Helen Thomas knows well the power of Corporate Media. She's the last journalist standing. Don't sit down any time soon, Ms Thomas, we need you now more than ever.

"Some mothers said they were offended that their children might see the picture, though one wonders whether their youngsters watch television and play with violent videos in a pretend world"
I wonder if the mother of two year old Ali Hussein was "offended" that her child died in a strike by the occupiers. The self righteousness of these American mothers is outrageous.

I recognize the probability that most CD-ers know of Susan Sontag's contribution to one of the underlying issues of Ms Thomas's observation, her 2002 _Regarding the Pain of Others_; I, nevertheless, feel compelled to recommend Sontag's book.

So the Republicans don't want to see the result of their flag-waving, giddily ignorant support for the country's "born again" president. I wish we could get photographs of the mayhem, gore and madness every day of the war. A few heads off the shoulders. A few random limbs here and there. I am so disgusted by the "proper" people of the United States who followed this madman criminal because he said he was with Jesus. Well, the American Jesus has proven to be anything but the true Jesus. The American, Republican Jesus is truly the anti-Christ and yet the Republicans still follow it. Kill in the name of God. How else can these anti-Christian Christians sleep at night? They're okay with killing as long as Jesus ( or Bush since the Christian/Republican marriage) dictates it should be so. Shame on you. Just looking at Bush's face with that Satanic nose is much more horrendous than showing the truth (a truth that might end the madness) about that creature's policies created through criminal and immoral methods.

The media are the propaganda branch of the empire, and they are doing a fine job from that perspective. The internet is the main challenge to this propaganda. Let's make sure we keep it free and uncensored. As for the mainstream media, a lot needs to change before there can be any hope that it would report on wars truthfully. One of the main jobs of the media is the exact opposite, to sell us wars.

Arabs attacked the US
ergo
their suffering is irrelevant.
They also hate Jews.

That's probably how it works in the minds of many Americans who are indifferent to the "collateral damage."

Arab lands are "Injun country."

The Corporate Media is a major problem.
If it changed, it would have an affect on people(just as 24 has a big effect on how the military leaders regard torture).

No, people cannot handle the truth of a war in which they are combattants. Had the people of the British Empire been told the truth about WWI it would have ended in 1915. Had the truth about the cold war been realized there wouldn't have been the arms race whose bills you still pay, and will pay for many decades to come. We need the manufactured opinions to give us reason to pay for these needless conflicts, to keep the rich in the lifestyle to which they've become acustomed. To do otherwise would force us to beat our leaders bloody.

I think Mothers Day started out as a peace movement or a way to call for an end to seeing sons (now daughters, too) go to war.

To save their children from endless war for increasingly scared resources -- which is what the Pentagon is planning for -- American mothers will have to decide on a lifestyle that doesn't require so much fossil fuel. No more SUVs, huge homes to heat, tons of throw-away plastic toys and goods.

How about a Mothers Day where mothers renounce our consumption driven lifestyle and demand that the U.S. join together with all nations to develop sustainable energy resources we can share instead of offering up our children (and others) in sacrifice through war.

No, Ms.Thomas, people CAN'T handle it. We want to be insulated from the consequences of our brutality.
MosntersRUs, you know.

how inconvenient for these people who thought the picture in poor taste and that their children might see it..............but it's ok to watch stupid gladiator movies where as much death and destruction is portrayed. oh, but that's only make-believe isn't it? so that's alright. that poor iraqi child deprived of his future by an illegal invasion/occupation. and people complain about the photo............we need MORE photos like this to wake the people up about what is going on in iraq............

Some readers resented The Washington Post for publishing an Associated Press photograph of a critically wounded Iraqi child being lifted from the rubble of his home in Baghdad's Sadr City "after a U.S. airstrike."

Here is the photo that Ms Thomas is referring to for those who may not have seen it and might wish to do so. As I said yesterday, it should be taped to the windshield of every military aircraft and beside every display of their cool new "Above All" motto.

The media is corporate controlled – think fascist and fascism – and is only accountable to its master. I don't recall free speech zones during the Viet Nam conflict but I do remember the flag draped coffins returning to Dover. I also remember that there was a draft back then and therefore the suffering of America was distributed to the broader spectrum of lower income people instead of the few now who enlist

And yes, we were braver then and the further back we go the braver the heart seems to be…

The "little Vietnamese girl running. . ." is a person with a name, Phan Thi Kim Phuc. She recovered, emigrated, and now lives in Ontario with her husband and children. She is a powerful speaker and has worked to help child victims of war around the world.

Hearing her speak a couple of years ago reminded me that these individuals aren't a collective "them;" each one has a name, a family, and his or her own story. It is shameful that we are responsible for such destruction without having to see or hear the stories of those who suffer as a result.

