It’s almost like 1942, all over again:
A military contractor has fired Tami Silicio, a Kuwait-based cargo worker whose photograph of flag-draped coffins of fallen U.S. soldiers was published in Sunday’s edition of The Seattle Times.
Silicio was let go yesterday for violating U.S. government and company regulations, said William Silva, president of Maytag Aircraft, the contractor that employed Silicio at Kuwait International Airport.
. . .
Her photograph, taken earlier this month, shows more than 20 flag-draped coffins in a cargo plane about to depart from Kuwait. Since 1991, the Pentagon has banned the media from taking pictures of caskets being returned to the United States.
The picture at issue is currently displayed at the above link. Recall that much of World War II passed before the government allowed a single picture showing dead American soldiers to be shown.
Meanwhile, across the pond there’s controversy regarding a photo showed in a CBS broadcast on the Princess Diana accident:
Lord Spencer, the brother of Princess Diana, today said that he was “shocked and sickened” by the broadcasting of images of his dying sister on US television last night.
Grainy black and white photocopies of photographs showed the Princess of Wales being treated by a doctor as she lay slumped in the back of the car in which she was fatally injured in a crash in Paris in August 1997.
The images, in which the dying princess has her eyes closed, were aired for around 10 seconds on US network CBS’s 48 Hours Investigates programme.
. . .
The photographs were copied from a 6,000-page report of a French investigation into the crash. It was the first time that they had been shown in public.
They were taken moments after the crash, which happened in a tunnel at Pont l’Alma, by photographers who had pursed the car that the princess had been travelling in. Police had seized the film at the scene.
I haven’t seen the Princess Diana photographs yet, but generally I’m in favor of showing more of the graphic realism of war, accidents, and crime than the mainstream media tends to show. I don’t know how much of a benefit we receive in shielding ourselves from reality.
As She Lay Dying
I have to admit that I’m a little surprised that I haven’t run into a single reproduction of the photos that CBS aired last week on 48 Hours which purportedly show Princess Diana at the scene of the accident which killed her. I didn’t watch th…
Obviously you have never served overseas, you don’t know what it’s like to loose a friend and see the American Flag drapped over their casket. Why should the media be allowed to take pictures, before the family gets to put their son, daughter, mother, father, and friend to rest. I would expect you not to understand this, you don’t know the first thing about serving your country. This is something that a hippie would say. This is not a free speech issue, this is a private matter. It’s hard enough that the names of the soldiers who have passed away are printed in the papers, now you want to see flag covered coffins. I hope that nobody ever sees a picture of a coffin draped with a flag. It’s the most horrible thing. We know that war has consequences, but I do believe that we are making a difference in Iraq. You wouldn’t know that because you get your info from CNN, ABC, CBS, NBC, and any other news source out there. You were never over there, made friends with people who didn’t comeback. I live my life everyday the way my fallen friends would have wanted me to. I am happy, but unhappy with the President’s decision to lift this ban. I hope that someone in the Pentagon informs him of the error of his ways. We don’t need a reminder of the atrocitys of war. There are many others like me, who feel the same way. We are brothers and sisters, and willing to protect the families and friends of our brothers and sisters. Please think about it, the next time you decide to use freedom of press, or speech remember those who have served to protect those rights. That is one ban that I have always agreed with.