Winks Blog

What Inspired Me

Good Morning (Again),

I have had several people ask me why I am so obsessed about reporting the accounts of Iraqi deaths. So, I thought I'd take a moment to explain exactly what motivated me to start this blog.

You see, I am a big fan of the Sunday morning news program "This Week With George Stephanoupolos" http://abcnews.go.com/ThisWeek/.
Every week, at the end of their show, they have a segment called, "In Memorium".
First up, in memorium, are famous Americans who have died during the previous week. After that, George announces how many American soldiers in Iraq have died, and how many of their names have been released. For each name released, they display briefly that name and some bare bones info about that person.
Honestly, I don't remember which week it was, but there was a terrible mass killing in a Baghdad shopping area in which dozens of innocent Iraqi civilians were put to their death. It then dawned on me, why does ABC news not highlight or even make mention of these Iraqi deaths in the In Memorium segment? I wrote into the show (Via e-mail) and very amazingly got a response from a Producer of that show. He explained that George did mention during the show that X number of Iraqi's were killed, however, they had made the decision to only highlight American Military deaths in the In Memorium segment.

Of course, being the person that I am, I wrote back to him explaining why I felt it was just as important to highlight Iraqi deaths as it was American military deaths. He said he understood my point, but that was not what they were going to focus on in that segment. Feeling really pissed off, I decided that I would, as much as I could possibly do as an individual, honor those Iraqi's who were innocent victims of the American invasion and ongoing conflict/war. The Iraqi victims DESERVE much more than what the US press is giving them, so I decided to do my own highlights in this blog.

What I would really like to do are some feature stories about Iraqi civilians who fell victim to this slaughter. Those stories are extremely difficult to come by, but I am going to see if I can find some stories to bring to light. To my readers, if you are aware of any sources which can provide personal stories about those Iraqi's who have died as a result of this horrible conflict, plesase let me know!

In addition to my regular news highlights, and potential feature personal stories, I will continue to share some of my own personal commentary (As un-pretty as it might be), with you.

As I say all too often, "So there you have it"... what motivated me in the first place to begin this blog. Although I cannot possibly make entries every day, not a day goes by without my concern for those who live in Iraq. How any civilian can manage to have a life there is beyond my wildest comprehension. To those who are having to manage their lifes through all this death, fear, instability, lack of resources, etc.... you will always be in my prayers.

-- wink

posted by Wink @ 9:56 AM