Today at Arlington Cemetery, President Obama said — not kidding — "For many of us, this Memorial Day is especially meaningful; it is the first since our war in Afghanistan came to an end." He immediately added: "Today is the first Memorial Day in 14 years that the United States is not engaged in a major ground war."
At the White House's twitter account, one finds the first of those two sentences in a tweet — but not the second. Of course, Darlene Superville at the Associated Press, aka the Administration's Press, cleaned it all up to avoid nationally embarrassing the wire service's beloved president (bolds are mine):
Obama pays tribute to fallen service members at Arlington
President Barack Obama on Monday saluted Americans who died in battle, saying the country must "never stop trying to fully repay them" for their sacrifices. He noted it was the first Memorial Day in 14 years without U.S. forces engaged in a major ground war.
Speaking under sunny skies to some 5,000 people in an amphitheater on the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery, Obama said the graveyard is "more than a final resting place of heroes."
"It is a reflection of America itself," he said, citing racial and religious diversity in the backgrounds of the men and woman who paid the ultimate sacrifice to preserve "the ideals that bind us as one nation."
... He recognized the more than 2,200 "patriots" who sacrificed themselves in Afghanistan, including the final two to be killed before the U.S. combat mission ended late last year. He also recognized the first American killed during the "new mission" to train Afghan forces, an Army medic who died in April.
Memo to AP: These three soldiers had names. President Obama named them, and your Darlene Superville wouldn't even pass those names on to the American public. Why not?
The President identified Specialist Wyatt Martin and Sergeant First Class Ramon Morris as the last two U.S. soldiers to die while the U.S. military was involved in combat.
Army Corporal John Dawson was the first American servicemember to give his life to newly framed mission, which is to train Afghan forces. President Obama described how he died as follows: "In April, an attacker wearing an Afghan uniform fired at a group of American soldiers." Someone apparently forgot to tell the enemy that American involvement in combat operations was over. What this is of course means in the real world is that Corporal Dawson was "engaged" in the war and that "our war" in Afghanistan has not ended, no matter how much Barack Obama and Darlene Superville might wish it were so.
Those who have visited that White House's twitter account should also have noticed, in a clear signaling of its priorities, that it has "pinned" the following tweet at the top so it stays there: "The planet is getting warmer. Glaciers are melting. Sea levels are rising. It's time to #ActOnClimate." As Instapundit's Glenn Reynolds from time to time, most recently just a week ago when Ramadi fell to ISIS: "The country is in the very best of hands."
If there's a silver lining, the brief video carried at Gateway Pundit shows that no one applauded Obama's nonsensical "since our war in Afghanistan came to an end" line (beginning at the 0:25 mark):
Imagine a Republican or conservative president claiming that a war has ended when 10,000 U.S. troops are still present and still in mortal danger. The establishment press and left-driven firestorm from professional "protesters" would consume several news cycles.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
