Pentagon Releases Photos of Soldiers’ Coffins

“In response to Freedom of Information Act requests and a lawsuit, the Pentagon this week released hundreds of previously secret images of casualties returning to honor guard ceremonies from the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and other conflicts, confirming that images of their flag-draped coffins are rightfully part of the public record, despite its earlier insistence that such images should be kept secret.” [via NSArchive]

“The more than 700 photographs, taken by military photographers from 2001 to 2004, show coffins from Iraq and Afghanistan lining the mechanical silver interiors of Air Force C-17 jets. Many depict solemn honor guard ceremonies for the fallen troops at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and other U.S. military facilities.”

“The Pentagon, however, said the release of the photographs, which it termed “historical documentation,” does not signify any lifting of the ban on media coverage of returning casualties.”

“Thomas Blanton, director of the National Security Archive, which assisted in the lawsuit, said it was ‘an outrage and an insult that they blacked out those faces of the honor guard, when today on . . . [the Pentagon Web site] you can see photos of U.S. soldiers in Iraq. I can only imagine they put those black boxes there to make the photos unusable.’” [via WaPo]

View Photos at the Washington Post and at the National Security Archive.