"Those are people who died, died..."**

Did you know the Pentagon banned the media from showing pictures of war dead way back in 1991? Yep, Bush Senior's regime did it, and Clinton's left it alone, so even I can't blame Dubya for this one.

If we're debating taste and not freedom of the press, there's a case for banning gory pictures of war dead (you know, like the ones of of Hussein's sons the Bush administration wanted to make sure we saw -- yes, they were bastards, but YUCK). However, disallowing pictures of flag-draped coffins? Explain how that's anything but an attempt to convince the denial-happy American public that no one actually dies in wars. The Pentagon claims the ban is out of respect for fallen soldiers' families, but that's hard to swallow as long as our Commander In Chief is using 9/11 images for his own personal gain.

I have to agree with the First Amendment activist who's been publishing coffin photos under the Freedom of Information Act when he says: "I would make the argument that trying to hide the photos of these people who gave everything for their country is actually dishonoring them. They went over there in all of our names and died, and then when they come back home, they're hidden behind a curtain. I think that's wrong."