U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates says he may be willing to reconsider a ban on the photographing of slain soliders’ flag-draped coffins.

Gates said that he was ordering a review of the military policy that bars photographers from taking pictures of the return of the coffins, most of which go through Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, The New York Times reported.

“If the needs of the families can be met and the privacy concerns can be addressed, the more honor we can accord these fallen heroes, the better,” Gates told reporters in Washington.

The policy was put into place in 1991 and has been renewed several times, most recently by the Bush administration a year ago. That’s when Gates raised the possibility of changing the policy, he said, but was told by unnamed administration officials that allowing photographers would put undue pressure on families to go to Dover themselves.

Critics say the coffin-photo ban is a political ploy meant to sanitize the unpopular Iraq war.

Will that ploy be changed to past tense?




  1. Glenn E. says:

    We get a new president. But what a surprise. The old guard running the Pentagon remains, to keep the secrets. Nothing has changed as far as how the Iraq war is conducted. This is the Pentagon’s show. And all Obama can do is to go along with it. Or he’ll be shown the door by Gates and fiends.

  2. Mr Diesel says:

    #14 OBOB

    That makes more sense.

    Although Clinton upheld the ban there far fewer bodies returning home.

    We just lost a man on another blog and his military funeral was video taped and photographed for those of us who could not make it. The family was all for it when they realized what he meant to the group.

  3. MikeN says:

    Bobbo, I wasn’t referring to Vietnam, but rather the first Gulf War. Sr. President Bush is on the air and CNN and others would put up a split screen with coffins coming off a plane, despite only about 30 dead.

  4. oscord says:

    Cheney was in the wheelchair, Gates has a cast on his hand. New trend?

  5. Mr. Fusion says:

    To the best of my knowledge, Clinton had a total of two Army helicopter pilots die. If there were any more then please correct me.

    #31, Glenn,

    And all Obama can do is to go along with it. Or he’ll be shown the door by Gates and fiends.

    Comments like that can get you a visit from people in dark suits and lots of questions. Fomenting rebellion is a capitol offense.

  6. bobbo says:

    #33–Mike==”despite only about 30 dead” /// What do numbers have to do with respect for each one of them?

  7. Paddy-O says:

    # 34 Mr. Fusion said, “To the best of my knowledge, Clinton had a total of two Army helicopter pilots die. If there were any more then please correct me.”

    4 MPs, 18 soldiers & about 77 wounded in Somalia that I remember.


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