Christiane Amanpour unleashed her volley against the Iraq war when Bob Woodruff was injured; Maureen Dowd also picked up on the issue of a journalist being hurt as a symbol ($link) of the failure of Bush's Iraq policy; the media was outraged when "US attacks kill (ed) three journalists" who were staying at the Palestine hotel; when coalition forces were taking Baghdad; and voices were raised among journalist that they were being deliberately targeted by the US military.

Seemingly, the only way to raise an ire among journalists is forcing them to undergo hardship. Meanwhile, they willingly accept assignments in war zones in order to boost their careers and earn the public attention and huge salaries that they feel are their due.

Anyone with any sense should extend our concern not to journalists but to our soldiers who serve their and in other theatres. They seem to agree and are incensed over the attention journalists give each other as opposed to our soldiers and the good work they are doing in Iraq and elsewhere.

Ed Lasky   2 01 06