In a move that surprised nobody, the Obama White House reneged on its promise that there would no photos allowed at Dover Air Force Base upon the return of American troops killed in that heliocopter crash, last weekend.
Gateway Pundit reported the news:
Barack Obama went to Dover Air Force Base on Tuesday for the return of the remains of 30 American troops killed in a weekend helicopter crash in Afghanistan.
Before his visit the Obama Administration promised there would be no lasting images from his visit.
The liberal media respected the rule. The White House didn’t. They posted an image on the White House website. It was their photo of the day.The APreported:
A White House photographer was allowed to take and widely distribute a photo from the ceremony Tuesday for the return of the remains of 30 American troops killed in a weekend helicopter crash in Afghanistan despite the Pentagon’s claim that any public depiction of the scene would violate the wishes of bereaved families.
News media coverage of the ceremony had been banned by the Pentagon over the objections of several news organizations.
Pentagon officials had said that because 19 of 30 of the American families of the dead had objected to media coverage of the remains coming off a plane at Dover Air Force Base, no images could be taken. In addition, the Pentagon rejected media requests to take photos that showed officials at the ceremony but did not depict caskets.
Jeannie DeAngelis of The American Thinker tells us what she really thinks:
…upon the deaths of 21 of those Seal Team Six members, the President’s narcissistic self-absorption has usurped honoring the express wishes of men lying silent within metal tombs who asked nothing from the country they died defending except that above all, family comes first.
Ironically, in March 2009, the Obama administration chose to reverse an 18-year-old moratorium, renewed by George W. Bush, that banned photographing the caskets of US soldiers returning home from war. The newly-enacted Pentagon policy specified that, upon notification of a loved one’s death, the “primary next of kin” has the right to make the “family decision regarding media access to dignified transfers at Dover.”
By toting along a photojournalist to an event that banned photographs, Barack Obama, the man who approved the “primary next of kin” policy, decided once again to exempt himself from a rule he made for others. The President chose to disregard the wishes of 19 military families and violated a stipulation that was included with his authorization.
When asked about the picture, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said that it was “carefully taken so that it did not show the cases containing remains.” Which really means: We knew the families were against media coverage but the President made an executive decision to secretly attempt a tactful photo op.
Carney should have stopped there, but he kept on explaining – “In this case, the White House released the photo, in the interests of transparency, so that the American people could have as much insight as possible into this historic and sobering event.” The President is so wary that he didn’t even invite the press to his transparency award ceremony. The most opaque, non-transparent presidency in the history of the nation decided to be transparent on the one occasion when total discretion was of the essence.
If President Barack Obama wants to be transparent, maybe instead of invading the homecoming of dead war heroes with a hidden camera he could start with a more benign effort like releasing his college transcripts and following his own rules.
A reminder of how the Bush administration respected the wishes of grieving families at The Washington Times: EXCLUSIVE: Bush, Cheney comforted troops privately.
During the Bush years, Libs were always “questioning the timing” of any good news that was reported – especially news about the wars. Of course, they were projecting their habit of politicizing everything, including the wars, onto us. Liberals trumpeted any bad news, even if it demoralized troops, and undermined the war effort. The media highlighted the caskets coming home, and obsessively kept Americans appraised of the body count. Anyone know how many troops have died since Obama’s been in office? Many of you don’t, do you? That’s because media lost interest in the number of troop deaths the day Obama took office, which is strange, because the death rate has increased substantially in Afghanistan since Obama took office.
As Atlas Shrugs reported, this afternoon:
Today another five heroes were killed in the war against jihad. The rate of US death under Obama’s ‘leadership’ is unprecedented. Obama’s war, “the good war,” is a killing field for our soldiers, and has been since he took control. Last week CNS reported that “analysis of U.S. military deaths in Afghanistan” shows that “64% of those deaths have happened while President Obama has been in Office. At least 1,019 of 1,588 U.S. troop deaths in Afghanistan have occurred since President Obama was inaugurated on January 20, 2009.”
Last Friday’s attack resulted in the single largest loss of life in one day since the war began in 2001.
You no longer hear the MSM dwelling on body bags coming home, do you?
During the Bush years, Hollywood churned out one awful movie after another denigrating the troops, and they all failed at the box office.
Now, that Obama is President, Hollywood is finally ready to make a pro-American war movie by a writer behind one of the Bush era anti-Iraq War films, and featuring as the hero – (you guessed it!) President Gutsy-Kick-A$$-Call, himself. Imagine that.
