FREEP Drudge, ask him to remove Disgraceful Al Jazeera pix

me ^ | March 23, 2003 | FO

[FairOpinion]

I apologize for this vanity post, my first.

But I think Drudge overstepped the boundaries of decency by publishing on his front page a picture from Al Jazeera, showing what is purported to be a picture of an American POW.

The Washington Post has an article on it, in case anyone is not familiar with what happened. So far all American Media has refrained from showing pictures of the Al Jazeera video. For Drudge to put up a picture reduces him to well, I rather not say.

Drudge's EMAIL: DRUDGE@DRUDGEREPORT.COM

Arab TV Shows Captured American Troops http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A14406-2003Mar23.html

To Moderator: If you think my post is inappropriate, I apologize and obviously please remove it.

[MissBaby]

The way to FREEP Drudge about the PIC is the 404 Not Found messaging.

Type in this web address:
http://drudgereport.com/TAKEDOWNTHATPIC!!!
Then hit ENTER.

Your monitor will display 404 Not Found but the not found hit will register on the web site data. You can hit it over and over again and it will show up as more not found hits.

When they view the log of 404 Not Found hits, they will see the repetition of the same message, thus you have gotten you message through.

Better chance of being seen than a site that is surely getting thousands of emails a day.

Maybe someone has a better message to put in the web address or a better way to Freep him on this issue. But this is what I do when I want to get a message through.

[dep]

dod has announced that the families have been notified.

dep

[The Duke]

The picture is degrading to a U.S. soldier who made the ultimate sacrifice. Why can't you see that?

I think that's purely a subjective call. What *IS* degrading and disgraceful, however, is how we as a nation allow our government to reneg on it's committments to our troops *after* the fighting is over.

[wizzler]

Every post on this thread.

As I asked, please provide specific examples. The thread would be better off, at this point, if we took our mini-argument off into private messaging, because it has nothing to do with the topic at hand. So feel free to mail me.

[rintense]

I think about all the freepers who have loved ones over there, and how it would feel to see your family posted on the web before hearing about it from the Army. *shudders*

[Smogger]

Did you forget Somalia? It was after the pictures were shown, we withdrew. So Saddam thinks that it will work again. We don't need to do his propaganda work for him.

So what? If propaganda weakens our resolve to the point that we withdraw from this war we don't deserve to win.

[YaYa123]

You are not skewed in your thinking. I agree these horrible pictures should be shown, so that still clueless anti-American, anti-Bush, American protestors, would know Saddam would do the same to them if he could.

Don't tell me I'm insensitive. I was an Army officers' wife for 28 years, I remember the TODAY show showing pictures of American soldiers in Viet Nam lined up like cord wood. One of them was my husband's company commander, his genitals exposed, and to make it even worse, the picture was also in TIME. Captain Rawls had 5 children, only one of them too young to know their Dad had been killed, and recognize him in the picture.

Our soldiers are brave enough to protect us, the least we can do is be witness to their fate.

President Bush and the Pentagon have wisely allowed the media into this war. I'm sure the reasons were many. But one of them had to be showing Americans exactly how much we risk... to free others, and to preserve our own national security.

For the media to hide Iraq's atrocities and their war crimes, is to aid and abet our enemies, at home and abroad.

God Bless President Bush. God Bless America.

[LilRhody]

Is it possible those are pictures of the dead journalists?
It was reported that the journalists were in an Iraqi morgue so maybe this is all phony propaganda.

[CheneyChick]

That's the beauty of FR, isn't it?

There is absolutely a time for anger. (I believe there should be daily showings of pictures of the WTC crumbling and people jumping to serve as a reminder.) However, this close-up of someone's loved one is completely inappropriate at this time. I highly doubt the family was notified before this appeared and seeing it on Drudge would be an extremely upsetting way to find out.

Drudge is motivated by the number of hits to his site. Nuff said.

