Not to See the Fallen Is No Favor – New York Times — No photos of the fallen in the Iraq war. As reader Ed Casati points out, we have more photos during the Civil War. All the US coverage for the US audience is mostly banned.
If Joseph Heller were still around, he might appreciate the bureaucratic elegance of paragraph 11a of IAW Change 3, DoD Directive 5122.5:
“Names, video, identifiable written/oral descriptions or identifiable photographs of wounded service members will not be released without the service member’s prior written consent.”
Photographs and other images of casualties have always been a delicate matter and most media outlets have shown restraint, particularly with pictures of the dead. Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, the ground commander in Iraq whose own son was seriously wounded in action, is said by reporters to be particularly alert to the depictions of casualties.
the Pentagon seems to operate on the internet maxim – “pics or it didn’t happen.”
and privacy? the same people who want all our communications open to intercept without warrant or probable cause are suddenly worried about privacy? every troop killed or injured did so in the service of his country. there is nothing more public than that.
this is part of the propaganda war, except this part is directed at the American public.
Just curious, does this prevent say, BBC or Al Jazeera, from publishing such material?
They are playing their stupid game. Americans won’t complain about what they don’t know about.
Viet Nam was lost to the American public by three photographs. The first was a Buddhist monk who doused himself with gasoline then set himself on fire. The second was the South Viet Nam General shooting a handcuffed Viet Cong prisoner in the head on the street. The third was a young Vietnamese girl running naked down the road, in pain, after napalm had burned all her clothes off.
Keep ’em stupid and they won’t complain. The problem with that is Americans can count body bags and hear stories like the Walter Reed fiasco. Then the “Keep ’em stupid” becomes a conspiracy.
This is a really serious matter.
Now the press is required to have a “model release” from a wounded soldier before his photo can be used as editorial material.
Photography really came into being during the Civil War. Before that time there was a general romanticizing of war, with most people utterly unaware of the horrors involved. When photographs of the dead in the battlefield started to appear, the public started to realize that war is not a game.
By severely restricting or eliminating photos of our dead and wounded, we are dishonoring those that are fighting the battles by hiding their sacrifices. And it keeps the public dormant… out of sight out of mind.
How low can you get when even depicting “Soldiers honoring fallen soldiers” is not allowed… how’s that for dishonoring the troops???
The public has rolled over for so many things, that the pushing is laughably easy at this point.
they’re supposed to be fighting for our freedom and to protect our rights(or so we’re told) yet where is our right to see how and why they are dying? Why they hell is the press putting up with this?
#3
I have the awful feeling that today if those 3 photos were recent, it would have gotten cheers and applause rather than disgust from your people.
At the end of the Viet Nam “conflict” (I guess that’s the proper sanitized term) the troops were often dishonored by protesters. The lying right loves to dwell on that.
Now it’s the U.S. government dishonoring the dead and the wounded.
Judging by the Liar-In-Chief’s failed popularity, most Americans seem to be catching on. Too bad it took so long. Too bad also that so many Democratic and Republican politicians haven’t chosen to keep up with the public.
Bush’s Canadian lapdog Stephen Harper tried to pull a stunt like this. I did my own little part by sending an email to my MP with copies to the MOND and the PMO. I cascaded it separately to everyone who I had an email address for urging them to do the same and including a suggested email for those who didn’t want to bother writing one. I used a lot of words like disgusted.
I specifically told the politicians I didn’t want a reply because nothing would satisfy me short of changing the policy.
They changed the policy. Total time spent by me about one hour.
It’s not my country America, anyone got an hour down there?
A serviceman in Iraq proposes “I’d like to make the New York Times a deal. I’ll consent to them publishing my picture in the event I’m wounded when they start publishing pictures of the bureaucrats who leak details about NSA Surveillance, the Swift bank monitoring program, etc., so that the public can evaluate and better understand the whole of those stories as well.
Right…I didn’t think so…
Check it out at http://powerlineblog.com/archives/017775.php
6. Because the press is controlled, I dont give a fuck what kind of conspiracy label you put on me, if you dont know this by now you are truly an idiot. And I am not lashing out at you personally, I am tired of hearing the CT jingle. There IS a conspiracy to contain, dumb down and feed info, and thats the a fucking truth.
I see by post # 10 that the DOD knows the power of viral marketing!
#10, #12,
DOD knows a lot about selling a war, its part of their job & a necessary part. We can only hope its one worth fighting, unlike this one.
