This was the headline in the Evening Standard, right of centre London paper.
It made me think of the sales patter to the punters and made me quite sad that this three word headline would be the choice of words to sell papers
fresh new pictures
see sweat and anguish
see the blood and pain
view the humiliation
etc
Why is it appropriate to sell papers on the basis of there being pictures of injured and near-dead (in this case) people being depicted within. If the pictures were of British or American troops the headlines would be marketed differently.
This leads me on to an disturbing observation of the Today programme this morning, why did they decide that it was appropriate to play the soundtrack of the Iraqi police beating to death Iraqi civilians, whilst they plead for mercy. At this time of the morning, given the younger audience listening it was an odd choice of background audio.
Military personnel killing civilians is not something that should be trumpeted, playing the audio of the torture or crying exclusive pictures of the pain and misery takes us back to the amphitheatres of Roman times when the lives of hundreds, if not thousands depended on the whims of one man, maybe things haven't changed that much. If this much is true then I am ashamed to be linked with the British army and by association connected to the American army. Both should have learnt how to control troops from the many conflicts they have been involved in over the past fifty odd years, prisoners of war are not a new thing, even if one bends laws to disguise them.
