Because our government tried so hard to keep pictures like this out of the press, I thought I’d hang on to this one. This is what we are accomplishing in Iraq. This is why we should get out, now.
Photos like this first became public in 2004 because a brave young photographer, Tami Silicio, and The Seattle Times decided the world should see them. Silicio and her husband were working in Kuwait when she took her pictures, and both were fired as a result.
The above was first posted here in June of 2008 as an undated page. Yesterday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates promised to review the photo ban.
Finally, openness on American deaths in Iraq. There was never any disrespect or invasion of privacy intended; coffins are not identified in photos such as this. The difference, I believe, is that George Bush wanted to hide the results of his war from the public. Pres. Obama, on the other hand, has nothing to hide and feels these men and woman deserve the honor and respect of the nation they served.
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Update, a few hours later: In a really strange coincidence, while “Stumbling” through some random websites just now, I landed on this page, the National Security Archive, with a lot of background about restrictions on such photos like the one above.
I have a bunch of those photos stashed. I post them on my various social networks every Memorial Day.
[Good for you! These pics are as much a part of the wars we fight as the pics of the troops marching off to fight. We need and ought to see them.]