Pentagon moves to stop war dead photos' release

DOVER, Del. -- A website published dozens of photographs of American war dead arriving at the nation's largest military mortuary, prompting the Pentagon to order an information clampdown yesterday.

The photographs were released last week to First Amendment activist Russ Kick, who had filed a Freedom of Information Act request to receive the images. Air Force officials initially denied the request but decided to release the photos after Kick appealed.

After Kick posted more than 350 photographs on his website, the Defense Department barred further release of the photographs. In an informal poll taken last night of several papers around the country, decisions were mixed about the use of the pictures of the caskets of American soldiers returning from Iraq. While a staff member for the Dallas Morning News said they planned to run the photographs on the front page, representatives of other publications, such as the Baltimore Sun and the Miami Herald, said they had not involved the photos in their early editions. The Chicago Tribune and the Washington Post also were contacted. The Post used the photos; the Tribune declined to comment.

The photos, mostly of flag-draped coffins, were taken at the Dover base, home to the mortuary. Defense Department rules prohibit media coverage of human remains arriving at Dover, and Lieutenant Colonel Gary Keck, a Pentagon spokesman, said release of the mortuary photos appears to be in conflict with that policy.

Defense officials said the purpose of the policy is to protect the privacy of the soldiers' families -- not to circumvent or violate the Freedom of Information Act or any other law.

''Quite frankly, we don't want the remains of our service members who have made the ultimate sacrifice to be the subject of any kind of attention that is unwarranted or undignified," said John Molino, a deputy undersecretary of defense.

At a rally in Dover last month, war protesters criticized President Bush for continuing the practice.

''We need to stop hiding the deaths of our young; we need to be open about their deaths," said Jane Bright of West Hills, Calif., whose 24-year-old son, Evan Ashcraft, was killed in combat in July.