picture-63About bloody time. The country has been spared the images of the fallen warriors for too long.

The Pentagon will relax its ban on media coverage of returning U.S. war dead by allowing families to decide whether to allow photos and television footage of the flag-draped coffins of their loved ones, Defence Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday.

Gates ordered the change after reviewing a 1991 ban that prevents news organizations from recording images of war dead arriving at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where the Pentagon has its main mortuary.