WHY THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA DOESN'T COVER THE WARS IN AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ (EDITORIAL)

The mainstream media in the United States have collectively decided it is not worth the print space or air time to cover the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq even though we have close to 300,000 troops in both theaters of operation.

Visit any newsroom and ask them why the Afghanistan and Iraq wars are not covered and they will tell you there is "Afghanistan fatigue" and "Iraq fatigue" on the part of the American public.

In short, editors will tell you the American public are no longer interested in either war.

The United States has a population of over 350 million and just 1.7 million are in the Armed Forces.

Most people, and that includes the media and members of Congress, don't have a relative or loved one serving in our military.

The Afghanistan and Iraq wars are the first wars we have fought since before World War II where we didn't have conscription or a military draft.

The all volunteer military is a good idea but it restricts the number of people who care about our men and women in the military.

A military draft would change all that in a heartbeat.

It is not right that the same troops are going on their fifth and sixth tour to Afghanistan and Iraq.

The Iraq war is far from over despite of "the surge." The Iraqi people can't come to terms on which party is going to run their government and if you go to Iraqi websites like Iraq Today (http://warnewstoday.blogspot.com/) you will see violence and bloodshed are a daily ritual in Iraq.

President Obama plans to pull all combat troops out of Iraq by next summer. What will the remaining U.S. troops do? Act as referees in the political dispute going on in Iraq?

The war in Afghanistan is even more complex.

As we enter the 10th year in Afghanistan, the mission has changed so many times nobody seems to know what our troops are supposed to be doing in Afghanistan.

There are over 150,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan and all experts agree there is no military solution to Afghanistan.

For more detailed information on what is taking place in Afghanistan, you should read the Huffington Post's excellent website devoted to the war here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/afghanistan

We started this blog over two years ago and as of today close to 600,000 people have logged on our website looking for news from Afghanistan and Iraq.

The mainstream media in the United States are doing a great disservice to our men and women in uniform by turning a blind eye to events on the ground in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Perhaps if more people in the media had served our country in uniform there would be more interst in both wars. The same goes for members of Congress and the Executive Branch of our government.

This blogger was drafted into the United States Army in 1951 and was trained as a Combat Engineer during the Korean War.

They used to call the "Korean War--The Forgotten War," but thanks to the media the Afghanistan War and the Iraq War are now "The Forgotten Wars."

Editorial opinion by:
Bill Corcoran, editor: CORKSPHERE: http://corksphere.blogspot.com