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Censorship American-Style: Hide the US War Dead from the American People
The Obama administration's freak out, as expressed by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, over the Associated Press Agency's belated circulation of a photograph of a dying US soldier in Afghanistan, Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard, is the latest of example of the hypocrisy of US authorities who claim to be concerned about the feelings of American military families, while really simply desiring to censor the war's horrors from the eyes of the American people.
Lance Cpl. Josua Bernard, fatally wounded in Afghanistan
The truth: Americans until only the last 18 years, have been able to see the carnage of war as it has been felt by our own troops from as long ago as there were cameras. Pioneering photographer and war chronicler Matthew Bradey brought home the horrors of the US Civil War with photos like this one of dead Union and Confederate soldiers after the Battle of Antietam.
Dead soldiers at Civil War Battle of Antietam, by Matthew Brady
In World War II, while the military tried to prevent publication of the photos of dead American troops at first, by 1944, President Roosevelt lifted the ban, hoping that the images would fire up American resolve on the home front.
Dead US soldiers in World War II
Although it was a much less popular war, photos of American dead were plentiful from the Korean War.
US Dead in the Korean War
Vietnam was awash in press photographers, and the Pentagon never banned them from depicting American casualties.
Dead US soldier being taken from battlefield in Vietnam
In fact, when American policy-makers talk about the "lesson of Vietnam," they generally aren't talking about the real lesson of not sending American troops to fight unpopular wars, or of not intervening on the side of corrupt regimes in wars of national liberation, or of not fighting in wars where there is no chance of the US winning. They're talking about the "lesson" of not letting the American people learn the real nature and cost of the war in question.
That's why journalists--and particularly American journalists--since Vietnam have been kept on short leashes, and why they are vetted by Pentagon officials and hired media "experts" before they are allowed to be "embedded" with units in the field. It's why the Reagan administation had a navy destroyer turn its guns on, and threaten to sink a small boat carrying reporters trying to make its way to Grenada to cover the US invasion of that island. And it's why since the Gulf War in 1990-91, photographs of American battlefield dead have been banned.
AP deserves credit for finally breaking the ban and offering its photo of a dying soldier, shot in a firefight with Taliban fighters in Afghanistan--even if the news agency did wait three weeks to offer the photo to subscribers. The real shame is that so few American newspapers and electronic media organizations chose to run that photo.
Gates claims that AP was "insensitive" to the dead soldier's relatives, but it's hard to see how that can be. The real insensitive thing would be to try to hide his death from the public, as the Pentagon wanted to do. Hell, if the Afghan War is worth fighting, it should be worth dying for, and if it's worth dying for, and if young soldier Bernard gave his life for his country, his death and the manner of his death should not be hidden from his countrypeople. We should all see the terrible price he paid acting in our name.
Were the photographers and news organizations who showed American soldiers dead on the beach in the Pacific in World War II being insensitive?
Life Magazine ran this photo of dead marines in the Pacific in 1943
Were the photographers and news organizations who showed America's dead in Vietnam being insensitive?
Slain US soldier in a dry rice paddy in Vietnam
Were the photographers and news organizations who showed America's dead in Korea being insensitive?
Dead Marines in Korea
Was the photographer and news organization which dared to break the ban and publish a photo of America's dead in the Battle of Fallujah in Iraq being insensitive?
Dead Marines in Fallujah, Iraq
I don't think so.
Moreover, there is a terrible double standard at work here, if news organizations accept the censorship or deem it inappropriate to show dead American bodies, but go ahead and show dead bodies of the enemy, like these:
Body of dead Viet Cong soldier being abused by US troops
Dead Iraqi fighter
Dead Taliban fighter
After all, if all we see are dead enemy fighters, it might give the false impression that the war in question--in this case the Afghanistan War, or what might now be called Obama's War--is a one-sided affair where the only terrible casualties are those suffered by the "enemy," not by "our boys."
