It’s time to show that someone cares

Well, it's official and it's dreadful:

The bodies of two U.S. soldiers reported captured last week have been recovered, and an Iraqi defense ministry official said Tuesday the men were "killed in a barbaric way." The U.S. military said the remains were believed to be those of Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore.

The celebrations among the barbarians have begun:

"We give the good news … to the Islamic nation that we have carried God's verdict by slaughtering the two captured crusaders," said the claim, which appeared on an Islamic militant Web site where insurgent groups regularly post statements and videos.

"With God Almighty's blessing, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer carried out the verdict of the Islamic court" calling for the soldiers' slaying, the statement said.

The statement said the soldiers were "slaughtered," suggesting that al-Muhajer beheaded them. The Arabic word used in the statement, "nahr," is used for the slaughtering of sheep by cutting the throat and has been used in past statements to refer to beheadings.

Laer predicts — and I'm sure he's right — that the Western press will be remarkably passive about this. I can just imagine the talking heads on the nightly news putting on their solemn faces for a minute and announcing:

Well, the sad news tonight is that Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, and Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore. were killed. Although it's too soon to speculate, early reports indicate that they were decapitated. Residents of the village near which they were found claim that violence is rising against everyone in the area. Abu El-Babu reported that he was threatened by several men in a truck. 'This is all the American's fault,' he said through a translator. 'Before the Americans came, we had jobs and were never threatened by men in trucks.' A few children in the community could be seen hiding in doorways. And now, let's move to something lighter….

And that's the last we'll hear. There won't be endless cover stories about these soldiers' suffering or about the cultural barbarism that gave rise to their deaths. In other words, the media orgy that attended Abu Ghraib and Gitmo will be absent.

I've noted before that the Liberals' and the MSM's pathological inability to come to grips with the chronic violence directed against Americans, and their obsession with the scattered acts of hazing-type wrongdoing Americans visit on the Islamists (I'm ignoring Haditha here, because it's not proven yet), are actually quite a compliment to the American soldier. Much as they'd hate to admit it, Liberals and the MSM think so highly of the American military that they recognize anomalous behavior when they see it. Their sin is that, instead of treating the behavior with disdain and moving on as they should, they revel in these rare instances of ungentlemanlike behavior, much like a dog writhing in the occasional dead fish it finds on a beach.

The flip side of this is that, by cavalierly passing on Islamofacist violence, Liberals and the MSM show their arrogance and condescension: unlike you and me, they believe that Arabs/Muslims are less than human, and should be excused for behavior that even animals would disdain.

In any event, let's not, you and I, ignore these men. These are pictures of Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25, of Madras, Ore, and Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, 23, of Houston, two young men who, in the act of defending their country, died a terrible death. Please take a minute to think of these young men and, if you have the time, include them in your blog. They shouldn't be forgotten and we in the blogosphere can do a little bit, just a little bit, to acknowledge and give thanks for their sacrifice.

UPDATE: Flopping Aces and Little Green Footballs both offer us examples of the way some on the Left are going to play this. Basically, it's all Bush's fault. I'm sure that, in WWII, every death — and there were many — would have been all Roosevelt's fault. Wait, no, I'm wrong. Roosevelt was a Democrat. Where would they have placed the blame? These people just don't understand the concept of national defense, nor do they understand that there are some who are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice so that the greatest number of us can live in health and happiness. I get it — my Daddy was a soldier — and I am so grateful for these men and women.

UPDATE II: James S. Robbins takes on the media's self-loathing obsession with bad American stories, and its remarkably cavalier take on bad Iraqi stories. He thinks that, among reporters, it may be My Lai syndrome — and I'm sure he's right that such thinker figures large in the thinking of many MSM hacks.

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