Canada bans photos of fallen soldiers

TORONTO — Canada's new Conservative government banned the media from showing live images of the flag-draped coffins of four Canadian soldiers when their bodies were returned Tuesday from Afghanistan, angering political opponents and some families.

The government also has stopped lowering flags to half-staff outside Parliament each time a Canadian soldier is killed, prompting Liberals to accuse Prime Minister Stephen Harper of trying to play down the human cost of the Canadian mission in Afghanistan.

Fifteen Canadians have been killed, including Cpl. Matthew Dinning, Bombardier Myles Mansell, Cpl. Randy Payne and Lt. William Turner, who were slain in a roadside bomb blast Saturday in southern Afghanistan in the deadliest attack against Canadian forces since they deployed to Afghanistan in 2002.

Canadian military officials blamed remnants of the toppled Taliban government for the bombing.

Their remains arrived Tuesday before sundown at a base in Trenton, Ontario.

The media learned Monday that they would be barred from the evening ceremony, a decision that mirrors Bush-administration policy blocking media coverage of the coffins of slain service members arriving in the United States.

Like the Pentagon, Canadian Defense Minister Gordon O'Connor cited privacy concerns as a reason for the ban.

O'Connor noted that media were allowed to cover the solemn send-off ceremony just before a Hercules transport plane left Kandahar with the bodies.

He also said the Conservatives — who toppled the Liberals from nearly 13 years in power in January — were returning to an 80-year-old tradition of honoring fallen soldiers by only lowering the flag on Parliament Hill once a year, on Nov. 11, Remembrance Day.

Harper dismissed accusations that he is using the power of his office to conceal Canada's mounting military casualties from the public spotlight.

"It is not about photo-ops and media coverage," Harper told the House of Commons, which engaged in a raucous debate. "It is about what is in the best interests of the families."

Dinning's uncle told the CBC the family thinks the government is trying to cover up the growing casualties in Afghanistan and was disturbed they were not informed of the decision to cancel what had been a public ceremony for the returning war dead.

The CBC has been broadcasting live the repatriation ceremonies for each soldier killed in Afghanistan.

Ujjal Dosanjh, a Liberal member of Parliament and his party's defense critic, called the media ban "absolutely un-Canadian."

"Dare I say President Harper is following in the footsteps of President Bush?" .