A member of the U.S. Air Force carry team stands near a flag-draped transfer case holding the remains of Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Meyers of Hopewell, Va. during an arrival ceremony at Dover Air Force Base. (Photo by Mark Wilson/Getty Images)
by Mark Silva
The flag-draped coffin of Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers of Hopewell, Va., who was 30 and the victim of an improvised explosive device in Afghanistan, arrived late last night at Dover Air Force Base in Maryland.
It was the first time that the media had been permitted to cover such an event since the Obama administration overturned an 18-year ban on news coverage of America's returning war dead. It happened near midnight.
Family members allowed Air Force officials to open the base, the point of return for American soldiers killed abroad - the condition on which the Department of Defense is permitting coverage under a new policy.
Myers, a member of the 48th Civil Engineer Squadron, had been awarded a Bronze Star for bravery three weeks ago, according to the Department of Defense. He died on Saturday from wounds suffered near Helmand province.
The new Pentagon policy permits families to allow media coverage of the return to the military mortuary at Dover. The ban on news coverage was put in place by former President George H.W. Bush in 1991, during the Persian Gulf War.
As of Sunday, 601 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. Of those, 444 were killed by hostile action.
The Defense Department says another 67 members of the military have died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom outside the region - three as a result of hostile action. The military lists these other locations as the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, Cuba; Djibouti; Eritrea; Ethiopia; Jordan; Kenya; Kyrgyzstan; Philippines; Seychelles; Sudan; Tajikistan; Turkey; and Yemen. There were also four CIA officer deaths and one military civilian death.
And, as of Sunday, at least 4,266 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since the U.S.-led invasion in March 2003, at least 3,425 as a result of hostile action, according to the military.
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Comments
Mark, we all know that our fallen heroes, who have given us the greatest measure of honor that a individual can bestow for our country, are treated with the upmost respect and dignity. This whole premise that it is necessary for the MSM to "cover" and "photo" such "news" is a disgraceful sham that serves one purpose: to exploit their death and their families grief for a media-driven, anti-war political agenda. Frankly it is disgraceful and most Americans find it as such.
Posted by: bubba Porter | April 6, 2009 8:23 AM
Ahhhh...that drive by media. Bush and the republicans knew that the cost, in lives and dollars needed to be kept from Americans. They know that Americans must be treated as mushrooms. keeping us in the dark and feeding us BS.
Posted by: bill r. | April 6, 2009 9:19 AM
http://icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx
.
http://icasualties.org/oef/
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A bit off subject, the Spainards are trying to conduct certain BUsh adminstration officials for war crimes, do you think they will do the same to Obama administration officials for their killing of civilians in Pakistan?
.
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/south-asia/five-civilians-killed-in-us-drone-attacks-report_100148714.html
Posted by: Terry | April 6, 2009 11:05 AM
Posted by: bubba Porter | April 6, 2009 8:23 AM
yes Bubba, we all know that you war supporters want the honored dead hidden and forgotten. We all know that you don't want to be reminded of the very real price your war costs.
The facts don't have an agenda. Those who want to hide the facts and minimize the costs of this war do.
Posted by: Lou | April 6, 2009 11:07 AM
It is necessary and honorable for our fallen heroes to be received publicly and honorably and that means, that no government, has the right, not to allow a nation to mourn its fallen !! What does that government have to fear, not to allow its citizens to see what its policies wrought !!? War-mongering or anti war agendas be damned, we do not need the government managing our news !! Next thing you know it, that government will be spying on its citizens !!? it can't happen here, though, we have our constitution !! Yeah, right and Republicans belong in our government, in spite of the nonsense and malfeasance they condoned, while they commanded our nation's watch !! Get real and get some sense !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, America | April 6, 2009 11:24 AM
of course Bush and the corrupt republican party didn't want us to see the bodies come home, that would distort the image of the patriotic war money making machine the republicans and their crooked overpaid contractors all thrive on.
Posted by: Democrats 4 Ever | April 6, 2009 11:52 AM
Don Fitzgerald, this soldier died under Obama's watch..........
Posted by: UnfrozenCavegirlBlogger | April 6, 2009 11:53 AM
I am counting on you good folks like Lou and Don to maintain the vigilance so far kept in providing the very real price all wars cost us.
Please don't admit to war mongering as you give us the daily - weekly tallies of the US dead. Only provide the numbers of the dead as a result of the Obama Wars.
Yeah Don - bring 'em home NOW? are you sure you want to refute the great ones misguided and delusional intent to have thousands of more Americans die on foreign soil? the hypocricy of it all is boundless and the Obama idol worshipers are the worst kind of hypocrites.
Posted by: springfield | April 6, 2009 12:28 PM
the hypocricy of it all is boundless and the Obama idol worshipers are the worst kind of hypocrites.
Posted by: springfield | April 6, 2009 12:28 PM
Funny....What I find hypocritical is the right that said we "had" to be in Iraq to fight terrorists (that weren't there originally). Now the people who actually attacked us on 9/11 has a friend in the republican party. I find their calls of the "Obama wars" refreshing knowing how terribly inept the Bush wars were. I remember someone with a bullhorn at the site of the towers saying "and these people who did this will hear from us". That would be the same people "still" in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Maybe the man with the bullhorn or his supporters could tell me why they still are free? Can you guys chew gum and walk at the same time?
