A Moment Of Silence For The Fallen And The Shunned

Even If They Don't Care, We Do.

http://www.thememoryhole.org/war/coffin_photos/dover/gallery.htm
from JoeUser Forums
Here's the compilation of photos the Bush Admin. doesn't want you to see. When I see the photo of a coffin, I think of their family. Many don't want us to see these photos, especially during an election period. Look at these photos and remember they're families and the fact they're loved ones will never be coming home. Why these photos are a shame I don't understand, election or not. If you have the so-called balls to go to war, have the respect for the dead men and women and let the country see their ultimate sacrifice. Please. It's a no-brainer isn't it? But many don't care to want to see it. This is for their families.
politics
15,963 views 36 replies
Reply #1 from JoeUser Forums Top
Their families do get to see their fallen loved ones in full-honors funerals. Dont even pretend this is for them. The families do get the right to see them. The push for coffin viewing is simply politics. Nothing more.
Reply #2 from JoeUser Forums Top
Darn you're odd. I thought the push for NOT ALLOWING PEOPLE TO SEE THE COFFINS are for politics. You're backwards.
Sins of a Solar Empire II
Reply #3 from JoeUser Forums Top
If that was MY husband laying dead in one of those boxes I wouldn't want the whole world to see it.

Grey's right, this is nothing more than propaganda.
Reply #4 from JoeUser Forums Top
I can't help but agree. It's all political (and heartless).
Reply #5 from JoeUser Forums Top
I agree with Dharma. I don't like the thought of people seeing the coffins of my dead friends.

And I don't like all the fucking media play. It's not because the media cares, it's because people are fucking nosy.

~Anne
Reply #6 from JoeUser Forums Top
I admit I'm quite surprised by the reactions here. But I can say you all have belief behind the words so I can't say you're wrong. Especially Dharma. She's living it. But behind it all I wonder why such a reaction. It's not as if there's a name on the coffin. The privacy thing doesn't wash with me. When you say propaganda I hear you and agree to a point. But to me, ultimately, propaganda is affiliated with things that are untrue. Sure triping about the Bush family's ties to Nazi Germany can be labelled as propaganda, comfortably. But not things such as images of the fallen which Bush and Co. wish to deny us.
Reply #7 from JoeUser Forums Top
I think it's politics both ways. One side wants to show the pictures, to show what the other side has done.

One side does not want people to know that actual people are dying, yes the news says 4 died today, 3 died today, but really, one of the few soldiers who died that got national coverage was Tillman.

If there are no names, and no bodies, can we comprehend the cost and sacrifice?

Can anyone not go to Arlington and not be moved by the visual representation of the sacrifice of these brave soldiers?

IG
Reply #10 from JoeUser Forums Top
If your heart was breaking and your world was crumbling ..would you want it turned into a media circus? I wouldn't, I would demand the right to grieve in privacy. Yes these people have paid the supreme price ..........so it is only fair to leave their families and loved ones in as much peace as possible during such a terrible time.
Reply #11 from JoeUser Forums Top
Understood, but there are never any names mentioned with the pictures. Just the image of a flag draped coffin. Also, the soldiers paid the price for all of us. Isn't it right that we should as a nation acknowledge the loss?

No names, no marching bands, just a simple ceremony at the airfield, similar to what they did a few years ago for the members of the 101st airborn. A few words, three gunshots and a moment of silence for a nation to understand.

It can be done with grace. We've done it before, in 1963.

IG
Reply #12 from JoeUser Forums Top
It can be done with grace. We've done it before, in 1963.


You're correct it can be, unfortunately it can also be turned into a media circus as it was during the Vietnam War. Given that we are dealing with someone's loved ones I think it is best to err on the side of caution and not publish the pictures.

I personally feel that the photos are quite respectfully done and moving, but that doesn't mean that all photos will be and it doesn't mean that the families of the soldiers will feel the same way.
Reply #14 from JoeUser Forums Top
There is no way that these pictures are not being shown out of respect for the families. The media eats up shots like a bloddy baby doll on the highway after a fatal crash. These pictures are not being shown because Bush wants us to not think about the reality of what is going on. stevendedalus recently put up an article about this. A picture says a thousand words is very correct.
Reply #16 from JoeUser Forums Top

Those people are dying in my name.  Why shouldnt I see them?    They are brave individuals who gave the ultimate sacrifice.  Honoring them publicly, to me, is better than having them forgotten.


Support the troops?  YES!

Reply #17 from JoeUser Forums Top
Those people are dying in my name. Why shouldnt I see them?


What about the families? They gave up their loved ones to the military, and it killed them. Don't you think they deserve to have them all to themselves at last? They didn't get that option in life, don't you think they should be given that courtesy in death?

If it were Dave in one of those coffins and someone took photos and published them...I'd feel violated. Not only did I have to share him when he was living, I'd be having to share his death with everyone else was well.
Reply #18 from JoeUser Forums Top
But the point of an anonymous coffin is tthat no family would be mentioned. No one would know who is in the coffin.

To make it even more easy, keep the coffin empty. The coffin and ceremony and picture would be a symbol of the sacrifice and price of war.

I am not sure, but I would suspect a few families buried an empty coffin of some sort for those who never left the toews.

IG
Reply #20 from JoeUser Forums Top
Sorry, my bad the word "toews" should be towers".

IG
Reply #22 from JoeUser Forums Top

What about the families? They gave up their loved ones to the military, and it killed them. Don't you think they deserve to have them all to themselves at last? They didn't get that option in life, don't you think they should be given that courtesy in death?


If someone dies for somethign that they believe in, than it is an admirable thing, and shoudl be proudly made known. If somoene dies because they're just doing their job, even though they don't believe in the cause...then it should be not-so-proudly made known.


I dont believe that death is something that is better kept private, I mean, I dont even understand that mode of thought.  Would you rather that for the next 5 years, when old friends see you to say "Oh how's your husband?"   Death is not so morbid that it need be a secret.

Reply #23 from JoeUser Forums Top
Maybe when people become soldiers, there should be an option somewhere where they can decide whether or not they want their death to be publicized.
Reply #24 from JoeUser Forums Top
lol. super that's political suicide to bring that one up. Tell me what soldier, fighting for their country, would want their demise hidden and covered up from the people he went off fighting for, namely the American people. Lmao. I don't think many would go along with that. Think of the Americans from Lima Site 51 I believe it was. Or any American shot down over Laos or Cambodia, the supposed covert shadow war the public never knew about until much later.
Reply #25 from JoeUser Forums Top

It is my understand that the policy is not out of concern for the families (that would be far too altruistic!) or because the Administration is trying to hide something (This isn't even a GW Bush policy to begin with--though it's being enforced with far more rigor since the start of this war). The policy originated so as to sustain troop morale. The idea is that if you show the mortuary at Dover over and over again and the troops are seeing coffin upon coffin, their spirits will be diminished--diminished spirits lead to diminished effectiveness. Sounds reasonable to me...

Of course, not everyone buys it. Senator McCain said that the policy is a blatant attempt to sheild American's from the cost of war.