Bush Exploits Photo of Dead Bodies, Despite Ban


As the nation headed for war last year, President Bush "clamped down" on
the media, extending and expanding a controversial policy that banned
reporters from photographing flag-draped caskets of soldiers killed in
combat 1. The White House said the policy was enforced to "spare the
feelings of military families." 2 Yet, in the very first television
advertisement of his 2004 campaign, the president has blanketed the
nation's airwaves with an image of "firefighters carrying a flag-draped
body" from the 9/11 wreckage at Ground Zero 3.

The hypocrisy of preventing Americans from receiving a "reminder of the
toll of war" at the very same time the president exploits an image of a
dead body for his own political gain has caused an outrage among
victims' families 4. Chris Burke, whose brother Tom died in the attacks,
said, "Using my dead friends and my dead brother for political
expediency is dead wrong. It's wrong, it's bad taste and an insult to
the 3,000 people who died on Sept. 11." 5

The president's actions have also raised new credibility questions
because he previously promised not to exploit the 9/11 attacks. Speaking
of 9/11 in January 2003, President Bush told the Associated Press that
he had "no ambition whatsoever to use this as a political issue." 6

Sources:

1. "Return of U.S. war dead kept solemn, secret", USA Today, 12/30/2003.
2. "Pentagon avoids the 'Dover test'", The News Journal, 11/26/2003.
3. "Relatives of those slain on 9-11 fault Bush ads", Star-Telegram,
03/05/2004.
4. "Return of U.S. war dead kept solemn, secret", USA Today, 12/30/2003.
5. "Ads' use of 9/11 upsets families", Miami Herald, 03/05/2004.
6. "Sept. 11 and Nov. 2", The New York Times, 03/05/2004.