Enough with the censorship! If we are going to be a warlike nation, if we are going to have a public that cheers everytime the government ships off men and women to fight and kill overseas in countries that most Americans cannot even locate on a globe, then let's make sure that everyone at least gets to see the blood and gore in full, including our own, and of course, also the civilian casualties of our military.
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57 Comments so far
Show Alli have lately realized that my whole life, i will be 55 on saturday, has been punctuated by american wars - some of my first recollections were of the ww2 vets like my uncle clifford who had his life destroyed by fighting for three years in europe. he was a little "funny" in his behavior and us kids were advised to not make a big deal of it because uncle clifford was "in the war". i relaize today that he was suffering from ptds often called in those less enlightened days the much more descriptive and informative "shell shock"
there were a lot of uncle cliffords around
then korea, a series of smaller coups, assassinations, invasions, and all manner of dust ups characteriazed the years between korea and vietnam
after being routed out of there by the north vietnames commies we have been largely reduced to clandestine and proxy wars without interruption until the more recent false flag event of 9/11
now we have wars without end...the dick cheney wet dream as its called (so long as he doesn't have to fight it)halleluyah
lord we have arrived in the promised land...war without end
the words to describe wars and the pictures that document war are increasingly sanitized because every now and then the sheeple have a moment of conscience - that is about 55% of them - and spend a fleeting moment pondering the karmic aspects of murdering, as we have done, hundreds of millions of people
we have now "crossed the rubicon" into wonderland and we no longer need rational strategies or missions, even benchmarks for success have gone the wayside as i listen to holbrooke - in charge of the mid-east teror campaign psyop - say he doesn't know what vixtory in afghanistan will look like - but as a true fascist pig fuck he is ignorant enough to opine,as is apparently with porn, "we'll know it when we see it".
i am sick of war i am sick of obama and biden and pelosi and reid and cheney and palin and mccain and the blue dogs (they sould be named the mutts) the christians, the right wing nuts, fat boy limbaugh, glen peckerhead, fuck boy orreilly, fox news, cnn, mainstream media, the healthcare debate, the bank scam, goldman sachs, palin...
this country is so fucked up in its morality, its economy, its philosophy, its wars, police state, no fly list, war on terror, support of israel at any cost
the looming martial law is all the more real because of our weakness as citizens to take control and have input into the political process - we have done nothing to protect ourselves as people and as a nation against maniacal corporations who have brought the world to the brink of destruction according to any metric you could think of
whar goes aroud comes around and we are in for a comeuppance of epic proportions - i hope the world expunges our rancid smell and insane facsim from the face of the earth
its been a long time coming and time poorly wasted to boot
perhaps an additional "realization" -- including mine - is that even the SECOND world war - nor the first - out of which combination the United States emerged as the world's "superpower" that INHERITED it from the already ensuing collapse of the british empire - were themselves UNNECESSARY - as are all wars .
if anything - the USA simply took advantage of that "victory" over hitler - to place itself as the unchallengeable superpower - which we see to this very day as its PRIME "DIRECTIVE"..and was always its ambition.
if anything - the USA HELPED PROVOKE the two world wars into realization - by aiding england, churchil particularly, in their bloodlust and INTENT to destroy germany and russia.
long-suppressed internal documents have surfaced recently that attest to this: that Churchil, despite the literal desctruction and hollowing out of the british empire from the expense of the world wars (transfering the "reins" to the USA) - still was NOT satisfied - he actually , with recognition from the USA, ordered plans to have hundreds and hundreds of thousands of US and English and "allied" troops , along with
RE-EDUCATED and RE_ARMED german troops to actually physically invade RUSSIA....
which was always a long-term ambition of england - and of coruse the USA -
the latter's intent - is clear from 2 statemtents by Madeleine Albright in the 1990's...
1) "What good is a great army if we can't USE it?"
