troops and their families. it s not that there were no pictures of the flag-draped coffins coming back from iraq. the pentagon had pictures. but they wouldn t release them. and they wouldn t let the media take their own. they walled off those ceremonies and all the visual evidence of them. and for years we did not see them. and then one day a blogger in arizona got a letter from the department of defense. that blogger was named russ kick. and he specializes in finding and preserving and publishing documents that the government wants to keep hid el paso. and he had been asking repeatedly in all different kinds of ways for photos of the solemn ceremonies. he appealed when the pentagon turned him down. and then out of the blue one day they sent him a cd with 361 photographs showing the return of fallen service members and the remains of astronauts who died on board the columbia in 2003. all coming home to dover air
coverage of military casualties coming home in flag-draped caskets. americans could see the combat. they were happy to embed reporters with the military to make sure the public saw that, but americans would not be able to see for ourselves this other part of the war, the part where we see the human cost to u.s. troops and their families. it s not that there were no pictures of the flag-draped coffins coming back from iraq. the pentagon had pictures. but they wouldn t release them. and they wouldn t let the media take their own. they walled off those ceremonies and all the visual evidence of them. and for years we did not see them. and then one day a blogger in arizona got a letter from the department of defense. that blogger was named russ kick. and he specializes in finding and preserving and publishing documents that the government wants to keep hid el paso. and he had been asking repeatedly in all different kinds of ways for photos of the solemn ceremonies.
there were pictures the government meant for you to never see when the u.s. invaded iraq at the outset of that war in 2003. president george w. bush declared that there would be no arrival ceremonies and no media coverage of military casualties caskets. americans could see the combat. they were happy to embed reporters with the military to make sure the public saw that, but americans would not be able to see for ourselves this other part of the war, the part where we see the human cost to u.s. troops and their families. it s not that there were no pictures of the flag-draped coffins coming back from iraq. the pentagon had pictures. but they wouldn t release them. and they wouldn t let the media take their own. they walled off those ceremonies
wouldn t release them. you said they are ageing old guys. they are now. even leon penetta, now he says listen what we ve done, especially dealing with another government for a year? they are not holding them for a year. they are free to travel and free to go to afghanistan in a year. we ll have 10,000 troops in afghanistan. the united states government is not doing any tracking let me ask you an important question. if these five guys go back into the field of battle and kill americans, are you still going to say this was a good deal? they are the worst of the worst, steven is right. no, that would be the worst-case scenario the they came back that s the likely scenario. that s the likely scenario. it is not the likely scena o scenario. the likely scenario is we killed
wouldn t release them. you said they are ageing old guys. they are now. even leon penetta, now he says listen what we ve done, especially dealing with another government for a year? they are not holding them for a year. they are free to travel and free to go to afghanistan in a year. we ll have 10,000 troops in afghanistan. the united states government is not doing any tracking let me ask you an important question. if these five guys go back into the field of battle and kill americans, are you still going to say this was a good deal? they are the worst of the worst, steven is right. no, that would be the worst-case scenario the they came back that s the likely scenario. that s the likely scenario. it is not the likely scena o scenario. the likely scenario is we killed