Little Green Foul Balls -Redux

It seems that once again Charles and I are disagreeing about the issue of photojournalist Kevin Sites. For those of you who did not catch the last thread I wrote on the subject, I felt the crowd at Little Green Footballs was wrong to vilify Sites for shooting the video of a Marine killing a wounded terrorist inside a Fallujah mosque that had been used for days as a fortified bunker.

I had taken the time to read a few of the entries at Sites' blog, and thought that he wasn't the left-wing apologist bent on fabricating the news that many were accusing him of being. I said that I thought Sites showed himself to be another war correspondent trying to make sense of the insanity of a combat zone.

Over the weekend, Sites wrote Open Letter to Devil Dogs of the 3.1 in an attempt to explain the decision he made to release the video he shot in Fallujah.

I agree with LGF that the information about the incident itself has not changed from the original report. No, where I disagree with Charles is where he asserts that Sites is somehow of less importance as a human being for being a war correspondent and not a Marine rifleman.

He seems to imply that Sites is a traitor by saying Sites, "doesn't share the goals of the people operating the weapons."

I must ask: what kind of America does Charles Johnson want to live in?

The "goal" of America has always seemed to me to be promoting individual liberties and freedom for every human being. I firmly feel that the freedom of our press to operate freely, without censorship, is our single greatest long-term weapon ensuring that freedom, not the use bullets and bombs.

The free exchange of ideas may not ensure individual truths, but it does ensure the discussion of larger truths important to the essence of our democracy.

Journalists reporting stories as accurately as they can "straight down the middle" do not create dangerous long-term situations. Censoring our media and turning them into propaganda mills creates danger for the very foundation of our democracy.

If we are as strong and kind and noble as we would like to believe ourselves to be, then honest reporting of even the most difficult, complex stories is no threat to our society or way of life. Contrary to some popular wisdom, the airing of this video does not constitute a "defeat." This story, and others like it, are bound to emerge In Iraq as they do in every war.

The measure of our society and its values emerges in how we respond to these events.

In my opinion, Sites himself said it quite well in his Open Letter:

The Marines have built their proud reputation on fighting for freedoms like the one that allows me to do my job, a job that in some cases may appear to discredit them. But both the leaders and the grunts in the field like you understand that if you lower your standards, if you accept less, than less is what you'll become.

There are people in our own country that would weaken your institution and our nation -by telling you it's okay to betray our guiding principles by not making the tough decisions, by letting difficult circumstances turns us into victims or worse…villains.

I interviewed your Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Colonel Willy Buhl, before the battle for Fallujah began. He said something very powerful at the time-something that now seems prophetic. It was this:

"We're the good guys. We are Americans. We are fighting a gentleman's war here -- because we don't behead people, we don't come down to the same level of the people we're combating. That's a very difficult thing for a young 18-year-old Marine who's been trained to locate, close with and destroy the enemy with fire and close combat. That's a very difficult thing for a 42-year-old lieutenant colonel with 23 years experience in the service who was trained to do the same thing once upon a time, and who now has a thousand-plus men to lead, guide, coach, mentor -- and ensure we remain the good guys and keep the moral high ground."

We are the good guys.

And as long as we have the courage of our convictions and the faith to never compromise our liberties for what may be politically expedient, we will remain strong, we will remain just, and we will remain an example for those in the Middle East and around the world that aspire to freedom.

I believe Ben Franklin is credited with once saying:

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

I would think Mr. Franklin would be very disappointed to know that so many seem to be willing to stifle the essential freedoms of the First Amendment in the childish hopes that by suppressing a few seconds of video, our mortal enemies would somehow be less bent on our ultimate and total destruction.

Those that feel this way have neither an understanding of our enemy, nor of the essential nature of this country that makes it worth fighting for.