Military to Avoid Embarrassing Pictures by Banning Photography
Photos 'Only for Official Purposes,' General Warns
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.
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the Lion
May 25th, 2012 at 10:07 pm
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?
John_Muhammad
May 25th, 2012 at 11:52 pm
Little Johnny goes off to war and you expect him to not take any photographs of his adventures?
Please, DoD, don't be ignorant.
Popsiq
May 26th, 2012 at 2:21 am
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.
curmudgeonvt
May 26th, 2012 at 3:27 am
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.
John C
May 26th, 2012 at 4:59 am
It isn't the pictures of atrocities that undermines the war effort, it's the ATROCITIES!
carroll price
May 26th, 2012 at 5:22 am
Seems kinda funny that the Germans never took any photos of the gas chambers.
Strider55
May 26th, 2012 at 9:55 am
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.
Denoir
May 26th, 2012 at 3:28 pm
Trying to hide something, Gurganus?
And I love how you call it a “war effort”.
kingfish
May 26th, 2012 at 3:47 pm
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.
Rob
May 26th, 2012 at 5:03 pm
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
allen heart
May 27th, 2012 at 12:57 am
The military oath to uphold and defend the Constitution includes freedom of speech / expression. These commanders are in violation of their oath.
Gerrilea
May 28th, 2012 at 6:37 pm
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?
Saint Gee
May 30th, 2012 at 10:09 am
OR… or… now hear me out……. maybe stop doing embarrassing things. CRAZY THOUGHT, I KNOW.
Steven Gaylord
June 1st, 2012 at 6:54 am
Would this fall under the "Banning Manning Act" ???
yorba
June 7th, 2012 at 3:57 am
so who did? read kingfish below
Tom
June 7th, 2012 at 4:44 am
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.