US: The Pentagon has reaffirmed its ban on pictures of coffins containing dead American soldiers arriving back in the United States, after a web site made photographs of flag-draped caskets available on Thursday.
"Quite frankly, we don't want the remains of our service members who have made the ultimate sacrifice to be the subject of any kind of attention that is unwarranted or undignified," said Mr John Molino, a deputy Undersecretary of Defence.
However, the publication of the photographs of coffins in newspapers across the US yesterday has made the ban irrelevant. Last week the Air Force reluctantly released 350 pictures under the Freedom of Information Act to Mr Russ Kick, a 34-year-old First Amendment activist who put them on his website.
Separately the Seattle Times published a photograph on Sunday taken by a military contractor at Dover Air Force Base where remains are brought.
Two employees for defence contractor Maytag Aircraft were fired for providing the pictures.
Critics of the Pentagon ban say it is an attempt to down play the true cost of the war in human lives - in April over 100 US soldiers were killed in combat. When a coffin arrives at its final destination, the media is allowed to take pictures with the consent of families, the Pentagon said.
Mr Kick said he believed the public had a right to see the pictures, and that they were respectful to grieving relatives.
Mr Michael Fancher, executive editor of the Seattle Times, said the "passage back" was a logical part of the story.
The latest US military casualty is a noted American football player who gave up a $3.6 million, three-year contract with the Arizona Cardinals to enrol in the army rangers after 9/11.
Pat Tillman (27) was killed in action in Afghanistan, the Pentagon said.