Slain Marine's Mother Saw Body on TV

AP | 3/26/03

[kattracks]

Slain Marine's Mother Saw Body on TV

.c The Associated Press

RIALTO, Calif. (AP) - The mother of a Marine killed in Iraq said she learned of his death only when she saw his face as an Iraqi soldier showed off bodies of American casualties on TV.

``I said poor, poor boys. They fell there. But when I saw the face, it was that of my son,'' Rosa Gonzalez told Los Angeles television station KMEX on Tuesday.

Cpl. Jorge A. Gonzalez, 20, was among several Marines killed over the weekend near the town of An Nasiriyah. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Expeditionary Brigade, in Camp Lejeune, N.C.

Military officials went to the family's home 60 miles east of Los Angeles on Monday to inform them of Gonzalez's death.

``I know, you don't have to tell me,'' Rosa Gonzalez said she told the officials.

``I want the news media to understand that any time they air images of wounded or dead soldiers in Iraq, they should think before they air those images since it greatly affects their families here,'' she said in Spanish.

She told KCBS-TV in Los Angeles that she initially told herself that the body was not her son's.

``But I see my son picked up from the floor and put in front of television,'' she said in English.

``It's terrible, I don't have words to express my hurt,'' she said.

Rosa Gonzalez said she received a letter Tuesday from her son in which he wrote of his new son, born March 4, whom he had not yet met. Jorge Gonzalez's younger brother read from the letter: ``And if you can wait just a little longer, I'll be there as soon as the war ends.''

03/26/03 04:34 EST

[amom]

Unimaginable.

[americafirst]

OMG - 20 years old. Where do we find people like this? My heart aches for that mother.

[soxfan]

My mother in San Diego says she watched C-Span (!!!) run the full CBC feed (with nasty Canadian commentary) on Sunday night. Not the excerpts, mind you, that DoD chastized the major media for showing prior to NOK notification. The whole disgusting thing. On the tax-payer funded, U. S. Congress (GOP-controlled), TV network.

Can anyone confirm this? Where is the outrage?

[billclintonwillrotinhell]

On C-SPAN's CBC simulcast that night, I only saw footage of the POWs who were still alive and talking. I didn't see any footage of the dead bodies. However, it really pissed me off when CBC's jackass White House reporter ridiculed American TV networks for being in a "patriotic fervor" and not running any of the video. He had kind of a wise-guy Peter Jennings look on his face as he said that.

[kassie]

My heart goes out to all the families.

[LUVYA DUBYA 2000]

My heart breaks. God Bless them all.

[I still care]

I would like to know which station ran the footage she saw. And then I think they deserve a good freep.

[Eagle Eye]

It's interesting that Americans seem to demand NOT to see what is commonly broadcast around the world.

We like to brag about having a 'free press', yet the news typical Americans get from typical American media sources does not tell the whole story and is sometimes sanitized not to offend the American consumer.

I saw the tape on Lebonese television as well as Al Jazeera. I'm sure that it was broadcast in many other countries as well.

I do agree, however, that it is tragic for anyone to first learn of a loved one's death in such a manner, and I also agree with those that want to reserve a little torture for certain Iraqis.

[taxed2death]

I'd have to agree with you on this one. Why get the "sanitized" version?

News is news, it should be broadcast uncut and uncensored.

[TYVets]

C-SPAN is a private, non-profit company, created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a public service. Our mission is to provide public access to the political process.

C-SPAN receives no government funding; operations are funded by fees paid by cable and satellite affiliates who carry C-SPAN programming.

You may be confusing PBS TV,,,, PBS Radio which are funded by Tax Payer money, grants and donations, with C-Span.

PBS is a very biased, liberal, socialist media, funded by in part by tax player funds.