2) "it is so unfair that ONE country has ALL those rich resources.....something ought to be done about it".....do people think she was refering to perhaps, new guinea? of course NOT - it was RUSSIA.
connect this TODAY with the ongoing NATO expansion right into the doorstep of Russia -
with the SAME TWO PARTNER leadership - with changed "seniority" of course - USA and ENGLAND.
and go back to history - of world war ONE and TWO.....
and you will see -- the world wars - were NEVER NECESSARY
they WERE instigated and provoked BY the USA and ENGLAND in order to take control of Germany and Russia .
it is England AND the USA that were the TRUE root of the two world wars AND the consequent chaos and rise of tyrannical communism , dictatorships - which were the consequences of NATIONALIST RESISTANCE
against the TWIN USA/BRITISH empire attempts to take control over those lands and people.
and today - the USA continues to lead in this destructive, exploitative, manipulative behavior
WHILE - like with the world war calling ITSELF as the ":savior" of civilization --
actually being the most HARMFUL , DECEITFUL and MANIPULATIVE and EXPLOITATIVE of all nations.
in fact - its WARS -- ongoing , year after year after year -
SINCE AT LEAST WOUNDED KNEE in the continental USA against the Native Indians -
or as long ago as Mark Twain railing against this imperial behavior, whether it was his reports about the US concentration camps (the first in the modern world) in the Philippines after RENEGING on its "promise" to LEAVE after the spanish/american war - or it is from General Smedley Butler, US MArines, in 1933 railing against the policies HE himself had been the "Chief High Class Muscle Enforcer" of what HE called "OUR EVIL POLICIES"...IINCLUDING what HE said were the USA attempts early in the 20th century to ALREADY make china a vassal region "to make china safe for our Big Oil and corporations to run unmolested"....
or the USA "detaching" "kosovo" province from SERBIA - after bombing serbia under false pretexts (the atrocities were commited NOT JUST by serbians BUT also croatians and ethnic albanians IN serbian territory) - under NATO with clinton - JUST to humiliate Russia which is Serbia's traditional and historic cultural ally...
all that -
IS PROOF of it...it is the USA that is the world's WORST - BY FAR -
aggressor, genocidal, racist, tyrannical warmaking country.
Please join us in DC the week of Oct 4th--Who knows maybe you will feel good about doing something that you believe in.
i can tell you one thing: being from teh Philippines - i experienced Martial Law..military dictatorship..i saw how it was transformed from what was at least SOME passable kind of "democracy" or whatever THAT is...to the use of FEAR by marcos to impose dictatorshi- and that, not without the full support of the USA.
i can tell you that for years - i have been seeing these writings on the wall in the USA.
but it WILL be WORSE than what we had in the philippines.
for one thing - marcos , despite his tyranny, was NEVER that powerful - and when his army abandoned him...and the USA saw it could NOT rely on the ARMY to continue to prop up the USA's CLIENT dictator - they cut him off...because they saw - there was NO armed institution they could rely on to intimidate the population that had risen up - throughout the more than 7,ooo islands - at a mere 3 day's time.
in the USA - it is going to be FAR WORSE -
just a warning from someone that had seen it happen.
americans have NO IDEA what they are getting into. even I can not yet imagine just how bad it is REALLY going to be...even If i had seen how bad it had become , including the utter ruin of the philippine economy from relative leading-edge prosperity in asia , when it was given up by marcos to multinationalis led by the USA.
by the time Americans "wake up" - it will be too late.
You have most eloquently put my thoughts into words. Thank you.
Excellent article by Dave Lindorff. It should be pointed out that Kuwait-based cargo workers Tami Silicio and her husband David Landry were fired by military contractor Maytag Aircraft for daring to reveal the consequences of war after they had photographed the flag draped coffins of US soldiers which appeared on the front page of the Sunday edition of the Seattle Times in April of 2004. Also, those who were around back then can never forget that films of American soldiers being grievously wounded and dying in battle were shown on the evening news during the Vietnam War and the iconic photographs that had been taken during the time such as the South Vietnamese police official shooting his North Vietnamese prisoner in the head and the picture of the South Vietnamese girl whose napalm burned body could be seen running down a highway in Vietnam [those scenes and more of what had transpired in Vietnam can be seen in the moving and powerful 1974 Oscar-winning documentary Hearts and Minds].
