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Iwo Jima Vets Slam Time Cover, Dismiss Global Warming As "A Joke"

Huffington Post via Business & Media   |   April 18, 2008 08:27 AM

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Iwo Jima veterans are outraged over Time magazine's decision to use the iconic World War II image of American soldiers hoisting a flag at Iwo Jima for the latest cover on "the war on global warming." The Business & Media Institute reports Iwo Jima veterans call the Time cover a "disgrace" and dismiss global warming as a "joke":

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.

"The 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."

Another Iwo Jima veteran echoes Mates' reservations about global warming being a worth cause for a reprise of the famous scene:

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.


"That 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 Rick Stengel defended the cover on MSNBC yesterday, saying:

"One 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. 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."

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collapse staticnoise See Profile I'm a Fan of staticnoise

One can see the cover depicting the herculean task that humanity may be facing or one can be insulted. Those insult edmust have very thin skin, I pity on them as it must be very difficult getting through each day.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:27 AM on 04/23/2008
collapse Gandalph See Profile I'm a Fan of Gandalph

The "vets" comments are puerile, and sound too contrived to be the real feelings of real vets. They sound like the ravings of some far-right lunatics who are passing themselves off as "vets". Happens all the time in Zimbabwe!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:43 AM on 04/21/2008
collapse thatvisionthing See Profile I'm a Fan of thatvisionthing

All worked up over a respectful, forward-looking Time cover? Where were they for the New Yorker one last year? Now that one had bite:

http://www.cartoonbank.com/product_details.asp?mscssid=UBNR0EL5CMHL8JUCE54KU8RWJAUJ9DC7&sitetype=1&did=5&sid=124001&pid=&keyword=blitt&section=all&title=undefined&whichpage=29&sortBy=popular

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:46 AM on 04/21/2008
collapse UncleJimbo See Profile I'm a Fan of UncleJimbo

The Iwo Vets that complained are just Right-Wing politically,and used this Time cover to create a platform for their Anti-Global Warming positions! The cover is no insult it's a homage! Those guys are just promoting their books and themselves,they are the shameful and disrespectful ones!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:57 AM on 04/20/2008
collapse WaterRat See Profile I'm a Fan of WaterRat


Right or left, there's no in between when it comes to twisting the message of the Iwo Memorial from what it stands for.
No war memorial should have its original purpose scarred by selfish,uncaring, unthinking, thoughtless vandals.
The cover is sacrilegious! It is an insult to the flag raisers and the 6,000 who died in the volcanic black ash of Iwo.
There isn't a damned Marine anywhere who would weave a statement against global warming or anything else utilizing the Marine memorial, or, any other war memorial for gross commercialization.
This is not the first time the Iwo memorial has been tarnished by gross commercialization. U.S. News and World Report canceled a few subscriptions when they distorted the memorial's purpose with an umbrella rather than a flag, for an insurance company ad'.
A lot of apologies and a weak explanation by the magazine failed to win back subscribers.
We may disagree on certain topics, but using any war memorial to get a commercial message across - stinks.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:37 PM on 04/20/2008
collapse thatvisionthing See Profile I'm a Fan of thatvisionthing

Selfish? SELFISH? The idea, idea as in thought, as in thoughtful, is to save the world, which would benefit everyone.

And the flag being raised has something to do with symbolizing freedom, subheading free speech.

If freedom didn't matter to those soldiers, they might just as well have stayed home. You are shaming what they stood for and what they achieved.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:53 AM on 04/21/2008
collapse Amalek See Profile I'm a Fan of Amalek

Get a life people.

Time restages a staged event? And that somehow is disrespectful of the military? You keep looking for things to piss you off you will be successful.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:59 AM on 04/20/2008
collapse lvogt See Profile I'm a Fan of lvogt

The men at Iwo Jima were noble warriors but the flag raising was staged and used for fundraising.
It is an even greater challenge to save the entire planet. This is not trivial.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:46 AM on 04/20/2008
collapse WaterRat See Profile I'm a Fan of WaterRat


AP Photographer Joe Rosenthal took the second picture, when the Navy brass requested that the first flag be replaced with the larger one. Rosenthal almost missed the shot as the Marines and a Navy Corpsman just grabbed the pipe and place it atop Mt. Surabachi.
He didn't know whether he got a shot or not. But the editors back in the States saw it as a classic.
It's a symbolic tribute to the hundreds of thousands who gave their lives fighting the Japanese during the Second World War.
It doesn't need to be tarnished by cheap commercialization.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:52 PM on 04/20/2008
collapse thatvisionthing See Profile I'm a Fan of thatvisionthing

Saving the earth is not cheap commercialization, and making that image fresh again is a nice homage. You are conjuring disrespect where none was given.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:57 AM on 04/21/2008
collapse Rcoke See Profile I'm a Fan of Rcoke

