who blogs at Dirigo Blue and Kennebec Blues.
In memory of Army Sgt. Felix Delgreco.
With the war in Iraq ending we are hearing speeches praising our returning soldiers and reflecting on their fellow service men and woman who died in the conflict as not giving their lives in vain. Saddam Hussein was disposed, a freer Iraq, and even the Arab Spring are being used as examples of the sacrifice of lives being worth it and therefore not in given in vain.
This was an elective war, based on false premises, waged on a target unconnected with the nation’s rage, tinged with personal vengeance, based on erroneous assumptions about war plans and occupation, lacking genuine consensus, opposed by the public and our allies, crafted by politics, and with mixed consequences. It was a war in vain; and this country sacrificed soldiers to the vanities of the political intrigues of George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, and a whole host of other non-combatants.
Our soldiers deserve praise. And those killed did not die in vain as individuals. But the outcome in Iraq was not the worthy sacrifice. Rather it was the service rendered to discharge their job as ordered, the constitutional acquiescent of our military to civilian authority, and meeting the challenges of multiple deployments to serve their country that highlights their personal sacrifice.
Iraq was a war in vain. Its outcomes have not been worthy of the sacrifice of our service men and women. Soldiers follow orders that are given in our name and it is we who ask them to risk, suffer, and deliver death. Let us long for the lesson of Iraq to be that the almost 4,500 soldiers who lost their lives in that conflict did not die in vain because we have now learned to more critically and carefully question the premise for waging war before committing to the terrible sacrifices it confers on those who serve in the military.
“Here, while the moon shines, men are dying on the other side of the earth. Which of them might have written a great poem? Which of them would have cured cancer? Which of them might have played in a World Series or given us the gift of laughter from a stage or helped build a bridge or a university? Which of them might have taught a child to read? It is our responsibility to let those men live….”
Robert F. Kennedy, March 24, 1968