Posted by
Reeson on Friday, October 19, 2007 11:34:52 AM
By Greg C. Reeson
In yesterday's "Rush in a Hurry" email, which provides me with a quick recap of The Rush Limbaugh Show's highlights when I don't have a chance to listen in, there was an item that quoted ABC's Charlie Gibson as saying, "The news is (pause) that there is no news. The police told us that, to their knowledge, there were no major acts of violence. Attacks are down in Baghdad and today no bombings or roadside explosions were reported. " As Rush notes, to the drive-by media, good news is not news at all.
Perhaps instead of claiming that there was no news from Iraq, Mr. Gibson could have reported some of the following press releases from the Multi-National Force-Iraq web site for October 18 and 19:
**Spartans find EFP Cache--Soldiers from Company A, 2nd Battalion, 69th Armored Regiment, attached to the 4th Brigade Combat Team of the 25th Infantry Division, discovered a large explosively formed projective cache in North Babil. They also discovered homemade explosives and blocks of C4. For the record, EFPs have been particularly lethal to our soldiers in Iraq.
**Iraqi Army, Coalition Forces Discover Weapons Cache--The 5th Iraqi Army Division and Coalition Forces captured a large weapons cache with assorted weapons and ammunition and two small caches with home-made explosives in southeast Baqouba.
**72-year old Iraqi Takes Down Suicide Bomber--A 72-year old Iraqi man stopped a suspected suicide bomber from detonating himself at a checkpoint in Arab Jabour. As the suspect ran toward the checkpoint with a suicide vest exposed, the man, a tribal commissioner and member of the Concerned Citizens Program, opened fire causing the vest to detonate and killing the bomber. "I did it for the honor of my family and the honor of my country," the man is quoted as saying.
**Hostages Released, Illegal Prisons Found--Soldiers from Company D, 1-12 Combined Arms Battalion, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division, acting on a tip, discovered two makeshift prisons and freed five local citizens being held for ransom in Baqouba. A leader from a local Concerned Local Citizens Group provided the tip.
**Concerned Local Citizen's Tip Leads to Mortar Cache--A tip from a Concerned Local Citizen enabled soldiers to find a large mortar round cache northwest of Mushada. The cache included 474 mortar rounds that could be used to make roadside bombs.
**Concerned Citizens Lead Troops to Cache--Acting on information provided by local citizens, soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Cavalry Division found a weapons cache in Muqdadiyah. "Having local citizens point out...terrorists and their support bases shows the desire the people in Diyala have to live in peace," Colonel David Sutherland is quoted as saying.
So it seems there was some news from Iraq after all. The problem for ABC was that the news that was available could lead Americans to believe that we are making progress and that Iraqis are helping us with securing the peace, one weapons cache or suicide bomber at a time. Good things are indeed happening in Iraq, and the news is there for those who want to find it. But at ABC it seems, the old mantra of "If it bleeds, it leads" still rules the day.