CBS and Dan Rather should be held accountable (Warning: Graphic photos down thread)

[jg0510]

I posted the following message on the CBS message board yesterday and also sent the same message to Fox News' Bill O'Reilly. If you agree with my message, I would appreciate it if you would forward this e-mail to others in your address book. I believe this is very important and a "grass roots" effort may be the only way to force Dan Rather, CBS, and others to accept the responsibility of their careless and destructive actions:

"I think all American citizens should be outraged at CBS for making the "abuse" pictures public. CBS has done serious damage to the relationship between the US and the Middle East and has endangered our soldiers in Iraq. This is a matter that the Army should have handled internally and privately. 60 Minutes II and Dan Rather should be answering why they choose to jeopardize the security of our soldiers and our relationship with foreign countries for their "big story"."

Since I wrote this yesterday, a US citizen working in Iraq was beheaded in retaliation. If this story had not been made public by CBS, it is doubtful this atrocity would have happened. It is time for CBS be held accountable and should appear before the Senate Armed Services Committee to explain why they have compromised the safety of Americans and our foreign policy.

Thank you for passing this information to other concerned citizens.

[Americanwolf]

Thanks, I wish I had the answers to why the media over the past 30 years has felt it was there duty to decide what is right and wrong for Americans to watch. to me it smacks of the Old Soviet Union... as I have said in earlier posts. America was founded to be a free republic and each individual should have the liberty to disseminate the news and entertainment the way the see fit. I don't think our founding fathers would be to keen on what is happening today. BTW my form of protest is sending Peter Jennings and Dan Rathers, and their ilk emails reminding them that that which the espouse is not American (mind you neither is peter Jennings) or being patriotic by question the administration, but an attempt to manipulate the segment of American society that chose to take what they say as gospel. the know the power they wield and abuse it. There will come a day that they will have to choose country or ideals sometimes you can't have it both ways
from your statement:
I personally wish I had the wherewithall, to not have to earn a living, put food on the table, pay taxes etc.

Sounds like a good definition of the base that left so desperately craves. thanks again for the kudos.. i have warm fuzzys :)

[Americanwolf]

appreciate the compliment.

As for my service to country and the thanks I appreciate it, but no need to thank me. I have a simple belief
"Service to others is the rent you pay for your time on earth"

I cannot remember who originally said it, but the sentiment is on target for me. It was an honor and a childhood dream fulfilled to serve. And If my country were to call again I will answer, whether here on my own soil or overseas. because contrary to what Mr. Kerry and his Ilk feel there are somethings worth fighting for!

Just keep all my brothers and sisters out on the seas in the sky and pounding the ground around the world to protect liberty and freedom in thoughts and prayers, that is all I ever ask of any American.

[Barlowmaker]

I think Joseph Farah is a major league bozo. Big deal.

[Barlowmaker]

By the way, just so I can gauge YOUR relevancy ... are you in any way serious that I made FR look bad in the eyes of the people on that site? I perused that Biker Bar ... you must be a joker.

[elfman2]

"How can he say this if it isn't true? For what reason would a man of Rummy's integrity fess up to something he didn't do? Doesn't make sense."

Then he shouldn't "accept responsibility" for “something he didn’t do”. One should only accept responsibility for something he is “responsible” for. What a brain teaser that is…

". If it's tactics you're talking about, I think your statement falls far short of being factual. If it's strategy, I "

… This is the story , factual. There’s absolutely NOTHING, Zero, Zip, Nada, to contradict it. I hope that you can be the first to find something to contradict the obvious. .

[Howlin]

Those pictures rocked me to my very soul.

[evad]

Then he shouldn't "accept responsibility" for “something he didn’t do”. One should only accept responsibility for something he is “responsible” for.

Then why bother to impune the man's integrity with false inferences? Even in the court of public opinion we still require some semblance of supporting evidence or fact.

What a brain teaser that is…

Not really. Keep an open mind and you'll figure it out.

… This is the story , factual..

Nice thread. If it comes from USA Today it must be fact.
By the way, did it turn out to be true?
Anyway, if there's any truth to this report, it speaks to strategy. I totally disagree with our present day strategy in the Suni Triangle.

[elbucko]

...maybe they would do him, for free.

