George,

On this Memorial Day I, too, grieved for the young people whose lives were sacrificed in wars, both past and present. My grief, however, was not - and is not - untouched by the horror of what is going in Iraq and, yes, still in Afghanistan. Both areas of slaughter and destruction are witness to our own soldiers' succumbing to the "killer instinct" which war encourages.

To have our own "defenders of freedom" - ostensibly sent by this out-of-control administration to spread "democracy" -
wreak senseless and brutal death on innocent civilians: men, women and children - is to highlight but one aspect of our insane adventure.

I wonder whether in my lifetime I will see a Memorial Day devoted to honoring peace, rather than the human proof of what wars result in. Death is, of course, inevitable, but what we are doing in Iraq - as we did in Vietnam - is to not only not honor those sent forth to death and disability, but to give credence to the madness for which they were dispatched.

Barbara Rich (May 30, 2006)