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Talk radio bomb thrower Rush Limbaugh ripped President Obama Sunday for his ego, health care reform effort - and a "photo-op" with the casket of a U.S. soldier killed in Afghanistan. "It was a photo-op precisely because he's having big-time trouble on this whole Afghanistan dithering situation," Limbaugh told "Fox News Sunday." "He can create the impression that he has all this great concern," Limbaugh charged. Obama said his overnight trip to view the returning flag-draped caskets of 18 Americans killed in Afghanistan at Dover Air Force Base Thursday will "bear on how I see" the war. He is expected...

DOVER, DEL. -- Earlier this year President Obama lifted the 18-year ban on media coverage of the return of fallen soldiers to Dover, a ban critics said hid the costs of war from the American people. Thursday morning President Obama -- who is weighing new strategy in Afghanistan -- saw those costs up close.

As O'Donnell reminded viewers, President Bush and Vice President Cheney never went to Dover Air Force Base to honor fallen soldiers returning home while they were in office.

Originally, the New York Times reported on President Barack Obama’s visit to Dover AFB and the arrival of fallen serviceman by explaining that the White House wanted Obama to be seen as concerned and aware of the sacrifices made in America’s war policies: A small contingent of reporters and photographers accompanied Mr. Obama to Dover, where he arrived at 12:34 a.m. aboard Marine One. He returned to the South Lawn of the White House at 4:45 a.m. <…> The images and the sentiment of the president’s five-hour trip to Delaware were intended by the White House to convey to the...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: Brooklyn. Vinny. You're next. Hello, sir. CALLER: Hello El Rushbo, mmm, mmm, mmm. RUSH: Yeah, I love that. REPORTER: Listen, two days ago, and I only heard this once, ABC reported that President Obama did a midnight run to Dover airfield base. My first question to you is I've never heard of any other president doing that, and why would he go out to view the dead coming back from Afghanistan? I mean this seems like some kind of, look at me, I'm the president, you see how sorry I feel for our dead soldiers returning, but...

Rather than give the troops the reinforcements they need, Obama instead uses the dead for a photo op! What an ASS! Obama's one and only trip to the Dover Delaware Air Force Base which is the gateway for the bodies of all the nation's war dead was a photo op that almost didn't happen. 17 out of the 18 families refused their permission for the news media to cover this event. Instead of a row of coffins coming back from Afghanistan, Obama got to use only one as a prop. Readers may recall that President Bush met privately on numerous...

ABC News' Pentagon correspondent Luis Martinez reports that Barack Obama brought twenty-four reporters, photographers and videographers from fourteen media outlets to Dover Air Force Base to cover his 'surprise' visit there early Thursday morning.The New York Times reported earlier that there was a "small contingent" of media at Dover. However, two dozen is a crowd, especially when vulnerable grieving families are involved.Liz Cheney is being attacked (and here) for pointing out that Obama imposed the question of media coverage on the families by his presence at Dover. Seventeen out of the eighteen families of the fifteen soldiers and three DEA...

Former Bush State Department official Liz Cheney diplomatically slammed Barack Obama today for imposing on grieving military families by bringing the White House press corps and photographers with him to Dover Air Force Base last night to receive the bodies of 15 soldiers and 3 DEA agents killed in Afghanistan this week.Jim Hoft at Gateway Pundit reported Cheney's remarks made on John Gibson's Fox radio show today. Here is a corrected version of the partial transcript posted at Gateway Pundit.Audio clip on You TubeI don't know why he went to Dover. I mean I think that clearly it is very...

Barack Obama was nearly denied the photo-op he traveled to Dover Air Force Base for early this morning as all but one of the military and civilian families of the fallen refused permission for the media to report on the return of their loved ones.The sole family to allow media coverage was the family of Sgt. Dale R. Griffin.According to media reports, Griffin's casket was the last to be brought off the C-17 cargo plane that carried the bodies of 15 soldiers and 3 DEA agents killed this week in Afghanistan.That is a stark contrast to the reported 60% approval...

Obama Visits Returning War Dead JEFF ZELENY October 29, 2009 President Obama left the White House late Wednesday to take an overnight trip to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, where the bodies of 18 American troops killed in Afghanistan on Monday were returning to the United States. The White House did not announce the trip in advance and kept details of the visit closely held. The president, wearing a dark suit and long overcoat, left the White House at 11:44 p.m. Also along for the trip was a small contingent of reporters and photographers who had been summoned to...

