Covering Iraq

One of the side effects of the war in Iraq not going as well as it might is that the military is less and less interested in sharing details about it. But as I said months ago, when I was hoping to get to go over there, just as I did Bosnia a decade ago, it’s the most important story of the present time, and the consequences of the war run deep through American society, especially here in Hesperia.

The official reluctance to talk to the press also seem to have trickled down to the rank and file. Two years ago, it was much easier to reach Hesperians who are or were serving in Iraq and Afghanistan (the modern ability to communicate to soldiers in a war zone by e-mail is pretty amazing, frankly, especially when coupled with the ubiquity of digital cameras). Today, there just isn’t that much interest among service personnel in talking about the war.

I’m a military brat, and was raised by a father who served in Vietnam and spent my early childhood on Army bases. I’m not interested in doing hit pieces on the Iraq war, just as I wasn’t interested in doing them on the Bosnia peace-keeping mission (see the navigation bar to the left to read all those stories), but naturally, no one really knows that before they talk to me and see what the final story looks like.

But still, it’s disappointing. When I do get a chance to write these sorts of stories, the response is phenomenal, such as the huge outpouring of support for the Delgadillo girls, after my story in December about the five of them living alone, raised by the 21-year-old sister while both parents are serving in Iraq.

I bring this up because I’ve got another Iraq story in Tuesday’s paper, and while Chris Horsley would still enlist in the Army, knowing what he knows now, the tone is strikingly different than the comparable stories I wrote in 2004. Chris’ mother, Marilyn, was formerly the office manager here at the Hesperia Star, and I’m afraid she’s not going to love the story, which pulls no punches about her son’s mission and the extreme danger he’s in. But not telling that half of the story would feel like a betrayal of what Chris, and those like him, are going through.

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