Obama Visits Dover to Honor War Dead

Afghanistan casualty's return first to be covered since end of 18-year-old ban

(NEWSER) - The press was allowed to cover the return of a fallen US soldier last night for the first time since President Obama lifted an 18-year-old ban, the Washington Post reports. The family of Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers, who was killed by a bomb in Afghanistan Saturday, gave permission for the media to be there as required under the new policy. More»

(NEWSER) - The ban on media at Dover Air Force Base when America’s war dead come home ignores the very rights they died fighting for, and it should be lifted, Connie Schultz writes for the Cleveland Plain Dealer. “Supporters of the Iraq war have long argued that media images of the fallen are nothing more than political statements,” Schultz writes. But "suppressing these images is the more blatant political ploy.” More»

(NEWSER) - The Pentagon has lifted the media ban at Dover (Del.) Air Force Base and will allow photos of the coffins of US war casualties returning from overseas—provided the service members' families approve. Under the new rules, the families can withhold permission, CNN reports. Some relatives had lobbied against the ban; others say they prefer the ceremony be private. More»

He will meet privately with troops' families today

(NEWSER) - President Obama made an unannounced visit to Dover Air Force Base today to be on hand as the coffins of 30 US troops were carried off a plane, reports USA Today . The ceremony was closed to the press. The troops, many of them members of an elite Navy SEALS unit, were killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan over the weekend, and Obama was to meet privately with their families today. NATO thinks a Taliban rocket likely brought down the chopper. More»

33K 'surge' troops will be home by next summer

(NEWSER) - President Obama outlined his Afghanistan strategy in a prime-time address tonight, with no late surprises on the numbers: As expected , the US will bring home 10,000 troops by the end of 2011 and rest of the "surge" force (about 23,000 troops) by the end of next summer, reports MSNBC . That will leave 70,000 American troops in Afghanistan, and they will "continue coming home at a steady pace as Afghan security forces move into the lead," a process he said should be complete by 2014. More»