By VICTOR GRETO - The News Journal
The recent release of 360 photographs of war casualties doesn't mean a lawsuit filed to obtain them is over, according to the attorney representing the University of Delaware professor who pressed for them to be made public.
Nor does the release of the photos signal a change in the military's practice of photographing the dead or its practice of keeping the photos private until it is ready to release them, a military spokesman said.
Questions still remain after the release of the photographs to Ralph Begleiter, a former CNN reporter, who filed the lawsuit in October.
Begleiter requested the video and photographs taken of the arrival and transfer of Iraq and Afghanistan war casualties at Dover Air Force Base. The base is home to the Department of Defense's only stateside mortuary. The lawsuit was filed under the Freedom of Information Act, which allows for public access to government documents.
"The lawsuit is not dismissed," said Meredith Fuchs, an attorney who helped Begleiter file the lawsuit.
Fuchs works for the National Security Archive, a nonprofit research institute at George Washington University.
"We have to determine whether the pictures are a reasonable and complete response," she said.
The recently released photographs do not include any taken in 2005.
After releasing the photographs to Begleiter, they were posted on the National Security Archive's Web site, www.nsarchive.org, just after 1 p.m. Thursday.
Begleiter announced he had obtained the photographs Wednesday night.
All of the photos released were taken by Department of Defense photographers. Some photos appear to have been taken in combat zones and have been heavily edited. The faces of the soldiers carrying the dead and any identifying marks on their uniforms have been blotted out. Other photos, taken at bases within and outside the United States, contain detailed identification information.
One set of photos shows the funeral of Columbia space shuttle astronaut Michael P. Anderson conducted at Arlington National Cemetery. In another photo, a POW/MIA flag, denoting soldiers missing in action, is prominent. Other photos depict C5 Galaxy transport planes of the type flown out of Dover Air Force Base, although the pictures appear to be from a base in Germany.
"We have to think about whether the redacted photographs are worth appealing," Begleiter said. "I also asked for video, and there was none released."
'Noteworthy' images
Because no photos before a year ago were included in the recent release, Begleiter and Fuchs think that the Pentagon policy of photographing war casualties may have changed.
"If it turns out these are the last images of this kind, that makes them noteworthy," Begleiter said.
But Pentagon spokesman Col. Gary Keck said there have been no policy changes since 1991. He said pictures of war casualties still are being taken regularly for historical and practical purposes - to show how the remains should be handled on a particular airplane, for example.
Since the 1991 Gulf War, the Pentagon has banned the media from taking photographs of the dead when they are returned home to the United States. Exceptions are made for the families of those killed.
"We control those photos," he said. "They're not intended to be put in the paper."
The military has fought the lawsuit, calling the photographs a violation of privacy for the families of the dead.
Over time, they all become public records, Keck said, but "only after an appropriate time so it's not during a grieving moment."
Begleiter was glad to hear "that the government was still documenting these important moments."
"This is not about the story or making publicity, it's about getting these documents of war into the public space, which is where I believe they belong, and where I believe the Pentagon - because they released the photos - agrees they should be," he said.
But he still has questions about the military's use of video, the fluctuating amount of time it takes for release and the seemingly arbitrary nature of some redactions. For instance, in the recent release of two identical photographs, one had been redacted to blot out the name tags of servicemen; the other showed the tags.
"The redactions seem uneven and in cases extreme," Fuchs said.
"It's difficult to weigh these things, we realize," Keck said. "But if we didn't have the families' overwhelming support [not to release the photos], we'd reconsider. But we have their support."
Tough situation
Many former military or members of military families have expressed similar sentiments.
"It's already a tough enough situation for these families," said Tony Lee, a Camden resident who spent 24 years in the Air Force. "My son has been over in Iraq twice and if something like that would happen to him I would hope people would honor the privacy of our family. What purpose does this serve to have photos like that on a Web site?"
But not having them "is disrespectful to those who made the sacrifice and to the families," Begleiter said.
"On a broader scale, we'll be missing the documentation we demand in every aspect of warfare. We know how much we spend on bullets and armor, so how can we justify not seeing the respectful moment when our most valuable assets are returned to the U.S. for the last time? It's a vital part of the documentation of war."
Staff reporter Mike Billington contributed to this article. Contact Victor Greto at 324-2832 or vgreto@delawareonline.com.
FYI
Dover Air Force Base is home to the Department of Defense's only stateside mortuary. The 70,000-square-foot building, which cost $30 million to construct, now receives all military and government personnel who have been killed in Europe and Southwest Asia. The Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs has been receiving the remains of almost all of the fallen military personal from Iraq and Afghanistan.
© 2005 The News Journal, DE