Commonreader;
Mother's day was a marketing campaign started by Halmark (or another card company). It had nothing to do with the peace movement, or womans' sufferage, human rights or the truth.

That photo places a true face on Bush, Cheney, Reid, Pelosi, the military, the media, and all the callous disengaged American citizens. Spread this photo far and wide.

Why do we always assume that the media (or the Democrats) are "afraid" to put the truth out there, or to confront the administration? More likely, they are willingly complicit in adminstration policies. Those who DO speak out, such as Sen Byrd, are not the rare "brave" ones, they are the rare ones who actually oppose the administration's policies. Same with the media. Courage has nothing to do with it.

Bush doesn't want the truth shown. It was the same after Hiroshima the pics taken a few days after were never shown as America would be against the BOMB and using it. It wasn't till long after the war did some get shown

This war was created for Greed and by Lies.
The next war will happen before the next election for President. Bank on it. Why ? Because they can and they are being lead by Greed and untruths.
Want reality and truth.... this will open your eyes and see whom will realy benefit by Bombing Iran. It sure isn't The Americans.
This is a video made by real Heros , then and now , because they dared to speak up and uncover the lies.
Watch and learn who is realy behind the next war.

Loss of Liberty
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/18.html
The Israeli Attack on the USS Liberty

If we will all wake up and see the truths , then maybe we can save our childrens future.

Thanks, Helen.

The truth is, the cheerleaders for the more recent phases of the Iraq war included most of the US MSM. The truth is, based on past experience, the dead would be expected to exceed 1,000,000. The truth is, the US military knew Iraq had no WMDs ; they don't have the courage to take the casualties associated with WMDs, only to inflict them. The truth is, the Iraq happened due to a large scale conspiracy to commit mass murder, which is a capital crime and not protected free speech.

The truth is, many in the mass media deserve to be in jail awaiting trial in Iraq.

The photo is heartbreaking. We should keep seeing photos like this until the heartbreak caused by our actions becomes real to us, so real we take responsibility.

This is why the best of our troops come home with minds in shatters. They know.

Thank you again Helen Thomas.

There are far too many people living in a fantasy world. They put yellow ribbons on the SUV and that's the closest they will ever come to war. They say "God bless our troops" but have no idea what the troops are going through. They actually believe that war 'over there' makes things safer 'over here'. Hey just export death and destruction with no return address! The joke of it all is that they keep the troops over in that hellhole while professing to stand by them.
They live in their own Never Never Land. The truth about the war would shock them to death.

jclientelle May 9th, 2008 3:27 pm -- "The photo is heartbreaking. We should keep seeing photos like this until the heartbreak caused by our actions becomes real to us, so real we take responsibility."

There's certainly no shortage of civilian casualty photos. So many, in fact, that they may actually tend to overwhelm the senses after a while. Here are just two months worth taken during March and April, 2003. Be forewarned that many of them are very difficult to look at.

inflammatory posting deleted by author

The news media may not be responsible for the defeat of the USA in Viet Nam, but they are certainly responsible for getting us into Iraq. They presented lies as truth, pressed for the invasion with a one-sided debate, and continue to disinform the public about conditions in the field.

kent shaw - When I read your prior post I was a little annoyed. I was going to reply that you do not know what others are doing aside from posting on the internet. Many of us have our taxes deducted from our pay before we even get our hands on it. A lot of us are doing a lot of things all the time. Some of us have been in jail.

But I did not write because I respect your passion and share your frustration. Both are absolutely appropriate to the situation. It is so upsetting, but we should love and strengthen each other, not turn on each other.

I am happy to see that for some reason you decided to give your kindred spirits a break, because a lot of us are out there trying.

I often wonder how many anti-abortion folks are pro-Iraq War? Right to life???? Remember Terri Shivo? Was it GWB who said it was best to err on the side of life and keep her plugged in? Give me a f***in break!!

HelenJean, Arvy, thanks for the links. I am not only repulsed by rightist extremist Jews but by right wing Americans too. Washington will not investigate and do anything. It's time for a well funded private citizen investigation. Washington is lost.

mahanna wrote, '[Helen Thomas] is the last journalist standing.' how true, and she's one of the reasons why many of us stay in the fight.

"What are they afraid of now?"

They're afraid of losing their precious 6-figure paycheck and "never working in this town again."

Plus, the falsely termed "reporters" and "journalists" and "editors" employed by Big Corp Media are secretly wrought with guilt and shame for playing - and continuing to play - full-court enablers to the tiny cult of lying anti-American war criminals and profiteers responsible for murdering and maiming millions of innocent Iraqis and Afghanis, US soldiers and private contractors.

They're not hiding the "truth of illegal invasions and occupations" from We The People, they're hiding it from themselves.

