Hawking the poltical spinners.
Published on December 27, 2004 By hitparade In Politics
I will say it until I am blue in the face: the so-called constitutional dissent voiced by the likes of Dean and his ilk, in essence, have supplied the very bullets the insurgents use to kill Americans In Iraq.

When asked how it would be possible to defeat a superpower such as America, Ho Chi Min said that: "They will kill many of us and we will kill a few of them. But they will tire of this first. Look at the student protest that invade the streets of America, and you see the true strength of our army at work."


The following is a story of great heroism that the mainstream media would not carry:

Navy Cross Hero

Written by Tom Moy

Wednesday December 15, 2004


Maybe you'd like to hear about something other than idiot Reservists and naked Iraqis.

Maybe you'd like to hear about a real American, somebody who honored the uniform he wears.

Meet Brian Chontosh.

Churchville-Chili Central School class of 1991. Proud graduate of the Rochester Institute of Technology. Husband and about-to-be father. First lieutenant (now promoted to Captain) in the United States Marine Corps.

And a genuine hero.

The secretary of the Navy said so.

At 29 Palms in California Brian Chontosh was presented with the Navy Cross, the second highest award for combat bravery the United States can bestow.

That's a big deal.

But you won't see it on the network news tonight, and all you read in Brian's hometown newspaper was two paragraphs of nothing. Instead, it was more blather about some mental defective MPs who acted like animals.

The odd fact about the American media in this war is that it's not covering the American military. The most plugged-in nation in the world is receiving virtually no true information about what its warriors are doing.

Oh, sure, there's a body count. We know how many Americans have fallen. And we see those same casket pictures day in and day out. And we're almost on a first-name basis with the pukes who abused the Iraqi prisoners. And we know all about improvised explosive devices and how we lost Fallujah and what Arab public-opinion polls say about us and how the world hates us.

We get a non-stop feed of gloom and doom.

But we don't hear about the heroes.

The incredibly brave GIs who honorably do their duty. The ones our grandparents would have carried on their shoulders down Fifth Avenue.

The ones we completely ignore.

Like Brian Chontosh.

It was a year ago on the march into Baghdad. Brian Chontosh was a platoon leader rolling up Highway 1 in a humvee.

When all hell broke loose.

Ambush city.

The young Marines were being cut to ribbons. Mortars, machine guns, rocket propelled grenades. And the kid out of Churchville was in charge. It was do or die and it was up to him.

So he moved to the side of his column, looking for a way to lead his men to safety. As he tried to poke a hole through the Iraqi line his humvee came under direct enemy machine gun fire.

It was fish in a barrel and the Marines were the fish.

And Brian Chontosh gave the order to attack. He told his driver to floor the humvee directly at the machine gun emplacement that was firing at them. And he had the guy on top with the .50 cal unload on them.

Within moments there were Iraqis slumped across the machine gun and Chontosh was still advancing, ordering his driver now to take the humvee directly into the Iraqi trench that was attacking his Marines. Over into the battlement the humvee went and out the door Brian Chontosh bailed, carrying an M16 and a Beretta and 228 years of Marine Corps pride.
And he ran down the trench.
With its mortars and riflemen, machineguns and grenadiers.
And he killed them all.
He fought with the M16 until it was out of ammo. Then he fought with the Beretta until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up a dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo. Then he picked up another dead man's AK47 and fought with that until it was out of ammo.
At one point he even fired a discarded Iraqi RPG into an enemy cluster, sending attackers flying with its grenade explosion.
When he was done Brian Chontosh had cleared 200 yards of entrenched Iraqis from his platoon's flank. He had killed more than 20 and wounded at least as many more.
But that's probably not how he would tell it.
He would probably merely say that his Marines were in trouble, and he got them out of trouble. Hoo-ah, and drive on.

"By his outstanding display of decisive leadership, unlimited courage in the face of heavy enemy fire, and utmost devotion to duty, 1st Lt. Chontosh reflected great credit upon himself and upheld the highest traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval Service."

That's what the citation says.

And that's what nobody will hear.

That's what doesn't seem to be making the evening news. Accounts of American valor are dismissed by the press as propaganda, yet accounts of American difficulties are heralded as objectivity. It makes you wonder if the role of the media is to inform, or to depress - to report or to deride. To tell the truth, or to feed us lies.

But I guess it doesn't matter.

We're going to turn out all right.

As long as men like Brian Chontosh wear our uniform.

Semper Fi!



This information is provided by PURE PURSUIT as a service to members of the Military and Air Defense Community with the purpose of offering relevant and timely information on (open source) defense, aviation, emergency, law enforcement and terrorism issues.


