CNN Censors Journalist - They Say Video Is Too Graphic to Be Seen by the American People
Reportedly, former CNN Iraq correspondent Michael Ware claims to have witnessed what he describes as a small-scale "war crime" perpetrated by U.
S.
Soldiers while in Iraq - the incident has never been seen or investigated by U.
S.
Authorities.
He claims that in 2007 he was filming amongst U.
S.
Soldiers in a village in Iraq that was under the control of al-Qaeda militants.
Ware alleges that there was a teenage boy in the street - armed with a weapon for protection.
He goes on to say that at some point, the boy merely approached the house that they were occupying when U.
S.
Soldiers callously put a bullet into the back of the boys head.
Michael Ware goes on to say that the boy did not die right away; instead, he lay there suffering - gasping for air - until he did die twenty minutes later; this child in Iraq.
Ware goes on to further claim that CNN chose not to the air footage as it felt that the unprovoked killing of the teenager was "too graphic" for American viewers to see.
Now suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Michael Ware is a tortured soul.
He doesn't seem to be able to forgive himself for how the incident went down.
He is quoted as saying - "I indeed had been indifferent as the soldiers around me whose indifference I was attempting to capture".
The only person that has verified the story of the "never before seen" footage of a U.
S.
Soldier executing the teenager that Michael Ware speaks of is his friend and follow journalist, John Martinkus.
Martinkus claims that - ''One of the first things he (Ware) showed me was that tape and he was watching it over and over and over again; he was really obsessed with it.
Part of him was like 'how could I just stand by and watch that happen'.
It was a really horrible stark moral choice that he faced and he still wrestles with that.
'' It is felt by Ware that the incident he filmed is technically a violation of the Geneva Convention, calling it a War Crime.
MY TWO CENTS...
Regardless of whether or not Michael Ware is telling the truth - that he did in fact film this footage.
My question is - Does the Media (in this case CNN) have the absolute right to withhold (Censor) information that may or may not be too graphic for the American people to see? What happened to fair reporting? I thought the media was all about the truth? Or, at a minimum reporting the information as it's presented to them and allowing the people to decide in it's truth.
Do you remember when the video of Saddam's hanging hit the air waves? It was really hard to get (and hard to see) because it was felt that it was too graphic.
EVERYBODY wanted to see this video.
There is something about the realities of war that people MUST SEE - perhaps, that is how perspective is kept through all the media hype.
Personally, I would not have wanted to see the video of the child being executed.
That is MY preference.
There are many ways this situation could have been approached.
CNN could have turned the video footage over to Military authorities or the Pentagon for investigation and reported on the incident without airing the footage - only confirming that it does exist.
CNN could also have declined to report on the footage BUT still turned ownership of the video over to the Pentagon.
My biggest question is - Why didn't CNN turn that video into the authorities for investigation? And, where is that tape now? It's not as if U.
S.
Soldiers haven't been under fire before.
To name two incidents that took the airwaves by storm...
* Former U.
S.
soldier Steven Green - charged with murder and rape, allegedly committed while serving in Iraq.
Green is accused of raping a 15-year-old girl and then shooting and killing her.
He is also charged with murdering her mother, father, and 5-year-old sister.
At least three other soldiers may be involved.
* Lynndie England - one of eleven military personnel convicted in 2005 by Army courts-martial in connection with the torture and prisoner abuse by Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad during the occupation of Iraq.
Now tell me, why is this video so special? In my opinion, Michael Ware is either lying OR, there is a reason no one wants this video released or investigated.
Perhaps, someone at CNN either directly or indirectly knows or knows someone who knows the U.
S.
Soldier that pulled the trigger.
Either way, the Pentagon has a responsibility to obtain that footage, conduct a full investigation and bring that boy's killer to justice - there is an ultimate responsibility here to determine if the shooting was unprovoked or done so in the course of protecting lives.
It's time for the truth!!
S.
Soldiers while in Iraq - the incident has never been seen or investigated by U.
S.
Authorities.
He claims that in 2007 he was filming amongst U.
S.
Soldiers in a village in Iraq that was under the control of al-Qaeda militants.
Ware alleges that there was a teenage boy in the street - armed with a weapon for protection.
He goes on to say that at some point, the boy merely approached the house that they were occupying when U.
S.
Soldiers callously put a bullet into the back of the boys head.
Michael Ware goes on to say that the boy did not die right away; instead, he lay there suffering - gasping for air - until he did die twenty minutes later; this child in Iraq.
Ware goes on to further claim that CNN chose not to the air footage as it felt that the unprovoked killing of the teenager was "too graphic" for American viewers to see.
Now suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder Michael Ware is a tortured soul.
He doesn't seem to be able to forgive himself for how the incident went down.
He is quoted as saying - "I indeed had been indifferent as the soldiers around me whose indifference I was attempting to capture".
The only person that has verified the story of the "never before seen" footage of a U.
S.
Soldier executing the teenager that Michael Ware speaks of is his friend and follow journalist, John Martinkus.
Martinkus claims that - ''One of the first things he (Ware) showed me was that tape and he was watching it over and over and over again; he was really obsessed with it.
Part of him was like 'how could I just stand by and watch that happen'.
It was a really horrible stark moral choice that he faced and he still wrestles with that.
'' It is felt by Ware that the incident he filmed is technically a violation of the Geneva Convention, calling it a War Crime.
MY TWO CENTS...
Regardless of whether or not Michael Ware is telling the truth - that he did in fact film this footage.
My question is - Does the Media (in this case CNN) have the absolute right to withhold (Censor) information that may or may not be too graphic for the American people to see? What happened to fair reporting? I thought the media was all about the truth? Or, at a minimum reporting the information as it's presented to them and allowing the people to decide in it's truth.
Do you remember when the video of Saddam's hanging hit the air waves? It was really hard to get (and hard to see) because it was felt that it was too graphic.
EVERYBODY wanted to see this video.
There is something about the realities of war that people MUST SEE - perhaps, that is how perspective is kept through all the media hype.
Personally, I would not have wanted to see the video of the child being executed.
That is MY preference.
There are many ways this situation could have been approached.
CNN could have turned the video footage over to Military authorities or the Pentagon for investigation and reported on the incident without airing the footage - only confirming that it does exist.
CNN could also have declined to report on the footage BUT still turned ownership of the video over to the Pentagon.
My biggest question is - Why didn't CNN turn that video into the authorities for investigation? And, where is that tape now? It's not as if U.
S.
Soldiers haven't been under fire before.
To name two incidents that took the airwaves by storm...
* Former U.
S.
soldier Steven Green - charged with murder and rape, allegedly committed while serving in Iraq.
Green is accused of raping a 15-year-old girl and then shooting and killing her.
He is also charged with murdering her mother, father, and 5-year-old sister.
At least three other soldiers may be involved.
* Lynndie England - one of eleven military personnel convicted in 2005 by Army courts-martial in connection with the torture and prisoner abuse by Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad during the occupation of Iraq.
Now tell me, why is this video so special? In my opinion, Michael Ware is either lying OR, there is a reason no one wants this video released or investigated.
Perhaps, someone at CNN either directly or indirectly knows or knows someone who knows the U.
S.
Soldier that pulled the trigger.
Either way, the Pentagon has a responsibility to obtain that footage, conduct a full investigation and bring that boy's killer to justice - there is an ultimate responsibility here to determine if the shooting was unprovoked or done so in the course of protecting lives.
It's time for the truth!!