This cover is to me a perfect illustration of the sophomoric mentality of today's journalists. They are so morally uneducated and historically ignorant as to take a sacred American Image and transform it into a stupid publicity stunt. These people have been showing for years what callous hare brains they are so the cover does not surprise me at all.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:24 AM on 04/20/2008
collapse Amalek See Profile I'm a Fan of Amalek

Your sacred event was a staged publicity stunt.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:59 AM on 04/20/2008
collapse jasjohn128 See Profile I'm a Fan of jasjohn128

Coming next ... a dozen nobel laureates in Chemistry, Biology, Geology and Physics will explain the right way to field strip an M-16, maneuver quietly through hostile territory, advance and engage via fire and maneuver when the enemy is sighted, call for and direct close air support during engagement, and ultimately pop smoke and call in artillery to cover unit extraction.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:54 PM on 04/19/2008
collapse Garioch See Profile I'm a Fan of Garioch

Is that an entry in a competition for the most bizarre comment of the month or something of that ilk?
Does anyone have any idea what jasjohn is on about?
I know you're not attempting to tell us there is anything difficult about the items you list as you know as well as the rest of us the standard the military hires.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:12 AM on 04/20/2008
collapse Amalek See Profile I'm a Fan of Amalek

Garioch, is that an entry in a competition for the most bizarre response to a comment?

If I may help you, jas is explaining that the Marines, while competent warriors, are not crebible analyst on the nature of global warming, anymore than a Biologist can explain how an M-16 should be cleaned.

You raise serious doubts as to whether you have the intellect to pass the lowered standards of the Bush administration for the military recruits you disparage.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 07:57 AM on 04/20/2008
collapse jasjohn128 See Profile I'm a Fan of jasjohn128

Thank you, Amalek.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:02 AM on 04/20/2008
collapse isis See Profile I'm a Fan of isis

Well, I got the issue and it struck me that the cover is somewhat inappropriate and so is the "war on global warming" theme because war is very bad for the environment and contributes greatly to global warming. They should have had normal people raising the tree, including hippies who have turned out to be very normal decent people.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:27 PM on 04/19/2008
collapse stringer See Profile I'm a Fan of stringer

They're right. It's a disgrace Time Magazine would do this and I'm glad they got called on it.

Now I happen to disagree with the veterans on global warming, to me it's a proven fact. But there's nothing like actually being in a war. The comparison is simply not apt. Those who are crusading for the environment, while there ultimate contribution might be just as important, simply cannot be compared to soldiers serving in an actual war.

It's a disrespect and one Time shouldn't have made.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 08:23 PM on 04/19/2008
collapse Riker See Profile I'm a Fan of Riker

Hmmm, now they should replace the tree with an oil rig. That's apparently what our troops are fighting for in Iraq. What else? WMD? Nope. Freedom? Please.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:50 PM on 04/19/2008
collapse wmbear See Profile I'm a Fan of wmbear

"[W]e'll stick a dadgum tree up somebody's rear if they want that and think that's going to cure something."

--Quote from story

"DADGUM"?

Boy, I haven't heard "dadgum" in a coon's age!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:17 PM on 04/19/2008
collapse wmbear See Profile I'm a Fan of wmbear

THAT'S NOTHING COMPARED TO THE ONE I SAW...

I forget where (maybe here) where soldiers were planting an oil derrick in the Middle East desert in an allusion to the flag-planting on Iwo Jima....

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:13 PM on 04/19/2008
collapse UncleJimbo See Profile I'm a Fan of UncleJimbo

Jesus-Tap-Dancing-Christ! Will ALL you people just go out and rent or purchase Clint Eastwoods "Flags of Our Fathers"! That's the straight story!

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 05:13 PM on 04/19/2008
collapse uberlefty See Profile I'm a Fan of uberlefty

Who cares if the photo was staged or not ? How do we get off on these pointless tangents? It just reduces the argument to staged, not staged, global warming, not global warming. This isnt a left right argument. Global warming is real. We have to start dealing with it yesterday or millions will die! The more we allow ourselves these pointless, media driven, excursions the more precious time is lost. Lets keep our eye on the ball people. These vets are a handful of heroes who are being used to whip up a mock controversy to distract us from the real issue. With all due respect lets listen to SCIENTISTS about this issue not ex-Marines. We all have a role to play. They have done their duty now its time for us to do ours.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:55 PM on 04/19/2008
collapse farseer See Profile I'm a Fan of farseer

The global warming battle has the potential - if we win it - to save more lives that Iwo did. Or, if we lose it, more lives will be lost than if we had lost Iwo. So these vets shouldn't be offended. Anyway, the Iwo photo was staged, in case we forgot.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:37 PM on 04/19/2008
collapse wndrwrthg See Profile I'm a Fan of wndrwrthg

And so, once more into the breach. The only photo that was "staged" was the group shot after the flag was raised. The claiments of fraud are long on wind but can offer no facts to back up their claims. 16mm film shot at the same time as the Rosenthal photo offers proof positive that it was not faked. Please be so kind as to offer proof to your false claims, is that so hard.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:07 PM on 04/19/2008
collapse Boris See Profile I'm a Fan of Boris

The first picture, the one you DONT usually see, although Clint Eastwood and the History Channel both have, was taken by the company photographer. It was the 'unit flag' on top of a piece of electrical conduit. My neighbor, whose brother was in the company photograph, died within a week of the photo.
The neighbor and I have speculated what would have happened if his brother were the Indian instead of Ira Hayes. Could he have survived what Hayes hated about being paraded around like a pet Indian?

