The Pentagon has officially repealed the ban on photographing returning remains of dead servicemen/women at Dover AFB:
Pentagon to Allow Media Photos of Returning War Dead
The only groups requesting this ban to be lifted were Code Pink & associated groups. That should tell you pretty much everything you need to know.
Blackfive has it right: HELL HATH FROZE OVER, AND THE INMATES NOW RUN THE ASYLUM.
Update 27 Feb '09:
Even after sleeping on this, I have strong feelings on this. My main reaction is that the men & women actually putting themselves in harm's way are not being listened to at all here. Even beyond the wants and needs of the families, the opinions of America's warfighters should be heard here. It is they who are coming home in those flag draped boxes.
Secondly, the only reason anyone ever wanted this ban lifted was for propaganda reasons. The comment you hear most is, "If Americans saw these photographs, they'd realize the cost of these wars and opposition would be higher/have started sooner." What a load of horseshit. These photos are the fulcrum that "understanding the costs of war" rests on? We haven't been barraged with "the costs of war" in the popular media in the form of casualty counts, etc.?
Thirdly, the opportunity for groups like Code Pink to take rare advantage of a family in grief is too great. These groups are opportunist, PR driven packs of jackals and a year from now, if a mother or father regrets a decision made in haste during a time of mourning, the Pinkers aren't going to give two shits about it.
On the surface it doesn't seem like a bad idea to let the families decide "as they are allowed to at Arlington," but Arlington is on the other end of the process. Families have at least had a few days after their loved ones return to American soil to consider the impact of media/photography at a graveside service.
I believe that a few people, family members, probably wanted a choice in this and that their opinions were true. A far greater majority asking for this to be opened up to media coverage are doing it purely for propaganda purposes and it is probably too much that we ask they feel ashamed of themselves for it.
The words of John Stuart Mill hold true here:
Pentagon to Allow Media Photos of Returning War Dead
The only groups requesting this ban to be lifted were Code Pink & associated groups. That should tell you pretty much everything you need to know.
Blackfive has it right: HELL HATH FROZE OVER, AND THE INMATES NOW RUN THE ASYLUM.
Update 27 Feb '09:
Even after sleeping on this, I have strong feelings on this. My main reaction is that the men & women actually putting themselves in harm's way are not being listened to at all here. Even beyond the wants and needs of the families, the opinions of America's warfighters should be heard here. It is they who are coming home in those flag draped boxes.
Secondly, the only reason anyone ever wanted this ban lifted was for propaganda reasons. The comment you hear most is, "If Americans saw these photographs, they'd realize the cost of these wars and opposition would be higher/have started sooner." What a load of horseshit. These photos are the fulcrum that "understanding the costs of war" rests on? We haven't been barraged with "the costs of war" in the popular media in the form of casualty counts, etc.?
Thirdly, the opportunity for groups like Code Pink to take rare advantage of a family in grief is too great. These groups are opportunist, PR driven packs of jackals and a year from now, if a mother or father regrets a decision made in haste during a time of mourning, the Pinkers aren't going to give two shits about it.
On the surface it doesn't seem like a bad idea to let the families decide "as they are allowed to at Arlington," but Arlington is on the other end of the process. Families have at least had a few days after their loved ones return to American soil to consider the impact of media/photography at a graveside service.
I believe that a few people, family members, probably wanted a choice in this and that their opinions were true. A far greater majority asking for this to be opened up to media coverage are doing it purely for propaganda purposes and it is probably too much that we ask they feel ashamed of themselves for it.
The words of John Stuart Mill hold true here:
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
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This is a travesty in the making. Outside of the disgrace of using this solemn ceremony for propaganda and advancing political agendas, does anyone REALLY think the media is going to be respectful in this situation? The next time they do that will be the first.
Fallen warriors who have made the ultimate sacrifice deserve nothing less than honor, respect and dignity. Their families deserve privacy and peace at this painful time. They do not deserve to be subjected to media jackals and self-serving cretins who don't know the meaning of any of those words.
Brought to you by the same people who supposedly don't want to interfere with even a micrometer of delicate "caribou" habitat by harvesting our own natural resources on .0000000001% of the land there.
Yep. Caribou must be respected to the utmost insane degree. But our fallen are just a friggin' toy.
This repeal only does one main thing for the groups that want the pictures and need to use the death. It tears down the cement wall and what is left is a semi barbed wire fence that leads to their fantasy land. The land of "oops".
In the land of "oops" there are no rules....well, unless you consider the ramifications outside of such a land.
In "oops" people can do things and let them fly through the media, getting the point across while at the same time taking no liability for it.
Here's how it works...A soldier's body comes home. A parent does not want pictures forwarding a cause of an anti-Bush, Cindy Sheehan kind of way. The photo is taken and immediately released without the families go ahead. It's out there, when the family rejects it's a whole world of "oops that photo wasn't supposed to get out there".
Two weeks later, there will be a retraction on page never of the media.
That's how it works in the world of "oops".
This is an open world for the far left and it is discusting. The barbs must be increased on the fence within this repeal for it to really hold the slime in.