Curtains Ordered for Media Coverage of Returning Coffins

[kskiska]

By Dana Milbank

Since the end of the Vietnam War, presidents have worried that their military actions would lose support once the public glimpsed the remains of U.S. soldiers arriving at air bases in flag-draped caskets.

To this problem, the Bush administration has found a simple solution: It has ended the public dissemination of such images by banning news coverage and photography of dead soldiers' homecomings on all military bases.

In March, on the eve of the Iraq war, a directive arrived from the Pentagon at U.S. military bases. "There will be no arrival ceremonies for, or media coverage of, deceased military personnel returning to or departing from Ramstein airbase or Dover, Del., base, to include interim stops," the Defense Department said, referring to the major ports for the returning remains.

A Pentagon spokeswoman said the military-wide policy actually dates from about November 2000 -- the last days of the Clinton administration -- but it apparently went unheeded and unenforced, as images of caskets returning from the Afghanistan war appeared on television broadcasts and in newspapers until early this year. Though Dover Air Force Base, which has the military's largest mortuary, has had restrictions for 12 years, others "may not have been familiar with the policy," the spokeswoman said. This year, "we've really tried to enforce it."

President Bush's opponents say he is trying to keep the spotlight off the fatalities in Iraq. "This administration manipulates information and takes great care to manage events, and sometimes that goes too far," said Joe Lockhart, who as White House press secretary joined President Bill Clinton at several ceremonies for returning remains. "For them to sit there and make a political decision because this hurts them politically -- I'm outraged."

more…
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A55816-2003Oct20.html

[maggrwaggr]

1. well whaddya know, I just assumed the media wasn't covering it

because it was a "bummer". Oh, and also because BFEE told them not to.

[stevedeshazer]

2. This is an outrage

They've outlawed the free press and pissed on the First Amendment.

[goforit]

3. This is a disgrace to those who gave their lives for BUSH/CHENEY!!!

Shame on them!!!!

When are we going to wake up America....

US Military should be royally TICK OFF!!!!

If they are ticked off,....Then they need to get off their butts and fight the real terrorist at hand!!!

[0007]

5. That day may come!

One can only push for so long.

[Tippy]

12. It's the families and loved ones who should be ticked off

<"US Military should be royally TICK OFF">

I wonder if they to have been silenced....

[Maine-i-acs]

4. Suppresion of the media ...

A warning signal of fascism.

A 'free press' would be allowed to show the caskets.

Can the BBC or another international news org take the pictures? or would they be shipped to GITMO for it?

It would be good to see some recognition at an administrative level. Fortunately the last elected US president has made some appearances...

[Malva Zebrina]

6. what a way to pay homage to the soldiers--sneak them back into the country

I am not surprised--Bush has long thought of them as pawns of his to be manipulated at his will on his chessboard of neverending war for profit and greed--even in their death, he shows his disdain to these men and women. I thouhgt he made a big deal out his responsibility to hug the families of the war dead. That is all he does--get the publicity and get the photo ops, the quotes showing what a compassionate man he is,and then goes back to his real self--a selfish, ignorant, unintelligent , rude cowboy imitating jerk. I think he does think of them as expendable little peeons--we know how he abused the TANG and his own service to the country in a time of war. Why should he think much of these soldiers' lives or the upheaval in the family life-they are irrelevant collateral damage-their families will never be the same--and they can think back to how Bush snuck in their loved ones at night and tried to prevent any homage to them at all. No hero welcome--shipped back in covered up coffins, as if the country were ashamed of them. It is all about him and his image--Powell's image, Rice and the entire play acting group -- all are concerned about their image and the scripts get passed around periodically to tell them how to play the parts onstage and screw the country and their own people backstage.

[proud patriot]

18. Hiding them instead of Honoring them is an outrage and a disgrace

I couldn't agree with you more .

[bspence]

7. What about Freedom of the Press?

I'm sorry, but we have a right to access here. I would think seeing our dead soldiers is one of the main reasons why we HAVE a freedom of the press!!

