Images of war

It's difficult enough, says Marcee McLain, whose husband is serving with the National Guard's 1161st in Iraq, that American troops are fighting in the Middle East. What she doesn't need to see, she says, is pictures of soldiers killed in action.

Kim Justice agrees. It's enough to read about the statistics, says Justice, whose daughter is with the 1161st in Iraq, as well. Seeing coffins is beyond what should be printed about the war in Iraq.

The two Moses Lake women weighed in on the decision by The Seattle Times to publish a picture of flag-draped caskets loaded onto an airplane, ready for the final trip home.

Since The Photo — as it has come to be referred to — was printed nearly two weeks ago, everyone from those at the Pentagon on down have put in their two cents' worth. The Seattle Times received 500 letters alone, as to whether or not the photo should have been printed and if there were a political agenda in doing so.

The photograph is a powerful one that shows more than 20 flag-draped coffins of soldiers who had died in Iraq. Their caskets were being tended to inside a cargo plane by other military personnel.

The Times acquired by the picture from a woman named Tami Silicio, who was working with a military contractor in the Middle East. She was subsequently fired for taking a photo in a location barred from the media. Silicio said she took the photo, which she e-mailed to a friend who subsequently took it to The Seattle Times, because she wanted to show families of soldiers who have died how much care was shown to their loved ones.

At issue is a 1991 Pentagon policy, which has banned the media and the public, including families, from witnessing the arrival of the war dead, and from taking pictures of caskets in transit to the U.S.

The policy was made out of concern for the privacy of grieving families.

Some — McLain and Justice, for example —argue that printing photos of caskets leaving Iraq or arriving back on American soil dishonor the dead soldiers or their families.

Others argue there is more dishonor in hiding from the nation and the world the representation of sacrifice, honor and courage, which is a flag-draped coffin.

Both made valid points.

Moses Lake Vietnam veteran Mike Sallis supports publication of the photo.

"There is a cost to war," Sallis says. "Someone needs to let the public know there is a cost. Showing flag-draped coffins isn't negative and surely shows that cost — the loss of life."

Silicio's photo was much more sensitive than recent photos from the Middle East that have been published which were gruesome, such as those of civilian American contractors hanging from a bridge, or a photo of a Marine carrying a body bag containing a dead comrade.

And there are very few complaints when photos of dead Iraqis littering the ground are printed. They are people, too, and have grieving families whose privacy should be protected as much as those on the other side.

Photos have had a huge impact since the Civil War. Most are not pretty, but tell a visual story to those of us supporting war efforts from the home front.

Most important — and what we should learn from the photo that stirred a nation, as the Times' editors have dubbed it — is that the public has a right to know war costs.

A sensitive, honest photo capturing the respect for the dead in a group of unidentified coffins can do just that.

Hooray for us

Congratulations to the Moses Lake School District and its committee that worked endless hours in order to convince the community maintenance and operations levy funds are essential to quality education.

We had a few skeptics out there. Some argued downsizing in the classrooms simply wouldn't occur if voters did not approve a replacement levy. Others insisted this was a "new" tax. Reread sports reporter Brad Redford's story in Monday's CBH if you are in doubt M&O funds are necessary. In the Yakima School District, students are paying to play sports — a co-curricular activity funded in part by levy dollars — after their M&O levy failed. Twice.

We were spared that, thanks to all of us who voted to keep quality education in Moses Lake schools.