[Doe Eyes]

I think it was largely one-upmanship over the "let's-show-as-many-coffins-arriving-from-Iraq-as-possible" gambit

Wouldn't including the Afghanistan war dead have allowed them to show even more war dead?

[holden]

Yes, but a higher volume isn't to the point as much as trying to out-do the coffin thing. Showing a coffin collection and claiming the administration was hiding bad news just wasn't gaining the traction they wanted, so they ratched up the shrillery (?) by pulling a thirty-five-year-old Vietnam era trick out of their posteriors, IMHO.

HF