In a column “Let’s make sure sacrifice is worth it”, Gil Smart concludes:
“What is this cause that moms, dads, any American should have to leave their family and go die for? Our freedom? Good call.
‘So what does Afghanistan — not to mention places like Djibouti, Turkey, even Syria or Ukraine — have to do with our freedom?
“This Memorial Day, it is right and good to honor those who died in service of our country. But please don’t do so with the knee-jerk invocation of “freedom” as the rationale for every overseas adventure, because that only guarantees more of them.
“Because while those heartwarming reunions between those soldiers and their kids were nice — wouldn’t it be better if we didn’t have to have so many of them in the first place?”
WATCHDOG: Two wags of the tail. The best ‘honoring’ of our soldiers is avoiding unnecessary wars. Presidents H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama understand this.
