U.S. Contractor Fired for Military Coffin Photo

Doesn't work going through Google search either -- probalby server problems and it could be from certain areas of the Internet links.

A fellow from the defence department was on PBS News tonight. His claim was the standard one - the reasons that the military is enforcing a 'no photos of coffins' policy is to protect the dignity of the deceased, and to protect the families at a sensitive time.

This doesn't really make any sense at all, as the photo above surely maintains the dignity of the deceased. Quite arguably, it enhances it far more than does a policy of non-acknowledgement, particularly if that policy is politically motivated.

As to the the claim that showing draped coffins somehow makes incursion on the 'sensitivies of the families', I don't know how on earth that might be so. If it were, then it would follow that all pictures of coffins (eg President Kennedy, Princess Di, Joe Shmoe, rows of wrapped bodies after a disaster, etc) would be similar incursions.

The more credible motive for this Pentagon policy is to keep hidden a very real consequence of Pentagon and administration endeavors. And there is NO dignity in that. It is quite despicable.

And maybe one day, the President will attend a funeral of the men who died, but don't hold your breath.

I agree, that's a pretty poor excuse.

It is. Anyone old enough to remember Viet Nam understands that the military learned a lesson there...that if they allow negative portrayals of their endeavors into the consciousness of the voting public, those citizens might cause trouble.

The assault on Noriega demonstrated the Pentagon's new management of news techniques.

I remember clearly how John F Kennedy's casket draped with an American flag was drawn through the streets of Washington DC, and little John saluted his dad. It was one of the most dignified funeral processions I have seen in my life time.

I'm just wondering how the Bush supporters are gonna rationalize this one.

CI

Either swallow the 'rationale' as is, or do the "you are only helping the enemy" line.

Of course, apart from the hundreds of coffins the administration has been covering-up, what about the deserved public recognition for the many thousands more brave men and women INJURED in Afghanistan and Iraq obeying presidential orders ..... who the White House are making sure all too many voters hear nothing about.

This is known as the 'throw away' military of GWBush and company. They don't want anybody to know that our people are dying and there are thousands of casualties of this war. All they do is talk about $$$$ and "stay the course." The American People have been dumbed down to their level.

Seven more dead U.S. forces today, more injured. 109 dead since April began. Unknown numbers injured.

Far more Iraqis dead and injured today and during April.

All of whom the administration would prefer to keep unknown to voters.

How can decent Americans vote for those responsible for this insane war?

John Webb, At the risk of repeating what most people already know, we're doing it for the Iraqi people, because it's god's direction to GWBush and his cronies - to bring democracy to the middle of the middle east. God also said it was okay to kill over 10,000 innocent Iraqi men, women and children in our aggression against Saddam, and that the continued killings (of more innocent Iraqis) and sacrifice of the American People in lives and billions will be rewarded after we die.

Published: 04.24.2004

Tucsonan in middle of photo uproar
By Carla McClain
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

At the center of a national uproar, Tucsonan Russ Kick wrapped up a frenzy of media appearances on the East Coast Friday, then flew home last night for some peace and quiet.

It was Kick - a First Amendment activist - who Thursday unleashed hundreds of photos of the coffins of dead U.S. soldiers flown back from Iraq, infuriating the Pentagon and setting off a nationwide debate over the human price of war.

Kick posted the somber pictures on his Tucson-based Web site - titled The Memory Hole - four days after a Seattle newspaper published the first photo Americans had seen of their war dead returning from Iraq.

The Pentagon had banned all images of the flag-draped coffins of soldiers killed there, citing sensitivity to their families, and has called the release of these photos to Kick "a mistake."

However, the U.S. Air Force in January released a picture of eight coffins of American soldiers killed in Afghanistan for worldwide media use. That photo was published on the front page of the Arizona Daily Star on Feb. 3.

His Web site jammed, his Tucson home telephone voice mail full Friday, Kick did not return messages left on his cell phone as he flew back from New York City to Tucson.

He appeared Friday on ABC-TV's "Good Morning America" and was interviewed on National Public Radio. But he did not respond to calls from The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Associated Press.

Although President Bush said Friday that the privacy of the families of the dead soldiers is a greater priority than the public need to see the photos, Arizona's two Republican congressmen disagreed.

"In general, Americans need to see and have the full information on what is happening," said U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe, speaking at a press conference on the University of Arizona campus Friday.

"The pictures that are shown of battlefield casualties are news issues, newsworthy, and the news media should be allowed to show those. That's legit. It's a news story. That's the reality we're facing and a lot of Americans unfortunately have died in Iraq," Kolbe said.

Also appearing at the press conference, U.S. Sen John McCain said: "Perhaps those pictures need to be shown of the coffins returning. I think it's a way we honor them, and understand their service and sacrifice."

The Boston Globe reported that the Pentagon is reviewing its policy.

Kick, 34, is the author of several books, including "50 Things You're Not Supposed to Know." He moved to Tucson from Tennessee nine months ago, a year after he started The Memory Hole Web site (www.thememoryhole.com), dedicated to publicly posting online suppressed or ignored government reports, congressional testimony, court proceedings, corporate memos and media images.

He got the name from George Orwell's "1984," in which documents deemed embarrassing to the state were thrown down a memory hole, a chute in the Ministry of Truth that led to giant furnaces.

Kick obtained the photos of the Iraq war dead by filing a Freedom of Information Act request last year. The Defense Department first denied his request, then released 361 color pictures after he appealed the denial.

° Contact reporter Carla McClain at 806-7754 or [email protected]. ° Reporter Eric Swedlund contributed to this story.

Source

Many Serial Killers have a habit of concealing the bodies of their victims for years if possible.

Why does this sound familiar?

p.s. Just reported: two sailors killed and four injured to add to the administration's previous total for today.

McCain has it right here. Today, on the news again, we saw footage of an American humvee burning. One soldier had apparently died in it.

There is a very good possibility that the family of that soldier saw that footage, and will find out later that their son/husband/father had died right there. One might make the argument that such footage is insensitive to families (they could easily imagine their loved one burning to death). But such footage/photos aren't banned. It is coffins and body bags which are banned.

So the policy doesn't make any sense at all, except as a PR matter. Thus, the Pentagon and the administration ARE LYING AGAIN.

And let's yell that loud every time we see it (though we'll surely get hoarse with this crowd).

Exactly. It is maddening. This policy seems so obviously calculated to "pretty up" the war, their argument against showing these things is extraordinarily flimsy. It should never have been put in place -- government censorship meant to whitewash government mistakes.

Piffka

Yes, thus Dr. Strangelove...a certain mindset that can exist at the top of a military machine where it is conceived that a functional portion of the 'enemy' is one's own citizens.