‘They don’t allow us to see the heroes who died in Iraq.’
By on Apr 26th, 2007 at 3:02 pm
‘They don’t allow us to see the heroes who died in Iraq.’
Fox News anchor Shepard Smith, covering yesterday’s flag-draped coffin procession for the Blue Angels pilot who died in a crash last weekend:
This is a scene we are not accustomed to see during war times. They don’t allow us to see the victims — uh, heroes who died for us in Iraq. We don’t get to see their caskets come back. It’s a wonderful honor to be able to pay tribute to this man in this way. Wouldn’t it be nice if we were able to do this with the hundreds upon hundreds who have died for us in Iraq?
Watch it:
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Go Shep!
- Tom
April 26th, 2007 at 3:05 pmUh oh, Shep’s straying from the FOX Flock, yet again, like he did during Katrina’s aftermath, which means the lunatic RW Screech Monkeys will be in full off-key caterwaul mode soon enough about how only the terrorists are in favor of seeing and memorializing the war dead of Iraq and Afghanistan
April 26th, 2007 at 3:05 pm“They don’t allow us to see the victims — uh, heroes who died for us in Iraq.”
Your Freudian slip is showing, Smith. Better update your resume, because FOX News does not tolerate your anti-Bush attitude.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:06 pmHe swallowed his foot up to the knee
April 26th, 2007 at 3:06 pmI’m choking on my own vomit!
April 26th, 2007 at 3:06 pmTell that to your boy, George W, he’s the one who barred the media from showing images of flag-draped coffins coming back from Iraq. Republicans believe in free speech, my a$$.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:06 pmThe media continues to whitewash the facts for Bush. This is “something we don’t see in war times”? Bull. This adminstration blocked us from seeing this during THIS wartime. This is not the standard. This is Bush hiding the facts he can’t handle.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:06 pmomg, honesty from Fox? It must have been a slip up. Especially the quick correction there … though it is quite truthful that our soldiers are both victims and heroes simultaneously.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:07 pmWell, Shepperd, I’m sure your boss can suggest that very idea to your beloved President and his demon cadre.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:08 pmOh, but wouldn’t that mean you no longer buy into the White House’s manner of handling the war dead? I seem to recall some liberal commentators questioning why the Prez and his cohorts wouldn’t allow coverage of the returning “heroes” and being shot down by the likes of you.
I think he meant to say “thousands upon thousands”.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:10 pm“victims — uh, heroes”
freudian slip, shep?
April 26th, 2007 at 3:10 pmSmith is one of the few people on Fox that I have a modicum of respect for. I also still like Bill Hemmer formerly of CNN.
The rest of the authoritarian gas bags can go shit in Roger Ailes’ hat.
-GSD
April 26th, 2007 at 3:10 pmAnd a few moment later from the Execs at Faux News…
Cut his mike! Cut his mike! Cut his mike!
April 26th, 2007 at 3:11 pmYes, but they’ll blast the dead from VTech all over the news, without hesitation… Wingnuts are a real *treat*.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:11 pmWatch the Fox Noise channel fire Shepard for the same thing Imus was fired for.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:11 pmWatch out, Shep! The same enforcers that Dick sends out regularly to keep Arlen Spector in line will not doubt be paying you a little visit any moment now.
But seriously, that’s two strikes for Shep (that is, two moments in which his soul got the upper-hand on the FoxBot programming). Is there hope for you? It’s like a medieval morality play, I tell ya.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:12 pmOops…
I guess he will be taking a leave of abscence shortly, due to disciplinary reasons…
He should know that TRUTH IS NOT allowed on FAUX!!!
April 26th, 2007 at 3:13 pmIt’s finally dawning on stodgy, patriotic Republicans like Shep Smith that these people are not his friends.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:14 pmHe must not have received his script from Murdoch. Chances are that slip up will be corrected soon.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:16 pmWouldn’t it be nice if we were able to do this with the hundreds upon hundreds who have died for us in Iraq - - Just stick to the script, Shep.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:16 pmthe man is out of a job!! first his Katrina reporting now this?! Easy Shep, your humanity is showing there… can we get the man some more make up!?
April 26th, 2007 at 3:18 pmSoon Fox News, like the rest of Bush’s propaganda machine, will realize that the american people are repudiating them and they will soon become obsolete. Look for others breaking rank with the talking points of their program - and then again, knowing how slimy Fox News actually is, it might be that they’ve already realized that they’re slipping stat-wise and intentionally creating the illusion that they have some “fair and balanced” newscasters within???
