The Coolest Thing Ever.

If by "coolest thing ever" I could possibly mean the media sweeping great news under the rug.

According to the Pentagon, 38 American military personnel died in Iraq during the month of October. That is down 65% from last October and down 53% from June of this year, the month that the much pooh-poohed Surge began in full effect.

Here are a few stark examples:

• A search of CNN.com for "October casualties" brought a few results. "Monks march in central Myanmar", "CNN Student News: Ten Questions" and "CNN Student News Transcript: October 31, 2007" all appear before "Iraq war deaths show sharp decline". Never mind all that. The first thing you see (pictures draw the eye, right?) are four videos declaring Iraq in October to be some sort of failure. That failure? There were 887 civilian casualties in Iraq compared to 840 in September. A huge rise of...6%.
• The AFP, the French Press Agency, reports that "Iraqi deaths up in October in blow to US 'surge' policy" (yes, they said "in October in blow"). It takes them four paragraphs to mention that the 887 civilian deaths are part of a downward trend from August (which was 1,770). The biggest omission? They do not mention in the first screen-full of news (which is what most people read) that the civilians are being killed (for the most part) by the insurgents and their fellow Iraqis. When they do mention it, they let someone else say it by way of quotes. Deniability is awesome.
• Finally, from UPI, who claims "100 Years of Journalistic Excellence" on their banner: their headline is "Bush: 'Victory' starting in Iraq". You rock! At least they are talking about it. But do you like the spin they put on it? It is almost as if they mock the strides the Army and Marines are making in Iraq.

About the CNN bullet. Do not get me wrong. I think that any civilian casualty is a tragedy that needs to be studied.Beyond all of that, a quick check of iCasualities.org shows different numbers. They list 565 civilian and 114 Iraqi soldiers dying in October.When are these people going to start paying attention? Overall we are doing better. Is this not a good thing? It blows my mind that the media will jaw on and on about how badly this war is going but when there is something good to talk about, they don't mention it.

I have not seen one news piece about the Air Defense battery in Afghanistan that drove through hostile territory, up and through dangerous mountain passes, into a remote valley and then stayed there for nearly a week to deliver school supplies to children who had never owned a pen in their lives.

I have not seen one news piece about the Army hospitals doing surgery on local men whose testicles hadn't dropped yet. Grown men, in their 20s and 30s, who had not dropped yet. This had absolutely no military significance; these men weren't powerful or rich. The Army did it anyhow.

I have not seen one news piece about the Army medic who defied a not fully informed Lieutenant Colonel's orders and jumped out of a rolling up-armored Humvee to perform first aid on a kid that had been run over by a mini-bus. The locals gathered around the medic and the truck with him and blamed the soldiers (they couldn't see the mini-bus down the hill). There was nearly a riot of angry locals, but this medic continued first aid until a US ambulance arrived. This medic later lost his life in Iraq.

These are only some of the stories that I have personal knowledge of. Who could possibly know how many others are not being told?

The media doesn't tell you these stories because the 911 Truthers and other wackos would rather see us fail in Iraq to "win" their point than have us succeed in Iraq. And most of the media caters to these fools. Sadly, since they cater to fools, the majority of Americans, rushed through life as they are, take in the news, digest it quickly and go to bed.

Most Americans have no idea what it is like in Iraq or Afghanistan. None, none, none.