Our friend Dean Esmay was recently written up in the Detroit News,
Blogger brings progress to light
To Dean Esmay, 39, the war in Iraq is more than suicide bombers and sectarian strife. It’s about schools being built, small businesses being hatched, Iraqis forming friendships with Americans. To help people see what he sees, the Westland computer tech worker has been writing about the war more and more on his popular blog, deanesmay.com.
“If you only see gloom and doom, the average person thinks it’s a mess,” he said.
Esmay searches the Internet, including Web sites in Iraq and Afghanistan, for stories about good things that the United States is doing in the Middle East. For example, he said, Iraq has held three elections with huge turnouts. “We can’t afford to let Iraq go down the tube,” he said. “If we do, what will come out will be worse than before.”
Esmay’s stepfather was a true-blue soldier who volunteered for two tours of duty in Vietnam, but his son was hardly a chip off the old block. In his mid-20s, Esmay’s views began to change as he read history tomes and met people who had served in the armed forces. “I’m not saying war is a good thing but it’s sometimes a necessary thing and a just thing,” he said. “There’s such a thing as a righteous cause and this is one of them.”
The issue is also personal because his stepdad, who’s now in the private sector, is in Iraq training its citizens to be better soldiers. His Web site, which is visited by 15,000 people a day, began a year before the war and deals with other issues, including science, philosophy and even “American Idol.”
The war isn’t his favorite topic but, after the September 11 terrorist attacks, he feels duty-bound to report on it. “Someone should speak about the other side,” he said.
(HT: INDC Journal)
Dean was our guest on Pundit Review Radio two weeks ago, you can listen to that interview here.