The
image Turning America
Against Bush
By Andrew Buncombe
24 April 2004
The Independent
The photographs that President George
Bush does not want the American public to see show the flag-draped coffins
containing the bodies of American servicemen and women - dying in Iraq
at a rate of between four and six a day - being returned to the US and
to their families.
Aware of the power
of these pictures and their potential to inflict political damage on
Mr Bush as he campaigns for re-election, his chief political adviser,
Karl Rove, is desperate that they should not be published. Under a White
House directive, the press has not been permitted to photograph the
return of such coffins for more than a year. But last week 361 images
of military coffins being returned to Dover air force base in Delaware
were released to an internet news site under the Freedom of Information
Act.
This week the Pentagon
decided it should not have provided the pictures after all, and barred
further releases. "Quite frankly, we don't want the remains of
our service members who have made the ultimate sacrifice to be the subject
of any kind of attention that is unwarranted or undignified," said
John Moline, a deputy undersecretary of defence.
Almost 700 American
troops and thousands of Iraqi civilians and insurgents have been killed
since the US-led operation to oust Saddam Hussein began. From the US
perspective at least, the past month has perhaps been the deadliest,
with about a hundred soldiers and marines being killed.
Mr Bush admitted
this himself, saying recently there was "no question it's been
a tough, tough, tough series of weeks for the American people".
Despite this, Mr Bush has not yet attended a single funeral service
for any of those killed in Iraq something that has outraged many
of the families. Polls suggest that public approval of the President's
handling of the war and the occupation is down from 51 per cent to 44
per cent.
Since their release,
the photographs have been published prominently by newspapers and received
widespread coverage by the television networks triggering further
debate about the war. Only Rupert Murdoch's Fox News has declined to
show the pictures or report any discussion about the White House's decision
to prevent their publication.
The images the White
House wanted to censor were obtained by Russ Kick, from Tucson, Arizona,
who runs a website called The Memory Hole (www.thememoryhole.org) and
who filed a Freedom of Information Act application. Air force officials
denied the request but decided to release the photos after Mr Kick appealed
against their decision. Mr Kick was unavailable for comment yesterday,
but on his website he wrote: "These are the images that the Pentagon
prevented the public from seeing."
Controversy over
such images was further fuelled by the Seattle Times's decision to publish
similar photographs on its front page last Sunday.
Those pictures were
taken in Kuwait by Tami Silicio, who worked for a cargo aircraft contractor,
Maytag Aircraft Corp, based in Los Angeles
Ms Silicio, 50,
was fired by the company on Wednesday after concerns were raised by
military officials. The company's president, William Silva, told the
Seattle Times that while the decision to fire Ms Silicio had been the
company's, the US military had identified "very specific concerns"
about her actions. He declined to detail those concerns.
Ms Silicio told
ABC television: "I think if the administration were more sympathetic,
they would see that this is a positive thing. [Family members] want
to see how our loved ones, how our heroes, are being taking care of
and how they get home." The Pentagon says it has barred publication
out of respect to "families' feelings and requests". But many
relatives of soldiers who died in Iraq believe the White House is trying
to cover up what is happening there. Sue Niederer said she was refused
permission to see the return of her son Seth Dvorin's body as it was
flown into the Dover base. Lieutenant Dvorin, 24, from the 101st Airborne
Division, was killed in February while trying to disarm a roadside bomb,
a task for which he was not trained.
Speaking from her
home in New Jersey, Mrs Niederer said: "They killed my son and
they did not permit me to be there to see the coffin. They said it was
for health reasons, and ... they did not want the public to see it and
they did not want the newspapers there." She added: "They
don't want any of this being shown because it's reality. A coffin strikes
home. If you don't see the coffin you just say: 'Oh, there's another
one who has died.' But when you show the coffin, you show families,
you show people and emotions. This is what they are doing this
is what they do not want you to see."
©
2004 Independent Digital (UK) Ltd