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Recently, entertainer Pat Boone wrote NewsMax editor Christopher Ruddy a letter regarding his feelings on Abu Ghraib and Iraq, the contents of which are published here with permission:
Editor, NewsMax
Dear Chris,
Hasn t anybody got the guts to accuse the worst perpetrator in this whole Abu Ghraib prison debacle - CBS and 60 Minutes II?
What do you call it when, in time of war, someone takes military intelligence and turns it over to the enemy, who in turn uses it to kill Americans?
Isn t that the definition of treason? Did Benedict Arnold do worse?
Did Julias and Ethel Rosenberg pay with their lives for something like this?
It has already been well established, and CBS certainly knew, that the military announced to the press back in January that allegations had been made concerning treatment of prisoners and were being investigated.
In March there was another announcement that the allegations were still being investigated and certain service personnel at Abu Ghraib were relieved of their duties and might be court marshaled.
In other words, while America was fighting a war, the military had already taken the allegations seriously, were investigating them and were taking steps to correct the situation. In other words, it was being handled, and handled well.
These things happen in war on all sides, and though they are not excusable, they are kindergarten exercises compared to car bombs, ambushes, rocket launchings and dangling burning bodies over bridges - and this is what the interrogators at Abu Ghraib were trying to find ways to stop.
Freedom of the press is precious to us, but you can abuse any liberty and stretch it out of shape until it becomes license, and concerned citizens will call for limitations.
In this case, if CBS had really cared about the country, about our military, about doing the right thing, they would have taken these pictures, (which they had illegally) and asked the military and the Pentagon what was being done about the abuses (Although they most likely knew it, they would have been told that the matter was in hand and being taken care of).
Indeed, a general implored them not to publish the pictures because of what he knew would happen as a result.
CBS could have cared less.
In their mad competition for rating points, dollars, and seeing a great way to blast the President and the war effort in Iraq which they have continually denigrated and opposed, they broadcast they abhorrent pictures - and not just to the United States, BUT TO THE WORLD!
Knowing full well that we were walking a tight rope, trying to fight a war, quell disturbances and build a republic for Iraq in the midst of all the terrorist resistance, CBS published these abhorrent pictures knowing they would destroy completely our image and standing in the Muslim world.
And what about Osama bin Laden? What about the terrorists? What about America s image with all our allies around the world?
And what about America s own self image and confidence in their leaders?
And what did the beheaders of Nick Berg say, just before they callously sawed his head off while he screamed, This is in retaliation for what you Americans did to our people at Abu Ghraib! And how did they know about these interrogation abuses?
Though poor Mr. Berg blames George Bush and Donald Rumsefld, it is incontrovertible that his son would be home with him right now had it not been for the publication of those pictures. Mr.
Berg is pointing his finger in the wrong direction.
And as a direct result of CBS callous and patently unpatriotic action, America is suffering great loss of prestige around the world, and will for decades.
America has lost credibility with Muslims and the Arab world internationally, perhaps forever; and every American life is in far greater danger from terrorist reprisal, no matter who and where we are!
Freedom of the press is a cherished commodity, guaranteed by our Constitution. But freedoms, if they are to be maintained and to have the original meaning, must be treated with grave responsibility and restraint.
For me, CBS has become the enemy within , and I hope never to watch the network again.
I think most Americans ought to reflect on the results of their irresponsible and unpatriotic behavior and perhaps narrow their viewing options by one network. The next time America or Americans suffer at the hands of terrorists, thank CBS.
P.
S. As of today, May 21St, you can add Brokaw, NBC and The Washington Post to the list. Have these media pariahs gone mad?
! Who ll be next to fire at our own troops?
This letter has destroyed any This letter has destroyed any respect I might have had for the integrity of Pat Boone, if indeed he wrote it.
What an idea to have a news organization suppress these dastardly deeds to prevent others from learning our shame and incidentally, allowing the perverts (including military intelligence ) to continue to torture and kill with impunity.
I understand Pat Boone is a committed Christian, but if this letter is genuine this shows me a sanctimonious moralistic scoundrel hiding behind the piety (much as I react to the president who professes his religion and acts evilly).
By the way, 60 Minutes II contacted the military for their side, and were asked to delay broadcast but not NOT TO BROADCAST, which they did (delay, that is) for at least two weeks my memory does not serve me well here as to the exact interval.
If they had been asked not to broadcast, I would have been disappointed if they had agreed. This dastardly action is too important to be hidden.
Those people are doing it in our name, and apparently with the explicit blessing of the Justice Department making the president into a King, with sovereign powers to breach all norms of civilized law as he or she wishes, to the disadvantage of our own troops when the shoe gets to be on the other foot, as it must someday.
I now see why the Bush administration is so rabidly eager to repudiate the international court that America helped establish because we would surely not prosecute Bush and his minions in the United States for what are their apparent war crimes, but an independent world court with jurisdiction to indict those war criminals that their own countries refuse to indict might have been dangerous to them!
This administration apparently is committing abominations in MY NAME, in your name, in every American s name. Retribution will come down on our troops, precious sons and daughters of America.
Is it worth that? If this awful material had remained hidden, does anyone believe (given how the photos were being emailed wholesale around the world) that they never would have surfaced. How much better is it that American media did it first!
Maybe this will even terminate the reign of King George I of America, as nominated by his own Justice Department and established by the Supreme Court.
I abominate the sentiments expressed in this letter.
I sincerely hope it is a forgery, and that the real religious Pat Boone had no hand in it.
This letter is scurrilous, it is putrescent, it is rank, it is immoral, it is unchristian, it is un-American, and I am ashamed that many of my fellow citizens could apparently have felt enough empathy with its self-righteous and debased message to post it and send it on its rounds (I originally received it by email).
I am ashamed for him that this sits on a website blackening the name of Pat Boone for all the world to see. I hope he will repudiate it.
The media should not refrain The media should not refrain from reporting stories that have been obtained legally, and that do not compromise the lives of American soldiers in combat.
The prison photos were obtained by CBS illegally and were being investigated by the military. The release of the photos has subjected our soldiers (and the American people) to the threat of retaliation.
If the release of the photos had been handled properly, that could have been avoided.
I would not say that CBS intentionally committed treason, but I do think they were wrong to release the photos they way they did.
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