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Pentagon releases some photos of troops coffins { April 28 2005 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)    http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-photos29apr29,0,1112215.story?coll=la-home-headlines http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-photos29apr29,0,1112215.story?coll=la-home-headlines Pentagon Releases Photos of Troops' Coffins By John Hendren Times Staff Writer 6:50 PM PDT, April 28, 2005 WASHINGTON -- Reversing a policy under fire, the Pentagon released photographs Thursday of flag-draped caskets bearing U.S. troops killed in combat. The pictures, taken by military photographers, were released in response to a Freedom of Information request by Ralph Begleiter, a University of Delaware professor and former CNN correspondent who sought all photos of the caskets of U.S. troops who have died in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan since October 2001. The release reversed a policy that critics said had allowed Pentagon managers to conceal the vivid reality of hundreds of coffins arriving home in U.S. military cargo planes. The Defense Department made the photos public with few dates or locations and little context, making it unclear whether the individuals in any of the hundreds of pictures died in Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere. The faces of soldiers accompanying the coffins were blacked out. A Pentagon spokesman said the photos were altered to protect the privacy of troops photographed for historical or training purposes. "Every picture is looked at individually," Navy Lt. Commander Gregory Hicks said. "Some were blacked out to protect identifying information." It was the second release of vivid shots of camouflage-clad troops bearing the coffins. The Air Force, responding to another FOIA request, released 361 photos in April from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. The Pentagon continues to refuse to allow journalists to photograph the arriving coffins independently. The ban on such photos was imposed shortly before the 1991 Persian Gulf War by then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney. Analysts say it was prompted by embarrassment after President George H.W. Bush was shown by three networks in split-screen images. In one box, the president chatted breezily with White House reporters, sometimes joking. In the second frame were somber images of returning caskets from the U.S. assault on Panama. Begleiter filed his FOIA request a year ago and then filed a lawsuit in October, seeking to force the release of the pictures. By releasing the pictures, the Pentagon pre-empted a ruling by U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan. "This is an important victory for the American people, for the families of troops killed in the line of duty during wartime, and for the honor of those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country," Begleiter said in a statement. "This significant decision by the Pentagon should make it difficult, if not impossible, for any U.S. government in the future to hide the human cost of war from the American people."

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