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October 30, 2009
Obama Does Photo Op At Dover Air Force Base
Raw Video:Obama Honors Return of Fallen Soldiers
17 of 18 Families of the Fallen Denied Obama His Photo-Op at Dover
Barack Obama spent Thursday morning honoring the return of fallen soldiers. Obama attended a solemn movement at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. (Oct. 29)
Obama at Dover to Honor Fallen Soldiers
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. -- President Barack Obama made a midnight dash to this air base Wednesday to honor the return of fallen Soldiers, absorbing the ultimate cost of war as the United States endures its deadliest month of the Afghanistan campaign.
On a clear fall night, Obama flew by Marine One helicopter to Dover Air Force Base to greet the flag-draped cases of 18 Americans killed in action this week.
~snipet~
Obama was taking part in a solemn process, to unfold in four movements: the transfer of the fallen 15 Soldiers and three Drug Enforcement Agency agents from the back of the C-17 to a transport vehicle to a base mortuary.
The Pentagon this year lifted its 18-year ban on media covering the return of U.S. service members killed in action if family permission is provided. With Obama in attendance, the media were to witness the transfer of one fallen Soldier: Sgt. Dale R. Griffin of Terre Haute, Ind.
The rest of the solemn morning was kept out of sight of the press on family wishes.
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Wild Thing's comment...........
Barack Obama was nearly denied the photo-op he traveled to Dover Air Force Base for early this morning as all but one of the military and civilian families of the fallen refused permission for the media to report on the return of their loved ones.
The sole family to allow media coverage was the family of Sgt. Dale R. Griffin.
According to media reports, Griffin's casket was the last to be brought off the C-17 cargo plane that carried the bodies of 15 soldiers and 3 DEA agents killed this week in Afghanistan.
That is a stark contrast to the reported 60% approval by families for media coverage since Obama lifted the ban on media coverage in April. Byron York reported a month ago that media interest has plummeted since April such that at most dignified transfers there is only an AP stringer there to take still photographs.
Obama met with the families of the fallen at a base chapel before the dignified return took place.
George Bush routinely met with families of the fallen. Many of them met in the Oval Office. Pictures were only taken at the family’s request. Bush and Cheney met privately with many families. They were very discreet as they understood it wasn’t about them.
Obama won't send more troops, won't do a surge, has rules of engagement that only aid the terrorists, cuts back on money for our military's needs all of which causing our troops to be killed, and then he then stands and salutes that they are dead. Sickening.
Seventeen out of 18 families denied him and he didn’t have the respect or grace to back off on this tasteless self-promoting photo op?
LOOK at the difference....................
EXCLUSIVE: Bush, Cheney comforted troops privately
Bush, for instance, has sent personal letters to the families of every one of the more than 4,000 troops who have died in the two wars, an enormous personal effort that consumed hours of his time and escaped public notice. The task, along with meeting family members of troops killed in action, has been so wrenching - balancing the anger, grief and pride of families coping with the loss symbolized by a flag-draped coffin - that the president often leaned on his wife, Laura, for emotional support.
“I lean on the Almighty and Laura,” Mr. Bush said in the interview. “She has been very reassuring, very calming.”
Mr. Bush also has met privately with more than 500 families of troops killed in action and with more than 950 wounded veterans, according to White House spokesman Carlton Carroll. Many of those meetings were outside the presence of the news media at the White House or at private sessions during official travel stops, officials said.
The first lady said those private visits, many of which she also attended, took a heavy emotional toll, not just on the president, but on her as well.
“It is just so unbelievably emotional to be with the families, for everybody involved. I mean for us and for them and for everyone,” she said in a telephone interview with The Times on Saturday. “I’m very aware of how emotional it is and how draining it is for the president and for me, too. Both of us. But I think we do support each other, not by saying anything so much, but just by the comfort of each other’s presence, both when we are with the families and then afterward when we are alone.”
Mr. Cheney similarly has hosted numerous events, even sneaked away from the White House or his Naval Observatory home to meet troops at hospitals or elsewhere without a hint to the news media.
For instance, Mr. Cheney flew to North Carolina late last month and met with 500 special-operations soldiers for three hours on a Saturday night at a golf resort. The event was so secretive that the local newspaper didn’t even learn about it until three days after it happened.
Mr. Cheney and his wife, Lynne, also have hosted more than a half-dozen barbecues at their Naval Observatory home for wounded troops recovering at Bethesda Naval Hospital and Walter Reed and their spouses and children.
The vice president said Mr. Bush “feels a very special obligation to those who he has to send in harm’s way on behalf of the nation, and a very special obligation to their families, especially the families of those who don’t come home again.”
“He, in his travels, spends time with the families of the fallen. If he goes down to Fort Bragg, he’ll often times pull together the families of guys who were stationed at Bragg and killed in action, and spend time with the families,” Mr. Cheney told The Times in an interview last week.
Mr. Bush did just that when he visited Fort Bragg, N.C., in 2002, rallying 2,000 special-operation soldiers stationed at the base, which would send thousands of men to the two wars, hundreds of whom would never return. “I want their families to know that we pray with them, that we honor them, and they died in a just cause, for defending freedom, and they will not have died in vain,” he told the troops, his voice choking with emotion and his eyes welling up with tears.
That same month, in St. Petersburg, Fla., the president broke down in tears as he addressed the parents and family of one of the first soldiers to die in Afghanistan. “I know your heart aches, and we ache for you. But your son and your brother died for a noble and just cause,” he said as a tear rolled down his right cheek.
