The original content of Democracy Now! Headlines appears under the Creative
Commons BY-NC-ND 3.0 License (United States). For more, including their other
shows and media, visit www.democracynow.org.
October 30, 2009

Obama Witnesses Return of US War Dead
-------------------------------------



President Obama paid a visit to Delaware’s Dover Air Force Base early
Thursday to witness the return of bodies of American soldiers killed in
the Afghan war. Obama is the first president to attend the ritual at
Dover, where the bodies of dead US soldiers killed in foreign wars are
brought for their final return home. Obama witnessed the delivery of
eighteen bodies, all casualties of the deadliest month for the US
occupation force in Afghanistan. Obama is currently weighing a decision
to escalate the Afghan war on top of the estimated 34,000 additional
troops he deployed earlier this year.

President Obama: “Obviously, it was a sobering reminder of the
extraordinary sacrifices that our young men and women in uniform are
engaging in every single day. Not only our troops, but their families,
as well. And so, Michelle and I are constantly mindful of those
sacrifices. And obviously, you know, the burden that both our troops and
our families bear in any wartime situation is going to bear on how I see
these conflicts, and it is something that I think about each and every
day.”



.