The Bomb You Didn't Hear About
If you haven't completely tuned out the news from Iraq, or lost it in the political-babble, you may have heard yesterday about the mayhem that's going on in northern Iraq. Or the unfortunate pony that was blown to smithereens in a Baghdad market, killing four. But you probably did not hear about the story below, the likes of which are happening with great regularity these days as Iraqi citizens, tired of Al Qaeda's brutality, are turning in explosives faster than we can blow them up.
News is, by definition, out of the ordinary. This is why they don't often report that your neighbor didn't get robbed, or someone didn't get killed. That's not what news does. When you hear about a seventeen-car pileup on the freeway near your home, you understand that to be news because you drive that freeway and know that pileups don't happen all the time. It's out of the ordinary, and you know that because you have context in which to place the news.
But since most people haven't been to Iraq, I think journalists have a further responsibility - to tell at least some of what doesn't happen, to provide context since you can't get it yourself. And for whatever reason, that's where many news agencies consistently fail.
Maybe they don't have an agenda. (or maybe they do!) Maybe they're just doing what they've always done - report the out of the ordinary. But if you really want to UNDERSTAND the conflict in Iraq (and elsewhere), you've got to have some of the "boring" stuff - things that don't blow up and people that don't get hurt.
Like the story below: Not only does it highlight that not all truck bombs end in tragedy, it illustrates (yet again) how spineless men without a shred of honor will disguise horrible weapons as an ambulance in order to kill as many non-combatants as possible.
Take heart, though. According to Caleb Carr's book "The Lessons of Terror," attempts at influencing a civilian populace by killing that populace has always, everywhere failed. Go figure. And it will fail in Iraq, too.
MOSUL, Iraq - Coalition forces discovered a vehicle-borne improvised explosive device disguised as a Red Crescent food relief truck in southeastern Mosul Feb. 15.
The truck was labeled with hospital markings but contained eight 55-gallon drums with more than 5,000 pounds of unknown bulk explosives.
The discovery was made during a route clearance operation as part of Operation Phantom Phoenix. Because of the proximity of the VBIED to civilian population, an explosive ordnance disposal team determined the truck would need to be removed from the neighborhood before its destruction.
"A VBIED detonation of this size would kill or injure many innocent civilians. This just shows how ruthless al Qaeda is and their lack of concern for the effect of their operations on the Iraqi people," said Lt. Col. Christopher Johnson, commander of 1st Battalion, 8th Infantry Regiment.
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