Finally, a voice of sanity, thank you Helen Thomas. Please keep reminding us of the obvious - there are so few of you left.

fargokantrowitz May 9th, 2008 12:59 pm

Golly....Satanic? I think he is just stupid and a useful tool for Cheney and his tribe of Neocons.

Hollow point May 9th, 2008 2:48 pm

If you had been sitting in an LST waiting to land on Japans shore you might revise your thinking. As pointed out above, the further from the fact, the braver people are, the easier a decision is.

"they don't have the courage to take the casualties associated with WMDs, only to inflict them."

I'd look in the mirror before calling iother men cowards. It displays ignorance to say something like this. And it only helps the Bush/Cheney types.

Its time some here knock off the constant attack on people and things they don't know much about. It was fashionable in the sixties to trash soldiers, the military and those that stood, most of them drafted........it was wrong then, its wrong now. Most of our troops are National Guardsmen in case you haven't noticed and if you think they want to be there you're crazy.

skippyagogo41

commonreader is correct about the origins of Mother's Day in the U.S. Just because it was later commercialized doesn't mean it didn't have righteous roots - look at the outrageous use of classic rock and roll to sell everything these days... John Lennon, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix are turning in their graves along with many other artists. see below for more info or http://womenshistory.about.com/od/mothersday/a/jwh.htm

Julia Ward Howe's Mother's Day for Peace
By Jone Johnson Lewis, About.com

•Howe became well-known during and after the American Civil War as the author of the words to the "Battle Hymn of the Republic," but was horrified by the carnage of the Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War
•in 1870, she tried to issue a manifesto for peace at international peace conferences in London and Paris (it was much like the later Mother's Day Peace Proclamation)
• in 1872, she began promoting the idea of a "Mother's Day for Peace" to be celebrated on June 2, honoring peace, motherhood and womanhood
• in 1873, women in 18 cities in America held a Mother's Day for Pace gathering
• Boston celebrated the Mother's Day for Peace for at least 10 years
• the celebrations died out when Howe was no longer paying most of the cost for them, although some celebrations continued for 30 years
• Howe turned her efforts to working for peace and women's rights in other ways
• a stamp was issued in honor of Julia Ward Howe in 1988 -- no mention of Mother's Day, though

Commonreader, those are great ideas. check out www.momsrising.org which is trying to raise similar issues

as a parent and a human being, that photo rips into my heart. Bravo to the Washington Post for publishing it, and to Helen Thomas for drawing more attention to it.

For what noble cause has Bush and his Evilgelicals bankrupt America and gone to the ends of the earth to murder this two year old child?

I sincerely do hope, that none here ever has to bury one of their own young children. I know of nothng worse and I promise you, you never ever want to know. __ NEVER

We sometimes hear of mothers burying their chldren in Iraq, but we hear it far to infrequently. When we do hear of it, we think and say how horrible it is, how terribly sad and ujust it is ____and we sincerely mean it.

That photo is about a close to realizaton of the Iraqi war and occupation as most Americans will ever experience and it should be published in every newspaper and news magazine in our country. And for any to say they are offended, is likely just their own personal guilt for ever believing our attacking Iraq was justified in the first place.

Thank you for being you Helen.

Had the people of the British Empire been told the truth about WWI it would have ended in 1915.

Hey Skippy : How stupid do you think the British were ? When roughly two hundred and fifty thousand soldiers per year didn't comehome on leave when they were supposed to , do you think that the widows thought they were still in some mam'zelles' arms ? When twice that many did come home with sometimes nothing more than a torso with an unseeing and an unhearing head , do you think it was just the injuries of a hotly rivalled , inter-regimental cricket match ?

Despite the lies and almost lies in all the newspapers , British civilians knew the truth like Americans know the truth but it's hard to admit to yourself without doing something about it except sending cookies to the "front"and waving a union jack ( equivalent of a dumb-ass yellow bumpersticker . Remember , even advocating desertion like I post was treason . The British Army executed about a thousand soldiers for desertion ; Americans , 0

They knew the truth ; British troops were getting clobbered , but hey , when God is on your side and your cause is just , remember we're British and we 'll prevail.

Now just change British to American and the last four phrases, "when...prevail are applicable today.

Well stated ~THOMAS MORE~ well stated.

This is a comment made on another site where I linked to this article (with the photo). CAN SOMEONE HELP ME FORMULATE A REPLY??

"No offense, but I'm a military wife and military friend to those in the marines. I have to say the picture is bad and terrible, but in every way it was necessary. The parents of those kids will send them out with bombs strapped to them because they know Americans protect children, so now these soldiers have to look past the fact that they are kids and see them as devices. It is unfortunate but it is the position this war has put on our military. There is no real right and wrong in war with these people and so what to us is extremely horrible, is completely necessary in the world they are living in right now.

