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Home › Politics

Poll | 02/27/2009 12:00 am

Do you think the press should be allowed to publish photos of slain soldiers' coffins as they're brought back to the U.S.?

Read more about: Death, Dying, Journalism, Pentagon, Press, Terrorism, U.S., War

154 Reader Comments (so far…) Sign In or Register to comment

mary jo swaner
whatever the family wishes in behalf of the soldier-best if soldier makes their wishes known.  similar to an advance directive.  
By mary jo swaner on 02/27/2009 12:26 am
Meredith Stock
I agree
By Meredith Stock on 02/27/2009 6:45 am
Maizie James

Mary jo,

I agree that public viewing of coffins should be determined by the wishes of the deceased soldiers family.  And yes.  It makes sense that soldiers have a written statement in their military files indicating their wishes respective to all issues related to funeral plans and arrangements upon their death.

By Maizie James on 02/27/2009 10:48 am
Diana T

In the past,  an honor guard would be there to salute the fallen soldiers, and we would see the pictures.  What is wrong with that?  They have fought for this country; the least we can do is to be there and do our part in grieving for these young men and women.  I amso glad that every week at church, they read a list of names of the fallen, and uphold them.

The Bush/Cheney administration knew that if the public saw those coffins being removed from the belly of a plane, day after day, that there would be a loud outcry, and for that reason, they supressed those pictures, and by doing so, they supressed our right to mourn our young heroes.

So, I think it’s long over due.

By Diana T on 02/27/2009 12:28 am
Pam Melton
Hi Diana - not that I’m any fan of the previous administration, but it seems that I heard on the news that this has been in effect for 15 years.  If that’s true, we can’t blame this one on the B/C team.
By Pam Melton on 02/27/2009 6:32 am
Diana T
I don’t know; it may have been.  But, then, Clinton didn’t start a pre-emptive war by deceiving the people and with no exit strategy or plan.  If a nation goes to war, it must have the participation and sacrifice of the citizens.  And, to slip all of those coffins home without our being able to honor them or see them is not only wrong, but a silent acknowledgement of the administration knowing that support isn’t there.
By Diana T on 02/27/2009 9:17 am
Frannie Em

Diana

It wasn’t a pre-emptive war, but Clinton sure as hell had Bosnia bombed.  How many here thought about it that much?  

By Frannie Em on 02/27/2009 3:28 pm
DeBúrca obj
Unless you can prove that Iraq was responsible for 9/11, it was a pre-emptive war. 
By DeBúrca obj on 02/27/2009 7:29 pm
Frannie Em

DeBurca

I wasn’t talking about Iraq, I was introducing the subject of Bosnia.  I was talking about Bosnia when I said it wasn’t pre-emptive.  Because if I hadn’t said that in the beginning, then I would have gotten a comment that Bosnia wasn’t pre-emptive. Got it?

By Frannie Em on 02/28/2009 3:36 am
James the Game

That’s what I was trying to explain to a woman in G.R. yesterday, DeB’. She was blaming O for the economic climate and all kinds of utter nonsense. Then she started calling him a Muslim (as if that’s a dirty word), and saying he’s murdering babies through abortion (I couldn’t get it through her head that only the Supreme Court can overturn Roe-v-Wade - and Barack hasn’t done anything with that). I responded, Bush has killed way more people than Obama. Do you think if Jesus were standing right here, right now, he’d endorse attacking another country and killing thoughts, just before he THOUGHT there might be WMD’s in Iraq? Who’s the murderer?"

 

By James the Game on 03/01/2009 7:30 am
James the Game

he’d endorse attacking another country and killing thousands, just because he THOUGHT there might be WMD’s in Iraq?

By James the Game on 03/01/2009 7:31 am
Jim Cramer
Totally agree with you, James
By Jim Cramer on 03/01/2009 1:36 pm
Pam Melton
I was in no way trying to justify the practice, my goal was to find out which administration really implemented it.
By Pam Melton on 02/28/2009 2:35 pm
Mel Berg
Bush 1 implemented it
By Mel Berg on 02/28/2009 5:19 pm
JJ GB

Pam,

I did not mean to imply that you were.  I remember when it happened, but couldn’t remember the year/years, so I looked it up.  From what I found, it started in 1991 when Bush Sr. was President.  Did not appear to be the case during the Clinton years 1993-2001 and then the ban was re-instated in March 2003 during Bush Jr.s presidency.

By JJ GB on 02/28/2009 8:14 pm
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