I have such a hard time wrapping my head around this.The Democratic party won the last election on the basis of promising to put an end to the war in Iraq. Joe Lieberman and his fellow travellers in the Senate refuse to even ALLOW a debate on the issue of Iraq, much less put substantive legislation in place to bring the war to an end.
And the Democratic Senators roll?
Forget the party base- they're stiffing the VOTERS here.
Put aside the moral implications for a second. What in the name of heaven are the leading Democratic Senators that are running for the office of the presidency thinking? What if Hillary or Obama win the nomination and beat the Republican candidate in the general, assuming the office of the president of the United States in 2009?
Do they realize the political implications of being left "holding the bag" on George W. Bush's war?
I hate to couch it in those terms but those seem to be the only terms that really matter to those guys. The politics of not ending the Iraq war right now just plain suck.
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Blair's reading the public bottom line on this, (right again, Mr. PR Man!), so what's lacking in the Dems resolve to get the heck out?
Probably folks like the lady I saw yesterday on the News at Noon on Channel 2; a sobbing woman who had her soldier son killed in Iraq - She simply said, "If we pull out, then what will my son's death be worth? He will have died for nothing." She didn't seem angry, just really, really sad.
Of course, I wanted to say "Duh! That's what war is, a waste of young men's lives!" but the kid probably made the decision on his own. But since many 18-20 year old guys have very little brains and lots of dreams of glory....I wish the military would stop with the ads. The glamorous jobs they show are mostly for the college-graduate ROTC kids, dudes!
The piece was ironically on folks testifying in Salem, letting our congress people know that we want OUT of Iraq. It did show another mother who's son was killed, and wanted the war to end.
Probably folks like the lady I saw yesterday on the News at Noon on Channel 2; a sobbing woman who had her soldier son killed in Iraq - She simply said, "If we pull out, then what will my son's death be worth? He will have died for nothing." She didn't seem angry, just really, really sad.
This may be easy for me to say but this is another thing I have a hard time getting my head around (seems to be lots of those today.)
How can she say that her son's service is demeaned because the mission turned out to be a clusterfuck? How does this in any way subtract from his sacrifice and willingness to serve his country?
The mission is an unwinnable mess. That is absolutely not the fault of the men and women in uniform who serve. It is COMPLETELY the fault of politicians in both partys that ignorantly set policy.
Whether or not we remain in Iraq has absolutely nothing to do with her son's service, her son's bravery or her son's patriotism.
What will her son's death be worth? I can answer for myself. It's worth salute to another vet on Veteran's Day. It's worth my hand over my heart during the National Anthem at a ballgame. It's worth a personal resolution to never again let those in charge play stupid games with the lives of those in uniform.
I don't disagree w/you. I mean I've learned sh*t happens, people die and it doesn't necessarily mean a gol-danged thing.
The thing is that some folks need that meaning, need a "reason" or else that renders their loved ones' death worthless, or worse, meaningless.
However, Who am I to say how to value, or grieve a loved one's life?
That's why I think the whole "glorious" military propaganda machine is especially cruel - "They died defending freedom! How noble!"
Cue the mothers/families paraded in front of the cameras by administrations past and present-"They paid the ultimate price for our nation, blah, blah, blah.
Note that one of the main roles of women in ancient Greece & Rome was public grieving for husbands and sons lost in wars. Things haven't changed much.
Sadly, I think their deaths are for nothing... when this slow realization creeps up on the loved ones of the dead and they accept it, only then will they find any sense of peace. There will be a huge shift when and if that happens...
No one important has the balls to say it out loud for fear of making the voters mad out of some fake disrespect to the troops but they need to get mad, mad at Dubya.
The soldiers death are just as meaningless as a child killed by a drunk driver... there I said it. The world is a worse place because of the Iraq war. That sounds pretty worthless to me.
Ladybug and Swinebread,
I agree completely on that "glorious military propoganda machine" observation. There is something very twisted in that sort of pageant and it's not lost on me that there's a correlation between some of the more ethically dubious societies and their celebration of the military as the most profound example of the purity/ goodness of the state.
I guess I just seperate the pieties ("He died defending freedom" ) tossed at the families of those that lost sons and daughters in the current war in Iraq by this government of knuckle-heads from my own respect for service to our country. It's part of my Catholic upbringing that I have a soft spot for service, be it to the poor or be it to one's country. (I wish we lived in a country where both were possible at the same time.)
Serving in the armed forces is an honorable thing, in my estimation. I know that people sign-up for all sorts of personal reasons but the bottom line in they're putting their country above themselves. Even in times of relative peace the armed forces are more dangerous than working at McDonalds.
So in the broad sense I honor all that serve.
But part of that honor and my duty as a citizen is to honor the covenant to which we, and that person whose enlisting and swearing an oath to the constitution, enter upon that oath. They promise to fight - and die if necessary for their country - we promise to try not to put leaders in charge that put them at that risk for stupid reasons.
The war in Iraq is not the fault of the men and women in uniform. It falls squarely on the shoulders of those among us who voted so carelessly in several of the last elections and didn't consider the consequences of their actions.
I agree that families of those that have lost ones in Iraq should be mad. I agree completely that they should hold this government and this President accountable. But I respectively disagree that the lives of anyone that honorablly wears the uniform of our armed forces and dies has wasted their life. I don't care if they died serving in Iraq or were runover by a humvee at Dover or died cleaning their weapon at Fort Lewis.
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