What a Difference a President Makes When It Comes To Outrage Over Abuse by Our Soldiers

Who could forget Abu Ghraib? How could you? The news was saturated with the disgusting and sick photographs of soldiers with prisoners. We were shocked and horrified. The media couldn’t get enough. There was practically 24/7 coverage for weeks on end about it. Every aspect of the story was covered in print, online, and the news. Fingers pointed everywhere. But the media and the left insisted the blame rested at the top, with Pres. Bush. The leftwing pundits couldn’t utter the words, “Abu Ghraib,” without including the name, “Pres. Bush.”

The right insisted it was an isolated incident that was reported to officials, and the people involved punished. But the left and the media made the most of this red meat story. Never mind what it made the Middle East and the rest of the world think of us. Never mind that it made the entire military look guilty, when it was an isolated few. Damaging the reputation of our military didn’t matter, as long as it made Pres. Bush look bad.

What a difference a President makes.

You may or may not have heard about the equally (or arguably worse because the victims were completely innocent Afghans) horrifying photographs of soldiers disrespecting and abusing corpses in Afghanistan. They were published in German news weekly Der Spiegel. You may not have heard about it because the media is practically ignoring it. This time there is no wall to wall coverage. Other than the normal reporting on a international story, there has been no night after night coverage. This time Pres. Obama’s name is never even mentioned. It seems the left doesn’t get as upset about abuse if it falls on one of their own’s watch. The New York Times, which devoted untold number of front pages to Abu Ghraib, has only to my knowledge run one story on this. The article appeared on p. 4, under the headline “Photos Imperil U.S. Relations With Afghans.” In comparison, The New Times ran 56 stories on Abu Ghraib. That is not counting the editorials, which were unending.

I waited a bit to report on this, because I wanted to see if our media would pick it up and go with it as they did Abu Ghraib. It came as no surprise to me that they did not.

The right doesn’t really report on this either because we are so devoted to our military. We know what wonderful men and women serve. We also know that in the millions that serve in the military, there will be bad apples. For that reason we are reluctant to run a story that paints our military in a bad light.

So, you have an equally terrible story, but a much different take on it. Make no mistake. This story is just as horrifying as Abu Graib. According to Der Spiegel, not only were these people tortured, but they were abused after they died. Cut off fingers were kept as “souvenirs.” Photos include one of a severed head and another showing a pair of blown off legs. Add to this, they were civilians. It’s completely sickening and evil. We on the right should not be afraid to write about this just because we know that this is an isolated incident. Abuse should never be tolerated.

The first two soldier’s to be court-martialed in the case are Spc. Jeremy Morlock and Private First Class Andrew Holmes (who is pleading innocence). They are among five Stryker Brigade soldiers that faced court-martial on charges of premeditated murder from the deaths of three Afghan villagers whose killings were allegedly staged to look like legitimate combat casualties.

Morlock has pled guilty to three counts of murder and other offenses. Under the plea deal, he has received a 24-year prison sentence, as opposed to the life term he faced if convicted of all charges in a trial.

In one case, Morlock said that Sgt. Calvin R. Gibbs urged them to kill the innocent Afghans, and then planted a grenade next to the body to make it seem as if the man had tried to attack them.

Despicable and evil.

Army prosecutor Capt. Andre Leblanc has called the crimes acts of “unspeakable cruelty” by “a few extraordinarily misguided men. We don’t do this. This is not how we’re trained. This is not the Army.”

This is very true, and needs to not be forgotten, as it was in the Abu Ghraib story.

Seven other soldiers in the platoon were charged with lesser crimes, including assaulting the witness in the drug investigation, drug use, firing on unarmed farmers and stabbing a corpse.

The difference in coverage between this and Abu Ghraib speaks to the hypocrisy of the left and the media. It also speaks to their loyalty to Pres. Obama. Heaven forbid he be slandered with this as Bush was with Abu Graib. Of course, Obama is no more responsible for this than Bush was with Abu Graib, but that didn’t keep the media and the left for making it seem so. No, the media wants Obama to win re-election. If this became a big story, that might not happen.

This is where we have come with the dishonesty of journalism.

It is so important to the left punditry to not have this story blow up, the fact that Morlock is from Wasilla, Alaska and was a friend and hockey teammate of Sarah Palin’s son, Track, hasn’t caused them to go bat crazy exploiting that little factoid, which you know, if it were any other story that didn’t make Obama look bad, they would be all over it like fleas on an hound dog.

The left and media believe in “protect and defend” when it comes to Pres. Obama. Outrage over abuse is muted. Once again, if you don’t practice what you preach, then you have no credibility with me.

Follow me on twitter! @KatMcKinley

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