SubscribeNew York Times Posts Video Of Dying US Soldier
From the Houston Chronicle:
[NY Times caption:] After Staff Sgt. Hector Leija was shot in the kitchen of a Baghdad apartment last Wednesday, Pfc. Aaron Barnum retrieved the sergeant’s helmet. Robert Nickelsberg/Getty Images for The New York Times
Images of dying Texas soldier ignite debate
Jan. 31, 2007, 12:23AM
By MICHAEL HEDGES and JAMES PINKERTON
WASHINGTON — A photograph and videotape of a Texas soldier dying in Iraq published by the New York Times have triggered anger from his relatives and Army colleagues and revived a long-standing debate about which images of war are proper to show.
The journalists involved, Times reporter Damien Cave and Getty Images photographer Robert Nickelsberg, working for the Times, had their status as so-called embedded journalists suspended Tuesday by the Army corps in Baghdad, military officials said, because they violated a signed agreement not to publish photos or video of any wounded soldiers without official consent.
New York Times foreign editor Susan Chira said Tuesday night that the newspaper initially did not contact the family of Army Staff Sgt. Hector Leija about the images because of a specific request from the Army to avoid such a direct contact.
"The Times is extremely sensitive to the loss suffered by families when loved ones are killed in Iraq," Chira said. "We have tried to write about the inevitable loss with extreme compassion."
She said that after the newspaper account, with a photograph of the soldier, was published Monday, a Times reporter in Baghdad made indirect efforts to tell the family of the video release later that day. The video was still available for viewing on the Times’ Web site Tuesday night, when the newspaper notified clients of its photo service that the photograph at issue was no longer available and should be eliminated from any archives…
Chief Warrant Officer 4 Robert Lobeck, serving as the Army’s casualty assistance officer with Leija’s family in Texas, said seeing the images of Leija on the Internet was very upsetting to the relatives.
"Oh God, they shouldn’t have published a picture like that," Leija’s cousin Tina Guerrero, who had not seen the images but was aghast about them anyway, told the Houston Chronicle on Tuesday in Raymondville. She said the images would be especially hurtful to the soldier’s parents, Domingo and Manuela Leija, who have remained in the family’s home on the edge of town. ”It’s going to devastate them," Guerrero said. ”They’re having enough pain dealing with the death of their son."
Accompanying the Times article was a picture of Leija on a stretcher, an Army medic using his right hand to compress the sergeant’s wounded forehead. Leija was alive in the photograph. The story noted that he died later in the day.
Later Monday, the Times posted on its Web site a five-minute, 52-second video taken at the scene of the shooting, showing an interview with Leija before he was wounded, then the frantic moments after he is downed by a single shot…
The agreement that journalists are asked to sign as a condition of embedding has 14 rules. Rule 11 covers military casualties: "Names, video, identifiable written/oral description or identifiable photographs of wounded service members will not be released without service member’s prior written consent."
The ground rule goes on to say, "In respect for family members, names or images clearly identifying individuals ‘killed in action’ will not be released." The rule says names of soldiers killed can be released a day after family notification, but it does not address photographs or video images.
Chira said as far as she knew, the journalists had signed the forms. But she also said: "This issue has never been raised before when the New York Times has shown photographs of wounded soldiers." …
Chira also said she had been told by the reporter in Baghdad that he had reached out to two people with Texas connections to act as intermediaries to alert the family that a video was going to be posted. They were Kathy Travis, a press aide to Rep. Solomon Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, and Principal Gilbert Galvan of Raymondville High School.
Travis had a different account.
"Whoa, that isn’t what happened," she said Tuesday night in a telephone interview. "The reporter called me late Monday afternoon and said he understood that the family was upset and that he wanted us to know that he had the utmost respect for the soldier and wanted us to let the family know that."
Galvan said a New York Times reporter called Monday, saying he could not reach Leija’s relatives and asking Galvan to notify the family of the story and the impending release of the video.
Galvan said he went to the Leijas’ house and relayed the message. "They looked upset," he said…
Here is a link to the New York Times article, "‘Man Down’: When One Bullet Alters Everything."
As the article notes, the photograph has been removed. But you can still see the video there.
If Sgt. Leija had been a POW, publishing photos of his dying would have violated the Geneva Conventions.
But The Times is only concerned about the rights of our enemies.
