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Photos of flag-draped coffins are unnecessary

I don’t need to see the coffins of returning casualties to know the human cost of our wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

In fact, it seems inconceivable that, after seven-plus years, the American people still don’t grasp the sacrifices being made on their behalf. Yet that remains a popular argument made by critics of the Defense Department policy that, until recently, barred the media from photographing fallen service members’ caskets upon their arrival at Dover Air Force Base, Del.

That policy, overturned in late February by Defense Secretary Robert Gates, was seen by those opposed to the wars as a ploy by the Bush administration to hide the number of casualties, but that is far from the truth. Anyone can easily see the human cost of these wars. For instance, the Defense Department releases the names of the fallen once their families have been informed. Additionally, several media outlets, including Marine Corps Times, maintain casualty lists and comprehensive Web pages that show photos of the dead along with other biographical information.

That should be sufficient.

It is shocking enough for a fallen service member’s family to receive the news that their loved one is lost. (I know; my cousin was killed during Operation Desert Storm.) And after the notification, it can take days — there is no guaranteed time frame — before their loved one finally comes home. It would be agonizing for a family to watch the news, see the returning coffins and wonder if one contains the remains of their son, daughter, mother or father.

Moreover, those who do not know anyone in the military, who have not been personally affected by these wars, have no right to vicariously participate in the anguish of a family who has. They do not honor the dead or the living by witnessing this final journey on their TV. Instead, they cheapen and marginalize the grief of families in shock.

A caveat written into this policy requires family consent before a news outlet may photograph their loved one’s casket. But the last thing a family in this situation needs is somebody asking them such questions. And the last thing our dead need is to become the pawn in some fight over the perceived right of the public to intrude upon the private mourning of our military families. This new policy makes a mockery of their sacrifice.