Thank you for all of your help. This wouldn't have been possible without you.
October 27, 2007
I arrived back at home earlier this week from just under three months in Iraq, and am settling back into American society (late wake-ups after actual sleep, wonderfully fattening food, fall weather, occasional rain, and the sounds of traffic instead of explosions and gunfire, among other beautiful differences). I'm still slowly-but-surely running the last of my news and (moreso) analysis pieces from my time there, and will continue to do so -- all leading up to the crown jewel of this embed, the exclusive unbelievable story of Medal of Honor-worthy heroism in a fight to the death against al Qaeda in Samarra only weeks ago. The article, which is the cover story for the November issue of the American Spectator magazine, will come out online (at http://www.spectator.org and at http://www.JeffEmanuel.com) November 1, and will be available in stores (Borders, Barnes&Noble, etc.) the first week of November.
This mission could not have been done without your help, both financial and via moral support. Thanks to your contributions and the hospitality of the U.S. military, I was able to file over 40 articles, dispatches, and updates from the field, which were published on my site, at RedState, on http://www.VetsForFreedom.org (where I kept a diary while deployed), and in such publications as Human Events, The American Spectator, The Weekly Standard (online), The Washington Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the American Thinker, the Jerusalem Post, and the Hawaii Reporter. Thanks in large part to your help, readers of these and other publications were able to gain information and understanding of the war in Iraq that they otherwise would not have.
I cannot thank you enough for your assistance, as without your support, dedication, and readership, this literally would not have happened.
The job is not finished. There is so much more information, and there are so many more stories, that are not making their way out of Iraq at this point, if for no other reason than the fact that there are not people on the front lines to see and report them. This task is largely left to independents like myself, Michael Yon, Bill Roggio, Michael Totten, J.D. Johannes, and very few others -- and we depend on the amazing following and generosity of people like you. Few know how expensive (and costly in terms of time away from any regularly-paying job) it actually is to go to Iraq and spend months at a time being shot at, blown up, etc. for the sole sake of getting accurate, eyewitness, on-the-ground information out to the American people.
One trip generally costs $20-25,000.00 to make. Despite the apparent belief of some, I neither tailor my news to get donations, nor do I actually receive very many in response to specific stories. In fact, I've finished "in the red" financially both times that I went to Iraq this year. That, combined with the fact that I am currently planning a return trip to the front lines for early next year, means that I cannot lay off fundraising (something that I hate to do more than almost anything) even for one minute. So, with that having been said, if you (or anybody that you know) is interested not only in getting real, accurate, eyewitness information from the front lines in Iraq, but is interested in investing in actual media accuracy in this war, please come yourself, or send them, to http://www.jeffemanuel.com and click the "donate" link on the right sidebar.
Another option, which is 100% tax-deductible, is to support Bill Roggio's Public Multimedia, Inc, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization dedicated to up-to-date and accurate reporting on The Long War through the training and placement of frontline embedded reporters.
If you believe that this is a worthy cause -- and many of you have already shown that you do -- then I humbly ask that you consider contributing to one or both of these embedded reporting funds. Again, without you, this cannot happen.
Thank you again for your assistance, both past and future. It is an honor to have represented you to our soldiers in Iraq, and I look forward to doing it again soon.
-Jeff Emanuel
1 Comments:
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At 2:55 PM,
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Hey man, Chuck Jones here from Athens. It's good to see that you are back safe!
Come to the UGA Arch on Tuesday between 5 and 6 and I'd be right proud to have your name on the Thank You Americas Heroes sign!
