While reading the chapter titled "The Iraq-Iran Front: Bodies" I was struck about how real the war suddenly seemed to me., The descriptions by Horwitz of the bodies and death hit me hard. Even though Horwitz visited Iran and Iraq about 18 years ago, this is probably a similar description of what is happening today. I think most of America does not really know what is happening in Iraq; the death and destruction. Sure, we hear about it on the news, but I for one don't really watch the news that often. We certainly hear about the death toll, but that seems to just the numbers; I don't connect the figures with the faces. Reading this chapter in Baghdad With Out a Map, I actually realized what our soldiers go through when they are deployed, and how people actually die over there; go figure. The war became real to me; but I wondered, how many other average Americans don't realize what is actually going on in Iraq? Many people say that they don't support the war, but most of that is politics. How many of the soldiers didn't fully realize what they were getting themselves into when they signed up? Maybe we need to educate more people about what actually happens overseas instead of just throwing a bunch of numbers at them.
Another thing which struck me was the emotional detachment of the reporters. They seemed to not even care about the hundreds of dead soldiers littering the ground. One American journalist even said "This is all very scenic... but where are all the goddamn bodies?" (124). Aren't they affected by the death all around them? I know that reporters can not be biased, and are not supposed to have feelings about the event, but where is the compassion which would help their readers understand the war better? *gr*
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I agree about the reporters. They only care about their story, and nothing of what is actually happening. They want to see dead bodies, this idea frightens me. I could not imagine many people who want to see people dead, and it disturbs me that there are people who do. ed
g.r. I agree with what you say about the reporters over in Iraq. In today's world, it seems that a reporter would do anything just to get a story. It is almost as if they pray a road side bomb will go off, just to get their face on tv. The only things reporters seem to talk about are the deaths while constantly showing a clip of an American soldier handing out toys to Iraqi children. They do anything to make this war seem patriotic.
*ml
Post a Comment