Blog #15

Blog Article #1
       The topic I chose was the war in Iraq because I think there is a lot of controversy going on about this topic. The one blog article I found was a blog from The New York Times, the blog talks about how the plain old headache has been a leading cause of attrition in units deployed to Iraq in Afghanistan. The author of this article is, James Dao. The argument made in this article is that the Kevlar helmets the soldiers wear on their head every day weigh about 3 pounds and put pressure on the occipital nerve in the back of the head. Also a study found that neurological illness was among the top three causes of noncombat related evacuations from war zones, and that headaches were the most common neurological complaint for those evacuees (Dao). I think that this blog article has ethos in it, since it is coming from The New York Times it is easy for a person to believe what they are saying because they are a well known credible newspaper. It also has pathos because it appeals to the reader's emotions, when they begin talking about why soldiers come home with headaches that may eventually turn into other things wrong with the brain, people start to listen more because they feel sorry for them. This blog article is different than anything I've read because it really showed an importance on how serious head injuries are to men and women who are in the army.

Blog Article #2
     The second article I found came from the author Curtis Silver, where he talks about Obama and how his administration is trying to have all of our troops out of Iraq by the end of this year. The one quote that stuck out most to me in this article actually came from Obama himself, "The hard truth is we have not seen the end of American sacrifice in Iraq" (Silver). This stuck with me to think that there have been troops in Iraq for years now and so many people are still going to be sacrificing their lives for our country when the war is no longer going on. This article is so much different than the other ones that I have read because it is very blunt on the issues at hand. Later into the article it tells us that though troops may be withdrawing from Iraq they will now be going to Afghanistan where there's a lot of conflict right now. 


Blog Article #3
      The next article I found was actually again about Obama and how he is trying to dismiss as many troops as he can. Yet this article goes on to explain that though troops may be leaving, about 49,700 of them are still staying in Iraq and remain on a "advise and assist" base. The author of this blog is Katy Stoddard. This article stood out to me most because even though they are sending some troops home they are still keeping the majority of them there even though there is no more war. This article definitely appeals to the rhetorical appeal pathos, which is the appeal to the emotion of what you are reading. I think this article definitely appeals to the reader's emotions because it makes them sad to think that many of the troops in Iraq really won't be coming home.