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Another Journalist Sees The Light.

#1 User is offline   jessefan 

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Posted 14 December 2004 - 10:57 AM

http://www.thetimesonline.com/articles/200...f6900221ca5.txt

One soldier's story changed my views


BY ASHLEY LADWIG
Times Correspondent

I interviewed a family last week for a story I was writing for my school's newspaper.

The story was about how one family copes through the holidays while their son is away serving in the Army. I also e-mailed the soldier and asked him questions for the story.

As in any regular interview, I asked the son questions about all sorts of things relating to his experiences while in the Army, even questions that didn't pertain to the specific focus of the story.

I was shocked, however, when I read what he had to say about the war in Iraq. Even though I'm against the war, I guess I never fully realized all the extent of good it has brought.

I never felt that it was our country's place to liberate the Iraqis. Now, I know that butting in was actually very good for once.

Sure, I knew before that freeing the Iraqis was a really good thing, but I had no idea of all the other things our troops have been doing for them. I assume not many other people do either.

I was never sure of the good our country had done for Iraq. After all, it is still a country in turmoil.

Then PFC Jason P. Kekeis, a soldier who was stationed in Iraq recently, told me something that changed my view on the war. He said: "The country is a better place now that we are there. A vast majority of the Iraqis favor us being there and some more just go about their daily lives. What you don't see, and the news services never say, is that those fighting is a minute minority. They also don't say or show the soldiers that come out to the villages, towns and homes of Iraqis to give free gifts, medical care, education and other things to the people of Iraq. The United States is the reason that these people are now free and it upsets me terribly that the press will not (or cannot?) show that we are doing more good than they admit to air."

Wow, that's strong. When I first read it in his e-mail I knew I would never be able to use it in the story I was writing; it had nothing to do with the holidays.

But I knew that somehow I had to inform others of this view, a view from inside.

It changed the way I look at the war and taught me something I didn't know.

God really does bring good out of bad. This is just one more example of His love.

* Opinions expressed solely are those of the writer. Ashley Ladwig is a junior at Lake Central High School.
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