CC
-Former Army Psyop Specialist/Linguist

[libbylu]

this is making me ill and i will not come back to this thread. JEEZ......... IT'S AMERICAN COURTESY TO NOTIFY NEXT OF KIN BEFORE RELEASING NAMES MUCH LESS PHOTOES........................HOW MANY OF YOU DIDNT' THINK EARNHARDT'S PICS SHOULD HAVE BEEN WITHHELD FROM THE PUBLIC????????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WHAT PART OF THAT DON'T YOU NUT CASES UNDERSTAND???????????????????????????????????????????
I wish i knew html i would blow this up.

[bluecollarman]

"If propaganda weakens our resolve to the point that we withdraw from this war we don't deserve to win."


Exactly..war is not for the faint hearted.

[FairOpinion]

"This Evil, all of it, must be exposed with the full shining light of the truth. "

-----

I understand where you and others with similar attitude are coming from, and I agree with you "IN PRINCIPLE".

But decent people will recognize evil, from hearing what happened, and the Saddam supporters not only will continue to support Saddam anyway, they will use this as more excuse to oppose war.

What I would like you and others to consider is what is the ULTIMATE result.

Just as "peace protesters" refuse to recognize that the RESULT of their actions is not peace, but supporting Saddam, well, publishing these pictures does NOT have the ultimate effect of outrage against Saddam, but demoralizing our troops and giving fodder for ammunition to the anti-war crowd.

Think why Saddam WANTS to show these pictures. Because it helps his propaganda, not hurts it.

Showing these pictures only helps Saddam.

[The Shootist]

And what is the truth, according to you? You would put your need for outrage above the need of the military families?

The truth? Iraqis shot American military personnel and filmed the result?

The need for outrage does trump the need of American military families. They are, or are not, going to see the film. No one can control who views what. Hurting people's feelings is not a consideration with a free press, nor should it be. Good taste is an editorial consideration that is based on the nature of the publishing entity.

No good can ever come from suppression of reality. The World needs to see such "up close and personal".

[wizzler]

I wish i knew html i would blow this up.

First you need to learn where your caps-lock key is.

[tessalu]

I disagree as well. I saw the pic on Drudge, and I looked at it, and I saw this soldier as being one of our very own, one who has given his life for our country. In the beginning, I feared that the USA would risk the lives of our husbands, sons, and brothers to save Iraqi infastructure with the so called "surgical strikes". I fear that my fears are being realized, and that we did not want to fight this as a real war. We would like to make it a "pansy" war, and I fear that the USA will get us bogged down in Urban Warfare with street fighting, where we will not win, and that we are going to regret trying to play "soft" with Iraq. I think that the bombings in Iraq have not been very serious, and this is my complaint. On the TV, we see the streets of Baghdad as if nothing has happened, and all the lights are on, and the TV's are playing. I think we are paying the price, and the price is too high. Fight to win, or do not fight at all.

[RAT Patrol]

If you were to put my dead body on display like that I'd come back and haunt you. It does revictimize the family and friends.

Look, these service people are sacrificing their lives right now to protect US. I think we owe them respect even after death. We all knew this happened before we saw the graphic picture. The pictures aren't about informing the public; they're about sensationalism.

[libbylu]

and you need to learn manners. i knew i was using all CAPS BECAUSE I WAS YELLING AT YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!1

[RobFromGa]

These pictures demoralize our troops too. Just think about it.

OK, I thought about. I think that you are 180 degrees out of whack with reality if you think that soldiers are not totally cognizant of what they face. They are fighting EVIL because it is EVIL, and this proves it to them.

I fully understand your position, and disagree with it. But I watched the horror of 9-11 on TV that day too. And, I never called to ask for a boycott to spare the families of the WTC victims.

Re: the families I still doubt they are surfing the Internet, but if they are they are certainly not thinking about DRUDGE as the monster at the moment. Do you think they are writing HIM letters of protest?

But if boycotting Drudge floats your boat, more power to you.