"A Life Wasted;" parents of a dead Marine speak out
- From: "Joe S." <anon@xxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 10:21:18 -0500
These people best sit down and shut up. I mean, what right do they have to
complain that their son is dead? Just another bunch of Cindy Sheehan
whiners. Let's get busy and "Swift Boat" these people before their
cowardice spreads. Must be liberals, whining and all that.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/02/AR2006010200974.html
QUOTE
A Life, Wasted
Let's Stop This War Before More Heroes Are Killed
By Paul E. Schroeder
Tuesday, January 3, 2006; Page A17
Early on Aug. 3, 2005, we heard that 14 Marines had been killed in Haditha,
Iraq. Our son, Lance Cpl. Edward "Augie" Schroeder II, was stationed there.
At 10:45 a.m. two Marines showed up at our door. After collecting himself
for what was clearly painful duty, the lieutenant colonel said, "Your son is
a true American hero."
Since then, two reactions to Augie's death have compounded the sadness.
At times like this, people say, "He died a hero." I know this is meant with
great sincerity. We appreciate the many condolences we have received and how
helpful they have been. But when heard repeatedly, the phrases "he died a
hero" or "he died a patriot" or "he died for his country" rub raw.
"People think that if they say that, somehow it makes it okay that he died,"
our daughter, Amanda, has said. "He was a hero before he died, not just
because he went to Iraq. I was proud of him before, and being a patriot
doesn't make his death okay. I'm glad he got so much respect at his funeral,
but that didn't make it okay either."
The words "hero" and "patriot" focus on the death, not the life. They are a
flag-draped mask covering the truth that few want to acknowledge openly:
Death in battle is tragic no matter what the reasons for the war. The
tragedy is the life that was lost, not the manner of death. Families of dead
soldiers on both sides of the battle line know this. Those without family in
the war don't appreciate the difference.
This leads to the second reaction. Since August we have witnessed growing
opposition to the Iraq war, but it is often whispered, hands covering
mouths, as if it is dangerous to speak too loudly. Others discuss the
never-ending cycle of death in places such as Haditha in academic and
sometimes clinical fashion, as in "the increasing lethality of improvised
explosive devices."
Listen to the kinds of things that most Americans don't have to experience:
The day Augie's unit returned from Iraq to Camp Lejeune, we received a box
with his notebooks, DVDs and clothes from his locker in Iraq. The day his
unit returned home to waiting families, we received the second urn of ashes.
This lad of promise, of easy charm and readiness to help, whose highest high
was saving someone using CPR as a first aid squad volunteer, came home in
one coffin and two urns. We buried him in three places that he loved, a
fitting irony, I suppose, but just as rough each time.
I am outraged at what I see as the cause of his death. For nearly three
years, the Bush administration has pursued a policy that makes our troops
sitting ducks. While Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee that our policy is to "clear, hold and build"
Iraqi towns, there aren't enough troops to do that.
In our last conversation, Augie complained that the cost in lives to clear
insurgents was "less and less worth it," because Marines have to keep coming
back to clear the same places. Marine commanders in the field say the same
thing. Without sufficient troops, they can't hold the towns. Augie was
killed on his fifth mission to clear Haditha.
At Augie's grave, the lieutenant colonel knelt in front of my wife and, with
tears in his eyes, handed her the folded flag. He said the only thing he
could say openly: "Your son was a true American hero." Perhaps. But I felt
no glory, no honor. Doing your duty when you don't know whether you will see
the end of the day is certainly heroic. But even more, being a hero comes
from respecting your parents and all others, from helping your neighbors and
strangers, from loving your spouse, your children, your neighbors and your
enemies, from honesty and integrity, from knowing when to fight and when to
walk away, and from understanding and respecting the differences among the
people of the world.
Two painful questions remain for all of us. 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 deaths will not be in vain if Americans stop hiding behind
flag-draped 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.
The writer is managing director of a trade development firm in Cleveland.
END QUOTE
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