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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