U.S. Aid Worker Slain in Pakistan

The article I decided to comment on today involves tragedy. The headline attracted me because another victim has fallen to hostile relations in the Middle East - this time an aid worker. I felt the lead, probably a scene-setter lead, was informative, but a little insensitive: "Stephen D. Vance had to balance a strategic mission with nearly daily concerns about his personal safety."

I have to say this article was not as heartfelt as I would have liked. Typically, when I read about someone's death, I want to feel emotion. This article depicted Vance as another number to add to the increasing list of casualities. Admittedly, the article did center how the death of an aid worker caught in the cross fire highlighted it as the most prominent death in Pakistan and eventually became a little more compassionate.

The main point of the story is how Vance's death raises questions about the competence of the Bush administration. I felt this tragedy just gave journalists more ammo to attack our current administration, when in actuality, a man's life has been sacrificed.

The structure of the article went full-circle. It started and ended with commentary on Vance and I think that is the only way to really organize an article like this.

There were several points made in the story that did link everything together:

• How, when and where Vance died


• The money invested into developing stability in Pakistan


• Why Vance was in Pakistan


• The efforts the Obama administration could implement


• Some background information on Vance

The points linked the article together and touched about the hostility in Pakistan and what neds to be done to secure that area.

By the end of the story, I learned a little of Vance's life. According to a source in the article, “his shouldn’t have happened, he was a good chap, he was a humanist, he could get on with anyone,” Mr. Aziz said. I learned some more about the United States involvement in Pakistan and the implications it is having in the region. As I stated earlier, I would have liked to know a little bit more about Vance and his life for the article to really invoke sentiment.