Friday, April 23, 2004
President Bush Shocked That People Die In War
If you weren't aware, the Pentagon has a policy of not allowing photographs of the bodies of soldiers returning back from abroad. They claim that this is to respect the privacy of the families of the deceased. That, of course, is a load of crap. They are flag draped coffins, not corpses being thrown around the back of a cargo jet.
Recently someone, in violation of the order, published a couple hundred pictures on-line. The pictures consisted mostly of these anonymous coffins. They were a stark, vivid reminder that this is one of the devastating results of war.
The White House was angry, saying that "we must pay attention to the privacy of the families", but what they really mean is that we need to avoid reminding the public the people die in war. If you don't believe that, Bush's reaction to seeing the pictures was that he was "moved". That's great, but "moved" isn't a reaction, it's politically filtered rhetoric.
To me, it's sad. We need to see all aspects of war and this is an important one. Maybe war is easier for people to digest if all they think about is the triumph of victory, but it is rarely so clean.
This week Doonesbury is running a series on it's character BD, who was serving in Iraq. He was wounded and lost his leg. Some papers pulled the strip for the week, others thought it was inappropriate for a comic to deal with such things. He was not making light, he was simply showing the realities of what happens in a war.
We are a cowardly country. We love to have everything always tied up with a neat bow. We don't like the scars, the ugly side of life. We ignore it or push it off to the side or simply deny it exists in the first place.
It extends to so many things in our country, poverty, crime, the war in Iraq, the environment. If there's a problem, give us the easy answer. Don't mess with my head by giving me details or complex solutions. Don't tell me how it's done, just fix it.
Personally, I think we should see pictures of the coffins coming home (now more than 700 in this war). Going beyond that, I think we should televise the funerals and they should be decked out in all the military honors that one who has fallen in the field deserves. To hide the dead under the flag and shove them under a proverbial rug is disrespectful. We sent them off with full honors, flags flying and cameras running, we should receive them home in much the same manner whether they walk off the plane or are carried off by an honor guard.
Recently someone, in violation of the order, published a couple hundred pictures on-line. The pictures consisted mostly of these anonymous coffins. They were a stark, vivid reminder that this is one of the devastating results of war.
The White House was angry, saying that "we must pay attention to the privacy of the families", but what they really mean is that we need to avoid reminding the public the people die in war. If you don't believe that, Bush's reaction to seeing the pictures was that he was "moved". That's great, but "moved" isn't a reaction, it's politically filtered rhetoric.
To me, it's sad. We need to see all aspects of war and this is an important one. Maybe war is easier for people to digest if all they think about is the triumph of victory, but it is rarely so clean.
This week Doonesbury is running a series on it's character BD, who was serving in Iraq. He was wounded and lost his leg. Some papers pulled the strip for the week, others thought it was inappropriate for a comic to deal with such things. He was not making light, he was simply showing the realities of what happens in a war.
We are a cowardly country. We love to have everything always tied up with a neat bow. We don't like the scars, the ugly side of life. We ignore it or push it off to the side or simply deny it exists in the first place.
It extends to so many things in our country, poverty, crime, the war in Iraq, the environment. If there's a problem, give us the easy answer. Don't mess with my head by giving me details or complex solutions. Don't tell me how it's done, just fix it.
Personally, I think we should see pictures of the coffins coming home (now more than 700 in this war). Going beyond that, I think we should televise the funerals and they should be decked out in all the military honors that one who has fallen in the field deserves. To hide the dead under the flag and shove them under a proverbial rug is disrespectful. We sent them off with full honors, flags flying and cameras running, we should receive them home in much the same manner whether they walk off the plane or are carried off by an honor guard.
