I don’t like it, because I don’t think the families realize what could be done with those photos as soon as they are released out into the wilds of the internet. The enemy will use these photos, as well as those organizations that are politically motivated, and I am not sure that the use of these photos will be treated with respect like the families would hope for.
So with that said, I would put it on the soldier or even contractor, if it is your wish to have your flag draped coffin photographed for all the world to see and do what they want with. Personally, my wishes are for my coffin and funeral to be a private matter. My headstone will be there for the entire world to visit, if they think it is that important to pay their respects. But all in all, I would not want that photo being used by some anti-war group, or the enemy for propaganda purposes. That is just me though, and my sacrifice is a private matter between me, my friends, my comrades and my family.
This also brings up another point about this war. What of the contractors that die? If a Ugandan guard or Pakistani cook gets killed while working in Iraq, are we going to cover their coffin with their country’s flag and ask their family if it is alright for the media to photograph it? Or are we just shipping contractor bodies back to their home country using Fedex or whatever, and not caring what happens after that? What is the dignified method of sending them home? Or will that take another 8 years of war to figure out what to do with dead contractors?
Personally, I would like to see some kind of coordinated effort to ensure the contractor war dead are treated correctly. From the Nepalese cook who took a mortar round while walking back to their hootch, to the Fijian trunk monkey who ate an EFP on the roads, to the Former Marine that worked for some Save the Children NGO that was killed by an IED while on convoy. There are a lot of civilian contractors operating in numerous ways, and for all sorts of organizations in this war, and their deaths mean something. We should promote a dignified standard of respect to those that have been killed, and a company should make sure that happens. The death must be reported, the body must be properly cared for, and the company must ensure that the coffin is escorted all the way to the home of that fallen contractor. It should be standard to also put the flag of the country that individual came from, on that coffin, and try to respect any other religious, cultural and societal norms for the handling of that coffin until it gets into the care of that family.
There should also be a protocol established on how to contact the family. And all of this stuff should ideally be laid down in the terms of the contract. Most contracts have oodles of pages of legal mumbo jumbo–just put one more page dealing with how an individual is to be treated if they die in a war zone. You could even have a box to check, that asks if that contractor wants their body photographed or not by the media. This could be a real doozy too, if the media took a photo without permission of contractor bodies, and technically you could take the photographer to court if they violated this agreement. The contract is a perfect place to indicate your wishes, because the shipping of the body can be a very quick deal, and the media will definitely be there to photograph stuff as it comes off the plane. –Matt
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Media covers US war dead’s return after 18-year ban
Mon Apr 6, 2009
DOVER, Delaware, April 5 (Reuters) – The media was permitted on Sunday to cover the arrival of a U.S. soldier’s coffin at the Pentagon’s main mortuary in Delaware late for the first time in 18 years.
A flag-draped coffin bearing the remains of Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers arrived at Dover Air Force Base. Myers, 30, of Hopewell, Virginia, was killed in Afghanistan on Saturday by an improvised explosive device, the Pentagon said.
The administration of President Barack Obama relaxed a Pentagon ban on media coverage of returning U.S. war dead in February, giving grieving families the choice of whether to allow cameras at the solemn arrival ceremony.
The ban was imposed in 1991 during the first Gulf War with some exceptions, including the return of Navy seamen killed during the attack on the USS Cole in the Yemeni port of Aden in October 2000 that killed 17.
Former President George W. Bush imposed a stricter ban during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, sparking criticism that the federal government was hiding the human cost of its military operations.
The Pentagon says that at least 4,262 U.S. service members have died in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, while another 673 have been killed in Afghanistan since U.S. forces went there to oust the Taliban in late 2001 following the Sept. 11 attacks. (Reporting by JoAnne Allen; Editing by Philip Barbara)
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