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40 Responses to “New York Times Posts Video Of Dying US Soldier”
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January 31st, 2007 at 10:35 am
The only question is where are the photos and videos of the terrorist, er, “freedom fighters” blowing up women and children? Make no mistake, they ran the story and footage to sell papers and too bad if it hurt the family or the war effort. Or it’s a case of great journalism and they deserve a Pulitzer…….
January 31st, 2007 at 11:13 am
What’s the big deal violating an agreement not to publish when they violate the law by publishing US secrets? Wish someone with some cajones sues the crap out of them. There’s plenty of lawyers out there. ACLU? Yeah, right.
Tom
January 31st, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Another Geneva Convention war crime committed by our liberal press.
January 31st, 2007 at 2:37 pm
And yet the media fell apart with grief and horror when Saddam’s execution was captured on film and let us not forget the utmost respect that they gave to the “religion of peace” by not showing the Mohammed cartoons.
It all continues to make me sick.
January 31st, 2007 at 4:20 pm
I am Livid! Thanks sweetness- light I am trying to get other Blog sites to run this so this story doesnt just fade away and nothings done to the NYT.
January 31st, 2007 at 4:29 pm
“Thanks sweetness-light I am trying to get other Blog sites to run this so this story doesn’t just fade away and nothings done to the NYT.”
One way to do this is to click on the “chicklet” bookmarks under the story, such as Digg.
That is a very effective way to get a story wider attention.
January 31st, 2007 at 5:36 pm
I’m so ticked! I hate today’s press. Nothing but a bunch of losers and creeps.
Hate them!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
January 31st, 2007 at 8:14 pm
SG, Thanks for the tip have already got a couple sites to post it with H/T to Sweetness-Light. Also fired off emails to Pres.Bush my 2 Senators and member of the House. These SOBs need to be brought to Justice!
January 31st, 2007 at 9:15 pm
The New York Times did not need to post this video for us to know that it is a shamelessly anti-military, anti-American publication. The New York Times is a curse on the country. The good news about the New York Times is that it is losing the large amounts of money it is. The sooner the New York Times goes out of business, the better.
February 1st, 2007 at 12:52 pm
I’m sure everyone noticed that the virulently anti-American, New York Slimes posted a whopping $648 million dollar 4th quarter loss yesterday.
Just makes your heart soar every time you think about it, doesn’t it?
Gee, I wonder why they keep losing money?
Can’t you just see them all sitting in the executive board room, wimpy Pinch and his pasty, ultra liberal, ACLU loving minions all collectively pulling their hair out in frustration, moaning and groaning that nobody out there seems to get it! Why won’t America love us even though we hate them and prove it every day by publishing some of the most vile garbage known to mankind?
If they keep it up, we may all realize a great dream and see them completely out of business in the next 3 years. Yes, I know, it’s not likely, but their time in the sun as the nations’ arbiter has long since past and only a massive move to the middle of political and ethical discourse can save them from the scrap heap.
Let’s hope they just keep sliding down the razor blade into obscurity.
February 2nd, 2007 at 9:41 am
I can’t put into words how this disgusts me - at michelle malkin you ought to hear the ‘excuse’ by ‘New York Times foreign editor Susan Chira’ - it is such idiotic logic, it would make me laugh if it weren’t so damnable -
‘the newspaper initially did not contact the family of Army Staff Sgt. Hector Leija about the images because of a specific request from the Army to avoid such a direct contact.’
Read it carefully - they didn’t contact the family to tell them they were violating their signed embedded contract because they had a signed embedded contract that did not allow them to contact the family.
Duke of NY - tragically I suspect since the NYT’s is an operative of the dnc, there will be a bailout bill put before Congress to save the NYTs soon.
February 8th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
*Staff Sgt. Hector Leija*
1st Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division (Stryker Brigade Combat Team), Fort Lewis, Wash.
Thank you for your sacrifice. My apologies to your family and friends. May you rest in peace.
January 29, 2007
http://www.legacy.com/gb/Guest.....D=86140518
http://www.militarycity.com/valor/2511267.html
WE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE; SEND AN EMAIL TO THE EDITOR OF THE NY TIMES AND CNN EDITORS:
executive-editor@nytimes.com
managing-editor@nytimes.com
nytimes@nytimes.com
Email your Congressman; We MUST put an end to Disrespect from the Media. http://www.house.gov/wolf/contact.html
-Semper Fidelis Chesty8
Duane USMC
February 8th, 2007 at 10:31 pm
Thanks very much for posting that, semperfidelischesty8.
