The Pentagon is reviewing the US government policy on banning photographs of coffins returning to Dover Air Force Base and is likely to recommend some changes to that policy.  Pres. Obama will then have a decision to make.

He should reverse the ban.

Pres. Obama has made the issue of transparency a part of his campaign and a priority of his presidency.  What is more transparent than a photograph?

The policy of no (or very limited) pictures of coffins has been in place since the presidency of George H.W. Bush.  Pres. Clinton continued it. Pres. George W. Bush made it more severe after three TV networks showed pictures of returning coffins during a speech he was making.

It’s time to end that policy of banning photographs at Dover (and elsewhere). Not for political reasons. But to honor the soldiers who have died rather than hide them.  It can be done in a way that respects the families privacy and at the same time honors the sacrifices.

It seems to me we have hidden the Iraq war in the last several years. I don’t believe that simply showing the returning coffins will turn the American public against a war.  I believe the public will support a war when they feel the war is necessary. 

I suspect that Pres. Obama may have a concern that as he increases the American military presence in Afghanistan, there will be more deaths to American soldiers.  But that is no reason to keep the ban.  If the war is worth continuing, let him make the case for it and for the death of American soldiers.

In the meantime, end the ban.

Update: For more on this issue, see here.

Update: 2/27/09: Sec. of Defense Gates announced yesterday that, after a review of the policy, the Pentagon was lifting the ban on photographs at Dover Air Force Base, subject to the approval of the families. I’m not quite sure how the new policy will be implemented, but it’s nice to know that Sec. Gates apparently reads The Outer Loop.