Greatest story never told | Augusta Chronicle Editorial Staff
Thursday, July 28, 2005
We're not just fighting armed terrorists in Iraq. We're also battling the Mideast's ingrained culture of hatred, racism and paranoia.
That culture means that even ordinary citizens are primed and ready to believe the worst about America and its troops. Truth isn't an issue. If it makes us look bad, it's readily believed.
They rioted in many areas, for instance, when Newsweek erroneously reported that a Quran was flushed down a toilet at the detention center at Guantanamo Bay.
And lately there have been rumors in Baghdad that U.S. forces would use chemical weapons and blame them on insurgents - and that U.S. troops lure Iraqi children with candy in order to insulate themselves from terrorist attacks.
Both rumors are patently ridiculous, of course. But Mideasterners are ready to believe the worst about America.
The truth, especially when it reflects well on the U.S. presence in Iraq, isn't as widely disseminated or as quickly accepted.
Consider the case of one Pfc. Stephen Tschiderer.
The Army medic recently was on patrol in Baghdad when he was shot in the chest by a sniper. He was saved by his body armor and took cover. A short time later, his unit had overtaken the terrorists - and Tschiderer rendered medical care to the very sniper who, moments before, had tried to kill him.
Soldiers learned not too much later that the snipers had been filming the attack on Tschiderer for a sort of "why we fight" film for terrorists. How ironic.
And how American - to return a gunshot with a compress.
"If there is a better story of forgiveness and grace under fire in this war," says John P. Avlon in the New York Sun, "I have yet to hear it."
It's a good bet few Iraqis have heard it, either.
"Private Tschiderer's actions stand out as among the least sordid acts ever recorded on a battlefield," Avlon continues. "Our troops may not be perfect - we are human beings at war, not angels in heaven - but there is no moral equivalence between terrorists who target innocent human life, and the soldiers of the civilized world who try to bind the wounds of those who have just tried to kill them in combat."
Again, Iraqis may hear hurtful fiction about U.S. troops. Yet, they may never know of the inestimable humanity of one Pfc. Stephen Tschiderer.
But now you do.
From the Friday, July 29, 2005 printed edition of the Augusta Chronicle