Parents of Maryland servicemen killed in Iraq struck an emotional chord today as they asked legislators to outlaw commercial use of their deceased childrens' names without permission. The source of their anguish and anger is an Arizona man who's been selling anti-war T-shirts and bumper stickers online featuring the names of all 3,734 U.S. troops killed in Iraq from March 2003 through August of last year.
"My son's name has been used in a derogatory fashion," Michael Watts of Bel Air said of his stepson, Lance Cpl. Patrick Ryan Adle, who was killed in Baghdad in 2004 during his second tour in Iraq. "Think about your children," he urged members of the House Economic Matters Committee, "and what you would do if this was laid on your doorstep."
Bills have been introduced in both House and Senate that would make it a misdemeanor to use the name, picture or image of a soldier killed in the line of duty to advertise or sell a product or service without first getting permission from surviving family. Six other states have adopted similar laws, proponents say. A federal judge in Arizona, though, issued a preliminary injunction last year barring enforcement of that state's law, saying it would violate the First Amendment rights to free speech of the T-shirt marketer, Dan Frazier of Flagstaff.
Del. Nicholaus R. Kipke, an Anne Arundel County Republican, the House bill's sponsor, said the state attorney general's office has suggested some wording changes to the bill that should avoid the First Amendment concerns raised by the Arizona law, making it clear the prohibition would apply only to commercial uses of the names.
The American Civil Liberties Union, which challenged the Arizona law on Frazier's behalf, likewise opposes the Maryland bill. Cindy Boersma, legislative director for the ACLU of Maryland, said she had not seen the proposed amendments, but warned lawmakers to be careful about "criminalizing" speech, no matter how repugnant.
"Every soldier deserves the highest honor," said Boersma, adding, "That honor is diminished if it comes at the expense of the Constitution."
She also warned that banning the naming of fallen soldiers without permission might snare for-profit news organizations, which have aired or published lists of the war dead. She noted that Mike Luckovich, Pulitzer prizewinning cartoonist for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, had drawn a cartoon in which the names of the fallen soldiers were grouped to form the word "Why?"
Committee members openly sided with the fallen soldiers' families, though. Del. Ruth M. Kirk, a Baltimore city Democrat, who said she'd lost two brothers, pressed the ACLU representative about what she would do if she had family members killed in the line of duty and suggested Boersma was taking the position she did because she was paid to. Boersma replied that her father had served in the military for 30 years, as did other relatives, but that the issue was about more than the pride she and others take in their families' service.
"You've got a job to do, and we've got a job to do," Kirk shot back.
To see the Web site of the antiwar T-shirt marketer in Arizona, go here.
The issue has drawn national media attention, including this article in Reason and this one in Utne Reader.
