President Bush was “moved” by the photos of flag-draped coffins today. Yeah, right. That means that either this is the first time he was made aware that fallen American soldiers were being brought home, or he was lying so that he would look good politically. The latter, of course, is the correct answer–just as fake and dishonest as the administration’s claim that their policy of not releasing photos of the flag-draped coffins is to protect the privacy of the families. What a pathetic lie. Look at the photos. Can you identify any soldier, any family? Of course not. In refusing to attend the funeral of one American soldier, and in trying to hide the fact that these men and women of honor are returning home having made the ultimate sacrifice for their country, Bush is doing them the greatest dishonor. And he has the unmitigated gall to try to claim it’s all for the families’ sake.

Here’s how much he honors the soldiers: though he has not attended the funeral of one American soldier, he did attend the funeral of an Australian soldier, a Sergeant Andrew Russell, last October–but the widow of the soldier, Kylie Russell, was not invited to the funeral. Can you even imagine that? Not inviting the widow??

That’s how much he is moved for the families of the fallen soldiers. Many families of the soldiers are protesting Bush and his policy of cover-up, not the people responsible for leaking the photos.

Well, the Bush administration kept up its policy of total retribution against anyone who dares to do something they don’t approve of. The woman who released the photos, Tami Silicio, who works for a military contractor, was immediately sacked. That might be seen as simply taking action against someone who broke the rules. But they didn’t stop there. They made sure that her husband was fired as well, despite the fact that he had nothing to do with it. That’s right–if you screw with the Bush administration, they don’t just go after you, they after your whole family. Ambassador Joseph Wilson can attest to that–they outed his wife as a CIA operative, if you’ll recall, because Wilson had the temerity to point out that Bush lied to the American people.

The bag men for Bush this time was the Maytag Aircraft Corporation, part of the Mercury Air Group. I could find no direct information on Maytag, but here is a page to contact Mercury (or you can call them at 1-310-827-2737–ask to talk to William Silva), and here is contact information for your Congressperson. Send them a note and let them know what you think of all this.