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The Homecoming
The nation will pause this week to mark the sixth anniversary of the war in Iraq.
The occasion will no doubt rekindle bitter debates about the basis used by the Bush Administration to enter the conflict and the run-up to our involvement in the war.
There will be disagreements about the existence of weapons of mass destruction. That was the key element used by the Bush team to go into Iraq and topple the regime of Saddam Hussein. We now know that intelligence information was faulty. We still haven’t found significant WMD there.
Others will argue that Hussein had to go, that he posed a threat to national security regardless and that removing him was justified in lessening the terror threat against the U.S. and our allies.
The debate has been going on for six years; it will not end this week.
The cost to the nation has been staggering, both to our psyche and our image in the world. And the human toll, the loss of life, is incalculable, regardless of what the numbers are.
But it would be a mistake to confuse the mission with those charged with carrying it out.
Which brings me to the front page of today’s newspaper. If there is a positive image connected to the war it is this: A soldier in the embrace of a loved one on his return to Philadelphia International Airport.
It is an almost universal image of the other side of the war, one that does not always make headlines.
There is only one word to describe the look on the face of Spc. Andrew Lebold of Rutledge: Priceless.
Lebold spent 15 months in Iraq with the I-8 Infantry Battalion, 4th Infantry Division.
Last night a good portion of the tiny borough turned out as he got out of a car at borough hall.
Let us be the first to offer similar thoughts: Welcome home, soldier. Congratuations on a job well done.
The debate about the war will go on for some time. There is no debate over Lebold and thousands of men and women like him who traveled to the other side of the world to defend our way of life.
They deserve our respect and admiration. And a simple thank you wouldn’t hurt either.
The occasion will no doubt rekindle bitter debates about the basis used by the Bush Administration to enter the conflict and the run-up to our involvement in the war.
There will be disagreements about the existence of weapons of mass destruction. That was the key element used by the Bush team to go into Iraq and topple the regime of Saddam Hussein. We now know that intelligence information was faulty. We still haven’t found significant WMD there.
Others will argue that Hussein had to go, that he posed a threat to national security regardless and that removing him was justified in lessening the terror threat against the U.S. and our allies.
The debate has been going on for six years; it will not end this week.
The cost to the nation has been staggering, both to our psyche and our image in the world. And the human toll, the loss of life, is incalculable, regardless of what the numbers are.
But it would be a mistake to confuse the mission with those charged with carrying it out.
Which brings me to the front page of today’s newspaper. If there is a positive image connected to the war it is this: A soldier in the embrace of a loved one on his return to Philadelphia International Airport.
It is an almost universal image of the other side of the war, one that does not always make headlines.
There is only one word to describe the look on the face of Spc. Andrew Lebold of Rutledge: Priceless.
Lebold spent 15 months in Iraq with the I-8 Infantry Battalion, 4th Infantry Division.
Last night a good portion of the tiny borough turned out as he got out of a car at borough hall.
Let us be the first to offer similar thoughts: Welcome home, soldier. Congratuations on a job well done.
The debate about the war will go on for some time. There is no debate over Lebold and thousands of men and women like him who traveled to the other side of the world to defend our way of life.
They deserve our respect and admiration. And a simple thank you wouldn’t hurt either.
posted by Heron's Nest at
7:46 AM
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