Dover, Delaware - A website has published dozens of photographs of American war dead arriving at the country's largest military mortuary, leading the Pentagon to order an information crackdown.
The photographs were released in the past week to activist Russ Kick, who had filed a Freedom of Information Act request to receive the images.
After Kick posted more than 350 photographs on his website - www.thememoryhole.org - the United States department of defence on Thursday barred the further release of the photographs to media outlets.
When The Star tried to get onto the website on Friday, it had been shut down and replaced with a so-called "test page" which assured us that the "site is working properly".
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| 'They're not happy with the release of the photos' |
The message read: "The website is either experiencing problems, or undergoing routine maintenance."
"They're not happy with the release of the photos," Dover Air Force base spokesperson Colonel Jon Anderson said.
The photos were taken at the Dover base in Delaware - home to the mortuary - and most of the images are of flag-draped coffins.
Defence department rules prohibit media coverage of human remains arriving at Dover, and Pentagon spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Gary Keck said the release of the mortuary photos appeared to be in conflict with department policy.
Defence officials said the policy was meant to protect the privacy of the soldiers' families - not to circumvent or violate the Freedom of Information Act or any other law.
| 'We need to stop hiding the deaths of our young' |
"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 Molino, a deputy undersecretary of defence.
At a rally in Dover in March, war protesters criticised President George Bush for not allowing the public or media to witness the arrival of remains at the base.
"We need to stop hiding the deaths of our young. We need to be open about their deaths," said Jane Bright of California, whose 24-year-old son, Evan Ashcraft, was killed in combat in July.
Telephone and email messages to Kick were not immediately returned on Thursday.
In a related incident, a cargo worker was fired on Wednesday by a military contractor after her photograph of flag-draped coffins bearing the remains of US soldiers was published on the front page of Sunday editions of The Seattle Times.
Tami Silicio was fired by Maytag Aircraft Corp after military officials raised concerns about the photograph taken in Kuwait, said William Silva, Maytag president.
The 50-year-old took the photograph in a cargo plane about to depart from Kuwait International Airport earlier this month. She sent the photo to a friend who provided it to the newspaper, which then obtained permission from Silicio to publish it.
- This article was originally published on page 1 of The Star on April 23, 2004
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