Marine Mosque Shooting Correspondent Kevin Sites Has "Art" Photos On Anti-War Site

November 17, 2004 | self

[huac]

"Friends, photographers and artists ... were invited to give their visual statement against war." -imagesagainstwar.com NBC correspondent Kevin Sites, who reported on the Fallujah mosque shooting, has photographs displayed on "Images Against War", a web site devoted to "visual statement against war". A review of the site states, "Most of the great war photographers have been against war in general, and often against the particular wars they were photographing". Was Mr. Sites acting as a unbiased journalist in the mosque, or as a "artist" against war?

[R. Scott]

One review states that the site allows artists to "offer their opinion on the war with the images."

Images of 9/11, torture chambers, shredding machines, innocents having their head sawed off, burnt bodies hanging from a bridge, places of worship being used as military strong points, dead Iraqis scattered around a suicide car bomber – these pictures come to mind. I wonder if they would be welcome on the site?

[laredo44]

This need to be investigated and if NBC has sponsored enemy propaganda, their FCC license to broadcast should be revoked.

Aren't FCC licenses granted to local TV stations? Does NBC even have/need one? They provide content and a bunch of local affiliates broadcast it. I believe NBC does own some local stations and thus has FCC licenses there, but are NBC, CBS, ABC required to have a license?

[huac]

Right on all counts. Unfortunately, his motives will never get questioned. Some FR's will discuss Sites and his motives in the middle of the night, and it will be gone by morning.

[raybbr]

Did you even bother to look at his photos? Not one of them seems anti-war to me. They are pictures of prisoners. Clearly this guy is being used by this site.

Go to his blog. He seems pretty supportive of the troops. And, he seems pretty objective. It's not his fault the marine shot the guy in front of his camera.

I think the marines should eliminate any percieved threat at their discretion. Sites just caught that on tape. No problem to me. It's the MSM that is using this for nefarious purposes.

[R. Scott]

I am anti-war too, but that is because I fought in Vietnam.

Like you I too am “anti-war”, in as much as I am not gung-ho in favor of war. I realize that war is a necessary evil. I believe that there are often very good reasons for war, and once we are involved in a war we can not just pack up and leave - and I would much rather we fought our wars outside the USA.

[huac]

...airplanes into American buildings, innocent American citizens jumping from the burning towers. The MSM won't show us these images. They feel we will misinterpret them, maybe get angry. A (name of country hostile to America) terrorist who is injured or killed while attempting to kill Americans, stop the presses...

[R. Scott]

Apparently Sites is an ideologue with an antiwar/anti U.S. agenda.

He is only following in the footsteps of American Journalism’s Great Icon, Walter Cronkite – the chief spokesman for Hanoi during the Viet Nam War.

[R. Scott]

Yep.

[bd476]

Raybbr said: "He seems pretty supportive of the troops. And, he seems pretty objective. It's not his fault the marine shot the guy in front of his camera."

Raybbr, maybe you didn't read this page of his blog where he names soldiers by name, rank, State of origin and then gives explicit details on their mission, and he quotes them.

Maybe it's permissible to name names of all the soldiers, wounded and otherwise in the company, along with detailed photos of the day's action, street names and what appear to be identifiable landmarks and descriptions, but it doesn't ring right with me.

Taking Falluja

[raybbr]

Raybbr, maybe you didn't read this page of his blog where he names soldiers by name, rank, State of origin and then gives explicit details on their mission, and he quotes them.

Every paper and media outlet in the country gives that info when talking about someone in the service. I see it all the time in the local newspapers. Maybe it's permissible to name names of all the soldiers, wounded and otherwise in the company, along with detailed photos of the day's action, street names and what appear to be identifiable landmarks and descriptions, but it doesn't ring right with me.

Isn't that what all media does? It's past tense. For all you know that info could be days old. How could that have any effect?

You guys want to trash Sites. I see his site as being pretty objective.

If you really want to place blame, blame the pentagon for allowing anyone there in the first place. It's war. Nasty things will happen and allowing hundreds of reporters into the middle of it surely will bring out the nastiness.

[SquirrelKing]

bttt.

[musicman]

Sites is a TOTAL anti-war IDIOT !!! He gets NO excuses from me !!! . I've watched his "reporting" for WAY too long now to give him ANY credit for objectivity,(standing near the mosque "rubble" and blaming the soldiers for indiscriminately "blowing up a muslem religious site, which is not winning the hearts and minds of the Iraqui people"...


