~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I O 93 93/93 I O ~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My Photo
Name:
Location: LaGrange, Kentucky, United States

The opinions and interests of a husband, analyst and Iraq war veteran.



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thursday, September 29, 2005

Josh Rushing in USA TODAY

It's a fairly comprehensive article focused on the reservations I (and several others) hold about his decision to leave the Marines and join Al-Jezeera's English edition scheduled to go operational in the spring.

... Rushing, 33, has taken a job reporting for a new channel for Al-Jazeera. That's the Qatar-based network that Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said is "perfectly willing to lie to the world" and has "a pattern of playing propaganda over and over and over again" for its 50 million viewers, most of them in the Arab world.

[...]

Another former Marine also is concerned. "I wish I could count on him to further our efforts" in the war on terrorism "rather than hinder them," says Keith Delp of Louisville. He spent five years in the Marines, leaving as a corporal in March 2004 after a seven-month tour in Iraq. Delp writes the weblog Kadnine. In an e-mail, Delp says he will "be watching Josh closely."

[...]

Rushing's response to such criticism: "I believe in America so dearly and the values that it stands for that I'm in no way threatened by the kind of information this station's going to put out.

"Besides," he explains, "once a Marine, always a Marine."
but once again, I find some of his statements troubling:

What he hopes critics will understand, Rushing says, is that he believes he's doing what a Marine officer is trained to do.

"We're taught to 'turn the map around,' " to see things from the enemy's perspective, Rushing says. He hopes he can help people around the world see America differently, and help Americans see the world in new ways.


Um... when a Marine tries to gain insight into his "enemy's perspective" it is for the purpose of defeating that enemy. I am still curious how Josh reconciles "once a Marine, always a Marine with his new duty, "helping Americans see the world in new ways."

<< Home |