Time for Bloggers to Fight a Front in the Real War

Poking fun at Glenn Reynolds has been amusing, but I think I have a real cause for us blog writers and blog readers to work for now.

As I've said before on my own site, I don't get legitimately angry that often, but one thing has been pissing me off lately, and that's the coverage of the war in the media. All we hear is the negative news, and everything is painted to make the war look like a failure. Yet, anytime I talk to one of our troops who has actually been in Iraq, the outlook is quite different. I hear how nice and thankful the Iraqi people are. I hear of all the progress that is being made. I hear of the schools the troops have help built, and how big Marines are sitting on teeter-totters and swing sets teaching Iraqi kids how to use them since those children have never had a playground before.

And I never hear any of this in the major media.

Some of this is just the habit of media to dwell on the negative, but not all of it. These are stories people want to hear, but too many news organizations have no interest in them. And I don't think I'm going to far out on limb to say some of them are purposely ignoring any good news to try to spin victory into failure. They are trying to fight a propaganda war.

Well, let's fight back.

It's the 21st century, and there are still too many evil dictatorships out there. America and its allies finally did something about one. There was terrible murderous regime in Iraq oppressing 24 million people, and now that regime is gone and those people have hope. There are millions more who could use that hope as well, but there are forces out there to make sure that does not happen. They want to tell us we are losing. They want tell they enemy they are winning. This is no small thing. Public opinion, both in America and world wide, will affect the outcome of this war. If Iraq is seen as a victory, it could cause the collapse of more evil regimes because they'll know they are next. If it is seen as a failure - a “quagmire” -then evil is encouraged and strengthened.

Luckily, Rep. Jim Marshall has come out and made a statement so radical that only a Democrat could get away with saying it; he has accused the negative coverage of killing our troops. And God bless him for it. Hopefully that will stir thing up. And I know much of the blogosphere has been on the issue for a while, the Blogfather himself having been posting a lot on this topic lately. And that's what the blogosphere is for, to fill in the gaps of the major media. But this is a really big gap this time, and it is hugely important. So let's see what we, the blogosphere, the politically concerned blog writers and the blog readers, can do if we really flex our muscles.

Here's what I propose. I bet most of know some troops who have been are in Iraq and the almost forgotten Afghanistan. Let's record their stories of how things really are and have a blog devoted to just posting that with no commentary. The main page would be choice excerpts (and yes, bias would play into that, but, so what, we're biased) with links to the entire troops' statements. We put up both the good and the bad, with nothing to hide, but we get the real story out there. Separately, we continue to highlight the atrocities that were in Iraq and Afghanistan in contrast to how things are now. Also, we watch the major news outlets like a hawk, finding the worst of the offenders. We also need to try and make friends with what new media we can, getting exposure for the real stories from the war and shaming the outlets that are nothing but propagandists. And we have to not just get the story out in America but in other countries as well, which will be a lot harder.

Our troops are still out there, and their blood is still getting spilled. They're fighting for each other, they're for us, they are fighting for Iraqis, and they are fighting for the world as a whole. It is obscene that there are those who will use their deaths as propaganda against the very things for which they died. In the war on terror, the media is one of the fronts, and maybe it's one we're equipped to handle. The politically concerned of the blogosphere is thousands strong, but maybe, if we all work together, we can make enough noise that millions will hear us.

Sorry, I don't write serious much, and I may be rambling. If it's not some humor piece about ninjas, monkeys, or Aquaman, I feel like I'm in a bit over my head. If I'm just full of myself (which, at my young age, is a big possibility) please, please tell me. If you think I'm on to something, tell me that too. Just write in the comments for now. If we are going to do this, let's get started soon, though. I don't have much free time, but I'm willing to donate as much as possible to this, and also some money to get a URL and hosting space if needed. First, we'd need to get as many stories from troops as possible (simple reporting - just write what they tell you or have them write something themselves; if are one of those troops, even better). Then we need to have people assigned to monitoring different news outlets and their coverage of the war. Finally, we need to get media attention for this cause, and I know there has to be some sympathetic ears out there.

I think this is important, and I want to fight. How does everyone else feel?

And if you're not for changing the world, at least help Chief Wiggles get some toys for the Iraqi children.

UPDATE: New post with more details of what we need to do. Also, the e-mail listed on this site is for Susie who maintains it. My e-mail is imao[at]cfl.rr.com

UPDATE 2: We now have a name and a new place to discuss this project.

LAST UPDATE: Discussion is now here, where we're ready for people to sign up to help.

Comments

[Newman]

Bravo! Good idea! While I don't know anyone personally who's in the military, I would be willing to watch the news media--especially CNN the Communist News Network. Just let me know how I can help.

VIVA LA RESISTANCE...

oh wait...

[Romulus]

Good idea, no great idea.
I am very tired of the silly games against the enemy and this is something I have already been doing on my blog anyway. My posts are from family memebers who relate what they are hearing from their loved ones on the ground over there.
Furthermore, I suggest we fisk the hell out of any politician who is playing games with our future by using the same, and worse, tactics that the media is using. Nail the bastards.

