20060129
    Yesterday, ABC News co-host Bob Woodruff and his cameraman Doug Vogt were seriously injured by the explosion of an IED while they traveled with an Iraqi military convoy somewhere near Taji, Iraq. Any time someone is injured or killed by terrorism, it is a tragedy, and my heart goes out to these two men’s families.
    There is some irony, however, in the media reaction to this event. Instead of the normal, so-called objective reporting of a body count, the internet news services are plastered with full-scale exposes on Mr Woodruff, some going so far as to call him a courageous and respectable man for having the will to travel with the Iraqi military in one of the most dangerous parts of Iraq.
    I am sure that he, and Mr Vogt, are indeed both courageous and respectable, but how does their courage and respectability compare to the 150,000 men and women of our volunteer armed forces stationed in Iraq who deal with the kind of threat these two men realized every day, especially when their network helps lead the charge wherein those very same men and women are regularly trashed and their entire mission is called a lie?
    To be fair, if Mr Woodruff and Mr Vogt are going to be idolized this way, then ABC should show the same concern and respect for every American injured or killed in Iraq. Certainly, the men and women who are there doing the dirty work so that we can watch the news and read the internet free from fear deserve at least that much.
DLH
Amen.