The AP found this image "too offensive" to publish...but brazenly publishes pictures of dying Marines

During the Muhammed cartoon controversy, the AP refused to publish pictures of the cartoon because it was “too offensive.”

Yet today they published a horrific picture of a mortally wounded Marine in Afghanistan, just moments before he died. The photo was published against the wishes and protests of the young  Marine’s family. They were published against the request of the Pentagon. They were published as an assault to common decency.

But that didn’t stop the AP from doing it anyway. Via Mil-blogger BlackFive (who writes: “The military community is understandably upset. I’ll post their links and responses after the Jump.”):

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is objecting “in the strongest terms” to an Associated Press decision to transmit a photograph showing a mortally wounded 21-year-old Marine in his final moments of life, calling the decision “appalling” and a breach of “common decency.”

The AP reported that the Marine’s father had asked – in an interview and in a follow-up phone call — that the image, taken by an embedded photographer, not be published.

AP reported in a story that it decided to make the image public anyway because it “conveys the grimness of war and the sacrifice of young men and women fighting it.”

The photo shows Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard of New Portland, Maine, who was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in a Taliban ambush Aug. 14 in Helmand province of southern Afghanistan, according to The AP.

Gates wrote to Thomas Curley, AP’s president and chief executive officer. “Out of respect for his family’s wishes, I ask you in the strongest of terms to reconsider your decision. I do not make this request lightly. In one of my first public statements as Secretary of Defense, I stated that the media should not be treated as the enemy, and made it a point to thank journalists for revealing problems that need to be fixed – as was the case with Walter Reed.

“I cannot imagine the pain and suffering Lance Corporal Bernard’s death has caused his family. Why your organization would purposefully defy the family’s wishes knowing full well that it will lead to yet more anguish is beyond me. 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 American newspapers is appalling. The issue here is not law, policy or constitutional right – but judgment and common decency.”

The four-paragraph letter concluded, “Sincerely,” then had Gates’ signature…

The photo was taken by AP photographer Julie Jacobson. As a former Soldier, who understands very fully how Soldiers feel about what Ms. Jacobson has done — the utter disgust that they feel by her betrayal.

I hope for her sake that she is on a plane on her way home right now. If she’s not — if she dares go out on patrol with another unit, I have zero problems with someone sending a little friendly fire her way. Then taking a picture as she bleeds out thousands of miles from home. And then sending that photo home to her parents.

Yeah. I said it. I went there. And I’ll stand by it, and my brothers-in-arms, until the day I die.

Ms. Jacobson and the AP? They can go to hell. And I hope they get there soon.

________

OTHERS:

Michelle Malkin notes that the military-hating fucksticks at the Huffington Post found the pictures “tasteful.”

Old Blue, a Soldier in Afghanistan now:

I’m going to state right now and unequivocally that I do not want for any pictures of me published that show me in any condition other than upright and breathing normally. All else is punishable by whatever violence I can visit upon you in whatever condition I am in. I want to write the most vile curses I can at this moment in my anger for a man who justifies going against the wishes of the family. I want that man fired, and I want for him to never work in his chosen field ever again. I want that photographer fired, and I want every individual who was in the chain all the way up to Daniszewski fired as well.

[snip]

If I was injured and that bitch tried to take my picture, if I had the strength I’d shoot her before I died. We could both explain our actions seconds later to the Almighty.

Amen, brother. And I’m certain almost all of our brothers-in-arms agree. Ms. Jacobson better hope she never finds herself in a situation where her life depends on the USMC coming to her rescue. Because I wouldn’t count on it.

_____

UPDATED to add Jules Crittenden’s post:

In this business, you always shoot. Publishing the photos that violate the embed rules you’ve agreed to and more importantly violate the family’s wishes is another matter altogether, though.

This controversy prompted an email exchange among some combat vet friends of mine, who recalled incidents of news photogs being threatened if they tried to shoot the dead in Vietnam and voiced revulsion at the AP’s actions in this case. I weighed in with my own perspective as a newsman, with combat embed experience.*