And welcome!
February 9th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
The New York Times may have apologized but why? They still have not taken down the video from their site. The New York Times is now SELLING this video on their website. To see it now, you have to purchase the article. It is still available for view as of 7:08pm on 2-9-2007.
This apology was only words; it was not meaningful or heartfelt. A front to get everyone off their back and hopefully forget the whole thing. I HAVEN’T FORGOTTEN.
New York Times apologizes for photo, video of dying soldier
By Chad Groening
AgapePress
February 7, 2007
http://www.gopusa.com/news/200.....ideo.shtml
Times Apologizes for Showing Photo, Video of Dying Soldier
The Times “expresses regret that the family suffered distress.”
Posted by: Clay Waters
2/1/2007 2:21:24 PM
http://www.timeswatch.org/arti.....32843.aspx
May 29th, 2007 at 11:24 pm
And yet you left the video up as well…
very nice. as the mother in law of one Marine in Iraq and the mother of one Marine who has already left this earth, I truly abhor what you might think is relaying information so that all your other little friends can decry them as horrific and shameful and call down the Geneva Convention from behind their computer screens.
just for your information, i hate this bloody war. oh. excuse me. we’re not at war since ‘combat operations have ceased’ and all we’re doing now is to try to bring iraq to a stable democracy.
to leave that video up is sick and just as attention hungry as the rest of the media you so despise.
May 29th, 2007 at 11:37 pm
We are all sorry for the loss of any Marine or Soldiers life.
But this site has no video, That is called a link.
It takes you to another site with the video.
First time at a computer?
Hey turn the radio off and save the song for later dipshit.
May 29th, 2007 at 11:38 pm
terah…you will never understand why this is different. S&L isnt selling anything, and proof positive of this video existing in necessary. This isnt the NYT, and I highly doubt if the family of the soldier reads this blog.
However, perhaps you should expend your energy and vitriol writing to the NYT for profiting from it, for violating agreements doing it, and not giving a damn one way or the other.
Me and my little friends sympathize with your loss, but your anger is misdirected. Leaving the video up is everything but sick, and it is for edification, and not attention nor publicity. The video is “up” to call attention to the NYT’s use of it for profit at any cost. Now lighten up. Or dont return. That is called choice. Use it.
May 29th, 2007 at 11:41 pm
Somebody should better explain links to Terah SJ.
Cause I think Terah is missing one.
May 29th, 2007 at 11:51 pm
Terah is missing a lot of things.
May 29th, 2007 at 11:52 pm
I agree DEZ….defending muslims is one of the hallmarks of someone who doesnt get it. Perhaps she will understand some day. Perhaps not. Either way, we soldier on ourselves. Bitterness corrodes the vessel that contains it. Death has a way of doing that. But we dont have that absolute moral authority….only others do.
May 29th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
Damn 1st and Sj this might get interesting.
We have found the missing link.
Hey where is my funding, hey we need a grant.
Wheres Bono?
May 29th, 2007 at 11:58 pm
I didn’t click it. I had no desire or curiosity to see a soldier dying. I’m all too familiar, thanks.
And I know how to use links.
Such nice words to use right after Memorial Day. Just a few months after my loss. Thanks so much, DEZ. Really appreciate it.
SJ, it doesn’t doesn’t matter if the family of the soldier reads the blog. We are ALL family. ALL of us. I am a Navy daughter and mother to that Marine who lost his life at the ripe old age of 19. I am also mother to a former Army Combat Medic who sits across from me with her three month old son and prays nightly for her Marine to come home safely… again. And I tell you, if I was of an age where I could enlist and go work in a CSH over there, to help get them safely home, I would do it in a heartbeat. Because saving lives is what I do. And my heart cries for them. Cries when I hear his voice from so far away, talking to my daughter. And because I can’t hear my son’s anymore.
And, out of respect for this young man, someone’s child, S&L could have just posted a link instead of the link looking like a video.
That’s all.
May 30th, 2007 at 12:00 am
And thanks so much for looking at me as entertainment fodder.
nice how you view people around here…
May 30th, 2007 at 12:06 am
terah,
My youngest son is in Iraq on his second trip as we speak.
Do not take that attitude with me.
May 30th, 2007 at 12:10 am
If you lost anybody, I truly am sorry.
But again this site hosts no video, It just did not pop up and say surprise.
Trust me on this, The people on this site have all the respect in the world for any soldier.
