Shoot First -- Ask Questions (Much) Later?

[babylonsister]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003612280

Shoot First -- Ask Questions (Much) Later?

Almost every week brings a new allegation of wrongdoing by U.S. troops in Iraq who have been placed by their superiors in an "atrocity producing situation." Will the press finally probe this issue deeply?

By Greg Mitchell

(July 16, 2007) -- These days, hardly a week passes without the arrival of another allegation of a U.S. atrocity or other unnecessary killing of civilians in Iraq by Americans.

Just in the past few days we’ve witnessed a McClatchy report from Baghdad revealing that U.S. soldiers have killed or wounded 429 Iraqi civilians at checkpoints or near patrols and convoys during the past year; an extremely troubling Los Angeles Times account of routine brutality, and a plea from Reuters for a military probe of the death of two of its staffers last week, possibly shot by U.S. copters. The Nation just published a massive cover piece by Chris Hedges and Laila al-Arian detailing the disturbing findings of on-the-record interviews with about 50 returning veterans of the war.

Perhaps this will finally spark more sustained media interest in this subject, which has been tragically undercovered since day one of our invasion in 2003. Even the killings at Haditha, which did gain wide attention, were mainly ignored by the media for two months after the initial revelations in Time magazine.

There are two good reasons for this lack of investigation: reporters can’t get around much due to the horrific violence, and everyone recognizes the danger and pressure the soldiers face. But that doesn’t excuse most of the bad behavior nor the general lack of press enterprise. For example, here at home where the threat of getting blown up in the streets is presumably small, why was it left to The Nation to produce a survey of vets -- when any major news outlet could have attempted it?

In this space over the years, I have tried to draw attention to this issue in various ways, from quoting the rare observations of embeds who witnessed some harsh or deadly military actions to exposing the huge amount of “condolence” or solatia payments to survivors (thousands of payments and tens of millions of dollars). As with Vietnam, when the memoirs come out and the history is written, we will be shocked, I believe, by the level of wrongdoing by our troops who, to be fair, have been placed by their superiors in what Robert Jay Lifton called an “atrocity-producing situation.”

Perhaps the most compelling evidence of likely everyday brutality by U.S. troops emerged in April, yet as far as I know, was not investigated by major media.

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[Swamp Rat]

1. It's OK to kill civilians "in a time of war."

The U.S. Constitution doesn't say we can't. :shrug: