May 19, 2004

U.S. Marines on Abu Ghraib -- and the press. "By GORDON DILLOW -- WITH THE 1ST BATTALION, 5TH MARINE REGIMENT, NEAR FALLUJAH, IRAQ – It was early morning chow time in the 1st Battalion's rear area mess hall, and as Marines fresh in from the field were shoveling down their breakfasts - sausage, cold pancakes and greenish- hued scrambled eggs - CNN's Larry King came on the flickering big-screen TV in the corner. King announced that the subject of his show was, once again, the ongoing prisoner- abuse scandal at Abu Ghraib. And one Marine probably spoke for most Marines here when he shouted at the TV: "Aw, shut the (blank) up!" The Marines here aren't directly connected to the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal. Although these Marines routinely detain and do the initial processing of suspected insurgents, the handling of prisoners at the prison was and is a U.S. Army operation. And given the generations-old rivalry between Marines and soldiers, these Marines express no surprise when the Army stumbles into a minefield, literally or figuratively. But some of the Camp Pendleton-based Marines here do worry that people back home may not make such a distinction, that all U.S. forces will be painted with the same abusive brush. And while every Marine interviewed condemned the abuse of prisoners, almost to a man they think the news media is overhyping the story and losing sight of the big picture of what's going on in Iraq.

"I'm tired of it," says Chief Warrant Officer David Bednarcik, 36, of Temecula. "(The news media) are making us look like a bunch of goons over here. What those (Army) yo-yos did was wrong, and if they're guilty, they deserve to get crushed. But do we really need to keep going on and on and on about it? Can't anybody talk about some of the positive things we're doing here?"

MORE Marines see ripple effect of abuse scandal.

Gordon Dillow, a former OC Register columnist, is reporting from Iraq as a free-lancer. He is embedded with Marines from Camp Pendleton. Posted by Greg Ransom | TrackBack