Tami Silicio, a worker for the Maytag Aircraft Corp., became the first person to violate a 13-year-old Pentagon policy last month in Kuwait. Silicio photographed 20 caskets on a cargo plane bound for the U.S., then gave the photos to a friend, who in turn gave them to the Seattle Times. The newspaper obtained permission from Silicio to publish them without compensation.

This action violates a Pentagon policy that dates back to the first Bush Administration in 1991, prohibiting photographers access to bases through which the remains of dead soldiers will pass. The government claimed the publication of such photos would be insensitive to the grieving families.

This policy probably has less to do with sensitivity and more to do with saving face during times of war. It was not considered insensitive to publish photos of caskets during World War I, World War II, the Korean War or the Vietnam War. Now, suddenly, showing nameless, faceless caskets no longer honors the sacrifices of the soldiers but shames their likewise-anonymous families, and the photos need to be suppressed.

Interestingly, one of the key factors that turned the American public against the Vietnam War was seeing just how many soldiers were returning home in caskets. If such images were publishable now, the papers would have already shown over 750 such caskets, giving more meaning to the number.

It's impossible that just showing images of the coffins draped in flags could be insensitive. Newspapers don't have to name the soldiers in the coffins, and no photographers would be barging into the homes of the soldiers' families and snapping shots of them while they mourn their loss. The Pentagon should have to explain its weak reasoning, specifically regarding the impact such photos had during the Vietnam War.

If newspapers all over the world can publish images of naked Iraqis being mistreated in U.S. Army-administered prisons, they certainly should be able to publish images of caskets returning to the U.S.