How
far we’ve come as a country. Consider the following
proclamation by President Dwight D. Eisenhower for Memorial Day in
1955:
“Whereas
Memorial Day each year serves as a solemn reminder of the scourge of
war and its bitter aftermath of sorrow; and Whereas this day has
traditionally been devoted to paying homage to loved ones who lie in
hallowed graves throughout the land… I, Dwight D. Eisenhower,
President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim
Memorial Day, Monday, the thirtieth of May, 1955, as a day of
Nation-wide prayer for permanent peace.”
Permanent
peace? What was that hippie peacenik president smoking?
I
find it remarkable that talk of peace in America has almost
completely disappeared from our public discourse. Permanent
war
is
instead seen as inevitable, the price of confronting evildoers around
the world.
Yes,
I know Ike’s
record
as
president wasn’t perfect. But compared to today’s
presidents, whether Barack “Kill List” Obama or Donald
“Make Genocidal Threats” Trump, Ike was positively
pacific.
Memorial
Day, as Ike said, is a time for us all to remember the sacrifices of
those who fought and died for this country. But it’s also a
time, as Ike said, to work to eliminate the scourge of war. For the
best way to honor our war dead is to work to ensure their ranks
aren’t expanded.
Sadly,
as Colonel (retired) Andrew Bacevich notes at TomDispatch.com,
those ranks do keep expanding. The names of our latest war dead are
memorialized on a little-known wall in Marseilles, Illinois
(including the name of Bacevich’s son, who died serving in
Iraq). Like Ike, Bacevich knows the costs of war, and like Ike he’s
not taken in by patriotic talk about noble sacrifices for “freedom.”
As he puts it:
Those
whose names are engraved on the wall in Marseilles died in service to
their country. Of that there is no doubt. Whether they died to
advance the cause of freedom or even the wellbeing of the United
States is another matter entirely. Terms that might more accurately
convey why these wars began and why they have persisted for so long
include oil, dominion, hubris, a continuing and stubborn refusal
among policymakers to own up to their own stupendous folly, and the
collective negligence of citizens who have become oblivious to where
American troops happen to be fighting at any given moment and why.
Some might add to the above list an inability to distinguish between
our own interests and those of putative allies like Saudi Arabia and
Israel.
Those
are strong words that all Americans should consider every
Memorial
Day. As we consider them, let’s also recall Ike’s 1955
prayer for peace. And, even better, let’s act on it.
