An Open Letter to CENTCOM

Dear Sirs,

I work with the Marines and Navy and know what great things you're accomplishing in Iraq, Afghanistan and in the Horn of Africa. I know that your mission goes far beyond normal military actions and that you've done wonders to improve the lives of people throughout the region. The whole country should be proud of what you've done.

In the past, I've blogged about what the US Navy did after the tsunami and what Spirit of America is doing in Iraq and Afghanistan. On days when I don't have much time for blogging, I'd love to post videos of the civil successes you've got to show. I'd do it for free and would make sure my friends all knew about it.

I just spent an hour on YouTube searching for such things. I found nothing I could use. There's lots of videos of propaganda for the enemy or politicians blathering about mistakes and losses, but nothing showing progress and success. When I visited the CENTCOM website I found a set of PDF newsletters, but nothing I could embed on my blog.

I would bet that others in the blogosphere would love to show them, too. We want to help. Give us the tools.

Update: I found the Pentagon Channel, but that's too overproduced. It doesn't seem to be embeddable, either. Look, we send medical and reconstruction teams out into the field every day. How hard would it be to take a video camera along with you and get some candid footage to share? Meanwhile, there's lots of stuff like this on YouTube.

That won't do. Everyone who likes to watch things get blown up already supports the war. This is the front line of a global conflict. This is no joke. The only way we can lose right now is if we lose our national will and we're well on the way to doing just that. Our primary weapon is no longer the JDAM, but the video camera and the web.

If we end up retreating from Iraq, don't blame the Mainstream Media for giving everyone false impressions. You knew they would side with the enemy before you ever went in. You've got the opportunity to counteract them and you're not using it.

Update 2: I posted a longer update here. I found some Spirit of America videos, but it's still a long way from what we need.