# Pat Boone is pissed at 60 Minutes for Abu Ghraib **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [June 9, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399 "2004-06-09T02:56:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/1 "2004-06-09T02:56:35Z")
I just received an email containing a letter that Pat Boone allegedly wrote to [NewsMax.com](http://NewsMax.com). Here are some excerpts: > [@](#): > > Hasn’t anybody got the guts to accuse the worst perpetrator in this whole Abu Ghraib prison debacle - CBS and 60 Minutes II? > > What do you call it when, in time of war, someone takes military intelligence and turns it over to the enemy, who in turn uses it to kill Americans? > > \ > > It has already been well established, and CBS certainly knew, that the military announced to the press back in January that allegations had been made concerning treatment of prisoners and were being investigated. > > \ > > In other words, while America was fighting a war, the military had already taken the allegations seriously, were investigating them and were taking steps to correct the situation. In other words, it was being handled, and handled well. > > \ > > Freedom of the press is precious to us, but you can abuse any liberty and stretch it out of shape until it becomes license, and concerned citizens will call for limitations. > > In this case, if CBS had really cared about the country, about our military, about doing the right thing, they would have taken these pictures, (which they had illegally) and asked the military and the Pentagon what was being done about the abuses (Although they most likely knew it, they would have been told that the matter was in hand and being taken care of). > > Indeed, a general implored them not to publish the pictures because of what he knew would happen as a result. > > \ You can see the rest [here](http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2004/5/24/132813.shtml). Apparently the letter is legit. Snopes doesn’t have anything on it, but [TruthOrFiction.com](http://TruthOrFiction.com) claims that they asked Boone directly about the letter and he confirms that he wrote it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/2 "2004-06-09T02:58:30Z")
Can I nominate Pat Boone to be shipped to Abu Ghraib for some ‘interrogating?’ ---
**Author:** ![MrTuffPaws](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f475e1/32.png) [@MrTuffPaws](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrTuffPaws)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/3 "2004-06-09T03:08:51Z")
Pat Boone can bite my ass. Doesn’t he know that Jesus is listening? ---
**Author:** ![GLWasteful](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f05b48/32.png) [@GLWasteful](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GLWasteful)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/4 "2004-06-09T03:14:18Z")
Golly. . .and Pat Boone has always been such a font of absolute wisdom in the past. Whenever I was confused about world events, I would consult Pat and he would point me in the right direction. Seriously, though, if I had bothered to think about his opinion I would have assumed that it was as the OP presents it. His take on events means nothing. Now, Katie Couric on the other hand. . . ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/5 "2004-06-09T03:21:14Z")
> [@GLWasteful](#): > > Now, Katie Couric on the other hand. . . Well yeah, but the trouble with her these days is you can’t tell why she’s raising her eyebrows at any given point in time… ---
**Author:** ![Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e99b99/32.png) [@Diogenes\_the\_Cynic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diogenes_the_Cynic)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/6 "2004-06-09T03:31:58Z")
It’s true. I saw Boone on Bill O’Reilly bitching about this a couple of days ago. What a cock. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/7 "2004-06-09T03:34:29Z")
Who the fuck is Pat Boone? ---
**Author:** ![Master\_Wang-Ka](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/master_wang-ka/32/3325_2.png) [@Master\_Wang-Ka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Master_Wang-Ka)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/8 "2004-06-09T03:51:44Z")
Pat Boone: former singing idol and squeaky-clean teen role model and occasional movie and TV performer, now… well, sort of the poster boy for “white bread stick up his ass guy.” And I should care about Pat Boone’s opinion more than I do the little old lady’s who lives down the block and lets her dachshund crap on my yard… why? ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/9 "2004-06-09T03:55:36Z")
This letter was originally written by an angry Little Richard. Pat Boone excised all references to “good booty”, “long legged women”, and "ballin’ before submitting it to NewsMax as his onw work. ---
**Author:** ![andros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e480ec/32.png) [@andros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/andros)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/10 "2004-06-09T04:11:23Z")
I take this no more seriously than I do rants from Janeanne Garofalo, Tim Robbins, or Ted Nugent. Not only is his opinion not worth any more than anyone else’s, he’s wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 10:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/11 "2004-06-09T10:12:59Z")
I’m waiting for Barbra Streisand to weigh in before I make a decision. ---
**Author:** ![duffer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duffer/32/1026_2.png) [@duffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/duffer)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/12 "2004-06-09T10:20:38Z")
> [@Liberal](#): > > I’m waiting for Barbra Streisand to weigh in before I make a decision. I’m honestly getting scared about how much I agree with \*\*Lib \*\* since the name change. He’s an entertainer and should carry the same clout as Babs. Why the hell are their opinions so much more important to you than people that actually make policy? You like or dislike what they do in Hollywood? Well, shit, let’s forget they have no access to what’s happening in the real world and run our lives by what they think. Fuck, that’s like basing foreign policy on my opinion. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 11:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/13 "2004-06-09T11:20:50Z")
