10/30/2009

Acknowledging the Dead: The Midnight Ride to Dover.

Yesterday October 29th, in the mid night darkness, President Obama went to Dover Airbase in Delaware to acknowledge and receive the bodies of 18 military personnel who died in Afghanistan last week. He met with families of those who were killed. He took part in the receiving ceremony. Part of the proceedings were captured on film and later, back in Washington, he spoke for a moment about the experience.

Here at Preludium I have very mixed feelings about the President's seeming difficulty in keeping us from a deeper engagement in Afghanistan, but I was very proud of him for his visit to Dover. He went and took part in the quiet and mostly unpublicized return of the dead to the US. Most importantly he was there.

The number of military personnel killed in Afghanistan is in the rise. The number of Afghan civilians killed is increasing. We must not look away from these realities.


Posted by at

2 comments:

  1. Andy30/10/09 10:37 AM

    My disagreements with the president aside, I thought that this was perhaps his most "presidential" moment since ascending to the office. He showed himself as the Commander-in-Chief.

    I believe too, that he needs to reach a solid solution soon to either provide the warfighters on the ground with the wherewithal to successfully wage a ground war, or to withdraw them. Seeming indecision has a way of emboldening our opponents

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yawner30/10/09 12:34 PM

    I thought his visit to Dover was outstanding, and made more so by the lack of publicity and early morning hours. Surely it is a small sacrifice relative to those he was honoring, but an important reminder to all of us of the cost.

    ReplyDelete

OK... Comments, gripes, etc welcomed, but with some cautions and one rule:
Cautions: Calling people fools, idiots, etc, will be reason to bounce your comment. Keeping in mind that in the struggles it is difficult enough to try to respect opponents, we should at least try.

Rule: PLEASE DO NOT SIGN OFF AS ANONYMOUS: BEGIN OR END THE MESSAGE WITH A NAME - ANY NAME. ANONYMOUS commentary will be cut.

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)