NEW YORK Protesting a Pentagon policy banning media coverage of America's war dead, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq called news outlets and asked them to photograph her son's flag-draped casket arriving at Sacramento International Airport just before midnight Sunday.
"I don't care what President Bush wants," the mother, Nadia McCaffrey, told the Los Angeles Times. Patrick "did not die for nothing ...." Army Spc. Patrick McCaffrey, 34, was killed June 22, ambushed by insurgents near Balad, Iraq.
Nearly a dozen reporters, photographers and television crews showed up to watch, and capture visuals, as the coffin of Army Spc. Patrick McCaffrey, 34, was transferred to a hearse outside an airport cargo terminal.
The media coverage, though unusual, did not violate the Pentagon policy because it applies only to military facilities. The Pentagon's rules "are specifically for the airlift command, when the caskets are on the military plane," said Lt. Jonathan Shiroma, spokesman for the California National Guard. "This is a commercial jet, so it's a different jurisdiction, so to speak. We cannot stop the media from filming."
Funeral services for McCaffrey will be held Thursday in his hometown of Tracy. His mother said she planned to continue speaking out against the war. "We have to react," she said.
NBC News.
"I don't care what President Bush wants," the mother, Nadia McCaffrey, told the Los Angeles Times. Patrick "did not die for nothing ...." Army Spc. Patrick McCaffrey, 34, was killed June 22, ambushed by insurgents near Balad, Iraq.
Nearly a dozen reporters, photographers and television crews showed up to watch, and capture visuals, as the coffin of Army Spc. Patrick McCaffrey, 34, was transferred to a hearse outside an airport cargo terminal.
The media coverage, though unusual, did not violate the Pentagon policy because it applies only to military facilities. The Pentagon's rules "are specifically for the airlift command, when the caskets are on the military plane," said Lt. Jonathan Shiroma, spokesman for the California National Guard. "This is a commercial jet, so it's a different jurisdiction, so to speak. We cannot stop the media from filming."
Funeral services for McCaffrey will be held Thursday in his hometown of Tracy. His mother said she planned to continue speaking out against the war. "We have to react," she said.
NBC News.
