The Coffin Debate Rages On

activefree, Flickr, Creative Commons

During the Bush administration Dover Air Force Base was made off limits to the press at the time coffins carrying our fallen troops were being returned from Iraq or other places. The reason given was family privacy. Many critics saw the move as a way to shield the public from the reality of war. Today the administration is taking another look.

Pentagon officials reconsidering the ban on news coverage of coffins arriving at Dover Air Force Base from Iraq and Afghanistan are studying the media policies of other countries. They are also soliciting the views of families who have lost loved ones.

In the most recent national poll on the issue, conducted in 2003 by The New York Times and CBS News, 62 percent of respondents said the public should be allowed to see photographs of the military honor guard receiving
coffins at Dover, in Delaware, while 27 percent opposed the idea.

Both Canada an Britain allow limited press coverage in respect for both the public right to information and family privacy. What course the U.S. will take remains to be seen.

Peace.