I just posted this in another thread, but I’m hoping for more karma points if it gets wider readership, so I’ll post again here…hopefully no moderator will frown on it, given the circumstances. (And if one does, please delete it in the GD thread on America First rather than here!)
I ask everyone’s pardon in advance for what I’m sure will be my extremely grumpy and stressed mood until the Iraq situation is over. I just found out a couple of hours ago that my much-adored and admired cousin shipped out for Kuwait yesterday. He’s a journalist, and will presumably be covering whatever is about to happen in Iraq.
Really, the parallels between my cousin and Daniel Pearl are quite astounding; he is a nice Jewish boy from New Jersey, about the same age, with a pregnant wife at home. He also covered the immediate aftermath of 9/11 from Afghanistan. I’m sure his wife is just thrilled speechless. (And as his mom said the last time around, “Well, I didn’t sign his permission slip, but he went anyway.”)
Please wish my cousin good luck, and a safe return home from a place where a certain proportion of the population would love to see him dead. Please let him come home safe to his wonderful, sweet wife, his two small children, and the third one on the way, not to mention the rest of us. Please let Daniel Pearl be the last person to die for covering these conflicts, simply because of who he was and what he represented.
The role journalists play in times of crisis are often overlooked and usually underapprechiated. There’s a number of ways to be brave, being in a war is one, covering it is another.
Eva, here’s my blessing for him: May your cousin be found in fifty years, boring his grandchildren with his war stories.
I sincerely wish your cousin good luck. It’s a tough assignment. On the other hand, I would never, ever leave my family and endanger myself for my job, or anything else, for that matter. And I hate to tell you this, but in my experience (well, what I’ve seen on TV, anyway ) man-going-on-dangerous-assignment-leaving-pregnant-wife-at-home is the same as unknown-guy-in-red-shirt-accompanying-Kirk-Spock-et al-on-the-landing-party.
Sorry for the scary analogy. I really, really hope for the best here, but I can’t get my mind around somebody leaving their family and endangering their life for their job when they have a choice (i.e. not in the military).
Sorry, but he put himself in that position. He willingly went off with very dangerous people he knew damn well were capable of what they did, just for a “scoop”. Priorities, man, priorities!
To be fair to Iraq, religious tolerance (relative to the rest of the region, that is) does seem to be one of their few virtues. There’s plenty of practicing Jews there, and it’s not like Pakistan.
That said, there’s enough radical Islamofacism in that part of the world to make anybody nervous.
But they’ll be a lot of other journalists there and the armed forces are going to do their best to keep them safe. He’ll be one of a great number of Americans and they’ll all be looking out for each other.
And when (don’t think if) he comes back safe and sound, think of the great stories he’ll have!
Prayers on the way, not only for your cousin and his family, but that this insanity will not take place. Innocent people are going to be slaughtered by American soldiers. For this, and many other reasons, I hope that the war hawks will come to their senses. All IMHO, and I realize I am in the minority here and will be branded as a non-patriot. So be it. I am a humanist first, and a patriot second.
(favorite sign from peace march) STOP MAD COWBOY DISEASE
I greatly admire your cousin. Reporting on the military, even in peace time, is supposed to be one of the most challenging aspects of the profession. In war, you really have to know your stuff. Just that he feels confident doing this sort of thing . . . especially more than once . . . says a lot about the sort of person he is. I wish him luck.
Eve Luna , since I can’t contact you by email(the button is disabled) could you please,only if you feel like it, email me? I have a question to ask you about a reply in this thread.
Also, I second what Swimming Riddles said, about living to bore the grandchildren. I’ll pray for the whole family.
I hope by now they have realized their posts were out of place, but I think that two posters here(AA and b) were out of place with their remarks. This is a post where someone is looking for comfort, not a lecture on the morality of war. And EVE, keep us posted on how your cousin does. I’d be interested in hearing about what he sees!!!
Apology accepted, on his behalf. Honestly, I understand his wish to contribute to something important, but I can’t quite wrap my brain around wanting to put oneself in that situation, either. I respect his choice, though. (I hope his wife does, too.)
) man-going-on-dangerous-assignment-leaving-pregnant-wife-at-home is the same as unknown-guy-in-red-shirt-accompanying-Kirk-Spock-et al-on-the-landing-party.