Ban on photos of coffins politically motivated
By: Paul Corkery
Issue date: 5/7/04 Section: Ed-Op
Originally published: 5/6/04 at 11:55 PM EST
Last update: 5/7/04 at 11:18 AM EST
Originally published: 5/6/04 at 11:55 PM EST
Last update: 5/7/04 at 11:18 AM EST
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The Pentagon is enforcing orders on behalf of the Bush administration prohibiting media crews from photographing or filming the flag-covered coffins of fallen soldiers whose bodies are being flown home from Iraq. The justification is that to publish these images and videos in various news outlets violates the soldiers and their families' rights to privacy. The military ban on such occurrences was set up in 1991, but has since been relaxed under the claim that it unjustly censors the media. Media crews were permitted to film honor guard ceremonies held for those who lost their lives in Afghanistan, and the coffins of those who were killed during the terrorist attack on the USS Cole. Only now has this issue of respect and privacy resurfaced and the ban being actively enforced.
This is less about the honor and respect of fallen soldiers, and most certainly an attempt by the Bush administration to head off any negative press about the casualties piling up in Iraq. The American military and Iraqi civilian casualties are on the rise as the occupied country becomes more and more destabilized. Bush's lack of identification with and respect for American soldiers aside, the plan here is to prevent the recognition of the allegedly "honored" dead as not to diminish support for the war, and in turn Bush's chances for re-election. The statement about family privacy is simply absurd on the basis that there are no external markings on the caskets that violate any ambiguous definition of privacy.
If the obvious political agenda wasn't apparent and insulting enough, please allow for a bit of hypocrisy. You've more than likely had to watch one of Bush's colorful and somewhat nauseating (OK, maybe that's just me) re-election ads on television. It would seem, from these ads, that Bush is not bound to the same "honor" and "privacy" code as the rest of us. One Bush ad titled "Safer, Stronger" features a video montage in which firefighters can be seen carrying the flag-covered body of a fallen comrade from the World Trade Center rubble.
This is less about the honor and respect of fallen soldiers, and most certainly an attempt by the Bush administration to head off any negative press about the casualties piling up in Iraq. The American military and Iraqi civilian casualties are on the rise as the occupied country becomes more and more destabilized. Bush's lack of identification with and respect for American soldiers aside, the plan here is to prevent the recognition of the allegedly "honored" dead as not to diminish support for the war, and in turn Bush's chances for re-election. The statement about family privacy is simply absurd on the basis that there are no external markings on the caskets that violate any ambiguous definition of privacy.
If the obvious political agenda wasn't apparent and insulting enough, please allow for a bit of hypocrisy. You've more than likely had to watch one of Bush's colorful and somewhat nauseating (OK, maybe that's just me) re-election ads on television. It would seem, from these ads, that Bush is not bound to the same "honor" and "privacy" code as the rest of us. One Bush ad titled "Safer, Stronger" features a video montage in which firefighters can be seen carrying the flag-covered body of a fallen comrade from the World Trade Center rubble.