I doubt it. Dan Rather would be found doing reports for Al Jazzera (sp). Gen. Sherman said; "All reporters are spies and should be shot before Sundown.....but they would be sending their dispatches to their papers from hell before next breakfast".

Reporters, "Journalists" (geeze I hate that pretention), are like rats. The more we kill, the more will come to see and feed on the dead rats. They are the vermin of our species.

[GoLightly]

You have a point. A good whipping by a wet noodle would have made it easier for me to swallow my pride & to admit that you're right.... Somewhat. ;o)

I'm reminded of my nephew taking the wheels off of his wagon & hiding them. His Mom was going to use it to haul the 55 gallon drum filled with some kind of sugary, gooey liquid from her union hall to somewhere, I know not where. The idea was to dump the stuff in front of some business, as part of a protest against Coke.

Back to dear old Dan & my tude toward him... Elitism in all forms gets under my skin. When it masquerades as journalism, it gets me angry.

[elfman2]

" Then why bother to impune the man's integrity with false inferences? Even in the court of public opinion we still require some semblance of supporting evidence or fact. "

Rumsfeld publicly “took responsibility”. But it’s common knowledge that the intell people are “softly” torturing the worst prisoners. Yet when the photos leek out, we go after a half dozen guards. If we prosecute those guys for being dumb-a~s’s by taking photos, fine, but not for abuse unless we prosecute everyone.

From all I can tell from reports, soft torture and turning a blind eye to it is endemic. Prosecuting everyone involved would rip the core out of our interrogators if we prosecuted them like those on film.

So what’s likely to happen? 1) Scapegoat a few local guards? 3) Destroy our interrogation/translation teams in the middle of the war? or 3) Rumsfeld stays true to his words and “really” takes responsibility for the abuses?

I think #2’s was just placed off limits with Rumsfeld’s claim of responsibility. That let everyone not directly involved in the photographed incidents know that they were off the hook. All that’s left is to see if Rumsfeld does a Poindexter and really stands up for setting the environment which those being prosecuted are going down for. I’m not holding my breath..

"By the way, did it turn out to be true?"

That Marines were ordered to stop the all out attack on the Fallujahn insurgents? AFAIK.

It was obvious from the beginning to anyone who understands the way Marines fight. Marines never choose not to deliver on a threat. They are not structured or trained for taking a town by sniper. They use all the equipment at their disposal. They don’t endanger their men by choice by sending snippier after mortar positions like they had to do. Whey they’re told to do so, a good general finds a way out, like this Fallujah brigade BS.

The day after 25 kia in one day and hundreds of Iraqis dead they went into a cease fire. There was every reason to believe that they were forced to change strategies in response to political demands. But people here with unwavering loyalty to Bush’s vague claims that the military was deciding how to fight in Iraq wouldn’t accept the obvious - that the Marines were just told “how” to fight in a more PC way (or at lest told how not to fight.)

That thread reported on the first evidence of that, from the lead foreign reporter of a paper introduced on Fox as the “paper of record for the war in Iraq”. The information has never been contradicted, and as you can see on that thread - many tried with all their heart. Some did what you just did, trying to discredit the reporter for reporting the obvious.

[Michael.SF.]

Back to dear old Dan & my tude toward him... Elitism in all forms gets under my skin. When it masquerades as journalism, it gets me angry.

All of us have been guilty of saying or doing something out of anger, which we may wish to take back or retract. Your response is appreciated.

[P-Marlowe]

This individual has decided that everyone using Free Republic is going to see Nick Berg beheaded.

Dennis Prager has stated that he believes that every American over the age of 13 should view this film. We must know who are enemy is and the images will give us a clear sense of what we are up against in this war on terror. If we fail to see that, then the next head that will be carved off might just be yours.

Get a grip. If you can't handle it, I'd suggest you stay away from threads that discuss the war on terror. This is one of them.

[Barlowmaker]

I've got a grip. I don't need to see Nick Berg's severed head ... over and over ... to understand the evil of this vile enemy. Maybe you do. Maybe that's how you get your jollies. Many here do not.

You and your pals are desecrating that kid's memory to satisfy your own prurient desires. Congratulations, you're a helluva conservative.

[P-Marlowe]

Maybe that's how you get your jollies.

