It took a lawsuit to convince the Pentagon of its obligations to the American public.

Through its rules, the tragedy of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has too often been sanitized, scrubbed clean for public consumption.

Since the first Persian Gulf War, the Pentagon has barred the release of photographs that depict American soldiers returning home in coffins. Flag- draped and somber, the photos offer a sad glimpse of the last homecoming for America’s fallen soldiers. With the beginning of fighting after Sept. 11, 2001, the military ratcheted down even further on access.

In April 2004, the military released more than 300 images of flag-draped coffins returning to the United States through Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Immediately after the release – which answered a freedom of access request – the Pentagon said it had made a mistake. No more photos would be released.

A lawsuit was filed, which argued that the military was violating the law. Earlier this month, the military agreed to release more photographs. The photographs should have been released much earlier and without a fight.

During a 2000 speech at Harvard University, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Hugh Shelton coined the “Dover Test.”

“Is the American public prepared for the sight of our most precious resource coming home in flag-draped caskets into Dover Air Force Base in Delaware?” Shelton’s warning: Don’t fight a war unless the answer is yes.

The country was never ready for the Dover Test.

Casualties have mounted and the country is split on the war in Iraq. The mother of a soldier killed in Iraq, Cindy Sheehan, has launched a Zeitgeist, giving new energy to an anti-war movement that, until now, had failed to find an enduring symbol of its message.

For the families of more than 1,800 members of the military who have died and for the men and women who have been injured, the reality of war is worse than any photo can depict. For the rest of us, it’s time we face a small piece of their despair. And that means acknowledging the last journey our war dead will ever take.

Military families have been called upon to make extraordinary sacrifices. The rest of us have an obligation to understand what that means.