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NYP to NYT: Is Heroism 'Unfit To Print'?
 The nation's highest honor for combat valor was awarded posthumously to a U.S. Marine from upstate New York on Friday - and The New York Times didn't notice. It was a shameful act of neglect, though not surprising in the least. "As long as we have Marines like Cpl. [Jason] Dunham, America will never fear for her liberty," a clearly moved President Bush said at the dedication of the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Va. It was only the second MOH awarded in the Iraq war, and it was major news everywhere - especially in New York. But . . . not a word in the Times. In April 2004, Dunham saved the lives of several fellow Marines - at the cost of his own - when he threw first his helmet, and then his body, over a live hand grenade tossed by a terrorist. Dunham died of his wounds eight days later, at age 22. This was Dunham's second tour in Iraq. After the first hitch, he could have left the corps and returned to Scio, some 80 miles from Buffalo. Instead, he chose to re-up, saying he wanted to "make sure everyone comes home alive." The Times wasn't completely unaware of Dunham's self-sacrifice. In August 2005, it ran a brief review of "The Gift of Valor," by Wall Street Journal reporter Michael M. Phillips, which chronicled the heroism of Dunham and his battalion; the article called his sacrifice "extraordinary." So why not acknowledge that heroism when the entire nation - led by its commander-in-chief - paid tribute to Dunham and the Marine Corps? The Times wasn't talking yesterday, so let us hazard a guess. Perhaps, to the Times, Jason Dunham was just another dead Marine - a victim, a statistic, another young life "wasted" in the battle for Iraq. Or perhaps a heroic Marine doesn't fit in with the paper's notion of U.S. soldiers in Iraq? Selfless sacrifice is ennobling, and taking notice of it might lend nobility to the larger enterprise - and that certainly wouldn't be fit to print. From the beginning, in fact, virtually nothing positive about the Iraq war has found its way into the Times - but, again, why take it out on the troops? Ignoring the nation's tribute to Jason Dunham was a profound insult to those gallant men and women who daily risk their lives in America's service. Cpl. Dunham deserved better. The Marine Corps deserves better. America deserves better. For shame. Indeed. And, indeed, not surprising... Posted by: .com 2006-11-14 |
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