"His Job is a Blast" read the headline of an August 5 Grand Rapids Press article. At first you think this a piece about a guy who sets off fireworks for holiday celebrations. With further investigation we discover that the headline celebrates a guy who flies B-52 bombers for the US Air Force. In what has become common journalistic practice since 9-11, this article canonizes US soldiers in unquestioning fashion.
In the second paragraph it states that the plane of Officer Eric Johnson "recently delivered the lethal contents of its belly to sites in Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom," and later on that he "was chosen to fly one of the first planes to bomb Taliban sites in Afghanistan." The pilot, Eric Johnson, is even quoted as saying "we helped blunt the advance of the enemy troops." What enemy advance? The Taliban and Al Qaeda forces were in constant retreat from the onslaught of the US ariel bombing. We could not find any reports that claimed the Al Qaeda.
One striking omission in the article was whether civilians were killed from the bombing of "Taliban sites." Most of us are familiar with the Afghan wedding party that was recently hit by US bombers (http://web.amnesty.org/ai.nsf/Index/ASA110132002?OpenDocument&of=COUNTRIES\AFGHANISTAN), but there has been scant media coverage of the numerous and well documented instances of US bombs destroying UN mine inspection warehouses, residential neighborhoods, Mosques and fleeing civilians. Human Rights Watch has documented the consequences us dropping cluster bombs (http://www.hrw.org/press/2001/11/CBAfgh1116.htm), and the Los Angeles Times after sending reporters to Afghanistan (July 2002) wrote that "witnesses said U.S. warplanes killed and maimed civilians because of unreliable intelligence, stray ordnance and faulty targeting, or because enemy fighters mingled with civilians." http://www.globalexchange.org/september11/20020603_112.html. The most thorough of civilian casualties from US bombing has been the report by Prof. Marc Herold. His report can be found at http://www.zmag.org/herold.htm.
We encourage you to contact the GR Press and tell them to stop sanitizing the coverage of US military operations since October of 2001 in Afghanistan. Demand reporting that questions and challenges the US bombing raids. Also, ask whether or not the military campaign in Afghanistan is preventing terrorism or creating a climate for further acts of terror against the US.
Contact:
Chris Sebastian wrote the article - his direct line is 222-5596
Editorial Dept.: 222-5508
Fax: 222-5409
Local News Desk : 222-5455
Public Pulse:
mail to 155 Michigan St. NW, GR 49503 or e-mail to pulse@grpress.com
