1-If something like this happened to my Marine grandson, now serving in the sandbox, I’m afraid my freedom would be short lived as I would do great bodily harm to anyone associated with allowing it to happen. Of course I would have to beat my son to the punch and he is capable of much more violent harm than I at my age.

2-It’s very telling that the SecDef is the only one in the administration protesting this publicly. Although I may have missed it, I haven’t heard a peep from the C-in-C, the Commandant of the Marine Corp or the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. Shame on all of them. They have surely lost their compass, as if the C-in-C ever had one.

Semper Fi from the retired Seabee.

I don’t fault the photographer for taking the photo in the first place. She couldn’t have known for sure that LCPL Bernard was going to die; our medical personnel are doing a wonderful job of saving many people who have been grievously wounded. And, such photos have their place as historical records. However, everyone who was involved in the decision to publish the photo in newspapers should be slapped (at least).

Nuthin’ but a pencil-neck geek.

I was actually on the other side when this issue raised it’s ugly head the first time (2003, my son was part of the initial push into Iraq) – re: a dying soldier being carried to the medivac by his comrades. I believed (then) that as the parent of a dying soldier I would get some comfort of seeing him being taken care of by his comrades rather than dying alone. Damn those emos and look what they’ve done to this War.

As the War went on and I saw exactly how biased the reporting (most especially AP) – has been – this was not done for some high journalistic purpose nor to help or support our Troops. It is solely about turning America against the GWOT. Even having been an Army wife since 1975 – I had no real clue as to exactly what these young men & women do – and if I did not – imagine how clueless the general public is much less those whose sole goal is to end War (most particularly Republican President started Wars).

And I realized that the sole intention of these ‘publications’ is 1) illegal – they sign a contract and must obtain consent prior to publication and 2) is disgusting at least, immoral at worst and 3) I believe done solely to incite and gin up the rabid Left to force Bush/Obama to withdraw our Troops in defeat and humiliation – which is simply Treason or is that Sedition?!?

Either way – their embedds should have been withdrawn and their credentials revoked immediately and the AP should not be allowed to ‘report’ as they have proven they are more concerned with their agenda than common decency, laws or signed contracts.

Where is a good trial and hanging when you need one?

Immediately stop embeds and the lesson will immediately be learned!!

(I’d love to take the AP and the photog A-hole to the back shed for a lesson in manners…….my brothers insist)

Semper Fi

Tom Curley………you have no morals and I’d love to teach you some.
You sir(?) make me sick!!!!!!!!!

It is wrong on so many levels – and disgusting too. Why is it only the Armed Forces that the msm seems so willing to abuse in such ways? They are our sons & daughters, our husbands and our wives, and our mothers and our fathers – they are America. These cretins would not show a black youth shot & dying in the street. They would not allow for a nano-second the police pictures of a rape victim – so that the public could see the ‘grimness and sacrifice’ a perfectly innocent person suffered and they (most especially Huff Po) would scream mightily if oh say a Pro-Life worker would show an ultrasound picture to a woman prior to an abortion. But our Brave Armed Forces are fair game for anything – including lies and breaking the law.
AP did it on purpose to create outrage and incite the Left to rise up and force Obama to pull our Troops out in defeat and humiliation.
And that is Treason. Where is a good hanging when you need it.
God Rest the soul of LCPL Joshua Bernard. May John & Sarah Bernard be granted comfort in this horrible time of grief made worse by public exhibitionism via the AP.

AP picture of wounded Marine sparks debate
By Associated Press Writer David Bauder Sept 5, 2009

NEW YORK – Defense Secretary Robert Gates expressed disappointment Friday at news outlets that used a picture taken and distributed by The Associated Press depicting a U.S. Marine mortally wounded in combat in Afghanistan.

The AP distributed the picture despite personal pleas from Gates and the dead Marine’s family in a case…

The picture, by AP photographer Julie Jacobson, showed Lance Cpl. Joshua “Bernie” Bernard, 21, lying on the ground with severe leg injuries after being struck by a grenade in an ambush on Aug. 14, his fellow Marines tending to him. Bernard later died of his wounds.

Gates wrote a strongly worded letter to AP President and CEO Tom Curley on Thursday, saying it was a matter of “judgment and common decency” not to use the photo. A Pentagon spokesman said Gates followed up with a phone call “begging” Curley not to use it.

John Daniszewski, AP senior managing editor, said he respected Gates’ view but that sometimes the government and press have different perspectives.

“We thought that the image told a story of sacrifice; it told a story of bravery,” Daniszewski said. “We felt that the picture told a story that people needed to see and be aware of.”

Jacobson and reporter Alfred de Montesquiou were embedded with Bernard’s unit and had followed them on patrol in Dahaneh, Afghanistan. She took her pictures from a distance using a long lens. The AP on Thursday ran a package of photos from that day and others that showed his life in uniform and his memorial service. The AP also distributed a detailed story, accompanied by the photographer’s journal and an article explaining why the photo was used.

“Why your organization would purposely defy the family’s wishes knowing full well that it will lead to yet more anguish is beyond me,” Gates wrote. “Your lack of compassion and common sense in choosing to put this image of their maimed and stricken child on the front page of multiple newspapers is appalling.”

A check on Friday found the story had been used on at least 20 newspaper front pages. None used the picture of a mortally wounded Bernard on the front page,

although it was used inside newspapers and on Web sites like the Huffington Post.

While the story was being written, an AP reporter visited the home of John and Sharon Bernard to learn more about their son. The couple was shown Jacobson’s pictures, and requested that they not be used. In a later fact-checking phone call, John Bernard asked in stronger terms that the photos not be used, Daniszewski said.

Although the family was shown the pictures ahead of time as a courtesy, “we did not ask permission” to use them, Daniszewski said.

“There was no question that the photo had news value,” he said. “But we also were very aware the family wished for the picture not to be seen. That created a difficult choice between our job to document the war and our respect for the suffering of the corporal’s family.”

The Huffington Post put the picture on its front page Friday under the headline, “Snapshot of an Unseen War.”

It provoked a vigorous debate among its readers. One wrote: “This just isn’t right. The man is dead. Not injured. Dead. Just wrong.”

Associated Press Writer Pauline Jelinek in Washington contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200.....h_ap_photo