TED KOPPEL TO READ LIST OF IRAQ WAR DEAD DURING ABCNEWS SPECIAL

The Drudge Report ^ | 4/27/2004 | Drudge

[faithincowboys]

TED KOPPEL TO READ LIST OF IRAQ WAR DEAD DURING ABCNEWS SPECIAL Tue Apr 27 2004 17:29:54 ET

Ted Koppel and ABC News’ “Nightline” will pay tribute to the more than 500 American service men and women killed in action in Iraq by devoting the entire broadcast to reading the service members’ names and showing their photographs. Entitled “The Fallen,” the special “Nightline” broadcast will air FRIDAY APRIL 30 (11:35 p.m., ET), on the ABC Television Network. ABC News will also simulcast this tribute live on its Jumbotron in New York City’s Times Square. ABC News Radio will air excerpts of the program.

Using photographs and information drawn from the Army Times Publishing Company’s online “Faces of Valor” database (www.militarycity.com/valor), Friday’s “Nightline” will dedicate the half-hour program to showing a photograph of each service man and woman in succession with their name, military branch, rank and age, while Mr. Koppel reads their names aloud. Since the broadcast is only 30 minutes long, Friday’s broadcast is limited to showing just those ‘killed in action’ in Iraq, as certified by the U.S. Department of Defense.

“While ‘Nightline’ has been reporting on every fatality in Iraq and Afghanistan under the heading ‘Line of Duty,’ we realized that the casualties were on their way to becoming just numbers,” said “Nightline” executive producer Leroy Sievers. “’The Fallen’ is our way of reminding our viewers -- whether they agree with the war or not -- that beyond the casualty numbers, these men and women are serving in Iraq in our names, and that those who have been killed have names and faces.”

“Memorial Day might have been the most logical occasion on which to do this program. But we felt that the impact would actually be greater on a day when the entire nation is not focused on its war dead,” said “Nightline” anchor Ted Koppel.

Listed below are the service men and women who will be honored on Friday’s “Nightline.” The list is organized alphabetically by U.S. State and includes those whose names have been released by the Pentagon from March 19, 2003 through today, April 27, 2004. Names released between now and Friday April 30, will be added to the broadcast.

[FreedomCalls]

but that just makes more shock-value and to pull at the heartstrings

Yes, that's it. He wants you to think of it as a "waste of young men's lives" (Bush's fault of course) rather than a voluntary sacrifice for the better benefit of us all -- a sacrifice to "bear any burden, pay any price" to prevent the spread of Islamofacism any further than it already has.

[faithincowboys]

I suspect Limbaugh would have included all who died -- in Afghanistan as well!!!

The crass politicization of the dead really bothered me. It could have been more moving than it was if it had been done with the right spirit. Koppel really blew it. Half of the time, I was overwhelmed by Koppel's subversive motives. The other half of the time, I was awed by the sacrifices of our brave men and women. The fact that I had to be of two minds at all is an indictment of Koppel. The way you approach these things has to be done with the right spirit and for the right reasons!

[faithincowboys]

Her pedantic "I am a foreign policy expert" delivery is just really grotesque. How do these people do what they do? My conscience wouldn't permmit it!!

[FreedomCalls]

Do you know either of these soldiers?

No, but I wish I did.

Two more heroes. They died so you and your family can live.

[Hillarys Gate Cult]

I almost forgot how easy it is for a Clinton to take all sides of the same issue at the same time. She's like a wind sock in a tornado.

[faithincowboys]

"I am watching because I am grateful that these men and women gave their lives for my country, for the war on terror, and to free the people of Iraq from an evil dictator. "

Wow, Ted didn't intend for you to see it that way. First of all, Ted K. would argue that everybody he showed you tonight (he didn't include the Afganistan war dead) was fighting a war that had zero to do with the War on terror.
He would also argue that Iraq wasn't a threat to us, it was a preemptive war and a war of choice that made America less safe. And he would also argue (as would CBS, see the "torture photos") that the people of Iraq haven't been freed.

That was the message from tonight and you'd be surprised to learn how many people heard it loud and clear.

[faithincowboys]

Yes, they did, but you understand that tonight wasn't about that-- don't you???

[Hillary's Lovely Legs]

You obviously didn't listen to Koppel's closing comments.

[Archie Bunker on steroids]

Sick basta*rds...I hate them beyond belief.

