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NEWYORK (AP) — For

more than 50 years, every

American president has been

forced to grapple, in one way

or another, with the quagmire

of the Vietnam War. Now it's

Donald Trump's turn.

The ghosts of Vietnam are

stirring anew, just as Trump

prepares to visit the nation

on his first presidential tour

of Asia. Vietnam war hero

Sen. John McCain, who

spent more than five years in

a prisoner of war camp after

his plane was shot down, this

week put an unwelcome spot-

light on Trump's five draft

deferments to avoid military

service. And Trump's pro-

longed political tussle over

the proper way for presidents

to honor and grieve with the

families of fallen soldiers has

focused attention on his lack

of military service as well.

Trump tried to set all that

aside Monday as he pre-

sented the Medal of Honor

to retired Capt. Gary Rose,

a Vietnam era medic who

repeatedly ran into the line

of enemy fire and ignored

his own wounds to save his

colleagues during a fierce

firefight in enemy-controlled

territory in September 1970.

"Mike, this is serious

stuff," Trump said. "Your

love for your fellow soldier,

your devotion to your coun-

try inspires us all."

But the matter of Trump's

lack of service wasn't far off

stage.

McCain, the Arizona Re-

publican who has frequently

clashed with the president,

made clear he had Trump

in mind Monday as he criti-

cized the Vietnam draft sys-

tem that forced low-income

Americans to serve while

the wealthy could avoid war

with a doctor's note. Trump,

the son of a millionaire de-

veloper, received draft defer-

ments, one attained with a

physician's letter stating that

he suffered from bone spurs

in his feet.

"I don't consider him so

much a draft dodger as I feel

that the system was so wrong

that certain Americans could

evade their responsibilities to

serve the country," McCain

said on ABC's "The View."

McCain was being pressed

about earlier comments on

C-SPAN in which he lament-

ed that the military "drafted

the lowest income level of

America and the highest in-

come level found a doctor

that would say they had a

bone spur."

When a host on the ABC

show remarked that people

thought McCain had been

talking about Trump on C-

SPAN because the president

had sought a medical defer-

ment, McCain interjected,

"More than once, yes."

Over the decades, Vietnam

has become shorthand for a

bogged-down military con-

flict, a comparison invoked

during more recent struggles

in Afghanistan and Iraq. It

has served as a cautionary

lesson about the political per-

il for presidents ensnared in

prolonged overseas military

operations.

President Lyndon Johnson

abandoned his re-election

quest after an escalation in

the war led to moreAmerican

deaths, while President Rich-

ard Nixon took fierce criti-

cism for expanding the con-

flict. President Bill Clinton's

wartime deferment before

he entered the Vietnam draft

generated considerable heat

during the 1992 presidential

campaign.

More recently, questions

about the service of George

W. Bush and John Kerry

were prominent in the 2000

and 2004 presidential cam-

paigns. Bush served in the

TexasAir National Guard but

faced scrutiny over his status

and why he was never de-

ployed overseas. Kerry was a

decorated veteran who threw

away his medals and testified

against the war before Con-

gress. His service record was

questioned in campaign ads.

Obama, the first post-Viet-

nam president, positioned

himself as the one who might

heal the rift between those

who served and those who

didn't. Although he, too, was

burdened with lessons of the

war.

"Let us resolve that when

America sends our sons and

daughters into harm's way,

we will always give them a

clear mission; we will always

give them a sound strategy;

we will give them the equip-

ment they need to get the job

done," Obama said at a visit

to the Vietnam Memorial in

2012. "We will have their

backs."

Trump is slated to make

his first presidential trip to

Vietnam early next month as

part of his 12-day, five-nation

Asia tour. He will participate

in an international summit in

Da Nang before meeting the

Vietnamese president in Ha-

noi. The White House said

Monday it had not been de-

cided if Trump would visit

any war sites, like the prison

where McCain was held.

Trump ignited a feud with

McCain in July 2015 when

he belittled the senator's time

in captivity.

"He's not a war hero," said

Trump. "He was a war hero

because he was captured. I

like people who weren't cap-

tured."

Trump once compared

his ability to avoid sexually

transmitted diseases in the

Manhattan dating scene of

the 1980s and 1990s to the

perils of wartime that claimed

the lives of more than 58,000

Americans in Vietnam.

"It is a dangerous world

out there," Trump said in a

1997 interview with shock

jock Howard Stern. "It's like

Vietnam, sort of. It is my per-

sonal Vietnam. I feel like a

great and very brave soldier."

The renewed focus on

Trump's lack of service in

Vietnam comes as he faces

scrutiny over his treatment of

the families of America's war

dead.

Trump has been pushing

back against criticism from

the family of slain Army Sgt.

La David Johnson, killed this

month in Niger, that he was

disrespectful in his condo-

lence call to the new widow.

Trump has steadfastly de-

nied the claim. But the John-

sons are not the only family

of a slain solider to be angry

at Trump.

The family of Capt. Ben

Cross of Bethel, Maine, who

was one of three Marines

killed in an MV-22 Osprey

crash in August off the coast

of Australia, received a con-

dolence letter fromTrump on

Friday.

The family questioned the

timing of the letter, which ar-

rived via overnight mail after

the controversy over Gold

Star families had erupted.

