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April 22, 2004
GOD BLESS THE USA
There's been yet another shameful example of the chilling atmosphere of clampdowns on basic Constitutioanl freedoms that the Bush Administration has not only allowed, but encouraged to exist. A woman in Seattle was fired from her job with a defense contractor for releasing photos of the flag draped coffins of American service members returning from Iraq after having died in the service of their country. These photos exist elsewhere in the public domain -- leading the Pentagon to angrily call for a crackdown on the taking and releasing of such photos.
The stated reason for this policy is to protect the dignity of our servicememebers and prevent the sensationalizing of their deaths. But I have a few problems with this line of defense. One, the reason that those soldiers come home covered in the flag of our country is to acknowledge the sacrifice they made for it - and for us. I think it is unfair to deny these soliders that attention -- and unfair to deny the public the right to acknowledge these heroes. The photos are a somber reminder of the risks and sacrifices -- including the ultimate sacrifice -- that our military makes, and I think these guys deserve my being reminded of what they did, and having to take a moment to think about them when I see the photo. Preventing the release of these photos turns military dead into anonymous, under-the-rug statistics... and that's not right. We should all realize -- whether we oppose the war or support it -- that the sacrifices made are very real, made by real people whose loved ones will never be the same for their loss. These guys deserve to be real in the eyes of their countrymen.
My second problem is that the servicemen who died originally signed up for the military to defend and protect the ideals and freedoms of this country -- and among the most precious of those freedoms are freedom of speech and freedom of the press. It's a slap in the face to their memories for the Bush Pentagon to use them to deny those very freedoms to the American people. If you were to die by rushing into a burning building to save a kid, and then I got drunk at your funeral and ran the kid down in my car, you would have died for nothing and I would have dishonored your memory. That's what the Bush Pentagon is doing... running down the freedoms that our military died in the service of. What an insult.
And the third problem is this: the real reason they're doing it is to protect Bush. As long as military dead are anonymous statistics and not real people... as long as any attention paid to them can be blamed on the so-called liberal media's focus on morbidity... well, then the American people can be distracted from the real, human costs of Bush's war. But if we see, day after day, American military and defense personnel returning home for the last time covered in the American flag? Well, then it forces reality into our eyes. We can't ignore it anymore or idealize it. See that, and the war comes home to all of us every day. And that's something Bush fears. (They're remembring Vietnam in more ways than one over in the Bush White House.)
Americans are a brave and gallant people, and when the cause is just we will make any sacrifice and will gladly gives our lives in the service of that cause. But when the cause is suspect, when our leaders' motivations for a war are less than pure... Americans are just as brave in that we do not fear. nor do we hesitate, to question our leaders and call them out on their brash and foolhardy mistakes. So they only choice left to the Bush Administration is to hide the stark truth from the American people -- even at the expense of the memories of the very soldiers they sent into battle... one final insult from an Administration that sent them into battle under false pretenses and doesn't even try to hide it anymore.
Today, wherever you are, stop for a moment and think about the military and defense personnel who are in Iraq... both those who've died and those still fighting over there. Thank 'em for what they've done and what they gave. Don't let Bush's Pentagon keep you from recognizing what these guys have done. Pray if you do... if you're not relgious, just ponder. But don't let 'em be anonymous, and don't deny them the hero's remembrance they deserve.
