- It happened so quickly--America gained heroes and lost
bright, inquisitive, and patriotic men and women. Family members in just
an instant plummeted from anticipation to agony. Spouses and children now
planned memorial services. America lost 11 souls.
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- Eleven? Weren't there only seven? There were seven astronauts,
but there were also four other American lives lost. You may not remember.
Or perhaps you didn't hear about them. Seven died aboard the Columbia.
On Thursday, Jan. 23, little more than a week earlier, four American soldiers
on a training mission were killed in Afghanistan when their MH-60 Black
Hawk helicopter crashed. The Central Command said it was an accident, that
there was no indication of hostile fire. The wire services sent out short
articles, most under 600 words. The nation's newspapers that did run the
story often cut it, some to a paragraph on an inside page. The television
networks kept the story to under 90 seconds then moved to other stories.
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- In contrast, the nation's television and radio networks
aired almost continuous coverage of the Columbia tragedy, from shortly
before 9:30 a.m., Saturday, Feb. 1, to late afternoon. "Specials"
and additional "news breaks" added to their coverage. The nation's
Sunday newspapers splashed the story, with photos of the debris and of
the seven astronauts, over their front pages and several inside pages.
The major news magazines ran cover stories and dozens of color photos inside.
Several state and federal agencies were mobilized not just to conduct the
search- and-recovery operation and to initiate investigations into the
causes, but also to assist the media and the people to better understand
what happened and why.
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- When Apollo 1 exploded on its platform, Jan. 27, 1967,
and three astronauts died, the nation mourned its first space tragedy.
When an oxygen tank exploded on Apollo 13, in April 1970, and it appeared
that the crippled space craft might never return to earth, the media gave
the story unprecedented coverage. When Challenger exploded 73 seconds after
lift-off, Jan. 20, 1986, and seven astronauts including a civilian school
teacher died, the media pre-empted almost all other programs and coverage
for most of the day to report the tragedy, and show endless re- runs of
the actual explosion.
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- The loss of these young, vibrant lives is tragic. And
so are these:
-
- * Oct. 19, 2001, two Army rangers killed when their
Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Pakistan.
-
- * Jan. 9, 2002, nine Marines killed when their KC-130
refueling tanker exploded in Pakistan.
-
- * Jan. 20, 2002, two Marines killed and five injured
when their CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter crashed.
-
- * March 4, 2002, seven soldiers killed and 11 wounded
during a military offensive against the Taliban.
-
- * Dec. 21, 2002, a 22-year-old Army sergeant killed
by a sniper near the border with Pakistan.
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- In slightly more than a year since American forces went
into Afghanistan, there have been six aircraft crashes, none from hostile
fire. There have been 17 deaths from accidents and eight from hostile fire,
and at least two dozen injured.
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- Within three hours of having been notified of the Columbia
disaster, the President had returned to Washington from his weekend vacation
at Camp David, Maryland. He made a nationally- television statement of
condolence, ordered the flags to half- staff, and personally talked with
the families of six of the astronauts. Before the afternoon ended, politicians
and administration officials were questioning the space program's cost
against its value; NASA suspended the shuttle program, pending investigation
of the Columbia crash.
-
- For those killed in the Afghanistan war, no flags were
ordered to half-staff. The President, for all we know, did not personally
call the families of each victim. Certainly cost vs. value wasn't debated,
nor was the war halted. The only coverage beyond wire stories was by hometown
newspapers which ran obits and day-of-the-funeral features. The accidental
crashes of five helicopters and a refueling tanker are no different from
the accidental explosion of the space shuttle with its seven deaths. The
death of combat soldiers is no different nor any less tragic than the death
of seven highly-trained astronauts. Yet, our nation doesn't mourn, our
Congress doesn't question, and our wars don't cease. To question the inequalities
in the nation's interest and the media's coverage does not diminish the
lives of our fallen astronauts. But to not question the safety, cost, and
need, and to willingly accept death in war without vigorously questioning
the war itself, lessens the value of each military life.
-
- Perhaps, if the people would have been as upset about
the deaths of the 17 killed in aircraft and helicopter accidents, and were
exposed to as much media coverage as for the Columbia tragedy, maybe we
could force this administration to try everything it could before it decided
to send
- 250,000 to 300,000 Americans into war where there is
likely to be far more than seven deaths.
-
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- Rosemary Brasch is a national disaster family services
specialist for the Red Cross and a labor consultant. Walter Brasch is professor
of journalism and syndicated columnist. His current book is <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0967635454/counterpunchmaga>The
Joy of Sax: America During the Bill Clinton Era. Visit his web-site <http://www.walterbrasch.com/>www.walterbrasch.com.
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- The Brasches can be reached at: <mailto:espyrose@hotmail.com>espyrose@hotmail.com
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- http://www.counterpunch.org/brasch02042003.html
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