And we bare teeth real fast when we think someone comes in thinking different.
We are all sad to see any soldier meet his end, You came in with the claws out, We responded badly.
May 30th, 2007 at 12:25 am
And thanks so much for looking at me as entertainment fodder.
You are kidding right? When you walk into a place with your gun drawn, people naturally get the impression you are ready to shoot. So, they draw their guns and shoot first. You werent entertainment, you were out of line.
supposition in place of actual knowledge is the key to this entire deal….but you have to understand our point of view…this is our home, and you didnt knock.
May 30th, 2007 at 12:26 am
1st, the beauty of this country is being able to think and speak as we like. i will add your son to my hopes and prayers to a safe journey home.
DEZ, i was unaware the site didn’t host the video. it looked like it was hosted here. i saw no reason to click it.
and yes, i do think differently, as ya’ll have surmised by now. i believe that most religions are inherently the same, save the language. two of my best friends are muslims, one sunni, one shi’a,. from lebanon. one of my best friends is half iraqi, born in connecticut. i have good friends all over the world. i was born here, but started my life overseas. I don’t believe an entire people or religion should be bashed for the actions of extremists who bastardize it for their own twisted purposes… kinda like david koresh did while at waco.
i love this country but have been disappointed in it recently, with the immigration legislation and the ever changing justification of why we are still in iraq and other parts of the middle east. i write my representatives almost daily to give them my opinion, something i just KNOW they are happy to hear… lol
on some topics, i am probably not so different from ya’ll.
and yes, i do come with the claws out frequently. i got my dander up. and i’m sorry for that.
and it may happen again.
just tell me to get some coffee and put on the baby classical music. oh. and smoke a cigarette!! LOL
May 30th, 2007 at 12:29 am
Terah, most of us didn’t click on that disgusting video link, either — but we understand why it has to be there. And I am very sorry for your loss. I’m just confounded to understand what you are doing here “with the claws out.” There is no imagery on the link that is offensive as is the pic posted by the NYT, so that doesn’t seem to be a valid point. And you jumped so quickly from defending muslim barbarism to proclaiming your worthy background that I don’t get it. Do you blame us for the war? You place no value on the bloodthirsty nature of Islam - it has no influence or effect in this regard? Excuse the apparent rudeness, but I just don’t get what you want to say. I am willing to chalk it up to the grief that surely must envelop you at such a time. God bless you in your lonliness, and I for one look forward to your clarification.
May 30th, 2007 at 12:29 am
SJ,
I did knock… there was no one home. I was the first one to respond to this…
*feeble attempt at humour*
May 30th, 2007 at 12:34 am
Point made Terah….lets start all over again….claws in, guns holstered….ok? We all get testy when abominations like that video are shown, and it seems to bring out the ogre in a lot of us. But, you are awright….now put out that cigarette. angryredhen put it best.
Oh, I was home. I still am!
May 30th, 2007 at 12:38 am
Red hen,
I didn’t see the pics the NYT posted. I didn’t look for them, didn’t want to see them.
I don’t blame the public for the war. I have read quite a bit on Islam and it is not, by nature, bloodthirsty or barbaric. That one particular picture was taken by the media for its sensationalism. Even small scalp lacerations bleed like crazy. ANY religion can be taken and twisted for an individual’s or group’s evil purpose.
Yes, I am still grieving. It is not crippling me or affecting my decisions in what I do or I would not be able to function in my work.
One may not agree with my trying to understand Islam, but I did so in an attempt to better get to know my two Muslim friends I met two years ago at work. They are beautiful people, generous and loving. And would give their lives for me and I for them.
May 30th, 2007 at 12:39 am
Oh… and I don’t really know who to blame for the war anymore. Once upon a time, it was clear. Now the waters, at least to me are rather muddy.
May 30th, 2007 at 12:39 am
terah,
Thank you for the Prayers. There can not be too many.
First thing I heard this morning was that a helicopter had gone down.
May 30th, 2007 at 12:43 am
Terah, I will retract my claws.
And we love a good joke, But I think you did a lil digging before posting, I should also think that is wise.
I did the same, Its called lurking.
Trolls are on the other hand not user freindly, And well…., We eat them.
God rest the soul lost.
And P.S.
If you wanted to find a home of people that love patriots. You have found it!
May 30th, 2007 at 12:51 am
trolls are really good with BBQ sauce… but they must be marinated. i am not a troll. just a rather opinionated Texan,
and 1st, let;s hope that helicopter and it’s contents aren’t doing too badly. i know what i will be doing tomorrow night at work… watching the news channels. i work the night shift at a cancer hospital.
