http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2006/01/02/AR2006010200974.html

A Life, Wasted
Let's Stop This War Before More Heroes Are Killed
By Paul E. Schroeder Tuesday, January 3, 2006; Page A17

Early on Aug. 3, 2005, we heard that 14 Marines had been killed in Haditha, 
Iraq. Our son, Lance Cpl. Edward "Augie" Schroeder II, was stationed there. 
At 10:45 a.m. two Marines showed up at our door. After collecting himself 
for what was clearly painful duty, the lieutenant colonel said, "Your son 
is a true American hero."

Since then, two reactions to Augie's death have compounded the sadness.
At times like this, people say, "He died a hero." I know this is meant with 
great sincerity. We appreciate the many condolences we have received and 
how helpful they have been. But when heard repeatedly, the phrases "he died 
a hero" or "he died a patriot" or "he died for his country" rub raw.

"People think that if they say that, somehow it makes it okay that he 
died," our daughter, Amanda, has said. "He was a hero before he died, not 
just because he went to Iraq. I was proud of him before, and being a 
patriot doesn't make his death okay. I'm glad he got so much respect at his 
funeral, but that didn't make it okay either."

The words "hero" and "patriot" focus on the death, not the life. They are a 
flag-draped mask covering the truth that few want to acknowledge openly: 
Death in battle is tragic no matter what the reasons for the war. The 
tragedy is the life that was lost, not the manner of death. Families of 
dead soldiers on both sides of the battle line know this. Those without 
family in the war don't appreciate the difference.

This leads to the second reaction. Since August we have witnessed growing 
opposition to the Iraq war, but it is often whispered, hands covering 
mouths, as if it is dangerous to speak too loudly. Others discuss the never-
ending cycle of death in places such as Haditha in academic and sometimes 
clinical fashion, as in "the increasing lethality of improvised explosive 
devices."

Listen to the kinds of things that most Americans don't have to experience: 
The day Augie's unit returned from Iraq to Camp Lejeune, we received a box 
with his notebooks, DVDs and clothes from his locker in Iraq. The day his 
unit returned home to waiting families, we received the second urn of 
ashes. This lad of promise, of easy charm and readiness to help, whose 
highest high was saving someone using CPR as a first aid squad volunteer, 
came home in one coffin and two urns. We buried him in three places that he 
loved, a fitting irony, I suppose, but just as rough each time.

I am outraged at what I see as the cause of his death. For nearly three 
years, the Bush administration has pursued a policy that makes our troops 
sitting ducks. While Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the Senate 
Foreign Relations Committee that our policy is to "clear, hold and build" 
Iraqi towns, there aren't enough troops to do that.

In our last conversation, Augie complained that the cost in lives to clear 
insurgents was "less and less worth it," because Marines have to keep 
coming back to clear the same places. Marine commanders in the field say 
the same thing. Without sufficient troops, they can't hold the towns. Augie 
was killed on his fifth mission to clear Haditha.

At Augie's grave, the lieutenant colonel knelt in front of my wife and, 
with tears in his eyes, handed her the folded flag. He said the only thing 
he could say openly: "Your son was a true American hero." Perhaps. But I 
felt no glory, no honor. Doing your duty when you don't know whether you 
will see the end of the day is certainly heroic. But even more, being a 
hero comes from respecting your parents and all others, from helping your 
neighbors and strangers, from loving your spouse, your children, your 
neighbors and your enemies, from honesty and integrity, from knowing when 
to fight and when to walk away, and from understanding and respecting the 
differences among the people of the world.

Two painful questions remain for all of us. Are the lives of Americans 
being killed in Iraq wasted? Are they dying in vain? President Bush says 
those who criticize staying the course are not honoring the dead. That is 
twisted logic: honor the fallen by killing another 2,000 troops in a broken 
policy?

I choose to honor our fallen hero by remembering who he was in life, not 
how he died. A picture of a smiling Augie in Iraq, sunglasses turned upside 
down, shows his essence -- a joyous kid who could use any prop to make 
others feel the same way.

Though it hurts, I believe that his death -- and that of the other 
Americans who have died in Iraq -- was a waste. They were wasted in a 
belief that democracy would grow simply by removing a dictator -- a 
careless misunderstanding of what democracy requires. They were wasted by 
not sending enough troops to do the job needed in the resulting occupation -
- a careless disregard for professional military counsel.

But their deaths will not be in vain if Americans stop hiding behind flag-
draped hero masks and stop whispering their opposition to this war. Until 
then, the lives of other sons, daughters, husbands, wives, fathers and 
mothers may be wasted as well.

This is very painful to acknowledge, and I have to live with it. So does 
President Bush.

The writer is managing director of a trade development firm in Cleveland.

* To join/leave the list, search archives, change list settings, *
* etc., please visit http://raven.utc.edu/archives/hp3000-l.html *