E Pluribus Unum

Newsweek has published a story this week that quotes from letters sent home by those in our armed services that were killed in combat.

The first letter was from Army Maj. Michael Mundell to his 17-year-old daughter, Erica:

"Tell all of your friends and your teachers that I said hello from Fallujah. I am doing well and our battalion is considered the best in the brigade. We are fighting the enemy and hopefully winning, though that is difficult to measure." He signed off with a pledge: "Never forget that your daddy loves you more than anything and that I will be home soon."

He was killed in action by an IED while on patrol in Fallujah. At his funeral in Kentucky, his casket was closed.

"Daddy loves you more than anything..." This is the kind of heartbreak that haunts you for the rest of your life. And it isn't anything new, not in war, not in this war or any other. So I almost didn't write about this...

... until I read the following passage, also from the Newsweek piece:

When Mundell was laid to rest in a hillside cemetery in Irvington, Ky., he joined the solemn company of America's fallen warriors—men and women who become objects of veneration, commemorated, in Lincoln's words, as the "honored dead" who "gave the last full measure of devotion."

I think it's important that we include the entire passage in context, from Lincoln's Gettysburg Address:

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.

And this, of course, is why this war is such a waste and is so pointless. Does anyone believe that we are fighting to create a government of the people in Iraq? This is a war of Sunni vs. Shia, neither of which wants a government of the people. If they did, they wouldn't allow the mullahs to sit in final judgement of their constitution.

And not only that: what of our own system of government? How is it that the people can speak with such a clear voice not only in public opinion polls but also at the ballot box an yet the Commander in Chief can continue to go against our will?

Mark Bowden, celebrated author of Blackhawk Down, said it best nearly four years ago:

When a president lies or exaggerates in making an argument for war, when he spins the facts to sell his case, he betrays his public trust, and he diminishes the credibility of his office and our country. We are at war. What we lost in this may yet end up being far more important than what we gained.

It took a while, but the majority of Americans now agree.

End the war. Bring 'em home.