Should images of coffins returning from Iraq be censored?

[Tim the Enchanter]

So should the media be allowed to show images of the coffins of US soldiers coming back from Iraq?

Is it an effective way of bringing the human impact of the war home to the people in America or is it an insult to the families bereaving their lost sons?

This was the topic of an interesting debate in my politics class today.

[Aladdin]

Of course they should not be censored. This is the first time, to the best of my knowledge, when there has been a total ban on footage of fallen US soldiers. Not only their bodies returning to America, but their funerals or burials.

And contrary to the odious wankers at the Pentagon and the White House this has nothing to do with protecting privacy and avoiding intrusion. This has only been done because that evil fucking **** at the White House is worried about losing the election in November.

What a vile, profoundly disgusting piece of shit the man is!

[Renzo]

I do not think it needs to be censored as without it, it does not show the full impact of the war.

If Aladdin is right about the reasons behind the banning, they are attrocious and just show how much Bush is pushing the USA towards totalitarianism.

[Dear Wendy]

Shouldn't be banned, unless specific families ask for it not to be shown.

[Aladdin]

Bush had imposed a ban on showing footage of funerals or coffins arriving home from day one. Not a single one had been shown until now. Not a single funeral has Bush attended.

Make no mistake about the reasons why this has been so.

[lukesh]

why would we want to see brave troops dead in a coffin?

[Aladdin]

Why would we want to ban people from seeing them?

We've all seen the images of fallen British soldiers being carried out of the plane very solemnly and with full military honours. Were you offended by that? I wasn't. On the contrary, I thought it was a moving and fitting tribute.

Come on. Don't try to defend Bush on everything. Surely you must believe the reason not to show the coffins is purely political?

[Dear Wendy]

Originally posted by lukesh
why would we want to see brave troops dead in a coffin?

We don't need to see their faces, but they do deserve to get recognised for their troubles and struggles.
It's acknowledgement and respect.

Not showing them, is to make it seem as if they never existed, weren't needed, and that they're just someone else dead out of natural reasonings.

[lukesh]

if the families oppse them to be seen on TV then they shouldn't.

[Aladdin]

Most of them haven't objected to it.

And to be brutally honest, considering there are dozens upon dozens of unmarked coffins arriving every week it's not as if you can tell who the fallen are from TV images, even if you keep fully up to date with the list of casualties.

[The Matadore]

Bush is pushing the USA towards totalitarianism.

Rubbish, you study politics, do you not?

Then you know Bush could never push the USA into a dictatorial state.

[Clandestine]

Actually the "can't happen here" routine is the saddest delusion of them all. It CAN and inevitably will if the current PNAC agenda has its way long term. The Constitution has already been significantly devalued as the basis for US society with the advent of the USA Patriot Act and the DHS. Give them more time and watch it erode even further.

[wee wuman]

oh i voted yes but i meant to vote no, sorry!

[xicoperez]

Images like this one should not be censored, just the opposite...

http://www.el-mundo.es/documentos/2003/05/espana/accidente_ejercito/portada/portada_inf.jpg

[BlackArab]

I've never seen a complaint when they've shown the coffins returning with British war dead so I can't imagine why American families should oppose this.

I certainly didn't hear of any pictures from the WTC being censored and these included people jumping to their deaths. At the time I had good reason to believe the WTC dead might include a cousin of mine (Thank God he wasn't) and yes I found them upsetting but I believed the world should see the results of mans actions towards each other.

[Renzo]

Originally posted by The Matadore
Rubbish, you study politics, do you not?

Then you know Bush could never push the USA into a dictatorial state.

Never said i have studied American Politics ;)

[Namaste]

Originally posted by lukesh
why would we want to see brave troops dead in a coffin?

Why not?

Along with the graves of the thousands of people killed by sanctions... and the civilian injuries. Maybe then people can see how real war really is.

[Faith]

Originally posted by Aspartame
Showing them wouldn't be so different to the networks flashing around pictures of the late Princess Diana...

Exactly, or September 11th.


My brother has just got back from Iraq and he said that there are so many more deaths and injuries of British soldiers than we get told about on the news. Last week a bomb got one of his mate's in the face and he's lost an eye and most of one side of his face. That wasn't in the news at all. At least this way the public can actually see how serious it is.

[Uncle Joe]

Originally posted by Aladdin
Bush had imposed a ban on showing footage of funerals or coffins arriving home from day one. Not a single one had been shown until now. Not a single funeral has Bush attended.

Make no mistake about the reasons why this has been so. I've heard the justifications for Bush not attending individual funerals, and I just about buy it, but there's nothing to stop him going to Dover Air Base to pay respect to the fallen, and I'm not aware of him ever doing so (don't you just know that someone on Mil.com would have posted the pics, if Bush's handlers had believed there was good publicity to be got out of the occasion?).

Did a quick Google which seems to bear my impression out:

'While using aircraft carriers and massed ranks of soldiers and sailors as backdrops for his photo opportunities, Bush has treated the US soldiers in Iraq with contempt. There has never been an occupant of the White House so obviously indifferent to the deaths of American servicemen and women in combat as George W. Bush. With the Iraq death toll for US troops approaching 350, Bush has yet to attend a single funeral or memorial service.'

White House bans news coverage of coffins returning from Iraq (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/oct2003/bush-o23.shtml)

'Tis from a commie pinko site, though, so it may not be acknowledged as valid, plus the article is from October last year (anyone know if Bush has been more diligent since then..?).

[Blagsta]

Originally posted by The Matadore
Rubbish, you study politics, do you not?

Then you know Bush could never push the USA into a dictatorial state.

LOL! :D

[LabRat]

Originally posted by Aladdin
Of course they should not be censored. This is the first time, to the best of my knowledge, when there has been a total ban on footage of fallen US soldiers. Not only their bodies returning to America, but their funerals or burials.

And contrary to the odious wankers at the Pentagon and the White House this has nothing to do with protecting privacy and avoiding intrusion. This has only been done because that evil fucking **** at the White House is worried about losing the election in November.

What a vile, profoundly disgusting piece of shit the man is!
YES!!!
Bush and Company are aware about Vietnam War so they are so shy…

[Braineater]

When someone dies in combat, it is a sacrifice, when they die through incompetance, it is murder.

[Namaste]

Originally posted by Braineater
When someone dies in combat, it is a sacrifice, when they die through incompetance, it is murder.

More people have been murdered in Iraq by sanctions and thru civilian deaths in war than have been killed in combat. Maybe they should be shown too... after all, war ain't like in the movies.

[Man Of Kent]

They most certainly should be shown.

Whilst I don't support the footage from funerals (they should remain a priavte matter for the families, I do think that the coffins expose one of the costs of war and these servicemen deserve some respect for the price which they have paid.