from CNN
The Pentagon will lift its ban on media coverage of the flag-draped coffins of war victims arriving at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday.
President Obama asked Gates to review the policy, and Gates said he decided after consulting with the armed services and groups representing military families to apply the same policy that is used at Arlington National Cemetery.
Some people like the idea, others don't.
But here's my take.
I can remember seeing the coffins, draped in the flag, coming home from Viet Nam, on the evening news, and it made it quite clear that people had died.
Died.
We are so desensitized to violence,, with our video games where we get to kill the thugs and murder the bastards and rape and pillage, and live to play again.
That ain't real life.
We are so desensitized that we don't realize the sheer numbers of soldiers and civilians, Americans Iraqis, Brits, French, Russians, who have given their lives in the wars around the globe.
I think showing these coffins makes it quite clear that they are carrying the remains of human beings who are no longer with us because they were killed fighting for their country. I think it honors those who died fighting.
I want to see these coffins, so I don't ever forget that it isn't just a number on a screen, but rather a person, brother, father, aunt, sister, mother, uncle, who died.
But some don't like the idea.
Military Families United is "disappointed in the president's decision" to overturn the ban. They released the results of a survey conducted among military families, which found that more than 64 percent believe the ban should not be overturned.
Karen Meredith, however, wrote Obama urging him to order the change. Her son, Lt. Ken Ballard died in Iraq.
"I wanted the nation to grieve with me, and if we don't see those images we don't know that these young men and women are dying," she said."And to me it's an honor to have an honor guard at Dover when they're bringing these men and women back through the mortuary. But we've never been able to see those pictures of the honor being given."
After what they've given in service to our country, why hide them away.
That's a disservice.
I don't think you could have said it any better! Nicely put.
ReplyDeleteI know this will not come as a surprise, But I completely agree. If we can show them going off to war, we need to show how they have come back.
ReplyDeleteNot just walking off the plane and hugging their famlies, but in the coffins, in the wheel chairs, missing limbs. People need to understand this is not a video game.
When you choose to do something you have to accept it all. And war means coffins and wounded soldiers.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your comments and the ones posted here too.
ReplyDeleteI think that people (especially those Republicans who want the US to keep fighting in Irak) have not come to understand the reality of what a war means. By displaying the coffins of those soldiers who died in this (or any other) war, hopefully it will bring the seriousness of these events. We need to have the blindfold removed so the American people's eyes see the truth!
I also agree with all of you. The language of war makes it more impersonal, too, when they use words such as casualties, troops, fatalities, collateral damage, and others.
ReplyDelete