Posted on 05/12/2004 9:43:09 AM PDT by 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.
Then, can you explain to me, or anyone else on this board, why it isn't also a valid journalistic effort to show the jetliners impacting the World Trade Center once a week? Or to show people plummeting to their deaths from the top floors of the WTC once a week? Or even once a month?
Why the expletive deleted do we have to rely on an Islamic Terrorist Internet site to do the job we pay American journalists to do?
Your thinking and comments disgust me.
An effort at what? Journalism? IMO thie only reason to release these pictures was political anti-war.
Now why are these same bunch of "journalists" sitting on the photos of 9-11 dead as well as the lastest muslim beheading atrocity?
There are stories claiming that the photos were released to CBS because it appeared that a few enlisted were going to be scapegoated for more widespread practices. I don’t know what’s true yet.
I expected torture from our interrogators. As a USMC enlisted intelligence analyst in the 80s, I shared a building with our interrogative translators. We generally thought many of them were borderline sociopaths. Some were reduced in rank while I was there for burring Marines up to their neck on the beach in front of incoming tide. That was just against Marines, just in an exercise. I had no doubt that terrorist and insurgents were being tortured.
I don’t like scapegoating. I think it’s indicative of the worst form of cowardliness, dishonor and betrayal in leadership. I was once a target of scapegoating when my Captain thought he lost a Top Secret document. (It was later found.)
I don’t know how high this needs to go, but I strongly suspect that it goes to the top.
I think Rumsfeld’s “acceptance of responsibility” was no more a real acceptance of responsibility than that of Janet Reno after Waco. All it did was signal that no more General officers were going to be prosecuted. They know too much. He just gave them assurance that they wouldn’t be the ones scapegoated.
If Rumsfeld really accepted responsibility, it would include some statement like “I authorized them to…”, “I suggested that…” or at least, “I allowed…”. What he said was political BS.
I don’t like how this war is being half fought, like Vietnam – leashing Marines from finishing their job. This is just the latest example.
I would have preferred that someone stand up and say, “Yes, the behavior in these photos is a result of my actions or my mistakes. I’m working to limit it. Now either fire me or get out of my way!” But that’s a ridiculous fantasy.
I don’t blame CBS. I don’t blame the Administration. And I don’t blame some lowly private working in a zoo. I blame us, as a nation for being too fat and soft to prosecute this war correctly. I blame us for not assuming the strength to make a rational moral judgment of good and evil and honestly pursue a strategy for eliminating the evil. I blame us for the hypocrisy on the right, and the opportunism on the left.
Despite the depth and ubiquity of what I believe is the problem, I don’t believe our victory is hopeless. We just have to exercise the courage that is within us to recognize the evil of compromise, and strive to identify and eliminate it everywhere. Identify it in the left when they align themselves with anti-war anti-capitalists in order to win an election, compromising our victory. Identify it in the right when they judge our behavior by our enemy’s standards where it’s convenient. We have to have the courage to accuse our enemies in the harshest terms and to stand up to our friends’ cowardliness when they say we are “eating our own”.
If we’re going to condone limited torture of limited people, define it and stand behind the policy. If we’re going to fight this war, defeat the enemy with whatever it takes before rebuilding the country. I believe America will support it. I have hope in that.
Then you've heard wrong and you really ought to educate yourself a little more before you embarrass yourself further on this board.
The photos were turned over on January 14th, the investigations started the next day. A very meticulous case had been put together by the military and by March a two foot tall report, complete with all the evidence necessary to prosecute the perpetrators was in hand. The photos were a part of that evidence. In the meantime, the officers up to the BG had been relieved of duty, a new group of officers had been installed, a training group had been sent in, and the prison was returned to a state of discipline. In addition, the investigation on the MI/MP was almost complete and should be out in a matter of weeks. This is lightening speed for the military. Consider what is happening in the court cases of Petersen and Bryant if you don't believe that.
Like I said, you need to educate yourself before you go defending the indefensable.
I generally agree with what you said. However the liberal media weenie may be thinking of the reports that made it to Sanchez in October/November of abuse and brutality that made by the Red Cross and others. There were two investigations prior to January including one by the Judge Advocate General of the US. I dont believe the chain of command was aware of the pictures until January.
Seems to me just like a convenient excuse to attack CBS, not that they dont deserve it.
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?
BTW, love your work. I have 14 of your albums/cd's, plus Brown eyed Girl/Blue Money on a 45. Additionally, two 'Them' albums. My favorite of all is: Wavelength.
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