Originally Posted by Eric5273

There is a good reason why reporters have been banned from taking pictures of the ceremonies when the draped caskets are unloaded from transport planes. This ban has been in place since the Persian Gulf War. Whoever took the picture I posted above was breaking the law.

People are not moved by statistics and numbers. People are indeed moved by pictures, and the Pentagon wants to make sure that nobody actually sees death, for then they may make a mental connection between death and war. Very few people make that connection otherwise.

You should read about how US troops burried thousands of dead civilians in mass graves in Panama in 1989 in an attempt to hide how many had been killed. Or how they burried thousands of Iraqi troops in Kuwait in 1991 and then used Earth Movers to smooth out the land and make sure that nobody could see what was there. It's too early to know yet what has been done in the current war, but I can only imagine. They are indeed worried about public perception and they do whatever they can to hide what is really going on.