These are the photos and scenes that Americans should be seeing on a daily basis from America's occupations in the Middle East, both in the newspapers and on the news programs at night. As Mr. Lindorff points out, as long as these scenes of war are not shown, then Americans will continue to live in their fantasy world in which the carnage and horrors of war have no more meaning and impact to them than that of a video game.
While I agree with you that nothing should be hiddeen from the American public, including the coffins coming back, this is not the same thing at all.
When his parents asked AP not to publish their boy's picture, that should have been the end of it. Its utter cruelty to defy his parents wishes. There are plenty of other pictures around.
Please document your contention that "his parents asked AP not to publish their boy's picture".
The young man's father said that in an interivew on public radio this week.
The napalmed girl survived her ordeal and is now an outspoken advocate for peace.
Americans can't handle the truth.
this is seemingly what is emerging more and more...americans in their daily lives "take cover" in their BUSY-ness...as they call the capitalist lifestyle -- :
"paying BILLS" to their masters
"working to PAY THE BILLS" to their masters
"saving for the NEXT vacation and take of ITS BILLS"
and too "busy" to bother about what their own country does - DESTROYING other people and countries.....
so americans can go on "Paying OUR BILLS"..........
so - in a way at least for a great many americans -- this "censorship of war" - is NOT really alien.
americans KNOW it is being censored...but they don't speak up against it - and DEMAND - because they KNOW what will confront them is a REFLECTIOn of THEMSELVES for TOLERATING such things "out of sight out of mind"
LEST it face them in the mirror - and show them its horrors and REMIND THEM
":YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE for it is YOUR nation that has done THIS".
i can not recall that poet - but an american poet said:
":WE AMERICANS - CAREFULLY NURTURE AN ATTITUDE OF DETACHED INDIFFERENCE TO THE SUFFERING OF OTHERS..........EVEN IF WE ARE THE CAUSE OF IT".
at bottom -- this is NOT about "bad leadership" or even "corporate manipulation"
it IS about AMERICANS and their OWN self-worshipping delusions that ALLOWS these things , including the war censorship.
in other words - it is CULTURAL . americans LOVE the idea of WAR and "victory" .......so long as they can think "we win".
and PREFER not to see its horrors, win or lose...so they can pretend they know nothing about it, or are not really responsible....."it's just bad leadership" OR "those foreigners".
just like the Germans in world war 2 DID.
I agree that the lesson of Vietnam has been well learned by the warmongers & the U.S. media.
I grew up watching the nightly news and TV reports about the Vietnam war and saw LIFE magazine photo spreads on the war each week. Then there were the daily papers. Seeing so much needless death (of U.S. soldiers and Vietnamese people) turned me into a strong opponent of the war. To this day, the sound of helicopter rotors takes me right back to that time, even though I was never actually in Vietnam.
All the same, in the young soldier Bernard's case this week, the family was contacted well before publication and his parents made a direct request that their son's photo NOT be published. I feel that this wish should have been respected.
Why not use a photo of a soldier whose family members had no objections? There may be plenty of families who would agree. Or use photos showing anonymous dead (no faces). That would still be a very powerful - and disturbing- image.
I do not want to encourage censorship, we already live in a MSM-interpreted world that is devoid of facts.
But, there must be a recognition of the terrible loss the family is suffering, and an acknowledgment of how they would like to remember their loved one.
For the Bernards, the death of their son will be forever mingled with the controversy over his photo's publication.
I am sorry for the additional emotional trauma that this has caused them.
From Grumpy Lion:
As for those who say the family’s privacy should be respected, fine, respect the family’s privacy. But that Marine signed up for the war. He belongs to the people of the United States. His death belongs to the people of the United States, and those people should get a good look at what they own.
