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kolmapäev, mai 12, 2004

Responsibility

I ventured into the swamps of Townhall.com for this, so you people better appreciate it.

Here, Jonah Goldberg makes several points, most of which I think are pretty stupid.

First, like many conservative pundits, he seems to think that the media should show Nick Berg's beheading just like they showed the Iraqi abuse photos. This is an extremely simplistic and, well, wrong comparison. There's a very big difference between a picture of a naked guy on a leash and a video of a man being beheaded. The media has only shown the tamest of the abuse photos (which has led some very stupid commenters, Rush Limbaughs, and letter writers to claim the prisoners were only humiliated, not beaten or tortured). I haven't seen anyone showing the pictures of the sodomy, the alleged video of Iraqi guards raping young boys. I haven't even seen the photo of the Iraqi with the dog bite. The media has treated the Nick Berg footage exactly like they did the Iraqi photos. They have treated both cases exactly like they treated the Daniel Pearl video. They showed the tamest material and described the rest. There's no inconsistency. How you equate a photo of some chick pointing at Iraqis' penises with a video of a dude's head getting chopped off, I have no idea. But then, I'm not an idiot.

Goldberg also alleges that the murder of Nick Berg was a response to the photos being released. Well, even the White House and every Republican I've seen talk about it has rejected that theory. Does Goldberg really think they didn't plan on killing this guy anyway? More importantly, though, Goldberg attempts to shift the blame from the soldiers who did the torturing to the media that reported it. The media did its job. It reported the facts. The soldiers, on the other hand, tortured people, possibly committing war crimes. And it's the reporters' fault? That actually is "no different than a Holocaust-denier who'd ban photos from Auschwitz." I'm starting to doubt that conservative pundits are human. It's very possible that they're sophisticated illogic machines designed by reclusive but evil millionaires to mess with our heads.

The Abu Ghraib images are so shocking, so offensive and so sensational they will in all likelihood make America's job in Iraq and the Middle East immeasurably harder for a long time to come.

The actions of these soldiers are so shocking, so offensive and so sensational they will in all likelihood make America's job in Iraq and the Middle East immeasurably harder for a long time to come. The pictures these soldiers took are so shocking, so offensive and so sensational they will in all likelihood make America's job in Iraq and the Middle East immeasurably harder for a long time to come. Jonah's right that the images are horrible, but he's blaming the wrong guys. It's the soldiers who are responsible. No one else. If the media reports on a murder in DC, are they responsible for it? Are they responsible for actions taken victims' friends and family in response to it? No, the murderer is. How is this concept so difficult to grasp?

In Jonah's defense, I agree that the Post running the second batch of photos without confirming their authenticity was careless. It's just bad journalism. Also, he does raise a fair point about what purpose disclosing additional photos would serve. At the same time, there is a large portion of the population that isn't bothered by what happened at all. That group got even bigger after the Berg murder. And there's still the misconception among many on the right that no physical torture took place. A reminder of how horrible the actions of these soldiers were may not be a bad thing. Because we shouldn't forget the outrage and we shouldn't forget how wrong this was. I am afraid that will happen if the focus shifts away before the worst acts are revealed. Also, word is that the 60 Minutes II story is about another prison, suggesting that this problem is more widespread than we want to think. Personally, I'm pretty indifferent to more photos being released. I think the PR damage is already done and descriptions of what might be in the photos have softened the blow. But then, the point has been made and the story has been told. The story was told without pictures in January, though, and it was ignored by the public. It may take more pictures to keep the heat on until the full truth comes out.

Not surprisingly, professional Kerry-hater and RNC-stooge Mickey Kaus agrees with Jonah.
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