I think we can look forward to seeing many, many newscasters breaking rank with their company line now that Bush’s ratings are in the toilet. And now with the ongoing litany of “scandals du jour”, it’s clear that to support this corrupt regime is definitely NOT in the best interest of their parent organization.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:18 pmFox will need to implement the 30 second delay so they can bleep out these anti-Republican thoughts. BillO better check to see if George Soros is paying Shepard Smith….
April 26th, 2007 at 3:19 pmPerhaps Murdoch is not as senile as he looks?? Perhaps Murdoch is now “playing both sides” because he realizes that he’s losing viewers by the hour in attempting to rationalize the level of heinous corruption in this government…..at some given point in time, Murdoch will realize that he’s being eclipsed if he continues to drone on in the same fashion: faux news. If he wants to survive and remain viable and not obsolete, he will have to change his tact.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:20 pmThat burial was for an exceptionally talented naval aviator who died during peacetime maneuvers doing what naval aviators do every day. Theirs is a dangerous business.
While his skills were praiseworthy and his death a personal and professional tragedy, his death highlights the thousands of others that Mr. Bush refuses to acknowledge. Because they involve warfare - not the recruitment displays that are the business of the Blue Angels and their Air Force peers.
Real deaths in real warfare are nasty business. Occasionnally, the whole body remains intact. But those pictures are bad PR for a President who knows little of warfare besides his talking points. A President who, until now, has had a Congress more compliant than his parents, and which never, ever made him live with the consequences of his bad acts.
Sadly for Mr. Bush, the magic turtle that could ask Mr. Wizard to bring him home when he got into trouble was a cartoon. Unfortunately for us, so is Mr. Bush.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:21 pmThen again, since Murdoch has one foot in the grave, perhaps he’s had an Epiphany?????
April 26th, 2007 at 3:21 pmIt interesting that he scales down the victims from thousands to “hundreds upon hundreds”. Just an example of that kind-of half-concious self-censorship journalists do all the time.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:22 pmSHUT UP SHEP!
You’re still a lapdog for the network which itself is a lapdog for the administration.
If you don’t like it - leave FoxNews.
You stupid hypocrite. I’m not listening to a word you say, no matter how seemingly positive it is. As long as your words are coming through Fox, I can only assume they are lies.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:24 pmThe heroes that you fools spend every day trying to undermine.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:26 pmNotice that Smith said the heroes who died for him. He has no intention of going to Iraq to die for OIL, but OK that others are forced to do it for Bush Regime.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:27 pmMy opinion is that US society rather regard soldiers as heroes once they die than afford all its citizens the necessary means so they dont have to enlist in order to have more income.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:28 pmomg!… is this a fox flip-flop?
April 26th, 2007 at 3:28 pmThe heroes that the Repukes spend every day trying to undermine.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:29 pmBrett Hume and Fred Barnes will bitch-slap ole Shep over those remarks. Nobody at the FuxNewsChannel is allowed off the reservation.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:30 pmWho sent our troops into Iraq without enough armor?
The Repukes did.
Who cut funding for military and VA hospitals that led to the Walter Reed scandal?
The Repukes did.
Who is destroying our military in the Iraq meatgrinder?
The Repukes are.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:31 pmDead soldiers tend to erode support for a war. That’s why we’re not allowed to see them.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:32 pmWe’re not allowed to see Bush’s victims. This is America, after all.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:34 pm.
Poor Shepeard. I actually like him. It’s a shame he has to go against his morals so often working for FoxNoise.. :(
April 26th, 2007 at 3:35 pmTom3,
Spare me your idiocy.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:36 pmCould you be more callous and out of touch with reality?
April 26th, 2007 at 3:38 pm“hundreds upon hundreds”?? Someone should let Shep know we’ve passed the three thousand mark.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:40 pmDead soldiers tend to erode support for a war. That’s why we’re not allowed to see them. Comment by Publicus — April 26, 2007 @ 3:32 pm
That’s not really true. Iraqis see dead *soldiers* all of the time, and it hasn’t slowed them down. Dead soldiers tend to erode support for a wars of choice, convenience and especially ones that are purely political and/or economically driven.
