U.S. Military Upholds TV Cover Ban on Iraq Coffins
      Mon Nov 3, 2:39 PM ET  Add Top Stories - Reuters to My Yahoo!


By Erik Kirschbaum

BERLIN (Reuters) - The U.S. military said Monday it was sticking to a policy
forbidding television camera crews and photographers from filming coffins of
soldiers killed in Iraq (news - web sites) at a U.S. air base in
southwestern Germany.



Officials at Ramstein, a major U.S. air base which serves as a transfer
point, had allowed media access in the past to honor guard ceremonies and
transfers of American-flag covered coffins onto U.S.-bound military
transport planes. But rules banning coverage were strictly enforced just
before the Iraq war began.


While U.S. officials say the policy was created out of respect for
relatives, others criticize the lack of media access, arguing its aim is to
prevent the public from seeing large numbers of coffins that could turn
public opinion against the war.


"You can argue both sides," said one U.S. official who asked not to be
identified. "Some say Americans need to see this, this is factual and the
public needs to see (the coffins). Yet you also think of the mom of a killed
soldier and the trauma of seeing television pictures of her son being
repatriated."