Will Obama Go to Dover After He Reveals His Afghanistan Plan?

So many soldiers have made their final return to the United States by way of Dover Air Force Base. Dover has proven to be a somber but also politicized point of entry for America's fallen soldiers.

It was the photos from Dover, as the caskets came home as much, as anything that helped to turn the tide against former President Lyndon Johnson's policy in Vietnam.

The magnitude that the images from Dover can have on a president's war policy are so powerful that photos taken as the caskets of soldiers arrive have been banned since 1991.
Though portrayed as having respect for the families, I found the ban to be an unfortunate political vehicle to maintain public support for war.

President Barack Obama, soon after taking office, lifted the official ban on press coverage, and this week he lifted the unofficial ban placed on the commanders in chief.

Becoming the first president in recent memory to meet fallen soldiers as they arrived at Dover, Obama stood on the tarmac, in pre-dawn darkness, in silent respect.

There are no soldiers kissing unknown women for Life Magazine, no jets flying above emanating red, white, and blue smoke, no yellow ribbons, or bumper stickers the read "I Support the Troops."

Dover represents the true cost of war. Gen. William T. Sherman was right, "War is hell," as the caskets that filed past the president bore witness.

It was nevertheless befitting, and somewhat paradoxical, that the war president, who has just won the Nobel Peace Prize would be there to honor the 18 soldiers recently killed in Afghanistan as he prepares for a potential troop increase in a land known more for being the place where empires go to make their last unsuccessful stand.

How else can the president break out of the cocoon known as the Oval Office that war inevitably creates lest he decides for himself to take the 40 minute helicopter ride from the White House to Dover?

It is merely speculation whether the president's trip to Dover will have an impact on his decision. The president has already stated that his visit was a "sobering reminder of the sacrifices of war."

But do the sobering reminders of war trump the sobering reminders of politics? The cynical view is the president has already made his decision on Afghanistan. With the one-year anniversary approaching since his historic election, the president has had more than ample time to offer a new strategy going forward. In this scenario, Dover becomes merely the backdrop for a photo-op that pulls on the nation's heartstrings.

I cannot be that cynical. I would like to take the president at his word that his greeting the fallen soldiers was indeed a "sobering reminder of the sacrifices of war" and it would have some impact on his new policy.

Let us not forget the two wars that the president inherited were the brainchild of a plethora of "chicken hawks" many of whom found creative ways to avoid military service, but willingly sent troops to implement what is, in my opinion, the worst foreign policy blunder in the history of the republic.

The real challenge of war--especially the guerrilla warfare that the U.S. is currently involved--lies in the ease in which the mission began belies the difficulty required to exit.

WWII officially ended when the Japanese government surrendered. How does that work in Afghanistan? It is a country with a weak and corrupt central government that does not have the trust of its people that is allegedly our ally. Though war is the commonly used term to describe U.S. involvement in Afghanistan, occupation is the more appropriate word choice.

Politics being what it is, one would be naïve to summarily dismiss it as a possible motivating factor in the president's sojourn to Dover. But I'm glad he went.

I hope Obama's actions set a new standard for future presidents who reach the tragic conclusion that war is the only answer. It should be a prerequisite that any president prepared to send troops into harm's way must also be willing to confront the totality of that decision as it returns mournfully back to Dover.

But it is easier to go to Dover in wake of the residue created by the Bush Administration's policy. The real measure will be if the president is willing to meet fallen soldiers after he reveals his plans for Afghanistan.

Byron Williams is an Oakland pastor and syndicated columnist and blog-talk radio host. He is the author of Strip Mall Patriotism: Moral Reflections of the Iraq War. E-mail him [e-mail] or visit his Web site:byronspeaks.com

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Comments

[babyboomerorig]

Going to Dover was part of an overall plan to determine just how much we need to do in Afghanistan. How much more will we sacrifice? How much more will we ask another country to sacrifice for the sake of "democracy"?

We're not all that, no matter what we think.

Until you see our soldiers coming home in caskets and meet with the families right there, you just can't understand the pain.

Pres. Bush met with families, which was good, but never once set foot on Dover AFB to see any of his 4800 people come in. Visiting wounded troops is good, but to promise them that they'll be taken care of then cut funding doesn't give anyone a sense of good will. Makin wounded vets pay for their own meals and hospital rooms full of mold and crumbling walls is no way to make those who have paid such a huge price feel that anyone cares.

I'm proud that Pres. Obama went to Dover and who cares that a tape was made of one soldier coming off the plane. He was with each of the 18 families without being photographed and prayed with the Chaplan over each casket. I don't know any other President who has done that.

[yankee222]

An honorable man - a man not obsessed with his own ego - would have gone to Dover and paid his respect in silence.

But Obama turned it into a cheap trick photo op. Shame on you Obama.

[SojournerForTruth]

Every American should see this post from Canada last year of how they honor returning troops. Americans talk a good game about freedom and support for the troops but they don't show it much. I comment President Obama for being a Comander in Chief who stands by our military.

http://pixdaus.com/single.php?id=45195&from=embed

[Aerows]

Yes, he probably will. He doesn't strike me as a man that operates without consequences, and he makes his decisions with consequences in mind. Don't paint him as Bush 3, who would send men to war with no conscience. Obama's life his shown him as a man that knows his decisions have a reality attached to them. That's why I find it laughable that people play him to be a man that will run the country into the ground. He is a man who wants to lift our trajectory as a nation.