His name was Joshua M. Bernard. He was a Lance Corporal in the United States Marine Corps, and he deserves better than to be fought over like a piece of meat tossed into a pit of politicians, pundits, and media personalities. But what happened to him should not be hidden from the people who are responsible, from ordinary Americans, and from the politicians, pundits, and media personalities who put him in harm’s way.
When his parents say no....the case is closed. Period. AP has the morality of wormshit to do this.
Wow, all this talk of how we "own" enlisted personnel.
Somehow, not a respectful way to talk about people.
Any people.
Well, if it's really true, let's take our property back immediately!!
Send the troops home, now.
Penelope
You are exactly correct and your posting was so heartfelt and thoughtful I can't compliment you enough. You certainly have my respect for your understanding what was really important here and what this was really about.
Your suggestion is of course what should be done. There are plenty of pictures they can choose from and certainly more to come since he won't bring our kids home.
My absolute respects young lady. And you are right, every time I hear those blades it takes me back too.
I'm afraid it cannot be that clearcut.
Back in the Vietnam War era, there was a kid in my highschool class, and on the track team that I captained, who had a very domineering mother. She was a rabid anti-communist and when her son--a totally apolitical, very sweet kid--graduated from highschool with the rest of our class, she pressed him to join the army. It was June 1967. He got signed up and through boot camp just in time for the Tet Offensive in early 1968, and was killed in action within two weeks of arriving in Nam.
It was a terrible tragedy. I went and saw his name on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington.
His mother became a kind of recluse, but when she was out shopping or something, and ran across anyone with long hair or a beard, she'd break into a crazy screamiing fit, calling them Commies, and traitors. She totally lost it.
I assure you that if her son's body had appeared in any of the coverage of the Tet Offensive, she would have not wanted it shown, perhaps out of shame that she had sent him off on such a fool's errand, but I would argue that it should have been, because he was a victim of a stupid policy, and of a stupid politics which his own mother had bought into.
We Americans cannot allow the government to hide the horror of what it is doing, and of what it is making hundreds of thousands of our young men and women do by hiding behind the false claim of concern for the sensitivities of the families of those they are sending off to kill and die.
We need to face the truth, and then maybe people won't be so ready to cheer and send other people's sons and husbands and brothers and daughters and wives and sisters off to war.
Dave Lindorff
Visit Dave Lindorff's website at www.thiscantbehappening.net
I'm afraid it cannot be that clearcut.
Back in the Vietnam War era, there was a kid in my highschool class, and on the track team that I captained, who had a very domineering mother. She was a rabid anti-communist and when her son--a totally apolitical, very sweet kid--graduated from highschool with the rest of our class, she pressed him to join the army. It was June 1967. He got signed up and through boot camp just in time for the Tet Offensive in early 1968, and was killed in action within two weeks of arriving in Nam.
It was a terrible tragedy. I went and saw his name on the Vietnam Memorial in Washington.
His mother became a kind of recluse, but when she was out shopping or something, and ran across anyone with long hair or a beard, she'd break into a crazy screamiing fit, calling them Commies, and traitors. She totally lost it.
I assure you that if her son's body had appeared in any of the coverage of the Tet Offensive, she would have not wanted it shown, perhaps out of shame that she had sent him off on such a fool's errand, but I would argue that it should have been, because he was a victim of a stupid policy, and of a stupid politics which his own mother had bought into.
We Americans cannot allow the government to hide the horror of what it is doing, and of what it is making hundreds of thousands of our young men and women do by hiding behind the false claim of concern for the sensitivities of the families of those they are sending off to kill and die.
We need to face the truth, and then maybe people won't be so ready to cheer and send other people's sons and husbands and brothers and daughters and wives and sisters off to war.
Dave Lindorff
Visit Dave Lindorff's website at www.thiscantbehappening.net
Dave Lindorff
I agree. As a Vietnam veteran, I have to wonder about the concerns of these parents. Are these parents so worried that Americans might finally give some thought to the carnage that war wreaks upon its citizens when they view those photos? One would think that any outrage that they would feel should be directed not at the photographer or the agency that releases these photos but at the U.S. government for having placed their loved ones in that most untenable position in the first place. I also would have thought that the thinking from these parents would have been that if more Americans were to finally see these honest photos then that might mean that more parents would be less likely to send their sons and daughters into the military and that perhaps more young Americans would be less eager to join the military where they would become cannon fodder for their less than caring government, a government that is ruled over by either a militant Democratic or a militant Republican.