[Frank J.]

Romulus,
Yeah, I know you had been collecting letters already. Now let's see if we can do this on a larger scale. And you're right; let's not just attack the media who is twisting the war for their own purposes, but also our own politicians (I'm just glad it's not all Democrats).

[Tuning Spork]

Great idea!!!!!
I, however, don't know anyone currently in the military so I don't know what I could do. But I'll try to think of something.

Ironically, Saddam is responsible for the good will our troops are receiving in Iraq.
As a secular tyrant, he didn't create the Islamist indoctrination centers (known as "schools") that pollute most Middle Eastern hell holes. The job of democratizing the Middle East is only gonna get tougher from here.

But, Iraq's a start. Hopefully people will see what freedom does for Iraq and eventually want to join the party. I dunno.

[Shockwave]

I can get a good amount of stories from soldiers, I frequently work with them. If there is a place where I can send them in after I talk to them about it I would be glad to know. I already have some intellegence reports and first hand knowledge of what some of the troops have been up to, and I am glad to share it.

[Brenda]

How can I help? No task too great or small. My son just returned from Iraq. Anything I can do to help I will do.
B

[Frank J.]

Right now, get the stories done in writing. Even if you don't know anyone to get stories from, there will be a way you can help because we'll have to format the site and pick quotations. Also, we want to monitor the media and try to get attention to these stories.

[Katherine]

Cap'n Frank,

This is great idea and you are right that this is what the Internet is for.
You can start by prominently putting up the links to blogs by the soldiers still in Iraq, or those that were there and finished their tour of duty.
You can solicit all the other bloggers to send you letters/info from Iraq/Afghanistan and/or link to their sites when thy are posting such info.

I predict that this will get noticed - rather sooner than later.
You may even get cursed for bias by that woman from CNN, the one who is scared of Fox :-)

[Frank J.]

Katherine,
You're right, I probably start talking to them first.

I'll try thinking of a name for the site, and then I'll buy the .com. Suggestions would be appreciated, though.

[Warren Charles]

puppyblender.com is still available according to the evil VeriSign. Two birds with one stone? Or themediablender.com

[DikeDude]

Great thought and would love to see it work but just one question. How will you know the letters from the troops are real?

[Jay Solo]

Replace .com with . whatever as desired...

FrontlineTruth.com?
RealIraq.com?
KeepEmHonest.com?
IraqLive.com
FreedomTruth.com
FreeTheTruth.com
KeepItReal.com
FreedomZone.com
IraqiZone.com
TruthHeals.com
TroopReports.com
LettersFromIraq.com
LettersOfFreedom.com
FreeVoices.com
TrueVoices.com
SamizdatIraq.com
TheRealStory.com
Blog4Iraq.com
FreeNews.com
FreedomNews.com
IraqNews.com
IraqReports.com
FrontReports.com
HalfFullGlass.com

I could probably keep going, but if none of these, they ought to inspire the creative juices. Haven't checked these for availability.

Frank, this is a brilliant idea. I am not sure how I could help except maybe by contributing to hosting cost, but probably most everyone reading this can better afford to help with that than I can now. Feel free to ask if you think I might be able to help, anyway.

[chris]

frankamericans.com
asoldierstale.com
straightfromthefront.com
storiesfromthefront.com

[Frank J.]

Warren,
No Glenn Reynolds bashing in this venture. He's been talking a lot about this subject himself.

DikeDude,
Good question. That's something we'll have to figure out because we don't want false stories to hurt our credibility. Anyone has a good idea for verification? Maybe we'll have to ask for the name and rank for each person submitting the story so we can verify (even though we won't use their name with the story if they don't want it to be used).

[SallyVee]

Right! Kick some Fifth Column Ass.

Anyone who does not think we're in an all-out war on the domestic/propaganda front is completely comatose.

Here's a letter I received May 10th from a woman soldier (ladies write lots more detail). See if you can keep it together near the end when she raises her hand. Then, stack her up against a pile of pigs like Clark, Kennedy, Chirac, et. al. "Obscene" is the perfect word Frank.

April 23, 2003 (Received May 10)

John & Sally ,

Hello from “Dogwood” Iraq. I am 30 kilometers from the Baghdad Airport. We make supply delivery runs daily. Our route takes us along narrow roads until we reach the highway. We travel past many small farms of what looks to be very poor people. The homes are made of sand concrete. Most homes look thrown together. Only the well-to-do have bricks. There must be a high rate of crime as every home that can, seems to have bars on their windows and doors.

For fun the children run out to the street to greet passing soldiers in our huge trucks and tanks. They jump up and down while displaying the “American thumbs up” sign. (Thumbs up in Iraq is traditionally a high insult.) They wave and shout, “Hey Mister.” They’ll point to an empty Meals Ready-to-Eat [MRE] package. Americans’ hearts go out to the children but I have told my soldiers not to toss MREs out of their vehicles around people. It only encourages them to run out into the street. I don’t think any of them could handle hitting a child that we are there to defend and liberate.

