the ban HAS been lifted

and i for one couldn't be happier. well NOT happy about how the men and women i'm talking about are coming home. i'm happy their families get to decide if we, the public gets to see pictures of their arrival at dover. war is human. it has a FACE AND LOVED ONES

Media Ban Lifted For Bodies' Return
Families Will Decide Privacy Level

By Ann Scott Tyson

Washington Post Staff Writer

Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates announced yesterday that he is lifting a 1991 government ban on news coverage of the return of the remains of fallen service members to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware and will let families decide whether to allow photographs and videos.

The ban, upheld by both Republican and Democratic administrations, has generated lawsuits as well as conflicting emotions on the part of military families.

"After receiving input from a number of sources, including all of the military services and the organizations representing military families, I have decided that the decision regarding media coverage of the dignified transfer process at Dover should be made by those most directly affected: on an individual basis by the families of the fallen," Gates told reporters at a Pentagon briefing. "We ought not presume to make that decision in their place."................