Tom Tancredo: “the news media is quick to provide gratuitous coverage of anti-war protests in Europe and elsewhere. They are quick to…”

“the news media is quick to provide gratuitous coverage of anti-war protests in Europe and elsewhere. They are quick to provide a forum for critics of U.S. policy in Iraq and even quicker to highlight the problems, misfortunes, and missteps of our coalition forces in Iraq. What they rarely do, however, is to highlight the contributions and valor of our coalition soldiers. Take, for example, the case of Salvadoran Corporal Samuel Toloza. According to a recent Associated Press story, ``One of his friends was dead, 12 others lay wounded and the four soldiers still left standing were surrounded and out of ammunition. So Toloza said a prayer, whipped out his . . . knife and charged the Iraqi gunmen.'' The story goes on, ``In one of the only known instances of hand-to-hand combat in the Iraq conflict, Toloza stabbed several attackers who were swarming around a comrade. The stunned assailants backed away momentarily, just as a relief column came to their rescue.'' According to the reports, Toloza and 16 other members were trapped by members of Muqtada al-Sadr's al-Mahdi militia. They initially did not fire their weapons for several hours, for fear of inflicting civilian casualties, despite the fact that insurgents were peppering the group with small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. Finally, after fighting back, the group, comprised of Salvadoran and American soldiers, ran out of ammunition.”