General Discussion

kpete

(71,986 posts) Mon Oct 16, 2017, 03:51 PM Oct 2017

Obama visited wounded troops at Walter Reed so often-Hawks worried it was making him too anti-war!

Obama’s Sacred Duty: Visiting the Wounded at Walter Reed
By GARDINER HARRISNOV. 29, 2016

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“Every time I visit Walter Reed, every time I visit Bethesda, I’m reminded of the wages of war,” Mr. Obama said at Fort Campbell, Ky., in 2011.

Robert M. Gates, the former defense secretary, wrote in his memoir “Duty” that seeing the wounded and attending funerals took such an emotional toll that he had to resign. Critics see another effect. Over the course of his presidency, Mr. Obama has become increasingly unwilling to commit troops to wars in places like Libya, Syria and Iraq.

Eliot A. Cohen, an official in the George W. Bush administration who is now a professor of strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University, said that Mr. Obama’s trips to Walter Reed may have been the reason, and that future presidents should avoid such visits.

“A president has to be psychologically prepared to send people into harm’s way and to get a good night’s sleep,” Mr. Cohen said. “And anything they do that might cripple them that way means they’re not doing their job.”

Mr. Obama has rejected such criticism, saying his rounds at Walter Reed have highlighted the risks of war but have not stopped him from ordering troops into battle when needed.