Memorial Day has passed, but the military service so many have given since the founding of our nation, especially those who fought and/or died in war, transcends a single day.
The fact is, military service stands on its own.
Debates about wars do not change that fact. Nothing anyone says, especially politicians, can ever enhance or diminish the service rendered. Memorial Day reminds us that what we can do is to say thank you.
That military service stands on its own is why among the rambling statements by Republican presidential hopefuls about the efficacy of the Iraq War, the worst has to be the suggestion that questioning that war does a disservice to those who served in it.
I find that statement unconscionable.
The idea that the reason for going to war cannot be questioned because it will dishonor those called to serve in it is political expediency at its worst. Refusing to ask tough questions about past wars is to choose politics over integrity. That really would be a disservice to our troops.
But asking those questions is what we should have done before we ever invaded Iraq. Everything about that war was wrong for the simple reason that it did not and should not have happened.
We invaded Iraq because the Bush administration saw a chance to get rid of Saddam and as a bonus gain access to Iraqi oil. They didn’t do what they thought was right. They did what they thought they could get away with and then it all went south.
Had our soldiers been greeted as liberators as Cheney famously promised, that would not have changed the fact that the reasons given for the war were lies. What would have happened, though, is that the spoils of “victory” would have overshadowed that truth.
More than anything else, though, Iraq is an example of why our nation will never become the country so many Americans already believe we are.
We refuse to learn from history, doomed as philosopher George Santayana suggested, to repeating it, including its mistakes.
Last week PBS ran several specials on the Viet Nam War detailing what a colossal mistake it was from beginning to end. The Iraq War repeated those mistakes, standing as it now does as among the worst foreign policy failures we have had as a country.
We honor soldiers because they do their best whatever war they fight in, and that is the reason they deserve our highest respect.
The least we can do today as a grateful nation this time around is to learn from the horrible mistake the Iraq War represents, and then demand that our political leaders never again repeat it.
It’s a simple thing, really. No American solider should ever again be asked to fight an ill advised war promoted by leaders who are focused more on the politics of their decisions than real life consequences.
Anyone wanting to be president who cannot make this pledge deserves neither our respect nor our vote.
linnposts.com 