[KE]

First let me say that I love President Bush and I agree with most of what he is doing and has done, but I have been very upset since Ari's press briefing on Monday 3/24/03 - Pres. Bush has not watched the video. I think as Commander and Chief of the troops, he should have watch this tape. (As Bill O'Reilly would say, "What say you". I heard alot of spin)

Karen

(The following is from Ari's press briefing Monday 3/24)

Q Just to be clear, you're saying, certainly the President has not watched any of the footage of the prisoners of war or of the dead Americans. He has not seen any of that himself?

MR. FLEISCHER: Well, of course, the American media made a decision not to show that footage. I understand even Al Jazeera, after initially showing it, decided not to show it any longer. And so the President was not able to see that. There have been some freeze-frames of it, of course, and I'm not in a position to tell you whether he did or did not see that. As I walked you through last week, the President will from time to time watch some TV. But I do not play TV Guide with the President and ask him everything he watches.

Q The White House doesn't have an internal feed of any of the stuff Al Jazeera was broadcasting previously?

MR. FLEISCHER: We do. But, as I indicated, Al Jazeera took it off the air themselves.

Q And also, can you preview the trip on --

MR. FLEISCHER: And, of course, tapes exist. It went out, so tapes exist.

Q I imagine if the President wanted to see it, you could make it available?

MR. FLEISCHER: The answer is, the President had not seen the video, and I can only leave it at that. But the point being that the President is, of course, very, very familiar with what Al Jazeera filmed -- I'm sorry, I should back that up. The President is very familiar with what Iraqi state TV filmed and then disseminated to others.

Q But he has expressed no curiosity about wanting to see it firsthand?

MR. FLEISCHER: I think the President understands what it shows.

[Eagle Eye]

I don't get a whole lot of TV right now, and Fox is a rarity, something that sometimes gets on via another international satellite network. Mostly I get CNN, BBC, NBC, MSNBC, and ABC. Additionally, I get a dozen or so foreign language stations. I cannot complain about the coverage, even though some freepers seem to have a knee jerk reflex against anything that isn't Fox. The French like to show protests and many Arab stations show military exercises and parades ala the old USSR Mayday parades.

Sometimes these shows are ridiculous. Like a band of old arab men with ancient rifles sans bolts! being led in half hearted cheers.

The videos showed the harshness of war and the barbarism of the Iraqis. Truly terrible if it is your loved one.

Has W actually seen the film or was Ari fluffing for him? Who knows? I ceratinly don't expect all the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in any presidential news conference, especially now.

[ohioman]

I know how you feel, every time I see CBC news I find myself reaching for my 9MM.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Great points... we do have a free press.

But, I agree with the mother, it must've been torture for her to see her son's demise in such a brutal way.

[Trust but Verify]

For all those who insist, "We NEED to see these images....."

[Eagle Eye]

Odd that our 'free press' is often more restrictive than that of 'repressive' countries. We only get the news that the media outlets want us to get, good and bad. News looks a lot different outside the country.

Definately agree with your second comment and cannot imagine the anguish.

[kayak]

To ALL:

I don't think this refers to the POWs and those killed along with them. They were not in the Marines. I think this is an entirely different incident.

The media should not put our military families in the position of learning of the death of their loved ones by seeing their faces on tv. Give the military time to notify the families first at the very least.

May God bless the family of Cpl. Gonzalez, especially that young son who will never know his father.

[IGOTMINE]

I don't recall the Iraqis displaying USMC killed in action...only the soldiers from the 507th. Am I wrong?

Regardless, the sword of justice will be swift and certain on the perpetrators of this crime.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

I will say this, presumably, this mother was watching a NEWS program, from outside of the US. Again, I have sympathy for her, but... the NEWS shows us terrible images from around the world, all of the time. We have grown desensitized to it, because these images are not of horrors and atrocities within our nation. So, I do think, in some fashion, she was seeking out relevent news stories to the war, and found the most horrific example available to her personally. We are all responsible for the images that we view on the television, and our reaction to them. Television viewing is a choice. Again, she has my compassion and sympathy.