She knows where the bodies are buried.

And she'd tell you, too, if the Army hadn't fired her.

According to a July 10 article by Dana Milbank in the Washington Post,

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When Gina Gray took over as the public affairs director at Arlington National Cemetery about three months ago, she discovered that cemetery officials were attempting to impose new limits on media coverage of funerals of the Iraq war dead -- even after the fallen warriors' families granted permission for the coverage. She said that the new restrictions were wrong and that Army regulations didn't call for such limitations.

Six weeks after The Washington Post reported her efforts to restore media coverage of funerals, Gray was demoted. Twelve days ago, the Army fired her.

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Why? Well, apparently she did her job too well.

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Just 10 days on the job, she was handling media coverage for the burial of a Marine colonel who had been killed in Iraq when she noticed that Thurman Higginbotham, the cemetery's deputy superintendent, had moved the media area 50 yards away from the service, obstructing the photographs and making the service inaudible.

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An April 24 article by the Washington Sketch about the incident caught the attention of Defense Secretary Robert Gates, and it was after his office began to inquire as to the incident and about any change in policy that Gray began experiencing what seems to be a classic case of abuse and harassment.

Read the full article. It's quite illuminating -- and further evidence that sometimes it doesn't help to know where the bodies are buried: the culture of corruption that has become a trademark of the George W. Bush Administration and the GOP's last eight years of influence still prevails, and any displays of competence by staff will be punished accordingly. Swiftly, decisively and with a modicum of typical bullying.

This is an Open Thread.

Hat-tip Keys for the initial pointer to this piece.