But what's an "Emonth"?

An in-depth follow-up by Alex Koppelman is... unlikely.

I guess the ever bipartisan Obama doesn't want to look like a war ending liberal, so show the dead to the citizens and let them put some pressure on.

what next? threats to return to Selective Service and a draft? that would get some of the brain dead thinking.

(to permanently stop wars, guess the US would have to end the historically imperialist foreign policies that get us into wars. )

I have a feeling the Bush administration's ban on photographing fallen soldiers' caskets will be viewed as a culturally significant point, which will be looked to increasingly as an important facet of the way the Bush regime is judged by history.

See: "Do Something", a short story by Kate Walbert (Best Am. Short Stories 2007). Not my favorite story in the collection, but part of the reason it had been included in the anthology, I think, was its time-capsule quality of the period in which it was written.

Will be how much of the MSM is actually willing to take such photos, given their prior status bootlicking enablers of the war.

Let's be brutally honest, we in the left wanted these photos shown to shock America and stop the war, but now that the war is winding down what really is the point. I'm not sure if this is a good idea or why we should look at dead except to feel guilty for failing so completely. As for "never happening again", I think America's bankruptcy will more than guarantee an end to American militarism.

This ban was actually implemented in 1991, during the first Gulf War. Wasn't Cheney Secretary of Defense? But, yes, W. continued the policy and seemed callously uninterested in our war dead and veterans.

This repeal of the ban is something I had faith Obama would do, but I thought it may not happen for a couple months so this is a good announcement. I think it is fine to let individual families decide what they want, and I think most family members will view photos as a way for their dead relative to earn recognition for their sacrifice.

We should not avoid disturbing reality. Our society has become so complacent about violence and bloodshed, in part I believe due to our ability to shield ourselves from these harsh images. We should all be reminded of the true cost of war so that we can be wiser in the future. It's hard to look at, but it's so necessary that everyone realize that these are real people and should not be forgotten so that we can protect our sensibilities.

I disagree that liberals were salivating for these pictures for the shock value, and should therefore commence hand-wringing posthaste. On the contrary, I think anyone who values freedom of the press (hopefully executed with respect to the soldiers' families) was perturbed by the ban on coverage of a certain type of current event.

Furthermore, the military-industrial complex is going to be THE priority in the future - it's the elephant in the room - and even more expensive than bailing out your neighbor! Google 'Dwight Eisenhower farewell address'. He foresaw this war machine we've revved to a frenzy way back then.

found it disgusting that the media photographed the soldiers' coffins. I consider them vultures...except that I hold REAL vultures in higher regard because at least they have a good reason for what they do.

I have no respect for the media and if anything happened to me, my wife and brother would make them stay away from me.

I further have even LESS respect for those on the left who empower these scumballs to do what they do!

It was body bags.

Americans should be exposed to the sober realities of wars fought overseas. The press should never have been censored in the first place.

That this war had no costs and was painless. It was long since time that we were able to view the flag-draped caskets of the men and women who, believe in the war or not, gave their lives for this country.

It was long since time that we looked on those caskets and felt a sense of some of the very personal losses this war has caused.

There are far too many people for whom never seeing the dead meant there really weren't any. There are. It's time to see them... every week in the papers and on the evening news. That, together with President Obama's insistence that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan go ON BUDGET will help all of us to realize what the Republican's attempt at infantile schoolyard bullying around the world has really cost us and how much it's going to cost us to clean up the stinking pile of an international political and economic mess they've left behind.

I've always thought it was shamefully wrong for "patriotic" warhawks (who are the Real vultures) to Hide the reality of their bullshit wars.

As it should be, no one is unilaterally letting the press take pictures of soldier's coffins. The families get to decide either way, as yours would. And if they do decide that they want his/her coffin photographed, as a memorial or as protest, are you still going to be on salon railing about the MSM as vultures? Let me go get my egg timer now.

You're brave enough to send them off to die but too cowardly to see them return. You sure you should be judging others?

"I found it disgusting that the media photographed the soldiers' coffins. I consider them vultures...except that I hold REAL vultures in higher regard because at least they have a good reason for what they do."

I'm not sure how I feel about the photographing of coffins and I'm pretty sure that I would refuse any requests from the media to shoot a picture of a relative's coffin. At the same time, I'm completely in favor of reversing the ban, which amounted to the repression of freedom of the press. I know that I'm 100% for that Constitutional right, even if it sometimes conflicts with my personal sensibilities. It was clear that the Bush administration was suppressing freedom of the press not because it felt the photos were in bad taste or due to any sensitivity regarding the feelings of relatives. The ban -- or continuation of it -- was a text-book case of censorship in order to further a political aim. With most rights and freedoms, we don't get to pick and choose how we apply them. That's the whole point.