Hidden Caskets Don't Bury the Truth of War

Bob Carey believes that flag-draped coffins of our war dead should be photographed every time they arrive at Dover Air Force Base.

He feels this way not just because he is a journalism professor and president of the National Press Photographers Association. He is the son of a career Army major and also a conservative Christian who loves the military and cherishes the First Amendment, which protects freedom of expression and religion.

And so 55-year-old Carey is urging Congress and the Obama administration to lift a ban that prohibits photographs of the coffins at Dover, which is where the body of every member of the military returns.

"Those fallen heroes need to be honored," Carey said. "They're fighting to protect all the freedoms we have here as U.S. citizens. The Dover photo ban violates the principles of free speech and the free exchange of ideas they died for."

The media ban at Dover came about in 1991 to protect a president from more embarrassment. George H.W. Bush's administration barred coverage of the returning caskets after split-screen television coverage by three networks showed the president joking at a news conference opposite images of the first casualties returning to Dover from the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama.

Bad idea, yukking it up as soldiers' coffins are lowered to the ground. Instead of reprimanding the scheduler with lousy timing, Bush punished the media. The ban was especially handy for his son after it became excruciatingly clear that, despite brays to the contrary, his mission was far from accomplished in Iraq.

In 2004, an airline contractor in Kuwait photographed about 20 flag-draped coffins being loaded onto an Air Force jet headed for home. When her photo ran in The Seattle Times, the contractor was fired.

The most recent Bush administration argued that the photo ban protected the privacy of military families, but Carey said there's little evidence that most relatives of the fallen want this so-called protection.

"I have yet to meet a military family that has not wanted Dover covered, and other photographers tell me the same thing," Carey said. "Photographers know how to keep their distance."

Obama indicated at his news conference last week that he is considering lifting the ban. The Washington Post reported Monday that Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates is leaning toward at least moderating it.

Carey said he is heartened by this news, but he still wants Congress to lift the ban through legislation. Good idea. First Amendment rights should not be subject to presidential whims.

Supporters of the Iraq war have long argued that media images of the fallen are nothing more than political statements. One easily can argue, however, that suppressing these images is the more blatant political ploy.

War exacts a mighty toll from those who serve and those who love them. American men and women will continue to die in Iraq and Afghanistan. Why not trust the American people to make up their own minds about the meaning of those flag-draped coffins?

Carey said some who support the ban just want to protect survivors in the throes of grief, but their sympathies may be misdirected. He often cites an experience a fellow photographer had while covering the funeral of a young man killed in gang violence about 15 years ago. The Page One photo showed the grieving mother leaning over the casket of her son. It was real and it was raw, and some readers were outraged.

"They thought the photo was inappropriate," Carey said. "They thought it was a gross intrusion for the mother in her time of grief."

The mother, though, didn't see it that way. She asked for a copy of the photo.

She wanted closure, Carey said.

And she wanted everyone to remember what had happened to her son.

Connie Schultz is a Pulitzer Prize-winning columnist for The Plain Dealer in Cleveland and the author of two books from Random House: "Life Happens" and "… and His Lovely Wife." To find out more about Connie Schultz (cschultz@plaind.com) and read her past columns, please visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

COPYRIGHT 2009 CREATORS SYNDICATE INC.