The Gray Lady asks: Where Are the War Heroes?
The answer, of course, is that they are right were they've always been. They are serving in the front lines, behind enemy lines, in the rear, in supply chains, and even on the home front. Just because Big Media and some of the brass doesn't want to feature and popularize them the way they used to doesn't mean they've ceased to exist. So the real question isn't where are the war heroes, but why aren't we hearing more about them?
Could it be that Big Media regards the cause as so ignoble that it cannot possibly generate war heroes? Or it it that they want to go out of their way to diminish individualism as much as possible, which seems to be the problem with the brass. Or has the nature of warfare changed so drastically that Big Media can no longer recognize heroes even when they find themselves embedded with them? Personally, I am appalled and disgusted that Big Media spends so much time trying to denigrate the war effort, focusing almost exclusively on our losses while ignoring the heroic accomplishments of our troop. There is a point to their bravery and sacrifice, though you'd be hard-pressed to find it in the New York Times. Has Bush Derangement Syndrome caused this or were the seeds of their discontent sown long before 2000?
Imagine Ted Koppel reciting a list of new schools opened in Afghanistan, political prisoners released in Iraq, or significant medals awarded for valor in the place of a context free list of the slain. Imagine NPR making as big a deal about the delivery of supplies to the children of Iraq by Spirit of America as they did about our 1,000th casualty. Imagine being told one time by Brian Williams of the men who received prosthetics for the hands that Saddam Hussein had chopped off instead of being lectured eight times a day for six months about a handful of bad soldiers at Abu Ghraib. Imagine Ted Kennedy showing as much concern for the victims of the Taliban as he does for the war criminals and terrorists held at Guantanamo. Imagine Dick Durbin had some idea of the horrors of the Khmer Rouge. I can dream, can't I?
I read of heroes every week here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. I'll bet these seven bloggers post more positive news about the war each week than the New York Times manages to print with their entire cadre of professional journalists. And Big Media continues to wonder why their credibility is sinking faster than the prospects for the Baathists in Syria.