Dragon Soup– Baghdad’s Christians: An island in the sea of Islam (Part 3 of 3)

Also present were the Iraqi and American security force leaders- the men who had taken on the terrorists and prevailed, not only driving out the murderous thugs that had kept Dora in the grip of their tyranny, but utterly quashing the cells that had spawned and supported these death squads and street killers. These men wore the 1st Infantry Division or Big Red One patch, the Indian Head patch of the U.S. Army 2nd Infantry Division (The men of the 2nd “Warrior” Battalion , 12th Infantry Regiment out of Fort Carson who lost 18 heroes in their almost 15 months here in Baghdad, most of it attached to our brigade, but never wavered in their mission and commitment to the people of Dora despite their losses.), and the Iraqi Army patch, and they sat together in the full pews as Bishop Warduni carried out the services.

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The most important symbol of progress however, came in the form of about 15 Muslim Sheiks or tribal leaders who attended the service in an open show of support for their Christian neighbors. If we didn’t have photos of them all together, looking into the cameras instead of shying away in fear of being targeted for assassination, you might not believe it was possible.

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Mike Yon was there as well. You may have seen his photo of the cross being placed back on top of the St. John’s steeple by both Christians and Muslims. A week later, he had a front row seat at the church’s first service and took it all in. If you haven’t seen Mike’s photos, you can check them out by clicking here.

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The service was grand. No explosions or gunfire interrupted it. No fanatical interloper stood up to denounce Bishop Warduni or the Chaldean Church. Nor were there any angry protests occurred outside the buildings walls, or vitriolic fatwahs issued against the “infidels.”

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It was this church, in the very neighborhood we had attempted to bring Scott Pelley and 60 Minutes to just one month and a half prior, but had been prevented from doing because of the threat of roadside bombs and sniper fire, that all of these people came together to celebrate, for just one hour, the true meaning of Peace on Earth.

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Aside from Yon, we had a Getty Images photographer present, and although I haven’t seen many of the photographs he took circulated around the web, he told me afterwards that the service had deeply touched him.

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A postscript to the service: One week later, I found myself talking to a well-known network news correspondent. Her name is not important, but what is important was the contempt with which she treated the story when I attempted to tell her about it.

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I was taken aback- not by her open dismissal of the story’s merits, but by her brazen and naked contempt for it and, at least in my perception, anyone who believed that the service was newsworthy. I was shocked not by her views, but by her openly hostile attitude about it. She told me she had received “hundreds” of emails about “that stupid church” and that she was “sick of it,” and that the church’s re-opening was not “a story.”

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I was speechless; and couldn’t think of a suitable response other than to tell her I disagreed with her position.

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The next day, she issued a semi-apology about her remarks, but I wasn’t buying it. You see, I don’t think she was sorry at all for her contempt, but was instead sorry that she’d let her carefully-crafted mask of professionalism and phony concern for reporting the truth slip. She was perhaps a little mad at herself for revealing such a firm position. Only she can look inside of her heart and know the truth, but the exchange we had reveals a troubling aspect of some of the reporting I’ve seen from the journalists we’ve had cover our operations.

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You see- that reporter had just decided for you, your parents and family, friends and neighbors and everyone else across America that you didn’t need to know about that historic service, the church’s first since May, when terrorist activity and death threats against priests and congregation had forced the closing of its doors.

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To her, it wasn’t worth reporting, and she got the final word. Unless you knew about Mike Yon’s website, or tuned into FOX News a few weeks later when their correspondents Geraldo Rivera and Courtney Kealy came down to Dora to cover the story, you had no idea about any of these events.

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My point is this: the unnamed network news reporter and many like her serve as gatekeepers of information. She and her handlers decide what is and isn’t worth reporting. They answer to nobody other than themselves. If the corporate suits in New York decide that it is simply too risky to have reporters ride around in armored humvees (that most of our troops ride in each and every day) in lieu of Bradley fighting vehicles or MRAP (Mine Resistant Ambush Protected) vehicles, which also happen to be new and not fully fielded across the various formations, then they simply won’t come out and report the story, despite the news producer on the ground’s pleas to get reporter and crew out with the troops. That’s a fact, folks- I’m not making this up.

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And so that leaves you, the American citizen to be left in the dark if they choose to keep you in it.