WASHINGTON (Creators Syndicate) -- At Harvard on January 19, 2000, then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Hugh Shelton provided a valuable standard, both to determine whether the United States ought to send the nation's warriors into combat and to enlist "the support of the American people as well as the Congress" needed to sustain that involvement. In Shelton's judgment, such a grave decision :
"(M)ust be subjected to what I call the 'Dover test.' Is the American public prepared for the sight of our most precious resource coming home in flag-draped caskets into Dover Air Force Base in Delaware -- which is a point entry for our Armed Forces?
This is an issue, I think, that should be raised early on. It should be discussed, and it should be decided by our political leadership before any operation begins."
http://www.cnn.com/2003/ALLPOLITICS/11/03/column.shields.opinion.dover/(Needless to say, * ducked the Dover test and the gutless press has bent over backwards to avoid
pointing it out. My hometown paper covered the helicopter story this morning with a small
headline that said "US to persist despite crash". The story was not about the loss of US lives,
but about how we-will-not-be-deterred rah, rah rah. )