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March 29, 2003
Rick Leventhal shows soldiers' perspective
While for the most part the war coverage leaves a lot to be desired, and provides more misinformation and recycled stories than any real news, if you haven't seen Rick Leventhal's live reports from Fox News you should check it out. "Well Shep, that noise you hear is the turret turning. We've engaged the enemy." He's with the 3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Unit of the 1st Marine Division, which was one of the first to begin the ground assault, crossing the Iraqi border 90 minutes after air strikes by Marine aviators in southern Iraq.
I know, it's Fox, and the studio talking heads are all conservatives who would avoid criticizing the adminstration at pain of death, but it's worth sitting through to catch Leventhal's updates from Iraq. Unlike most of the other embedded reporters, you can tell that Rick fits in as part of the unit he is travelling with deep in the front lines south of Baghdad. He gets interviews with all the troops, and leaders. He even mentioned they asked him to brief the Marines on what was going on in the rest of the world at the end of a weekly operations meeting.
His live reports are usually on between 10pm and 2am EST, morning Baghdad time, and give both a soldier's perspective and details you don't get from the other reporters. Helps you get a picture of the war as it unfolds. From the American perspective of course. The Iraqi citizens' side is not really being told anywhere in the US media. Anyways, it beats listening to Forrest Sawyer, Aaron Brown, or Shepard Smith drivel on about things they know next to nothing about. First it was "shock and awe" then "unexpected stiff resistance." Give me a break. Look at the deeper issues, not just the cosmetic surface.
Posted by Mike at March 29, 2003 08:14 PM
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Comments
HELLO I AM JUST WANTING TO THANK RICK LEVENTHAL FOR ALL OF HIS REPORTING THAT HE DONE DURING THE WAR WITH IRAQ I DO RECALL THAT HE WAS AT FIRST STATIONED WITH 3RD LAR MARINES WITCH WAS FROM 29 PALMS AND THAT WAS MY HUSBANDS GROUP WITCH I NEVER DID SEE MY HUSBAND BUT I REALLY APPRECIATE ALL OF THE HARD WORK AND SWEAT THAT RICK AND THE REST OF HIS CREW PUT INTO THE REPORTING MY HUSBANDS NAME WAS CPL EJ LEJEUNE HE IS WITH THE 2ND PLT SO IF THERE IS ANY MORE KIND OF INFORMATION THAT ANY OF THE REPORTERS LEFT OUT IN IRAQ THAT COULD LET ANY OF US WORRIED FAMILIES AND WIVES AND FRIENDS OF THE 3RD LAR COMPANY PLEASE LET US KNOW SOMETHING ABOUT THEM THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR YOUR TIME
LISA LEJEUNE
ALEXANDRIA, LA
Posted by: LISA LEJEUNE at May 18, 2003 03:20 PM
I apologize, but I am just one person with a web log who wrote my own comment about Rick and his reporting. I am not Rick and have no way to pass your message on to him. Try foxnews.com to contact him or Shepard Smith of the Fox Report. See blogger.com for more details about web logs. (Also, I am curious, is your husband's base at Camp LeJeune in North Carolina?) Your congressmen or women might be able to help you, if the military is not doing all it could here.
Posted by: Mike at May 27, 2003 09:52 PM
My family just would like to thank Rick for the news we were able to see when our son inlaw LCPL James Ballard with the 2/23rd marines were in iraq. James was even able to say hello to us and his 9 month old son Devin was able to see his Da Da on TV he was only 5 months old when Da Da left for war. thank you Rick for putting your own life at risk to bring us the news!!
Posted by: vickey mills at July 11, 2003 03:42 AM
As Sec'y of the 86th Fighter-Bomber Group, am trying to determine if Rick Leventhal is related to Dr. Allan A. Levental, DVM, a pilot in our WWII
squadron. He's the "spitting image" of Al.
Posted by: Sid Howard at November 21, 2003 03:10 PM
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