Sunday reflections for me always include time for remembering the men and women who have died during the current war.
Because this war has been conducted without the broad reaching national involvement that a military draft would insure, it seems to me that we go about our business without much thought about what's going on in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Current national opinion polls indicate that the number one issue of concern for Americans is the economy.
Does that strike you as odd?
I expect that the number one issue of concern for American families with family members and loved ones serving in this seemingly interminable conflict is not the economy. What do you think?
Since the war in Iraq began over five years ago, 4,144 of our troops have lost their lives in Iraq, not including casualities in Afghanistan. Over 4,000 have died since President Bush declared "mission accomplished." Over 30,000 have been wounded. Then there is the entire matter of the Iraqi war dead. Estimates range in the hundreds of thousands, including vast numbers of civilians.
Every time I open this page my eye goes instinctively to the "war cost counter" to the right. I think of the funding and how it could be spent in alternative ways. Far more valuable to us all are the lives that have been and will be lost or broken.
So, regardless of your opinion about the war, its strategy or its purpose; forgetting politics and ideology--let's just remember today those who are far away from home in a very tough place.
Possibly change will be released as we remember and reflect.
8 comments:
Speaking of issues Americans think are important, did you see the interview/conversation at Saddleback Church with Rick Warren asking questions of Obama and McCain? Very interesting. By the end, Grant and I decided we'd just prefer to vote for Rick Warren!!!! Ha! Kidding... sort of!!!!
I'm not sure Bush ever "declared 'mission accomplished.'" I think you are misremembering or misrepresenting a navy banner that they displayed for their own morale because they had completed their mission and had removed the Hussein regime.
Casualty estimates from lefty sources are generally wild exagerations.
Concerning Iraqi civilian deaths, who is killing them?
Answer: America's enemies, who need to be defeated.
Question: Do "those who are far away from home in a very tough place" want to win or quit? Would you support the desires of those sacrificing and "serving in this...conflict"
4,000 kids die per day in the USA. Say thank you to the Libs if you hate kids. Murder at its best
"Concerning Iraqi civilian deaths, who is killing them?
Answer: America's enemies, who need to be defeated."
The U.S. is killing the Iraqi civilians. c hand: what world do you live in? OR do you get all your "news" from Faux news?
Belinda, Who do you want to win in Iraq, the US military or those it is fighting?
Iraqis are mainly killing Iraqis. But that is really beside the point. Whatever the many shortcomings of Saddam's regime, it kept order. Since we took down the regime, that is now our responsibility. "You break it, you fix it." So those Iraqi deaths are at least partially on us.
No, that is the point. We have enemies and we have allies in Iraq. Just as "not all black people look alike" not all Iraqis are the same. Is moral blindness a choice or an affliction?
Thanks for this post. We have several friends and family in the military and they are never far from our minds. I also don't want to forget that terrorists (like Paul was) can also be transformed by Christ. Like Paul, they are potential disciples.
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