I grant you, every man or woman who has
died under the aegis of the government of the United States of America during the
entire existence of the US of A deserves to be remembered and honored. And a
day set aside called Memorial Day is a good time and occasion to do that.
The honoring of these dead is not the
problem.
The problem is the description used
honoring these dead.
It is very true that many American soldiers
have died defending this country. And it is also true that in recent years when
men and women signed up for duty in the army of the United States of America,
they assumed they might be called upon to defend this country, and they were
proud and willing to do so. That willingness to die for one’s country cannot be
praised enough.
When a man or woman in the United
States Army is grievously wounded or dies in a war, I can understand the family
and friends needing to believe he or she died defending America.
But where the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan are concerned, it is not true.
And yesterday, Memorial Day, we were constantly
told to remember those who died in Iraq and Afghanstan who were “defending our
country”.
They surely may have been willing to
defend the USA, but those who died in Iraq died defending the erroneous,
wrongheaded and unnecessary war concocted by President George W. Bush and his administration.
They died to increase the riches of Vice President Dick Cheney who was heavily
involved with and invested in the corporations that made armaments. That is not
defending our country.
And now, 2000 US men and women have died
in Afghanistan defending the poppy fields and opium trade of a nation that has
been at war with itself for 3,000 years. That is not defending our country.
We have to stop lying to ourselves
about why the men and women in our military are dying. If I were a parent or
loved one of a soldier who had died in our military, I too would want to think
they had died defending America. And it is true, they all surely were willing
to die defending the USA. However, they died for every egregiously ugly reason
under the sun except in defense of the USA.
We have to stop lying to ourselves
before we can stop this nonsense of young men and women fighting and dying on
foreign soil for no good reason.
