by James Glaser
August 14, 2006

Now I haven't heard anything about the troops coming home, nor have I heard of any plans for a big parade when they do, but listening to the news and reading the paper would lead a person to think nothing was going on militarily for the USA.

If you scan the internet you can find out that American troops continue to shed their blood and their lives in both Iraq and Afghanistan. This week 12 Americans were killed in Iraq and 4 in Afghanistan. That is hard to find out, but it is easy to hear the running total of Israeli soldiers killed in Lebanon on either the television or National Public Radio.

This week you would have thought that NPR was being broadcast from Tel Aviv. Every major news organization has their top correspondents working the Israeli/ Hezbollah war, people who haven't been seen in Iraq or Afghanistan for years.

We can watch an Israeli unit go on the offensive, we can watch an Israeli artillery unit fire their weapons, and we can see a tank battalion take the field, but it has been years since American troops have had coverage like this. In fact other than the first few weeks of the war in Iraq, we have never had our troops covered like the Israeli troops are. It is almost like Israel's war is the American Media's war. Maybe it is.

So, American troops suffer and die in a war that has been going on as long as World War II did, and nobody here at home gives a damn. Americans, at least the American media are all thrilled with this new Israeli war, and they are putting millions of dollars into covering it. Meanwhile American troops are still coming home in flag-draped coffins. But we never see them reported, because it is against the law to photograph them.

In the future I can see us having wars that have absolutely no media coverage. When it is all over, Washington will announce a parade. . . that is, if we win.

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