Too Much Reality Appalls Robert Gates
by James McEnteer / September 5th, 2009
The decision of the Associated Press to run a photograph of a dying U.S. Marine drew fire from Defense Secretary Robert Gates. In a letter he released publicly, Gates called the AP decision “appalling. The issue here is not law, policy or constitutional right – but judgment and common decency.” The AP said it decided to make the image public because it “conveys the griminess of war and the sacrifice of young men and women fighting it.”
Gates is more upset about the image of a dying Marine gaining currency than he is about the multiple wars in which the U.S. is currently engaged. The Bush regime especially has been adept at controlling and sanitizing the images of war, prohibiting photos of flag-draped caskets or military burial services. As if war were a distant abstraction, without bloody, fatal consequences.
What is “appalling” of course, and beyond any rational “judgment and common decency” are the wars themselves,
in Iraq – built on lies – and in Afghanistan – purportedly in revenge against a Saudi guerrilla there. Neither conflict can be justified or withstand scrutiny – moral or political – but that does not bother Robert Gates. His brief is to run the wars, test the weapons, keep the military in fighting trim and try to minimize the psychic damage to the American soul. That was why he protested the photo. Psychic damage.
What we need is many more photos, of dead and wounded U.S. fighting men and women. But also of Iraqi and Afghani civilians. Why does AP not show us the torn and bloody children of our “muscular foreign policy”? The American people are not nearly appalled enough by the wanton destruction committed in our name.
There is no strategy worth this carnage. Control of petro resources cannot justify this ongoing murder.
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http://dissidentvoice.org/2009/09/too-much-reality-appalls-robert-gates/
Why does Robert Gates want to hide this photo from Afghanistan?
http://www.ap.org/fallen_marine/Robert Gates protests AP decision as 'appalling'
By MIKE ALLEN | 9/4/09 9:38 AM EDT
Defense Secretary Robert Gates is objecting “in the strongest terms” to an Associated Press decision to transmit a photograph showing a mortally wounded 21-year-old Marine in his final moments of life, calling the decision “appalling” and a breach of “common decency.”
The AP reported that the Marine’s father had asked – in an interview and in a follow-up phone call — that the image, taken by an embedded photographer, not be published.
The AP reported in a story that it decided to make the image public anyway because it “conveys the grimness of war and the sacrifice of young men and women fighting it.”
The photo shows Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard of New Portland, Maine, who was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in a Taliban ambush Aug. 14 in Helmand province of southern Afghanistan, according to The AP.
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http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0909/26759.html
AP photo of dying Marine draws fire from Pentagon
By Matthew Shaer | 09.04.09
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has condemned the Associated Press decision to release a photograph of a US Marine wounded during a battle in the Helmand province of southern Afghanistan. The Marine, Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard of New Portland, Maine, was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in a Taliban ambush on Aug. 14. He later died of his wounds.
In the AP photograph, Bernard is pictured lying on his side on a sandy slope. The image is blurry, but Bernard appears to be bleeding; two other Marines stand over him, attending to his wounds. The caption, titled “Afghanistan Death of a Marine,” identifies the location as the village of Dahaneh. The photographer is Julie Jacobson, who also took the image at the top of this post. The AP reports that Bernard later died on the operating table at a nearby field hospital.
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http://features.csmonitor.com/politics/2009/09/04/ap-photo-of-dying-marine-draws-fire-from-pentagon/RIP Joshua M. Bernard