Waking up to body bags
- The Age April 11, 2004
" The taboo against media coverage of US war casualties
has broken down, reports Catherine Hours."
It's not all that has broken down, as the propaganda and
media management of the truth by the Bush Administration crumbles.
"Pictures of body bags and US soldiers praying around dead
comrades are creeping into American media coverage of Iraq,
highlighting the growing unease at events.
The mounting death toll and particularly events such as the
mutilation of four private security contractors in the city of
Fallujah have broken the taboo on showing US victims, media experts say."
What a pity to upset the poor Americans with images of what
they have inflicted on TexIraq for a year.
How many will be breaking down on Oprah, and needing Closure?
And how upsetting for the War Criminals that the truth will be seen.
" Many US dailies showed a picture last week of US marines
praying over the body of a member of their unit after he died
from his wounds at a first-aid point in Fallujah. The USA Today
daily splashed a picture of a wounded marine gripping the hands
of comrades as he awaited treatment."
And our noble little P.M. response to the daily carnage he
and the other War Criminals* are responsible for?
Why he ignores the REAL death. actually occurring,
because that's his responsibility, and instead tries to
gain political advantage by musing on possible, hypothetical
let's blame someone else for what might happen, non-death.
"Howard says withdrawal talk fosters hostage-taking
- The Age April 11, 2004
Pity the USSA at this very moment is having talks on
pulling out of Fallujah, and here is P.M. R Slicker
inadvertently claiming they are 'encouraging terrorists' B^p
"US officials have sought since the Vietnam War to control
media use of conflict images. Since the 1991 Gulf War,
they have banned photographers from covering the return of
military coffins to the US."
There's that V word again.. it just keeps popping up, doesn't it!
"It's really moving towards a more normal situation,
to publish pictures of the dead, because after all a war
is about killing," Jim Naurekas, of the media analysis
organisation Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting, said."
Not a concept Bush, Blair and Howard really want to get about!
"Throughout the war the media were extremely reluctant to
publish any images of wounded or dead American soldiers;
that's been one of the major taboos of the conflict," Mr Naurekas said.
"There is the idea that to publish pictures of wounded soldiers
would diminish support for the war. Particularly at the height
of the fighting last year, there was a sense that doing anything
that might erode the public backing for the war was unpatriotic.
There's a great deal of self-censorship."
Robert Thompson, director of the Centre for the Study of
Popular Television at Syracuse University in New York,
said events on the ground in Iraq and political changes in
Washington had altered media coverage."
The Era of Bush and Deputy Dawg's Political Correctness
is coming to an end.
"American journalists and TV channels are probably a little
less reluctant now to report some of the stuff in more detail
and showing more pictures than they were before, when
there was all this national unity," he said.
The killing of the contractors in Fallujah "sort of eroded the taboo".
The charred bodies of two of the Americans were mutilated and
strung from a bridge. Gruesome pictures were widely shown in the US.
CNN repeatedly showed pictures last week of a soldier,
with the lower part of his body covered in blood, being
evacuated on a truck and of wounded marines escaping from their tank.
Several newspapers also showed the picture of a marine
in the town of Ramadi carrying over his shoulder the body
of a dead comrade in a black body bag. Pictures of troops
in tears as they learn of the deaths of fellow soldiers and a
female medic holding the hand of a wounded marine after
an ambush have also been given prominent exposure.
"It could affect people and their perception of the war to
see the reality of it," Mr Naurekas said. "It's pretty well
understood that images have a much more emotional
impact than words do."
Mr Thompson believes the impact will only be serious
if the flow of conflict pictures is prolonged. "Any one set
of images is not really going to change public opinion
significantly," he said. But "a few more weeks like the
one we just had, where all these images begin to come
together, and that's where the change really occurs".
Mr Thompson cited the large number of "pretty scary images"
in the Vietnam War. "But it wasn't until we'd been there for
a while and the images just wouldn't stop that public opinion
began to change significantly."
- AFP
"And it's one two three
whatta we fighting for
don' ask me I don' give a damn
nex' stop is Vietnam"
- Country Joe and the Fish, 1965
Simply substitute TexIraq for Vietnam
and Saddamite for Communist and you have the
Same Old Song:
Yeah, come on all of you, big strong men,
Uncle Sam needs your help again.
He's got himself in a terrible jam
Way down yonder in Vietnam
So put down your books and pick up a gun,
We're gonna have a whole lotta fun.
And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why,
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
Well, come on generals, let's move fast;
Your big chance has come at last.
Gotta go out and get those reds -
The only good commie is the one who's dead
And you know that peace can only be won
When we've blown 'em all to kingdom come.
And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam;
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
Huh!
Well, come on Wall Street, don't move slow,
Why man, this is war au-go-go.
There's plenty good money to be made
By supplying the Army with the tools of the trade,
Just hope and pray that if they drop the bomb,
They drop it on the Viet Cong.
And it's one, two, three,
What are we fighting for ?
Don't ask me, I don't give a damn,
Next stop is Vietnam.
And it's five, six, seven,
Open up the pearly gates,
Well there ain't no time to wonder why
Whoopee! we're all gonna die.
Well, come on mothers throughout the land,
Pack your boys off to Vietnam.
Come on fathers, don't hesitate,
Send 'em off before it's too late.
Be the first one on your block
To have your boy come home in a box.
________________________
* "Former Lib president says Iraq war is criminal"
- The Age 8/4/2004
"A former Liberal Party president today called for
members of the US-led coalition of the willing to face a war crimes
tribunal.
John Valder, the Liberals' federal president in the mid-1980s,
said there was clear evidence that the war was a criminal act.
This really was the most criminal act from the outset and now
look where it's got us," Mr Valder told ABC radio.
I would have thought governments in any country that were
supporting this, be they the United States, Spain, Australia,
Britain or anywhere, should be out on their ear.
"Mr Valder said there was scope for a war crimes tribunal.
They were party to what has turned out to be an open act
of aggression against a third country that was in no way a
threat to them," Mr Valder said.
Their reasons for going in have proven to be absolutely baseless."
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