporal Starr's own words, which Dao chose to ignore, lis ten to Corporal Starr's father, Brian. Jeff had an awareness of dea th, but was very positive about coming home." Dao apologized to Valois for the tone of his snippy e-mail, but apparent ly feels no shame or sorrow for distorting a dead Marine's thoughts and feelings about war, sacrifice and freedom. Will the Times correct Dao's grave sin of omission and apologize? Or wil l the paper just hope you shrug and look the other way?
jpg Infiltrating Hollywood by Ryan Zempel (Nov 3, 2005) You work hard to raise your kids in a moral environment, only to catch them singing the latest Eminem lyrics they heard on the radio.
|
http://csua.com/feed/