skippy the bush kangaroo

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

heroism defined...

from paul e. schroeder, a father who lost his son, lance corporal edward "augie" schroeder, in the iraq war, "a life, wasted":

...are the lives of americans being killed in iraq wasted? are they dying in vain? president bush says those who criticize staying the course are not honoring the dead. that is twisted logic: honor the fallen by killing another 2,000 troops in a broken policy?

i choose to honor our fallen hero by remembering who he was in life, not how he died. a picture of a smiling augie in iraq, sunglasses turned upside down, shows his essence -- a joyous kid who could use any prop to make others feel the same way.

though it hurts, i believe that his death -- and that of the other americans who have died in iraq -- was a waste. they were wasted in a belief that democracy would grow simply by removing a dictator -- a careless misunderstanding of what democracy requires. they were wasted by not sending enough troops to do the job needed in the resulting occupation -- a careless disregard for professional military counsel.

but their death will not be in vain if americans stop hiding behind flag-craped hero masks and stop whispering their opposition to this war. until then, the lives of other sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers and mothers may be wasted as well.

this is very painful to acknowledge, and i have to live with it. so does president bush.



oh, awol lives with it, all right. gathering and burning all the brush in the world won't change that.

(big hop for scout prime...)
posted by Jim Yeager at 5:42 AM |

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