Friday, June 17, 2005
The Media's Vietnamization of Iraq Continues...
(link) "A U.S. Army staff sergeant was charged with murdering his two commanders last week at a base outside Baghdad, the military said. ...On Wednesday, the military charged Staff Sgt. Alberto B. Martinez of Troy, N.Y., with two counts of premeditated murder, according to a statement issued in Baghdad.
Martinez is believed to have allegedly used some kind of explosive device, possibly a grenade, in the attack, military officials said on condition of anonymity because the matter was still under investigation."
Capt. Phillip T. Esposito of Suffern, N.Y., 30, the father of a 1-year-old girl, was a company commander. 1st Lt. Louis E. Allen of Milford, Pa., 34 and a father of four, was a company operations officer.
When I first read about these two Officers the military reported that their deaths were caused by a Golden Bee-bee... the infamous lucky shot I used to worry about when deployed last fall in Kirkuk. The incoming rockets and mortars were rarely aimed properly, so the terrorists who fired them were hoping to hit something... anything... to cause damage. Occasionally they would get something, but 99% of the time they hit sand. Sadly, it looked as though one of these shots had gone into the window of a room and hit these two long-time friends as they were playing a game of Chess.
Now that the initial investigation is over and the facts are out all any of us can do is sit back, mourn for the victims and their families, and wonder why this happened.
What problems could SSgt Martinez have had that were so overwhelming to have caused him to kill two young Officers while they were playing chess? Was it the stress of combat, bills back home, a divorce, an attempted suicide? Was he a Muslim who, like the soldier down in Kuwait in March of 2003, killed his superiors because he didn't want to possibly have to kill other Muslims? Was he a bad apple who was tired of getting into trouble and took revenge for a recent disciplinary action?
Sadly, no matter what the reason, SSgt Martinez is now the newest 'poster-boy' of the media. His story... his excuse, will be plastered on newspapers and TV screens, with each reporter ending his or her story with an obvious sympathetic tone that will enrage some and make others feel guilty for this 'poor victim of life'. "After all," they'll say, "it isn't really his fault because he is enlisted and his actions were reminiscent of a slave killing his master."
SSgt Martinez's actions not only destroyed the lives of his victims and their families, they've tarnished every Enlisted soldier of every service who proudly serves his nation. Today's Enlisted soldiers are educated, intelligent, highly trained and highly professional people who sacrifice so much of their lives to further the mission of their particular service. The media's portrayal of SSgt Martinez as a poor, innocent, manipulated and victimized human being who was under the thumb of these big bad slave-driving Officers will tie all Enlisted personnel to his so-called horrible plight. According to many in the media, people only enlist in the military because they're poor, uneducated, and coerced by the military, making SSgt Martinez a perfect fit for their biased, anti-war perspective.
This story is still breaking, yet the media's proven track record of the 'Vietnamization' of this war means the horrible act of a cowardly, criminal man will be elevated to that of a brave act of defiance by a maverick soldier/victim who was only acting out of his patriotic duty to protest this horrible, oppressive administration and it's illegal war.
Capt. Esposito, Lt. Allen, the 5 children, 2 wives, and dozens of family and friends are the real victims of this cowardly act. The murderer Martinez and his media cheerleaders may not understand that fact, but the military judge and jury that convict and sentence him will.
posted by El Capitan at 5:02 PM
1 Comments:
said...
U.S. Soldier Kills His Superiors:
Casualties of Liberal Warfare?
Story here