Nightline to Honor U.S. Military Dead

NEW YORK (AP) -- Ted Koppel will devote the entire half-hour of "Nightline" Friday to reading names and showing photographs of the more than 500 U.S. servicemen and women killed in action in Iraq, ABC announced Wednesday.

Each service member's photo will be shown, along with his or her name, military branch, rank and age as Koppel reads the name aloud. Since the ABC News broadcast is just 30 minutes, it will include only those killed in action in Iraq since March 19, 2003, as certified by the Defense Department.

The network will use photos and information from the Army Times Publishing Company's online "Faces of Valor" database.

"Memorial Day might have been the most logical occasion on which to do this program," Koppel said. "But we felt that the impact would actually be greater on a day when the entire nation is not focused on its war dead."

ABC News will simulcast the program live on its Jumbotron screen in Times Square, and ABC News Radio will air excerpts, the network said.

"Nightline" airs in most markets at 11:35 p.m. EDT.

-- Tony (MeridianTPO@webmail.com), April 28, 2004

Answers

"Memorial Day might have been the most logical occasion on which to do this program," Koppel said. "But we felt that the impact would actually be greater on a day when the entire nation is not focused on its war dead."

He's right.

There is nothing wrone with honoring our war dead and realizing that many are making the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms. War is a serious business and it would be wrong not to recognize this fact. And a lot more of our young people will be lost before this 'war on terror' is over. As Pr of. Hanson said this morning: We are presently engaged in a world war for our civilization and its vision of a just and humane society. Our values will either endure this present struggle and indeed be invigorated by the ordeal, or like once great civilizations of the past we will stumble in the face of barbarism and lose all that we hold dear. Across the world in places as diverse as Madrid, Fallujah, Kandahar, Thailand, Amman, and Bali agents of intolerance and religious fascism seek to terrorize and thereby eventually destroy the promise of a free and tolerant mankind. We must be as determined to defeat them as they are to destroy us....This global war may be lost in Afghanistan and Iraq, but it cannot be won there. It is a struggle to the death with Islamic fascists and their patrons, pitting, on the one side, the majority of those who believe that a modernizing and liberal Middle East can be enriched and ennobled by Islam, against, on the other, a small but zealous group of dedicated killers who would destroy Islam by claiming that it seeks only to destroy non-Muslims.

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson-nospam@hotmail.com), April 30, 2004.

I agree Bill,

Ted Koppel may be a liberal, and I may not agree with his motives, but I am not against this kind of show. This may be an attempt to undermine the war effort. It may be just a ratings stunt. Whatver. But even if you think this is a just war, and I do, we must never lose sight of the fact that casualties are real people, with souls. This is undoubtedly the most scrutinized war in the history of mankind, but I don't think that's a bad thing. Journalists, on the whole, have an agenda and a mindset. But interestingly, embedded journalists dispelled many ugly myths or misconceptions about American soldiers and their mission. Such scrutiny was enlightening. We shouldn't be afraid of scrutiny if the cause is just.

-- Brian Crane (brian.crane@cranemills.com), May 01, 2004.

It may be just a ratings stunt

Well, it was the beginning of 'sweeps week' Friday.

-- Bill Nelson (bnelson45-nospam@hotmail.com), May 01, 2004.

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ) issued the following letter today to Mr. David Smith, President and CEO of Sinclair Broadcast Group, in response to the preemption of this evening's Nightline program:

I write to strongly protest your decision to instruct Sinclair's ABC affiliates to preempt this evening's Nightline program. I find deeply offensive Sinclair's objection to Nightline's intention to broadcast the names and photographs of Americans who gave their lives in service to our country in Iraq.

I supported the President's decision to go to war in Iraq, and remain a strong supporter of that decision. But every American has a responsibility to understand fully the terrible costs of war and the extraordinary sacrifices it requires of those brave men and women who volunteer to defend the rest of us; lest we ever forget or grow insensitive to how grave a decision it is for our government to order Americans into combat. It is a solemn responsibility of elected officials to accept responsibility for our decision and its consequences, and, with those who disseminate the news, to ensure that Americans are fully informed of those consequences.

There is no valid reason for Sinclair to shirk its responsibility in what I assume is a very misguided attempt to prevent your viewers from completely appreciating the extraordinary sacrifices made on their behalf by Americans serving in Iraq. War is an awful, but sometimes necessary business. Your decision to deny your viewers an opportunity to be reminded of war's terrible costs, in all their heartbreaking detail, is a gross disservice to the public, and to the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. It is, in short, sir, unpatriotic. I hope it meets with the public opprobrium it most certainly deserves.

-- Sig Heil Der Sinclair Fuhrers (!!!@$.#*%), May 01, 2004.