Michelle Malkin reports that Lieutenant General Raymond T. Odierno, commander of Multinational Corps-Iraq has expressed his displeasure to the New York Times for publishing a photo of a mortally wounded American Soldier.
I am writing to express my profound disappointment in The New York Times’s decision to publish a photograph of a mortally wounded American soldier in its Jan. 29 issue and Web site posting. Not only are the photograph and video offensive, the clear depiction is also directly counter to the written agreement made by the reporter and the photographer before publication.
The article that accompanied the photograph and Web site video, ” ‘Man Down’: When One Bullet Alters Everything,” by the reporter, Damien Cave, and the photographer, Robert Nickelsberg, was a story of soldiers operating in and around Haifa Street in Baghdad.
This story can and should be told. That is not in question. What is disturbing to me personally and, more important, to the family of the soldier depicted in the photograph and the video, is that the young man who so valiantly gave his life in the service of others was displayed for the entire world to see in the gravest condition and in such a fashion as to elicit horror at its sight.
This photograph will be the last of this man that his family will ever see. Further, it will cause unnecessary worry among the families of other soldiers who fear that the last they see of their loved ones will be in a New York Times photograph lying grievously wounded and dying.
To achieve a mutually agreed upon standard of working together, all reporters and photographers are required to sign the Multinational Forces-Iraq News Media Ground Rules. In it, they agree to the following:
“Media will not be prohibited from covering casualties provided the following conditions are adhered to: (a) Names, video, identifiable written/oral descriptions or identifiable photographs of wounded service member will not be released without the service member’s prior written consent.”
No such consent was sought or provided.
All of us bear a responsibility to provide for the dignity of our service members in combat. This soldier and his family deserved better.
(Lt. Gen.) Raymond T. Odierno
Cmdr., Multinational Corps-Iraq
Camp Victory, Iraq, Feb. 2, 2007
To be honest, I have not read the New York Times in years and don’t intend to start now. I’m just as appalled as Lt. General Odierno at the lack of respect and honor displayed by the paper. It seems that the NYTimes has since been disembedded from Staff Sergeant Leija’s unit. I couldn’t agree more with taking such action. SSG Leija’s unit will never trust a reporter from the NYTimes again.
What ticks me off the most is that had this been an employee of Walmart or McDonalds, the NYTimes would not have published the photos before next of kin had been notified as I’m unaware of any agenda the rag has against those particular organizations. And I got it, they DO have an agenda against the administration and I’m not faulting them that, but when they dishonor the very men and women and families who sacrifice so much to preserve their freedom of speech, I’m a little more than ticked off… I got a case of the ass!
All of us bear a responsibility to provide for the dignity of our service members in combat. This soldier and his family deserved better.
Sgt Hook out.
Posted by Hook @ 2023 zulu | | Permalink
This post is filed under: Homefront & Soap Box & The Soldier
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