First Americans, Second Reporters

During the last week there has been a lot of disdain heaped upon the Associated Press for releasing a photo showing the last moments of a Marine's life who was killed in Afghanistan. The condemnation of the AP is well deserved and points to a certain depravity on the part of the editors to decide to run with this photo.

The National Adjutant of the American Legion expressed it far better then I can, and in a message to its members did just that. While I would love to publish the entire letter here, it is too long for that.

My deep and abiding disagreement with AP in this matter stems not from the depiction of the terrible last moments of a brave Marine’s life. I have the utmost sympathies for that man’s family, and I do deeply feel their grief. What is so terrible to me about what AP has done here is to do this over the wishes of this man’s family. This removes the common decency from the equation. There are families, I honestly would have wanted mine to do so should I have fallen as such, who would accept the burden of their public grief if it meant that their country’s will to fight was bolstered. That is not a burden that every family can bear though, as we all deal with grief in our own ways. I was raised to respect the grief and burdens of others and not to intrude unduly. I was raised to support the people around me and that as much as anything else drove me to volunteer to become a soldier.

Here is a video of an interview with the slain Marine LCpl Joshua Bernard's father, who is a former Marine First Sergeant, discussing the decision of the AP to release a photo showing his son's last moments as well as his belief that the revised rules of engagement (ROE), and what part they may have played in the death of his son. The local news channel I got this from does not permit embedding of the news clip so please click the link.

I did find a clip from the Fox and Friends weekend show where they interviewed Mr. Bernard and in it he does mention the ROE, but doesn't give details which the previous interview I linked does. The fact that he expresses no surprise that the AP would do such a thing is a sad implication of the news media.

I waited awhile to write about this matter in order to gather more information. I have not searched for the picture; some of us do not need to see such things to know that death--when delivered by weapons of violence--is ugly. I have seen my share; not the current conflicts, but during the time of sunshine and lollipops known as the Cold War. For folks with only a public school education, that was a time when Russia was known as the Soviet Union. It was a time when the United States engaged in conflicts in such places as Grenada, Haiti, Bosnia, Somalia, and Operation Desert Storm and suffered casualties at the hands of Islamic extremists at places like Beirut and the Khobar Towers, in failed rescue attempts for Americans held hostage in Iran and thousands of other engagements around the globe that went unnoticed.

Like the American Legion adjutant I too sometimes wondered about how those left at home would react should something happen to me, but one thing was always clear, I did what I did because I wanted to do it. Because somebody had to do it. Because once you join that Band of Brothers you can never truly leave it. LCpl Bernard died in the company of his second family, any attempt to use any such loss to further some sort of agenda meant to demean the effort they were engaged in is despicable.

The reason so many question the motives of the AP is because of the sorry state of affairs which exists in news media today. They continue to commit a death of a thousand cuts and seem incapable of solving the Gordian Knot they have tied themselves in.