I have no desire to look at pictures of dead Americans (or dead Iraqi's), or to see and hear scared young Americans say whatever they think will please their captors and not get them in too much trouble with the US military. I watched about 30 seconds of one video clip, and that was enough for me for this year. I don't usually watch TV, and I haven't read anything about this war that would make me change my mind.
However, I deeply resent Rumsfeld trying to intimidate the American media into not showing pictures of American POW's and American dead, as evidenced by this Reuters Story.
Sources at Central Command in Qatar said the U.S. had e-mailed media organizations to formally ask them not to broadcast the pictures of the U.S. dead or captured...."The Geneva Convention indicates that it's not permitted to photograph and embarrass or humiliate prisoners of war," Rumsfeld said. "And if they do happen to be American or coalition ground forces that have been captured, the Geneva Convention indicates how they should be treated."
Interviewed later on CNN, Rumsfeld said, "and needless to say, television networks that carry such pictures are, I would say, doing something that's unfortunate."...
Despite the controversy over showing pictures of U.S. prisoners, images of Iraqi prisoners have appeared in U.S. and British media in the past days, although some had their faces deliberately blurred.
These clips are being shown all over the world today. Clearly, what Rumsfeld is afraid of is that having Americans see the beginning of the cost that we will have to pay for Bush's War on Iraq may start to reduce the support for it. The neocon's remember the whole Somali experience, where the photographed death of American soldiers and the desecration of their bodies turned the American public against "nation-building in Somali. Wars, even high-tech wars, are expensive in more than money. They cost people. If you care to look at the evidence, you should be able to. With that in mind, I offer the following links. I have not looked at them myself, trying to keep to my no TV pledge.
Sources for the video clips:
One
Two
Stills (some very graphic)
One
Two
I'm not a praying person, but I have found it helpful to go to the site of a praying man, pen-named Real Live Preacher. He has written some helpful things.
Update 3/25/2003: The rest of the world has noticed our hypocrisy in this regard, furious about American prisoners on display while putting Iraqi prisoners on display. For instance, see this English article on Al Jazeera, and this editorial in the UK Mirror. Our hypocrisy doesn't serve us well in our supposed battle for hearts and minds.
Posted by Geodog at March 24, 2003 02:42 AM | TrackBackMy apologies, but my web hoster has turned off commenting, due to a flood of obscene spam bringing the server to its knees. I hope to have this weblog transitioned over to Wordpress in the near future, so that I can have commenting up and working again. Until then, please feel free to send me your comments via my email contact form.. Please ignore everything below this comment.
Tim,
We're all desperately doing whatever we can to find a way to deal with this reality. I did look at the pictures. I have a commitment not to hide from this kind of reality. Hiding is a technique that many religious people use.
We each have our own commitment. I appreciate your integrity in keeping yours.
Thank you for your site and for the help you've given me in the past. God bless.
preacher
Posted by: Preacher on March 24, 2003 11:03 AMAs much as I disagree with what he says, I couldn't imagine Rumsfeld saying anything else. Reporters have been "embedded" in this war for a reason, so that along with the careful and precise bombs, there will be careful and precise reporting. Turn a potential enemy (news reporters and the footage they might create) into an ally by keeping them close. Real close. Embedded close.
The problem is that they're not the only reporters in the world. As I read some of the press releases coming out of the White House, I can't help but imagine this is what the British must have felt like when we started using guerilla warfare against them in the Revolutionary War.
They can't DO that... it's against the rules... everybody knows that you're not supposed to fight that way... soldiers out of uniform is a clear breach of convention...
Frustrating, to say the least, to witness our invasion, and the administration's attempts to put a happy face on everything.
Posted by: RKB on March 24, 2003 02:16 PMI echo the Real Live Preacher's comments, particularly with regard to your integrity, Tim, and the thank you for your site. I don't know what I'd do without your compassionate and wise commentary.
Posted by: Reston on March 24, 2003 04:51 PMThanks for stopping by, and thanks for leaving comments. I really appreciate it. I feel so powerless to actually effect change, it is so frustrating. Sometimes I feel like I am staying up all night raving, and that my writings just get cast into the internet and blow away, unheard. The comments help me feel more part of a community. Thanks again.
Posted by: Tim on March 24, 2003 09:36 PMTim, I just wrote a related entry in my blog, questioning our country's strikingly ironic indignation-with-denial about the lawlessness of war: http://blog.smilezone.com/archives/000394.htm
Posted by: Adam Lasnik on March 24, 2003 10:26 PMHeh. dKos picked up on the Revolutionary War thing, too.
http://www.dailykos.com/archives/002136.html
Daily Kos is doing some great writing these days. I check daily at the end of the day.
Posted by: Geodog on March 25, 2003 03:21 PM>Sometimes I feel like I am staying up all night raving,
>and that my writings just get cast into the internet
> and blow away, unheard.
Sounds like preaching, except for the writing part. ;-)
I think that we should nuke the whole city of baghdad. Whats the point of us going in there and having our US and British troops killed by Iraqi's. Why are we wasting time beating around the bush? The price of freedom includes human lives, lets not make it Americans.
Posted by: anon on March 29, 2003 07:17 PMIf people are going to support a war, they need to SEE what they support. If they can't handle the images of the dead and tortured, then they shouldn't support it. You wanted it, you got it, at least have the guts to see what you support.
Posted by: anon on April 14, 2003 07:49 AM