This is the same as Vietnam, which wasn’t a war we *had* to fight. When we stopped fighting it, the world didn’t come to an end, as all of the pessimists had claimed it would. Iraq is the same. The Iraqis in their civil war are not our enemy - and we should stop treating them as such.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:41 pmWouldn’t it be nice if we were able to do this with the hundreds upon hundreds who have died for us in Iraq?
It amazes me the subtle and not so subtle beatification of violence.
Better yet, short sighted Fox News apologist of war, NO SOLDIER should return dead. NO SOLDIER should invade another country for lies and protection of American Corporation interests, NO POOR KIDS should go to the recruit office for a better education and opportunities in life, NONE OF THAT should happen in any country, NO SOLDIER should drop bombs over civilian people, NO SOLDIER should have to be remembered because they all would be alive. STOP THIS CULTURE OF WAR.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:41 pmTom3,
I agree that you should spare Ringo your idiocy. He’s got enough of his own!
April 26th, 2007 at 3:42 pmBut airing that warplanes of the USA can crash isn’t aiding and abetting the enemy?
April 26th, 2007 at 3:43 pmIs there nothing that you people won’t use to get in another jab at the current targets of your vile, hateful rantings? Can a man not be laid to rest without being used by you? Most Americans wouldn’t want our soldier’s coffins paraded through the streets for our enemies to broadcast and use (too bad we can’t stop them from being used by American citizens). Can you devise a way that loyal Americans could pay their respects to returning deceased soldiers without our enemies, domestic or foreign, using it for their own demented purposes? You people are sickening.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:44 pm#46 Comment by cc — April 26, 2007 @ 3:44 pm
And you’re an useful sheep.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:46 pmDear Trolls,
Spare me your inbred drooling.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:48 pmActually, couldn’t some enterprising Democrat submit a bill that would allow the filming and photographing of returning soldiers, alive or dead? Wouldn’t that force Bush to employ his obvious intellectual dishonesty to try to thwart such efforts? It’d be a good political move.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:49 pmChimpy is going to stay in Iraq until he’s either killed every American soldier or every Iraqi civilian. Doesn’t matter which to him, either.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:49 pmringo, head over to the White House to collect your quarter. then come back and change your name to Judas.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:50 pmComment by zooey
I’ve seen Zooey say she doesn’t have a TV. And doesn’t watch it.
Nice try assmunch.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:52 pm#49 I personally watch CNN and MSNBC they are the two communist networks I can really get behind,screw that American False news channel and their allowing two view points
Comment by NOT zooey — April 26, 2007 @ 3:48 pm
You’re an idiot Michael, and nobody cares what you do or think.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:53 pmcc, you’re very happy that thousands are laid to rest for your purposes, right? you like the idea that we don’t honor our soldiers, right? you can’t stand to have the light of truth shine on your leader’s incompetence and idiocy, can you? You are the worst kind of American, a cheap follower of cheap whores.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:53 pm*
The Blue Angels are a waste of money and fuel, and a arrogant display of power. We’re lucky he’s the only one dead.
Let’s call for an end to all entertainment-related fuel consumption.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:54 pmComment by zooey
Zooey doesn’t use her name with a lower case Z
I believe she has been namejacked by pervert stalker micheal
April 26th, 2007 at 3:54 pmMicheal,
For stalking Zooey so much, you don’t know shit about her.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:55 pmShow the blood-soaked victims at Virginia Tech. Show the twisted bodies in the streets of New Orleans. Show the blank dead faces of Uday, Qusay and Saddam. Show people jumping to their death from the Twin Towers. Show the home video of Cho Seung-hui pointing his guns at the camera.
But don’t show a flag-draped coffin; it’s far too much for the public to see.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:58 pmOh, and returning to the thread, after uncovering the michael’s NAME JACKING OF Zooey,
it’s a shame that the only dead soldier honored by the Fox is one that hasn’t died in combat in Iraq.
April 26th, 2007 at 3:59 pmundermining the troops?
President Bush is the one promising to veto funding for the troops. The Democratic Congress has PASSED funding for the troops. Bush is the one calling the money for veteran’s health care and fixing Walter Reed “pork”.
April 26th, 2007 at 4:03 pmThe trolls on this site are so catty; it’s like reading MoDo. I supposed they have to do something while waiting for Michelle Malkin to changes into her cheerleading outfit.
Evil Spaniard, pithy comment. On the money.
April 26th, 2007 at 4:08 pmHappy B-Day to DrXJ today.