May 30th, 2007 at 1:08 am
Actually trolls are nasty, And must be covered heavily with sause to mask the taste.
God I hate BBQ. But smoked and slow cooked, Mmmm.
No not trolls, You never smoke a troll, You let the goats eat them.
Just good smoked ribs, Burgers, Why is my cat looking at me like that?
Why am I looking at my cat like that, Never should have named that cat mesquite.
Texans? To damn tough to cook, Its easier to tenderize hair, But damn they know how to drink a beer.
Damn, Cats in the beer again. Gotta run, Damn drunkin cat.
Welcome Terah, Something tells me you have metal.
May 30th, 2007 at 1:10 am
Just a quick FYI - I was not referring to the bloodletting ritual, but the blood-stained kitchen floor. And I wasn’t asking you who you blame, just seeking clarification for your ire towards us S&Lers - it was rather rhetorical. None of us is happy with a conflict that wanes on and wears us down, but don’t lose sight of the purpose - our boys are rooting out a canker that seeks our destruction. I am anxious to know how your friends reconcile their doctrine and their moderation. For you are clearly an infidel, just like me and 1st and all the rest. Perhaps it depends upon the mosque they attend? My best friend grew up catholic, but was never schooled in the dogma of transubstantiation to which you referred. And she attended catholic school. These are discrepancies that confuse me, since the theology seems clear in both cases. Have you pondered this or discussed it with them?
May 30th, 2007 at 1:26 am
There is no reconciliation to be had. They are a peacable people. They have no ill will towards us. A is very moderate and the most liberal of the three I know. She is hilarious and was brought up Sunni. B is Shi’a and is rather conservative. He says he is not religious but he is. It’s so funny. He reminds me rather of a nervous poodle, in personality, at times. Mostly when there is unrest in his home, like now. Other times he is very relaxed and funny. The two of them have conspired to teach me how to curse in Arabic. B called a friend of his in Lebanon the other night to explain a redneck phrase that I taught him (he loves those) and then wanted me to say a curse phrase to his friend. He is so proud of me when I do… funny guy. And R is a very traditional Sunni. But getting a little more relaxed. Better now that he has married and has a son.
They don’t see me as an infidel, just me. And they don’t harbor any ill will towards each other, even though they are from different sects and should be at war.
Oh, and I don’t know what sect Y is from, but he is from Pakistan.
So there you go. We have also a LOT of very Catholic Filipinos where I work. No friction there either.
Muslims, by the way, are allowed to marry people of the book, which means Christians or Jews. It is stated in the Quran. B’s mother told him she would rather he brought home a Christian girl than a Sunni to marry.
May 30th, 2007 at 9:21 am
Welcome, Terah. This is a great site with great folks. True Americans that care about their Country and the direction It goes. Once in awhile a troll gets in…then we all have fun!
I had Muslim apartment mates between my stints in the Army while I attended college. They were like regular college guys and gals…. until I mentioned Jews and Israel… my oh my… did the turbans fly. Liberals like to talk about diversity and race relations (why can’t we all just get along?). But when it comes to Muslims vs. Jews, you either hear crickets chirping or they’re siding with the bad guys. (If only we understood them better…) The only thing I understand is they wanna kill non-beleivers.
I don’t know about your friends, only you can decide how they are as people and whether they are worth your friendship. I don’t judge people except for what lurks inside of them (no pun intended). Actions speak louder than words.
I also offer up my sympathies on your lost. Most of the folks here have been military, some are combat vets, and have known and seen loss first hand.
Smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em. I’ll join ya.
May 30th, 2007 at 1:43 pm
hehehe… thanks, lurkin. i hear ya on the muslim vs jew thing. B gets his dander ALL up. understandable since the israel/lebanon war just last summer. kinda reminds me of a horrible yet funny joke i heard. about how wonderful and beautiful god was going to make lebanon, beautiful mountains, lakes, how prosperous he was going to make the land, with friendly people, etc.. and a person questions about if he was going to make it so perfect, why wouldn’t everyone want to live there? god answered… wait till you see their neighbors!!
and you should hear him talk about syrians and iranians!! LOL he even the other night was talking about those damn arabs!! i said… um…. B?? he grinned and said i know! shhh… LOL
these are conversations he only has with me tho.