Editing Media coverage of the Iraq War (section)

==Coverage of US casualties==
Media coverage of US military casualties has been met by Bush administration efforts to downplay reports about soldiers' deaths throughout the invasion. Unlike the Vietnam War, when the media regularly published photographs of flag-draped coffins of American military personnel killed in action, the Bush administration prohibited the release of such photographs during the Iraq invasion. This ban mirrors a similar ban put in place during the [[Gulf War]],<ref>{{cite news| url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pentagon-families-want-photo-ban/ | work=[[CBS News]] | title=Pentagon: Families Want Photo Ban | date=April 23, 2004 |agency=[[Associated Press]]}}</ref> though it appears to have been enforced less tightly during previous military operations.

According to [[United States Senator|Senator]] [[Patrick Leahy]], the administration also scheduled the return of wounded soldiers to [[Dover Air Force Base]] for after midnight so that the press would not see them.<ref>{{cite news|last=Buncombe |first=Andrew |url=http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article78272.ece |title=The hidden cost of Bush's war |work=[[The Independent]] |date=November 14, 2003 |access-date=April 15, 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930165559/http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article78272.ece |archive-date=September 30, 2007}}</ref> This practice was documented by both the [[Drudge Report]] and [[Salon.com]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.salon.com/2005/03/08/night_flights/|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120707104147/http://www.salon.com/2005/03/08/night_flights/|url-status=dead|archive-date=July 7, 2012|title=Iraq war|date=March 8, 2005|via=[[Archive Today]] |website=[[Salon (website)|Salon]] |last=Benjamin |first=Mark}}</ref>  A number of Dover photographs were eventually released in response to a Freedom of Information request filed by blogger [[Russ Kick]].

Media coverage related to casualty milestones, such as the 1000th, 2000th, and 3000th US soldier killed, have consistently sparked controversy among supporters and defenders of the invasion. On September 7, 2004 the US recorded its 1,000th casualty of the war, when four servicemen died that day (three in one incident, one in another). Presidential candidate [[John Kerry]] called it a "tragic milestone."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/09/07/iraq.main/ |work=[[CNN]] |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050617081417/http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/meast/09/07/iraq.main/ |archive-date=June 17, 2005|title=U.S. death toll in Iraq passes 1,000|date=September 8, 2004 |last1=Flower |first1=Kevin |last2=Perry |first2=Cal |last3=Qasira |first3=Faris |last4=Rodgers |first4=Walter |last5=Vinci |first5=Alessio |author-link2=Cal Perry |author-link5=Alessio Vinci}}</ref> Defense Secretary [[Donald Rumsfeld]] argued the 1000th milestone was passed long ago in the [[War on Terrorism]], with the loss of life on September 11, 2001 being in the thousands, and going on the offensive against terrorism "has its cost."

On October 25, 2005 the [[United States Department of Defense|Department of Defense]] announced the 2,000th US death from the war as [[George Alexander (US Army soldier)|Staff Sergeant George T. Alexander Jr.]], who was killed when a roadside bomb detonated near his [[M2 Bradley]] in the city of [[Samarra]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/10/25/iraq.main/index.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20051029103055/http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/meast/10/25/iraq.main/index.html |archive-date=October 29, 2005|publisher=[[CNN]]|title=U.S. death toll in Iraq reaches 2,000|date=October 26, 2005 |first1=Saad |last1=Abedine |first2=Ingrid |last2=Formanek |first3=Nic |last3=Robertson |first4=Mohammed |last4=Tawfeeq |author-link3=Nic Robertson}}</ref> In response, Senators including [[Dick Durbin]] made statements opposing the war, and activists held six hundred [[Protests against the 2003 Iraq war|anti-war protests]] and candlelight [[vigil]]s across the United States.<ref>{{Cite news |title=Vigil notes 2000 U.S. war dead <!--- |archive URL with valid content not found in Internet Archive or archive.today url=http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/beaconnews/top/2_1_AU27_VIGIL_S1.htm ---> |work=[[The Beacon News]] |date=October 27, 2005 |last=Salles |first=Andre}}</ref>

In contrast, [[The Pentagon]] downplayed the death; Lt. Col. [[Steven Boylan]], chief spokesman for the US military in Iraq, told the Associated Press that "the 2,000 service members killed in Iraq supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom is not a milestone. It is an artificial mark on the wall set by individuals or groups with specific agendas and ulterior motives."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-10-25-military-casualties_x.htm|title=U.S. military death toll in Iraq hits 2,000|work=[[USA Today]]|agency=Associated Press|access-date=April 15, 2007 | date=October 26, 2005}}</ref>

The US death toll reached 3,000 on December 31, 2006 when [[Texas]] soldier Spc. Dustin R. Donica was killed in Baghdad, near the office of [[Saleh al-Mutlaq]], a [[Sunni]] [[Arab]] politician and leader of the [[Iraqi National Dialogue Front]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Hurst |first=Steven R. |url=https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2763716 |title=U.S. Death Toll in Iraq Surpasses 3,000 |website=[[ABC News (United States)|ABC News]] |date=January 1, 2007 |access-date=January 8, 2007 |agency=[[Associated Press]] |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070103081116/https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2763716 |archive-date=January 3, 2007}}</ref> The milestone came just one day after the [[execution of Saddam Hussein]] and just as the [[George W. Bush administration|Bush Administration]] was revising its wartime strategy.

As of May 29, 2012, according to the US Department of Defense casualty website, there were 4,409 total deaths.

===Ban lifted===

Soon after taking office in January 2009, President [[Barack Obama]] asked Defense Secretary [[Robert Gates]] to review the ban on media coverage of coffins. In February Gates announced that the ban would be lifted, and permission for coverage of individual soldiers would be at the discretion of their next of kin.<ref>{{cite news |title=Ban lifted, media witness solemn return of fallen service member |url=http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/04/06/photo.ban.lifted/ |publisher=[[CNN]] |date=April 6, 2009 |access-date=April 16, 2009 |last=Mount |first=Mike}}</ref> On 5 April the return of Phillip Myers, an Air Force Staff Sergeant killed in Afghanistan the day before, became the first return of a US serviceman's remains to receive media coverage since the instatement of the original ban in 1991.<ref>{{cite news | title=US war dead media blackout lifted  | url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7986203.stm | work=[[BBC News]] | date=April 6, 2009 | access-date=April 16, 2009}}</ref>