Posted by: bill r. | April 6, 2009 1:37 PM
Now the people who actually attacked us on 9/11 has a friend in the republican party.
HUH?????????
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WlqW6UCeaY
Posted by: UnfrozenCavegirlBlogger | April 6, 2009 2:01 PM
Posted by: UnfrozenCavegirlBlogger | April 6, 2009 2:01 PM
Oh My God....Obama didn't "Bow" to the Saudi King did he? Why that does it.....He has lost all of my support. The past greeting of thumbing ones nose at leaders was the most appropriate greeting. How dare anyone show respect for "ona dem towel heads". Thank you for that incrediblr investigative research. Was that you that did that? or Rush?
Posted by: bill r. | April 6, 2009 2:29 PM
New Saudi King Abdullah has effectively banned citizens from kissing his hand or that of any member of the royal family, saying only fathers and mothers deserved such reverence.
“Brothers, there is something on my mind I want to tell you,” King Abdullah told delegations of princes, officials and ordinary citizens at his palace in the Red Sea city of Jeddah.
“Kissing hands is something alien to our values and ethics, and is refused by free and honest souls,” he said, quoted by the official SPA news agency.
“Moreover, it leads to bowing, which violates God’s law as the faithful bows only to the one and only God.
Posted by: UnfrozenCavegirlBlogger | April 6, 2009 2:59 PM
Hey, Sprangfield, I think you sprang a spring !! You can try to tell that lie, a million times and it still will not be true. The Iraq slaughter and Occupation is Bush's baby, with a slight assist from Chumly, his non-co-executive !! What a Party of Phonies and Phrauds, those Republicans are and with all that money, they helped themselves to, in doubling our debt, in historical terms, during the Incompetent Duo's reign of error !! We thank reasonable voters, Democrats, Republican and Independents for the removal of that Party of Phrauds and Phonies !! Thanks, America, we needed that !!
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS, BRING THEM HOME, ALIVE AND WHOLE. NOW.
Posted by: Don Fitzgerald, America | April 6, 2009 3:06 PM
“Moreover, it leads to bowing, which violates God’s law as the faithful bows only to the one and only God.
Posted by: UnfrozenCavegirlBlogger | April 6, 2009 2:59 PM
Gosh..Those ungodly Japanese will hate this.
Posted by: bill r. | April 6, 2009 3:51 PM
Sorry there big Don but it's no LIE that the Afghanistan - Pakistan and coming to a theater near you soon - the Iran and N. Korea wars are now and forever will be Barry's Wars.
Don & the gang of Idol Worshipers can cry all they want and try to put these blood baths on someone else but they know it is the Obama administration that will be sending innocent Americans to fight and die on foreign soil. Not to mention the Billions of US dollars tossed into the sand and dirt.
I said nothing about Iraq but the fools who refuse to see the light simply have no idea that there are other countries under American attack and those countries will be blaming Obama not Bush.
Get with the here and now you bunch of Idol Worshipers! until you do, there will only be the past for you delusional war mongering Obamabots.
Bush - gone! Obama - here! Afghanistan under Obama = 21,000 more US troops to fight and die for ????
Posted by: springfield | April 6, 2009 3:58 PM
Posted by: bubba Porter | April 6, 2009 8:23 AM
The new rules allow for the family members to decide if they want coverage. I don't see a problem with that.
Posted by: springfield | April 6, 2009 3:58 PM
If Bush had sent everything we've got where AlQaeda was in the first place, Afghanistan/Pakistan, AlQaeda would have been destroyed. But since Bush and Cheney took it up the a** from Musharaf and Karazai, they chose to send limited troops there just to make a show. And then, opened up the flood gates with their debacle in Iraq. Allowing AlQaeda to escape and find even more recruiting grounds.
Posted by: syj | April 6, 2009 4:45 PM
Gosh Bill, you're as uncultured as Obama.
Posted by: UnfrozenCavegirlBlogger | April 6, 2009 8:20 PM
The Canadian military has allowed the families to decide if the media can attend 'repats' since Canada entered the Afghanistan campaign in 2002 (116 Canadians have been killed in Afghanistan since 2002). This is not about media or politics, this is about closure for the family. Some families want to grieve alone while others want to see the courage and sacrifice of their loved ones displayed to their nation. Whatever your political orientation, set it aside and support the wishes of the families and the sacrifice they give for our freedom. For it is they that must soldier on after they bury their loved ones, all they ask for is a nations support and acknowledgement of service on your behalf.
Posted by: Canadian Dude | April 6, 2009 11:29 PM
I have no problem with this
as long as they have the familiy's permission. I would hope that these families understand that they are being
exploited. For others NO WAY without permission. In
the cases without permission, families have a right of privacy
Posted by: Tom Bosse | April 7, 2009 1:48 PM
At the risk of sounding callous, where exactly did we get our "right to privacy" from? I realize these soldiers and their families deserve all our respect, but it's important we don't let our emotions get in the way of the truth.
America is guaranteed a free press. If they cover a story irresponsibly, they can be tried for defamation or libel or whatever it is they do.But banning the press from covering this is unconstitutional.
Nevertheless, for a more balanced opinion than my own, I recommend http://www.newsy.com/videos/covering_fallen_u_s_soldiers/. They present arguments for both sides of the debate while still staying fairly well-balanced.
Posted by: Daniel | April 7, 2009 7:43 PM