The unannounced trip began around midnight and was expected to have the president back at the White House before dawn on Thursday. ...The White House kept Obama's plans off his schedule, informing a small group of traveling reporters in advance on condition of secrecy. Obama was expected to observe a somber ceremony on the tarmac of the base without public comment.

The U.S. military command in eastern Afghanistan has rescinded a ban on the publication of photos depicting slain U.S. military personnel, a Pentagon spokesman said Tuesday. The month-old ban had triggered concerns among lawmakers as well as from several media organizations. "I am relieved that this short-lived attempt to control the media and the public's right to know has come to an end," Louise M. Slaughter, D-N.Y., chairwoman of the House Rules Committee, said in a written response to a query. "Prior restraint on photography is not a good policy for the Pentagon. It's always been my belief that the...

    ~The FReeper Canteen Presents~ Road Trip: Dover Air Force Base, DelawareDover Air Force Base or Dover AFB (IATA: DOV, ICAO: KDOV, FAA LID: DOV) is a United States Air Force base located two miles south of the city of Dover, Delaware.Dover AFB is home to the 436th Airlift Wing (436 AW) of the Air Mobility Command (AMC), known as the "Eagle Wing", and the AMC-gained 512th Airlift Wing (512 AW) of the Air Force Reserve Command (AFRC), referred to as the "Liberty Wing". It was the only base to solely operate the massive C-5 Galaxy, with two...

(CNN) -- The bodies of five U.S. servicemen fatally shot by a comrade at a stress clinic in Iraq were returned to the United States late Wednesday. Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, met the bodies -- contained in flag-draped cases -- when they arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Family members of three of those killed permitted photographers to document the return of their loved ones. They were Army Maj. Matthew P. Houseal, 54, of Amarillo, Texas; Army Sgt. Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, of Paterson, New Jersey; and Army Private First Class Michael...

Note: The following text is a quote: http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/April/09-nsd-408.html Two Additional Defendants Sentenced for Conspiring to Kill U.S. Soldiers WASHINGTON – The remaining two men convicted of plotting to kill members of the U.S. military during an armed attack on a military base were sentenced today to federal prison terms of life for one defendant and 33 years for the other for conspiring to kill members of the U.S. military, Ralph J. Marra Jr., Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey; David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; and Janice K. Fedarcyk, Special Agent in Charge of the...

Note: The following text is a quote: Three Brothers Sentenced to Life Prison Terms for Conspiring to Kill U.S. Soldiers WASHINGTON -- Three brothers who were convicted of plotting to kill members of the U.S. military during an armed attack on a military base were sentenced today to life prison terms, Ralph J. Marra Jr., Acting U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey; David Kris, Assistant Attorney General for National Security; and Janice K. Fedarcyk, Special Agent in Charge of the Philadelphia Division of the FBI, announced. U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler sentenced Dritan Duka and Shain Duka...

In the weeks since the Pentagon ended an 18-year ban on media coverage of fallen soldiers returning to the U.S., most families given the option have allowed reporters and photographers to witness the solemn ceremonies that mark the arrival of flag-draped transfer cases. Critics had warned that military families needed privacy and peace activists might exploit the images, but so far the coverage has not caused problems. Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip A. Myers of Hopewell, Va., who died April 4 in Afghanistan, was the first combat casualty whose return to American soil was witnessed by the media. He was...

The wind can whip cold across the tarmac at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, freezing fingers that hold the flag-draped metal transfer case in which lie the remains of a fellow service member. You do not loosen your grip. You do not shuffle your feet. You do not grimace. If you have to yawn, you do it through your nose. You swallow your coughs and sneezes, let itches go unscratched. Keep your mouth closed, eyes straight and the blinking to an absolute minimum. Those are the rules. Those are the rules when it's 4 a.m. and it's dark and...

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2009 – A Pentagon working group solicited and obtained input from several military support organizations for a policy change that, under strictly delineated conditions, allows media filming of dignified transfer operations of fallen servicemembers’ remains at Dover Air Force Base, Del., a senior U.S. officer said here yesterday. “There was great appreciation on the parts of the stakeholders that we reached out to them,” Air Force Maj. Gen. Michael J. Basla told reporters during a roundtable at the Pentagon. Basla, the vice director of the Joint Staff’s command, control, communications and computer systems directorate, chaired the...

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del., April 6, 2009 – For some, it means red, white and blue. It means 13 stripes for the original colonies and 50 stars for the states. For the families of the fallen, the American flag means so much more. Air Force Staff Sgt. Star Samuels hangs up a freshly pressed U.S. flag March 31, 2009, at the Charles C. Carson Center for Mortuary Affairs, Dover Air Force Base, Del. The flags will be placed over caskets during the dignified transfer of remains. U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Bennie J. Davis III  (Click photo...

For the first time since media coverage was banned in 1991, the return of the body of a fallen member of the U.S. armed forces was opened to news outlets late Sunday. The U.S. Air Force informed media on Sunday that the family of Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers consented to allowing coverage of his casket being returned to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. Myers, 30, of Hopewell, Virginia, was a member of an engineering unit based in Britain. He died Saturday in a roadside bombing in southern Afghanistan, the U.S. military reported.

DOVER, Del. — The Air Force says the media will be allowed to cover the arrival Sunday of an airman killed overseas, the first such opportunity since the Obama administration overturned an 18-year-old ban on news coverage of returning war dead. The Air Force says the remains of Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers are expected to be transferred at Dover Air Force Base at 10 p.m. Chicago time on Sunday. The new policy announced in February gives families a choice of whether to admit the news media to ceremonies at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, the entry point to the...

WASHINGTON, March 18, 2009 – The wishes of the families will be the overriding principle guiding any media coverage of fallen warriors’ remains arriving at Dover Air Force Base, Del., Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates said today. Gates directed a working group to come up with a plan to change a ban on such coverage imposed during the Gulf War in the early 1990s. “The working group I tasked to come up with an implementation plan has reported back, and we will put a number of its recommendations into action starting next month,” Gates said during a Pentagon news conference....

The Silver Star Families of America Backs Gold Star Moms

The screaming leftards have finally gotten their way. Defense Secretary Gates has given in to their manufactured anti-war outrage. He will now allow flag draped coffins to be used as anti-America propaganda by the foam-at-the-mouth leftists who are still angry about us winning the Iraq war. This has been a sore subject for me. Regardless of where you stand on the war, you know there are casualties; the government is not hiding anything. In fact, each death is announced, along with the person's name and a picture if available. Taking pictures of coffins and having ideological spats over them...

When it comes to the return of fallen heroes, Americans have mixed feelings about the rights of families, patriotism and the demands of the press for "transparency."

WASHINGTON – News organizations will be allowed to photograph the homecomings of America's war dead under a new Pentagon policy, defense and congressional officials said Thursday. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has decided to allow photos of flag-draped caskets at Dover Air Force Base, Del., if the families of the fallen troops agree, the officials told The Associated Press. Gates planned to announce his decision later Thursday, they said. The current ban was put in place in 1991 by President George H.W. Bush. At least two Democratic senators have called on President Barack Obama to let news photographers attend ceremonies at...

On Friday, Families United for Our Troops and Their Mission distributed an e-newsletter asking you to send in your opinion on President Obama’s announcement to review overturning the 18-year ban on publishing photos of flag-draped transfer cases at Dover Air Force base. Hundreds of you wrote in to inform us on your position and we want to thank you for taking the time to share your story. Families United for Our Troops and Their Mission represents over 60,000 military families, including Blue and Gold Star Families and veterans. According to the respondents: • 64% believe that the policy should not...

NEW YORK The Pentagon would be required to grant journalists access to ceremonies honoring fallen military personnel, under a bill recently introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives. The legislation is significant because it would, for the first time since Vietnam, let photojournalists capture the powerful images of flag-draped caskets arriving on American soil during wartime. This week the bill won the endorsement of the National Press Photographers Association. The Fallen Hero Commemoration Act, or H.R. 6662, was introduced July 30 by Rep. Walter B. Jones (R-N.C.), a member of the House Committee on Armed Services. The bill states: "The...

Military: At Least One Kidnapped Soldier Beheaded POSTED: 2:58 pm EDT June 21, 2006 UPDATED: 3:17 pm EDT June 21, 2006 PENTAGON -- A defense official in Washington said militants beheaded at least one and maybe both of the soldiers who vanished in Iraq Friday. The description confirms fears raised by U.S. and Iraqi officials who said the bodies were mutilated. A final report on the bodies hasn't been released formally. A posting on a militant Web site Tuesday said al-Qaida-in-Iraq's new leader had "slaughtered" the soldiers. The language in the statement suggested beheading. The remains are due at Dover...

The Marine Corps is livid over the mistreatment of three Marines at the hands of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in Philadelphia last month. According to a Marine Corps memo we obtained, three Marines were "humiliated" by TSA security guards while escorting the body of Marine Sgt. Lea R. Mills, 21, who was killed April 28 along with two others in Al Anbar province, Iraq, by an improvised explosive device. Sgt. Mills' body was being moved from Dover Air Force Base through Philadelphia International Airport en route to her final resting place in Gulfport, Miss., on May 3. The three...

4/4/2006 - SAN ANTONIO (AFPN) -- A veteran C-5 Galaxy pilot said all 17 people survived the April 3 plane crash at Dover Air Force Base, Del., mainly because the pilot did his job. Col. Udo McGregor said the “100 percent reason” everyone aboard survived the crash was because the pilot did a wings-level landing. “The survivors are survivors because he put it on the ground wings level,” said the colonel, commander of the 439th Operations Group at Westover Air Reserve Base, Mass. The transport took off from Dover at about 6:20 a.m. bound for Spain and Southwest Asia. On...

4/4/2006 - DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del. -- Air Force officials released the names of the 17 survivors of the C-5 Galaxy crash here April 3. Survivor names, base and medical conditions are as follows: Capt. Brian Lafreda, Dover, fair Lt. Col. Robert Moorman, Dover, fair Lt. Col. Harland Nelson, Dover, fair Master Sgt. Timothy Feiring, Dover, released Master Sgt. Michael Benford, Dover, fair Master Sgt. Brenda Kremer, Dover, released Chief Master Sgt. David Burke, Dover, released Chief Master Sgt. George Mosley, Dover, released Tech. Sgt. Henry Fortney, Dover, released Senior Airman Scott Schaffner, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, released Tammy Lucas,...

DOVER AIR FORCE BASE, Del., April 4, 2006 – Seventeen people are in various stages of recovery after surviving a C-5 aircraft crash less than a mile from Dover Air Force Base's southern perimeter yesterday. "Our crew did a spectacular job of landing the airplane in its location," said Air Force Col. Chad T. Manske, 436th Airlift Wing vice commander and current acting commander of the wing. "Thankfully, there were no fatalities or injuries, and by the grace of God the aircraft didn't explode." The C-5B Galaxy broke apart into three major pieces at 6:42 a.m. in a grassy...

WASHINGTON, April 3, 2006 – All 17 people aboard survived the crash of an Air Force C-5 Galaxy transport jet at Dover Air Force Base, Del., Air Force officials reported. No official information was available on the condition of the survivors, who are members of Air Force Mobility Command's 436th Airlift Wing and the Air Force Reserve's 512th Airlift Wing. Both units are based at Dover. The jet crashed short of the runway at 6:30 a.m. while attempting to return to the base shortly after takeoff, reportedly because of mechanical problems. The huge aircraft broke into three pieces -- the...

No details per ABC radio

DOVER, Del. — A C-5 cargo plane carrying 17 people crashed just short of a runway at Dover Air Force Base early Monday after developing problems during takeoff, military officials said. There was no immediate word on fatalities.

It is raining in Dover. No surprise there. It always seems to be raining at Dover Air Force Base. Summer rain here in Delaware is a hot, humid precipitation that seems to asphyxiate the soul. It makes everything heavy. This evening, time seems to swim through the misty haze. From my view of the flight line the aircraft look like beached whales dying for an ocean. The maintenance crews scurry about the C-5s and Boeing 747s. They are slow, heavy beasts and seem to defy the laws of nature every time their enormous engines scream down the runway. Substantial amounts...

WASHINGTON — Under a mandate from Congress, defense officials are reviewing policies governing how the remains of servicemembers killed overseas are transported home, after some in Congress said the use of commercial airlines doesn’t show proper respect. Pentagon officials last month confirmed reports that the bodies of troops killed overseas are usually transported via military aircraft to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware, but then often put aboard commercial aircraft as freight for transportation to their final resting place. Although a military escort is provided for all caskets, an honor guard to greet the casket is not. Department policy outlines...

Army defends transporting of dead to U.S. on commercial flights By Leo Shane III, Stars and Stripes European edition, Wednesday, December 14, 2005 WASHINGTON — Defense officials confirmed this week that the bodies of deceased troops are usually transported as freight on commercial airlines, but they insisted the practice is not unusual or disrespectful. The practice came under scrutiny this week after Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., helped arrange an honor guard to welcome the body of a San Diego soldier, Spc. Matthew Holley, killed in Iraq in mid-November. His family contacted the senator after being upset by Army plans to...

