Photos of Returning War Dead

Barack Obama is making good on his promise to bring change. We get to see photos of the flag-draped coffins of the returning war dead.

Woo hoo! Get your cameras ready!


From FOX News:

News organizations will be allowed to photograph the homecomings of America's war dead under a new Pentagon policy, defense and congressional officials said Thursday.

Secretary of Defense Robert Gates announced Thursday that the Pentagon has changed its policy to allow media coverage of fallen soldiers arriving at Dover Air Base in Delaware, but only when the family approves. The current ban was put in place in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush.

"The president is supportive of the secretary's decision," White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Thursday.

Since the start of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, media has been forbidden access to images of flag-draped coffins returning to U.S. soil. Critics of the policy accused the Bush administration of hiding the "true cost of war."

...Obama asked Secretary Gates for a review of the policy earlier this month. Gates said he initially asked for the ban to be reviewed a year ago, and was advised then that family members might feel uncomfortable with opening the ceremonies to media for privacy reasons or that the relatives might feel pressure to attend the services despite financial stresses. Now families will be able decide if they want the public to witness the returning war dead.

"I think that the thing we always have to keep at the forefront of our minds...should be the families and giving them choices," Gates said.

At least two Democratic senators have called on Obama to let news photographers attend ceremonies at the air base and other military facilities when military remains are returned to the United States. The Dover base is where casualties are brought before they are transferred on to the hometowns of their families.

Shortly after Obama took office, Democratic Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey also asked the White House to roll back the 1991 ban.

Finally, we get to see the images of our fallen military members returning home.

Isn't this great?

Don't you love all this Obama transparency?

Never mind that family members of the fallen might be hurt by this policy change.

Very quickly after the announcement was made, Gates was backtracking, or at least clarifying.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Families of America's war dead will decide whether the flag-draped caskets of their loved ones can be photographed by news organizations when the fallen return to U.S. soil, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday. Gates said he decided to permit the photos at Dover Air Force Base, Del., if the families agree. A working group will come up with details and logistics.

The new policy reverses a ban put in place in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush. Some critics contended the government was trying to hide the human cost of war.

"We should not presume to make the decision for the families — we should actually let them make it," Gates said at a Pentagon news conference.

He cited a difference of opinion inside the Pentagon about whether to change the policy, based on concerns about what would be in the grieving families' best interests. He said he was "never comfortable" with the ban.

"We've seen so many families go through so much," added Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He said the goal is to meet family needs in the most dignified way possible.

It seems that there was a swift outcry from military families on this.

Perhaps they don't want the dead, the ones who gave all, to be exploited and used as props by the liberal media, liberal extremist politicans like John Kerry, and others hostile toward the military.

The fallen heroes and their families should be honored. They should be treated with the utmost respect and dignity.

I wonder how families will be allowed to decide if the media organizations can take their photos of the coffins.

Will there be a vote? Majority rules on such an emotional matter?

That shows a disturbing lack of sensitivity.