He has a good point, though. Ones echoed strongly by Jonah Goldberg, and you can’t just dismiss him as an entertainer. Media outlets have a lot of images that they don’t show to readers and viewers. They don’t show the graphic details of a partial birth abortion, for example. And those images would certainly enliven that debate. They didn’t show the Nicholas Berg execution video, either, which was a consequence of the display of the Abu Ghraib photos. So a plausible case could have been made for editorial suppression of the images from Abu Ghraib, especially since the matter was being taken up by the military already. If the matter _wasn’t_ being handled by the military, that would have been a different matter. We’re at war here, and “60 Minutes” should have loyalties in many directions. I’d hope they could persue their stories and maintain their journalistic integtrity without putting our troops at risk. ---
**Author:** ![TwistofFate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@TwistofFate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TwistofFate)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/14 "2004-06-09T11:21:23Z")
> [@duffer](#): > > I’m honestly getting scared about how much I agree with \*\*Lib \*\* since the name change. > > He’s an entertainer and should carry the same clout as Babs. Why the hell are their opinions so much more important to you than people that actually make policy? You like or dislike what they do in Hollywood? Well, shit, let’s forget they have no access to what’s happening in the real world and run our lives by what they think. Fuck, that’s like basing foreign policy on my opinion. :rolleyes: I love how people complain about celebrities spouting their opinions and using any medium they can to air them, but have no problems spouting their own using any medium they can to air them. Foreign Policy IS (or at least should be) based on our opinions, thats what a democracy is all about. Because you are in a republic, thats why you vote for people to represent your opinions. As for pat Boone, he’s probably pissed off that he’s stopped getting royalties from the Army who were using his version of “Enter Sandman” as torture. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 11:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/15 "2004-06-09T11:42:30Z")
> [@Mr. Moto](#): > > We’re at war here, and “60 Minutes” should have loyalties in many directions. I’d hope they could persue their stories and maintain their journalistic integtrity without putting our troops at risk. It’s a pretty blurry line between freedom of the press and not putting troops at risk. I fail to see how showing images from Abu Ghraib puts troops at risk. Perhaps you can enlighten me? There is also a difference between images used to illustrate a point and images used for shock value. We know how Nick Berg was killed. There is little, if any, reason to show that video over the mass media except to inflame the American public. Should _Sixty Minutes_ have shown that video, you’d hear complaints from viewers asking why it was necessary to show it. That said, I think images from Abu Ghraib and similar incidents are important. The American people have the right to know what our troops are doing, particularly when their actions have such dire consequences. It’s not the American press that put troops at risk by showing those photos; it was the American soldiers who felt free to abuse prisoners in their custody, then take photos of their handiwork. News outlets simply brought this to the attention of the American people. In any event, Ashcroft is trying to weasel out by explaining that the Commander-in-Chief has the right to ignore treaties to which the U.S. is a signatory, in clear violation of international law. How are his actions (and those of other senior Bush administration officials) not putting our troops at risk? Now that it’s known that America tortures prisoners, do you think we’ll see a lot of Iraqi cooperation? Of course not. They’ll continue to take potshots at coalition troops. More Americans will die. Sometimes, I think “putting troops at risk” is simply code for “la la la I don’t want to hear this la la la”. Robin ---
**Author:** ![World\_Eater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/f04885/32.png) [@World\_Eater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/World_Eater)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/16 "2004-06-09T11:48:23Z")
> [@MsRobyn](#): > > Sometimes, I think “putting troops at risk” is simply code for “la la la I don’t want to hear this la la la”. Sometimes? ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/17 "2004-06-09T11:53:32Z")
> [@World Eater](#): > > Sometimes? What can I say? I’m an optimist. 😉 😃😛 Robin ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/18 "2004-06-09T11:54:51Z")
My understanding is that the military had asked CBS to delay releasing the pictures while they did damage control, and CBS complied until it became apparent that the pictures were going to be released over the Internet anyway. Can someone confirm that? ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Moto](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9de0a6/32.png) [@Mr.Moto](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Moto)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/19 "2004-06-09T12:02:24Z")
Well, **MsRobyn** , you’re caught in a logical bind. You’re saying that the Nick Berg video shouldn’t be released because the only purpose it would serve would be to: > [@MsRobyn](#): > > inflame the American public. Which is pretty much the point I made regarding the Abu Ghraib photos. Except that the public who might be inflamed in this case is in the Arab world, and include people who might shoot at our servicemembers. Strikes close to home, since I’m a veteran. And I know you’re married to one as well. ---
**Author:** ![WernhamHogg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/a587f6/32.png) [@WernhamHogg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WernhamHogg)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2004, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399/20 "2004-06-09T12:12:49Z")
> [@Mr. Moto](#): > > Well, **MsRobyn** , you’re caught in a logical bind. You’re saying that the Nick Berg video shouldn’t be released because the only purpose it would serve would be to: > > Which is pretty much the point I made regarding the Abu Ghraib photos. Except that the public who might be inflamed in this case is in the Arab world, and include people who might shoot at our servicemembers. > > Strikes close to home, since I’m a veteran. And I know you’re married to one as well. Funny that you don’t make the people who committed the abuse at AG responsible for putting their fellow service members at risk. Or Bush for sending service etc. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pat-boone-is-pissed-at-60-minutes-for-abu-ghraib/249399.md?page=2)