The Education Of Lt. Rushing--Marine featured in "Control Room" now at Al Jazeera

[TexasLawyer]

The Education Of Lieutenant Rushing

News: How one Marine flack left the Control Room and Found Al Jazeera

By Daniel Schulman

November/December 2006 Issue




At the time, Lieutenant Josh Rushing didn't give much thought to the filmmakers who followed him around the Pentagon's Central Command press operation in Doha, Qatar, for a few weeks at the outset of the Iraq War. But then, back in the States a year later, the Marine public-affairs officer got an anonymous voice mail. "I just saw your movie at Sundance," the caller said. "I just wanted to say thanks."

"I Googled my name and Sundance," Rushing recalls, "and up came all these stories" on Control Room, a documentary about theArabic satellite news channel Al Jazeera. He was startled to notice that "a lot of them weren't just about the movie—they were about me." The film had captured the earnest 30-year-old, with striking blue eyes and the signature high-and-tight haircut favored by his fellow Marines, as he grappled with his feelings about the war and the gulf between how the Western and Arab media were portraying it.

Though Rushing, now 34, never strayed from his official talking points, he remembers being troubled that American reporters "were buying into the government's message without challenging it." Some journalists would ask him prior to on-air interviews if there were "any messages you want to get across today."

Amid the sudden publicity, Rushing ran afoul of the Pentagon.

<snip>

http://www.motherjones.com/news/outfront/2006/11/education_of_lt_rushing.html

[mike_c]

1. K&R-- wow, what a story-- I had no idea Rushing had gone thru...

...such an intense personal evolution. This is a really compelling story! Thanks for posting!

[TexasLawyer]

2. I hadn't either

And for anyone who has not seen "Control Room"-- rent it or buy it. It's a great documentary.

[mike_c]

3. kick-- this is really worth reading...!

:kick:

[TexasLawyer]

4. $1.53 for Control Room

wow-- just checking, but you can buy a VHS version of Control Room for $1.53. Now that's good value!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-listing/B00062IXY2/ref=dp_olp_1/104-4446937-9041563

[mike_c]

5. weird how great stories like this sometimes sink like a stone....

One last :kick:

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. There's a bit of the James Bond about him

these days: