Obama Honors Fallen Soldiers

(CBS/ AP)  President Barack Obama made a midnight dash to this air base Wednesday to honor the return of fallen soldiers, absorbing the ultimate cost of war as the United States endures its deadliest month of the Afghanistan campaign.

On a clear fall night, Mr. Obama flew by Marine One helicopter to Dover Air Force Base to greet the flag-draped cases of 18 Americans killed in action this week.

After landing, the president, wearing a dark topcoat, got into a motorcade to a base chapel, where he met privately with families of the fallen Americans. He had arrived on the base at 12:34 a.m. Thursday and returned to the White House before dawn.

Mr. Obama was taking part in a solemn process, to unfold in four movements: the transfer of the fallen 15 soldiers and three Drug Enforcement Agency agents from the back of the C-17 to a transport vehicle to a base mortuary.

As part of the official party, Mr. Obama was to go on the plane, each time witnessing silently as a chaplain said a prayer for the fallen, the family, the country and the war effort.

A president of two inherited wars, Mr. Obama is winding down U.S. involvement in Iraq, but the troubled war in Afghanistan is only widening. His dramatic visit to witness remains of the fallen comes as he weighs whether to send more troops into the Afghan war zone.

Read: On Afghanistan, a Decision Comes Slowly

Mr. Obama meets tomorrow with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and other military leaders as he weighs whether to send more troops into the war zone, reports CBS News senior White House correspondent Bill Plante.

The White House kept Mr. Obama's plans off his schedule, informing a small group of traveling reporters in advance on condition of secrecy.

The Pentagon this year lifted its 18-year ban on media covering the return of U.S. service members killed in action if family permission is provided. With Mr. Obama in attendance, the media were to witness the transfer of one fallen soldier: Sgt. Dale R. Griffin of Terre Haute, Ind.

The flag-draped remains of Griffin were to be carried off the plane by six Army soldiers in fatigues and black berets. The transfer case then was being placed in a vehicle to be taken to the mortuary facility on the base.

The rest of the solemn morning was kept out of sight of the press on family wishes.

The Dover base, about 100 miles from the White House, is the entry point for service personnel killed overseas.

Mr. Obama's predecessor, President George W. Bush, visited the families of hundreds of fallen soldiers but did not attend any military funerals or go to Dover to receive the coffins. In a 2006 interview with the military newspaper "Stars and Stripes," Bush said he felt the appropriate way to show his respect was to meet with family members in private.

Special Report: Afghanistan

Mr. Obama is in the midst of an intense, weekslong review of his war strategy in Afghanistan. He has upped the U.S. commitment there to 68,000 troops and is considering sending a large addition next year, but fewer than the 40,000 troops requested by his commander there, U.S. officials tell The Associated Press.

Most Americans either oppose the war or question whether it is worth continuing to wage.

At least 55 U.S. forces have been killed in October. That's the deadliest month of the war for U.S. forces since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban.

On Monday, a U.S. military helicopter crashed returning from the scene of a firefight with suspected Taliban drug traffickers in western Afghanistan, killing 10 Americans including three Drug Enforcement Administration agents. In a separate crash, four more U.S. troops were killed when two helicopters collided over southern Afghanistan. On Tuesday, eight soldiers were killed when their personnel vehicles was struck by roadside bombs in the Afghanistan's Kandahar province.

An Air Force C-17 cargo plane arrived at Dover after midnight carrying the bodies of 18 fallen personnel from Afghanistan, including the 10 Americans killed Monday and the eight soldiers the next day. The official party receiving the coffins included Attorney General Eric Holder; DEA Acting Administrator Michele Leonhart; Gen. Norton Schwartz, the Air Force chief of staff; Brig. Gen. Michael Repass, commander of the Army Special Forces; Maj. Gen. Daniel Wright, the Army assistant judge advocate; and Col. Robert Edmondson of the Air Force Mortuary Operations Center.

The lifting of the ban on media coverage of bodies returning to Dover was done to keep the human cost of war from being shielded from the public.

Now Mr. Obama was seeing it directly.

Air Force personnel are diligent about not calling the transfer of remains a "ceremony" to avoid any positive connotations; they call them "dignified transfers."

Mr. Obama meets Friday with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the military leaders who would have the responsibility for carrying out his strategy decisions. White House officials said Mr. Obama keep considering his options with advisers over the next couple of weeks, and other war council meetings may still be called during that period.

The White House preference is to announce the troop decision after the Afghanistan's run-off presidential election on Nov. 7, but before Obama leaves for a long and unrelated trip to Asia, four days later on Nov. 11. But no announcement plan has been settled upon by Mr. Obama and his aides, officials said.

[stillwaters6]

WE MILITARY FAMILIES HAVE DIGNITY TOO. THANKS FOR NOT USING OUR DARKEST HOUR TO SCORE ELECTORAL VOTES.