Also, I believe the public has no right to know everything that is happening. Destruction is not something people want to hear about, they like living in their happy little lives. On top of that I believe the media tells too much in fact. They give locations and tactics away like its nothing and that pisses me off. Everyone knows there is death and destruction that happens, but all Americans need to know are a few facts, how the war is going, how many of our men have died, and where is this going. Thats it anything more then that is too much information for the public to know. These terroists live amoung us and all information given to us they get and there for goes our one up. Its ridiculous."

Bombs don't kill civilians. Bush does.

Well done Hellen.
Its time for all the strong women in America to speak out.

The national spy machine setup by the DHS , using corporations and the IAFF community watch gruops , has done its best to create Red Squad terrorist groups across this country for the purpose of targeting any anti war groups, they need to be uncovered and shut down ASAP.

They have done great damage to Patriotic Citizens who have done thier best to help save our country and Constitution.

Major media are all a part of this anti-American klan.
They need to be sued.

NO Immunity for groups, organizations and corporations who have failed to protect the constitution from "Enemys foreign and Domestic"

All the money won in suits should be used to help our vetrans and their familys.

~XAN~ Do you honestly think that two year old had a bomb strapped to his body?

You say, "In EVERY WAY IT WAS NECESSARY". The ones who conducted the airstrike that killed the innocent child knew that two year old kid was armed and deadly?

You know what ~XAN~ you are so mind warped it's pitiful. How many of them like you are there? And don't give me the military crap, I'm retired militay after serving 23 years and two South East Asia tours, so I know about unjust and unnecessary war first hand.

You asked for someone to please help you formulate a reply. ____ Okay, try this:__ "I wish that I was dead, because I'm so damn sick in the head, I'm afraid of myself."

Back during the Vietnam era, even Republicans knew that there are issues that are clearly moral and that certain facts can't be denied, i.e. everyone knows that using horrible weaponry on people is immoral, whichever side they're on. That's why the anti-war protests back then included such a vast range of people. But such recognition of common humanity and common morality was killed during the Reagan era, and particularly once the right wing was allowed to take over the media after the 1987 rescinding of the Fairness Doctrine. Since then, Americans don't even think there are such things as facts, let alone moral facts. To post-Reagan Americans, facts and morals are just points of view, matters of opinion, beliefs that can be manipulated to influence people. Hence, the outrage at a factual photo of a murdered child. In the 60s, that photo and more would have been printed in more than just one paper and no one would have claimed that it was "inappropriate," a stupid word if there ever was one.

Kem Patrick,
I think that if you had read Xan's post more carefully you would have seen that he had posted a comment from another site and he was too horrified to find words for an adequate reponse. At least, that is how I read it.
An apology is probably in order.

Thank you diabeteslife, you are correct.

KEM PATRICK - Someone ELSE wrote that on another site, and I am at a loss as to how to reply to them, or if it is even worth the effort.

Thank you for the photos Arvy.

Parents can sign their dirt-bag, drunken son into the military and in a couple of months he will return for a visit sporting clean pressed clothes and a neat haircut. Every word out of his mouth will be prefaced by a "Yes, Sir." That's what Moms and Dads know about the U.S. military, and they find it hard to fault. In my opinion their clean-cut kid is a criminal.

HelenJean: Thanks for the link about the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty. It happened before I was born and I don't remember learning anything about it in school (surprise, surprise).

Are there still people out there who believe that Sept 11th 'just happened"? Just like the Liberty, it was a coordinated attack. The military planes that should have flown to the assistance of the Liberty didn't. Just like the military planes that should have flown on Sept 11 didn't. In both cases, the survivor's stories have not been heard or acknowledged. The Liberty attack was staged and Syria was going to be set up to take the blame. Just like Pearl Harbor. Just like Tet. And just like the August or October surprise will be set up for Iran to take the blame.

It's the same sh*% over and over and over again. And I can not understand why seemingly intelligent people continually fall for it.

U.S. armed forces (heavily armed) are in Iraq on one side of Iran, and in Afghanistan on the other side of Iran, and U.S. naval forces are right up in their faces in the Gulf. Oh, I'm sure anything that "happens" will be their fault, their "provocative action"---I can just imagine the cool nerve and decorum with which Americans would behave were Iranians in Canada and Mexico....

.
Orwell was right.........Big Brother is watching.

Also Big Brother is progaming what we see and hear.....Ergo what we think.

I don't know if we can handle the truth?????

Doses of reality, might make us mad....Real Truth>>>>Real Mad.

.

Xan I understood your original request but sorry, I cannot think of an adequate response either. Perhaps it is best to simply let it BE. It does give one a sense of the challenge in being human in such inhuman times. Bless you for reaching out, and KemPatrick simply shot from the hip and did not read your post with enough care. If he comes back here and sees it, he will apologize as he is a decent sort---abit hot headed at times, but aren't we all? If not, I will take the liberty of apologizing for him. (smile)