The Government is So Stupid

It makes absolutely no sense that the U.S. government is not allowing any images of bodies returning home from Iraq and Afghanistan to be shown in the news. When I first heard this, I imagined that they were shielding the public from gruesome images of mangled soldiers. But, no, the government actually doesn't want me to see flag-draped caskets. The government doesn't want me to even think about the fact that some soldiers are coming home dead.

Bravo to First Amendment activist, Russ Kick who filed a freedom of information request with the military and received hundreds of pictures from the largest military morgue which he then posted on his website. (and now some of them are on CNN's website)

The military argues that the families of the soldiers deserve to be the first to see them, but when there are dozens of matching caskets lined up in a room, isn't that more about making a statement than it is about me actually seeing these dead soldiers? I have no clue who is in each box and family members of the deceased don't know either, but isn't it important for us to see soldiers coming home just like we see them boarding planes and leaving? The government isn't protecting the soldiers' families, it's protecting its own ill-conceived war and keeping its citizens in the dark.

Thank goodness for Kick and Tami Silicio, a military contractor who took a picture of a casket being loaded into a cargo plane that was later published on the front page of The Seattle Times. Silicio got fired and Kick has prompted the military to crack down on information release, but at least there are finally a few pictures out there and since the military is making such a big deal about it, maybe even more people will see them.