WASHINGTON (AFP) — At the prompting of President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates Tuesday ordered a review of a ban on media coverage of the return of flag-draped coffins of fallen soldiers from wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"From a personal standpoint, I think, if the needs of the families can be met, and the privacy concerns can be addressed, the more honor we can accord these fallen heroes, the better," Gates told reporters.
Gates said he ordered the review after Obama said in a White House press conference Monday night that the White House was in the process of reviewing the ban "in conversations with the Department of Defense."
News photographers and cameramen were first banned from covering the return of coffins at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the site of the military's largest mortuary, in 1991 at the start of the first Gulf War.
Images of honor guards carrying flag draped coffins from the bellies of military transport planes became icons of the Vietnam War, and a graphic reminder of the mounting casualties.
Gates said he had ordered a review of the ban over a year ago.
"The answer that I got back -- and partly it was the result of contacts with the families -- is that if the news media were at Dover, many of the families would feel compelled to be there for those ceremonies for their fallen hero.
"And for these families this would delay the return of the remains home. For others it would be a financial hardship to get to Dover. And there were some privacy concerns," he said.
"I think that looking at it again makes all kinds of sense," he said.
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