Today, the NY Times asks an important question: “Where are the war heroes?”
Unlike WWI and WWII, where the military was more than willing to bring their heroes off the front lines to rally support, the current administration is reluctant to share with the public stories of heroism from Iraq. Why?
Many in the military are disheartened by the absence of an instantly recognizable war hero today, a deficiency with a complex cause: public opinion on the Iraq war is split, and drawing attention to it risks fueling opposition; the military is more reluctant than it was in the last century to promote the individual over the group; and the war itself is different, with fewer big battles and more and messier engagements involving smaller units of Americans. Then, too, there is a celebrity culture that seems skewed more to the victim than to the hero.
But there’s something else going on here. Bigger than public opinion, or group versus individual dynamics, or anything else stated in the article.
It’s the idea of “sacrifice.”
The Bush Administration thought they could have a war without sacrifice. Bush’s advisors told him we could march into Iraq with 60,000 troops, defeat Saddam and be welcomed with flowers.
No sacrifice needed.
We now know that was not true. But once the post-war reality become apparent, the Bush Administration still refused to ask for sacrifice from Americans. And still refuses today. While the troops are in the untenable position of simultaneously being warriors, a police force, construction crews, local arbitrators, military trainers and prison guards, Americans have been encouraged to go shopping. Here’s W, in this week’s radio address:
Recent economic reports show that our economy is growing faster than any other major industrialized nation. Small businesses are flourishing. Workers are taking home more of what they earn. Real disposable personal income has grown by over 12 percent since the end of 2000. Inflation is low and mortgage rates are low. And over the past year, the home ownership rate in America has reached record levels.
Unfortunately, for the families of our military, life is not the picture of prosperity that Bush has painted.
In a recent op/ed, Uwe E. Reinhardt, a professor of political economy at Princeton and parent to a Marine currently serving in Iraq, called out the Bush Administration — as well as the rest of the country — on their unwillingness to truly support the troops:
To be sure, we paste cheap magnetic ribbons on our cars to proclaim our support for the troops. But at the same time, we allow families of reservists and National Guard members to slide into deep financial distress as their loved ones stand tall for us on lethal battlefields and the family is deprived of these troops’ typically higher civilian salaries. We offer a pittance in disability pay to seriously wounded soldiers who have not served the full 20 years that entitles them to a regular pension. And our legislative representatives make a disgraceful spectacle of themselves bickering over a mere $1 billion or so in added health care spending by the Department of Veterans Affairs — in a nation with a $13 trillion economy!
America needs to sacrifice for this war. Not just the troops and their families. We need to move beyond the magnetic-ribbon-politics that is encouraging apathy and nonchalance about the 1800 soldiers already dead. How many more will it take?
We don’t have any war heroes because they remind us of the sacrifices people are making everyday in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Bush Administration can only offer us lies. Lies to get us into this war, lies from the deck of an aircraft carrier, and lies about our troops killed in action.
It’s about time we all felt the pain of this war. For that’s the best way I know to get us out.
