memorial service.

[lliam]

Do you think memorial services for victims of the war in Iraq are:


a good idea

a bad idea

hypocritical

[Jeff Dutton]

Who do you consider to be the victims?

[lliam]

Originally posted by Jeff Dutton:
Who do you consider to be the victims?

Good question Jeff.

Let's see what the rest of the BBB's think.

[dai bread]

Hypocritical, whoever you consider the victims to be.

Memorial services for the fallen of one's own country are one thing; to start differentiating according to which war smacks of humbug, political correctness, hypocrisy and cant.

The Turkish ambassador regularly attends our Anzac Day services, but those services are for our soldiers, not the Turks, however much we respect them.

Anzac Day now includes memorials of all wars; we don't have a day for WW2, another for Korea, one for Vietnam, etc. Our military fell in the performance of their duty. Where & when matters not one jot.

Nobody I know of holds memorial services for civilians killed in the course of war.

[Serenity]

If anyone empathizes with whomever they consider to be a victim of an unfortunate circumstance, then they should be free to gather and hold a service. The memorial service maybe as large as the time it takes to advertise and organize the event or it may be as small as a small group of individuals gathering at a gravesite, church or any other place of remembrance. If you don't agree with the event then don't go and don't protest it (unless it's disruptive to others).

[BenMurphy6]

sounds like an empty gesture, to me.

[barfle]

"Funerals are for the living, they're no use to the dead."

I'm one of those who feels our invasion of Iraq was wrong for several reasons. That doesn't mean I believe those who followed orders are diminished in any way by the short-sightedness of their leaders.

If anyone wants to remember anyone, who am I to criticize? If it's an American soldier, an Iraqi civilian, or even a fish carved up by an aircraft carrier's screw, I don't feel it's my place to say yay or nay.

I imagine we'll end up with some kind of memorial in DC sooner or later for the American dead. I personally have two friends on the big black wall who were killed in another short-sighted military adventure in the late 1960s. I mourn them from time to time even today. You must deal with your losses as you feel is appropriate, and although I may or may not join you, I will not criticize your mourning.

[piqaboo]

That doesn't mean I believe those who followed orders are diminished in any way by the short-sightedness of their leaders

Well put, thank you.

[lliam]

Originally posted by piqaboo:

[b]That doesn't mean I believe those who followed orders are diminished in any way by the short-sightedness of their leaders

Well put, thank you. [/b]

Ditto.