I don't know which thread to put this on. Any ideas?
This is an email from Sam Bond, whose father is Senator Kit Bond (R-MO). Sam is currently serving in Iraq and sent this email to his friends (which is how my daughter received it):
Hey everyone. I beg you to stay with me on this letter – it's long,
but the issues involved are deeply troubling to me, and I feel it
would be a great disservice to all concerned, particularly the brave
young Marines and Iraqis on the streets everyday - simply to remain
silent.
Two days ago I returned from an operation in Northeastern Fallujah. I
was exhausted, but I took satisfaction in the knowledge that, not only
had all of my Marines returned safely, but also we had established a
new precinct headquarters building in a small section of the city.
This building will serve as a local outlet for Iraqi Police, Iraqi
Army, and a small cadre of Marines to conduct small-scale patrols in a
dedicated area. The overall concept has been proven effective in
Ramadi to our west, and this was the first such precinct established
in Fallujah. Despite encountering a laundry list of small logistical
and operational setbacks, the short-term effects of the operation were
largely positive: almost 200 Iraqis had volunteered for police
recruitment, hundreds more had received outpatient medical care, many
settled damage claims with Coalition representatives, and all present
received food and oil rations from the precinct headquarters staff.
One of my corporals stationed at the precinct HQ said the reaction of
most of the Iraqis present was one of relief and great optimism about
what this new building means to their safety and the progress of the
city at large.
Such a success story would be devastating to the enemy, and they
attempted to disrupt the process with a suicide attack. However, due
to aggressive patrolling by Iraqi forces, the bomber, who doubtless
wanted to target the civilians at the headquarters itself in order to
cause the most catastrophic effects, was forced to detonate his vest
almost a half-mile away when he was halted by police. He succeeded in
causing superficial wounds to one Iraqi civilian, as well as killing
himself. No one else was injured, no other damage caused, and in the
aftermath of the incident, the precinct signed up an additional 75
recruits for police service.
This bomber failed – he failed to kill innocents, and he failed to
deter the progress of standing up Iraqi police.
Later that afternoon, from my temporary station at an Iraqi Army
outpost, co-located with U.S. advisor personnel, I was checking the
internet headlines when a "Breaking News" alert appeared: "Suicide
Attack in Fallujah kills 25; Police Recruits Targeted." Shocked, and
initially very concerned that perhaps the outpost command center was
out of the loop on a major incident, I read on (quotes paraphrased):
"A suicide bomber detonated outside of a police recruiting drive in
Fallujah, killing 25 and wounding at least 50 others. According to
unnamed sources within the Police Department, the bomber was able to
gain access to the recruit line where he detonated a vest filled with
explosives. An official at Fallujah General Hospital, speaking on
condition of anonymity, confirmed that he had treated at least 50
people with severe injuries in the aftermath." Literally running to
the command center, I asked if anyone had heard of a second attack.
Radio checks went around the horn, and everyone came back in the
negative – there had been no further attacks, other than the
completely ineffective one earlier. This was, in every way, a false
report. Yet, I checked the other headlines: CNN, APNewswire, BBC,
Yahoo – all picked up the same story. Over the next several hours, I
was nervous that maybe we'd missed something, or possibly that the
attack had happened somewhere else nearby in Anbar province, and that
the location of "Fallujah" was simply misreported. But, in the
aftermath, we found out that no other attack that day could possibly
have been referenced. Those headlines referred to the failed attack –
but depicted a dramatically different outcome.
And then something interesting happened. That night, after the stories
had been on the web for at least five or six hours, all traces of the
story disappeared. It was as if they'd never been posted in the first
place – every effort to find any mention of the story was futile. I
was initially relieved, and recognized that the reporting agencies had
probably found out that the initial reporter had received bogus
information. But then I realized: there doesn't appear to be any
retraction, and there certainly wasn't any update that indicated the
real events. So, the thousands upon thousands of people who saw that
headline will assume that a tragic event unfolded in Fallujah, lump
that in with all the other bad news that makes up the grim picture of
Iraq, and move on. (In fairness, there may yet, at some unknown point
in the future, be a story that addresses this initial report as false,
or chronicles the establishment of other such precincts in Fallujah as
indicators of success. And, it may get as much reader exposure as the
"successful suicide attack" did. But I'm not optimistic.)
Fresh from the frustration of that incident, I returned to our base at
Camp Baharia. Good news greeted me the following morning: a combined
Iraqi Army, Iraqi Police, and Marine patrol in Fallujah's industrial
district encountered a small band of insurgents at a makeshift suicide
vehicle factory, some of whom were wearing suicide vests. The Police
engaged the enemy, killing four of them, and the Iraqi Army and Marine
contingent were able to maneuver around the flank of the other fleeing
enemy and engage them before they could escape, killing an additional
three insurgents. Subsequent investigation of the scene led to
confirmation of two large trucks, laden with explosives, and rigged to
be suicide vehicles. The engagement, and discovery of the suicide
trucks, was about as great a success story as we can expect to have.
After finishing the site exploitation, and cordoning off the area to
ensure no local nationals were nearby, U.S. Explosive Ordinance
Disposal teams placed demolition charges on the trucks, and remotely
initiated the charges, removing the threat and causing a large – but
harmless to civilians – explosion. Needless to say, this event led to
a lot of excitement on our part, as well as our Iraqi counterparts.
The enemy was killed in his tracks, his best weapon was discovered
before it could cause any harm, and there were no civilian casualties
whatsoever.