April 26th, 2007 at 4:08 pmFreudian panties, I mean SLIP…
April 26th, 2007 at 4:08 pmIt was a Jungian slip…
April 26th, 2007 at 4:09 pmI personally watch CNN and MSNBC they are the two communist networks I can really get behind,screw that American False news channel and their allowing two view points
Comment by zooey — April 26, 2007 @ 3:48 p
This IS NOT ZOOEY! First michael stalks her like a psycho so that she left and now somebody is stealing her name and making outrageous comments. Oh and Zooey doesn’t have a tv moron.
TP please stop this.
April 26th, 2007 at 4:10 pmGiuliani has a Freudian slip and frilly Jungian panties.
April 26th, 2007 at 4:13 pmCNN is commie alright…they have Glenn Beck, who is a totalitarian police state kinda guy that Joe Stalin would have loved.
April 26th, 2007 at 4:14 pm#66 Comment by Shane
I just reported the namejacking to TP.
April 26th, 2007 at 4:16 pmSmith was later fired and personally executed by Roger Ailes…
April 26th, 2007 at 4:16 pmThanks OutSourced. I don’t like war and I believe that soldiers should’t exist but, for God’s sake, if the militarists want to honor one of the own country’s died soldiers, start by the ones dying in a war action for the country they represent.
April 26th, 2007 at 4:17 pmVICTIMS! wow.
April 26th, 2007 at 4:20 pm“This is a scene we are not accustomed to see during war times. ”
Got to see em during Vietnam. That was a ‘war time’.
April 26th, 2007 at 4:23 pmFaux NoNooz will be under extreme pressure from Darth Cheney and the boyz to fix their bad attitudes, and quick. No more of this Leftie Democrat party support stuff!
After all, we don’t parade the blown up Humvees through the streets, so why would we want to show soldiers? The NeoCon Cabal feel they are both totally expendable.
April 26th, 2007 at 4:24 pmCareful, Shep, unless you want another beating from your pimps.
April 26th, 2007 at 4:29 pmIf you really want to see caskets, why don’t you join the Patriot Guard.
April 26th, 2007 at 4:36 pmI personally watch CNN and MSNBC they are the two communist networks I can really get behind,screw that American False news channel and their allowing two view points
Comment by zooey — April 26, 2007 @ 3:48 pm
Oh, Michael´s favorite time of day: STALKING TIME!!
When you dont have a life, you stalk one!!!
April 26th, 2007 at 4:43 pmre #31
My opinion is that US society rather regard soldiers as heroes once they die than afford all its citizens the necessary means so they dont have to enlist in order to have more income.
Similar to the care and regard for the children, until they are born.
April 26th, 2007 at 4:48 pm“cc, you’re very happy that thousands are laid to rest for your purposes, right? you like the idea that we don’t honor our soldiers, right? you can’t stand to have the light of truth shine on your leader’s incompetence and idiocy, can you? You are the worst kind of American, a cheap follower of cheap whores.”
Comment by ronjazz — April 26, 2007 @ 3:53 pm
The nearest thing you will find to me defending any leader on this site is to say to wait for the evidence before you claim someone is guilty. I’ve also said I questioned Bush’s character before he was ever elected. I’ve said I think we need to get out of Iraq. I have pointed out liberals who are guilty of the same things as Republicans when people here seem not to understand that crooked politicians come from every party. The issue at hand is respect for the dead and for their families. No matter what you think of the war, simple humanity dictates that you should be against parading dead soldiers in front of the cameras so they can then be repeatedly shown by radical terrorists on tv, pictures printed and distributed to use as they see fit. We’ve seen what those people are capable of and there is no reason to subject our dead to their sick games. We hear the numbers every day and some of us truly grieve over those who have died. Then there are those who don’t care about the dead or their grieving families, they just see another way to take a stab at those they oppose. If you agree with the sleazy, inhumane comments here, then you don’t need to worry about being a decent American. You need to try and learn what it means to be a decent human being.
April 26th, 2007 at 5:25 pmHey, looks to me that FNC is fair and balanced after all.
April 26th, 2007 at 5:36 pmI dunno why, but Shep Smith, at least since Katrina, has always been one of few Foxies willing to actually say something outside of the normal Murdoch/Ailes-fed frame.
April 26th, 2007 at 5:46 pmI suspect Shepard won’t be working much longer at Fox. This man was absolutely horrified by what he saw in New Orleans….particularly the apparent refusal, by authorities, to help people who were stranded on a bridge! No food, no water, no rescue. Anyway, good for him for saying this…and I suspect his use of the term “victims” was not accidental on his part.
