In 2009 the U.S military lifted a ban on photographing the coffins of American war dead, a policy enacted in 1991. Proponents of the policy said the ban protected the privacy and dignity of families of the dead. But others, including some of the families as well as opponents of the Iraq war, said it sanitized the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and was intended to control public anger over the conflicts. (Photo courtesy of the U.S. Department of Defense)