Pentagon protests at pictures

2004-04-24 22:19

Washington - Photos of the flag-draped coffins of US soldiers killed in Iraq played big in the US press on Friday, angering the Pentagon and sparking public debate over which is more important: military policy or constitutionally protected freedom of information.

Publication of the photos embarrassed the Defence Department, which bars the press from access to military coffins being transported "out of respect for next of kin".

"The department's policy regarding no media coverage of remains transfer has been in effect since 1991," said a Pentagon spokesperson. "The principal focus and purpose of the policy is to protect the wishes and the privacy of the families during their time of greatest loss and grief."

Opponents of US military involvement in Iraq call the ban a government attempt to diminish the impact of the loss of life on public opinion.

More than 350 photos of the coffins, taken at Dover by military photographers, were published this week on an Internet site (www.thememoryhold.org), which requested and secured them from the military under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), an Air Force spokesperson said.

"Until this is resolved, we are not going to release anything through Air force channels," said Lieutenant-Colonel Jennifer Cassidy.

The White House said President George W Bush had seen the photos and sided with Pentagon policy against publication.

"The sensitivities and the privacy of the families of the fallen must be the first priority and remain to be the first priority," White House spokesperson Trent Duffy told reporters travelling with Bush aboard Air Force One.

"It's necessary at this point to ensure that those who have fallen have not provided that sacrifice in vain," he said.

Russ Kick, creator of the website that published the photos and an avid First Amendment supporter, filed the FOIA request for the photos last year.

"At first, actually, I sent it to the Air Force, and they're the ones who have been responding," he told ABC television on Friday.

"They initially rejected it completely, just said, 'You're not getting any of these photos.' And so I sent in an appeal, and amazingly, it worked. Usually appeals of these decisions don't go anywhere."

"The Pentagon's not happy," said Kick. "I think it was a decision just of the Air Force, from what I can tell. It went all the way up to their top council."

Elsewhere, a photo of 20 military coffins being transported to Kuwait aboard an Air Force cargo plane, secretly taken by a civilian employee of a military subcontractor, was published last Sunday by the Seattle Times.

On Thursday the photographer, Tami Silicio, was fired by the subcontractor, but said she had no regrets.

"I think, if the administration were more sympathetic, they would see that this is a positive thing, that the country is supportive and being there," said Silicio, adding that she had received numerous messages of support.

- AFP