The Bernards are just one family. I am positive that others would have different views. And as for Daivid Lindorf's example of the "recluse" mother. Again, this is different family.
My sympathies are for grieving parents- and who may not ALL have raised their children to be raving pro-U.S. military "kill-the-Arabs" fanatics.
What a stereotype!
Believe it or not, there are many children of pacifist parents who have joined the armed forces. Without recognizing that fact (among many others), we risk over-simplifying the arguments here.
Intrusive reporters and wall-to-wall coverage on a son's death would be awful.
I bet there are many other creative ways to make the point about war.
Here are a couple:
Acres of coffins being unloaded from a cargo plane is one image I recall from the current Iraq occupation and this was well after the beginning of the "war".
Not too long ago, the NY Times magazine did a great spread on the wounded (complete with photos of the horrific damge to body and limb).
"All the same, in the young soldier Bernard's case this week, the family was contacted well before publication and his parents made a direct request that their son's photo NOT be published."
Source?
Sorry, I should have said, it was a radio interview with Bernard's father that aired on NPR. Not sure of exact day (within the week).
Jim Shea
This article is typical of David Lindorff.
HE IS ABSOLUTELY RIGHT ON THE MARK!
HELP STOP THIS KILLING--GET MAD AND COME TO DC TELL THEM YOU ARE MAD AS HELL AND YOU WON"T TAKE IT ANYMORE!
The Pentagon could allow photos of those killed in war without showing faces or ID. They say they don't out of respect or to not provide comfort to the enemy. The real reason is they don't want the public to end the war profiteering.
Next thing is a ban on horror flicks.
I'm all for that!
It takes a sick mind to'enjoy' horror movies.
Ezeflyer and Chuck
My sentiments exactly.
Since the Fawning Corporate Media will NEVER show the horrific reality of our imperial resource wars of aggression, in every community, we ALL should chip in to rent billboard space, including "rolling" truck billboards, to display huge photos such as those included in Dave Lindorff's article, and those available (warning, many are very graphic) at:
Iraq War Casualty Pictures
http://mindprod.com/politics/iraqwarpix.html
Photos of Iraqis and Casualties of War on Iraq
http://www.progressiveaustin.org/iraqivic.htm
Iraq's Unseen War:The Photos Washington Doesn't Want You To See http://www.spiegel.de/international/0,1518,371411,00.html
Victims of US Aggression: Photo Essays
http://www.thefourreasons.org/victimsofwar.htm
My senator, Saxby Chambliss, is a stallwart in defending wars of agression, especially Afghanistan.
If he just switched over to a boardroom of the MIC, as so many have, he would be seen as far less hypocritical, and would provide Amerika Inc. with fresh meat from the state of Georgia.
For anyone that argues that AP should have done this or that the American public has the right to "see" or that it will help end the war if they do it...I can only say BULLSHIT.
The moment that family, that father and mother said no, it should have been off limits and only the greediest, immoral, organization lacking in integrity would have done this.
Anyone that agrees with their decision has my utter contempt as well.
How low the media has sunk, no wonder they are losing respect.
Your darn right I have a right to see it. Everyone has a right to see it. My tax dollars are supporting these illegal and immoral wars. So I want everyone to see the full cost of these wars. Maybe then our elected leaders won't be so quick to send troops to far away lands to murder brown people for their resources on my dime. Maybe people won't be so quick to support wars of aggression if they see the full cost of the war. Maybe this kids parents and other parents wouldn't have supported sending there kid to kill for corporate profits if they were told the truth and could see the truth. Maybe this kid and other kids won't be so quick to sign up to fight these murderfests if they realize what really can and does happen rather than believing war is like a videogame or movie. Maybe the parents of all the kids that are killed in Iraq, Afghanistan, Gaza, etc... want these photos shown because it may stop the future slaughter of their children at the hands of Imperial America. Don't they have a say? After all America had a choice about sending troops. They didn't have a choice. So anyone who argues that the AP shouldn't have done this or the American public doesn't have a right to see it...I can only say B.S.
