HEROES

THE DEAD AND THE WOUNDED OF THE IRAQ WAR
2003- 2008

Since March 24, 2008 marked the 5th anniversary of the United States invasion of Iraq, it is fitting and proper that we honor the more than 4,000 men and women of our military who gave their lives in a war most experts now believe should never have been started. We pray for them and grieve with their families. We also honor the men and women who were wounded–29,395 as of this writing—many of whom are so severely wounded that they will spend the rest of their lives in military hospitals. The United States will bear the cost of their confinement and rehabilitation as well it should.

We have already spent over 500 billion dollars on this war, a sum most of us cannot comprehend. New York Times journalist Paul Krugman has tried to simplify that amount for us. He tells us in his March 23, 2008 column that we are spending over $5000 every second on this war.

I commend the president for trying recently to boost the morale of the troops in Afghanistan by visiting with them, but I cannot applaud what he said. He told the troops that he is “a little envious” of their adventure there, saying it was in some ways “romantic.”

Those words should disabuse us of the notion that Mr. Bush has an exit plan to end this war. That will be the job of the next president, whoever he or she might be. Isn’t that romantic?

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