CNN Commits War Crimes
03 23 2003Video of American POWs shown on Iraqi television provoked outrage in Washington. Rumsfeld and Bush both cried foul quite loudly, claiming such video violates the Geneva Convention and therefore constitutes a war crime.
American television, especially Fox and CNN, gave the issue several hours of play on Sunday. Anchors with furrowed brows read Article 13 aloud so that we at home could furrow our brows as well.
A P.O.W.
Then during a commercial break, I visited the CNN website and downloaded some pictures of Iraqi POWs being led around. I also downloaded some pictures of Iraqi KIAs lying in the sand. I could have watched video of these same scenes (but it was pay content in crappy Real format.) Then I returned to watching the news, hoping somebody might explain why Iraq’s video is a war crime and ours isn’t. But nobody did.
It’s a sad (and/or disgusting) hypocrisy that our mainstream news sources simply repeat Rumsfeld’s rhetoric without question, while committing the same supposed crimes themselves without apology.
During the last war in the Persian Gulf, American tv showed plenty of footage that the current administration now claims is criminal. So if showing any POW video really is a war crime as Rumsfeld claims, then Bush the Elder needs to be captured and brought to justice after we’re done with Saddam. Wolf Blitzer should be brought in too — as the current Minister of Propaganda at CNN, he is certainly culpable.
My prayers for a safe return home are with every soldier, no matter where that home might be.
I pray that our POWs are treated humanely, and that we do the same.
And lastly, I pray for an end to thinly veiled propaganda pretending to be journalism.
Notice the surrender flag in this photo of Iraqi corpses…
