65% of our Soldiers' Deaths in Iraq: Noncombat Related

Dear Senator Webb:

“Nonhostile circumstances” have caused the deaths of almost 65% (14 of 22) of our soldiers in Iraq this year in a story reported by CNN today about four American soldiers who were killed in a suicide car bombing in Mosul.

This morning NPR carried a story about the Army meeting its enlistments goals, likely due to economic conditions, but the article listed felons who are now part of the service now that the Army has relaxed its standards. Does this play a role in the huge numbers of “nonhostile” (or as the Washington Post calls them, “noncombat related”) deaths?

Who investigates “nonhostile/non-combat-related” deaths of our soldiers? Who reports them? How do numbers compare to previous conflicts? Is training minimized in a rush to get soldiers to battlefields?

Taxpayers want a return on our investments of our human resources, equipment, and time. Answers would be required of any board of directors. Who is our “Board of Directors”? Who speaks for us? The voice is silent.

Sincerely,
Patriciadc

CNN = Cable National Nquirer

At the top of CNN’s menu January 7, 2009 at 10:13 a.m. under “Other News”:

Which gadget do you want to hunker down with?

Officials fear Caylee bone pics will be sold

Boy,6, drives car 10 miles toward school

Knife left in woman’s head

School orders teen to fix haircut

New ‘Idol’ judge looking forward to challenge

Rather than a cable news network, CNN has become the Hollywood and voyeur’s network, the “National Enquirer” of television "news" suggesting the new name.

Celebrate Iraq! Dance to the Music!

Buzh celebrated today the declining numbers of deaths of our troops in Iraq.

Bring out the champagne and cake! What, still below 5,000? Let's clink our glasses. Yahoo! Jump up and down. What an achievement, Mr. Buzh.

What? To celebrate, will you call up Cheneygang and plan a party?

Oh! Ambassador Ryan Crocker was "able to walk through Sadr City" last week? Marvelous! It only took the lives of 4,122 of our soldiers, the malicious wounding of 30,409 other American troops and the deaths of almost 95,000 Iraqi civilians, only 95,000, to afford Crocker a nice little walk. How sweet it is.

Thank you, Mr. Prezident. Will you, please, walk through Baghdad today?

(You would think the CNN scribes could at least list the number of deaths in this story, but that would be too much trouble and cause them to veer too much from Buzh's mouth release.)

CNN = Children's Naughty Network

If you click on the tab for "Iraq War" at CNN.com, you are taken to a site where the most recent story, "Iraq Troop Surge Ends; 150,000 Left" was filed "4 hours and 19 minutes ago" at the time I looked today.

Beyond that, the most recent story filed under "Iraq War" was dated July 10, 2008 ("Senate Okays Petraeus as head of Mideast forces") six days ago. Before that, June 24, 2008 ("Iraqi military to take control of Anbar province") 16 days before July 10.

Did the war stop? Has CNN pulled its staff out of Iraq to focus on more important issues like the color of Britney's underpants today or where Paris was taking her dog for lunch?

On the list of ten "most popular viewed" stories of the hour was one about a rapper (#4) and another, about a "boy band promoter" (#5). Britney and Paris each has her own tab among CNN's "top (10) people."

And the war is a "forgotten war." Why is that?

No wonder it's all right for John McCain to send more troops into Iraq. No wonder it's all right for John McCain to pledge the children of the middle and lower-income to a forgotten war. They have no voice. But the salaries paid by the military to lure the family members of those who are not wealthy to its wares are enticing.

How many of our troops in Iraq and in Afghanistan are sons and daughters of parents in top income brackets? Hey, Defense Department: You got a study on that? Yeah, I didn't think so.

"You can take my money, but leave my children at home!" is the silent mantra of the Top Tier Whiners. "Let them fight my battles! Who cares?" Well, certainly not the decision-makers, the "deciders" at CNN.

I checked casualty figures for the days CNN failed to make an entry about the Iraq War:

On June 24, 2008 five American soldiers were killed in Iraq. Between June 24 and July 10 when CNN had no coverage of the Iraq War, 14 American troops died in Iraq. Between July 10 and July 16 three American soldiers died in Iraq. I haven't included the number of those injured. I guess these numbers are not high enough to compete with Paris' lipstick choice today.

Does not the "news" business demand some accountability of itself, some level of sophistication, responsibility, and professionalism? Must it continually serve up garbage to attract those with no more depth than a sponge, those who have never registered to vote, those whose only care is what kind of fluff can I wear today, those who have never had to provide, those who are unable to read more than a paragraph on a cereal box, those who are unable to compose a letter demanding coverage of world events?

Rather than a news source, CNN has become the channel for teenagers who are enamored by Hollywood types with empty heads and empty voices, rather like the heads of CNN's management.

Actually, it's surprising CNN even carries a tab for "Iraq War." I doubt its viewers click on that tab much or even know where Iraq is. Let us be thankful for small things. At least, Fox makes noise.