AS of today, there have been 3,123 U.S. soldiers killed and 23,417 wounded in the war in Iraq. The political debate about the war is heating up in Congress and that is how it should be in a healthy democracy.
The Vietnam War, which saw approximately 58,000 U.S. soldiers killed and 300,000 wounded, dragged on for 10 years for various reasons, one of which was that the U.S. didn’t want to “lose” the war. We were regularly told that we had to support our troops on the ground and keep on fighting for their sake. In the end, the Vietnam War was a failure and a mistake. The U.S. “lost” and the North Vietnamese reunited their country. Today the U.S. and Vietnam have normal relations with each other and the U.S. imported $7.9 billion worth of goods from Vietnam in 2006. Did America’s Vietnam War soldiers suffer and die in vain? Were they used as political pawns by politicians who wanted to “stay the course” in Vietnam?
A recent article by Dr. Rosa Brooks of Georgetown University rightly warns us not to allow our soldiers to be turned into political pawns. She was referring to the unfortunate fact that many Republicans are trying to get political mileage out of the sacrifice of the nation’s soldiers in Iraq. They say that if you don’t support Mr. Bush’s policy in Iraq, then you don’t support the soldiers on the ground, and hence you are somehow less than patriotic. As Dr. Brooks points out, this is a rather biased perspective. Many Democrats who oppose the war do so because they are concerned for the safety of the troops and don’t want them giving their lives and limbs for what is seen as a failed foreign policy.
There is a psychological dilemma at work with regard to the war in Iraq that we also saw during the Vietnam War. When the Vietnam War was sold as a “patriotic duty,” those who were killed or wounded were said to have done so for a good reason. When that war became a mistake in the minds of many Americans, then those who were killed or wounded were said to have somehow been sacrificed in vain. In the minds of the families of the fallen soldiers, dying or being wounded for a patriotic cause is obviously better than being sacrificed in vain for a failed policy. But this is a false and unfortunate way of looking at things.
While opinions about wars can change, one important thing doesn’t change, and that is the fact that, regardless of whether a war is deemed wise or unwise by historical hindsight, the soldiers were doing their duty and giving their all. Deciding that the war in Iraq is a bad idea does not mean that the sacrifice of those killed or wounded there was in vain. The soldiers in Iraq (unlike the drafted soldier in Vietnam) voluntarily enlisted to be professional soldiers and knew the risks inherent in their line of work. As professional soldiers they go where they are told and do their duty. Many undoubtedly enlisted out of a sense of patriotism, while many others are just bravely doing the job they signed up for and are getting paid for.
We should respect and honor them for their national service regardless of the popularity or unpopularity of the war. But we should also not let their presence in Iraq prevent us from changing course and pulling out of the war if that is considered to be the wise thing to do. Deciding that the war in Iraq was a foreign policy mistake does not somehow make their sacrifice less honorable. And, as Dr. Brooks reminds us, we should not use the service of our professional soldiers to make petty political statements, because to do so only dishonors them.

ROBERT CHURNEY
Kagman, Saipan