PBS高端访谈:特朗普称前任总统也未向阵亡士兵家属致电慰问
时间：2017-12-18 06:34:34
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Now: new questions surrounding the deaths of four Green Berets in the Western African nation of Niger and the role of the president as consoler in chief. John Yang has the story.
Sending young Americans into harm's way can be the most serious decision a president makes.
To the best of my knowledge, I think I have called every family of somebody that's died.
Now, as far as other representatives, I don't know. I mean, you could ask General Kelly, did he get a call from Obama?
Kelly's 29-year-old son, Robert, a Marine
lieutenant9, was killed in 2010 when he stepped on a land mine in Afghanistan, an episode Kelly rarely talks about publicly.
Kelly and his wife did attend a 2011 Memorial Day breakfast President Obama hosted for Gold Star families.
President Trump ignited the
furor10 when he was asked about his public silence on four Green Berets killed two weeks ago in Niger.
If you look at President Obama and other presidents, most of them didn't make calls.
A lot of them didn't make calls. I like to call when it's appropriate, when I think I'm able to do it.
Reporters pressed him to back up the claim.
I don't know. That's what I was told. All I can do -- all I can do is ask my generals.
The response from former Obama officials was swift and forceful.
Former Attorney General Eric
Holder11 tweeted this photo and insisted: "Stop the damn lying. I went to Dover Air Force base with 44 and saw him comfort families,"
a reference to one of Mr. Obama's late-night trips to pay his respects to troops killed in Afghanistan.
Mr. Obama and President George W. Bush often visited wounded
warriors12 at Walter Reed and Bethesda hospitals, a practice Mr. Trump has continued.
In February, the president and his daughter Ivanka went to Dover for the return of the
remains13 of a Navy SEAL killed in Yemen, the first casualty of his administration.
So far this year, the Pentagon says 16 Americans have been killed in action.
Another 17 sailors died in accidents. In the first year of the Obama
presidency14, 344 were killed in action.
During last year's campaign, Mr. Trump publicly
feuded15 with the Khans, the parents of a Muslim American soldier killed in Iraq, after they criticized him at the Democratic Convention.
Today, the Khans said: "President Trump's selfish and divisive actions have undermined the dignity of the high office of the presidency."
The current controversy comes as questions are being raised about how and why the four soldiers died in Niger.
I think the administration has to be much more clear about our role in Niger and our role in other areas in Africa and other parts of the globe.
The Pentagon is investigating the deaths. Reportedly among the questions, did commanders adequately assess the risk, and was there ready access to medical support?
Today, President Trump called the families of the four dead Green Berets. For the PBS NewsHour, I'm John Yang. undefined
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