US releases images of soldiers' coffins

[_TJ_]

US releases images of soldiers' coffins

Sarah Left and agencies
Friday April 29, 2005

The US government has lost its fight to prevent the public from seeing photographs of the bodies of US soldiers killed in action returning from Iraq and Afghanistan in flag-draped coffins.

After battling for a year against a Freedom of Information Act request, the Pentagon released 360 photos of flag-draped coffins yesterday, many of them with the faces and identity badges of soldiers blacked out - a measure officials said was necessary on privacy grounds.

The request was made, and subsequent lawsuit brought, by Ralph Begleiter, a professor at the University of Delaware and a former CNN correspondent who argued the photographs were part of the public record.

Critics have argued that the government was trying to hide the human cost of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,12271,1473506,00.html

[benburch]

1. A really interesting video could be made of all those images.

Flash images of the coffins, along with "camera" sounds intercut with clips of administration officials talking about what a cakewalk this would be, and how it would be done in "weeks". Etc.

[pnutchuck]

3. love to see it when you're done! eom

[pnutchuck]

2. wow, so Idiot Sr. was the cause of the ban in the first place!

Thank goodness he had Cheney there to wipe his ass. Like father, like son!

[DemonFighterLives]

4. Pictures are up at Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2005/04/28/GA2005042801520.html

See click to view photos below the picture.