by Aamer Madhani
Last month, independent photojournalist Zoriah Miller was on a foot patrol with a Marine unit in a small town near the western city of Fallujah, when a call came over the radio about a bomb blast.
Miller and the Marine unit he was embedded rushed to the scene to find a scene of utter chaos of a suicide bombing that took the lives of three marines and at least 20 Iraqis.
"Several dozen people lost their lives... children, old men, civilians, police, and military men," Miller wrote in an entry on his blog four days after the June 26 blast in Garma. "The scene was horrific beyond words, even for someone like me who has a fairly high threshold for such things. I found it nearly impossible to look through the viewfinder."
In that blog entry, Miller also posted a series of photographs that leaves no doubts about the cruelty of war--one is of a dead an elderly man slumped over in a garden chair, another of dismembered hand-- and the most provocative of his shots-- two black-and-white images of the dead marines.
Miller was asked by the Marines to remove the photographs soon after posting them, but he refused because he felt his publishing of the images didn't break any of the ground rules set by the U.S. military. The dead Marines were unidentifiable, and he waited more than three days before posting the photographs, which gave the Marines plenty of time to notify the next-of-kin of the fallen troops.
The Marine didn't see it that way and kicked him out of his embed. Now, Maj. Gen. John Kelly, the Marine commander in Iraq, is seeking to have Miller barred from all United States military facilities throughout the world, the New York Times reports today.
The Marines contend that Miller's photographs essentially provided the enemy an "after-action report" of their suicide operation in Karma.
The Times' piece, which was co-written by photographer Michael Kamber, notes that publishing photos of dead Americans is not prohibited under U.S. military. And any military public affairs officer will tell a journalist that they are not in the censorship business.
But the reality is that the publishing of contraversial photos has resulted in photographers being expelled from the frontlines.
The questions remain: Are we getting a sanitized picture of the war? And are publishing images of wounded and dead American troops--even when their identities are not discernable--disrespectful?
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Comments
This article about "sanitizing" war photos comes from the same Chicago Tribune that last year refused to run CARTOONS--namely, the Danish cartoons that served as an excuse for Muslim riots. The same Chicago Tribune that refuses to show photos of an aborted child.
The Trib LOVES sanitizing the news, when sanitizing helps them push their agenda. Whatever questions can be asked about "sanitizing" war coverage, it's clear the Trib is the last agency that should be asking those questions.
Posted by: Guevara | July 26, 2008 5:46 PM
All embeds should be barred from the front lines. They are not on the side of the USA. God only knows why they want to do harm. Reporters have been given too much leeway and they have not served us, the US, well at all. What happened to good old loyalty to the Marines and the country?
Posted by: Peggy Esposito | July 26, 2008 8:37 PM
The media has totally dropped the ball covering this election process. The patiality towards Obama has gotten obcene..Journalism used to be a profession that showed ones character..Now is appears to be all politics and favortism...There seems to be no loyalty to equal fair news reporting..If we had more reporters like Miller the voters would have a much broader understanding of each candidate...Plus I doubt HRC would be out now....I guess the difference is that Miller is an Independent and not in someone's pocket.....
Posted by: typical texas | July 26, 2008 9:40 PM
All embeds should be barred from the front lines. They are not on the side of the USA. God only knows why they want to do harm. Reporters have been given too much leeway and they have not served us, the US, well at all. What happened to good old loyalty to the Marines and the country?
Posted by: Peggy Esposito | July 26, 2008 8:37 PM
Oh my, I dropped my jaw when I read this. They are "not on the side of the USA"? What does that mean? Only pictures of soldiers giving candy to little children are allowed? Maybe Peggy doesn't want her 'beautiful mind', like Barbara Bush, to be sullied by the blood and death inconveniences of war. She prefers pretty, perky, upbeat headlines that we're 'winning'.
Posted by: DD | July 27, 2008 3:37 AM
I think we have a high degree of respect for the dead here, that the press do not seem to acknowledge.
I recall the tv news media showing one of our soldiers bodies being dragged around by locals in Samolia years ago, and while I was stunned by the condition of the dead soldiers body, I was more disgusted by the lack of respect for the dead by these locals we were there to help, and of course the media.
Posted by: Teresa | July 27, 2008 7:50 AM
4124! What is this number? It is the number of U.S. lives lost in Iraq. Is it disrespectful to utter this number?
Posted by: Bob_O'D | July 27, 2008 10:28 AM
DD- I think she had a good point. During World War 2 the media not only supported the war effort but they supported the troops as well. Today they show to much of their political leanings. People don't respect that, the Majority aren't that far left. It has nothing to do with our not being able to handle the awful part of war, we aren't a bunch of little girls buddy!
Posted by: Teresa | July 27, 2008 10:48 AM
An honest look at what your troops do abroad would perhaps bring an end to the half century of Amewrican colonial war.
The real horrors are always covered up.
Even in the case of Abu Ghraib, the photos the public saw were tame.
Some of those who saw the rest, never released, have revealed to reporters that they included the rapes of children and murder.
War should never be entered into lightly. It is, quite simply, the time when our psychopaths - there are a percent in every society - get a delightful holiday to torture and kill with impunity.
Posted by: JOHN CHUCKMAN, TORONTO | July 27, 2008 11:51 AM
I'll support you making that point when we head to Afghanistan with Obama at the helm....oh, and Pakistan.... oh, and we will still have those in Iraq hmmmmm.....heck, we may even go to Africa, I hear a lot of them are registering to vote for Obama because he will help them too. What a big heart!
Posted by: Teresa | July 27, 2008 6:04 PM
the reality of war gets painted as un-american. liberal media my arse!
Posted by: crud | July 28, 2008 2:34 AM
Showing the reality of war for our adversaries is as stupid as it gets. THAT, is where the un-American claims come from, and rightfully so. If they want to make a big tv program after we win, fine.
They will never get public support from playing their politics with our troops lives. NEVER!
Posted by: Teresa | July 28, 2008 9:46 AM