Letters to the editor

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Editor, The Times:

I was greatly saddened to read of the firing of Tami Silicio and her husband (by Maytag Aircraft) in response to The Times publishing of her photograph of the flag-draped caskets of U.S. service personnel. The decade-old policy of hiding these images from the American people strikes me as profoundly deceptive and denies the risk and sacrifice that our armed forces personnel take on while sanitizing some of the unavoidable cost of these foreign-policy decisions.

I thank you for publishing this picture as a tribute to the fallen and a reminder of the daily losses of these months after "Mission Accomplished."

Travis Hartnett, Seattle

FLAG AND COUNTRY

Contemplations on the fallen heroes of the conflict in Iraq

Thank you for your decision to publish the coffins photographed in Kuwait aboard a transport plane, a photograph that reminds us of the courage and dedication of our men and women in military service. They risk their lives every day while serving our country.

My husband was killed while serving in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam era. So I speak as someone who would be proud to have readers see in print the dignity and care given our military heroes as they come home.
Joyce Malikoff, Oklahoma City, Okla.

Thank you for printing the photos of the coffins coming home. Finally, the true toll of this war. What happened to freedom of the press in this country?

Don't let the White House censor our news. These are the (type of) photos that ended the war in Vietnam. Keep telling the truth.
Melanie Douglas, Elk Grove, Calif.

As the wife of a Marine, I support the ban on pictures like these. Thankfully, my husband has not been seriously injured while fighting in Iraq.

These pictures are kept from the public to protect women like myself and I am glad the ban exists and saddened your paper chose to publish these photos.
Jinny Burns, San Clemente, Calif.

The actual handling of military dead is very considerate but by not allowing photos or stories about this side of the war, that fact isn't brought out. We are left with the other pictures and the news showing the aftermath of battle and bombings before the cleanup as our only means to judge what is happening.

War photos have always had a huge impact since the Civil War. Civil War-era battlefield photos are among the most gruesome ever taken. The soldier killed in the Spanish Civil War has always had a place in the history of photo journalism. The North Vietnamese executed on the streets of Saigon also has a place.

If those photos belong, so does the flag-draped coffins photo. It is in much better taste than the others.
Jim Hopper, Stanwood

There is no better way to honor a fallen soldier than truth itself. Veterans of World War II were ordered never to speak about what they saw, or what they did while they served this country. They returned home and lived in the shrouds of silence.

It was 50 years after he served combat in France that my father was able to whisper the truth. It was the truth that set him free, and allowed us a depth of understanding.

Shamefully, when the veterans of the Vietnam War returned home, they were shunned — almost hidden underground. And today, as coffins are flown home from the war in Iraq, the United States government has a policy that, in effect, means "out of sight, out of mind."

Will we never get it right? Each life that is lost in the war in Iraq should be on all of our minds. We should think of the mothers and fathers who have lost their child; of the husbands and wives who have lost their spouse; and of the children who have lost their parent. We should think of the families and wonder what they are feeling.

This is the respectful way of honoring the fallen soldiers.
Susan Dey, Beverly Hills, Calif.

Your decision to publish the picture of caskets of soldiers killed in action was an outrageous, insensitive invasion of privacy of those who are suffering terribly from their loss.

Have you, in God's name, no sense of decency?

By your actions you have surpassed all the boundaries of decent, compassionate behavior and have caused unnecessary suffering to those who deserve our sympathy. As a 50-year reader of The Seattle Times, I am disappointed in the quality of your journalism.
Merle Hanley, Seattle

This photo moved me so much, I immediately printed and framed it. It's in a place of "honor," next to my crucifix on my bedroom wall.
Tina Cefaratti, Willowick, Ohio

Too bad (taking the photograph) cost the photographer her job. All my life, I've been told that our brave soldiers fought for our freedoms — which used to include freedom of the press and freedom of speech. Too bad this administration is suppressing these freedoms
David Agnew, Cape Cod, Mass.

I applaud The Times' publication of Tami Silicio's photograph of the caskets being returned from Iraq. How bizarre that the administration prohibits the American public from seeing this (type of) picture, while at the same time, images of flag-draped victims from 9-11 are displayed in George Bush's re-election campaign ads.

