DOCUMENTARY Military puts a gag on Marine who was in 'Control Room'

The Corps and Pentagon won't say what's wrong with his conduct.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
When the briefing ended, Hassan Ibrahim, a reporter from the Arab network Al-Jazeera, invited Lt. Josh Rushing, a public affairs officer in the U.S. Marine Corps, to dinner off base. Rushing said he'd like to go, but he would have to ask permission first.
He and Ibrahim shook hands.
The scene at Central Command in Doha, Qatar, appeared near the end of the documentary "Control Room," a behind-the-scenes look at coverage of the war in Iraq by Al-Jazeera, the pan-Arab satellite TV network. The documentary is being shown at various venues throughout the United States.
As a media liaison to Al-Jazeera, Rushing is seen briefing reporters throughout the 86-minute film. He is personable and engaging, far different from any wooden caricature of a military representative.
Proud father
"I like the way he presented the Marine Corps," said Rushing's father, Gayland Rushing. "He's a very patriotic person. You wouldn't believe how proud we are."
The Marine Corps and the Pentagon, however, apparently don't share Gayland Rushing's view. Josh Rushing, who is now a captain, has been ordered not to give interviews about his role in the documentary.
He has been reassigned to the Marines' Motion Picture/Television Liaison office in Hollywood and plans to leave the Corps on Oct. 1, after 14 years.
"Josh is pretty disappointed in the Marine Corps' response," said his wife, Paige Rushing. "He feels his First Amendment rights have been violated. He has represented the Corps well under many circumstances and always had the Marine Corps' interest at heart.
"He believes his loyalty and his character have been questioned. My husband is in the Corps today because he feels very strongly he should serve his country. He believes in what our country represents and is willing to sacrifice his life for those ideas.
"He's disheartened."
Change of assignment
In response, the Marines issued only an e-mail statement to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, attributed to Maj. Douglas Powell, director, media branch of Marine Corps public affairs at the Pentagon.
"When Capt. Rushing was supporting the documentary, he was working for Central Command," Powell said. "He is no longer serving in that capacity and therefore is not available to comment on the documentary."
The Marine Corps officials did not address what may have disturbed them about Rushing's conduct in the film.
Al-Jazeera has been criticized by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, among others, and is accused of distorting events, or presenting a one-sided, anti-American view of the conflict in Iraq.
In the film, Rushing, who grew up in Lewisville, Texas, presents the American viewpoint. In one scene, for example, he questions whether Al-Jazeera has reported the atrocities committed by Saddam Hussein in Iraq.
At another point, when Al-Jazeera reporters say that U.S. bombs and missiles are killing civilians, Rushing says that "smart" or precision bombs, as he calls them, are minimizing civilian casualties. The United States, he says, could have used less expensive weapons and just "carpet bombed."
War's toll
But Rushing is not insensitive to the toll war takes on both sides.
In the film, he says he is troubled by the fact that the images of dead Iraqis he saw on Al-Jazeera have not upset him as much as the images of dead Americans did a day earlier.
"It makes me hate war," Rushing said. "But it doesn't make me believe we can live in a world without war yet."
X"Control Room" is showing at Austintown Movies 3, in Austintown Plaza.