President Obama will travel to Dover Air Force base later on Tuesday to honor the 22 Navy SEALs and eight other American troops killed in Afghanistan on Saturday when an insurgent shot down their helicopter, according to an administration official familiar with the matter.
Obama will head a delegation of senior administration, Pentagon, and military officials who will salute the flag-draped caskets of the troops who died in a rescue mission this weekend in the worst single-day loss of the long Afghan war. The crash in eastern Afghanistan also marked the largest death toll in the history of the U.S. Special Operations Command, which oversees the SEALs and other elite units.
The president canceled a visit to Interstate Moving Services in Springfield, Va., just outside of Washington, to talk about fuel efficiency standards for work trucks, buses and other heavy duty vehicles. It was replaced by a meeting with industry leaders about the same subject. Instead of going to Springfield, he will travel to Dover, Del., the central conduit for fallen Americans. He had previously gone in October 2009 to pay respects to 15 troops and three Drug Enforcement Agency operatives killed during a particularly bloody stretch of the war.
