Should pictures of bodies be published?

There was a great debate about media covering the return of flag draped caskets coming home. In the end after the ban was lifted, it was left up to the family members if the media would be allowed to cover the return or not and how much they would cover.

The same rule needs to be applied here as well. It shouldn't matter if you can see the face of the fallen or not. It should be up to the family if they want the picture shown.

This is a heartbreaking picture of a group of Marines standing by the body of one of their brothers. A tenderness we do not get to see showing that this Marine's life mattered. Maybe we need to be reminded of what they are going through, that war is real and they die, they get wounded and for far too many they cannot escape the carnage even though they leave the country. It comes back with them as they try to get back into society where things like they see are not supposed to happen. They come back to oblivious communities so out of touch with what they are going through, most of them have no idea how many died. They were not reminded of what was happening in Iraq or Afghanistan, so they forget all about them as they deal with their own problems. Maybe they need to be reminded but just as the public has a right to know, the families have a right to be private if that is what they want. We may honor the life gone for our sake but they did not belong to us. They belonged to the families who prayed for them everyday, missed them, worried about them but above all, will be the people visiting their graves instead of holding them in their arms. Let them decide.

Go here for the picture and to read more. I decided to remove the picture.

Two views of photo of a fallen Marine
October 20, 2010
The photo on Wednesday’s front page of Marines in Afghanistan waiting with the body of a fallen battalion member drew strong, and opposing, responses from readers. Cpl. Jorge Villarreal, who was based at Camp Pendleton, was killed by an improvised bomb while on patrol. In the photo, above, three fellow Marines await a helicopter that will evacuate Villarreal's body.
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Two views of photo of a fallen Marine

Afghanistan now unpopular

Is it the fact it has gone on so long or is it the lack of media attention? I really wonder. Bloggers have a hard time finding stories sometimes, but they are out there.
The absence of TV coverage however removes the ability of the casual observer to learn much at all unless there is something catastrophic requiring an interruption of the celebrity coverage holding so much more importance. It really is a shame we manage to do so much to send them to fight these battles but our interest seems to fade too soon. War is not like a TV series that ends when summer begins. It's not a fill in show for the summer viewer. It doesn't take holidays. It lasts until it's over and in too many case for those we send, it lasts as long as their life does. So why are we comfortable treating it like something unworthy of our attention?

Vietnam in Afghanistan: Now an Unpopular War

By Spencer Ackerman 8/7/09 4:23 PM
A new CNN poll has found, for what I think is the first time, a majority of Americans opposed to the war in Afghanistan. Pentagon officials and Afghanistan-watchers have thought for months that this moment was inevitable: public support for Afghanistan, those people thought, was broad mostly because of media neglect. Now, with Marines dying in Helmand Province, soldiers dying in the east, and reporters covering the war more than ever since 2002, the numbers have met their inevitable date with gravity.

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