HarmlessRabbit

Since President Bush recently banned the press from showing the coffins of dead USA soldiers being unloaded:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...2003Oct20.html

It is now more difficult to remember that every dead soldier was a real person.

You might want to bookmark this page:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv...fthefallen.htm

As a reminder of some of the real lives that are being lost in Iraq every day.

I think it's sad that in their desire to focus on the "good news " in Iraq the Bush Administration has to resort to censoring the press.

Food Eater Lad

You can also look at the people in Iraq, you know the place that had on average of 100,000 murders per year for the last 20 years due to a mad man in office, and be pleased that 80 % of that nation now has power, water, food, jobs, and democratically elected local leaders.

So as sad as it is too see the dead bodies, remember what they have achieved. I thank them, each and every one of them for their sacrifice. They made the world, and especially Iraq, a better place.

Macheath

We shouldn't forget the badly wounded either. A lot of those good soldiers will spend the rest of their lives with a disability.

http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/wounded/

Liquor Dealer

"Since President Bush recently banned the press from showing..."

Do what? I think he just quit talking to the usuals and spent a little time outside of the regular mainstream reporters and talked with others who normally don't get into the pressroom. Last time I checked he didn't have the power to ban anything from the press - although lots of us probably would agree that the way some items are reported and others aren't might be reason to ban some news outlets from receiving materiasl from his office.

Granted, we are losing people on a daily basis in Iraq - but we are also rebuilding a nation that had deteriorated down to almost nothing - I'd really like to see a comparison of the number of post war military deaths in Iraq compared to those that occured in Europe and Japan after the ending of WW II. I don't think we are losing anywhere close to the numbers that we lost post war in Germany etc. The loss of one is one too many but there are going to be losses until we put an end to what is currently going on in Iraq. They aren't going quietly into the night.

__________________
Life isn't always a bowl of cherries, sometimes it's more like a jar of Jalapenos --- what you say or do today might burn your ass tomorrow!!!

bonbonbox

Fourth paragraph of the article:

A Pentagon spokeswoman said the military-wide policy actually dates from about November 2000 -- the last days of the Clinton administration -- but it apparently went unheeded and unenforced, as images of caskets returning from the Afghanistan war appeared on television broadcasts and in newspapers until early this year. Though Dover Air Force Base, which has the military's largest mortuary, has had restrictions for 12 years, others "may not have been familiar with the policy," the spokeswoman said. This year, "we've really tried to enforce it."

Bush did what?

Ustwo

While the poster is trolling a bit here, we should remember the fallen.

Thank them for their service and always be proud to know that people such as them is why we have remained free for the last 227 years as a nation.

__________________
Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

seretogis

It's a shame people don't actually read articles that they post.

__________________
seretogis - sieg heil
perfect little dream the kind that hurts the most, forgot how it feels well almost
no one to blame always the same, open my eyes wake up in flames

smooth

Oh, like this:

__________________
"The theory of a free press is that truth will emerge from free discussion, not that it will be presented perfectly and instantly in any one account." -- Walter Lippmann

"You measure democracy by the freedom it gives its dissidents, not the freedom it gives its assimilated conformists." -- Abbie Hoffman

chavos

seriously...there is not a factual debate on what bush has done. he took a little used policy, and attempted to enforce it, to bar press coverage and formal ceremonies surrounding the transport of casualties.

What this means, or if it is right is the debate.

Personally, i question the sincerity of this policy...and beleive it to be a cynical attempt to hide the effects of war. what the bereved families desire, either way, is more important than political bitch fighting on both sides of the arguement. sadly, the article gave no inidcation that they have been asked for their say.

HarmlessRabbit

The article says that the policy was never enforced except for at Dover, and on the eve of the Iraq war it was suddenly globally enforced. The article directly mentions the bush administration as being responsible for the change.

I believe my reading comprehension is still pretty good.

emidew22

How sad is it that out of the 29 soldiers listed, 17 of them were 25 years old or less? They were just reaching the age where their lives were completely in their hands, and they lost them so quickly. It freaks me out when i see that an 18 year old kid was sent over to Iraq and died. And in a war where half the country still questions why we were there. It's depressing.

HarmlessRabbit

Yeah, I feel the same way. At 18 I was barely able to keep a bank account, and these kids were over in a foreign country risking their lives and fighting armed opponents.

Sad.

Food Eater Lad

That they volunteered to do, and I thank them for it.

Astrocloud

This is an outright slap in the face of the people who died serving our country -while the self-proclaimed right wingers weep crocodile tears. The real victims here are the families of those young men in the coffins. I said it before but this just infuriates me. Fuck Bush

onetime2

Showing dead soldiers is a slap in the face of families? Please.

Astrocloud

Yeah, let's pretend that they didn't die. That's really honoring the dead.

The_Dude

the #1 reason for this enforcal is bush's popularity rating. it's cool for him to go land in aircraft carriers, but he is banning the press from covering this stuff.

maybe the press should just boycott mr prez's publicity stunts (including the state of the union) in retaliation .

__________________
"Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity." - Darrel K Royal