by Maj. Danny Sjursen, USA (ret) from AntiWar
It is undoubtedly my favorite part of every wedding. That awkward,
but strangely forthright moment when the preacher asks the crowd for any
objections to the couple’s marriage. No one ever objects, of course, but it’s still a raw, if tense, moment. I just love it.
I suppose we had that ubiquitous ritual in mind back in 2007
when Keith – a close buddy and fellow officer – and I crafted our own
plan of objection. The setting was Baghdad, Iraq, at the start
of the “surge” and the climax of the bloody civil war the U.S. invasion
had unleashed. Just twenty three years old and only eighteen months out
of the academy, my clique of officers had already decided the war was a mess, shouldn’t have been fought, and couldn’t be won.
Me and Keith, though, were undoubtedly the most radical. We both just
hated how our squadron’s colonel would hijack the memorial ceremonies
held for dead troopers – including three of my own – and use the
occasion of his inescapable speech to encourage we mourners to use the
latest death as a reason to “rededicate ourselves to the mission and the
people of Iraq.” The whole thing was as repulsive as it was repetitive...
[read more here]
No comments:
Post a Comment