This is an excellent example of an independent blogger going head-to-head with the MSM. Hats off to Michael Yon! Hope he keeps safe.

Cheers,
Russ

Why don't we see articles like this from Canadian reporters? Easy. With the exception of Christie Blachford, they don't have the balls.

Thank you Michael Yon for doing a job our MSM should be doing but don't. If the MSM did this king of reporting, Canadians would have a better understanding of the imnportant work our soliders and their allies are doing in Afghanistan. Instead, most of what we get from the MSM is score-keeping on the latest casualties with no context about what the soldiers were doing when the casualties occurred.

The biggest farce is CBC with their "Afghan expert" reporter Brian Stewart sitting in the Toronto studio with Peter Mansbridge pontificating on why Canadians are losing faith in the mission. Maybe if Stewart was doing the kind of work Michael Yon does, Canadians would understand the mission better and be more supportive.

Wow, what a story -- a must read...

Michael, thanks for reporting on what's going on. Our media won't, or can't, report. Job well done Brits...Thanks...

Don't forget Michael Totten as well ( http://www.michaeltotten.com/ ). He's just returned home from reporting in Georgia.

That photograph ... Canadian soldiers roaring off into the night, first into enemy held territory, unknown ambush points and hidden roadside bombs... ought to have been on the front page of every paper in the land.

The fact the convoy and its special cargo made it to it's destination unscathed was an example of good planning and operational prowess. It speaks volumes to the quality of the leadership and logistical teams that made it happen as safely as it did

Kudos to the entire ISAF for the perfect co-ordination and integration of all the various elements and troops.

You make us all proud.

Great article and loved the comment from "J" one who was there doing the work. J was noting how accurate the article actually was instead of the usual nonsense from the MSM here.

The MSM won't report on the mission as they have figured out that the population in general would be very proud of our soldiers and we would back them and their mission one hundred percent.The media doesn't want to be proud,all soldiers are neanderthals and wars are the result of failed diplomacy and mongering.

We don't need any Tokyo Roses because we've got the Canadian MSM: They're doing the job the enemy should be doing. I think our treason laws should be brushed off and our media outlets read the riot act.

I'm not saying they should print/report pro-military propaganda. But they should darned well be reporting facts about the Canadian mission in Afghanistan.

My disdain for the Brian Stewarts of this world knows no bounds. While they gleefully count the body bags coming home, pretending concern, because they think they are nails in Prime Minister Stephen Harper's political coffin...their apparent "consorting with the enemy" ensures more dead Canadian soldiers.

I don't think the word "traitor" is too strong to use when Canadian reporters deliberately withhold facts from the Canadian public about the Canadian military's victories.

Compare and contrast with the The Taliban, once dismissed as too stupid to know they would lose if they dared to fight well-trained Canadian and allied troops, have proved themselves resilient, if still ill-equipped, warriors, learning from their early defeats and adapting to stage sophisticated attacks, inflicting serious casualties and winning key propaganda battles....

Oh, and that propaganda battle, quoted above, was won in the pages of the Glib and Pale.

winning hearts and minds in afghanistan:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/080908/world/afghan_civilian_deaths

"Editors in the print media are shifting terrorism experts on their staffs towards investigations of political candidates"

There was a gramatical error in this sentance: the word "candidates" should be in the singular - as they're only going after one.

Many reporters have learned the hard way that the troops overseas do not like them, and do not respect them.They view the ramp vultures as lower than dirt, and feel many are cowards for not reporting from the field.It is much easier to hang around the airbase and report from the relative comfort of a media hut.

Many soldiers feel the reporters are two faced.The issues they talk to them in the field about, are not reported accurately, if at all by the MSM.

As far as i am concerned, a good swatch of the MSM is doing the enemies job of disseminating propaganda.

They are not to be trusted, and are not by the common soldier.

Aren't those Canadians supposed to be wearing blue berets and standing out there keeping the peace? It seems the majority of Canadians polled recently think that way. Why has this stereotype idea lasted this long? If people can't be bothered to read the great history of Canadian fighting troops then at least they should pay attention to the bang up job the've been doing since deployed.

Texas Canuck: "If people can't be bothered to read the great history of Canadian fighting troops..."

Yeah, well, TC, the people here in Canada haven't studied real history for about 30 years. Our elite, radical feminist, chattering classes in the education (sic) system have revised our history books to minimize the influence of DWEMS (Dead White European Males)--or to make it appear that the contributions of DWEMS have been negative because DWEMS victimize others.

I know about "the great history of Canadian fighting troops" because I was educated before all the revisionism began and because my two grandfathers fought in both great wars and my father spent time in Holland in WW2.

'Too many years of l/Liberal "peace only" whitewash going on here in Canada for most people to have ANY idea that freedom has to be fought for, it's not the default position.

Duh.

Thanks for the reminder. I just sent off my donation to Michael.

The MSM is destroying itself. It doesn't matter what their reporters in the field write, it goes through the left wing filter back at the editors' desk anyway.

Since the MSM continues in the fine tradition of "if it bleeds, it leads" - especially if it's a Canadian soldier bleeding - it would seem it's up to people like us to keep our fellow Canadians abreast of the good things are soldiers are achieving.

I've sent the article in it's entirety - not as a URL, but the full text and pictures in an e-mail to everyone on my e-address book.

I'd ask others to do the same, while crediting Michael Yon of course.

Hey Texas Canuck, I gave up the Wimpy bit, when it was clear to the world we weren't really, you know, like, Wimpy.

http://mugs.cafepress.com/item/the-press-is-the-enemy-mug/126340222