As one of those soldiers that may end up coming back dead, I think it is wonderful to honor the returning soldiers. However, a very vocal and evil portion of our society has been extrodinarily disrespectful to both our soldiers and to their memory, and freely try to use both the images and the memory of those fallen soldiers to try to destroy the morale of the living and fighting soldier. Groups like Code Pink and others have been incredibly evil in their treatment of soldiers. I got a kick out of one protestor I talked with that said they were "for the soldiers" - but when I politely disagreed with them, they claimed that they knew what was good for me - regardess of what I wanted as a soldier. Meh - standard arrogance from those groups. If these vile leftist groups actaully would treat us with respect, then I am all for celebrating the fallen. If not, then there is no reason to provide ammunition for free to those that want to hurt soldiers to do so.

All of these stories about the ban on photgraphing returning war dead leave out the reason the ban was put in place. It wasn't to hide the fact that we had dead soldiers as is almost always implied.
Back in the first Gulf war when Bush 41 was president there was no ban. Then one day CNN ran a live split screen where 1 side was a somber scene of a couple of caskets being unloaded at Dover AFB and the other side was Bush 41 answering reporters questions about the economy. Think about that image. It made Bush 41 look completely insensitive to the soldiers. That cheap shot was the reason for the ban. Obama can lift the ban knowing full well that his lapdog media will never do that to him.

I have to agree with the above. The media wants access to Dover specifically because they want to use it to show their disrespect towards the military. They are trying to set up a catch-22: if they intrude on funerals or private family ceremonies, they know that won't get any sympathy for their surrender-first viewpoint. So they try to get access at Dover, which is the last point where the DoD is still in charge of handling the caskets.

And Martin's charge that nothing publicly is being done to honor the war dead in America is disingenuous at best (and an outright lie at worst). In every community that I've read about that has received war dead since the Iraq War started, there has been some kind of public honoring. Mayors order flags at half staff. Hearses have local police and military escorts. Local news features. Public honor ceremonies and memorials, separate from the funerals.

And one more thing on Dover: If the media has access to it, then Ken Phelps has access to it too. Ponder that.

I tend to agree with the commentators - I don't trust the noble intentions of the media or other groups. I believe they want to make it political for their agenda. There are too many other venues for this rather than intrude on grieving families.

My son was, unfortunately, one of those who made the sad journey through Dover after falling in Iraq. There were so many in the community who honored him or offered to to so. He was not neglected in this regard but it was at the discretion of his family, as it should be. With the exception of Fred Phelp's clan, everyone was very respectful of the situation.

Most people have the luxury of only contemplating this from a distance. When it is real, you quickly dispense with being concerned about the opinions of others. If someone wants to use him for some other purpose, tough. In return, I won't swing his memory around like a club. Losing him does not grant me superior moral authority or sudden expertise in foriegn policy matters. It just makes me what I am - a father who has lost a son and who wants to deal with it on his own terms. Others who have lost children, in whatever way, may disagree with me, which is their right.

Max - thank you for your service and I will hope for your safety.

Dad: "Most people have the luxury of only contemplating this from a distance".

So true. Dad, I am very sorry for your loss.

"In return, I won't swing his memory around like a club".

You and your family are class acts. So unlike Cindy Sheehan.

Max, I also thank you for your service, and hope for your safe return.

Yes, Fred Phelps is who I meant, not Ken Phelps. Sorry.

"The media wants access to Dover specifically because they want to use it to show their disrespect towards the military."

I know, thank god that mainstream media giants like Rush Limbaugh and Fox News aren't allowed anywhere near them!

The simple solution is that the Department of Defense gives the contact information of those wishing to take pictures to the families of the dead soldiers. Those who wish to allow the pictures can give the photographers a release. Then they can take pictures of the flag-draped coffins of those whose families permit it.

Perhaps not simple for the media but when was it the DoD's job to make it easy for the press?

"Perhaps not simple for the media but when was it the DoD's job to make it easy for the press?"

It's not. It's their job to do what the chain of command tells them to do.

Like not shoot first. Like "be police, not the Army". Like "consider the enemy's rights first".

Like, "pose for a picture with this important politician using your job for his gain".

"Dead American soldiers now return home to a camera ban at the air base and are hustled off without ceremony to the mortuary and onward to burial."

The fact our media states such lies just proves why they do not deserve any place in covering returning fallen soldiers.

