I used to watch 60 Minutes back in the 1970s. I haven't watched them much since the 1980s. It started to dawn on me they always had a troubling story to air, yet the stories seemed packaged and they seemed to be very smug in their perceived ownership of what ever issue they were foisting at us. It seemed that the innuendo was that only an issue they presented was then validated - even if some other source had already been harping on the given subject matter. Recently I caught wind of a story they did about Kurdish Iraq. I commented on that 60 Minutes piece a while ago (my posting). This past Sunday they aired a piece on Christians being virtually run out of Iraq or worse - outright killed. In my own travels in Iraq I noticed there were still Christians in the North.
At any rate, the story they did on the plight of Christians in Iraq left me troubled by the subject. I suppose the reality of Iraqi Christians being run out of the country or being killed should not surprise anyone. I know some Christians I met in Turkey felt they were always behind the 8-ball in that country as well. The reality of an entire sect of peoples being displaced from a country under our auspice is heartbreaking. The notion of "victory" seems hollow if religious cleansing is going on right under our noses - a cleansing that can not easily be undone now.
This week's Wisconsin soldier to remember is Lance Corporal Travis M. Wichlacz, 22, from West Bend died when a bomb was detonated while he was on patrol in a convoy in Babil Province, a region southwest of Baghdad, Iraq. Travis died on February 5, 2005. Wichlacz was a 2002 graduate of West Bend West High School. He was a member of the Milwaukee-based Fox Company, 2nd Battalion, 24th Marine Regiment, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned Travis had married nine months prior to his death to Angela Coakley, a student at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. Lance Corporal Wichlacz was the 34th member of the military from Wisconsin to die in Iraq since spring, 2003.
3,882 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
464 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
28,582 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1,800 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
82 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
6 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
124 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
14 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; and, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