GreyHawk has the definitive take on this:
YEEEEEEEHAAAW!!Spike that football!!!!:
The White House is also counting on the Kathryn Bigelow and Mark Boal big-screen version of the killing of Bin Laden to counter Obama’s growing reputation as ineffectual. The Sony film by the Oscar-winning pair who made “The Hurt Locker” will no doubt reflect the president’s cool, gutsy decision against shaky odds. Just as Obamaland was hoping, the movie is scheduled to open on Oct. 12, 2012 — perfectly timed to give a home-stretch boost to a campaign that has grown tougher.
The moviemakers are getting top-level access to the most classified mission in history from an administration that has tried to throw more people in jail for leaking classified information than the Bush administration.
It was clear that the White House had outsourced the job of manning up the president’s image to Hollywood when Boal got welcomed to the upper echelons of the White House and the Pentagon and showed up recently — to the surprise of some military officers — at a C.I.A. ceremony celebrating the hero Seals.
Just like W., Obama is going for that “Mission Accomplished” glow (without the suggestive harness). At least in this president’s case, though, something has been accomplished.
That’s Maureen Dowd in the New York Times – announcing another upcoming version of the killing Osama story, sounding peeved, but still ending on a high note. As for any White House plumbing problems – maybe Team Obama has “tried to throw more people in jail for leaking classified information than the Bush administration,” – but that’s just those who leak stuff they don’t like. These days when you read something like this…
A current U.S. official and a former U.S. official said the Americans included 22 SEALs, three Air Force air controllers and a dog handler and his dog. The two spoke on condition of anonymity because military officials were still notifying the families of the dead.
…you can bet those US officials don’t have anything much to worry about.
But back to her observation that “Boal got welcomed to the upper echelons of the White House and the Pentagon and showed up recently — to the surprise of some military officers — at a C.I.A. ceremony celebrating the hero Seals.” I’m sure they were surprised, and probably wondering who the hell invited the guy who wrote that “Kill Team” story for Rolling Stone.
Boal is no stranger to failed war movies. His first co-writing credit was for In the Valley of Elah, one of a flock of shitty Iraq-themed movies audiences avoided in droves in the Fall of 2007. (Hey, [the producers] listened to a wide variety of experts – from Joe Biden to Barack Obama – who predicted the surge would fail, Iraq would get worse, etc. etc.) These movies were supposed to be welcoming the surviving members of Bush’s legions home in defeat to an angry America – how could they fail? (Don’t bet against well-led American troops, says I…)
As mentioned above, Boal also scripted the slightly less shitty (but still unwatched) Academy Award winning Hurt Locker. (“Everything wrong with Hurt Locker could have been fixed, within the budget, by a decent script.” – Greyhawk) Ostensibly “about” an EOD team, the film – like Elah – was really about how screwed up Army dudes are. (Sympathetically, of course.)
More recently Boal penned the Kill Team story for Rolling Stone. Like Locker of Elah, it’s based on truth. For as good a review as I’ve seen anywhere, (though mine would be different if I had the stomach to write one) here’s Carl Prine’s take.
So, will America line up and pay hard earned cash (with gas at 4+ bucks a gallon…) to watch a movie this guy writes about killin’ bin Laden? (Maybe – who’s in it?)
GreyHawk’s idea for the climax:
Whoever gets the script credit, I’ve already written the perfect ending for the movie (it won’t be used) – and now that I think more about it, I can envision another great cinematic moment, the climax of the film, done with fast cuts back and forth…
Joe Biden fingers his rosary – in slow motion Ben Afleck shoots Osama’s wife and tackles the two girls. Hillary chews a chunk of ham and cheese – while whoever’s playing America’s first ever female SEAL puts a round into center mass bin Laden. Obama stares impassively from his corner – Matt Damon puts the kill shot into bin Laden’s eye, his brains splatter the wall.
As an homage to the Christening scene in The Godfather (one that college film study majors will be instructed to appreciate well into the next century), Biden’s chanted Hail Marys provide a continuous soundtrack – broken only by gunshots. As the echo of the last one fades, a “counterterrorism expert” in the Situation Room says:
“Can you believe that guy was hiding out in a million dollar mansion surrounded by friends and family while his ‘troops’ did all the fighting?”
A long awkward silence follows, until Biden says “We should all go to Mass tonight,” then Hillary chokes a little on some bread.
Nice Deb 
