US Defence Secretary Robert M. Gates allows picturing the coffins of dead US soldiers after their return to the USA at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, as long as their relatives agree. Thus, a decision made in February 1991 during the Gulf War has been revoked.
Of course, Gates cannot please all: some think that this is solely a concession to the peace movements that have asked for it for a long time, and an impertinence for the relatives involved. Others regard it as a recovery of a part of the freedom of press.
Since more than a year, Gates has already advocated changing the regulation that had been introduced in 1991, but he failed at the Bush jr. administration of which he belonged, too. Nevertheless, he never made a secret of his rejection.
Thus, it is even more pleasant to see him successfully implementing his proposal. I think it is a good solution that the relatives can disagree to such pictures being taken – it has to be seen, however, to what an extent it is feasible, too. The hopes of some peaceniks will prove to be baseless that just by showing (even quite many) coffins the general attitude will change: the blood toll may be high for a modern society, but it cannot be compared to casualty figures in Vietnam or Korea: so far, more than 4,900 US soldiers have been killed in the region (4,253 in Iraq and 652 in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan).
US President Barack Obama has already opted to leave Iraq – and to increase the commitment in Afghanistan. One can only hope that from 2010 onwards, Iraq is able to stabilise itself and that Afghanistan will not further skid down into chaos. The European “Obama mania” (especially in Germany) may receive quite a punch with further requests to the US’s allies: Germany will surely be asked to enlarge its armed forces’ mission to the Afghanistan’s south and to increase its commitment in general – and therefore a clear combat mission for an increased contingent.
This controversial regulation may have its origin in an embarrassment for then-US President George Bush in 1989: TV channels showed images of a joking president while coffins of soldiers killed during the mission “Just Cause” in Panama were unloaded, leading to a quarrel between the White House and the TV channels.
Further links:
Pentagon to Allow Photos of Soldiers’ Coffins (NY Times, 26 February 2009)
Artikel des US Department of Defense
The Memory Hole