Comments
on Dec 27, 2004
At least we can read about this hero and others on the Internet.  And take pride in the fact he is an American.  Dont expect the Mainstream media to ever report it.  But long after they are not even a sad memory, the history books will.
on Dec 27, 2004
Where is the American Virgil?

But seriously... I challenge any liberal who has voiced opposition to the war in Iraq to speak his piece and explain how that vocal dissent which has been heard around the world has not emboldened the insurgency?

Seek counsel of him who makes you weep, and not of him who makes you laugh.
~Arabic Proverb~

Following the wisdom in the proverb, I will not personally respond to any reply in the hope that who ever it is that picks up the gauntlet will not feel that they are being set up for an ambush. Naturally, others may choose to reply to whatever is said, which I also welcome.
on Dec 27, 2004

i got no idea where any shame attaches to liberals here.


america--all of america--was hungry for heroes in this war until the defense department poisoned that well.  you do recall jessica lynch?  the little female gi who fought bravely until she was captured and taken prisoner of war?  the one who was miraculously rescued in a brilliantly coordinated strike involving seal team and army rangers who managed to capture the whole thing on video with the aid of night-vision technology? 

the entire country was amazed and enthralled to learn how a sympathetic iraqi lawyer had risked his life to get word to the military.  we marvelled as we watched the rescuers hit the iraqi terrorist headquarters with incredibly precise teamwork, ignoring what sounded like return fire from ms lynch's captors.   the brave woman was freed and hustled aboard the rescue chopper by her comrades in arms who selflessly protected her until they were outta harms way.


sadly, it was all a show and a scam.  an illusion that shoulda generated much more outrage than it did--if we werent already so conditioned to to expect bullshit from the administration--cuz the facts were so ridiculously out of synch with reality.  jessica lynch had not been shot or stabbed; she was being cared for by the only specialist in the hideout...i mean hospital from which she was extracted.  furthermore, that doctor had tried to deliver her to us custody two days before the raid.  when he drove her--in an ambulance--to a checkpoint, the american soldiers had fired on him.  fortunately he was able to save her life and his own by gettin the hell outta there. 


british media would later discover that the american military had been in contact with locals who informed them the hospital was no longer under the control of any iraqi fighters.  while i hate to think there was also some whitewash involved in this, the army kept lynch incommunicado for quite some time after she was returned to the states and she claims to have no memory of anything that happened after she was captured and taken to the hospital.


you may believe this was just a snafu.  i would have myself it i hadnt run across two reports by the british press.


after hearing the rescue video was been substantially edited prior to its release to the american media, jonathon kampfer of the guardian asked pentagon spokesman bryan whitman, to release the full tape of the rescue to clear up any discrepancies. whitman declined 


the guardian also reported the following:

Back in 2001, the man behind Black Hawk Down, Jerry Bruckheimer, had visited the Pentagon to pitch an idea. Bruckheimer and fellow producer Bertram van Munster, who masterminded the reality show Cops, suggested Profiles from the Front Line, a primetime television series following US forces in Afghanistan. They were after human stories told through the eyes of the soldiers. Van Munster's aim was to get close and personal. He said: "You can only get accepted by these people through chemistry. You have to have a bond with somebody. Only then will they let you in. What these guys are doing out there, these men and women, is just extraordinary. If you're a cheerleader of our point of view - that we deserve peace and that we deal with human dignity - then these guys are really going out on a limb and risking their own lives."

It was perfect reality TV, made with the active cooperation of Donald Rumsfeld and aired just before the Iraqi war. The Pentagon liked what it saw. "What Profiles does is given another in depth look at what forces are doing from the ground," says Whitman. "It provides a very human look at challenges that are presented when you are dealing in these very difficult situations." That approached was taken on and developed on the field of battle in Iraq.

i know the two guys who created cops (i worked with both of them shortly before they got their break).  rather than being the show's mastermind, van munster worked for them as a field producer until it was discovered he was trying to hijack their show by peddling a knockoff to abc.  i have no reason to think he suddenly developed a set of ethics between then and 2001. 

if anyone has anything to be ashamed about here it would be rumsfeld's defense department who made such a mockery of heroism...and the people who spent most of this year ridiculing a navy lt who had his crew charge an enemy ambush formation and killed the man who was about to fire a rocket at his crew. 

on Dec 27, 2004

america--all of america--was hungry for heroes in this war until the defense department poisoned that well. you do recall jessica lynch? the little female gi who fought bravely until she was captured and taken prisoner of war?


Did not take them long to poison well!


For the supposed 'supporters' of the troops. you betray your true stripes.  This had nothing to do with Jessica or her story.  Which is not authenticated by your biased reporting or sources.


You fell into your own trap!  I guess this is another attack on you.  By your own interpretation of the English language.


Just dont talk to the great soldiers who are fighting so you can spread the filth and lies. And please dont spit on them this time.