Koppel: Afghanistan War Dead Not Included

NewsmMax.com ^ | 4/30/04 | Carl Limbacher and NewsMax.com Staff

[kattracks]

ABC "Nightline" host Ted Koppel said Friday afternoon that he had no plans the show the faces of soldiers killed in Afghanistan as part of his tribute to U.S. GIs killed in the war on terror.

Asked if the photos of soldiers killed in the first phase of America's response to the 9/11 attacks would be included with those killed in Iraq, Koppel told to radio host Sean Hannity, "You know something, it's a perfectly legitimate question.

"But you know, if you say the kids in Afghanistan, you know, how much further are you going to go, Sean. You know how many guys have died in how many different countries?"

The ABC newsman said also that he had no plans to produce a future tribute to the U.S. heroes and victims who died in the Sept. 11 attacks, insisting that reading 3,000 names on-the-air would simply take too long.

He noted that "ABC News as an organization carried the reading of the names of all of those people [on the attack's first anniversary] live, as an institution."

"Did 'Nightline' do it separately? No," he added.

Asked if he'd gotten permission from the families of the dead GIs to use their images in his tribute, ABC newsman said he hadn't.

"Basically, we got all of the names and photographs from either the Marine Corps, the U.S. Army or the Army Times," he told Hannity.

The "Nightline" host insisted that there was no political agenda behind his decision to focus on the Iraq war dead.

"If the question is, was this intended as an anti-war effort, the answer is a categorical, No. It is neither in support of the war or against the war," he insisted.

But earlier in the day, the unbiased newsman appeared on the official Democratic Party radio network Air America and bashed president Bush's Iraq war policies, WABC radio's Monica Crowley told her audience Friday night.

[nfldgirl]

I can't get over the (number of women among the dead. Whatdoes it say about a country that let's their women go off to fight and die in war.

[drhogan]

i thought nightline had been cancelled because nobody watched it. i think ted koppel is actually a wooden puppet. he looks very much like a puppet from the 1950's named "howdy doody." watch koppel closely and you can actually see the strings.

[forYourChildrenVote4Bush]

"Iraq had no WMD. Iraq had no Al Queda connection."

Where did he get his intelligence from?

[drhogan]

nightline is like a vampire in a bad series of dracula movies. you drive a stake thru it's heart, but then it just comes back in the next movie.

[FreedomCalls]

[sinkspur]

Whatdoes it say about a country that let's their women go off to fight and die in war.

They volunteer.

[kezekiel]

ABC "Nightline" host Ted Koppel said Friday afternoon that he had no plans the show the faces of soldiers killed in Afghanistan as part of his tribute to U.S. GIs killed in the war on terror.

That says it all. Shame on you, Koppel.

[patriciamary]

Koppells last comment was pure bull sh-t!

[Burkeman1]

God forbid the people of this Republic be shown the cost of this cause ever. What is the cause again? It changes?

[Burkeman1]

Cant show them? Afraid to face them?

[Burkeman1]

Why don't you volunteer braveheart?

[KellyAdmirer]

Iraq had plenty of weapons of mass destruction. Saddam used them on his own people. Iraq had a huge connection with Al Qaeda. Wake up, get out of fantasyland. If we don't clean out these nests of terrorism overseas, they will come back over here and kill you and me as they tried to do in 2001. Who do you think is killing our guys overseas, boy scouts? Iraq is and always has been swarming with terrorists.

I honor our dead. Some have to die to save everyone else. Sad, but undeniably necessary. Perhaps if we had fought terrorism harder during the Clinton administration, 3000 innocents in the WTC would still be alive. And, btw, I'm ready to go personally and put my own life on the line, if they would take me.

[sinkspur]

Too old.

Why didn't you volunteer?

[nmh]

Will he be doing a recital for Serbia too? Alittle delayed and of course Afghanistan should be done too.

[Archangelsk]

They are dead because they devoted their lives to the United States Armed forces and THEY liberated tens of millions from bondage because THEY believed in something that to you is just a waste of life because you have no respect for what they chose to fight and die for.

You never served so let me cut quickly to the chase: none of the soldiers, sailors, airmen or Marines died because they "devoted their lives to the United States Armed forces," they fought and died for their foxhole buddies and for the strength of their small units.

You never served, you'd never understand.

[Lady In Blue]

The cause HAS'NT changed! Would you care to post dates and examples from reliable sources that they've changed? BTW what is your opinion of that other Massachusetts liberal-Kerry?

[Texan]

Sinclair Broadcast Group should be commended for their brave stand in refusing to air Koppel's Anti-war Propoganda.

I, for one plan to tell them so in the morning.

410-568-1500 (Main Telephone)

410-568-1533 (Main Fax)

[MJY1288]

Against my best judgement, I watched NightLine tonight. What bothers me most about Koppel's pathetic performance is he spent the final segment of his show defending his own sorry ass, instead of saluting all those who made the ultimate sacrifice for this country. DAMN HIM, DAMN HIM

Why not end the show by honoring these fallen heroes with a tribute to them, instead of a defense of his own sorry ass. DAMN HIM, DAMN HIM