...and I'll bet ya it was Lil' Kevey that gave THAT footage to Al-Jazerra ALSO !!!!!


Don't EVEN believe for a minute that Sites is objective. I watched for about 4 days in a row as Imus kept blowing smoke up his ass with each new more slanted anti- war report, until Kevin finally DID THIS ONE !!!!

Sites is out for HIMSELF !!!!

I would REALLY like to "meet" him someday.

It WILL be on CNN if I do.......

[raybbr]

From Sites' weblog:

In postwar Iraq these guys are the Hail Mary squad—ready to do what their asked, from treating drinking water, to building bridges, to destroying weapons caches which could be used against coalition forces. Their portfolio is as broad and diverse Leonardo Davinici’s—and like the renaissance genius, they use both sides of their brain—creative and logical to accomplish their mission.

Taking the lead from their commanding officer and their Sgt. Major, they seem to me the calmest, most even tempered men in the Army.

Sgt. Major Wells has been in the Army for 23 years and doesn’t plan to quit until they make him.

“Why should you leave a job when you’re having fun,” he asks.

He is soft spoken but commands respect with a quiet confidence built on vast knowledge and institutional memory. In his Humvee he has a Saint Christopher medal on his visor. He says he touches is it and says a little prayer before every mission.

“What do you pray for,” I ask him? He chews on the question for a moment, then answers.

“For the safety of me and my men. But also that we do the right thing out here. You have to do a lot of things that aren’t so nice. Ugly things."

Seems pretty good reporting and unbiased to me. In fact, generates a lot more respect from me towards our troops. Tough men with hearts and lives back home. Trying to do a good job while being hamstrung by the pentagon and Bush due to their lack of willngness to kick the shit out of the Iraqi scum.

[huac]

"Friends, photographers and artists ... were invited to give their visual statement against war."

Yes, I looked at the photos. The pictures he posted are meant to provoke a response, against war. He is covering a war between America and terrorists. He chooses to post pictures of terrorists taken captive by Americans. He posts NO pictures of wounded or dead Americans. He posts NO pictures of Iraqi children injured, maimed or killed by by terrorist bombs. He chooses to post disturbing pictures of terrorists who are in the custody of Americans. One feels that the person in custody is somehow the "victim" of the Americans.

As far as Sites being "used" by the website, I was under the impression that he was invited to submit photos that he felt represented his anti-war opinion. Again, he choose photos which evoke American domination and aggression. As far as reading his blog, ask yourself. You are in a war zone, following Marines into battle. You don't have a gun. Your life depends on the Marines. Is this the best time for you to be posting your anti-war musings?

[raybbr]

Do you think he picked those fotos or did the site?

[bd476]

That's a nice passage, Raybbr. This is the Kevin Sites blog which I referred to in my earlier post:

Friday, November 12, 2004

Photo Blog: Taking Falluja  
























Images: (c) 2004, Kevin Sites

Discuss
Kevin 6:26 AM

Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Street By Street  
Even before first light -- U.S. Marines, soldiers and Iraqi National Guard troops swarmed into Falluja. Tanks and heavily armored Bradley Fighting used their main guns to blow up cars and buses parked down side streets -- just in case they might be booby-trapped -- packed with explosives.

"This is a frigging ghost town," says Corporal Steven Wolf, a squad leader for the vehicle the CAAT (Combined Anti Armor Team) Platoon. The streets are deserted. But there are some exceptions. The dead.

The Marines are operating with liberal rules of engagement.

"Everything to the west is weapons free," radios Staff Sgt. Sam Mortimer of Seattle, Washington. Weapons Free means the marines can shoot whatever they see -- it's all considered hostile.

Our humvees pass by a body of a man in the center of the street. There is hole through his left eyes socket where a Marine sniper round passed cleanly through.

Down another side street is the body of a second man. This one dressed in clean white sneakers and athletic pants. He is on his back -- his arms behind his head, his face seems nearly peaceful, content. Not far from him--a Russian-made Dragonov sniper rifle. From the black ammo vest strapped to his chest loose 7.62 rounds have spilled to the ground.

The Marines I'm embedded with are nearly ebullient. This looks to be a cakewalk.

One jokes they'll be sipping 'Pina Coladas by the Euphrates River by fifteen-hundred.'

There is the occasional popgun crack of an AK-47 being fired. Usually just single rounds so the shooter can avoid detection. These "nuisances are met with overwhelming firepower. The concussion from the main gun on an Abrams M1 tank is powerful enough to knock you off your feet if you get to close.

