The Casual War

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One of the most disturbing aspects of the war in Iraq and the widening conflict in the Middle East is the fact that one could be fooled into thinking that this country is not engaged in a military operation. Television coverage of Bush's war is so sanitized that network programmers continues to bring America the same brainless reality shows, the same non-stop babble of talk show hosts.
It makes me feel guilty that my life continues undisturbed with talk about where to go for dinner, the next vacation destination or the latest pick for best picture. It is too casual, too removed from the fact that our young people are dying in a distant land. Contrary to many, I want to see the body bags coming home. Not that I have a morbid fascination. No, I just want the realities of war to hit us all right in the stomach, everyday, unsanitized, so that we know what is involved in continuing the war. And what it means to send more soldiers to Iraq.
I am mad at the press. The news media let our president bully it into not showing our dead soldiers coming home. We do not get to see the flag draped coffins being greeted by the heart broken families. How did this happen? Why did the press agree to not report the story of war? Because war coverage needs to tell the story of the casualties, of the blood and the suffering. So shame on all the top reporters in this country who continue to allow the White House to dictate what they can show.
Enough of the edited version of war. I want the truth, even if it is gory and heart wrenching. Because that is what we owe to the young troops who have been sent to Iraq. We need to see, every day, every bodybag, every coffin. Just the truth!