April 23, 2004
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The Pentagon has cited a policy, used during the first Persian Gulf war, as its reason for preventing news organizations from showing images of coffins arriving in the United States. That policy was not consistently followed, however, and President Bill Clinton took part in numerous ceremonies honoring dead servicemen. In March 2003, the Pentagon issued a directive it said was established in
November 2000, saying,
"There will not be arrival ceremonies of, or media coverage of, deceased military personnel returning to or departing from" air bases.
While critics have charged that the administration is seeking to keep unwelcome images of the war's human cost away from the American public, the Pentagon has said that
only individual services at a gravesite give proper context to the sacrifices of soldiers and their relatives.
"The president believes that we should always honor and show respect for those who have made the ultimate sacrifice defending our freedoms," Scott McClellan, the White House press secretary, said last night.
A New York Times/CBS News poll taken in December found that 62 percent of Americans said the public should be allowed to see pictures of the military honor guard receiving the coffins of soldiers killed in Iraq as they are returned to the United States. 27 percent said the public should not be.
Among the national television news organizations, only the Fox News Channel had no plans to use any of the photos or explore the issue of why they had been barred from use in the news media, a channel spokesman said."