"anyway - whatever happened to freedom of the press?"

Ask Diana's family. Or Dale Earnhart's when the press wanted to show his autopsy photos. There are limits to any "right". Nothing would be gained by by showing the photos but purient interest or, in this case, pure politics. The military doesn't have to let you on their bases for this purpose if they don't want.

It's a good custom, much like the one Peter refers to in the first post here, where Presidents have [i]never[/i] attended funerals of men killed in action. Memorial services, even cemetary dedications, but not funerals. Keep the politics out of it.