April 26th, 2007 at 6:05 pmComment by OutSourced — April 26, 2007 @ 3:21 pm # 25.
Wow…well said!
April 26th, 2007 at 6:09 pmTom 3,
April 26th, 2007 at 6:55 pmChimpy will stay in Iraq till Jan 20,2009,when he hands it over to the next Pres, That’s the story of his life,he has never finished anything in his life,always having poppy to clean up for him!
Hundreds upons hundreds = thousands. The truth is that they have not died for us, they have been sacrificed for the failed policies of this administration. There is nothing noble or heroic about giving your life to the service of your country when your country is nefariously misguided.
Peace!
April 26th, 2007 at 7:08 pmHe did recover a bit in the end with that closing mis-statement. Thousands is more accurate.
April 26th, 2007 at 7:10 pmTo the chickenhawk scum, THIS is the sole lesson - the prime PR directive - they learned from the Vietnam debacle: Hide your dead.
April 26th, 2007 at 7:45 pmThe best talking point I have heard from the right is that you don’t want pictures and video of our dead soldiers getting into the hands of the enemy, for horrible propaganda use.
I still feel this is weak.
Talk amongst yourselves…
April 26th, 2007 at 8:52 pmAtrios summed it up best… “Blind Squirrel Finds a Nut”
April 26th, 2007 at 8:52 pmShep, you are done. It is clear you are a closet liberal. Fox doesn’t like that.
April 26th, 2007 at 10:48 pm> No matter what you think of the war, simple humanity
> dictates that you should be against parading dead soldiers
> in front of the cameras so they can then be repeatedly
> shown by radical terrorists on tv, pictures printed
> and distributed to use as they see fit.
your a serious idiot CC….. the insurgents are videotaping the actual killings themselves, explosions, gore, and all. THAT footage is what they use and distribute. sorta like we publicized pictures of saddam’s dead sons for all to see. we were trying to prove that the hussien regime was not invincible, and the purpose of insurgents videos is to show that america is not invincible. thats just reality. if you have any proof of your assertion that military funerals are being spliced into insurgent videos id love to see it. they dont need to… which do you think is going to “fire up their base” more…
A) a picture of a neat/tidy funeral of someone whose cause of death is not readily obvious,
or
B) a picture of a humvee getting blown to bits or a soldier getting his brains blown out by a sniper?
Heaven forbid the american people actually see the reality of war instead of thinking its all a bid video game.
Spare me your feigned outrage. Your full of shiite and everyone here knows it. You want to talk about blind hate, lets talk about impeaching presidents over blow jobs and using a friend’s suicide to try and fabricate murder allegations.
You claim to be so worried about the “dignity of the dead” but I say your full of it. so I guess your willing to support a policy that allows soldiers to check a box on thier application saying “i give permission for my funeral to be filmed” , right? I can guarantee you, theres alot of pissed off soldiers over there who know they might have to die for a lie and would love to help the american people to see the painful reality of war even if they are only able to do so after thier death.
So would you be willing to give soldiers the opporunity to give advance permission for thier funerals to be filmed?
April 27th, 2007 at 4:44 amWTF kind of photos do you think are being withheld from military funerals ?
They’re in coffins you know. They don’t just unload body parts into a hole.
For that matter what does this reporter think “honouring soldiers” would involve. What are you people going to salute every time there is a photo of a coffin in the newspaper ?
Or maybe youtube the video of families grieving as their son’s coffin is buried. Honour them like that.
Who knows. In the meantime though we could hear some personal accounts from all the people here who think their honouring of killied soldiers is being infringed, about how you have been honouring them in the meantime.
Got any ?
Because, you know, you can go to Milblogs and see fundraising for equipment, rehab, and family support services for serving, returned and killed soldiers every month of the year. You can read about the decorations received and accounts of bravery of those serving. You can read calls to attend and accounts from memorial services for soldiers. You can read about blogs with a fraction of the readership of this one organising for memorials to honour those killed in action. You can read responses of appreciation from soldiers and their families for all of the above.
You here have got what to share ?
April 27th, 2007 at 5:34 amYou’ve all known you wouldn’t be seeing photos of coffins for some time now. Tell us how you’ve been compensating for having that avenue (looking at pictures) denied as a way to honour fallen US servicemen. Please do.
