Iwo Jima Veterans Blast Time's 'Special Environmental Issue' Cover

[Chris_]

Iwo Jima Veterans Blast Time's 'Special Environmental Issue' Cover

For only the second time in 85 years, Time magazine abandoned the traditional red border it uses on its cover. The occasion – to push more global warming alarmism.

     The cover of the April 21 issue of Time took the famous Iwo Jima photograph by Joe Rosenthal of the Marines raising the American flag and replaced the flag with a tree. The cover story by Bryan Walsh calls green “the new red, white and blue.”

     Donald Mates, an Iwo Jima veteran, told the Business & Media Institute on April 17 that using that photograph for that cause was a “disgrace.”

“It’s an absolute disgrace,” Mates said. “Whoever did it is going to hell. That’s a mortal sin. God forbid he runs into a Marine that was an Iwo Jima survivor.”

     Mates also said making the comparison of World War II to global warming was erroneous and disrespectful. 

     â€œThe second world war we knew was there,” Mates said. “There’s a big discussion. Some say there is global warming, some say there isn’t. And to stick a tree in place of a flag on the Iwo Jima picture is just sacrilegious.”

     According to the American Veterans Center (AVC), Mates served in the 3rd Marine Division and fought in the battle of Iwo Jima, landing on Feb. 24, 1945.   

     â€œA few days later, Mates’ eight-man patrol came under heavy assault from Japanese forces,” Tim Holbert, a spokesman for the AVC, said. “During fierce-hand-to-hand combat, Mates watched as his friend and fellow Marine, Jimmy Trimble, was killed in front of his eyes. Mates was severely wounded, and underwent repeated operations for shrapnel removal for over 30 years.”

     Lt. John Keith Wells, the leader of the platoon that raised the flags on Mt. Suribachi and co-author of “Give Me Fifty Marines Not Afraid to Die: Iwo Jima” wasn’t impressed with Time’s efforts.

     â€œThat global warming is the biggest joke I’ve ever known,” Wells told the Business & Media Institute. “[W]e’ll stick a dadgum tree up somebody’s rear if they want that and think that’s going to cure something.”

     Time managing editor Richard Stengel appeared on MSNBC April 17 and said the United States needed to make a major effort to fight climate change, and that the cover’s purpose was to liken global warming to World War II.

     â€œ

• ne of the things we do in the story is we say there needs to be an effort along the lines of preparing for World War II to combat global warming and climate change,” Stengel said. “It seems to me that this is an issue that is very popular with the voters, makes a lot of sense to them and a candidate who can actually bundle it up in some grand way and say, ‘Look, we need a national and international Manhattan Project to solve this problem and my candidacy involves that.’ I don't understand why they don’t do that.”

     Holbert, speaking on behalf of the American Veterans Center, said the editorial decision by Time to use the photograph for the cover trivialized the cause the veterans fought for.

     â€œGlobal warming may or may not be a significant threat to the United States,” Holbert said. “The Japanese Empire in February of 1945, however, certainly was, and this photo trivializes the most recognizable moment of one of the bloodiest battles in U.S. history.  War analogies should be used sparingly by political advocates of all bents.”

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Teh liberal globalwarming alarmists just insulted every WWII veteran.  Sounds like a "hate crime".  Teh editors of Slime magazine should be arrested.

[Chris_]

I simply don't understand why the print media seems to relish in the trivialization of long-established American traditions, attempt to tarnish our hero's, mock our faith, and in general look down their collective noses at most of our values, and then have the colossal chutzpah to complain bitterly, and threaten the "fairness doctrine" when their circulation plummets, and their profits disappear.....

I'm old enough to remember when newspapers and news magazines were run as businesses, and ran at a profit......of course, at those times, they also attempted to tailor their content to appeal to a broad spectrum of American ideas......

Alas....how times have changed....

doc

[Ptarmigan]

That's just plain wrong. Time sucks anyways.

[RightCoast]

My letter to Time's editor:

To the editor:

I am writing to you today to condemn in the strongest possible terms your cover for April 28, 2008.  The choice of an iconic American photograph to put forward your personal political agenda is worse than disgraceful; it is indefensible.  Perhaps you should superimpose a tree over John F Kennedy on November 22, 1963 with the caption: "we need to assassinate global warming."  I do not believe you would take such liberties.

Yet here you have taken an emotional moment in American history, a moment that came at the cost of thousands of American lives and trivialized it for your own selfish reasons.  For that you should be ashamed.  War is not an analogy that should ever be made lightly and never over something so trivial as possible climate change and mankind's possible contributions to it.

In summary I will say that the person who claims that "there is no such thing as bad publicity" is a fool.  I, for one, will never pickup your magazine again.  I also strongly believe that nothing short of a full apology to all the veterans of World War II is acceptable.


signed

letters@time.com - feel free to send your own

[delilahmused]

Rush read a poll on his show today where people were asked the most important issues in this election. The economy was first, the WOT was #2, "health care" weighed in at 7% (guess it's only important to the DUmp)...global warming mattered to exactly 0% of the respondents. Time can't even argue it's a big issue with "the voters" because it isn't. Pigs!

Cindie

[JohnnyReb]

After cooling down a bit and taking a second look at that picture.......looks to me like the Marines are stuffing a redwood tree up the Times editors ass.

[Bondai]

The photo and the concept get used all the time....