The meaning of Dover: Afghanistan is Obama’s war now

Here’s a picture that you never saw during the Bush Administration: The commander-in-chief at Dover Air Force base, solemnly welcoming home America’s fallen dead.

I’m certain that some folks on the right will pooh-pooh President Obama’s trip to Dover as making it “all about him.” (Though reaction at The Corner is surprisingly restrained.)

To me, this is the biggest signal that Obama understands — whatever his cherished domestic priorities — that he is a war president, like it or not. Allowing himself to be photographed with a flag-draped coffin shows that he understands that he is accountable for the results of that war: Not just to the American public, but to every family that sacrifices a son or daughter because of the president’s decision to continue to commit troops to battle. And that, in turn, signals that he won’t make his war decisions based on how well it’s polling, but with the safety of Americans — at home and abroad — in mind.

At least, that’s what I hope. It could be that the president doubles down in Afghanistan, and while I think that would be a mistake, I have renewed confidence that he understands the stakes.

A coffin returns from Afghanistan

Here it is: The first time in 18 years that a picture of a flag-draped coffin returning home from war has been allowed by the Pentagon, courtesy the New York Times.

What struck me about the photo was not the photo itself, but the context. The Times‘ short blog post told the story of Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers, the man whose body is being returned from Afghanistan in that coffin. And strikingly, it also featured another photo — from just a couple of weeks ago, with an alive-and-well Myers receiving a Bronze Star for earlier acts of bravery.

We do, of course, know that people die in war. The ability to photograph a coffin doesn’t make the death somehow worse, or more of a sacrifice on the part of Myers and his family. But today, at least, seeing this first picture, I’m forced to once again slow down and contemplate that war is not, as a famous military strategist once said, politics by other means. That trivializes war. Because war is death. It always is. It always will be.

Does that mean that war should be avoided at all cost? No, and certainly the Afghanistan war was one that the United States was righteous — initially, anyway — to pursue. But many of us, I suspect, contemplate the sacrifices made in war almost purely in the abstract, in terms of numbers. We know that 1,124 Americans have died in Afghanistan. But today we know that one of them was Phillip Myers, a ruddy-faced 30-year-old man with a high, tight haircut.

May we be worthy of his sacrifice.

Ban on casket photos to be lifted

AP:

News organizations will be allowed to photograph the homecomings of America’s war dead under a new Pentagon policy, defense and congressional officials said Thursday.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates has decided to allow photos of flag-draped caskets at Dover Air Force Base, Del., if the families of the fallen troops agree, the officials told The Associated Press.

This seems reasonable to me.

Let us see the caskets

The Obama Administration is considering lifting the ban on pictures of soldiers’ caskets returning to America from fights abroad. It seems likely that a compromise will emerge; the Pentagon will allow pictures if permission is given by families of returning soldiers. I’m guessing only a small percentage of families will give such permission, but that would be more than what’s available now.

The ban has been in place since the presidency of George H.W. Bush. I wasn’t aware of the following history until a few days ago:

It was, after all, the embarrassment of a president that first led to the photo ban. In 1989, the TV networks showed a split screen of President George H. W. Bush in jocular banter with reporters on one side while on the other, the first American casualties from Panama were returning to Dover. A veteran himself, Mr. Bush was deeply embarrassed at the juxtaposition and asked the networks to warn the White House when they intended to use split screens again. They declined. At the next opportunity, in February 1991, during the first gulf war, the Pentagon banned photos of returning coffins.

So the ban was created to avert presidential embarrassment. Understandable, perhaps, but a really lousy reason to make a rule that infringes on newsgathering.

The reason that’s been offered in recent years is that the Pentagon wants to protect the privacy of the soldiers and their families. That’s better and more understandable … but I’d argue it’s not entirely sufficient reason for the rule. These men — and they’re mostly men — have lived and died serving the public. We do owe them and their families our respect, yes, and that does include a measure of privacy. But Americans need to see a few of those coffins. Wars are waged on our behalf; we need to be clear-eyed about the costs.