I saw a news piece on how the ban came into effect during Desert Storm. It showed video of a split screen broadcast, on one side was coffins being offloaded from a military transport plane and on the other side of the screen it showed President Bush joking around during a news conference. Hence, the ban. I can see two sides to the ban. One, since there can be no guarantee how the pictures would be used, to protect the solemnity of the event and preserve respect, no photos were permitted. On the other side, a cynical view as to why the Bush administration banned the photos.
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