Michael Yon's "Gates of Fire" Tells It Like It Is On the Ground In Iraq
Michael Yon, who blogs at Michael Yon: Online Magazine is, in his own words, "an independent, informed observer chronicling the monumentally important events in the efforts to stabilize Iraq." His gritty, graphic and startling writing and photography have been earning the respect of a broad swath of the blogosphere.
His latest entry, dated August 25, 2005 and entitled, "Gates of Fire," will surely go down as one of the most dramatic reports from the ground that we have yet seen from Iraq.
The American media is very good a showing up burning cars and rubble caused by terrorist bombs. Every terrorist attack seems to get more coverage than any of the successful, daring and courageous missions led by our own American troops or even those led by the Iraqis themselves.
The reality of the war against the terrorists in Iraq seems never to get told. Why, I don't really know. We do ocassionally receive copies of the military incident reports filed after a firefight. Even these sterile, "tell-it-like-it-was"-in-the-tersest-possible-manner reports, convey drama and tragedy and heroism and even a moral insight or two in a way that simply can't be concealed by the "facts."
How much more telling when the writer is a gifted story-teller, free to speak of the anger, fear, confusion and admiration experienced in a moment when life and death intersect in the blink of an eye.
Read Yon's posting. Let his own words tell you about LTC Erik Kurilla, CSM Robert Prosser, Jose L. Ruiz and SGT Daniel Lama. Let him explain this photograph....
this photograph......
and this one, too....
His latest entry, dated August 25, 2005 and entitled, "Gates of Fire," will surely go down as one of the most dramatic reports from the ground that we have yet seen from Iraq.
The American media is very good a showing up burning cars and rubble caused by terrorist bombs. Every terrorist attack seems to get more coverage than any of the successful, daring and courageous missions led by our own American troops or even those led by the Iraqis themselves.
The reality of the war against the terrorists in Iraq seems never to get told. Why, I don't really know. We do ocassionally receive copies of the military incident reports filed after a firefight. Even these sterile, "tell-it-like-it-was"-in-the-tersest-possible-manner reports, convey drama and tragedy and heroism and even a moral insight or two in a way that simply can't be concealed by the "facts."
How much more telling when the writer is a gifted story-teller, free to speak of the anger, fear, confusion and admiration experienced in a moment when life and death intersect in the blink of an eye.
Read Yon's posting. Let his own words tell you about LTC Erik Kurilla, CSM Robert Prosser, Jose L. Ruiz and SGT Daniel Lama. Let him explain this photograph....
this photograph......
and this one, too....
posted by Bird of Paradise at 1:04 PM
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