There is a breed of man that works in the Pentagon that while it wears a military uniform is divorced from the things that make America’s military so great; he knows not of honor or respect for the citizen, only of advancing that which he thinks will advance his career…and perhaps help the military along the way. Such a man has been releasing the most stunning example of Michael Yon’s work. This picture
of a US Soldier holding a child mortally wounded by terrorists was flashed around the world.
And the Army, in the form of the aforementioned men of little honor, took all the credit. According to this article in the Boston Herald Yon is trying to reclaim his rights to the photo and has appealed to his Senators.
But Yon, who uses Massachusetts as his blogger base of operations, said he never intended to allow the Army to distribute the photo to commercial operations and he’s now seeking damages. He said he may file a lawsuit within days, claiming thousands of dollars in damages.
“I never authorized this distribution and immediately asked the Army to stop it,†Yon recently wrote Kennedy, the senior Massachusetts senator and a member of the U.S. Senate’s Armed Services Committee.
He has also asked the Army to relinquish its claims to the photo. And this is where the scumbags in the Pentagon come crawling out from their holes. As The Mudville Gazette reports the Daily Southown says:
In an Oct. 13 letter to Yon denying his request for compensation for the alleged infringement, Army intellectual property lawyer Alan Klein wrote that Yon had given up his right for compensation when he signed the standard liability form all embedded journalists must sign.
The form states that Yon agreed to “release the (military) of any liability from and hold them harmless for any injuries I may suffer or any equipment that may be damaged as a result of my covering combat.”
In his letter, Klein argues that an injury to Yon’s copyright is the same as an injury to his leg or his camera
This puzzle palace hall crawler Alan Klein claims that signing a “hold harmless” allows the Army to steal from Yon! That an agreement that prevents Yon from suing the Army for loss of limb or damaged equipment also includes the taking of his currency in trade is absurd and appalling. Put this in light of the fact that Yon paid his way over as a truly independent observer, that his reports may make him this generation’s equivalent of Ernie Pyle, and you see exactly how stupid the halls of the Pentagon have become.
Pundit Review has the email addresses of the various swine involved in an action that goes against what American service members have fought and died for, for almost 250 years. Write them and tell them how reprehensible you think they are.