kapkomet Posted April 24, 2004 Share Posted April 24, 2004 Columbia dead among photos of Iraq victims WASHINGTON (AFP) - Images of the coffins of the dead astronauts from the Columbia disaster got mixed in with some of the pictures splashed across US newspapers of military dead being returned from Iraq (news - web sites). NASA (news - web sites) made an impassioned plea for newspaper editors to double check the published pictures which have caused a controversy as the Defence Department bans media coverage of the return of war dead. An individual, Russ Kick, circumvented the ban by using freedom of information legislation to make the US Air Force hand over more than 350 pictures of coffins taken at the Dover Air Base in Delaware. Kick's website, www.thememoryhole.org, said he had requested all photos taken since February 1, 2003 concerning US soldiers. Air Force spokeswoman, Lieutenant Colonel Jennifer Cassidy, said "some of the pictures are from the space shuttle" which crashed on re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere on February 1 last year. "My guess is Mr Kick just asked for all photos from this period of time and he got a disc of 350 pictures." She could not say how many were of Columbia coffins but warned the media against using pictures from the website. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration announced earlier that "many news organisations across the country are mistakenly identifying the flag-draped caskets of the space shuttle Columbia's crew as those of war casualties from Iraq." In a statement, NASA said "editors are being asked to confirm that the images used in news reports are in fact those of American casualties and not those of the NASA astronauts who were killed February 1, 2003, in the Columbia tragedy." According to the agency, "an initial review of the images featured on www.thememoryhole.org "shows that more than 18 rows of images from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware are actually photographs of honors rendered to Columbia's seven astronauts." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
southsider2k5 Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 Nice to see the media has learned to check their facts after Blair and Kelly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kapkomet Posted April 25, 2004 Author Share Posted April 25, 2004 Nice to see the media has learned to check their facts after Blair and Kelly. Yea, exactly. They are so much of a hurry to create a story that they'll do just about anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goldmember Posted April 25, 2004 Share Posted April 25, 2004 :headshake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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