|
Embedded reporter: "Everything I thought I knew was wrong."
A reporter from the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner is embedded with the 173rd Stryker Brigade, and is blogging her experiences on the newspaper's website.Iâm a journalist. I read the news everyday, from several sources. I have the luxury of reading stuff newspapers donât always have room to print. I read every tidbit I could on Iraq and the war before coming. Everything I thought I knew was wrong. Maybe not wrong, but certainly different than the picture in my head. . . . There are houses of this city that by Fairbanks standards are luxurious. Or at least they were at one time. They are ornate and gated and in neighborhoods with schools, stores and mosques. They are also ghosts of what they once were. They are still lived in, but after years of war and lack of many basic municipal services, the houses look spent and tired around the shutters. There is garbage on the streets, in yards, in open areas. There is a stench. There is grime. But there are also people. They are vivid, unlike their surroundings. They are excitable and friendly and conversational. They live in conditions I hope I donât have to experience in my own life. Yet, if my neighborhood saw two wars, the breakdown of the national and local governments and decline of municipal services, Iâm not sure I wouldnât be in the same boat. still havenât seen U.S. troops engaged or encounter car bombs or explosives. But I did see them play backgammon with some local police and Iraqi soldiers. I saw them take photos with more locals and make jokes mostly lost in translation. They gave advice and expertise to local troops on how to conduct a neighborhood patrol. They drank the local customary tea, and many admitted theyâve become addicted to it. They know several locals by name. I didnât hear one slight or ridicule of a very distinct culture. One soldier mentioned it might be a good idea to clean up the trash around one polling place, and another commented on the status of women in the culture, but they were nothing but respectful, friendly and buddy-buddy with the Iraqis they mingled with today. And this is good stuff. More than anything in the last few days Iâve heard from soldiers and commanders that people back home donât quite get it. They donât see the real picture. They donât get the real story. Some of them, like Lt. Col. Gregg Parrish, look seriously pained in the face when he says only a part of the picture is being told; the part of car bombs and explosives and suicide bombers and death. Itâs a necessary part of the picture, but not a complete one, he says. Iâve listened to the soldiers and Parrish about the missing pieces of the puzzles that donât reach home. My selfish, journalistic drive immediately thinks âPerfect. A story that hasnât been told. Let me at it.â But I have a slight hesitation; I need to keep balanced. I canât be a cheerleader, even if I have a soft spot for the hometown troops, especially after the welcome theyâve shown me. I still need to be truthful and walk the centerline and report the good or bad. But then I realize itâs not a conflict of interest. If I am truly unbiased, then I need to get used to this one simple fact; that the untold story, might in fact, be a positive one. It takes a minute to wrap my mind around it, as a news junkie that became a news writer. The great, career-making, breaking news stories usually donât have happy endings; they usually revolve around disturbing news, deceit and downfall. Nasty political doings. Gruesome crimes and murders. Revealing secrets. But Iâve come upon something that is none of those. Not this aspect of it. There are politics to this war and controversies and investigations. But there is another side. Posted by: Mike 2005-12-15 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=137485 |