Stop overplaying news from Iraq

To the editor:

I am a bit curious as to how the alleged abuse of Iraqi prisoners is on the front page of every newspaper and getting top headlines. It should not have happened, but they are prisoners of war. The Iraqis say prisoners were tortured and abused. They beat four U.S. citizens to death, tore them apart, set them on fire and dragged them down the street. They beheaded another American. Yet we are the ones who are so terrible.

I was in the military for four years and am re-enlisting. I am outraged, to say the least, at the news media constantly and consistently trying to portray the military and its personnel as the bad guys. It is time the news is reported as fact and the opinions stay out. Stop overplaying and dramatizing the news.

You are making it more difficult for us to do our jobs, and it affects our family and friends as well. I have one son already and am expecting another child in December. People treat him differently because of what I do because the news is portraying us as the bad guys.

Every person in our military is there because he or she volunteered to be there. We volunteer to fight and die so that you have the freedom to bad-mouth us. The least you can do is tell the whole story, not just what you think makes good news.

DAMON SHY

Oran, Mo.