Pollywog Poli-blog

..between the crosses, row on row.

If putting up a "memorial" to the soldiers in Iraq that lists nothing but numbers the dead and wounded servicemen, then posting the numbers killed on the highways of this land in a given year is a valid acknowledgement of the Interstate highway system.

A TRUE memorial would humanize them, and try to make their sacrifice noble, and not just list them off like ingredients on a cereal box. Even the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington D.C., soundly criticized when it was first built for it's somber look and lack of bravado, brings an element of humanity into remembering the servicemen of that war.

But humanizing the casualities of this war is exactly what those who are vehemently opposed to it DON'T want, because unlike Vietnam, this war is being fought by a military that believes in the cause, that wasn't drafted but volunteered. They signed up because they wanted to, because they saw military service as valid and a benefit, not because their number came up and they were forced to join.

That these men and women died because of their choosing to serve, and their belief in a just war is something that hardcore opponents of the war and the military cannot and will not accept.

posted by Kevin Creighton @ 11:39 AM