AKmauler
Well said. Make that extremely well said. My comment at Sept. 10 at 4:30 pm is, I believe, in full agreement with your assertions.
I am proud to say that I have your utter contempt.
What I cannot understand is that it is OK to view the dead/mutilated bodies of foriegn citizens and soldiers but not OK to see what happens to our soldiers in war(?)
I believe you are missing the point here. Its not about showing a torn up kid, it has nothing to do with censorship. It has nothing at all to do with weither "it is OK to view the dead/mutilated bodies of foriegn citizens and soldiers but not OK to see what happens to our soldiers in war(?)" Nothing at all.
It has to do with the parents request that they not publish the picture of their son as he died. Entirely within their right and only the basest of cowards would have ignored their wish. I am ashamed for them since it is obvious AP has no shame.
It is NOT within their right. They don't own their son when he joins the Marines or the Army. He works for us, and we own him as Americans. His actions are in our name, and his fate is our responsibility. His death is on our hands, and we have a right to see how he and others we send over there die.
A soldier is not a minor, whose life and body and image are the responsibility of his parents. He is his own person, who has made the decision to sign himself up as an agent of the US government for the duration.
I can thoroughly understand why it would be inappropriate to distribute a photo of a soldier dying before the family had been notified of his death. No one should have to learn about the death or injury of a loved one by picking up a newspaper and seeing the picture. But once the Pentagon has dispatched its team of officers to report the loss, there is no reason for such an image to be withheld from the public.
Visit Dave Lindorff's website at www.thiscantbehappening.net
sorry double post
henry: what about the parent's of the dead iraqis or aghanis then
i know what you're going to say - we probably killed them already so we don't have to worry about how they feel
Yes but now go a little deeper into what is just under the surface of the American psyche. What you are describing is an example of the lack of awareness on the part of the general public as to their complicity in sanitizing conflict and the acceptance of war as long as we are winning. Of course we want to be sensitive to the family members,but until the absolute horror of war is realized and the absolute beauty of being replaces it in our awareness, we will continue to unnecessarily place our children in harms way. the parents are the most responsible here for consciously and unconsciously approving of war with the messages of patriotism, to protect freedom and peace. But, what are we really protecting? What is this peace and freedom we are so enamored with. What kind of peace is it that allows the intrusion of conflict into itself to maintain it's serenity. if you have ever shot someone in the name of peace, how peaceful do you think you or the person having been shot feels. Do you think they feel peaceful? Not very. i have said this before and will continue to do so, "The absence of war is NOT peace." war does not create peace, peace creates peace. It is true that the press is perverse in their use of these photos to make money, but at the same time the sanitizing tends to cover up the denial of why we fight. more importantly is the lack of experience of real peace. If the enormous all encompassing beauty of this experience were the norm, then all who were lucky to have been blessed with this grace would never fall prey to the lie that conflict creates peace. again, THE ABSENCE OF WAR IS NOT PEACE.
Until this is realized the lens of the photographer will continue to click on that which we have created.
If a parent requests that thier son or daughter not be sent off to war, should their wishes be respected?
I suspect your answer would be no in that they do not have such a RIGHT.
Please detail why a parent would have the right to refuse the publication of a Photo of their son or daughetr being killed in a war conflict fought on behalf of the people of the United States of America.
This ADULT was not fighting for his mother and father.