The courage demonstrated by the staff at The Times gives us all strength to persevere in the face of Mr. Bush's deplorable hypocrisy.
Eileen Sussex, Snohomish

I am an ex-military spouse of 16 years, whose former husband did his duty in Desert Shield/Storm, and the mother of four sons — two who are currently serving proudly with the U.S. Army Reserve — twin sons: James in Iraq and Jeremy in Cuba.

Every day, I say a prayer for all families who have gotten or fear they may get the knock at their door, and thank my maker no uniform has appeared at my own. To share with the American people such a vision of respect, care and love — assisting a soldier with his "final walk" — helps me better to understand my own sons' choices.

Thank you, Ms. Silicio — you are of good heart. Thank you, Michael Fancher (executive editor) and The Seattle Times, for your courage, concern and care.
Cathie Huston, Fort Wayne, Ind.

Finally, someone in the media has the courage to print a photo of flag-draped coffins returning home from Iraq.

This mother of a soldier son serving in Iraq thanks the managing editor of The Seattle Times, David Boardman, for standing up to the Bush administration's mandate against showing such photos. Boardman has publicly stated that "The administration cannot tell us what we can and cannot publish." I wonder when the rest of the media will find its spine?

More of our sons and daughters are losing their lives in April, the bloodiest month so far in Iraq. I find it despicable and cowardly that visual reminders of their sacrifice, and their sad return home, are declared taboo and hidden from the public eye.

What is this brand of "honor" we are bestowing upon our fallen heroes?

Mr. Boardman, you are welcome in Texas anytime!
Teri Allison, Thorndale, Texas

Thank you for having the journalistic guts to print the flag-draped coffin photo. The Department of Defense nonsense about concern for the bereaved families is nothing but a facade for censorship of the press.

Death is a consequence of war. Death in a war of dubious legitimacy is a tragic folly. Without the gutsy journalism of a free press, the consequences of war may be lost in all the jingoism and patriotic chauvinism that characterizes an administration such as we have.

It is important to remember that those coffins contain the remains of real people whose lives were spent to further this war, and no matter how any of us think of the war, we should always remember its cost.
George Hood, San Francisco, Calif.

I was appalled to read that the woman who took the picture of the caskets that appeared on the front page of The Times had been fired (by Maytag Aircraft). To fire her for this is un-American.

There is no way to sanitize war or make it look better or pretty it up. People die, often in horrible ways, on both sides, combatants and civilians. To try to make the public think otherwise is outrageous. It's just one more way this administration is trying to make us think we can make this war without sacrifice.
Judy Meredith, Redmond

Add my voice to those who have supported The Times' decision to publish the picture of a plane full of flag-draped coffins and the accompanying article. They both were respectful to the dead while forcing the viewer/reader to think about the costs associated with the decision to wage war.

I also thought publishing the picture a second time (April 22) was a great reaffirmation of your belief that publishing the picture in the first place was the correct decision.
David Anderson, Seattle

These are our sons and daughters who are dying for a conflict that is at best questionable, has little to do with the struggle against terrorism. In fact, by inflaming the entire Middle East region, it has exponentially compounded the threat of terrorism to a level we are only beginning to grasp.

How many more of our sons and daughters will come home in flag-draped coffins that we will never be allowed to see?

I hope the cost of what Tami Silicio has given us will more than offset the loss of her job.
Will Luethje, Bisbee, Ariz.

You media people are the most arrogant bunch of spoiled brats that I've seen in my many years on this Earth.

The country has survived through generations of your liberal tripe but with every decade comes a more outrageous push to put yourselves above decency in the name of "the public's right to know."

If my children had shown me the same disrespect that you have to the nation and to the families of those who gave their lives in Iraq, I'd have slapped their rebellious (backsides) and sent them to their rooms. Perhaps that's what you need!
Richard Rounds, Tiverton, R.I.

Tami Silicio's photo of flag-draped coffins is worthy of a Pulitzer Prize. Its clear emotional and intellectual immediacy places it among the best of wartime photography. It serves to honor our war dead, and to re-open active discussion of the Pentagon's long-shadowed policy of withholding such images from the public. Your paper deserves our thanks for the courage and discernment to publish it.
Hal Seligson, Langley

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