He stopped his speech, overcome by emotion as the crowd stood and cheered. His chin still quivering, he smeared away tears, smiled and shrugged his shoulders. Those were public events, but mirrored the scores of private meetings where emotions also ran deep.
“I do get a little emotional because it’s - I’m genuine when I say I’ll miss being the commander in chief,” the president told The Times. “I am in awe of our military. And I hold these folks in great respect. And I also sincerely appreciate the sacrifices that their families make.”
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......Thank you SSGT Steve
SSgt Steve
1st MarDiv, H Co., 2nd Bn, 5th Marine Regiment
2/5 Marines, Motto: "Retreat, Hell"
VN 66-67
Posted by Wild Thing at October 30, 2009 02:55 AM
Comments
Of course it's a photo op. He's had so much bad PR lately, he's trying to make himself look good, but it's not working. If he truly cared what happens to our children, our spouses, our families, he would send the needed troops to Afghanistan so we can kick that pig and WIN!!
Posted by: Lynn at October 30, 2009 08:15 AM
Help me with this. Should Obama not be saluting, but have his hand on his heart??
BillyE
Posted by: Billy E at October 30, 2009 08:34 AM
I referenced this little occasion in an earlier response to The One's declaration that we can't beat the Taliban.
The reason he is doing this, may be the one most transparent thing he has done.
What he is saying here is, "see I really do care about the troops, because I made a special trip in the middle of the night to get here." What a phony this clown is.
Meanwhile all the world awaits his decision regarding him sending more troops. Yesterday I read that the latest speculation is that he will send half the number requested.
Once again, like this Photo op, he thinks that in giving a half measure, he will satisfy his critics and still not alienate his supporters. Just what you expect from a Community Organizer.
Posted by: SEAN. at October 30, 2009 11:09 AM
I SALUTE these 18 BRAVE souls, and THANK THEM for my freedom. The solemness of the duty is reflected in the faces of those tasked with transporting the bodies of our fallen. That is NOT to by trifled with by ANYONE, let alone Faubama.
Posted by: pontiff alex at October 30, 2009 11:13 AM
I feel like I am watching a fish out of water flip-flopping around in the boat. This photo op is just a little too late to the table for me. Additionally he keeps having all these "top" military meetings so as to make a decision on Af-Pac. Ummm...I think what he is doing is stalling; waiting for the group to come around to his way of thinking whatever weak-kneed that may be, which obviously is to not fight for freedom and a safe USA. He shows little respect for the opinions of the commmanders who have given up so much back here at home to fight for freedom. How dense can he be? He is so far in over his head it is ridiculous.
Posted by: jan at October 30, 2009 11:16 AM
I saw a video of a group of Service members, oh maybe 12 every other one was a different member of the Services, Army, Navy, Marine,...etc. They were facing each other and forming a corridor 6 on either side. Standing at attention at 'Present Arms'. Obama had to walk between them holding a salute. He looked like he was in pain walking down that corridor flanked by members of the Armed Forces holding a hand salute. With the exception of Clinton, this man looks out of place he can't walk without bouncing. It has to be an insult to the menbers of the Services just to be in the same room with this POS.
Posted by: Mark at October 30, 2009 12:12 PM
Photo op indeed!!! This phony POS has as much grace as Robert Mugabe, I love that word the Democrats are so wont to use, Gravitas, the Bonobos have it. Not one living MOH winner during this entire war, that says a lot about Congress and TOTUS about their respect for the fighting forces, all from the biggest little whorehouse on the hill.
I find it insulting when the pubic headed moron salutes, he hasn't earned the right to salute, military protocol requires his being saluted. Persons Entitled to a Salute A Mark states, it's an insult to be in the same room with this POS.
Pray for our lost brethren and their spirits and for those 7 lost over night off California.
Posted by: Jack at October 30, 2009 01:00 PM
He has no respect even for the dead. The only salute this pathetic excuse of a CIC deserves is the ol' one-gun salute.
Posted by: JohnE PFC U.S. Army at October 30, 2009 03:32 PM
The Marine Corps has the duty to guard the president on excursions in Marine 1, the presidential helicopter. Proper protocol is for the Marine to snap a salute to the President. The President may or may not return the salute at his discretion. If the President returns the salute, the Marine immediately "cuts" or "posts" by bringing his arm sharply down to his side from the salute and remaining at a position of attention. If the President does not return the salute, the Marine will wait until the President passes him, then he will cut and remain at a position of attention(awaiting further orders). This is the protocol when greeting a senior officer, including the President. Whether that service member is, Army, Air Force, Marine, Navy or Coast Guard the salute is initiated by the lesser ranking member, held until returned by the higher ranking member with the exception of the president. This practice of the president saluting the servicemen standing guard when he'd disembark from Air Force One or from Marine 1 started under President Reagan's presidency, it's wrong. While the president is Commander in Chief of the Military he or she is not a part of the military and has no obligation to salute a military person with the sole exception of respect to MOH winners, where the salutes are timed such as to coincide between the recipient and the president.
"The president is not the commander in chief of civilians. He is not even the commander in chief of National Guard troops unless and until they are federalized."
I for one do resent the intimation that the president is my civilian commander in chief, don't even go there. This warble TOTUS pustule wouldn't make a good carbuncle on a camel's ass!!!
Posted by: Jack at October 30, 2009 08:18 PM
Thank you everyone, this was and is
so upsetting.
Posted by: Wild Thing at October 30, 2009 09:34 PM
