THE MAINSTREAM MEDIA AND THE SCANDAL OVER NAVY SEAL EDDIE GALLAGHER S SHOOTING SPREE AND COLD BLODDED KILLINGS IN IRAQ

Once again, the mainstream media misses the main issue and redirects attention from what should be the main concern for their U.S. audience. In 2018 Gallagher stabbed to death a captured and wounded teenage ISIS fighter and then posed with the dead victim and sent the pictures out by cell phone. Previous to that he had randomly shot at and killed civilians on multiple occasions. Gallagher was acquitted of all the charges except that of having had his picture taken. It’s as if murder is OK for a Navy Seal, but in this case he just went too far. Trump thought differently and granted Gallagher clemency. Now the front-page story in the mainstream media is the rift between the Navy and the Trump administration over Gallagher’s standing as a Seal, and whether he deserves to retain his “Trident pin” for the outstanding performance of his duties. Trump and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper forced Navy Secretary Richard Spencer to resign due to the latter’s insistence that in the name of the “principle.. of discipline” that Gallagher be demoted. Both Spencer and the mainstream media focus on the taking of the photos, which of course was ghastly and should be roundly condemned, but little is said about the bigger tragedy of the killing of innocent civilians and even that of the teenage ISIS fighter. The UN knows better and rather than dwell on the breach of discipline in the armed forces, a spokesperson calls Gallagher’s actions a war crime and violation of international law. 

In some ways, this incident recalls media coverage of the Julian Assange and Chelsea Manning case where all attention was focused on whether US intelligence was compromised, and U.S. secret agents were endangered by the divulgations. But what about the larger picture? What about the Afghan war log leak in which innocent civilians including two Reuters staff members were purposefully murdered, one of the most heinous war crimes since 1945 for which no one was brought to justice?  And it recalls the Russiagate scandal in which the media center attention exclusively on allegations that the Russians hacked into a Democratic Party computer and revealed the dirty tricks of the Democratic National Leadership favoring Hillary Clinton at the expense of Bernie Sanders. What about the dirty tricks themselves? Nothing. All attention focused on the damn Russians.