NORTH COUNTY ---- It was hard enough for father John Holley to hear that his 21-year-old son had been killed in an explosion in Iraq. But it was the way in which the remains of his son, Army Spc. Matthew Holley, would be transported back to San Diego that made the father and former soldier cringe. Matthew's remains would be shipped in the cargo hold of a commercial jetliner from a military base in Delaware to San Diego, the Army told him. His son's body would be met not by an honor guard but by baggage handlers, who would load...

The Bush administration's continued war on Iraq continues to anger those who ought to be its constituents. San Diego 10News reports that dead soldiers are being shipped freight to avoid publicity and perhaps to save costs. As 10News puts it: "Dead heroes are supposed to come home with their coffins draped with the American flag - greeted by a color guard. But in reality, many are arriving as freight on commercial airliners - stuffed in the belly of a plane with suitcases and other cargo." The story tells of John Holley and his wife, Stacey, who discovered that the body...

SAN DIEGO -- There's controversy over how the military is transporting the bodies of service members killed overseas, 10News reported. A local family said fallen soldiers and Marines deserve better and that one would think our war heroes are being transported with dignity, care and respect. It said one would think upon arrival in their hometowns they are greeted with honor. But unfortunately, the family said that is just not the case. Dead heroes are supposed to come home with their coffins draped with the American flag -- greeted by a color guard. But in reality, many are arriving as...

SAN DIEGO -- There's controversy over how the military is transporting the bodies of service members killed overseas, 10News reported. A local family said fallen soldiers and Marines deserve better and that one would think our war heroes are being transported with dignity, care and respect. It said one would think upon arrival in their hometowns they are greeted with honor. But unfortunately, the family said that is just not the case. Dead heroes are supposed to come home with their coffins draped with the American flag -- greeted by a color guard. But in reality, many are arriving as...

I just read an article about a family in California who is unhappy that the body of their son was shipped home from Dover AFB as freight on a commercial airliner. Is this standard military procedure?

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon, under pressure from open-government advocates, released hundreds of images Thursday of flag-draped coffins of American soldiers. The Pentagon had previously refused to release such images, which were taken by military photographers. Nor has it allowed the news media to photograph ceremonies of soldiers' coffins arriving in the United States, saying it is enforcing a policy installed in 1991 to respect the privacy of families of dead soldiers. The pictures were released in response to a request for all military photos of caskets containing the remains of American soldiers taken since the U.S. launched its attack on...

Gentlemen, I just wanted to share with all of you my most recent Air Force Reserve trip. As most of you know, I have decided to go back into the Air Force Reserves as a part time reservist and after 6 months of training, I have recently been promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and have been fully mission qualified as an Aircraft Commander of a KC-135R strato tanker aircraft. On Friday of last week, my crew and I were tasked with a mission to provide air refueling support in order to tanker 6 F-16's over to Incirlik Air Base in Turkey....

October 16, 2004 Service Members, Families Say Pentagon Sent Too Few Troops To Iraq, Stressed National Guard and Reserves, Should Allow Photos of Coffins at Dover Even though they support George W. Bush’s handling of the situation in Iraq in general, America’s military service members and their families are convinced that the Administration underestimated the number of troops it needed in Iraq and put too much of a burden on inadequately trained and equipped National Guard and reserve forces. From September 22 through October 5, Annenberg polled 655 adults who have either served on active duty between February and October...

CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq (Aug. 16, 2004) -- Amidst the chaos of combat, one small unit here quietly does a job no one else wants to do and ensures fallen troops are brought back to their families. Service members who die in the eastern part of the Al Anbar province, including the cities of Ramadi, Fallujah and Najaf, are brought to the 1st Force Service Support Group's Mortuary Affairs detachment here before making the trip back to the states. The 20-person unit is full of Marines who seem to have aged a great deal since they flew to the Middle...

Senate Keeps Casket PolicyWashington-The Senate refused Monday to change a Pentagon policy banning media coverage of America's war dead as their caskets arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.The 54-39 Senate negative vote defeated an amendment to the authorization bill for the Defense Department that would have required the Pentagon to produce a protocol in 60 days to regulate media coverage of the returning dead.