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indymedia: all the new to turn your stomach

indymedia: all the news to turn your stomach

I wasn't going to blog tonight. Long day, busy day. Jewish relatives, matzoh ball soup - Chanukah ensues. And then I was going to blog, just for a second, to say that the Packers are in first place. And then I saw something else. And got pissed.

Indymedia, who I used to consider a decent source of information, has a posting up tonight declaring that John Walker, the American who joined the Taliban, should be awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. (note: there is no author on the post, and it is under the openpublishing newswire).

Honestly, I have no idea what to say to this. While I most certainly lean left in my politics, I don't lean that far. Extremism either way annoys me. This is probably as extreme as you can get. The author of the post refers to Walker as "the ONLY American in Afghanistan who has shown gallantry and courage in the face of danger." I take offense to that remark in so many ways.

If you read this site on a consistent basis, you know I do not like George Bush. You know I abhor Ashcroft and Rumsfeld and almost everything they stand for. I am not some flag-waving patriot cheering on every move our troops make. But to write those words - to believe those words, seems almost reprhensible to me. Gallantry and courage? Exactly how gallant is it to stand amongst people, be a part of people, who plot and plan to kill thousands of citizens of your homeland? How courageous is it to sit in a cave while a two major cities of your homeland burn?

I am not saying that Walker should be shot or hung, or tried for treason. I really don't know what direction I go in on that subject. But I do know that to call him a hero, to heap honor upon him, is gross stupidty, ignorance and shows a blatant disregard for those who died on September 11. I read this article as I watched a special on CNN with my father. We watched as they interviewed the son of my father's good friend, Pete Ganci, a firefighter who was killed that day. I think about all the other rescue workers and building employees who never made it out, and I try hard to think of what kind of mind would consider an American who, more or less, was a part of making that tragedy happen, a hero.

I can't really blame Indymedia for posting the story. To deny whoever wrote it his right to post would be censorship. But to the person who did write it, I can only say may you never know the pain that the families of the victims of September 11 feel. And may you also get that lobotomy you so sorely need.

Comments

Is this post made previously on your page in reference to the Assasination of JFK really any different?

"I can still perfectly envisage where I was when Kennedy was shot. I remember being out in the sun in the shade of that maple tree, the grass was crisp and fresh. With my back to that white-washed fence and my legs stretched out down the slope before me...

Damn that Mannlicher-Carcano was heavy.

Posted by D @ 12/09/2001 08:50 AM"

In the end they are saying the same thing with a different time frame.

If he had become a legal citizen of Afghanistan, that's one thing, because many people here have ended up fighting against their homelands in wars...but to still be an American and fight alongside the Taliban..... I haven't a clue what should be done about that, but calling him a hero is the most ignorant thing I've ever heard. If the asshole who posted that wants to see gallantry and courage, he can look towards any of those firefighters and police officers that went above and beyond on Sept. 11th, or Todd Beamer, or any of the others on those planes.

I know nothing of Indymedia, but is it just a joke maybe? It seems awfully farfetched and reaching, even for some on the extreme left...

John Walker is lucky the Northern Alliance didn't behead him like they're doing to all the "Foriegners" that they've been catching. Aw poor widdle kid got caught, thought he was a badass, now claiming American Citizenship and he was "brainwashed". Hang the little traitor punk when he comes "home".

A few things worth considering Edgar;

I wasn't even born in 1963, Michele knows that.

I'm British, therefore claiming I killed Kennedy is satire. Also there's a big difference between a comment on a post about John Lennon and selling out your own country and pissing on the memories of fellow Americans before turning around and trying to claim protection under the same citizenship.

I don't think, nor did I say, that the people behind the assassination deserved to be publicly recognised or awarded for their actions.

I'm siding with Eric here, John Walker is a fucking tool who should have had a bullet put in his head when the CIA had the chance, high treason is not a joke.

Lets all go and think about what's been said here.

m - you don't like george?????

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