"I think that anyone who

received five deferrals in or-

der to avoid military service

is unfit to be commander in

chief and even less qualified

to console a grieving family

who has lost a loved one de-

fending our country," Cross'

brother Ryan said Monday.

"He doesn't know the first

thing about service or sacri-

fice."

CITIZEN TRIBUNE

Nation

EEE-4

Tuesday, October 24, 2017

AP

President Donald Trump, right, salutes retired Army Capt. Gary M. Rose, left, before bestowing him with the nation’s

highest military honor, the Medal of Honor, during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington,

Monday, Oct. 23, 2017.

US general: Many questions remain about Niger attack

WASHINGTON (AP)

— The U.S. special forces

unit ambushed by Islamic

militants in Niger didn't

call for help until an hour

into their first contact

with the enemy, the top

U.S. general says, con-

ceding many questions

linger about the assault

that killed four American

troops and triggered a po-

litical brawl.

Marine Gen. Joseph

Dunford, chairman of

the Joint Chiefs of Staff,

told reporters the Ameri-

can people and the fallen

soldiers' families deserve

answers about the deadly

ambush in the West Afri-

can nation. But Dunford

said Monday that he still

lacks many details about

how the attack unfolded.

At a Pentagon news con-

ference, Dunford asked for

patience as the military

continues to investigate

the incident.

Dunford's description

of the assault, however,

underscored how long

the mid-morning attack

dragged on, and that it

was many hours before the

wounded and killed were

evacuated. He said that

"within minutes" after the

unit called for assistance, a

U.S. drone was moved into

position overhead, provid-

ing surveillance and full-

motion video. He declined

to say if it was armed, but

said it did not fire.

Another hour went by

before French fighter jets

arrived, but the wounded

weren't taken out until

later in the afternoon when

French helicopters arrived

along with additional Ni-

ger troops. The bodies of

three Green Berets who

were killed were evacu-

ated that evening, he said.

"I make no judgment as

to how long it took them to

ask for support," Dunford

said. "I don't know that

they thought they needed

support prior to that time.

I don't know how this at-

tack unfolded. I don't

know what their initial as-

sessment was of what they

were confronted with."

A battle-hardened com-

mander, Dunford recalled

situations when, "you're

confronted with enemy

contact, your initial as-

sessment is you can deal

with that contact with the

resources that you have."

He added that under the

military's rules, U.S. forc-

es only accompany Niger

troops on missions in that

area when "the chances of

enemy contact are unlike-

ly." But he also agreed that

it is an inherently danger-

ous area, and U.S. forces

are there as part of a train-

ing and advising mission

to help local Niger forces

learn to deal with the vari-

ous al-Qaida and IS-linked

groups operating in the re-

gion.

Dunford acknowledged

that nearly three weeks af-

ter the attack, many ques-

tions remain. They include

whether the U.S. had ad-

equate intelligence, equip-

ment and training, whether

there was an accurate as-

sessment of the threat in

that area, and how the U.S.

troops became separated

in the fight. Another ques-

tion is why it take so long

to recover the body of a

fourth American service-

man, Sgt. La David John-

son, who was missing for

two days before his body

was found by Niger troops

and turned over to the U.S.

Dunford

said

the

12-member Army special

forces unit had accompa-

nied 30 Nigerien forces on

a reconnaissance mission

to an area near the village

of Tongo Tongo, about 85

kilometers north of the

capital on Oct. 3. They

ended up spending the

night there, and when they

were returning to their

base the next morning,

they encountered about 50

enemy fighters traveling

by vehicle, carrying small

arms and rocket-propelled

grenade launchers.

Dunford said the White

House was notified by the

operations center when it

became clear that at least

three U.S. forces had been

killed, and more direct

notifications were made

when officials realized

that Johnson was missing.

When he received the call

about Johnson, Dunford

said he made a "20-sec-

ond" call to Defense Sec-

retary Jim Mattis and got

immediate approval to

bring the "full weight of

the U.S. government to

bear" in order to locate the

missing soldier.

Independent of the

events surrounding the at-

tack, Johnson's death and

his family's ordeal have

triggered a major political

row. After Johnson's body

was returned to the U.S.,

President Donald Trump

said at one point that he

had done more than any of

his predecessors to honor

the dead and console their

families.

Members of Congress

are also demanding an-

swers. Last week, Sen.

John McCain, the Re-

publican chairman of the

Armed Services Com-

mittee, even threatened a

subpoena to accelerate the

flow of information from

the administration. Asked

about the congressional

complaints, Dunford said

that if lawmakers believe

they aren't getting enough

information, "then I need

to double my efforts to

provide them with infor-

mation."

He said the military will

try to wrap up its investi-

gation into the incident as

quickly as possible. The

FBI is also investigat-

ing, but that probe likely

focuses on counterterror-

ism, and any information

or intelligence related to

threats to the U.S.

Dunford defended the

broader American mis-

sion in Niger, saying U.S.

forces have been in the

country intermittently for

more than two decades.

Currently, some 800 U.S.

service members are sup-

porting a French-led mis-

sion to defeat the Islamic

State, al-Qaida and Boko

Haram in West Africa.

"We are back to conduct-

ing operations as normal,"

he said. "Our intent is to

continue operations there

and continue to train, ad-

vise, assist our partners."

Ghosts of Vietnam stirring as Trump preps for Asia trip