Below is a link to how they are honored. How DARE the above article say they are returned without ceremony!!!

http://www.blackfive.net/main/2004/04/taking_chance.html

I am happy we did not give the media the opportunity to further intrude into a process they clearly do not understand or even care about. The slant and lack of facts in the article shows how little they actually care. How unfortunate our president is now giving them access. They want to use these fallen soldiers for their own purposes and could not care less about ceremony. If they cared, they would report the truth. I agree with others who are saying to major media please just print the truth or go away.

I dislike movies, HBO, Kevin Bacon, and schmaltz. But Taking Chance made me weep like a little girl for an hour.

The commenters here are on the right track. There's more to decency than feeding the need of mass media types to caress people's emotions in amusing ways.

While claiming no insight about the sacrifice of A Dad above, I'm not sure Canada has all that much to teach us about righteous warriors.

Is "feeding the need to caress" the shabbiest turn of phrase so far this month? Keep it in mind when you fill out your blog score cards two weeks from tomorrow.

Here's how to treat the memory of a sailor lost at sea: Machinist's Mate Joseph Allen Ashley, RIP

Yes, I'm in the book. I was in a different ocean, but that could have been me.

I'll just say this.

Last thing I want to be is some liberal's piece of propaganda opposing what I died for.

Might have a little something to do with present policy.

We Americans tend to make fun of our northern neighbor a bit..."A loft apartment over a really great party"~Robin Williams Things like that. And its all in good fun, they do the same to us I'm sure, similarly in good fun.

But as far as soldiering goes, well as proud as I am of our country, we have the unfortunate tendency not to give credit where credit is due in matters historical, we alone did not fight in WWII, we had soldiers of our northern neighbor there beside us. That should be remembered too.

First, Crid, that was a cheap and ignorant shot about Canadian soldiers. Google Dieppe, or if you're not big on history try Canada and Iraq. The Canadians have two problems. Their equipment isn't as good as ours, and there aren't enough of them.

When the press abandoned objectivity to embrace advocacy, they lost me. They've no need to be at Dover. What they are looking for is propaganda, not news. Keep the ban.

I get pretty tired of the sanctemonious Canadians lecturing me. Especially on things like the military and healthcare.
It's good to keep things in perspective. The size of the entire Canadian military is less than twice the size of the NY City police force.
Some years ago the Canadian govt got itself all in a snit over the way some Nato forces were conducting themselves. (It might have been Kosovo but I could be wrong on that) They decided that their Canadian forces could do a much superior job and volunteered to take over for the slugs that had been doing such a "lousy" job. (Human rights, blah, blah, blah)
It was a good plan right up to the part where Canada didn't have the Airlift transport capability to move their equipment overseas. They had to ask the American military for help.
Sanctemonious pukes.

> that was a cheap and ignorant
> shot about Canadian soldiers.

No, Sean's word "sanctimonious" is wonderful. I'm tired of having to move through the world as if our nations are directly comparable... As if any time anyone mentions the place, as Amy does here, that I'm supposed to clasp my hands behind my back and my chins supposed to fall in a posture of solemnity and impotent shame.

> The Canadians have two problems.
> Their equipment isn't as good as
> ours, and there aren't enough
> of them.

Exactly! Those aren't givens, are they?

We're in agreement about Dover.

More- But I would not necessarily sign off on Sean's word "pukes". The point is that it's wrong to call it a "hidden and heartless U.S. casualty repatriation policy." I've tired very quickly of Obama supporters describing every issue as a brand new discovery of the obvious, where only Pelosi's compassionate sensibilities can lead the way.

I don't believe for a moment, not for a moment, that Canadians love and respect their sons –breathing or fallen– more than we do in the United States.

> Photos of U.S. flag-draped
> coffins are almost always
> unauthorized.

Two problems with that: It gives "photos" like that almost a salcious power, like a teenage boy feels for plunging necklines. Exactly how many photos of such caskets do you need to see? Were there any in particular, Amy, that you wanted to see but couldn't? Can you name the soldiers? Would the photos help you name them?

Of course not. This is all about ninny liberals who think that if they can just rub peoples noses in it, all wars will come to an end as people rediscover their shared humanity etc.... But the rest of us understand that people are dying and being maimed. These photos aren't the robotically effective tools they're imagined to be.

Again, I have no experience to compare with what "A Dad" offers above. But if I had child killed in Iraq, I would expect and demand that the government make a good effort to protect his body and accouterments from photography. Not just to prevent political exploitation, but because death is a private thing.

That's "roboticly". Sorry. Big Ten education.

Crid, I thought 'robotically' was correct.

Big Ten education here too.