In the past, the only time presidents have even bothered to show up at Dover was along their "campaign trail"...

We Military Families have borne the brunt of both wars for over 8 years and are exhausted. But because you, Mr. President, took unplanned time to acknowledge the sacrifices we military families make, you have given us greater strength to stand side by side with our loved ones as they prepare for another deployment, not knowing if they will return to us standing tall, sitting in a wheelchair, missing a limb, or laid out at Dover Air Force Base...

AS A MILITARY WIFE AND MOTHER WHOSE HUSBAND IS SCHEDULED TO RE-DEPLOY IN 48 HOURS...I SALUTE YOU MR. PRESIDENT.

THANK YOU, SIR.

AMERICA PLEASE PRAY FOR OUR TROOPS!

[sean66x]

Remember the organ grinder and his monkey (Cheney-Bush)? This death toll is a cost driver for OPEC. Why accept their high price for fuel and dead American soldiers?

[USMC-Mom]

W A H - EW Gill,
You seem to have the same concern I do. I have a hard time understanding a General telling the president that he needs 40,000 more troops & not send them over as fast as possible.
I have a son, he's infantry. I want him to have all the help he can get. These men & women need back up & now.

As for the photo. I don't care. I feel like he could do a lot more. I don't think he should get a pat on his back for doing something he should have done a long time ago.

[gerryrigger]

Had none of the families agreed to have the media cover their loved one's return, there would have been no photographs or video coverage. According to the report the family of Sgt. Dale R. Griffin agreed to have the media cover part of his solemn homecoming. Hence we have this footage. I want to thank Sgt. Griffin's family for allowing us to witness our Commander-in-Chief honoring our war dead as they are returned to us. I know he is on the verge of a big decision on the war and needed to be part of this experience to fully appreciate the magnanimity of the action he is about to undertake.

[bajajohn1]

As a veteran, I join our President in honoring our fallen brothers and sisters.

[j_flood]

I believe the comment "any mother's son will do" goes back to civil war times. This comment is a callous comment on those who go to war. Last night what our President did the most honorable thing I've ever seen a President of the USA do. I cannot recall a President in my lifetime being at the side of the dead as they return to their home. Right now I live in Ireland and we see the war dead come home in Britain. There are processions their regiment's home town - and shown on national TV. If the people living in the USA were exposed to the returning of the dead on a similar basis the US would have pulled out of Iraq and Afghanistan months ago. Mr. Obama did a respectful thing, plain and simple, in fact I recommend each plane arrived at Dover be met by a cabinet level official. Well done Mr. President.

[bubbadubba]

I think Obama is doing a great job having to deal with the horrible mess left to us by right wing neo nazi war monger fascists and their talk show radio propaganda generals.
Unlike Bush, Obama did not start the two wars for the oil companies so when he goes to pay his respects it does not make me sick like when Bush pretended to care.
Meanwhile the chicken hawks are screaming "send more troops" since they have never been in the military and are too chicken to fight for our country.
It is good to have a President that cares more about Americans and our troops than big corporations, the wealthy, and the oil companies.
Hang in there Mr. President and give the Obama haters' comments the respect they deserve - NONE.

[Virgil-1]

It was to my understanding that he(Obama) was going to stop the Afghanistan/Iraq war when he became president.So much for
campaign lies.
Could be he's going to use this ploy for the next election.

[daffy64]

No. Actually he said he'd send additional troops there to search for Osama Bin Laden.

It was Iraq that he was against.

Your "understanding" was wrong.

[koko98-2009]

Stopping the war suddenly would be like trying to stop a speeding train, you have to slow it down before you can stop it.

[bradkt1]

The last thing that the previous Administration wanted the American people to see was the coffins of American soldiers coming home. I believe that it is appropriate...even necessary...for the American people to be reminded of the price of the military committments that our leaders make. What is more appropriate than a photo of one of of our fallen soldiers arriving home to be laid to rest...being saluted by our Commander-in-Chief as he ponders a difficult decision whether to send even more of them into harm's way in a war where there may be no victory in strictly military terms? This may be the most difficult of all the decisions that President Obama has to make during his Presidency.

I totally disagree that this is some sort of photo op that is merely being used by President Obama as a partisan political prop. Every President who commands our troops in time of war should be required to do this during his or her Presidency.

[nwowl]

Pres. Obama has no shame. Why he insisted that HE be televised and shown going to Dover is beyond the pale. This is NOT about him, it is about honoring fallen soldiers. Former President Bush visited hundreds and hundreds of wounded military personnel and families of fallen personnel without fanfare, broadcast media coverage, etc. I absolutely do not care about seeing Obama "honoring" a fallen soldier at Dover Air Force base. Why coulnd't he have just gone and not insisted on self-serving publicity?? Possibly so he can divert attention from the fact he can't/won't make a decision about troops in Afghanistan???