The Charleston Gazette October 26, 2001
Censorship Military buys up images
Editorial
THE PENTAGON has the authority to exercise what's called "shutter control" over civilian satellites to protect American troops. The military can order commercial satellites to keep enemies from buying images that would show troop movements or otherwise compromise military security.
But the military took a different tack in Afghanistan. It didn't order commercial satellites to shut down during the buildup to the bombing or during the first raids. Instead, after reports of heavy civilian casualties from the bombing of training camps near Darunta, the military spent millions of dollars to buy the exclusive rights to the images. The move did nothing to protect national security, but it did keep the media from performing an independent analysis of the damage and civilian casualties.
According to the British Guardian newspaper, the images show an extreme amount of detail - better than most spy satellites during the cold war. Bodies from attacks would be readily visible.
The Pentagon didn't buy these images for their intelligence value. The military has far better satellites at its disposal. Clearly, the goal was to keep the media from seeing what this military action has wrought.
There is no excuse for spending millions of taxpayer dollars to hide the results of U.S. military actions from those very same taxpayers.
The Pentagon could have issued a shutter control order at no cost, but if it had, the media could have challenged it.
"If they had imposed shutter control, it is entirely possible that news organizations could have filed a lawsuit against the government arguing prior restraint censorship," said John Pike in the Guardian.
The military can only order shutter control to protect security. In this case, security was not at risk. The photos wouldn't have shown troop movements or compromised security in any way. But they would have allowed independent confirmation of the military's claims of low civilian casualties.
This is yet another example of how the Pentagon is limiting press coverage of this war in ways that don't have anything to do with protecting American troops or denying useful information to America's enemies. The aim in many cases has to do more with politics than national security.
The Pentagon doesn't think the American people can handle the truth.
President Bush keeps talking about how this is a "just war" and how the United States is fighting for freedom.
If that is true, then the war should not result in the sacrifice of the freedoms enshrined in the Constitution.
Copyright 2001 Charleston Newspapers