The excitement isn’t isolated to the children. The adults started it. They wave their hands and white flags at us. They have smiles for us. Today a Suburban full of children zoomed by my convoy. I was the convoy commander. In the back seats were two grown women looking at me in amazement. They were smiling and waving. I probably looked funny -- a woman in desert camo clothing, helmet, and weapons by her side, like a man. I hope soon they will be able to drive that SUV or at least have the option.

I have been in the Army since 1990. I was a participant of Desert Shield/Storm (December 1990-April 1991). Our American presence made some small changes to Saudi life. I believe two military campaigns is a display of patriotism. Your letter reminded me of all of the troops who are citizens of another country but proudly serve ours. Service to the U.S. is not automatic grounds for gaining citizenship. We sent a soldier home a few days ago--back to the U.S. His citizenship papers finally came through and after faithfully serving during OEF/OIF he will become a U.S. citizen. I know of too many people who refuse to serve in any capacity.

I have been to South Korea. I’m not happy with the fact that a non-citizen can become one through marriage. But, then I think that it is a great privilege to Americans that their spouses should share the same rights as them.

Your words are strong and your message is clear. I believe in a President who loves his/her country. I’m glad September 11, 2001, as tragic and as inevitable as it was, happened during the Bush administration. God help us all if the other guy was running the country.

I’m ending this letter now. I’m getting attacked by hundreds of Sand Fleas. I’m filthy from not showering in well over a month (since 19 March 2003) -- I mean a real shower with plumbing, not a water bottle. And I’m pretty hungry. But when the request for single soldier volunteers to find another unit’s MIA happened, my hand automatically went up. That’s the way I feel about my country, my fellow soldiers, and the people I swore to protect.

Take care John & Sally. I’ve been sharing my care package from you two. Be safe and I will do the same.

2LT Judith XXXXXXX

P.S. I’m taking pictures of everything, the good, the bad and the ugly. When I get to the states, I’ll develop them and get them out to those who have supported me. Thanks again.

2LT XXXXXXXXXX, JUDITH
B CO 703RD MSB
UNIT 93702
APO AE 09303-3702

[Frank J.]

Awesome, Sally. Right now, just hold on to it. I'll update soon where to send the letters. It looks like a lot of people like this idea, so I'll try to get this setup soon (with the help of anyone good with html).

[Frank J.]

Jay,
I can front the cost to get it started up. If I need donations, that can be set up later.

[Steve Anich]

frontlinevoices.org

This is a great idea!

I would like to help in any way I can. Money, SysAdmin time etc.

A site like this could take a lot of traffic and might cost a few bucks. I would be more then happy to get the ball rolling on the back end infrastructure side (DNS Registration, Server hosting arrangements + setup).

Could typepad handle it? Do they have bandwidth max requirments?

[Steve Anich]

Looks like the max for Typepad on Bandwidth is 3gig per month, but more can be purchased.

[Frank J.]

I don't know anything about TypePad; Susie set this up. I was thinking of getting a URL and some space from hosting matters (where my site is) and then put up Moveabletype unless someone has a better idea. I certianly would love all the help I could get on setting this up. I won't even be home tomorrow to work on things until after 9pm.

[Steve Anich]

I just looked at http://www.hostmatters.com/comparison.html and they offer alot more bandwidth for buck it seems. So that would work.

[Pixy Misa]

I'd be happy to provide hosting - no charge. A mu.nu domain or a .com or both. I have 100GB bandwidth per month, of which I'm currently using about 15, so no problems there.

[Steve Anich]

I say move on this quick. The sooner this is going the better. The "we are losing in Iraq" meme has to be confronted. This is a way to do it.

I can help with configuration and the like. I am not a graphic artist, but I am sure somebody would volunteer to create a simple logo.

I like frontlinevoices.org as a name, but it could be any other.

This would get a lot of traffic I would imagine, so you may want a few co-bloggers to help handle the submissions and stuff. Also, there will be a need to vet original post to verify that they are real (even though we could post with an alias if they like).

We could post original letters, and make links to other similar material at other sites.

I would suggest turning off comments, because I suspect the trolls would be out in force to discredit the site.

Selected emails could be posted in a letters sections or something.

[Steve Anich]

Pixy: So, you could create a whatever.mu.nu. In DNS, we could alias www.whatever.org to point to www.whatever.mu.nu. Is your hosting Unix with Database access, so that it is MTable?

[Kevin]

Frank J this is the best idea you've had.

I don't have a whole lot of time due to work and my masters degree. However, I'm willing to help out financially. I'll help however else I have time for as well.

Dare I even say it on this site, but recruiting Glenn Reynolds help on this would be a great boost.

Our biggest problem is going to be legitimacy and getting the word out. Instapundit and the other big sites can help out alot with that. I know that goes against the Alliances cause but I think this is a cause that is infinitely more important.