So, it was with profound disappointment that I encountered an
alternate version of events while reading the "Western Media
Highlights" this morning on our daily intelligence summary. I read a
synopsis of the report, and while I didn't see the full video clip, I
did see a freeze-frame from CNN.com with a picture of Iraq, Anbar
province highlighted, Fallujah outlined, and a banner that reads:
"Children Killed." According to the story: "A U.S. tank fired a
high-explosive round at insurgents emplacing an IED in Fallujah
yesterday, killing three Iraqi children. Once the smoke cleared, the
insurgents got away. An investigation is underway." (I later
discovered that there was an engagement similar to this story,
although not inside of Fallujah, and it is under investigation. I
don't have other details to share.) Casual observers, both in the
U.S., abroad, and even in other parts of Iraq, will assume that
overzealous U.S. personnel used excessive force in Fallujah and
innocent Iraqis died as a result. I highly doubt that the other events
of the day in Fallujah would have otherwise reached any of you had I
not relayed, but the actual events for our Battalion boil down to this
(pardon the expletive):
We kicked the shit out of the insurgents yesterday. We rocked 'em.
Echo company 2/6, the Iraqi Police, the Iraqi Army, their respective
advisor teams – all share in the accomplishment and satisfaction of
knowing this: on that one day in Fallujah, we decisively and
absolutely won. End of story.
But, as you can see, as far as anyone else who may have been watching
the news yesterday night is concerned, we did not win. In fact, by our
alleged carelessness in a separate incident – the merits of which are
still being determined - we contributed to unfortunate and unnecessary
bloodshed, while an invisible, invincible, and dedicated enemy got the
better of us yet again. This kind of selective sensationalism wouldn't
fly in the states. There are too many protections, both ethical and
legal, that prevent such calculated, intentional, and malicious bias -
evidenced by both selective omission of the good and intentionally
pessimistic spin of the bad. But apparently, our military – and the
Iraqi military – aren't afforded such protections. Our collective
benefit of the doubt is gone, and apparently good news must be
scrutinized for inflation or propaganda, while bad news is
automatically both reliable (due to the sheer volume of similar
reporting) and time-sensitive enough to merit immediate and far-flung
dissemination. Incomplete information is rarely footnoted as such, and
updates that mitigate or even contradict the initial blood banner
aren't worthy of public scrutiny. Where is the accountability?
Make no mistake: the one area in which we are absolutely, positively,
and without a doubt LOSING this war is in information operations. We
are getting demolished, both by nefarious enemy media outlets, moles,
and reporters (FYI – we know of plenty of instances where "reporters"
or "sources" for Arab and other news agencies are either on insurgent
payrolls, or have known sympathies with insurgent organizations), AND
by a collective Western media that either fails to realize, or worse
fails to care, that they are often being manipulated by enemy
elements. What incredible economy of effort the enemy is afforded when
U.S. media is their megaphone! Why spend precious resources on
developing your own propaganda machine when you can make your
opponent's own news outlets scream your message louder than you could
ever have hoped to do independently?
That said, failure to provide context, in addition to the tendency to
overstate patterns by projecting localized incidents into broader
themes, are cardinal sins of reporting in this conflict. As such, I'll
try (albeit somewhat half-heartedly) not to commit the same sin by
claiming or insinuating that other incidents in other areas of the
country are similarly misreported. I have not the ability, nor the
inclination, to spend the time required to research the details of
every Baghdad bombing, Sadr City Rocket, or Basrah mortar in search of
comparable false reports. And it would be inappropriate to ignore that
U.S. and Iraqi personnel have, on too many occasions, made fatal
errors of judgment and execution that do result in deaths of innocent
civilians or friendly military casualties. Indeed, the sheer volume of
those stories (real or fabricated) has reached a point that the
cumulative effects completely drown out any tidbit of good news. I can
count on one hand the number of positive stories I've heard through
the media this deployment – yet every day that I've seen a television
or been on the internet there's been an Iraqi "Doom and Gloom"
scrolling-banner of death and carnage.
So with that disclaimer, I will simply state the facts as I know them,
and you can be the judge as to whether it's worth noting, or even
caring. After all, in the end they are limited in scope, and probably
will have no discernable impact on the greater conflict – for better
or worse.
From May 30th to June 2nd, Iraqi Police, Iraqi Army, and U.S. forces
won two decisive battles in Fallujah, Iraq. The enemy was intercepted,
denied, and in both cases, outright killed. The results of these
engagements are as follows: One civilian wounded, no civilians killed;
One Iraqi policeman wounded, no other Iraqi Security forces wounded;
No coalition force casualties of any kind; eight enemy combatants
confirmed killed, four enemy suspected wounded, at least two enemy
suicide operatives discovered and killed before they could carry out
their attacks (with a third forced to detonate early and to no
substantial effect), at least two enemy suicide trucks discovered
before their construction was complete, four foreign fighters
detained. 200 Iraqi police recruits signed up for duty, and a new
precinct headquarters was established.
Western media reports for the same time period and area indicated no
enemy killed, 28 civilians killed (including three children as the
result of U.S. action), upwards of fifty civilians wounded, and an
investigation underway.
I'm sorry for dragging on so long. These two particular incidents are
very important to me and my fellow Marines, and many of us were taken
aback by the discrepancies between what we saw with our own eyes and
what we saw on screen. In spite of having our small victories
essentially robbed, we'll be fine – we'll keep fighting the fight, and
doing what we can to accomplish the mission, assist the Iraqis, and
provide for the security of the new government. We will make mistakes,
and we will suffer setbacks and casualties. You will probably hear
about them. We will also have successes, victories over enemy
combatants, and oversee more progress, stability and growth in the new
Iraq. I doubt you will hear about those. When I see future
discrepancies between reports and reality, I will try, if possible, to
alert you all to them. Admittedly, my readership doesn't have the
scope of the big media outlets, but at least you few will know that
there is an alternative explanation to what everyone else is hearing.
Thanks for your time and for allowing me to vent some frustration. I
hope all is well stateside.
Cheers,
Sam |
