Honoring the dead

by Aziz Poonawalla on March 19, 2007

in Uncategorized

Those of us who argued in favor of the Iraq war have much to answer for. Not the least of which is the deaths of thousands of American men and women. The my representative, the Speaker of the House, has created a list of those who made the ultimate sacrifice. She has broken it apart by year. I am going to reprint the names below. If you honor at all their sacrifice, take a moment to ponder the lives given in pursuit of American foreign policy…

{ 22 comments }

1 Ronald Coleman March 19, 2007 at 6:43 pm

This is essentially an act of vandalism on the blog. It is not “honoring” these people to use their names to make your political statement.

2 Aziz March 19, 2007 at 6:47 pm

he’s honoring the dead, Ron. whatsyour beef here?

though Andrew, please use the Show/Hide !

3 Ronald Coleman March 19, 2007 at 6:52 pm

My beef was that until Dean fixed it, it took up the whole front page.

My beef is what I said above:

It is not “honoring” these people to use their names to make your political statement.

To the contrary. It is a dishonor to them to use their names to make an empty political statement. What is the point? “Oh, wait. The people who died have names? That changes everything. Bush lied — people with names died!” Come on.

4 Dean Esmay March 19, 2007 at 6:53 pm

Bravo! Although we do need the hide/show or the blog becomes unreadable.

Linking lists like this is always worthwhile. I might suggest, however, that there are better presentations. For example, the Military Times has a great site on it right here. Also see The Washington Post’s Faces of the Fallen, which is also always worth a link.

Every one of those lives was expended in a noble and heroic mission. I honor their memory by remembering that always, and by pledging oppose any efforts to make their sacrifice have been in vain.

5 Dean Esmay March 19, 2007 at 6:55 pm

By the way, Andrew, never forget the fallen in Afghanistan. Or the Balkans.

6 Chris Lansdown March 19, 2007 at 6:55 pm

Duly pondered.

I wonder how we can generate a list of all those who would have died were it not for the war in Iraq, to celebrate them being alive. That would actually be a truly great way to honor the sacrifices made by our fallen soldiers. That is, to honor them by showing the greatness of what they achieved.

7 Ronald Coleman March 19, 2007 at 6:56 pm

Sorry, Chris, there’s no trite way to do that.

8 Dean Esmay March 19, 2007 at 7:00 pm

I should have mentioned the Phillipines. And Somalia. And many other places we often forget.

It’s not trite to remember their noble and willing sacrifice. I do every day.

By the way, have you considered giving money to Soldier’s Angels lately?

9 Martin L. Shoemaker March 19, 2007 at 7:13 pm

Try this, Ron. When you read Andrew’s statement…


If you honor at all their sacrifice, take a moment to ponder the lives given in pursuit of American foreign policy…

Replace it with what I’m sure he really meant to say…


If you honor at all their sacrifice, take a moment to ponder the lives freely given to liberate an oppressed nation from a brutal, terror-supporting dictator and to provide them the security they need to build a free nation…

And then, indeed, I think you can take a while to honor their sacrifice.

10 Jack G March 19, 2007 at 7:42 pm


If you honor at all their sacrifice, take a moment to ponder the lives freely given to liberate an oppressed nation from a brutal, terror-supporting dictator and to provide them the security they need to build a free nation…

Well spoken.

For more than one reason.

11 Mark @ Urthshu March 19, 2007 at 7:42 pm

My, my. An honor on a blog post!!! Its like… a monument or something! Doesn’t feel like a cheap shot at all!!! In fact, I’m sure all those parents were damned proud to lend their son’s and daughter’s names to whatever statement you were going to make, weren’t they? Wow.

12 Dean Esmay March 19, 2007 at 7:47 pm

I’ve got many family and friends in the military.

Most will tell you that dishonoring their mission dishonors them.

But they’ll also tell you that the freedom to speak your mind is part of what they most fervently believe.

Take from that what you will.

In my case, I recognize wars as not belonging to any one politician, but to the entire nation.

13 Mark @ Urthshu March 19, 2007 at 7:49 pm

So do I, Dean.

14 Ronald Coleman March 19, 2007 at 8:14 pm

Okay, this has been fun, but I have to go now. I’m writing the names of the fallen on used Dixie cups and stacking them up in front of the stage door at the theater where “Rent” is playing. I can think of no greater way to honor those who have fallen in the fascistic Bushitler neocon bloodbath they were duped, like encephalitic zombies, into dying for, k?

I support the dupes troops!

15 Cervus March 19, 2007 at 9:18 pm

I think the problem is with this statement:


Those of us who argued in favor of the Iraq war have much to answer for. Not the least of which is the deaths of thousands of American men and women

Emphasis added. Coming from Pelosi, and this statement by Andrew, strikes me as a backhanded way to honor these soldiers at best. At worst it’s an Appeal to Emotion fallacy. The implication is that they died for nothing. I can’t stomach that.

No, not by a long shot.

16 Mark @ Urthshu March 19, 2007 at 10:02 pm

That, and two others:

-That those who did not support the war have nothing to answer for [which is rank BS], and

-That, under the guise of ‘honoring’ the dead one can ghoulishly remind those with loved ones in the war that they may yet be killed.

Tha-anks.

17 M. Scott Eiland March 19, 2007 at 10:18 pm

This was lame when Ted Koppel did it on Nightline. Doing it here is just pathetic.

18 Sean Golden March 20, 2007 at 12:37 am

Puh-leeze Andrew. Find some other way to promote your ideology.

And Nancy too.

19 PFC_Koopmans March 20, 2007 at 1:20 am

I’d have to agree that those of us in the military tend to think that knowing that our lives are making a real difference for the people out there in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that pulling us out and nullifying all the good we’ve done would be no fit way to honor the fallen.

The MSM party line really starts getting on my nerves after a while.

20 Martin L. Shoemaker March 20, 2007 at 1:47 am

OK, time to speak up for Andrew, I guess.

I take Andrew at his word when he says the following:

1. He supported the invasion. He supported sending troops into harm’s way.

2. He thinks it has been a horrible disaster.

3. Knowing what he now knows, he would not have supported the invasion.

Given those positions, Andrew would be a right royal bastard if he didn’t view these names with solemnity and a lot of thought. He would necessarily be motivated to try to stop the mistake from getting worse.

Now he’s clearly wrong on #2, leaving #3 an open question. And I’m not sure if he realizes just how much worse things would get if the “peace at any cost in Iraqi lives” crowd had their way. But I see no reason to doubt his motives here, just his understanding of the situation in Iraq.

Now I do blame the media for feeding him such misinformation, and Speaker Pelosi for using troop deaths for partisan advantage. But I don’t blame Andrew for parroting their talking points.

21 sherard March 20, 2007 at 7:18 am

But I don’t blame Andrew for parroting their talking points.

Well, I do. Parroting the talking points ? Now you can get a pass for that ? How about coming up with an original thought of your own, maybe Andrew should strive for something like that instead of “parroting the talking points”. Or have we just accepted the fact that the left is made up of nothing but mindless sheep ?

Sorry, you don’t get a pass for “parroting the talking points” from me. I’m with Ron and Sean. This is nothing more than a thinly veiled appeal to emotion and, frankly, it’s insulting to anyone with half a brain. As if this emotional appeal is all it takes to sway those that support this mission and the soldiers undertaking the mission to flop over to the “disaster, quagmire, cut and run” left.

Don’t think so.

22 Elisha Feger March 20, 2007 at 1:22 pm

Quagmire! Quagmire!

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