By Janis Siegel, JTNews Correspondent
Capturing a photo of the American stars and stripes, mournfully draped over the coffins of soldiers returning from war-torn Iraq, was an obvious act of patriotism to many Jewish veterans living at The Summit at First Hill Retirement Home in Seattle.
The nearly 50 men and women who came to listen to Tami Silicio, the former cargo worker who lost her job and her confidence in the Bush administration after giving the picture to the Seattle Times, felt her outrage.
“That picture was passion, not politics,” said Silicio, who worked at Kuwait International Airport helping the military restock supplies to U.S. troops. While transporting the remains of U.S. soldiers, Silicio often helped military workers during the loading process. That’s when she gained access to an image that moved her deeply.
“We need to know the true cost of war,” said Silicio. “The more we know the true cost, the sooner it will end.”
Although it was only her second time speaking in a public setting, Silicio’s story of having been fired from her job at Halliburton’s Maytag Aircraft Corporation provoked debate about the necessity of war, America’s vulnerability today and government censorship.
Maytag also fired Silicio’s husband at the same time. Both have since found it difficult to find work and Silicio is still out there knocking on doors.
“If I can’t work because of what I did I would do it again,” said Silicio, “because I find more justice in honoring our fallen heroes than hiding them behind a curtain for politics.”
Fearing being shut out and blacklisted from finding future employment, she eventually appealed to her representative in the 1st District, Rep. Jay Inslee to intervene. According to a spokesperson for Rep. Inslee’s office, they contacted the Maytag Corporation requesting that Silicio and her husband receive fair treatment and an opportunity to explain their side of the story. Maytag assured Inslee’s office that they would not be unfairly treated and would consider the pair’s comments if they decided to revisit their decision, he said.
Since 1991, the Pentagon has allowed the private use of photos from military sites but has imposed a ban on releasing any pictures of returning caskets of fallen soldiers to the media.
“Whether you agree with her or not, I think Tami is changing history,” said Charlene Kahn, director of activities at The Summit. “She’s making the news by her action and she’ll be remembered in that way, maybe as a patriot – maybe not.”
Many residents and staff who attended the presentation on the main-floor library remained to meet Silicio and give her their personal support.
Amy Katz, another former Halliburton employee who worked with Silicio in Kosovo during the summer of 1999, actually took the initiative to alert the the Seattle Times to the picture.
The Skokie, Ill. native, who is Jewish, now lives in Eagle River, Alaska. She had just returned home from teaching at sea in the Caribbean in April to find out that the mission in Iraq was not over and that activity in the region had, in fact, escalated. That’s when she saw the photo.
“On April 7th, when I opened an email from an old friend and saw a photograph of rows and rows and rows of coffins covered in red, white and blue flags and my heart nearly stopped,” wrote Katz in an e-mail to JTNews from Alaska. “One pervasive thought filled my head: ‘Other people need to see this. They need to see through the eyes of someone like Tami.’”
Katz says she wasn’t really thinking of a strategy. She simply felt fear and frustration and it was her impulse to take action. So she called Times.
“The receptionist at the Seattle Times answered the phone and in a shaky voice, I said, ‘There is a photo here I think someone should see.’ Ten minutes later it was on the computer screen of Barry Fitzsimmons, a photo editor of the Seattle Times. He agreed. “
While Silicio was unsure at first, she eventually gave the local daily permission to print it once she realized its potential impact.
“We sent about 40 e-mails back and forth,” said Silicio. “But then I realized that not being allowed, as an American citizen, to honor our fallen and wounded heroes when they come home, which helps support their loved ones in their grief, is wrong. “
According to Silicio, the military had operated a shared hard drive on their network of computers that held between 500 and 600 pictures taken by military personnel from the flight line, where Silicio took her pictures.
Anyone working on or around the airport could download their own photos into the collection, create a CD or e-mail any of the hundreds of other photos that were stored on the drive to anyone in the world, she said.
“That drive disappeared the next day,” said Silicio. ” Everything was on that drive: when Colin Powell was there, Air Force One, when Hillary Clinton was there, and when different stars were coming through.”
Katz understands why some people argue that the images of war dead should not be seen because it upsets or offends some people. But, she says, she ultimately feels anger toward Maytag, their former employer, the Department of Defense and the Bush Administration.
“I can’t help thinking about what would have happened if digital cameras had existed in the Nazi concentration camps,” said Silicio’s friend Katz. “Perhaps the denial, among the Jews and among the Americans, wouldn’t have been so great, or lasted so long. Perhaps one photograph of 22 war-dead could have saved 2 million other human beings from extinction. I pray this is true of Tami’s photograph.”