Photographing Truth

“Afghan photos worry military” reads the front page headline in today’s Oregonian.

The headline reflects the story that follows — up to a point.

The story says that the “revelations...caught on camera” have “intensified questions within the military community about where fundamental discipline is breaking down given the nature and length of the war.”

Questions: Are the photos intensifying the questioning? Does the military require photographs before it knows what is happening within its units? Before it gets serious? Do those photographs have to be made public in order for action to be taken? What if they had never been published?

As is all too common with stories that put the heat on government institutions, the very publication of the news (in this case photographs) becomes the story. Should the Los Angeles Times have printed them? What will the publication do to the morale of our troops? Will their lives be in danger?

(THIS STORY in today's New York Times reveals that the Pentagon made an issue of the publication and tried to stop it.)

In short, the publication itself, not what it reveals, becomes the headline grabber.

Lest we forget, the outrages depicted, like those of Abu Ghraib and others (the list long), are bought and paid for by us, the taxpayer. To extend the consumer analogy, we need to know what we are buying. If it isn’t what we had in mind, we need to stop buying it.

The problem is that we are forced to buy it. We have no options. The two major political parties are identical with regard to the brazen barbarity they have allowed in the military, the intelligence agencies and contract mercenaries.

As we get farther and farther into the 2012 campaign, the candidates will lay out sharp, allegedly “defining” differences between their parties. But who will point to their troubling similarities: reliance on massive contributions from the super-rich, the need to pander to and serve the military-industrial-media complex, the defense of “justice” that is anything but, the support of covert operations at home and abroad that shred human rights and human dignity, the denial of the need for immediate, urgent action to stop global warming, the acceptance of grotesque inequality?

“Afghan photos worry military.”

What kind of photos will it take to “worry” us, the People, into changing our current unresponsive political/governmental/military/industrial system?

HERE is an example of what's possible. The short clip is called "Things Happen."

Speakng the truth takes a hit as Crowley resigns

The State Department's chief spokesman P.J. Crowley has resigned over fall-out from his criticizing the abhorrent military prison treatment of Pfc. Bradley Manning, the accused WikiLeaks leaker.

Can there be any doubt that he was ordered to resign? If Crowley's resignation wasn't invited by the Administration, why didn't Secretary of State Hillary Clinton simply refuse to accept it?

Note that the BBC calls Crowley's remarks a "gaffe" in its headline. Since when is the truth a "gaffe"? Watch how this story is slanted in the media.

What message is the Obama administration sending public servants who want to level with the American people?

Crowley, who served in the Air Force for 26 years, was clearly not willing to accept the Administration's line that Manning's treatment at the Marine brig at Quantico is acceptable. Manning, who has not yet been tried, reportedly has been ordered to sleep naked in his cell, has been shackled and is in virtual solitary confinement.

Our "commander-in-chief" is clearly taking his orders from a military that, astonishingly, hasn't change its inhumane Abu Ghraib ways.

George W. Obama and Abu Quantico

In an earlier post, I commented that how the Obama Administration responds to the harsh and inhumane military incarceration of Pfc. Bradley Manning would speak volumes about this nation's leadership, the state of the presidency and the government.

The New York Times today reported on the President's direct response to a reporter's inquiry about Manning, who is accused (not convicted) of leaking thousands of government documents to WikiLeaks.

Bottomline: The "Commander-in-Chief" takes his orders from the military. Barack Obama is doing nothing to end Manning's abusive retreatment.

Read the story ... and weep.

After you wipe away the tears, write to protest HERE.

Abu Ghraib redux at Quantico

The prison treatment of WikiLeaks suspect Pfc. Bradley Manning is an outrage. He is being forced to sleep naked in his cell and to present himself naked at morning check-in at the Quantico brig.

And we thought that the humiliation inflicted on military prisoners ended with Abu Ghraib and the Bush Administration.

Write the White House to demand that our the President (who as Commander-in-Chief is responsible) end the inhumane treatment of Pfc. Manning.

Here is the Manning story as it appeared in today's New York Times.