Pictures of Caskets

[tw]

Originally posted by Elspode
I thought the whole concept was to be sensitive to the families? What makes the need to be sensitive to the families of 9-11 less pressing than the need to be sensitive to the families of dead soldiers?

As I said, Koppel was quite blunt. He started with WHY we are not allowed to photograph arriving flag draped caskets. Because during a George Sr press conference, a freshly arrived C-130 was shown being unloaded of those caskets as George Sr spoke.

It has nothing to do with respect for families. That is administration rhetoric - better called lies. They don't want pictures shown for reasons political. And considering history of this administration, no one should have any doubt about their reasons.

Who are we to believe? Some nonsense myth about respect for families? For all we know, the casket may even be Columbia astronauts - and those pictures are permitted. Pictures of flags over boxes do not disprespect anyone - except maybe George Jr's approval polls.

Taking pictures of flag draped caskets that, for all we know, contains Saddam's $millions, show no disrepect to anyone. Koppel said, quite bluntly, why we are not permitted to see those caskets. Politics. Getting the right spin. It has nothing to do with the myths from an administration that has a long history of lying to have their way - such as five orange threat alerts that only help the administration's approval polls and don't stop terrorists. Furthermore - direct from Ted Koppel:

What could possibly be more respectful to our war dead and their grieving families than to show those coffins, shrouded in the national flag being returned home with reverence and sombre military honors.

One - we don't show caskets for reasons political.
Two - George Jr used those pictures in his campaign TV advertisements. Koppel even made sure we saw those flag draped caskets behind a portrait of George Jr. - in a George Jr TV ad.