Former Iraqi soldier welcomes coalition for friendly lunch

[NcDeuce]

Former Iraqi soldier welcomes coalition for friendly lunch

Without knowing where to find Ahmed Jawad, Capt. Kellie Rourke of Minneapolis, Minn., sent the word in the tiny Iraqi village of Zalila that she was looking for the former Iraqi enlisted soldier.

Just days earlier, a local man who had worked with Jawad under a coalition-sponsored work program had told American soldiers that Jawad was trying to buy anti-personnel mines.

Rourke wanted to see Jawad to arrest him.

"It turns out that one of the men wanted Jawad out of the program so his brother could get a job," Rourke said. "The bad guys don't wear a sign that says 'I'm a bad guy.' We have to detain some people just to determine who's dangerous to soldiers.

"It's really a necessary evil."

Jawad was held for 22 days, from Nov. 11 to Dec. 3, while coalition authorities investigated the tip. After the allegations were proven unfounded, Rourke scurried to get him released. When she found him, Jawad was in great spirits and held no animosity toward the American soldiers who detained him.

Surprisingly, Jawad even holds a bit of nostalgia for the three weeks he was jailed.

"They dealt with us in a very humane way," Jawad recalled, through a coalition linguist. "They didn't beat us, they didn't torture us. ... It was very good food. The only thing I missed was the tea."

Jawad added that he recognized throughout his captivity the need to thoroughly check potential attackers, even if it meant situations like he found himself in.

Wednesday, Jawad hosted his former captures for lunch. Rourke and a group of 101st Aviation Regiment soldiers, apologetic throughout, were gracious guests of Jawad and his family just two weeks after he was released.

Jawad served his guests a traditional Iraqi feast, with chicken, rice and soup. The soldiers got to meet his family and gave his kids and other local youngsters gifts before and after their visit. For Jawad, the experience laid the foundation for, what he called, "our new friendship."

http://www.theleafchronicle.com/news/stories/20031221/localnews/81862-28952.jpg
Capt. Kellie Rourke of Minneapolis, Minn., and a coalition linguist,center, talk with Ahmed Jawad, a former Iraqi soldier who was wrongfully imprisioned for three weeks by coalition forces following a bogus tip from locals.

[Fox2]

woot

Just out of curiousity, which news source did this come from?

You almost never hear any of the good news reported from Iraq due to the old cliche, "Good news is no news."

Why is it people like to hear more about the latest ambush on our forces rather than great stories like this?

:cantbeli:

[Trident-za]

Very cool story - thanks :)

[budanski]

woot

Just out of curiousity, which news source did this come from?

You almost never hear any of the good news reported from Iraq due to the old cliche, "Good news is no news."

Why is it people like to hear more about the latest ambush on our forces rather than great stories like this?

:cantbeli:
http://www.theleafchronicle.com/news/stories/20031221/localnews/81862.html

[Fox2]

woot

Just out of curiousity, which news source did this come from?

You almost never hear any of the good news reported from Iraq due to the old cliche, "Good news is no news."

Why is it people like to hear more about the latest ambush on our forces rather than great stories like this?

:cantbeli:
http://www.theleafchronicle.com/news/stories/20031221/localnews/81862.html

I knew it wouldn't be one of those big national ones!

Thanks much, Budanski. :D

[budanski]

np :D

[Zach R.]

Great story. woot

[The Walrus]

woot

Just out of curiousity, which news source did this come from?

You almost never hear any of the good news reported from Iraq due to the old cliche, "Good news is no news."

Why is it people like to hear more about the latest ambush on our forces rather than great stories like this?

:cantbeli:

Because people want to see the other side of the story that the disputes the rosy picture the government presents.
In my country house in Estonia my grandparents stashed newspapers going back to the mid 70's as a reserve of fire-starting material, out of curiousity I browsed through some of them and came across an entire paper dedicated to the war in Afghanistan, and each section was dedicated to the advancement of socialism in a particular sector, each filled with a myriard of statistics such as '114% rise in attendance of schools of males aged 8-10'.
Each section also conatined a story, an entire double-page was devoted to the process of building a school in Kabul.
My point is that these 'great stories' are incredibly passé (not to mention boring), you can take any 'good morale' story of bravery, kindness etc from the past 100 years, replace the nationality of the participants and it's just the same old stories being done over and over again, Jessica Lynch is one example of a more recent incarnation of the 'brave soldier fighting for his (her) country until the last bullet whilst being wounded and fired upon from several directions' story.

[Fox2]

woot

Just out of curiousity, which news source did this come from?

You almost never hear any of the good news reported from Iraq due to the old cliche, "Good news is no news."

Why is it people like to hear more about the latest ambush on our forces rather than great stories like this?

