The Evansville Courier-Press has a column by Martin Schram for the Scripps Howard News Service entitled Diminished coverage. It’s 3:40 a.m. and my 18 month old daughter has been crying for the last half hour, so maybe it’s just my muddled, sleep-deprived head, but I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around why the press is calling Obama’s statement that “we now have spent $400 billion and have seen over 3,000 lives of the bravest young Americans wasted” was a gaffe. The Schram column just says “Wasted?” He does not try to explain how U.S. foreign policy has used those lives well. If someone would explain how those lives were used to achieve a benefit commensurate with the cost, perhaps I could be persuaded that Obama was somehow incorrect in his statement. Instead, all I get is some sort of semi-articulated (from Schram and elsewhere) notion that Obama has somehow belittled the dead servicemen and women through this statement.
Noting that the Iraq War has been wasteful of American lives does nothing to diminish the sacrifice of those who sacrificed their lives. Seems to me that it makes the sacrifice that much more indicative of their love for their country. In any event, the situation reminds me a bit of The Charge of the Light Brigade:
1.
Half a league, half a league,
Half a league onward,
All in the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!
“Charge for the guns!” he said:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.2.
“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismay’d?
Not tho’ the soldier knew
Someone had blunder’d:
Their’s not to make reply,
Their’s not to reason why,
Their’s but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred.3.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon in front of them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
Boldly they rode and well,
Into the jaws of Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the six hundred.4.
Flash’d all their sabres bare,
Flash’d as they turn’d in air,
Sabring the gunners there,
Charging an army, while
All the world wonder’d:
Plunged in the battery-smoke
Right thro’ the line they broke;
Cossack and Russian
Reel’d from the sabre stroke
Shatter’d and sunder’d.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the six hundred.5.
Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left of them,
Cannon behind them
Volley’d and thunder’d;
Storm’d at with shot and shell,
While horse and hero fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro’ the jaws of Death
Back from the mouth of Hell,
All that was left of them,
Left of six hundred.6.
When can their glory fade?
O the wild charge they made!
All the world wondered.
Honor the charge they made,
Honor the Light Brigade,
Noble six hundred.
Exactly. I have no idea why Obama backtracked on that comment. If he has always believed the war was wrong (he supposedly has), and that wrong war has killed all these people and left Iraq far worse off than before the deaths occurred with no end in sight…. then, those lives were wasted. It’s a shame that all things military, all egregious blunders, etc., have to be discussed so gingerly. People should be mad as hell, foaming at the mouth over this. People should not be worried about giving offense with their comments regarding people and policies which are themselves unbelievably offensive.
I wish Howard Dean would run again. It’s a shame his being right about everything and not being afraid to say it disqualified him from serving.
Doug,
I agree with your statements about Obama.The media is in love with this guy and need to ask him tough questions and have him explain his posititons on issues.They need to do this with all the candidates on both sides.They seem to so far be giving Mr.Obama a pass.
I agreed with the Iraq war in the beginning when I was told by our government that it was a national security issue and Sadam was developing weapons of mass destruction.When it became apparent this was untrue and the administration switched to the liberating the citizens of Iraq mode I knew it was time to bring the troops home.There are a lot of evil dictators in the world but this country can not spend treasure and most importantly the lives of our soldiers to overthrow these people and liberate the citizens of those countries.Although a noble idea anyone who has bothered to read or research the history of Iraq knows getting the two main ethnic groups to get along and live in harmony would be impossible,throw in the terrorist now crossing the border plus the insurgents already there and you have the mess we currently have.
Iraq and Sadam were in a box contained.There were no ties to 9-11 or terrorists in Iraq until the invasion.Hussein ruled the country with a iron fist and kept the various factions in control with brutality.
The qustion and it is a hard one that will have to be answered by someone smarter than I is what now?If we pull out it will be ethnic extermination which is currently going on now but will be even more so if we pull out.If we stay more troops will die in the upcoming surge and nothing will be accomplished.I must confess I do not have the answers!!In no way can anyone diminish the the sacrifices of our soldiers who were put in a difficult situation to do a difficult job in what appears to be a unwinablewar.They have served well.Sure there have been instances of atrocities committed by a few soldiers in this war but that has happened in war since the beginning of time and always will when you have young soldiers faced with death every day and at any moment.This does not excuse anything but I understand the mentality somewhat.