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Obama stands vigil as war dead brought home
 
 
  
 
 AFP - Friday, October 30
 
 
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 President Barack Obama salutes as US soldiers carry the coffin of US Army Sgt. Dale R. Griffin at Dover Air Force Base. President Barack Obama stood vigil to the homecoming of US war dead from Afghanistan Thursday as he debates ordering thousands of more troops into the battle zone.
 
 
 
 
 
 
DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Delaware (AFP) - – President Barack Obama stood vigil to the homecoming of US war dead from Afghanistan Thursday as he debates ordering thousands of more troops into the battle zone.
 
Leaving the White House just before midnight on Wednesday, Obama helicoptered to an air force base in Delaware, to witness the return of 18 personnel killed Monday, during the most bloody month of the war for US troops.
 
During his poignant visit, the president solemnly walked aboard a giant C-17 transport aircraft that carried the soldiers' remains for a prayer.
 
Later, he stood on the tarmac, holding a salute, as the remains one soldier, army sergeant Dale Griffin from Indiana, were borne off the plane in a procedure known as a "dignified transfer."
 
It was the president's first such journey to Dover Air Force Base, where remains of most US service members killed in Afghanistan and Iraq arrive, and was highly symbolic as he weighs a revised strategy for the Afghan war.
 
Former president George W. Bush, had banned news coverage of returning bodies from foreign military operations, and did not attend repatriations himself, though held many meetings with bereaved family members.
 
Obama also spent some time with relatives of the fallen.
 
"I don't think you can go out there and not understand what you're seeing and understand the sacrifice that our men and women are making," said White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, who also made the trip.
 
"I can't imagine anybody would make a decision about sending troops into harm's way without thinking about this regardless of whether you've been to Dover."
 
Obama, wearing a dark overcoat on a warm October night, met with relatives of the dead at an on-base chapel during his near four-hour visit.
 
"You get a real sense of gravity when you see the faces of those that are in grief of their loved ones," Gibbs said.
 
"You can see the genuine anguish in their faces. It's hard not to be overwhelmed by what you see."
 
Arriving home were the remains of 15 soldiers and three Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agents.
 
Seven of the soldiers and the DEA agents died when their helicopter crashed, and the eight other soldiers were killed separately when their vehicle struck a roadside bomb.
 
News reporters were only permitted to observe one transfer, according to the wishes of family members.
 
The ban on media coverage of transfers began under former president George H.W. Bush during the first Gulf war, and was renewed by his son George W. Bush, as military action got underway in Afghanistan and later in Iraq.
 
Images of honor guards carrying the coffins from the bellies of military transport planes became a grim symbol of the Vietnam war, and a graphic reminder of the mounting death toll.
 
More than 5,000 US military personnel have been killed in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
 
Defense Secretary Robert Gates reversed the controversial policy banning media coverage in February, saying the Pentagon would leave it up to the families to decide whether to allow coverage.
 
America's bloodiest month in Afghanistan has sharpened the dilemma on troop deployments, as political demands mount for swift action.
 
"The president of the United States needs to make this decision and soon," Republican Senator John McCain said on Wednesday.
 
"Our allies are nervous and our military leadership is becoming frustrated," said McCain, who was Obama's rival for the White House in 2008.
 
Republicans see the turmoil of recent days as a sign Obama must honor war commander General Stanley McChrystal's request for 40,000 more troops.
 
The White House, however, counters that Obama's soul searching is justified by the gravity of his choice on whether to plunge tens of thousands of people into the worsening war.
 
Outwardly, Obama, who prides himself on thriving under pressure, appears unfazed by the quickening crisis and has scheduled the next meeting of his exhaustive policy review with US military chiefs on Friday.
 
Expectations are mounting that Obama could reveal his response to McChrystal's troop request before he leaves for an eight-day trip to Asia on November 11.
 
 
 
 
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
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