Thousands — not hundreds. Thousands.
It is disgusting that in a supposedly free country we are not allowed to collectively grieve for our war dead across the publicly owned airwaves.
Fucking disgusting.
April 27th, 2007 at 5:34 amThey did that in the ‘Juba’ video shown here…
http://tinyurl.com/9mex6
In fact IIRC the image shown above of coffins are spliced in at every intermission of the video. They receive more air time than any single video of a sniping incident.
April 27th, 2007 at 5:51 am“you can go to Milblogs and see fundraising for equipment, rehab, and family support services for serving, returned and killed soldiers every month of the year” how pathetic that in this country the gov’t won’t give their soldiers equipment and medical care, and a hat has to be passed around to try and take care of it. how sad, how telling, how third world of us. the administration in charge should be ashamed.
April 27th, 2007 at 8:48 amwhich do you think is going to “fire up their base†more…
A) a picture of a neat/tidy funeral of someone whose cause of death is not readily obvious,
or
B) a picture of a humvee getting blown to bits or a soldier getting his brains blown out by a sniper?
Comment by Knappy Headed Ho — April 27, 2007 @ 4:44 am
I’m thinking maybe dead soldier hanging out of the Humvee, picture of the flag draped coffin, followed by some tight shots of the grieving parents, widow and children. Lots of “religion of peace” guys would be dancing over that. You tell em Knappy
April 27th, 2007 at 9:10 amno more grieving for dead people on TV. No more coffins, or funerals for shooting victims, or Blue Angel pilots, or funerals for dead Playboy starlets– no matter who it is, they can’t show it anymore. It reeks too much, when the American public can’t honor war dead, they really can’t honor anyone on broadcast TV without screams of protest. We need more sanitation, more feel-good news, just cover lost pets or lost children, more Hollywood or TV news, let’s just discuss Sanjaya or dancing with the stars.
April 27th, 2007 at 10:56 amBush didn’t want to subjected to the “Dover Test”, probably because he knew he would fail…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dover_test
April 27th, 2007 at 12:40 pmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ Image:USCasualtiesC130DoverAFB.jpg
April 27th, 2007 at 12:47 pmOnce Bill O’Reilly and Hannity get wind of Shep’s comments his days at FOX are numbered.
April 27th, 2007 at 1:02 pmPersonally, I’d like the news channels to broadcast the images of the 911 attacks, often.
April 27th, 2007 at 1:04 pmYou don’t have to like Bush; you can even dislike him and his unfair policy of hiding returning heroes and still like FOX News. You just have to be willing to hear something other than the snide, anti-free speech, venom-spewing morons that anchor the network shows and MSNBC.
I actually get to hear two sides presented on most issues on “The Factor” and Hannity & Colmes”. Try getting that from MSNBC incompetents such as the celebrity-obsessed Joe Scarborough, who hosts “Scarborough Countpry” or the paper-throwing, Bill O’Reilly bashing joke, Keith Obermann, who hosts “Countdown” on the same station.
So commentors, why don’t you talk about the returning casualties who deserve recognition, not your irrational hatreds of FOX News?
April 27th, 2007 at 1:22 pmisn’t joe scarborough a conservative?
April 27th, 2007 at 1:30 pmIn all fairness, this policy pre-dates Bush 43:
(http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A55816-2003Oct20)
April 27th, 2007 at 2:53 pm“but it apparently went unheeded and unenforced, …” when you take a country to war for no good reason step 1 has got to be enforcing that one.
April 27th, 2007 at 3:52 pmanother example of great journalism from fox news…
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/04/27/fox-parody/
April 27th, 2007 at 6:55 pmso now we see that a) they don’t tell us about civilian casualties in Iraq, b) they “underreport” casualties from certain types of attacks c) prevent US from seeing funerals of our own soldiers.
free government or monarchy?? sick bastards
April 27th, 2007 at 8:16 pmStill no word on how anyone has honoured any returned or killed soldiers ?
April 27th, 2007 at 10:41 pmReally counting on being able to look at photos of coffins in order to do this were we. Ah well, better luck next war.
It’s all about the Dover Test. The administration didn’t want to take it because they know they would fail. This is the most sterile war ever from the perspective of images seen by the American public…by design. Are you defending this war? You feel it’s justified? I didn’t think so, well maybe next war.
