It's only a few hours later and, apparently, Secretary of Defense Gates has decided to allow some press access to the returning fallen at Dover. I guess we'll see how this plays out, what the families do and how the rest of the public reacts.

Updating this again: the families will be allowed to decide whether the press is allowed to photograph the flag draped coffins: "WASHINGTON – Families of America's war dead will be allowed to decide if news organizations can photograph the homecomings of their loved ones, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday." (In the way of the internet, I already have lost the original site of the quote, though I think it is from an AP story I saw on Yahoo.com). Here is a link to a more complete story: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29410258