From the letters section of the Weekly Standard, what really happened to the American contractors:
Jonathan V. Last asked why Americans were able to take the pictures of mutilated contractors in Falluja "in stride." I didn’t; I am still deeply offended by what happened to our people. However, I do have a possible answer. Our media sanitizes such news about Americans. For example, I read an account of the incident on the website of the major newspaper in Johannesburg, South Africa. It reported that at least some of the American contractors were still alive when, begging for their lives, they were doused in gasoline and burned to death. This was not reported by any media outlet in the United States. If Americans are not given the whole story, how can we be expected to do anything except take the news "in stride."
--Jim Nowicki |