On Memorial Day, Barack Obama pays tribute to fallen
ARLINGTON: President Barack Obama payed tribute on Monday to fallen men and women of the US armed services during a Memorial Day ceremony in which he reminded Americans that the country was still at war.
During a solemn visit to Arlington National Ceremony, the resting ground for many military casualties, Obama noted in remarks to visitors that next year would mark the last Memorial Day of the US war in Afghanistan.
“But even as we turn the page on a decade of conflict, even as we look forward, let us never forget, as we gather here today, that our nation is still at war,” Obama said.
Unlike World War Two or the Vietnam War, conflicts that touched nearly every American, today most US citizens were not directly affected by the military conflicts overseas, the president noted.
“As we gather here today, at this very moment, more than 60,000 of our fellow Americans still serve far from home in Afghanistan,” Obama said.
“They’re still going out on patrol, still living in spartan forward operating bases, still risking their lives to carry out their mission. And when they give their lives, they are still being laid to rest in cemeteries inthe quiet corners across our country, including here in Arlington.”
Most US combat troops are slated to exit Afghanistan by the end of 2014. Obama formally ended the US war in Iraq earlier in his White House tenure.
In a major policy speech last week, Obama said the United States would shift its focus away from a “boundless global war on terror” that began under his predecessor, Republican PresidentGeorge W Bush.
After his remarks on Monday, Obama and his wife, first lady Michelle Obama, visited Section 60 of the cemetery, where the newly slain are buried….