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Woman fired over flag-draped coffin pix

NEW YORK, April 22 (UPI) -- A Washington state woman was fired from her job at a U.S. military base in Kuwait Thursday over a picture of caskets containing U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq.

The photograph of flag draped coffins was published in Sunday's edition of the Seattle Times even though the Pentagon has banned that kind of media coverage, MSNBC reported Thursday.

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The government claims such photographs are insensitive to the families of the war dead.

MSNBC said the newspaper got the photograph from Tami Silicio, a worker for Maytag Cargo in Kuwait, where the caskets were being shipped home.

Maytag fired both Silicio and her co-worker husband and issued a statement saying: "Maytag deeply regrets these actions and fully concurs with the Pentagon's policy."

Seattle Times Executive Editor Michael Fancher told MSNBC it was "such a touching photo that we felt compelled to run it."

The newspaper said public reaction to the photo has been mostly favorable.

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