Our grief is turned into…no, not joy but a political ad for John Kerry.
The press’s dire predictions that many young Americans would come home “in body bags” did not materialize in the first Gulf War.
But now, tragically, it has.
Remaining steadfast in the face of death calls for character. Some vultures in the media seem to want to reward those who, confronted with the ultimate loss, publicly turn on the Bush administration.
In an article headlined “Marine’s Parents Reject Chance to Politicize Death,” John Kass tells the story of Georgette and Roy Frank, whose son, Marine Lance Corporal Phil Frank, 20, was killed in Iraq earlier this month:
‘One reporter asked me, ’Under the circumstances, do you feel that your son died in vain?’” Roy Frank recalled.
“If the Franks had provided news people with active anger on tape and a hard political angle–’Parents of Slain Marine Condemn President’–they would have made a media impact.”
Kass continues:
“The question about whether the soldier died in vain is hard, yet legitimate. Even hard questions may be freely asked in a nation of free people during war.
“Yet it was also a subtle invitation. If the Franks wanted to dance, this was their chance. If they’d accepted, their street would have been crowded with news vans for days. Producers would have invited them to vent their anger again and again, spontaneously, between commercial breaks for kitchen cleansers and brokerage firms.”
But the Franks did not think their son had died in vain:
“I said, ’No,’” Roy said. “The only circumstance I could ever imagine where I could say that I believe my son died in vain is if the United States turned around from that country and did not complete the mission to free those people and to make that government independent.”
The Franks said that they respect those families who respond to the death of a son or daughter differently.
But chances are, you’ll never get to hear their responses on national TV.