[Rose Siding]

8. I'm glad Milbank finally wrote about this

He's even compaired the history of other pres visits to arrival ceremonies.

Whether marked by ceremony or simply filmed to make the public aware of the cost to them of war, the characteristic manipulation of facts by the bush admin is indefensible.

Who is it that always reminds us that the ME needs democracy because democracies don't wage aggressive war? The only reason there is any truth to that is because when people KNOW that the cost is their lives, they don't support unnecessary war.

[bluedog]

9. I wrote to Crossfire

about this.....lets see if this gets some air time!!! This is disgusting....Bush and gang use the soldiers for their photo ops in life yet in death they brush them aside.....

[PaDUer]

15. THANKS!

Let's HOPE they discuss this, and hope that other networks air the truth also..Looks like the "good ole boys" have LOTS to hide! Disgraceful!

[TheLastMohican]

10. Amen

Prayers to those departing us and may God protect them and forgive their ignorance in fighting for the wrong cause. At least they believed in what they were doing.

[arcane1]

11. dead soldiers' remains don't support the troops

or something :grr:

this is outrageous, and if MY son came home in a box, un-acknowleged by the leadership, I would be ready to spit in Bush's face!

:mad:

[Media_Lies_Daily]

13. IMHO, what they're really hiding is the actual number....

...of returning coffins. I think the number is higher than what's being "officially" reported.

[Serial Mom]

14. happened in Gulf War I too . . .

H Dubya would not allow TV coverage of return of fallen soldiers caskets.

This affected my daughter and me personally!

In Loving Memory
Lcp Scott A Schroeder Dec 17, 1970 - January 29, 1991

[Spazito]

16. Kick

:kick:

[Voltaire99]

17. The invisibility of consequence

That's what this era in our political life is about. The repression of images and ideas that illustrate the connective tissue between action and consequence.

Congressional Dems didn't want to deal with Iraq (and hoped it would backfire on Bush). So they gave him carte blanche.

The Bush cabal doesn't care how many troops die in Iraq, provided his reelection can be assured.

Invisibility. Nothing sticks. As Pangloss would say, we live in the best of all possible worlds.

[teryang]

22. Asscroft did a commencement speech earlier this year

The theme: adults must face, recognize and accept the consequences of their decisions. Doesn't apply to the lyin pre-emptive war wagers.

[young_at_heart]

19. "This administration manipulates information"

What a MAJOR understatement!

[PurityOfEssence]

20. Maybe Ashcroft's got some more blue velvet. Bring 'em on (back to Dover)

What's it going to take for the media to get sick of all this? The hint lies in the essence of show business: a good story's a good story, and someone's gonna run it. We need a montage of people herded into First Amendment Zones and being stiff-armed by guards; just as we have a right to express ourselves, politicians DON'T have a right to be spared them. Junior, like many spoiled brats, doesn't think he has to endure anything distasteful; he needs an education.

[grasswire]

21. look at this part...........

"Speaking on condition of anonymity, they said the policy covering the entire military followed a victory over a civil liberties court challenge to the restrictions at Dover and relieves all bases of the difficult logistics of assembling family members and deciding which troops should get which types of ceremonies.

One official said only individual graveside services, open to cameras at the discretion of relatives, give "the full context" of a soldier's sacrifice. "To do it at several stops along the way doesn't tell the full story and isn't representative," the official said."

Crap.

[peterh]

23. Waiting for the media to present something along the lines of:

We’re out here at Dover Air Force Base and as you can see…the curtains are drawn and all we can tell you is that we think they are offloading rather large oblong boxes and we’re not suppose to speculate what might be in those rather large oblong pine boxes…..Oh…I understand Aaron is back in the studio with an update on the new members for the Iraqi National song and dance team….this is a segment I’m sure you won’t want to miss….right after these messages….

:eyes:

[Maine-i-acs]

24. It prevents future Liberals.

I was galvanized to the Left when I saw flag-draped coffins returning from Vietnam. I was just a kid but I knew it was wrong.

Showing coffins now might teach kids that war is sad and people die! They'd never enlist to replace the fallen then!

"What if there was a war and nobody showed up?"