US military bars media

US military bars media from Katrina corpse recovery. :

"The US military says it will ban journalists and photographers from documenting the recovery of bodies left littering New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina.

The military ban follows a request by the Federal Emergency Management Team (FEMA) not to photograph the dead."

A very wise decision indeed. The people who died have been there a week now and it is not going to be pretty and the military personal who have the job of recovering these people have my heartfelt sympathy and will need cast iron stomachs. It's out of respect to them too that no one should photograph the recovery of the dead. It made sense to rescue the survivors first because the damage and flooding was so severe it was a case of urgent recovery of the living. Locals have been far more capable of mananging the massive requirements of negotiating survival under the conditions they found themselves in because they lived through it and are tied to it. I gather the US system is so huge and there are so many parts to it that trying to organise the bureaucracy to enable action has proven to be both frustrating and cumbersome. The footage coming out of New Orleans and surrounding areas has been far more positive and people can be heard feeling the relief of finally getting some help and the restoration of some services in some places. But it is obvious anyone who has been sent down as part of a rescue team has to wait for direction and can't take initiative. That's good and bad. It means things will get done in an orderly manner but pressing problems won't be dealt with because you want them to be. Well, now the military has been mobilised to recover the dead because presumably everything is now in place to be able to deal with the difficulties this will cause both housing them, looking after them and identifying them. It's true, if we do not see how terrible this has been, we can have no understanding of how disturbing it is for everyone. But now, the families have the right to have their loved ones protected and the media doesn't need to show us...and the soldiers just have to do it as best they can because it is a BIG ask and we need to consider their right to manage this necessary but unsavoury task. They and the families will deal better with it all if they are left to do it without us and then they can tell us and show us what they wish. I'd hate my mum to be a body in the water being recovered a week later by strangers and on TV for everyone to see. Some things you keep to yourself and if people want to help, maybe they need to see if there are jobs which need to be done. It seems there is plenty to do.