What was all this for?
I found this list of all the American military personnel who have lost their lives in this month alone. I doubt they've added the 9 that were killed today.
As I browse through the list of 79 persons (so far in this month) I can't help but wonder just what their families would be thinking back home.
What would the parents of 19-year-old's who could have asked their teenagers to go to further their studies think of all this?
Would they all be branded heroes who gave their lives to grant a country, far from their homes, a freedom they've never had?
Or would they be branded as lives wasted in the unending pursuit of national interests?
Personally, I couldn't get myself to look at their ages. Most of these servicemen are my age, in their 20s. The prime of their lives. Perhaps they were those who just got married to their high school sweethearts. Perhaps they were the ones who thought it was a good idea to join the Army to serve their country. As proof of how patriotic they were.
Perhaps they were talked into it. Perhaps they had relatives who were once in the Army and wanted to follow their footsteps. Family tradition and all that.
Perhaps their spouse was in the Army, and they wanted to be closer together.
Heck, perhaps some of them were fooled and did it for the money, or a promised higher education scholarship.
Who knows.
There was a slideshow from the New York Times which had audios of the parents, stating how proud they were about their lost children. Some recalled their kids in high school. One mom went so far to state how her she missed her son's sense of humor.
There are a lot of stories going around about this war. This "Mission not quite Accomplished". Some label it a quagmire. Others say that it isn't over till that guy in that White House says it's over.
I'd like to look beyond that for a minute.
And beyond the innate and never ending arguments, all I see is names, ages, postings, dates, how they died.....
I just say look at the ages of these military personnel who have died. Look at the families of these heroes. Listen to the tales of those waiting back home for their loved ones.
I'm still reeling while looking at the ages as I browse the other months.
At the same time, I'm wondering how long a list of Iraqi civilian casualties would be on a monthly basis.
Comments
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I agree with you on at least one thing: war is hell. It's hell for those who survive, and it's hell for the families of those who die, and it's hell for those who are permanently maimed. It's hell for civilians caught in the crossfire.
What I disagree with is the idea that this war is futile and unnecessary.
This war is our generation's World War II. This war was brought to us with an opening shot, the largest mass murder the world has yet seen. But not, perhaps, the largest the world will ever see, if our enemies get their way. 3000 innocent people going about their daily lives, lost those lives in an attack on our own soil.
Whether we want to declare peace or not, war has been declared on us. The terrorist infiltrators in Iraq know the stakes, which is why they have been fighting so hard.
Lest you think I don't have a dog in this fight, let me tell you I do. My brother is in the Army, 25 years old with a college degree and a young wife. Do you think I want him to die? Do you think my heart does not ache for every soldier who has died in this conflict?
No one desires peace more than I do.
And yet... the wrong kind of peace will only sow the seeds of greater tragedy, down the road.
As for 9/11, a lot of lives were lost. Not just Americans. We lost hundred thousands of Afghanis. And following that, we've now lost hundred thousands Iraqis civilians.
Are the lives of 3,000 American civilians equal to such an amount of lives in other countries?
I think it's heinous to put a comparison on such lives.
As for your brother, I wish him safe in that country, just as much that I wish the Iraqis will be safe and soon reach a normalcy in their daily lives.
My opinion might not be a very popular one, but I say again: War is hell. Any war. And always.
Are there useful wars? Honestly – with the only exception of some aspects of World War II, I don’t know of any. Even World War II could have been avoided, for let’s not forget that World War II was possible only because of World War I. The humiliation of Germany in the first war directly led to the rise of Hitler to power. People responsible for the first war are ultimately responsible for the tragedies of the second.
This war was brought to us with an opening shot, the largest mass murder the world has yet seen.
People keep repeating that, but Iraq was not responsible for 9/11. Period. Just because they are Muslims doesn’t give us the right to punish them for something other Muslims did.
I absolutely agree that 9/11 was a huge tragedy. It was a terrible crime against humanity that should have never ever happened. It sucks that the people responsible for it are still at large. However, saying that it was the largest mass murder the world has yet seen, would mean that we are forgetting about other tragedies when thousands of innocent lives were lost. Examples: Hiroshima (140,000 people), Nagasaki (74,000), Dresden (between 35,000 and 135,000), and that’s if we are only talking about single strike attacks. Deaths of innocent people are always horrible and there are no words to describe the grief I feel for these people and their families. All I want is for violence to stop - any violence.
…the wrong kind of peace will only sow the seeds of greater tragedy, down the road.
What makes you think that that continuing the war will not sow the seeds of greater tragedy? And how big a tragedy are we trying to avoid if we are willing to pay the price of thousands of innocent lives? Between 100,000 and 940,000 Iraqis and over 3,000 Americans…
No one desires peace more than I do, however…
I am with you. Minus the “however” part. “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God,” right?
Yes, people of many nationalities died on 9/11, not just Americans. But it did occur on our soil. That doesn't make the bombings in Madrid, or London, or Bali any less heinous. I merely point out that it was the opening shot.
I would never say that any one American life is worth more or less than an Iraqi life or an Afghani life. I am sorry you would think that I or anyone would say such a thing.
When I said my heart aches for the soldiers who have died in this conflict, I didn't mean just ours. The deaths of alQaeda's young "martyrs" represent a truly tragic loss of human potential and human spirit. What if their energies and talents had been turned toward building the economies of their parent nations, instead of being twisted toward death in the erstwhile Afghan (Taliban) (for instance) training camps?
"Blessed are the peacemakers," indeed, Max. A wise man first said that. But Osama Bin Ladin, and the people he inspires, would gladly have you shot for saying so. I, on the other hand, am exceedingly glad that you have the right to say so. And that there are people willing to defend your right to say so.
We appear to be at an impasse. I won't convince you, you won't convince me. However, I will let you have the last word; this is your post after all. Please, go ahead. (How's that for peacemaking? :-) )
Dear Mama With a Mohawk,
I would much prefer that the people who defend my right to say that "blessed are the peacemakers" would become peacemakers themselves. What Osama sees is a bunch of people who constantly wage war and yet claim that they are peacemakers. He could call us hypocrites - and he will be right. So why not prove him wrong and actually do that what we say is right.