#10 Ever server your country? Usually people like you don’t – you know “patriots” like Ann Coulter, Rush Limbaugh, Hanity and combs, Big Bill O’Asshole, Glenn Beck, Bush, Cheney, Delay, Boner, Bush’s two hose monster daughters … ah, the list goes on — they fart a lot of noise though.
I’m usually one of the first to fight for openness in the government and military, and spent much of my military career advocating for transparency, but not this time.
The NYT is out of line. Wounded soldiers are not public personages. The public therefore does not have a right to invade their privacy without their consent.
To understand the military’s position. put yourself in the wounded vet’s position. You volunteered for service in a noble cause – to serve your country, protect your family and friends, and protect all you hold dear. In this service, you made a sacrifice. If you have been returned to the US prematurely, it is from a major wound, disfigurement, or even death. You may have lost limbs, or perhaps suffered a life-threatening wound.
So there you are – freshly returned to US where you hope to recover something of your old self and need to grapple with what happened. You are unwell, uncomfortable with the new you, and grappling with your future. In the midst of all this the news service wants pictures? Would you give your permission for it? Some say yes but most say no thanks!
These are the people that heard the call, did the noble thing, and paid a price. Some paid the ultimate price Let them be.
#13. Always enjoy the opposition’s knee jerk name calling. Serves only as noise and it does not cover up that no counter argument of substance is offered in support of your position. Presume, however, that it made you feel good to spew!
#14. Thanks both for you service to our country and the well presented and reasoned discussion you put forth.
#14,
While you make some compelling arguments, you missed the mark. If the publishing of photographs and video had been identified as a problem, then I would agree with you. The publishers have shown restraint in what and when they have published though. This isn’t about just those injured personnel we see getting therapy for their new limb, it is about what is actually happening in Iraq.
According to the article, 146 journalists have been killed so far in Iraq. They were trying to shine a little light on what is happening on the ground there. Yet, the government is now preventing, or at least hindering, the stories. This is in the same vein as their decision to prohibit the troops from using certain web sites. Pictures tell much bigger stories then just a written account.
#14, then why has it taken over 4 years for this to go into place?
And my son, who’s gotten blown up twice now, (and who should be getting home now, but won’t for at least another three months – why is pretty obvious) could care less. He sent me pictures from the second time, plenty of blood all over the place. He doesn’t even have pictures of the first time until the blood was washed out of the vehicle. Even he wasn’t allowed to be shown pictures of the aftermath until then.
I wish the people in the echo chambers (like Powerline – and they aren’t the only ones – on either side) would realize that for every serviceman and servicewoman they get a comment from, another serviceman or servicewoman can and will say the opposite.
This sucks on ice. With all due rsepct to Capt. Donnelly, I don’t believe the government is prohibiting these pictures to save the feelings of the wounded. They wish to hide the bloody nature of the war from Americans.
And isn’t that the reason we are fighting over there to begin with? So that every voice will be heard and make a difference? Yet, this rule of law is preventing anyone from even seeing what is occurring, much less being able to form some sort of opinion.
Every night we would sit at the table in my youth, and watch Vietnam unfold on the screen. It made me want to serve my country, which I did proudly for eight years, however, it also made me realize what is the true purpose of War. It is to convince or command the other side to bend or bow to your rule of law. This is no way to form a Democratic rule.
Especially in an area that has never known how to think in that manner.
Yet, while we fight and die “over there” we have lost so many of the things people are dying for around the world. We have just given them up. Lets fight for Open and Free communication between our ELECTED Representatives, and the public they represent.
14 – Capt T. P. Donnelly, USNR (ret)
Sir, with all due respect, you are wrong.
Yesterday, Memorial Day, the history channel aired the whole “Band of Brothers” series. I can think of no better tribute to the men and women of the military, and those involved in the conflict around them, that to show not only their glories but also their wounding and deaths. Watching that series leaves you with a respect and admiration for their sacrifices that would not even remotely exist if we were not shown the suffering involved.
If it was up to our current administration, we would be showing the equivalent of “Mc Hale’s Navy” to show just how well things are going in Iraq… is that how you want to honor your men? Heck, if it were up to DOD, we would have some kind of reverse “Hogan’s Heroes” to represent Abu-Ghareb.
This is NOT about protecting the privacy of your men, it is about hiding and whitewashing the fact that the war is bloody, violent and has consequences. And that is the LAST thing that the military should be doing if it cares about it’s men.
#20 – I agree with your sentiment…
But I can think of a million better ways to honor our fallen than watching TV.
21 – yeah, like the current standard way of commemorating… a barbecue with lots of beer.
#22,
while wearing a T-shirt claiming how great America is while the tag says Made In China