Images of War, Killed in Action
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Those live pictures -- these live pictures that we've been showing of the USS Nimitz, they are the kind of images the Pentagon would, of course, love the American public to see, all of them. All of us love seeing these pictures as well. But for more than a decade now, Defense Department officials have prohibited pictures of a very different and very grim reality of military service.</s>BLITZER (voice-over): In March and April, when major combat was under way in Iraq, people around the world had extraordinary access to the fighting -- thanks to the journalists embedded with U.S. and coalition forces.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Iraqi forces continue to engage the U.S. military.</s>BLITZER: This was in marked contrast to the first Gulf War in 1991, when reporters were barred from going to the front lines. But what hasn't changed over the past dozen years is the Pentagon's adamant refusal to permit camera crews to record the return of those troops killed in action. That's why you're not seeing the nearly daily arrival of coffins in the United States. Critics say the Pentagon fears the pictures would demoralize the American public and weaken support for the war.</s>MICHAEL HIRSH, "NEWSWEEK": The Pentagon is basically suppressing images, I think fearful of the negative impact, again the drumbeat, of returning bodies.</s>BLITZER: Just before the first Gulf War, then Defense Secretary Dick Cheney and then Joint Chiefs Chairman Colin Powell issued an order prohibiting any news media coverage of the coffins returning to the Dover, Delaware Air Force Base. Since 1955, that base has been the U.S. military's largest mortuary, first stop of the caskets coming home. The images were seeing. Who can forget the return of the 241 bodies killed in the 1983 terrorist bombing of the Marine barracks in Beirut? But those pictures went away, except on those rare occasions when the White House wanted the American public to see the coffins. That was the case in 1996, following the plane crash that killed then Commerce Secretary Ron Brown and 34 others in Croatia. In November, 2000, at the tail end of the Clinton administration, the Pentagon expanded that Dover ban to include all U.S. military bases. That ban has remained in effect since then. What the Pentagon does allow is media coverage of individual graveside services. Victoria Clarke was, until recently, the Pentagon spokeswoman. She disagrees with the ban.</s>VICTORIA CLARKE, FORMER PENTAGON SPOKESWOMAN: I happen to believe that people should be allowed cover those events. I think if you're going to sign pieces of paper, saying young people are going to put their lives at risk and young people are going to die for important causes, then we should be willing to let people see what happens and the kinds of terrible things that can happen in conflict. And I think that is being very straight with the American people.</s>BLITZER: But the ban remains in effect.