ASSOCIATED PRESS INTERVIEWS TROOPS’ FAMILY MEMBERS WHO DON’T AGREE WITH BUSH!
Okay, so yesterday I ranted at length
about how oddly reluctant the big news orgs have been at this critical
moment of national decision-making about Iraq to interview troops or
family members who oppose a troop “surge” or even downright favor
withdrawal.
Well, credit where credit’s due: Now the Associated Press has gone and done just that. It’s really worth a read.
The AP interviewed family members who (a) oppose a “surge” and even want to pull out, and (b) aren’t named Cindy Sheehan. And the results are nothing short of wrenching:
Jonathan Lootens, from upstate New York, joined the Army, telling family members: ”This is something I have to do.”
”It did impact him and make him feel like he should serve,” his
father, Robert Lootens, said Tuesday. ”He felt that this was his
time.”The 25-year-old sergeant was killed during his second tour of duty when a roadside bomb went off near his vehicle in the city of Kirkuk. His father says more than enough Americans have died in the conflict.
”I want the boys to come home, you know,” Lootens said.
”Personally, I can’t see where we’re really accomplishing anything
over there anymore.”
The AP story, which is about how the Iraq death toll has surpassed
the number killed on 9/11, also solicits views of this stat from family
members of people killed in the Sept. 11 attacks — you know, the
attacks that President Bush claims he avenged
by going to war with Iraq. While one bereaved family member interviewed
backs the war, another has somehow not found that the Iraq war makes
her feel any better about her 9/11 loss:
The death toll in Iraq was an emotional reminder of loss
for family members of Sept. 11 victims. Sally Regenhard’s son
Christian, a firefighter and a Marine, was killed at the trade center
on Sept. 11.”I just would like this war to stop in whatever way we need to,”‘ Regenhard said. ”I can hardly tolerate it when I see these beautiful people. It reminds me of my son.”
The White House is still pushing the repulsive line that the only
way to give meaning to the lives that have been lost already is to
continue fighting — that is, to continue to lose more lives. Yesterday a White House spokesman told reporters: “The president will ensure that their sacrifice was not made in vain.”
Just try to imagine for a sec what it would be like if the major
networks saw fit to ask bereaved family members like these to rebut
White House comments like this one with any regularity. Just try to
imagine what it would be like if we heard such voices on the major
networks even a small fraction of the time.
—Greg Sargent
::Tullycast:: 