(Army Times) Editorial: Reverse Dover policy

[unhappycamper]

Reverse Dover policy

The cost of war can be counted in dollars and cents, entered into spreadsheets and processed across budgetary lines.

But understanding the true price of war requires a more contemplative tally. When calculated in terms of flag-draped coffins — often called “The Dover Effect” because the first stop coming home for most troops killed in combat is the mortuary at Dover Air Force Base, Del. — these losses take on a different tone.

For too long, the government has shielded these images from the public through a heavy-handed policy forbidding media coverage of returning war dead.

Such coverage was common before the policy was adopted during the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Efforts to overturn it have failed in the courts and in Congress. The policy is now as old as the high-school students that military recruiters work to bring into the fold.

But Hollywood hasn’t forgotten the importance of this part of the war story. The new HBO film, “Taking Chance,” stars actor Kevin Bacon in a story based on true events of a lieutenant colonel who volunteers to escort another Marine’s body home from Dover for burial.


Rest of article at: http://armytimes.com/community/opinion/army_editorial_dover_022309/%2e