April 27th, 2007 at 10:46 pmNo, I’m not defending this war and I didn’t think it was justified. The difference being I’m not pretending that I am doing otherwise just so I can pretend I give a toss about issues I don’t.
I note that after 108 comments the following things do not appear here:
1. Any suggestion of why the general public is entitled to see photos of military funerals.
2. Any suggestion why this policy is attributed to Bush, when it clearly wasn’t instituted by him and is exclusively the domain of the military.
3. Any consideration as to whether the families burying their dead kin would want this worst day of their life broadcast.
4. Any suggestion as to why media outlets would publish such images if both the Pentagon and the families of the deceased did permit this. Every news outlet on the planet reports every death. News outlets run daily lists of the names of those killed. If there is some value to broadcasting the funerals also, it’s yet to be suggested.
5. No examples of how any reader here is compensating for not being able to see coffins of dead soldiers in their quest to show support and gratitude for troops.
6. The name of the website where you can see these photos if you really wanted to.
That would tend to indicate this is pure fluff. An issue none of you actually care enough about to dedicate any thought or reasoning to. But this fake show of interest is required to maintain the appearance of ’support’.
Really, how else would you end up with a call of “show us the photos we already can’t be bothered looking at”.
April 28th, 2007 at 3:31 amKilo its called “showing the reality of war”….I’ve said this and so have others. People like you love to live in your little bubble, and you want everyone else to also. People should know the results of the decisions thier politicians make. Saying “one soldier died today” doesnt impress upon people the gravity of death and the resulting loss and suffering. So the real question is “why shouldnt people see the reality of war”? (especially if the dead soldiers and thier families WANT the people they are fighting in the name of to see this reality). You post a bunch of questions, incorrectly claim none of them have been answered, but fail to even explain why in the inverse of those questions is a given and the opposite must be proved.
And you never answered my question about showing any proof insurgents have ever used american funerals in thier videos. Where is it smart guy?
April 28th, 2007 at 5:09 amAnd what does that count for ?
Do I really need to point out that showing coffins to US audiences would still leave unanswered questions of why anyone is in a coffin, considering no combat, blood, dismemberment or death is shown ?
These coffins would change something would they ? As I pointed out you already know when these servicemen are killed, are told their names and shown their faces (if you choose to watch those broadcasts that is).
Adding images of the most sanitised portrayal of someone killed in war, being an image of a flag on a box, would be a giant leap forward in terms of presenting the reality of war would it ?
Until you figure out that there is no Pentagon blockade on showing anything but coffins, you aren’t going to understand that official policy isn’t the reason you see no blood on your TV or print media.
In the meantime you are lecturing someone who has no such censorship of their media on the importance of this. You look like satire.
Really ? Well that certainly is a strange assessment for someone who:
1. Knows where to find uncensored war photographs and directs people to them, and
2. Doesn’t have their media censored to the same degree as you do and provides that uncensored media to people like you.
You know all those shocking documentaries about the war that you aren’t shown around the world but not in the US. The ones that you can only get by downloading them ?
Yeah well they’re made available to people like you by people like me.
You couldn’t be more wrong if you tried, idiot.
And ? If that was the concern then wouldn’t US casualties in the Iraq war be well down the list of deaths resulting from decisions of politicians that need exposure ?
You’ve never even heard the numbers of US deaths in Iraq compared to the numbers that die as a result of changes to laws which dictate access to affordable drugs and health care, let alone seen the bodies.
If they especially wanted this they could arrange for photographers to cover the funerals. This has been done in the past and featured in photography exhibits and even television coverage.
You’ll appreciate the irony that I — in my insulated bubble I want everyone else in — know about this but you don’t.
And you claim that they have been answered without even a hint as to what, where or when. Immediately before writing about someone else not providing you with details….
In the link I provided in the reply I made, non-smart guy.
Here’s a tip. If someone posts a reply which has no content other than the specific topic of providing you an answer you asked for and you can’t find the answer in that post, don’t bother writing about broader issues you cannot find answers to.
April 28th, 2007 at 11:57 pmLeave that to others who can hurdle the very lowest of bars. Like reading and clicking on links.
I did not even see this on the news because i refrain from watching those mediums. That is very sad that those who die in Iraq pass unrecognized, even though they are the ones fighting. I feel bad for the boy that crashed but it was training. Not really that heroic. Either his equipment failed or his skills as a pilot failed.
May 1st, 2007 at 1:25 am