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.Defense Secretary Robert Gates is objecting “in the strongest terms” to an Associated Press decision to transmit a photograph showing a mortally wounded 21-year-old Marine in his final moments of life, calling the decision “appalling” and a breach of “common decency.”
The AP reported that the Marine’s father had asked that the image not be published.
The photo shows Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Bernard of New Portland, Maine, who was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade in a Taliban ambush Aug. 14 in Helmand province of southern Afghanistan.
Gates wrote to Thomas Curley, AP’s president and chief executive officer.
“Out of respect for his family’s wishes, I ask you in the strongest of terms to reconsider your decision. I cannot imagine the pain and suffering Lance Corporal Bernard’s death has caused his family.
"Why your organization would purposefully defy the family’s wishes knowing full well that it will lead to yet more anguish is beyond me. Your lack of compassion and common sense in choosing to put this image of their maimed and stricken child on the front page of multiple American newspapers is appalling. The issue here is not law, policy or constitutional right – but judgment and common decency.
I am begging you to defer to the wishes of the family. This will cause them great pain.”
The Associated Press reported in a story about deliberations about that photo that “after a period of reflection” the news service decided to make public the image.
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