It sounds like the punchline of a bad joke, but after years of dealing with photographs of troops torturing prisoners, desecrating corpses and generally behaving badly, commanders in southwestern Afghanistan have announced that they are going to solve the problem by banning photography.
The command, which covers some 36,000 troops including 15,800 US Marines, announced that troops will only be allowed to take photographs for “official purposes,” and will no longer be taking “happy snaps,” apparently the official name for pictures like those showing US Marines urinating on corpses in the nation.
“This isn’t rocket science,” noted Gen. Charles Gurganus, who emphasized that taking pictures of the various atrocities committed on the ground “can undermine the war effort.”
Though the move will avoid these embarrassing moments for the administration, in many cases the photographic evidence of war crimes collected by the war criminals themselves are materially the only way they are ever discovered.
Nazi Germany had many instances of mass Gallows with signs that said Photography Forbidden, I remember SEEING the Photographs, does the DOD think that Photos will not be taken?
Little Johnny goes off to war and you expect him to not take any photographs of his adventures?
Please, DoD, don't be ignorant.
The Wehrmacht tried exactly the same thing. It didn't work.
It's one way the Wiesenthal Centre can still get war crimes convictions to this day.
Yeah, this is going to work really, really well. They'll have to ban cell phones (with cameras) first – good luck on that morale booster – and then they'll have to frisk and strip search every soldiers coming into theater – another morale booster. And with the size of cameras today, good luck finding them all. And then don't forget that Officers will be exempt from the ban – because they're "Gentlemen" and all that – and THEY would never take pictures just because some REMF decided that pictures are the problem and not those who take them.
Just like banning the smokin' of weed in the Nam worked really, really well or the banning of visiting the whore houses in Saigon worked really, really well. This is obviously PR and not intended to be enforced.
It isn't the pictures of atrocities that undermines the war effort, it's the ATROCITIES!
Seems kinda funny that the Germans never took any photos of the gas chambers.
In 1958, while a guest of the the post coordinator of Dachau Kasern, I visited and took pictures of the original facilities there. My impression was that whatever went on there, it wasn't what was claimed by the allies after the war.
so who did? read kingfish below
This one ranks right up there with the general commanding the 101st Airborne who in 2009 decided to address the problem of suicides in the division by ordering his troops not to do it.
Trying to hide something, Gurganus?
And I love how you call it a “war effort”.
Seems like an excellent plan. Why should any of us here in the homeland, receive any possibly disturbing images of what our sons and daughters are up to? Censorship is always an excellent choice, when supporting a repressive regime. Are we living in a repressive regime? You call it. Rob
The military oath to uphold and defend the Constitution includes freedom of speech / expression. These commanders are in violation of their oath.
What a joke, really. How about not committing war crimes and there won’t be any problems with your “war efforts”…better yet…how about not engaging in war activities that benefit the multinational corporations and impoverish us all?
OR… or… now hear me out……. maybe stop doing embarrassing things. CRAZY THOUGHT, I KNOW.
Would this fall under the "Banning Manning Act" ???
I remember when the LA police beat up Rodney King and someone captured it on video. The joke was, that to combat this sort of crime, the state should mandate a six day waiting period on video camera purchases. I just wish this no pic rule was a joke.