Time magazine's "Special Environmental Issue" cover which shows the famous Iwo Jima flag raising photo with the flag pole and flag replaced by a tree is infuriating Marines who fought in that bloody World War II battle.
Donald Mates, an Iwo Jima veteran, expressed his anger over the use of the photograph to the Business & Media Institute (BMI) on April 17. “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.”
“The second world war we knew was there,” Mates added. “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.”
Mates served in the 3rd Marine Division and fought in the battle of Iwo Jima, landing on Feb. 24, 1945. O
“A few days later, Mates’ eight-man patrol came under heavy assault from Japanese forces,” Tim Holbert, a spokesman for the American Veterans Center (AVC), told BMI. “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.”
Another Iwo veteran Lt. John Keith Wells, who commanded the very platoon that raised the flags on Mt. Suribachi and co-author of “Give Me Fifty Marines Not Afraid to Die: Iwo Jima,” blasted the global warming hoax being pushed by Time and a lot of big media. "That global warming is the biggest joke I’ve ever known,” Wells told the Business & Media Institute.
In an e-mail to a fellow Marine Lt. Col. Seamus Brader wrote, "Joe Rosenthal's February 23, 1945, photograph of the 2nd raising of the American Flag over Iwo Jima is a sacred image to each and every Marine. The use of this photograph by Time-Warner on the cover of Time magazine is an insult to those 6,821 U.S. servicemen killed and nearly 22,000 wounded during the battle to take Iwo Jima, and a personal insult to every Marine.
"Of the six flag raisers in the picture, Sgt. Michael Strank USMC, Cpl. Harlon Block USMC, and Pfc. Franklin Sousey USMCR were all killed in action during the battle. Cpl. Rene Gagnon USMCR, Cpl. Ira Hayes USMCR and pharmacists mate 2nd Class John H. Bradley USN survived. Sgt. Bill Genaust, who took a motion picture of the flag raising standing next to Joe Rosenthal was himself killed 9 days after the photograph was taken; and his remains are still on Iwo Jima.
"I canceled all of my subscriptions to Time-Warner this evening, voicing my displeasure of the use of Joe Rosenthal's photograph. Sadly Joe Rosenthal passed away on August 20, 2006. Were he still among his Marine friends, I'm sure he'd take offense to the use of his photograph as well.
"The number I called to cancel my subscription was 866-230-2625. Time Warner Stock closed at 14.61 today. I'd be interested to see where it is after a few Marines take action."
Appearing on MSNBC on April 17, Time managing editor Richard Stengel said the United States needs to make a major effort to fight climate change, and that the cover’s purpose was to liken global warming to World War II.
“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,” 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.”
Speaking on behalf of the American Veterans Center, Holbert said the editorial decision by Time to use the photograph for the cover trivialized the cause the veterans fought for.
“Global 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.”
This is the same Time magazine that slandered Marines when it published a fallacious account of the November 19, 2005 insurgent ambush on the Marine's of the 3rd battalion, 1st Marines based entirely on the words of two insurgent propagandists. The story created a media firestorm that falsely charged the heroic Marines of massacring innocent civilians who in reality died in the cross fire created bythe ambush,
Notes BMI: "Time has been banging the global warming drum for some time now. In April 2007, Time offered 51 ways to 'save the planet,' which included more taxes and regulation."
On behalf of my fellow Marines in the 26 Marine Regiment who fought and died on Iwo let me express my own outrage.
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