WWll veterans got what they earned: parades and heroes welcome, free college, low interest housing, respect, free medical care forever.

Yet, they still bitch about everything because... that's what grumpy old men do!!! I have relatives still bitching about the loss of the nickel ice cream cone!

Anyone who actually was in combat in the Pacific Theater deserves all the thanks you can give them. When I hear 'Guadalcanal' and 'Wake Island' I know the guy was a real hero. This photo controversy was only a problem because these two ill informed veterans have a political bone(thrown by a radio guy, I am sure) to pick about global warming. It has nothing to do with the 'sacred' photo.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 12:57 PM on 04/19/2008
collapse marchamlin See Profile I'm a Fan of marchamlin

Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah Blah.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:00 AM on 04/19/2008
collapse isis See Profile I'm a Fan of isis

I don't believe in Iwo Jima

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 11:02 PM on 04/18/2008
collapse awcbuddy8 See Profile I'm a Fan of awcbuddy8

How you can equate global warming to a battle where 30,000 people died is beyond me.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:02 AM on 04/19/2008
collapse isis See Profile I'm a Fan of isis

There is probably a lot that's beyond you my friend. What I am saying is that I have just as much authority to deny their experience as they have to deny the year's of research data by scientists. If they can be an authority on global warming then I can be an authority on Iwo Jima. Or are you sexist or bigoted against me?

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:11 PM on 04/19/2008
collapse isis See Profile I'm a Fan of isis

I mean years. Sorry for that. But oh well, I still don't believe in Iwo Jima. It is just a ploy to get attention and funding.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:24 PM on 04/19/2008
collapse AndrewShuttleworth See Profile I'm a Fan of AndrewShuttleworth

Many, many more than 30,000 people are endangered by the effects of untamed climate change -- water shortages, famine, desertification, rising oceans, poor air quality, disease, etc. World War II was a noble cause fought nobly, but the war on climate change will take an even more universal effort.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:08 AM on 04/19/2008
collapse Garioch See Profile I'm a Fan of Garioch

30,000? You can have a higher death toll from a flood in Bangladesh. Just how many do you think could die as a result of climate change?
As for getting all precious about an image you have more than enough damaged veterans returning to your shores at the moment. Instead of spending your time on here puffing your chests" out in righteous anger over an image why don't you get off your behinds and do something for them before they end up the same way some of the people in that picture did due to the picture being more important than the people in it.
I could accept spluttering rage over that but over a picture? Pathetic.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 03:15 AM on 04/19/2008
collapse WaterRat See Profile I'm a Fan of WaterRat

It's more than just an image.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 02:55 PM on 04/20/2008
collapse isis See Profile I'm a Fan of isis

How many died in Hiroshima? 100,000 in the blast and then the slow deaths from radiation.....

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 06:28 PM on 04/19/2008
collapse Theron See Profile I'm a Fan of Theron

P,S, Theron, AND your disrespect for those who sacrificed at Iwo Jima to defend your right to advertise your ignorance and obscene disrespect.

I love the way you morph my comment into somewhow showing disrespect for those who served. You are at the very least dishonest and are probably a scoundrel as well, but have a nice night.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 10:50 PM on 04/18/2008
collapse GodisHateSpeech See Profile I'm a Fan of GodisHateSpeech

Following the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report, the declaration states:

"It is unequivocal that the climate is changing, and it is very likely that this is predominantly caused by the increasing human interference with the atmosphere. These changes will transform the environmental conditions on Earth unless counter-measures are taken."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_opinion_on_climate_change

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 09:02 PM on 04/18/2008
collapse ohiomark See Profile I'm a Fan of ohiomark

The climate is always changing. We don't need some worthless UN panel to tell us that.

The UN is just looking to squeeze some more cash out of the U.S.

favoriteFavorite Flag as abusive Posted 01:24 PM on 04/19/2008
collapse BlackbirdHighway See Profile I'm a Fan of BlackbirdHighway

Yes, you are right, the climate has been getting warmer for the last 10,000 years. That's normal and natural. But when that same amount of warming happens in 100 years, that is not normal or natural.

WHen you increase something by 100, you don't just have more of it, you completely change the nature of the thing. Get an inch of rain and the grass grows. Get 10 inches and there will be some minor flooding. Get 100 inches, and you better have Noah's Ark ready.

Drive through a school zone at 10 mph and you are a safe driver, at 100 you're extremely reckless. You can't even go 1000 mph, but if you could, it would not be good.

That is what we are doing to the climate here on earth. Don't say this is a liberal thing. There are no liberal or conservative thermometers!