Pentagon Limits Media Coverage of Funerals

[kentuck]

http://dailynews.att.net/cgi-bin/news?e=pri&dt=031117&cat=us&st=usiraq_funerals_031114&src=abc

<snip>

When Sgt. Maj. Cornell W. Gilmore was buried today at Arlington National Cemetery, it was with full military honors from the U.S. Army's 3rd Infantry - including a bugler playing "Taps."

Gilmore, 45, was one of six U.S. soldiers killed when a Black Hawk helicopter went down last week in Tikrit, Iraq.

But media seeking to cover Gilmore's funeral found themselves limited by new Pentagon regulations that went into effect on Thursday. The new guidelines state that "reporters are no longer permitted to stand at the rear of the mourners during the service," and microphones "are not permitted ... anywhere near the grave site."

The Pentagon says it is merely trying to protect the privacy of the families of the fallen soldiers. But the new rules have some reporters wondering whether it is just the latest move by the Bush administration to limit coverage of casualties of the war in Iraq.

...more

[PartyPooper]

1. Why doesn't Junior schedule these funerals at night?

That way no one can see anything at all!

:eyes:

[loudnclear]

2. What if a family asks the press to cover a funeral?

Will the Pentagon prevent it? If I had a child killed, I would request that the press cover the funeral.

[young_at_heart]

3. Do you think Bush will ever attend a funeral?

I really doubt it........negative publicity and we can't have that.

[DemoTex]

4. The ultimate, and most cynical, control of the Oil War.

Never, ever ... to my knowledge.


Dover,AFB
Anyday this month
Multiply times 40 or 50 (maybe more) for the monthly graves-registration detail at Dover.

WAKE UP ASSHOLES!

[dflprincess]

5. Does this apply only to National Cemetaries?

Really, how could they enforce it at private cemetaries - especially if the family agreed to it.

[kayell]

6. I had a feeling this would happen

I've been seeing more photos in the news of funerals recently. As tight control as the BFEE has kept on filming of returning caskets and the wounded, there was no way they would allow this to continue.

For the troops killed and maimed in Iraq or Afghanistan - down the memory hole.

[spinbaby]

7. Compare this to Italy

Where they had a full state funeral and a national day of mourning.

[4dsc]

8. Iowa's falled soldiers

http://desmoinesregister.com/extras/fallen/index.html

Not press coverage in this state either..

[shmeptor]

9. looks like business as usual, for the most part.

"by the time of the first Gulf War in 1991, cameras were banned from Dover. President Clinton made some exceptions for soldiers killed by terrorists, but before military action in Iraq began this year, the Pentagon reinforced that 1991 ban."

[ThoughtCriminal]

10. Compare our treatment to this.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3279201.stm

"The Italian president and prime minister led up to a quarter of a million mourners at a service also being attended by 25 injured survivors.

Many people in shops, offices and schools across the country also observed a minute's silence"

[demdave]

11. So you would have no problem with this treatment???

Tuesday was declared a national day of mourning in Italy.

Schools observed a minute of silence, shops closed, and television stations are not running advertisements.

Across the city the national tricolour flew at half-mast from many public buildings and was hanging from the windows of many private houses.

The BBC's David Willey in Rome says the bombing seems to have united this often divided country, which has decided to suspend all argument about the rights and wrongs of the war in Iraq for a whole day while grieving together.

Especially.....suspend all argument about the rights and wrongs of the war in Iraq for a whole day while grieving together.
That means no protests at the ceremonies, no protests in front of the cameras and no dissent on the T.V, radio and newspapers. Is that something you could agree with. Could we get the whole nation to agree with this?? I don't think so.