Credit to eaprez at Details for the story.

Apparently, Republicans running the war in Iraq are applying their fiscal conservatism even when it comes to the bodies of soldiers coming home from Iraq, shipping them as freight, in order to save a few dollars.

SAN DIEGO -- There's controversy over how the military is transporting the bodies of service members killed overseas, 10News reported.

A local family said fallen soldiers and Marines deserve better and that one would think our war heroes are being transported with dignity, care and respect. It said one would think upon arrival in their hometowns they are greeted with honor. But unfortunately, the family said that is just not the case.

Dead heroes are supposed to come home with their coffins draped with the American flag -- greeted by a color guard.

But in reality, many are arriving as freight on commercial airliners -- stuffed in the belly of a plane with suitcases and other cargo.

The bodies of the dead soldiers arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, as they always have. Now from there, it would make sense and be appropriate to place them on a military plane to go home. But they aren't. They are shipped as freight. And if you've ever watched how baggage handlers sometimes throw suitcases onto planes, you know how undignified that is (and one has to wonder, with the extensive baggage searches that have been authorized since 9/11, are the bodies x-rayed? Are the coffins opened and strip searched? Are they sniffed by explosives-trained dogs? How can anyone say with certainty that isn't happening in the post 9/11 environment?)

I guess once you are dead in Iraq, you are a liability to BushCo, and they get rid of you as cheaply as they can.