The deep "whoomps" flashing from their long muzzles echo across the city while Bradleys wind down their 25-millimeter cannons on suspicious targets.

Down every other alleyway a vehicles is engulfed in furious orange flames.

Black smoke billows from building in the distance.

Almost to a man -- the 3.1 Marines I'm embedded with have all lost friends in this protracted war of attrition. They are eager "to get some," to pay "haji" back for the car bombs and IED's (improvised explosive devices) that have killed or maimed so many of their brother "Devil Dogs."



They are extremely likeable -- these young Marines -- full of bravado and easygoing about the danger that surrounds them. Some thumb through Maxim Magazine, others the Bible while the wait patiently to reign down death and destruction on their enemies.

"We're going to let loose the dogs of war," says Staff Sgt. Mortimer, "before the Falluja offensive begins. "It will be hell," he says, smiling after.

This levity continues until the Marines turn the corner onto a main street they've tactically dubbed, "Elizabeth."

Despite the constant weapons fire and explosion that have accompanied our advance -- this one is different -- it's directed at the Marines. As a squad from India Company passes by a way with a spray painted rocket propelled grenade launcher -- a real RPG round explodes against it. One Marines' face is burned by the powder and hot gas -- another has caught shrapnel in the leg, a third has been shot in the finger by the small arms fire that followed. The Marines are outraged. They turn their M-16's on the building to the west where they believe the shooter is hiding. But that's just an appetizer.

A gunner sitting in the armored turret of a humvee fires 40-millimeter grenades non-stop into the building -- until the gun jams.

Staff Sgt. Terry Mcelwain of Burden, Kansas is pissed. He grabs the bazooka-like AT-4 rocket launcher from the back of another humvee. It's fire trail zips into the now smoking building. Mcelwain wants Weapons Company to fire a tow missile into it as well, but low hanging electrical wires make it impossible -- so he calls up the tanks instead.

Two Abrams lumber toward the target. They stop and fire their main guns in unison. The explosion shakes the street. But the Marines aren't done yet.
They pour in more rounds from 50 caliber machine guns and their M16's.

But as the unit moves past the building, going from east to west, another RPG explodes behind them, then a third. More casualties. A Navy Corpsman cut the pants leg off one of the injured and wraps a guaze dressing around the bleeding wound while another Marine covers with a 249-SAW (squad Assault Weapon). But regardless of how much firepower the Marines bring to bear -- they can't seem to silence this phantom enemy, which continues to fire on them from the rear.

Then insurgent snipers begin firing in front of the Marines as well. One round pierces the Kevlar helmet a twenty-year old Mark 19 gunner -- in my vehicle. He is badly wounded. He's put in a canvas stretcher and six Marines run through the streets carrying him to a waiting military ambulance.

Shortly after -- another RPG round hits a humvee, but doesn't explode. The Marines are rattled but uninjured. A Marine who has caught shrapnel in the face is led to the safety of an empty storefront -- his eyes bandaged shut -- his hands outstretched -- probing the air in front of him.
The Marines know they are being hunted. Boxed from the east and the west in a treacherous kill zone by an enemy they can feel -- but can't see. Their superior firepower is checked by the insurgent's knowledge of the city -- their cunning in using blind alleyways and the crooks and crannies of buildings to pick off the Marines.

The gun battle continues late into the night -- eventually an AC-130 gunship is called in and strafes Elizabeth Street with its mini guns. With eight of their men wounded--it is a bloody and disappointing start for the Marines -- and a reminder that to win the battle for Falluja -- they will likely have to fight as they did today block by block, street by street.

Discuss
Kevin 11:05 AM

[SMARTY]

Is he straight?

[huac]

Yes, he says nice things about the Marines who hold his life in their hands. Is it possible he had other motives for saying such nice things. Look at his picture. The long hair, the beard. I'm pretty sure the Marines would view this guy as an outsider beyond his status as non-Marine/journalist. If you want that "perfect shot", you have to get the Marines' trust, bond with them. Then they will feel comfortable, let their guard down. Sites worked for CNN, now NBC. I question his motives. Especially after seeing his imagesagainstwar.com submissions.

[raybbr]

Yes I saw it. It's the first page on his site. What exactly is wrong with it. I think it's pretty objective.

[huac]

"Friends, photographers and artists ... were invited to give their visual statement against war."

Read the entire passage above.