I'm sure Lance Cpl. Joshua Bernard's relatives and friends were proud when he was sent overseas to fight in Afghanistan and I agree it must be unpleasant for them to see a picture of him, dying, in every newspaper and every TV-program. Did they ever gave a thought of him meeting such an end, killed in the middle of nowhere, fighting a stupid war? If he'd 'only' been killed and shipped home in a nice coffin, he would have been a true American hero; but now, sadly, he is a sad reminder of the simple truth that war is no pick-nick, it's very dirty and it's even dirtier if you get involved in a war of choice, like the one in Afghanistan, because people like Joshua Bernard are being used and discarded by other Americans.
you are correct. it is truly sad to see that soldier lying there, dead, and for what? more lies?..
this is why i have really little patience with these families who, first, bring up their children in a militaristic , "america is so great" frame of mind...then calling themselves patriotic - actually shower their children with LOVE and CARE and NURTURE
in order to one day have the "choice" to "do your duty" and "serve the country"..
which really cares nothing for them , except as factories for BODIES to send to kill and die for LIES.
and then the families - still wallowing in their "patriotism" and "righteousness" and "godliness" - CRY - as MUCH ABOUT THE FACT that their children , their young son , whom THEY BROUGHT UP to eventually BECOME a KILLER and DIE against people who have NO quarrels with their families -
these families CRY as much about "publicizing" photos of their dead child...as having actualy lost their son ...whom it was THEY that were partly responsible sending him to his death.
THAT's the part where they lash out at the 'reporters' for having "no respect for our heroes" and "family tragedy" .......
because they themselves, in their grief and tragedy would NOT ADMIT their OWN complicity in it for helping and taking part in a culture that GLORIFIES militarism and Imperialism because "we are americans"....
it is one thing to feel sadness FOR them as a family...and for that and other dead soldiers - who died for lies...
it is another to share their "anger" or "feeling offended" about such publications of what WAR IS REALLY - HELL -
when they are partly to blame for participating IN or CREATING THAT HELL that they sent their children to.
people, especially in america , who wish to avert their eyes from the hell of war - while it is being waged by their country for lies , so they can go about their business of being "patriotic americans" and their precious "feelings" and "sensitivities"...
are like a mother or family that takes a walk in the park to distract herself - knowing that her own daughter or son is being molested by her husband at home...
they don't want to "hear it, see it"...and only want the GLORY of pretenses that "she makes her daddy soooooooo happy what a nice little girl".
so with their children whom they bring up, nurture, and then SACRIFICE WILLINGLY to
AMERICA'S ALTAR of WAR.
I don't care if we see photos of our dead volunteers.
But I do think the US public should be forced to see images of everyone our troops killed or maimed.
There should be a 24 news channel showing only images of our atrocities.
Pudepoh
I agree wholeheartedly. And among those people viewing those dead and mutilated bodies on television should be Barack Obama, Joe Biden and every other member of Obama's murderous administration.
That's right. by the way when i lived in europe i watched Al Jezeera, english version. They were one of the few channels on the planet that didn't sanitize war coverage. i don't know what their policy is now.
Speaking of false impressions - the US is not, neither officially nor Constitutionally, in a state of declared war with any nation on Earth, especially Afghanistan, our 'ally.'
It helps to be reminded of that simple fact once in a while...
The authorization for military action in Afghanistan:
"That the President is authorized to use all necessary and appropriate force against those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons."
The Taliban didn't attack us or harbor 'terrorists,' Afghanistan didn't attack us or harbor 'terrorists,' and neither had anything to do with 911.
There is no legal authority for our military action in Afghanistan. A 'war,' however, it clearly is not.
Frank 1569
Very good point. Reminding Americans that Afghanistan and Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11/01 is just as important as reminding the usual uninformed American that no proof whatsoever has ever been produced [as FBI spokesman Rex Tomb has made clear] which connects bin Laden to the attacks of Sept.11, 2001. We are somehow supposed to believe that despite the fact that Bush and Cheney have lied about practically everything under the sun, they have suddenly decided to be honest with the American people concerning who supposedly was behind 9/11/01 and how the events on that day had played out.
I think not.
Funny. I thought we were all at war with North Korea. When did we declare peace?
News to me and all those American troops there.
Pete