[War correspondent Michael Ware worked for CNN from 2006 until April of this year, during which time he became known for covering the hellscape of our wars in Iraq and Afghanistan with brutal honesty and a keen analytical sense that often cut against the standard talking points. He's since been struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder and today the Brisbane Times is reporting on an event that might have contributed to that -- an alleged 2007 war crime that CNN refused to air. Kate Dennehy, who reports that Ware is "set to reveal" the details, describes the incident: Mr Ware tells of the alleged incident he says he witnessed and filmed in 2007 when working for US news giant CNN, but claims the network decided the footage was too graphic to go to air. He alleges that a teenager in a remote Iraqi village run by the militant Islamist group, al-Qaeda was carrying a weapon to protect himself. "(The boy) approached the house we were in and the (US) soldiers who were watching our backs, one of them put a bullet right in the back of his head. Unfortunately it didn't kill him," he tells Australian Story. "We all spent the next 20 minutes listening to his tortured breath as he died. "Ware goes on to describe his mental state during that time, in which he realized that he was "more concerned with the composition" of his photo than he was with intervening in some way. "I indeed had been indifferent as the soldiers around me whose indifference I was attempting to capture," Ware says.]
My question is: Who shall judge the soldiers? You'll probably say I'm sounding anti-American, but can you answer the question? Is it just not 'kosher' to report incidences of war crimes committed by U.S. soldiers? When there are American casualties, news outlets leap on those stories. I guess they do this to encourage pride in all of us, right? Their efforts are shown across the board, but when the tables are turned and the US soldiers are doing the injustices, we won't hear about it unless the Huff covers the story? The stations duck and dodge the coverage of this unless there is no possible way for it to be ignored (i.e. 2003 Abu Ghraib prison torture pictures). Am I the only one that believes the soldiers should be held accountable for their actions? Not only because of those at home they are representing, but at least for their fellow soldiers that we applaud for being the heroes defending our country. Am I the only one that believes stories like these should be told as well? Call me anti-American, but I just want all of the stories to be covered. Its your choice if you want to be a naive American.
(Abu-Ghraib)
(marine throws puppy off a cliff. check youtube for the clip)
I had not seen the pictures of the soldier throwing a puppy. That makes me absolutely sick.
ReplyDeleteWar, as we know, brings out the worst in everyone. Including our soldiers.
I applaud you for talking about this as well. I do not think in any way that you sound anti-American. In fact, to me, you are what America is about. We are not about humiliating other humans, killing animals, and destroying people's lives.
I hope that all of these...scum bags face charges and are convicted.
I am disgusted with some of our troops. Obviously not everyone is doing this disgusting behavior, but the ones that are just give a bad name to everyone else. I completely agree that we are not there to humiliate other human beings. I too do not think you sound Un-American. I like that you posted this and gave the other side of the issue. The soldier throwing the puppy literally made want to cry. So animal rights are forgotten if they are in different countries? This is why most people in the middle east don't like us. You know if I saw this kind of behavior I wouldn't like them either.
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