US President Donald Trump, in his first public remarks since returning from a nine-day overseas trip, on Monday paid tribute to fallen US troops in a traditional Memorial Day ceremony, saying they “died in war so we could live in peace.”
In one of the annual rites of every presidency, Trump traveled the short distance over the Potomac River to Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia to honor the soldiers, sailors, airmen and marines who were killed in service to their nation.
“Words cannot measure the depth of their devotion, the purity of their love or the totality of their courage,” Trump told an audience that included relatives of slain service members. “We only hope that every day we can prove worthy, not only of their sacrifice and service, but of the sacrifice made by the families and loved ones they left behind. Special, special people.”
Trump was accompanied by US Vice President Mike Pence and preceded at the podium by US Secretary of Defense James Mattis and General Joseph Dunford Jr, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff.
The president, who has been under siege by investigations into contacts between Russia and his associates, including his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, smiled and seemed to enjoy the enthusiastic welcome by a supportive crowd.
Sticking closely to his prepared text, Trump offered no insight into his thinking about how to proceed in the various wars that the US is fighting, including the battle against the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria or the war in Afghanistan.
The Pentagon has proposed sending another 5,000 troops to Afghanistan to bolster the force that has been fighting there since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Some of Trump’s political advisers, including Stephen Bannon, worry about a slippery slope into nation building, but the president has not publicly indicated which way he is leaning.
Instead, Trump used the occasion to single out several service members who have died in combat and also honored former US senator Bob Dole, who was wounded in Italy during World War II and attended Monday’s event.
After his speech, Trump stopped by the cemetery’s section 60, which contains the remains of many service members who have died in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
The military is to begin conscripting civilians next year, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Manet said yesterday, citing rising tensions with Thailand as the reason for activating a long-dormant mandatory enlistment law. The Cambodian parliament in 2006 approved a law that would require all Cambodians aged 18 to 30 to serve in the military for 18 months, although it has never been enforced. Relations with Thailand have been tense since May, when a long-standing territorial dispute boiled over into cross-border clashes, killing one Cambodian soldier. “This episode of confrontation is a lesson for us and is an opportunity for us to review, assess and
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