Fraters Libertas

I Can't Standz No More

Power Line makes note of a story in today's Minneapolis Star Tribune on the funeral of Dale Panchot from Northome, Minnesota who was killed in Iraq on November 17th. I read the same story this morning and realized that I've reached the end of my rope on the mainstream media's constant need to remind us about the May 1st declaration by President Bush that major combat operations had ended in Iraq each and every time a soldier is killed:

He was one of 85 U.S. soldiers killed last month, one of the deadliest since President Bush declared an end to major combat on May 1. Panchot was the third Minnesota soldier to die since the war began, all since Bush's declaration.

I'm sorry but I fail to see how this is relevant to the story and how it's not editorializing. We all know that about Bush's declaration. It was accurate then and it's still accurate now. He did not say the war was over. He said major combat operations were.

Major combat operations can be considered as conventional warfare. That stage is clearly over. We are now engaged in unconventional warfare against the Iraqi insurgents. Why it matters if a soldier died during the approach to Baghdad in April or while on patrol three months later is beyond me. They both died in the Iraqi theater of operations as part of the larger ongoing war.

If you want to tell us how many soldiers have been killed in the war since 9/11 fine. If you want to tell us how many soldiers have been killed in Iraq since operations began there fine. If you even want to tell us how many soldiers have died since the Iraqi insurgency began I can handle it. But quit including the crap about "since Bush's May 1st declaration" as if it has any place in a legitimate news story.