Ave Et Vale, Mr Kelly
Apr. 4th, 2003 10:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenite0I don't know any of the troops in Iraq personally. My own service was pretty much the definition of REMF and none of the guys I served with would go to Iraq. I do know a few reservists who've been called up, but I don't think they're going to the combat zone.
One name from the front I did recognize was Michael Kelly, one of the embedded journalists. He's a columnist for the Washington Post and Atlantic Magazine, who's writing I've always tried to catch as he's been one of best explainers of the nature of this war and what America must do to win it. Some of his columns can be found at http://www.townhall.com/columnists/michaelkelly/archive.shtml.
Mr. Kelly resigned as editor of the Atlantic and became an embedded journalist with the 3rd Infantry Division. I can't help wondering if part of why he volunteered for that was to respond to the "chickenhawk" insult, or if he just wanted to share some of the risk for the war he had advocated. Maybe he was just fed up with opinion pieces and wanted to do some real reporting. The motive doesn't really matter.
Yesterday Michael Kelly died in a humvee accident in Iraq.
Hail and farewell, Mr. Kelly. I thank you for your service.
One name from the front I did recognize was Michael Kelly, one of the embedded journalists. He's a columnist for the Washington Post and Atlantic Magazine, who's writing I've always tried to catch as he's been one of best explainers of the nature of this war and what America must do to win it. Some of his columns can be found at http://www.townhall.com/columnists/michaelkelly/archive.shtml.
Mr. Kelly resigned as editor of the Atlantic and became an embedded journalist with the 3rd Infantry Division. I can't help wondering if part of why he volunteered for that was to respond to the "chickenhawk" insult, or if he just wanted to share some of the risk for the war he had advocated. Maybe he was just fed up with opinion pieces and wanted to do some real reporting. The motive doesn't really matter.
Yesterday Michael Kelly died in a humvee accident in Iraq.
Hail and farewell, Mr. Kelly. I thank you for your service.
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no subject
Date: 2003-04-04 11:43 am (UTC)While I disagree with Kelly, I respect his right to speak out, I respect his strength of speech, and I respect incredibly that he felt strongly enough to take a fairly strong personal action. The journalists in Iraq - even working in embedded positions and with some military control over what can be said - are part of what is preventing the dissension and division at home from becoming farcical, by constantly bringing home both the good and the bad of what this war is meaning to the people of Iraq - the liberation of the Kurds, and the terror in Basra; reminding people that these are not just numbers, but people.
In an era where the media is being more and more controlled by an increasingly small number of large corporations, anything that shows people still willing to put themselves out on a limb - as Michael Kelly did - for the old journalistic ideal is to be highly commended.
Ave et Vale,
ian.