The Floodgates Open: Pentagon Photos of U.S. Soldiers' Coffins Released

Hundreds of photographs of flag-draped coffins at Dover Air Force Base were released on the Internet yesterday by a website dedicated to combating government secrecy. Links to stories by the New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times.

Hundreds of photographs of flag-draped coffins at Dover Air Force Base were released on the Internet yesterday by a website dedicated to combating government secrecy.

From the New York Times:



Pentagon Ban on Pictures of Dead Troops Is Broken
By BILL CARTER



Published: April 23, 2004

The Pentagon's ban on making images of dead soldiers' homecomings at military bases public was briefly relaxed yesterday, as hundreds of photographs of flag-draped coffins at Dover Air Force Base were released on the Internet by a Web site dedicated to combating government secrecy.



The Web site, the Memory Hole, had filed a Freedom of Information Act request last year, seeking any pictures of coffins arriving from Iraq at the Dover base in Delaware, the destination for most of the bodies. The Pentagon yesterday labeled the Air Force Air Mobility Command's decision to grant the request a mistake, but news organizations quickly used a selection of the 361 images taken by Defense Department photographers.



More here.



From the Washington Post:



Photos of Soldiers' Coffins Revive Controversy



By Blaine Harden and Dana Milbank

Washington Post Staff Writers

Friday, April 23, 2004; Page A10



The Pentagon lost its tight control over the images of coffins returning from Iraq as about 350 such images were released under the Freedom of Information Act and a Seattle newspaper published a similar photo taken by a military contractor.



After Dover Air Force Base, the main port for returning remains, released hundreds of government photos of the ceremonies, the Defense Department ordered yesterday that no more photographs be released. In addition, two employees for defense contractor Maytag Aircraft were fired after the Pentagon complained about a photo of flag-draped caskets taken by one of them that appeared in the Seattle Times.



More here.



From the Los Angeles Times:



Photos of Coffins Draw U.S. Crackdown
By Monte Morin, Times Staff Writer



A website dedicated to publishing censored pictures and documents released dozens of photographs of coffins containing American war dead, which caused the Pentagon on Thursday to renew its ban on releasing such images to the media.



Pictures of flag-draped coffins filling aircraft cargo bays and being unloaded by white-gloved soldiers were obtained by Russ Kick, a 1st Amendment activist in Tucson who won their release by filing a Freedom of Information Act request.



Air Force officials initially denied the request but relented last week and sent him more than 350 pictures of Iraq war dead arriving at the military's largest mortuary at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.



The unexpected posting of the photos on the Internet caught the Pentagon by surprise and provoked a ripple of media attention to pictures the government had been trying to suppress. Several major newspapers planned to publish the newly released photos on their front pages today.



Soon after the photographs were posted on the Web, the Department of Defense barred their further release to other media outlets, saying the photos violated the privacy of troops' families.



More here.



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Two sample photos below