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US President Barack Obama participates in the dignified transfer of US Army Sgt. Dale R. Griffin at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware - Source: Reuters -
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US President Barack Obama saw first hand the human cost of the
Afghanistan war as he saluted the flag-draped caskets of 18
soldiers and Drug Enforcement Administration agents killed in
Afghanistan this week.
After a midnight flight in his Marine One presidential helicopter,
Obama landed in Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, home of the
largest US military mortuary and main point of entry for service
members killed abroad.
The previously unannounced visit came as Obama weighs whether to
send more troops to Afghanistan to fight an insurgency that has
reached its fiercest level in eight years.
Minutes before Obama's arrival, an Air Force C-17 transport
aircraft landed in the base, carrying the bodies of eight Army
soldiers killed by a roadside bomb and seven soldiers and three DEA
agents killed in a helicopter crash.
A military chaplain accompanied Obama and other officials onboard
and said a prayer over each casket before it was transferred out of
the aircraft, military officials said.
Most of the event was closed to media and journalists were only
allowed to see the transfer of the last casket.
In cold and blustery weather, Obama marched briskly in step with
four officers to the aircraft. Attorney General Eric Holder, DEA
Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart and two other officials
walked behind in a second rank.
They marched up the ramp, out of sight of the media. After a few
moments they walked back down the ramp and stood in a line under
the tail of the C-17.
Obama stood at attention and saluted as six soldiers carried the
casket, bearing the body of Sergeant Dale Griffin of Indiana, off
the plane and loaded it onto a waiting van.
Earlier, Obama met with families of the killed soldiers and agents
in a chapel on the base, the officials said.
It was Obama's first visit to the base as president and he was due
to fly back to Washington before dawn.
Deadliest month
With at least 53 killed, October has been the deadliest month for
US forces in the unpopular eight-year war Obama inherited from his
predecessor, George Bush.
Polls show Americans increasingly weary of the war, which analysts
say will likely help define Obama's presidency.
There is scepticism, including among his fellow Democrats who
control the US Congress, over sending more troops.
Obama has held a series of meetings with his war cabinet to review
the new Afghan strategy he put in place in March and to consider a
request by his top military commander in the field, General Stanley
McChrystal, for 40,000 more troops to combat a resurgent
Taliban.
He is set to meet again on Friday with Admiral Mike Mullen, the
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the heads of the
military services, the White House said.
Obama's spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said on Tuesday the
decision-making process was probably getting to the end and a final
decision could be expected in the coming weeks.
Media ban relaxed
Critics, particularly among opposition Republicans, accuse Obama of
being overly cautious and indecisive, but the White House has said
a decision of such magnitude requires careful consideration.
The process has been complicated by an Afghan presidential election
in August marred by widespread fraud in favor of incumbent
president Hamid Karzai. A second round is due to be held on
November 7.
Underlining the fragility of the security situation even in the
capital, Kabul, Taliban militants stormed a guest-house in Kabul on
Wednesday and killed five UN foreign staff.
About two-thirds of the 100,000 NATO-led forces are US troops.
More than 900 US soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since
the US-led invasion in 2001.
Earlier this year, the Pentagon relaxed its ban on media coverage
of returning US war dead by allowing families to decide whether to
allow photos and television footage of the flag-draped coffins of
their loved ones.
The ban had been imposed since the days of the 1991 Gulf War with
some exceptions, including the return of Navy seamen killed during
the attack on the USS Cole in October 2000.
Bush imposed a stricter ban during the wars in Afghanistan and
Iraq, sparking criticism the federal government was hiding the
human cost of its military operations.
