Friday, June 09, 2006

Who really cares?

Yesterday we learned that Iraqi al-Qeada leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in an airstrike on a safe house that he was reportedly hiding in. Good news right? I mean we are all glad to hear that another of the big terror leaders has bit the dust. At this point it should be the end of the story, we tracked the guy down, we killed him, he's dead. END OF STORY, let's move on now......

But no, today I was watching video of a news conference where CNN reporter Barbara Starr was asking Maj. Gen. William Caldwell if he had "any information that Zarqawi intitally survived the airstrike, that he was alive at any point in the hands of either Iraqi or U.S. forces, and can you tell us if one of the women was indentified as one of Zaqawi's wives or someone related to him."

Ok, I am not a formally trained journalist, but the first thought I had upon hearing her line of questioning was 'who cares?' Even if he was barely alive he was not going to tell anyone and I mean ANYONE anything of use. The General said that Zarqawi reportedly mumbled something uninteligible before dying. (It was probably a curse on the U.S.)

I mean does anyone in this country really give a shit if this guy was alive for 30 or 60 seconds after U.S. and Iraqi forces stormed the bombed area? and does it matter if one of the women in the house that was also killed was related to him in any way??? Why not ask what kind of hair care products may have been found amid the rubble? Did the occupants use hair spray or styling gel?

Come on Barbara if you're going to ask questions, ask some that really matter. Something along the lines of "now that Zarqawi is dead does that raise hopes that his followers will succomb to infighting and give us more opportunites to find them and arrest or elimiate them as well?" or something else that is ACTUALLY important and relates to what our troops are fighting against in Iraq. You're the journalist, you figure it out. Leave the stupid questions to the Enquirer....

Or am I oversimplifying this too much?

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