To be quite honest, Barlowmaker, I have not yet seen the video. I can't bring myself to watch it. Nevertheless, I feel a moral obligation to view it. I listened to it on the radio and I was horrified. What struck me is not the fact that he was killed, but the fact that these people were praising their demonic god while gleefully butchering a helpless and innocent young man.

This thread is the first thread I have come upon that shows the aftermath of the killing. The picture of the animal holding Berg's head is an image that all Americans should have burned into their psyche. That is a picture of our enemy. That is a picture of a man who would gleefully set off a nuclear bomb in LA or Chicago. That is a picture of a man who would gleefully kill you and your children while singing praises to his God. That is a man who cannot be cured of his evil except by giving him his wish to be a martyr for his demon God.

Couple that picture with the sound of "Allah Ahkbar" being screamed over and over again as the knife sawed through Nick Berg's flesh and bone and you will know who our enemy is and why he must be completely and utterly eliminated.

Then couple those pictures and those sounds with the sound of John Kerry and Ted Kennedy and Dan Rather appeasing these animals and undermining our war efforts and you will know what is at stake in this upcoming election. Our very survival as a nation literally depends upon the US winning the war on terror.

So it is not to get my jollies that I want to see these pictures scattered all over the internet and shown on TV. I get no jolly from it. It is because I have children and I do not want them to be slaughtered like Nick Berg. I am scared to death that too many people will be like me and shy away from viewing these pictures and looking the enemy in the face. It is an ugly face. It is the face of Satan himself. But we must face it. We must defeat it. Our lives depend on it.

[Americanwolf]

It has become a simple fact here that regardless of your thoughts on the necessity of posting these photos over and over again. we are at a time in America where we cannot turn our heads away anymore from the graphic imagery of what is occuring around the world weather it is to Americans or to Israels or to Iraqis. If we ignore these images and pretend the did not happen. much less let them happen. (I.E. The Rwandan genocide that occurred in the 90's) We leave ourselves open to these attacks against us. I would rather know how my enemy fights. Then turn a blind eye to it. It is simple those who committed this act are barbaric regardless of the Prison scandal these beast would have done the same regardless. We turn a blind eye to the Cole bombing the embassy bombings etc... America got attacked on its own soil for the first time in 60 years in 2001. I for one will not stand by and let it happen again. This image outrages me. it does not bring anti Arab sentiment into my blood, but the drive to go after these fascist beast that committed this act. I am concern that the Muslim world has not solidly condemned these action. that does not bode well for them on the world stage. and I will post this again to get my message across for understanding.
Both this site and this country are a free republic and there are people dieing for that even today. To quibble and throw flames over weather this posting is appropriate is protected by those deaths. Think about the sacrifice that our soldiers are making so we can debate this. And think That there is your freedom to either view or not view, as well as your freedom to post or not post these pictures.

[xzins]

I agree with P-Marlowe.

These folks want to kill us. They've been doing it successfully while the likes of Dan Rather and the Hollywood American Lobotomy Squad lulled everyone to sleep with bread and circus.

I haven't yet viewed the video, but I might. The stills were gruesome enough for me. I get the picture.

I don't think viewing the pictures "desecrates" Nick Berg.

Berg was desecrated by the allah akbar klan.

[evad]

Can we compromise her, van?

I'll give you regular season, and playoff's, as long as it is not a potentially decisive game. World Series and NBA finals are excluded, as are any USC game. Fair enough?

but..but...what about The Masters?

[Michael.SF.]

but..but...what about The Masters?

Doing my best/worse Homer Simpson:

The Masters?????????????

DOH!!

[evad]

..but this exploitation of Nick Berg and the users of this forum bothers me.

Then this may really ruffle your feathers.

I'm having trouble with the exploitation of Nick Berg by his father. The comments by him regarding the death of his son being attributed to the "sins of George Bush and Donald Rumsfield" go beyond the pale.

Now, you might say this is just the rambling of a distraught father but consider the swine that he has assosciated himself with, specifically A N S W E R, I seriously doubt it.

[eyespysomething]

Thanks, I think, for the still shots.

I didn't watch the video, and I don't want to. I scrolled really fast through the pictures first, but eased back up to them. The evil is almost unbelievable to me.