COMING TOMORROW -- "The Longest Morning": The Exclusive Story of Heroism, Valor, and Loss in Samarra, Iraq
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Six weeks ago in Samarra, as a small American sniper team was set upon by dozens of al Qaeda terrorists who had but one goal in mind: to humiliate America in front of the world, only days before General Petraeus's internationally televised testimony before Congress, by kidnapping and slaughtering these American soldiers.
Four U.S. paratroopers faced impossible odds, against dozens of dedicated enemy fighters.
Not all would survive -- but all would become heroes.
Excerpts from this exclusive cover story can be seen here: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5
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Having interviewed all participants -- repeatedly -- and having gone over the situation that they faced, in the place that they faced it, so as to better understand those events, there is no doubt in my mind that the young men featured herein are deserving of the highest award that their country can possibly offer them: the Medal of Honor.
As it is, though - due to the military's built-in bias against the awarding of high honors to junior enlisted soldiers, and against awarding the Medal of Honor in any other way than posthumously - they were put in for Distinguished Service Crosses (the second highest award that the military offers) -- and they may not even get those, due again to the military's bias against junior enlisted awards.
It is not only important that this story be seen by everybody that it can possibly be spread to -- it is also, in my opinion (again, as the person who has been there with the people in question), of the utmost importance that those who, upon reading the story, agree with me that these young men deserve the highest honor their nation can give them, call their Representatives and tell them that.
-- Jeff Emanuel
The American Spectator can be found at your local Borders, Barnes & Noble, or other magazine-carrying bookseller or newsstand.