:cantbeli:

Because people want to see the other side of the story that the disputes the rosy picture the government presents.
In my country house in Estonia my grandparents stashed newspapers going back to the mid 70's as a reserve of fire-starting material, out of curiousity I browsed through some of them and came across an entire paper dedicated to the war in Afghanistan, and each section was dedicated to the advancement of socialism in a particular sector, each filled with a myriard of statistics such as '114% rise in attendance of schools of males aged 8-10'.
Each section also conatined a story, an entire double-page was devoted to the process of building a school in Kabul.
My point is that these 'great stories' are incredibly passé (not to mention boring), you can take any 'good morale' story of bravery, kindness etc from the past 100 years, replace the nationality of the participants and it's just the same old stories being done over and over again, Jessica Lynch is one example of a more recent incarnation of the 'brave soldier fighting for his (her) country until the last bullet whilst being wounded and fired upon from several directions' story.

So, you would rather get half the truth because it's more exciting? :cantbeli:

Personally, I would prefer to get the full picture. I don't know about foreign media, but the major American media networks are giving a distorted truth to the American public. They ONLY report the bad things. Some people I talk to think the war is going so bad that it's like another Vietnam. It's almost comparable to the wartime propaganda machines of old, except in reverse. Instead of lying to our public that we're actually winning, we're telling them we're losing when there is actually progress being made.

[The Walrus]

I didn't say that people preffer ambush stories because they're more exciting (though that might be the case for some), this story doesn't provide the complete picture either, it is just a small example of what happened with one of the 150,000 US marines in Iraq and one of the many millions of Iraqi's, one could very well go to a anti-war site and find stories of US heavy-handedness.
Though both stories may well have happened, each is subject to the agenda of the publisher, the agenda of the anti-war site is to put the US involvement in Iraq in a bad light, and will thus comb for negative examples of US soldiers while ignoring the repression Iraq suffered under Saddam, likewise 'the sun' newspaper follows a pro-war agenda and thus posts stories which put the US involvement in a positive light and concentrates more on Saddams past brutality.

[WARPIG]

I agree. The media is easily influenced to publish what they feel is "newsworthy." The public is what influences the media however. Our interest in those sensational stories is what drives the media. Think a media source is more interested in the truth .. or what sells? Most seem to think that by gathering facts and packaging them to show a small sliver of a situation is called truthful. For those with narrow or simple minds... it is.

[NcDeuce]

woot

Just out of curiousity, which news source did this come from?

You almost never hear any of the good news reported from Iraq due to the old cliche, "Good news is no news."

Why is it people like to hear more about the latest ambush on our forces rather than great stories like this?

:cantbeli:

My local newspaper, the Leaf Chronicle of Clarksville, TN (Home to the families of the 101st Airborne Division, 5th SFG, & 160th SOAR. woot

[2Sheds_Jackson]

I didn't say that people preffer ambush stories because they're more exciting (though that might be the case for some), this story doesn't provide the complete picture either, it is just a small example of what happened with one of the 150,000 US marines in Iraq and one of the many millions of Iraqi's, one could very well go to a anti-war site and find stories of US heavy-handedness.
Though both stories may well have happened, each is subject to the agenda of the publisher, the agenda of the anti-war site is to put the US involvement in Iraq in a bad light, and will thus comb for negative examples of US soldiers while ignoring the repression Iraq suffered under Saddam, likewise 'the sun' newspaper follows a pro-war agenda and thus posts stories which put the US involvement in a positive light and concentrates more on Saddams past brutality.

I'm not sure what you're trying to say. Is this news to anybody here? Media outlets each have their own agenda?

I think some were surprised at how negatively you reacted to this ostensibly "good" story. Why the need to point out negatives? Are we not already deluged with negatives by the left-leaning media? If you read a story about a policeman rescuing a kid from a pond, would you feel compelled to tell us that other police occasionally beat people up?

Ask yourself how many small "boring" stories like this you've seen in the major media vs. negative ones featuring our good ol' American Heavy-Handedness®.

I don't see where this story is so outrageous that it would prompt anybody to remark negatively. As for myself, I think it's nice to see the other side for once.

[The Walrus]

The reason why I posted was because the article smacked heavily of the propaganda the Soviets published about Afghanistan.
I am equally critical about articles which concentrate on a mistake which happens in war ('colateral damage') and play it up to make it seem as the marines are on a rampage.

I think I mis-interpreted it as people thinking that this article showed the 'whole picture', rather than as a story which provides a counter-balance to the overall negative portrait of the US involvment by the 'media'.
I just want people to realise that this is a no more accurate portrayal of the real situation in Iraq than the article about 3 Iraqi police being mistakenly killed by the marines.