Howard Dean's timing?

Howard Dean announced that the remains of his deceased brother have been found in Laos. The Penatagon announced that some remains had been found, but that no identity of those remains had been confirmed.
Dean's timing sure seems to be convenient for his presidential campaign. Right when the Dubya bashers are cranking up their anti-war machine in England for Dubya's visit; Dean conveniently comes out with an UNCONFIRMED announcement that his brother's remains have been found in Southeast Asia where he disappeared in 1974 while on some kind of vague anti-war fact finding trip? How convenient! Please feel sad for my long lost brother who died while pounding the anti-war drum, and vote for me as long as I'm standing up in front of the TV cameras making this announcement that gives me more media coverage.
What was his brother doing over there in the first place? Supposedly he was 24 years old, tramping through the Laotian jungle and was caught by anti-American guerillas and executed. Sounds to me like one of those "human shields" who were going to tramp through the desert into Baghdad and stop the bombing. Stupid idea back in 1974, and a stupid idea in 2003. If you're going to be tramping around on foot traveling through a combat zone, you better be wearing an American soldier's uniform and carrying a weapon.
http://www.cnn.com/2003/US/11/18/dean.brother/index.html