You could just as reasonably argue that an open media gives them more of a incentive to keep them alive, to parade prisoners before the cameras with false confessions and the like.
Now they have the worst of both worlds. They have US ANGER at the executiongs and sympathy/motivation to do everything possible to win the war and get the prisoners back.
On balance, I'll take the unrefined truth, including the imagery, and let the chips fall where they may.
As to the families, I can only speak as a father. I would be appalled, angry, and furious at Iraq for killing my son/daughter and at Al-Jazeera for facilitating the propaganda, but once it's public domain, I surely wouldn't be mad at a Drudge for running what's out there. In fact, I'd be mad at the press for not running it, because the world needs to see the Iraqi regime for what it is.
You could just as reasonably argue that an open media gives them more of a incentive to keep them alive, to parade prisoners before the cameras with false confessions and the like.
You can argue that an open media gives them more incentive to keep the POW's alive, but that's not the point The point is that the Iraqi's appearently by releasing these photos believe that this is propaganda that will help their cause.
This now puts our other POW"S at risk of being executed and displayed or just simply tortured.
That is the reason why the Geneva Accords forbids such displays.