[<< "The Vacation President"] [Archive Index] [>>"Have a cup of strong coffee with..."]
04/22/2004 Archived Entry: "You knew it was going to happen."
You knew it was going to happen.
No way was this woman going to have her job for long.
A military contractor has fired Tami Silicio, a Kuwait-based cargo worker whose photograph of flag-draped coffins of fallen U.S. soldiers was published in Sunday's edition of The Seattle Times.Silicio was let go yesterday for violating U.S. government and company regulations, said William Silva, president of Maytag Aircraft, the contractor that employed Silicio at Kuwait International Airport.
"I feel like I was hit in the chest with a steel bar and got my wind knocked out. I have to admit I liked my job, and I liked what I did," Silicio said.
Her photograph, taken earlier this month, shows more than 20 flag-draped coffins in a cargo plane about to depart from Kuwait. Since 1991, the Pentagon has banned the media from taking pictures of caskets being returned to the United States.
Replies: 9 people speak up
A picture's worth a thousand words.
Sad thing is that I don't think the average citizen was all that shocked at the image. Too decensitized.
Posted by sean @ 04/22/2004 09:59 AM NY
Seems all the nice folks who have so far whistle blew end up fired or relocated. What maybe that Soros guy could do would be offer them jobs, or offer whistle blower cash. The bigger the whistle the more the cash. Might for some interesting lower level converts from the state craft area of Washington.
Posted by IXLNXS @ 04/22/2004 10:07 AM NY
Is there a place to send her money?
Posted by fasteddie @ 04/22/2004 10:14 AM NY
Will somebody please explain to me why/how that sleazeball Robert Novak is held up as the poster boy of journalistic ethics for refusing to name his source on the Valerie Plame outing, and yet the Seattle Times revealed Tami Silicio's name as the source of this photo--despite what they had to have KNOWN would happen to her personally and professionally--and nobody is batting an eye?
I wondered about this at the time the photo came out. If a "journalist" had snuck into the facility and snapped this picture, don't you think they would have protected his/her identity, knowing that such photos are against the rules? It would have been reflexive to say "We are satisfied as to the authenticity of this photograph but in the interest of protecting journalistic freedom are not going to release the identity of the photographer, to protect our source from retribution"?
But this was just an ol' truck drivin' broad who got us this photo, she isn't one of US, she doesn't need protection.
*Ptooey*. Much as I commend the Times for running the photo in the first place, I spit upon them for this utter lapse of ethics. And I am never buying anything made by Maytag ever again!
Posted by Xan @ 04/22/2004 11:26 AM NY
She has lost her job already according to comments elsewhere. No link yet, sorry.
Posted by Scorpio @ 04/22/2004 12:04 PM NY
Someone should snap her up. That picture stands out against the 113,034 photo-op-o-matic shots of the First Codpiece like a Turn Left Here sign.
Posted by Peanut @ 04/22/2004 12:27 PM NY
christ, if this country needs anything, it needs a big "Turn Left Here sign"....
Posted by justin @ 04/22/2004 12:54 PM NY
I heard they also fired her husband, whom she met while working over there.
Posted by sal @ 04/22/2004 03:54 PM NY
Wanna do something about it, people? It might not do a bit of good, but you can let them know how you feel about it right HERE.
It's the company that fired her. Let 'em HAVE it. Later.
Posted by Daddy-O @ 04/22/2004 04:19 PM NY
