Respect for our protectors
“Keeping a promise to nation’s warriors” [Opinion, May 25] was encouraging, but fell short of confronting the issue.
We cannot do enough for our injured veterans and we are not doing enough. It starts with sending them only on missions of clear necessity and moral imperative, making their sacrifice worthy. It precludes recklessly sending them to be cannon fodder for corporate interests and American empire.
These brave, selfless souls want nothing more than to serve their nation and humanity, and what do we do to them?
There is a reason why, as Gen. Peter Chiarelli briefly mentions, mental disorder would be the “signature” of these wars —a reason why our troops return from the Persian Gulf conflicted to commit suicide at alarming rates. Dead civilians, including children, are hard to forget.
The general’s thesis is only about mitigating the resulting tragedy because he can’t, in uniform, question the cause itself: the mission. But we can. Our silence is more than consent; it is betrayal.
— Mark Lindstrom, Redmond