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See Jane Style:
President on hand as cases holding war dead return from Afghanistan
By Ben Feller
Associated Press
Published on Friday, Oct 30, 2009
WASHINGTON: Hours after a personal encounter with the grim cost of war, President Barack Obama said Thursday that the sight of 18 flag-covered cases holding the remains of Americans killed this week in Afghanistan can't help but influence his thinking about sending more troops overseas.
''It was a sobering reminder of the extraordinary sacrifices that our young men and women in uniform are engaging in every single day, not only our troops but their families as well,'' Obama said from the White House, reflecting briefly on his surprise middle-of-the-night trip to Dover Air Force Base to observe the return of the fallen Americans to the United States.
Speaking softly and somewhat haltingly, Obama said losses such as these are ''something that I think about each and every day.''
Asked whether the somber experience — watching cases carrying the remains come off a giant C-17 cargo plane one by one in the darkness and meeting privately with families so fresh in their grief — will affect his overhaul of the U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, the president didn't hesitate to say that it would. But neither did he elaborate.
By many accounts, it was a difficult night. After a 40-minute helicopter ride around midnight to the Delaware base where U.S. forces killed overseas come home, Obama went immediately to a chapel to speak with relatives of the fallen. Their loved ones had died just two or three days before.
The military calls the process of removing remains from the plane a dignified transfer, not a ceremony, because there is nothing to celebrate. The cases are not labeled coffins, although they come off looking that way, enveloped in flags.
A group of dignitaries, in this case including Obama, boards the plane for prayers, then stands in a line of honor outside. The family is brought up in a van. Then six soldiers in camouflage and black berets carry each case down the ramp and into a waiting van.
An 18-year ban on coverage of Dover homecomings, dating to the 1991 Gulf War and strengthened by former President George W. Bush, was relaxed this year under Obama's watch. Now, families get to decide whether cameras can document the return. Nearly two-thirds have said yes to the media and even more to coverage by Pentagon cameras.
In this case, the return of only one of the 18 was open to the media.
WASHINGTON: Hours after a personal encounter with the grim cost of war, President Barack Obama said Thursday that the sight of 18 flag-covered cases holding the remains of Americans killed this week in Afghanistan can't help but influence his thinking about sending more troops overseas.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Mogadore, OH
Posted 04:54 AM, 10/30/2009
The Bush two incomplete wars and destroyed economy legacy lives on...
Posted 06:10 AM, 10/30/2009
To the cult following members of the U.[by force] S. military colossus, the only question is,"why don't we do something more violent to win the war?" To the otherwise sane person, the questions should be, "how quickly can we get out of this mess?" And, "how soon can CIA officials be indicted for their criminal involvement in drug trafficing?" In recent news it was revealed that the brother of Prez Hamid Karzai has been on the CIA's payroll. Afghanistan is now the leading opium producer, and prez's brother is a player.
Posted 06:15 AM, 10/30/2009
The CIA was enabling opium trade in S.E. Asia during Vietnam that led to a heroin epidemic in the states, and, during the Reagan years, enabled the Columbian cocain trade, which led to the crack cocain epidemic in U.S. cities, that has destroyed many lives. Yet they never faced scrutiny or punishment for either.
Posted 06:46 AM, 10/30/2009
During Victoria's reign, it was said that the Queen of England was the world's biggest drug dealer. Today, that title belongs to the CIA, and that entity doesn't ever want there to be a challenger.
Posted 06:48 AM, 10/30/2009
"Google" "Opium Wars." Or Wikipedia.
New Philadelphia, OH
Posted 11:02 AM, 10/31/2009
Can anyone say....."Photo Op"????????
