There’s been a lot of talk about how allowing the flag draped caskets coming back from Iraq to be shown on TV or pictured in the print media would violate the privacy of the soldiers who sacrificed their lives, and would compound their families’ grief.

The standard rejoinder to that has been: but the caskets are anonymous, so no one’s identity would be revealed, no one’s privacy would be violated.

From there the debate descends to: but each grieving family would have some idea when their loved one’s casket is expected back, and so when they see photos or video of the returning caskets they would naturally think “That could be my daughter or son or husband or wife”, and they would burst into tears.

I never actually thought about this till today. But when I did, here’s what I came up with. I would love to see a survey where (after a decent interval) the families of those who have laid down their lives in Iraq are asked: “What would you have preferred, given a choice? That your loved one’s casket was sneaked back into the country in the dead of night, invisible and anonymous? Or that it was brought back openly, your loved one identified on TV and in the newspapers, and their sacrifice recognized and honored?”

And it doesn’t have to be framed like that. It can be framed to make both alternatives sound as bland and non-judgmental as possible. Let me tell you, I have no doubt whatsoever which alternative would win hands down. And let me also tell you, I don’t think anyone in the Bush-Rumsfeld-Pace military has any bloody doubt about it either.

Because if they do, if they really think that identifying our war dead, and recognizing their sacrifice, invades their privacy and is traumatic to their families, then why do we violate the memory of our bravest soldiers and torture their families with the full publicity glare of an Arlington burial?

Just another example of how the Divider-in-Chief mocks his own campaign promise. A uniter would be able to raise his head and see beyond the narrow political advantage to himself from not letting the caskets be seen in the media, and the political advantage to opponents of the War on Iraq from letting them be seen. He would be able to focus on what is right and proper, what actually honors the memory of those he claims to be chiefly concerned for.