Pentagon Rethinks Photo Ban on Coffins Bearing War Dead

[cal04]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/02/16/AR2009021601480.html?hpid=topnews

Every week, Air Force cargo jets land and taxi down the runway at Dover Air Force Base, Del., carrying the remains of fallen U.S. troops. After a chaplain says a simple prayer, an eight-man military honor guard removes the metal "transfer cases" from the planes and carries them to a mortuary van.

The flag-draped coffins are a testament to the toll of the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as to the sacrifice borne by those who serve in the military and their families. But this ceremony, known as the "dignified transfer of remains" and performed nearly 5,000 times since the start of the wars, is hidden from the American public view by the Pentagon.

President Obama said last week that he is considering lifting the ban on photographs and videos at Dover, in place since the Persian Gulf War in 1991, raising fundamental questions about the impact of such images on the public morale in wartime.

For Obama, changing the policy would carry some political risk as he ramps up the war effort in Afghanistan with tens of thousands of fresh troops, increasing the likelihood of combat deaths that could produce photographs of numerous coffins arriving at one time at Dover, the sole U.S. port of entry for the remains. At the same time, Obama has advocated transparency in government, and continuing to hide the Dover ritual from public view conflicts with that principle as well as with public opinion on the issue, polls indicate.

[sakabatou]

1. Lift the ban!

[Ghost in the Machine]

2. Images your Government doesn't want you to see....

******Warning - Photo Album also contains graphic pictures of dead Iraqi civillians, including children. I feel that people *need* to see these pictures as they embody the true "cost" of war...******

http://www.offrampbums.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=4

[Hekate]

3. Think fast, fellas. nt

[BlooInBloo]

4. I would imagine that they're re-thinking a lot of things at the moment.

[That Is Quite Enough]

5. Lift it. n/t

[Fireweed247]

6. Let US see the truth!

It's time to end this bullshit war of terror.

[Ghost in the Machine]

7. Kicking for exposure...