NAPLES, April 23: US President George Bush on Friday stood by an order that no more photographs be released of flag-draped coffins returning from Iraq, a restriction critics say is aimed at sanitizing the fighting for the public.
Mr Bush had seen some of the published images, the White House said, adding that the policy of restricting publication was intended to protect the privacy of the families.
"The president has seen the photos and his reaction is ... it's a reminder of the sacrifice that our men and women are providing in Iraq and around the world ... it's a testament to their service," White House spokesman Trent Duffy told reporters travelling with Mr Bush to Florida.
But Mr Duffy added: "In all of this, we must pay attention to the privacy and to the sensitivity of the families of the fallen, and that's what the policy is based on and that has to be the utmost concern."
The Pentagon has tightly restricted publication of photographs of coffins with the remains of US troops and has forbidden journalists from taking pictures at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, the first stop for the bodies of troops being sent home.
Officials say the policy, in effect since 1991, was crafted with input from families to protect the privacy and dignity of the deceased. But the Pentagon temporarily lost its tight control over the images when the Air Force said that, in response to a Freedom of Information Act request, it released to a website, (http://www.thememoryhole.org), more than 300 photographs showing the remains of US service members returning home.
The Seattle Times newspaper also printed a photograph showing soldiers tending to 20 coffins completely covered with American flags inside a military cargo plane at the Kuwait airport. A US contractor who took the picture and her husband were subsequently fired.
Mr Duffy defended the Pentagon's decision to keep more photos from being released, saying: "We have to remember the interests of the families and their privacy and their sensitivity during these tough times."
Mr Duffy said the sombre images would not undermine support for the Iraq operation. "As high a price as this is, the price of failure would be that much higher," he said. "We must stay firm."
Mr Bush has come under fire from Democrats for not attending a single funeral of the soldiers killed in Iraq. To blunt that criticism, Mr Bush has stepped up private meetings with military families. Since the start of the invasion in March last year, more than 700 US troops have died in Iraq, Pentagon figures show. More than 100 have been killed this month alone.
PENTAGON ANGRY: Photos of the flag-draped coffins played big in the US press on Friday, angering the Pentagon and sparking debate over which is more important: military policy or constitutionally protected freedom of information.
"The department's policy regarding no media coverage of remains transfer has been in effect since 1991," said a Pentagon spokesman. "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."
The result of that policy has, until now, been a total absence of images of the transport of military coffins in the US press. "Until this (question) is resolved, we are not going to release anything through Air force channels," said Lieutenant-Colonel Jennifer Cassidy.
"If media or anybody want to get access, they're free to file a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request." Deputy Under Secretary of Defence John Molino, a Pentagon family relations official, told reporters on Thursday the decision to release the photos was regrettable, but conceded constitutional law would always supersede military policy.
"By all means, we support FOIA," he said. "FOIA is the law of the land. The law of the land trumps policy all the time. If for some reason we find that the policy is inconsistent with the FOIA we'll look at whether or not the policy needs to be changed."
Mr Molino said military lawyers were "looking into the case to see if (the release of photos) was an appropriate action or an inappropriate action." 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 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. They're the ones who decided this. So I have the feeling somebody's been called on the carpet in the Air Force over there, over this." -AFP
