Obama goes to Dover on Bush's Dime

Written by Byron Williams

Friday, 30 October 2009

So many soldiers have made their final return to the United States by way of Dover AFB.

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 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, 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 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 that read “I Support the Troops.”
Dover represents the true cost of war. Gen. 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 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 guerilla 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 wholeheartedly 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.