Wednesday, May 24, 2006

NPR on Troops on the Border

I couldn't find a link to the NPR story that I heard this morning, but this is the same one they were covering. It had a dramatic lead about how Marines shot & killed an innocent young shepherd under the belief he was a drug runner. It included the scary sound of a bolt-action rifle being cycled as part of the Marine shooting (with an M-16, not a bolt-action rifle, don't think about it, just go with it). It was highly emotional and we got to talk to the brother of the young man (boy according to the report), a sheriff against the deployment of troops & lots of discussion about the military being unsuited to the mission since they're taught to "kill" (again, no mention of the engineering & policing & cleanup & surveilance, etc., etc., that is part of the military and has been for the last several thousand years). There was exactly one, and only one, mention of the fact that the poor, innocent shepherd shot & killed by the stupid, ugly, incompentent, blood-thirsty, no doubt impotent Marines, shot first...
That's right! They returned fire! They didn't initiate the encounter, the poor innocent shepherd opened fire, but it's somehow the Marine's fault that he died. I was cursing so loud & long at the radio I almost drove off the road. It's off the wall reporting like this that makes me question my own sanity.

1 comment:

Nylarthotep said...

That's why I listen to Classical Music during the commute. I spend enough time yelling at the TV News when I'm at home. Doing it in the truck is probably unhealthy.