Pentagon Rethinks Photo Ban on Coffins Bearing War Dead

[OmarLittle]

Like I said earlier, I believe it should be up to the families.

However, to play devil's advocate regarding, "what good could it do from an information operations perspective?", I think it could do some good.

Many Americans have no connection to OIF/OEF and even when they read one of the MSM headlines about KIA it does not register. Although hard to understand, it may be because they do not feel connected to the story or individual. Maybe the Dover photos and subsequent obits would help those disconnected Americans feel connected to the story. Maybe it would help with the moderate's perspective.

[Steve Blair]

I think such an effort would inevitably become politicized and that the results would not necessarily be good for anyone concerned. As far as I know families already have the ability to send such photos out if they wish, although personally I find funeral images more effective than the proverbial "rows of flag-draped coffins." Coffins won't really help anyone connect...if for no other reason than the numbers are low in relative terms. Sorry if that sounds harsh or unfeeling (which isn't the intent), but when compared to past conflicts the number of KIA from Iraq and Afghanistan is low. Impact for these images comes from numbers (think the magazine cover in the aftermath of Dong Ap Bai in 1969...even though the media never stated that many of the men in the pictures were KIA at other locations in SVN), not a random stream of single images.

[OmarLittle]

although personally I find funeral images more effective than the proverbial "rows of flag-draped coffins." Coffins won't really help anyone connect....

This is a point well taken. I'm not sure how much connection can be received from coffins. The funeral pictures and images are much more effective.

Oddly, enough this (funeral photos) was a huge PR issue as well last year and covered by WashPost.

"The family of 38-year-old Hall, who leaves behind two young daughters and two stepsons, gave their permission for the media to cover his Arlington burial -- a decision many grieving families make so that the nation will learn about their loved ones' sacrifice. But the military had other ideas, and they arranged the Marine's burial yesterday so that no sound, and few images, would make it into the public domain."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...042303339.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...042303339.html

[Ken White]

Arlington is Arlington and the guy that runs it IIRC and if he has not moved on, is the second generation of his family in that job. That's odd in itself. Can't say about him but I know his like named predecessor in the 1970s had some quite different and strict ideas about what was proper and what was not...

The important thing is that far more burials take place in cemeteries all over the country than in Arlington by many orders of magnitude (purposeful redundance) and there have been no restrictions on media coverage. I've seen photos and stories from all over the country for eight years with tons of photos and the internet is full of them. I just Googled "Funeral Iraq soldier"and got 180,000 hits; went to the image pages and got 50 pages of images, about 50% or so of which were pictures of funerals.

Showing photos of coffins at Dover is NOT a PR issue, it is a political issue.

[OmarLittle]

Showing photos of coffins at Dover is NOT a PR issue, it is a political issue.

When you look at all facets of this together, I agree.

I remeber being at the DOD public affairs course last year and we had the head Army O-6 of PA speak to us. At the time, the Arlington media issue was a big deal. He made the same point. He said that it was a non-issue at other funerals around the country and the Arlington issue seemed to be just a couple pf personality conflicts.

[Schmedlap]

This is a point well taken. I'm not sure how much connection can be received from coffins. The funeral pictures and images are much more effective.

I think this could do the trick: http://www.hbo.com/films/takingchance/

[OmarLittle]

I think this could do the trick: http://www.hbo.com/films/takingchance/

great find and you are right, i remember seeing the trailer for this before and forgot about it

[Ken White]

...I think it could do some good...Maybe the Dover photos and subsequent obits would help those disconnected Americans feel connected to the story. Maybe it would help with the moderate's perspective.

back from Korea and Viet Nam -- and photos were published, I'm pretty sure the answer to your pondering is 'No. It will make virtually no difference to most Americans.'

It is, as several have pointed out, purely a political issue. The good news is that the American Legion and the VFW have come out solidly against it; that is good only from the standpoint that our new Administration seems to react over strongly to perceived objections to their desired course and that tendency to overreach will adversely impact their net ability over the next four years to affect DoD and the Armed Forces...