The US Congress has passed two supplemental appropriations totaling $160 billion since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003. The cost of the recent decision to keep 20,000 US soldiers in Iraq for an extra three months will be an additional $700 million. Estimates are that it will cost another $50 billion to $75 billion to sustain operations in Iraq for this year. But the White House and the Pentagon are avoiding the subject...CNN reports: "The Bush administration has failed to provide a realistic assessment of how much the war in Iraq will cost taxpayers, lawmakers charged Wednesday. That charge, leveled by Democrats and Republicans, came as Pentagon officials spent a second day on Capitol Hill talking about the situation in Iraq."
But, hey, as the incredible shrinking _resident was fond of observing during the debate about his disasterous tax cuts: "It's your money!"
Of course, the financial cost of this foolish military adventure is not the only truth that they want to keep from you. As the LNS reported months ago, the Pentagon bans photographs of the flag-drapped coffins of the 700+ US soldiers that have been shipped home from Iraq, and even more cravenly, the capitulating, complicit "US mainstream news media" has allowed the ban to go unchallenged. The cable TV news networks, the major city newspapers and the wire services should be suing the US government..BUT Tami Silicio, a Kuwait-based cargo worker, defied the ban. She took such photos. The Seattle Times defied the ban too. It published her photos. Silicio was fired...Her name will be scrawled on the John O'Neill Wall of Heroes...Her photos have a life of their own now -- not in the "US mainstream news media" unfortunately, and disgracefully, but in the Internet-based Information Rebellion...
Hal Bernton, Seattle Times: A military contractor has fired Tami Silicio, a Kuwait-based cargo worker whose photograph of flag-draped coffins of fallen U.S. soldiers was published in Sunday's edition of The Seattle Times...Her photograph, taken earlier this month, shows more than 20 flag-draped coffins in a cargo plane about to depart from Kuwait. Since 1991, the Pentagon has banned the media from taking pictures of caskets being returned to the United States. That policy has been a lightning rod for debate, and Silicio's photograph was quickly posted on numerous Internet sites and became the subject of many Web conversations. Times Executive Editor Michael R. Fancher yesterday appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" news show with U.S. Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., who supported the Pentagon policy prohibiting such pictures.
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http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2001909527_coffin22m.html
Woman loses her job over coffins photo
By Hal Bernton
Seattle Times staff reporter
TAMI SILICIO
Flag-draped coffins are shown inside a cargo plane April 7 at Kuwait International Airport, in a photograph published Sunday. The photographer said she hoped the image would help families understand the care with which fallen soldiers are returned home.
A military contractor has fired Tami Silicio, a Kuwait-based cargo worker whose photograph of flag-draped coffins of fallen U.S. soldiers was published in Sunday's edition of The Seattle Times.
Silicio was let go yesterday for violating U.S. government and company regulations, said William Silva, president of Maytag Aircraft, the contractor that employed Silicio at Kuwait International Airport.
"I feel like I was hit in the chest with a steel bar and got my wind knocked out. I have to admit I liked my job, and I liked what I did," Silicio said.
Her photograph, taken earlier this month, shows more than 20 flag-draped coffins in a cargo plane about to depart from Kuwait. Since 1991, the Pentagon has banned the media from taking pictures of caskets being returned to the United States.
Tami Silicio's photo fueled a debate over a U.S. policy on casket images.
That policy has been a lightning rod for debate, and Silicio's photograph was quickly posted on numerous Internet sites and became the subject of many Web conversations. Times Executive Editor Michael R. Fancher yesterday appeared on ABC's "Good Morning America" news show with U.S. Rep. Mike Castle, R-Del., who supported the Pentagon policy prohibiting such pictures.
As a result of the broader coverage, The Times received numerous e-mail and phone calls from across the country — most of which supported the newspaper's decision.
Pentagon officials yesterday said the government's policy defers to the sensitivities of bereaved families. "We've made sure that all of the installations who are involved with the transfer of remains were aware that we do not allow any media coverage of any of the stops until (the casket) reaches its final destination," said Cynthia Colin, a Pentagon spokeswoman.
Maytag also fired David Landry, a co-worker who recently wed Silicio.
Silicio said she never sought to put herself in the public spotlight. Instead, she said, she hoped the publication of the photo would help families of fallen soldiers understand the care and devotion that civilians and military crews dedicate to the task of returning the soldiers home.
"It wasn't my intent to lose my job or become famous or anything," Silicio said.
The Times received Silicio's photograph from a stateside friend, Amy Katz, who had previously worked with Silicio for a different contractor in Kosovo. Silicio then gave The Times permission to publish it, without compensation. It was paired with an article about her work in Kuwait.
Silicio, 50, is from Edmonds and previously worked as an events decorator in the Seattle area and as a truck driver in Kosovo. Before the war started, she went to work for Maytag, which contracts with the Air Mobility Command to provide air-terminal and ground-handling services in Kuwait.
In Kuwait, Silicio pulled 12-hour night shifts alongside military workers to help in the huge effort to resupply U.S. troops. These workers also helped transport the remains of soldiers back to the United States.
Her job put her in contact with soldiers who sometimes accompanied the coffins to the airport. Having lost one of her own sons to a brain tumor, Silicio said, she tried to offer support to those grieving over a lost comrade.
"It kind of helps me to know what these mothers are going through, and I try to watch over their children as they head home," she said in an earlier interview.
Since Sunday, Silicio has hunkered down in Kuwait as her employer and the military decided her fate.
Maytag's Silva said the decision to terminate Silicio's and Landry's employment was made by the company. But he said the U.S. military had identified "very specific concerns" about their actions. Silva declined to detail those concerns.
"They were good workers, and we were sorry to lose them," Silva said. "They did a good job out in Kuwait and it was an important job that they did."
Landry, in an e-mail to The Times, said he was proud of his wife, and that they would soon return home to the States.