TO ALL, IN TIME
During this first week of May 2003, President George W. Bush will be speaking to all of us from the deck of the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln. He will be somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean we are told too far from shore for the usual helicopter means of presidential transit, so a cable landing will be made on deck with an operational aircraft. He will tell us the war in Iraq is at an end.
In time a major war comes to all of us, and choice of this speaking platform on board a carrier returning to the States was a dramatic and wise choice. Some critics will, certainly say it is a bit of bravado to do such a speech from beyond helicopter operational range. The announcement that the conflict has come to its end – informally, that is, certainly is one in which the entire nation will want to see and hear. The epicenter of the war itself has been removed from our daily living place and word that it has come to an end can be best enunciated from such a remote, withdrawn spot.
Many will feel that the Iraqi War started here with the events of September 11th and we should be most thankful the rest of it occurred elsewhere.
We face the future with a newborn confidence in the ability of our military to defend the nation. We have seen evidence aplenty of the extremes to which a despotic power can extend, and we should be doing more concerning that which we must undertake to live in the face of continuing threats. The war may be “over” but proffered Peace is yet to be found.
It has been a difficult thing for some segments of our diverse society to decide if this has been a genuine war. To them, it has been a farce ...even a joke or trick played upon us by greed-driven leaders who were said to have secret ambitions to control Iraq's oil industry or, perhaps, corner the world market on Persian rugs. It is only now that many of these people among us will – suddenly without a “cause” to worship - begin to see the necessity of it all and to appreciate its value to our well-being.
No war is just. No war can be fair. Nor, can a war be “successfully concluded”. They come to a stopping point.
A period of peace is proffered for a time, but it takes time - many years, decades ...for the true meanings of a war to seep into the fiber of our national culture. Perhaps, it is fitting that the “end” of the war be proclaimed at sea.
A.L.M. April 30, 2003 [c672wds]
