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america faces images of the realities of war
May 2, 2004
After a year of fighting and dying in the Iraq war, the American people have finally seen images of the real human costs. The Pentagon's policy of censuring images of the coffins of dead soldiers is disrespectful to the lives and families of the soldiers who have fought honorably for our country and disrespectful to the integrity of the American people. We were also exposed to the embarrassing and shameful behavior of some of our soldiers, which has been known about for months, that have led to universal apologies from US officials.
The sharing of these images has forced the American people to begin to confront the horrific images of American soldiers and Iraqi civilians dying and being tortured. Although many pundits will surely call for punishing the individual soldiers to frame it as an isolated incident, let's be real and acknowledge that this behavior is and has always been one of the systemic realities of war. I think the Pentagon has tried to push a policy that suppresses these images because if America continues to see the images of the human costs of war, the American people will not choose to go to war again.
Posted by Colin at May 2, 2004 11:13 PM
