In light of the one-sided reporting out of Iraq, a subscription-only editorial in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal asks an important question at its conclusion:

Unreported Valor
August 3, 2006; Page A6
….. Bing West, a former assistant defense secretary, reflected on Haditha in a recent piece about the war’s course for the July issue of the Proceedings of the U.S. Naval Institute:

“The Iraq war is being played out against a backdrop of bitter partisan politics in the United States. Of those on the front lines, 70% get out after four years of service, with no long-term benefits. All they want is praise for their valor and service. They want to be able to say. ‘I served at Fallujah, Najaf, or Mosul’ and be respected for their dedication.

“Their valor is absent from this war because it is not reported. In Fallujah for instance, 100 Marine squads engaged in 200 firefights in cement rooms, using rifles, pistols, grenades and knives. By any historical comparison, this was extraordinary. In Hue City in 1968, there was one fight inside a house. In the entire history of the SWAT teams in the United States, there have not been 200 fights with automatic weapons inside rooms. Yet the courage of our soldiers and Marines in battles in Fallujah, Najaf, etc. received little press notice. Now we face the test of whether the press will place the tragedy of Haditha in perspective, or whether Haditha will unfairly become a false symbol….

“What happens if the youth of America adopt the same fractious attitudes as their political leaders? Who then will serve? …..”

What is overlooked is that this is probably the first war since the USA was founded where, thanks to the enemies we have allowed to dwell within, if the deeds of heroic soldiers are trumpeted, their families might very well face reprisals. It may be that the military is deliberately downplaying stories of battlefield bravery for that reason. If so, I think it’s a mistake, and I suspect that soldiers and their families would overwhelmingly agree.

I’m a sucker for lists like these. eWeek did this one a little over a week ago, and even created a slideshow for it.

Here’s their list:

1. The IBM PC
2. Mosaic Web Browser
3. Apache
4. Intel i386 Processor
5. XNS
6. The Linux Kernel
7. VMware 86 virtualization
8. Apple Macintosh
9. PGP
10. Compaq Portable
11. Adobe PDF and Acrobat
12. Lotus 1-2-3
13. Cisco IOS
14. Ashton-Tate Dbase II
15. Palm Pilot
16. Linksys 802.11 Router
17. Shiva Lanrover
18. Phoenix BIOS
19. Red Hat Linux
20. Microsoft Visual Basic
21. Network General Sniffer
22. Lotus Notes
23. Windows 95
24. Microsoft Office
25. Nessus

It’s a pretty good sign that you’re not big techster if you don’t know what 5, 7, 17, 18, 21, and 25 even are or were, as I didn’t. Now that I do, I think the list is pretty strong, though it leans towards enterprise computing and not personal computing (”PC,” as in what the list was supposed to be about).

Blog comments at eWeek are adding some interesting other candidates. Some of them expand the parameters beyond the computer itself, but are nevertheless good candidates. Though there are many good suggstions, the ones I would consider including in the list, though I mostly don’t know which ones I would pitch, are these:
- LCD Displays
- Laser and Inkjet Printers
- Various drive (CD, DVD, 3-inch, etc.)
- AppleTalk (the first printer network)
- VisiCalc (came before Lotus 1-2-3, so this is a substitution)

Suggestions are certainly welcome.

He’s lucky they were there:

Couple rescues man from lake after apparent fall from cliff
July 29, 2006 08:01 PM

Bloomington, Ind. – A couple rescued a man half-submerged in a lake who apparently fell from a 25-foot embankment, leaving him so severely injured he could barely move.

Jason and Misty Owens said they were fishing Friday night when their black Labrador, Coal, saw something unusual along the shore of the lake the Morgan-Monroe State Forest.

“He started barking like crazy” just before they found the man, Jason Owens said.

Police did not release the name of the man, who was rushed to Bloomington Hospital around 11 p.m. Friday.

Monroe County Sheriff’s Sgt. Troy Thomas said investigators weren’t able to talk to the victim, who was being treated for hypothermia and several other undisclosed injuries.

He said the man may have been lying in the lake for more than a day. Authorities believe the man fell over a 25-foot embankment and was so injured that he couldn’t move or seek help.

Thomas said if the Owenses hadn’t been there fishing, the victim most likely would have died.