WASHINGTON -- One of the lessons the U.S. government apparently learned from the Vietnam War is this: Don't let the American public see coffins arriving home with U.S. casualties from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Coffin images during the Vietnam era -- along with photos and video of body bags in the field and military officials talking constantly about "body counts" -- had a tremendous impact in prompting antiwar sentiment at home.

In a move by the Bush administration to suppress distressing images of war, the Defense Department issued a directive last March on the eve of the U.S. invasion of Iraq that declared:

"There will be no arrival ceremonies for, or media coverage of, deceased military personnel returning to or departing from Ramstein (Germany) airbase or Dover (Del.) base, (and) to include interim stops."

There have always been some media restrictions at Dover Air Force Base -- the site of the largest Defense Department mortuary for the remains of soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines. But the new rule expands the blackout to all military bases.

Under the Pentagon clamp down, American fatalities will be reduced to statistics and the public will see little of the human side of the war.

Some in the Pentagon still blame the news media for the loss of South Vietnam. In a never-again mood after that war, the U.S. military planners designed the blueprint for future wars to limit media access -- as we saw later in Grenada and the first Gulf War.

Lt. Col. Cynthia Colin, a Defense Department spokeswoman, says the ban on media coverage stems from a compassion for the families, "to protect their wishes and privacy during the time of greatest loss and grief."

During Desert Storm in 1991, the first Persian Gulf war, several media organizations sued the Defense Department to gain access to Dover, arguing that the First Amendment barred the restrictions that the military imposed on the media.

But a U.S. District Court judge denied their claim, saying that the media did not have the right to view the return of coffins at Dover.

That ruling was upheld in 1996 by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit which agreed that the government's policy reduced hardships on families and protects their privacy.

Individual graveside ceremonies can be covered by the press with the permission of the relatives.

It is a deeply emotional experience for a president to attend a memorial service for those who made the ultimate sacrifice for the country.

Of all the decisions a president has to make, the question of war has got to be the most wrenching. That's why it should not be left to one person. I hope Congress someday will reassert its constitutional right to declare war. That right hasn't been invoked since World War II and the congressional default gives U.S. presidents power that the founding fathers never intended them to have.

President Bush has not attended any memorials or funerals for the Iraqi war dead but he has met with some of their families. On Memorial Day, he spoke of their sacrifices.

In 1983, President Ronald Reagan attended heartbreaking services at Camp Lejeune, N.C., for the 241 service members killed in Beirut when a car bomb demolished the Marine barracks there.

He also was on hand at Mayport Naval Station in Florida in 1987 to eulogize the men killed aboard the USS Stark.

I'll never forget the child who cried out during one of the memorial services: "I want my daddy."

I can understand why the White House and the Pentagon want to shut down coffin coverage on the nightly news.

The photos would be disturbing to anyone and -- if the war goes on much longer -- politically damaging to the president. But the families of the fallen Americans should not have to grieve alone. We can only share by knowing.

(Helen Thomas can be reached at the e-mail address hthomas@hearstdc.com).