Friday, March 30, 2007

WHY NOT JUST SAY NOTHING, MR. NATO SPOKESMAN

Today we have another “no news” release designed to hide the truth about the war in Afghanistan.
A “NATO” soldier was killed Thursday and three wounded in eastern Afghanistan – where the majority of our U.S. troops are based. But again, the military public affairs officers do not discuss the nationality of the casualties.
U.S. casualties should not be considered nameless NATO coalition numbers - our troops deserve the honor and respect for their sacrifice - but because of current and shameful politics, they die largely unknown to America.
The Associated Press and Agence France Presse filed wire copy, which was picked up by only a few online sites. There was no mention of this combat or Afghanistan in my local paper or the New York Times.

The U.S. military used to say they would not name the soldiers, claiming that they were sensitive to the feelings of the family. Then, they would say, they do not want to release the casualty’s unit – because then a whole bunch of Army wives/families get freaked out when they hear the news at their home base. These are reasonable decisions, but the delay in information about a casualty can likely be release within 24 hours – because it does not take that long for the military to contact the family after their loved one was killed.

Now, things have progressed – we hide behind the idea that we’re ALL IN A COALITION – as if it does not matter to Americans, should the casualty be one of our own – because we’re part of NATO….
And because the journalists can guess on which country suffered the loss by the location of the firefight – now the “NATO” command in Kabul will not even discuss where the combat occurred!

“Somehow, someone died sometime somewhere in something that involved some others,” NATO spokesman said.

So, why not just say nothing at all.


LINK TO AP WIRE COPY:






1 comment:

Kevin Eaton said...

Rick,

You're so right. The politics of this war makes me sick. Everyone who dies comes from a specific country. The instant we stop recognizing that fact, the sooner we are desensitized to the war. As a Soldier, every time a fellow Soldier is killed in action, I want the world to know where he came from, what he did, and who he left behind.