The security at Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix was much stronger than it usually is on Friday morning as it was awaiting U.S. President Barack Obama’s arrival. Obama was visiting Phoenix for executing a couple of important tasks like meeting Kayla Mueller’s family, a round-table discussion at the Phoenix VA Hospital and a stop-over at the residence of a veteran in Gilbert.
The President had a meeting with Doug Ducey, Arizona Governor and had discussions about a handful of important issues, before commencing on his first journey to Carl. T. Hayden VA Medical Center. VA Medical Center is the hospital which initiated a national level examination about how government cared for the former military associates.
Hundreds of people gathered close to Indian School Road and Seventh Street in Phoenix when they got hold of the information on the U.S. president’s arrival. There was the presence of supporters along with some protestors. It is reported that about 100 people gathered in his arrival location for protesting against his visit. This act was not provoked only for the treatment of veterans, but other significant causes such as immigration, education and mines at Oak Flats.
There was war veteran Vince Ansel, 67, amongst all these protesters. He was extremely disheartened and disappointed by the president’s action. According to Ansel, the U.S. President offended all the veterans during his visit in January when he did not stop by the hospital to meet the people who put their lives in danger for their beloved country. Given the fact he did not interrupt the service of the hospital around that time, but nonetheless, the whole thing was disrespectful. Ansel said that things have improvement over the last couple of months, but it was still far from being in perfect condition.
He hopes that the president’s visit would lead to certain developments this time around and that veterans would start to feel afraid in the future.
Steven Goodstein
