A Hero ignored?

[AltarBoy]

I personally would like to salute a hero who recently received the US Medal of Honor. US Navy Seal, Michael Murphy. I was a bit surprised that the mainstream US media (with the exception of a few) ignored this serviceman's selfless acts of bravery in Afghanistan. Here's a brief story of this brave serviceman.


http://www.nydailynews.com/news/wn_repo ... ero-1.html

[:FI:Falcon]

Murphy was a good man.

Now what about the other 4000 good folk,

the million good civilians,

the 25,000+ good Coalition amputees, paralyzed and scarred ... ?

Why must so many good people be lost?


F


"Why should we hear about body bags, and deaths...I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

~Barbara Bush

[AltarBoy]

..and a lot of them do deserve credit for laying down their lives. The press just seem to only concentrate on the negative and not enough of the positive. But that's the nature of the media I suppose. I just thought it strange that the media didn't give the attention this man deserves. Hell, Brittney Spears and Lindsay Lohan had more coverage.

[:FI:Falcon]

... concentrate on the negative and not enough of the positive ...

Oh!

Did you hear that Britney beat that accident rap?!

~~~

Hmmm ...

positive about the war ...

...

...

what, it's over?

~~~

I would gladly listen about Brit and Lind all day long if it would save one life.

...

well, maybe two.


F

[AltarBoy]

Oops, I forgot Falcon is a pointy-headed, left-wing Liberal.

Better end this now before Falky lays an egg.

<runs> :

[:FI:Murph]

I don't know what the media is like down there in Trinidad, but there was considerable coverage of it in the Denver Post/Rocky Mountain News. I assume the wire service (AP) carried it and it was picked up, or not, by local services.
Maybe you need to get more of your news from BBC World Service or NPR (US) rather than from FOX? Both of the fromer covered the story- NPR does regular profiles of troops KIA.

[AltarBoy]

We get CNN International, CNN, BBC, ABC, CBS, FOX, MSNBC. I usually flip through all these news channels and only FOX seem to highlight that news item the most. But anyway after it's all said and done he died and deserved that medal. I keep forgetting how touchy this subject is and will thread more carefully in the future. Besides, did you see the size of dat egg Falky laid when he got upset?

[:FI:Falcon]

Dear Mrs. Murphy,

Remember that fine young lad you reared and loved and protected all those years?

Well, sorry, he won't be coming home.

Inclosed is a piece of metal and cloth for your troubles.




buck-kaw!

[:FI:Noter]

Heard about Michael Murphy on our local NPR station, they must've devoted about 8-10 minutes. We get plenty of war updates here in Atlanta. NPR reports on the subject probably everyday.

Actually I think most news channels cover the war, I think it comes down to a personal preference... information on the war, or biased pundit/anchor spin on the war...viewer's discretion.

Noter

[Mutzy]

Hey I read that in a good few of the irish papers here. He got good coverage.

Those poor fellas - sounded like a complete disaster when the rescue team went down too.

I personally think that whole middle east conflict is a black hole. Is there an end in sight?

Salute to an Irishman

[:FI:Airway]

....

"Why should we hear about body bags, and deaths...I mean, it's not relevant. So why should I waste my beautiful mind on something like that?"

~Barbara Bush

Did she say that really?

[AltarBoy]

On a side note anyone saw History Channel's Shootout yesterday? They did a piece on the battle for Fallujah. Man, those US Marines had to go house-to-house to flush out those insurgents. They did a great job at it. I think given time and the American way to keep going even when facing mounting odds will lead to victory. Hell, they did just that during the daylight bombing raids over nazi Germany. With casualties mounting high and even the British thinking them nuts to go on. They won the air war over the nazis by determination

Altar- for US President-Boy

[:FI:Gurberly]

I must admit to struggling to find words to express my abhorrance of your use of the phrase "American Way" to describe clearance operations in Falluja.

G

[/b][/i]

[:FI:Heloego]

...

They won the air war over the nazis by determination

Bullshit!

One of Cricket's daddy's sayings was "You don't know what you don't know."

We HELPED win the air war through sheer numbers due to seriously higher production capacity and available personnel.
The boys over there most definitely had serious balls to climb into the planes and face the flak and fighters, but "determination" had a much smaller part than production capacity. That "determination" wouldn't have done them much good if there weren't enough planes, tanks, and guns to keep them supplied.

A recent Vets Day program on The History Channel pointed out a very large contributing factor as one of the reasons Germany was defeated:
While America and Britain concentrated on improving existing technology, Hitler, once aware that the tide was against the Nazis became quite profligate with money, spending it on technological innovation instead. And while much of that innovation has borne fruit today, very little of it was much help to the Nazi's agenda because it was a matter of "too little...too late" to do them any good. Much of the technology wasn't even nearly feasible because necessary materials had to be developed first. Even the designer of the theoretical "space bomber" only convinced Goehring to secure funding so he could keep working on a pet project he knew would take several years to complete. Even had he completed it, the plane would not have performed as promised. In fact, the guy never even directly contributed to the German war effort. Not even in a production capacity.
Simple matter of attrition. While our capacity (production and manpower) kept increasing, the Nazi capacity steadily decreased. The outcome was quite predictable.

And while I thank you for commending the actions of our troops I also take minor exception to your portrayal of the Fallujah fighting as "American Way".
Many fine soldiers from several other countries fought and died with the same determination in Fallujah and other areas and deserve just as much credit even if the News Services choose to forget about them.
The only reason they are not there, or given the credit they deserve, is because their governments finally had the good sense to bring them home.

"the true soldiers' way" would have been more appropriate.

In the future, at least in regard to the sensitive issue of politics, please choose your words more carefully before posting.


Thank you.

[AltarBoy]

No, no, no. What I meant by American Way was a referral to determination of spirit during battle. I certainly did not mean that other nation's contributions were naught. Of course they deserve mention. I was only commenting on the piece I saw on the History Channel. We may not all agree on the war. As for the referrence to the air war in WW2, yes I agree that the Allies had more supplies coming through the pipes and was a contributing factor. All I was saying is that despite mounting losses of heavy bombers during dayling raids the plan was thought by many as foolhardy. Yet the USAAF stuck to a plan until the end. Hope that clears up some misgivings.

...and yes you are right. I should choose my words carefully. My intention was not to offend. But this is just my view. I could be wrong.