Since these flag-draped coffins all look the same, how on earth White House spokeman Trent Duffy claim the following about the ban on photos of the returning dead?
"We must pay attention to the privacy of the families. That's what the policy is based on."Rubbish. It's an issue of controlling propaganda, not privacy. The government knows that when the American public sees the bodies of American youths coming home from a war, they get queasy about continuing.
Visit The Memory Hole to see the moving photos the Pentagon would prefer you didn't see. War is hell, people, and we shouldn't send our young men and women to hell without good reason. Respect to Russ Kick who filed the Freedom of Information Act request to have these photos released--361 of them in all. They soon appeared in papers across the country, even here on the front page of our own Charlotte Observer. Here's the complete gallery. The site's running very slow, likely due to continued heavy traffic.
And just in case you haven't heard, Tami Silicio, the photographer who took this stunning Seattle Times photo (also posted below) was fired by Maytag Aircraft, the company she contracted with. She and her husband were both fired by Maytag for violating U.S. government and company regulations. The Seattle Times reprinted the photo on the hompage of their web site, when they reported that Silicio was fired. The paper says public reaction to their publishing the photo has been mostly favorable.
The Pentagon first instituted the ban in 1991.
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