Shame On Who?
Apparently, John McCain is more upset with Arab television for airing the tape of a U.S. marine shooting and killing an injured, unarmed insurgent than he is with the marine who did the shooting.
Sen. John McCain scolded an Arab television station for repeatedly airing video of a U.S. Marine killing an apparently unarmed man in Iraq but not film of a British hostage being killed by her kidnappers.
“Shame on Al-Jazeera and shame on those people for doing what they did,” McCain, R-Ariz., said in response to a question after a speech Thursday.
Al-Jazeera was among Arab stations that aired video of the Marine shooting and killing the man in a mosque in Fallujah. The video fanned anti-American feelings throughout the Mideast, where it dominated news coverage Wednesday.
…McCain, a Navy pilot held prisoner for years in Vietnam, was asked whether the government should exercise more control over film and reports by media embedded with U.S. military units. The questioner cited the Marine shooting video, which was taken by NBC News.
He said he didn’t know, but is “deeply, deeply troubled” by the incident.
“We don’t know what events led up to it,” he said.
“All we saw was a flash picture.”
Of course, the real question here—as pointed out by AntiWar.Com blog— is this: if what the marine did was OK, what’s wrong with showing it on television? Why be upset about the footage being shown if there’s nothing wrong with what the marine did?
Is it me, or are there echos of Abu Ghraib here, when Republicans were more upset that the pictures were released than they were with what happened at the prison?
November 19th, 2004 at 10:22 am
T., McCain was very upset about Abu Ghraib; indeed he was out front condemning the defense department, roasting Rumsfeld in committee hearings. All Republicans are not alike; McCain less so than the rest.
The soldier’s conduct is being investigated and, I for one, believe that the matter will be handled justly.
I think you’re reading far too much into what McCain said.
It seems to me that in this matter, McCain is concerned about (1) ‘lynch mob’ mentality and (2) the inbalance between America, which is so open it allows the press to come along, and the brutish terrorists which have no qualms about beheading a longtime Iraq resident who worked for Iraqi relief. There is no equivalency here; there really, really is no question about who are the good guys [marines] and who the bad guys are [the Fallujah militants]. And, btw, T., the Zarkowi/Sadr crowd are not ‘insurgents.’ A vast number of Iraqi have no sympathy for these guys who are mostly killing their fellow Iraqis.
War is hell. Behavior of those on the front lines deteriorates to something less than conduct you would find at a tea party.
November 19th, 2004 at 9:36 pm
T., Re Sen. McCain: He was also out front in condemning Sinclair for preempting the ABC show — Nightline, I think it was — that spent its hour reciting the names of all the soldiers killed in Irag. McCain, also, was up front regarding the recent prime time showing of “Saving Pvt. Ryan,” in full, and uncensored. McCain spoke the words at the introduction to the showing.
So, I do not think that McCain is favoring misdirecting the American people.
War is a terrible business. People are trying to kill each other, and generally ruthlessness is helpful for your side’s success. If the public knows the details of what one side is doing, and it kept more in the dark about the indescretions of the other side, it gives a distorted picture.