I want them to run a similar show a month from now. I want them to preface the reading of the dead with this statement;
"We'll never know if these soldiers died because we aided, comforted and provided so much momentum to the enemy"
Love ABC

[FreedomCalls]

It made me vengeful. After seeing them, I now want to carry the war to its end so these heroes will not have died in vain. Koppel has made me want to exterminate the terrorists before they can kill more of our young men and women.

That is the message he was going for isn't it? </sarcasm>

[FreedomCalls]

"We'll never know if these soldiers died because we aided, comforted and provided so much momentum to the enemy" -- ABC

Amen!

[faithincowboys]

Do you think Ted wants you to come away from tonight with that belief??

Would he have done it if he thought most Americans would think like you??

I take second to no one in my profound gratitude for the sacrifices made. It is extraordinarily hard for me to hear about our soliders dying. I am from the school that believes 1 of our soldiers is = to 1,000,000 Muslim fundamentalists. I am very emotional about these things, but tonight I didn't weep. I assure you that is highly unususal. Ted did this terribly. I often watch the histoory channel or the documentary of the Band of Brothers and I weep. I am the kind of girl that would have a date come over to my apartment when I was in college to watch Deer Hunter-- not exactly a date movie.

Believe me, I am more sensitive to the sacrifices than most Americans and I didn't cry ( I almost did) but if this had been done in the right spirit I would have been crying 10 times as badly as I did when I saw the Passion of the Christ-- but Ted and ABC blew it.

I hope someone in the media can be the unTed and do a respectful, uncontroversial tribute to all those who have fallen in the cause of freedom cince 9-11.

[F16Fighter]

" I don't care about ABC's motives."

You are a tool.

[faithincowboys]

I am also sickened by the fact that CBS aired the "torture photos." I got to tell you, if I were in charge of editorial decisions I would have said, "After the war, we might air it, but I can't air these photos because there are husbands and boyfriends and sons and grandsons and fathers and brothers and wives and sisters and friends of people like me over there-- my countrymen are in Iraq and I love my country and I don't want them to die because I aired something that a couple of rotten apples did."

Let's face it, Arch, our media hates us and wants us to lose in iraq. What do we do???

[genxer]

Better yet the names of the 9/11 victims.

[faithincowboys]

Correction: I didn't believe them-- not for a second would I fall for that!!

[faithincowboys]

Well, lets hope most believe as you do, but it is important to recognize that Koppel and his friends in the big media hope this war becomes very unpopular.

[faithincowboys]

I really wish she had been booed the Hell out of there-- that witch deserves it. What an ice queen! Did you read the Globe-- I think it said she had a 4 year Lesbian affair (not like there's anything wrong with that) with Eleeanor Acheson (I think she is Dean Acheson's daughter) while she was at Wellesley. Eleanor now works on gay issues for the Kerry campaign.

I wonder who outted this Hillary story--whomever did doesn't want her to get into the race. I suspect Kerry doesn't want her to more than Bush does. I think there are a lot of Union guys that wouldn't vote for her under any circumstances.

[Scott from the Left Coast]

What makes them want our country to fail SO much?

They hate Bush and Republicans far more than they love, or even like, their country. Their hatred for Bush should be instructive to those who say they are conservative and yet heap such vitriol upon him. Their hatred for Bush literally has no boundaries. They would prefer America to be beaten, emasculated and laid low rather than have Bush be seen to have succeeded. They prefer our enemies, up to the Jihadists and the Osama bin Laden's who want to kill them (and the rest of us) to Bush.

Their hate is blind and total. They would literally cut off their nose to spite their face. Because of their hate we truly are no longer the United States of America. Half of us are. The other half would prefer we be destroyed rather than see someone like Bush as the country's leader.

[My Dog Likes Me]

I watched the entire program and I found it extraordinarily moving. The commercials were in poor taste, for sure, but at least Nightline slowly moved into and out of the commercial breaks.

I know a lot of people here commented on the program and Koppel in very negative terms before the program even appeared. Here's part of what Koppel said at the close of the broadcast:

"The reading, tonight, of those 721 names was neither intended to provoke opposition to the war, nor was it meant as an endorsement.
Some of you doubt that. You are convinced that I'm opposed to the war. I am not. But that's beside the point.
I AM opposed to sustaining the illusion that war can be waged by the sacrifice of a few, without burdening the rest of us in any way."

Ted was with the Third ID on the drive to Baghdad. He got to know and love those guys. What he seems to be saying in his comments is that we need to reinstitute the draft. He did a good job tonight, folks.