BERLIN, Nov 4: The US military said on Monday it was sticking to a policy forbidding television camera crews and photographers from filming coffins of soldiers killed in Iraq at a US air base in southwestern Germany.

Officials at Ramstein, a major US air base that serves as a transfer point, had allowed media access in the past to honour guard ceremonies and transfers of American-flag covered coffins onto US-bound military transport planes, but rules banning coverage were strictly enforced just before the Iraq invasion began.

While US officials say the policy was created out of respect for relatives, others criticize the lack of media access, arguing its aim is to prevent the public from seeing large numbers of coffins that could turn opinion against the war.

“You can argue both sides,” said one US official. “Some say Americans need to see this, this is factual and the public needs to see (the coffins). Yet you also think of the mom of a killed soldier and the trauma of seeing television pictures of her son being repatriated.”

Journalists seeking access to Ramstein to film coffins of 15 Americans killed on Sunday in Iraq when their helicopter was shot down were told that Department of Defence (DOD) policy was still “No”. Only coverage of arriving injured soldiers was permitted.

“The DOD policy is that there is no media coverage of deceased military personnel returning to or departing from Ramstein Air Force base or Dover Air Force base,” said Major Bill Bigelow, US European command spokesman in Stuttgart.

A Defence Department official denied there was any censorship and said the purpose of the policy was to protect the privacy of families “during their times of greatest loss and grief”. The rule has been in effect since 1991 and was reaffirmed in March, he said.

However, in recent years the rule was relaxed and television journalists in Germany were able to cover honour guard ceremonies, including the transfer of coffins of sailors killed in an attack on the USS Cole and the war in Afghanistan.

“During ‘Enduring Freedom’ (attack on Afghanistan) the DOD did make some exceptions in the policy,” said Major Mike Young, public affairs chief for the 86th airlift wing in Ramstein.

“Since ‘Iraqi Freedom’ (invasion of Iraq) started the DOD said we are going to enforce the policy. For the past year we haven’t done any (media coverage) on remains.”—Reuters