Our local newspaper gave what I might otherwise think was a proper tribute today. It listed the names of every soldier lost...in Iraq. There was no corresponding listing for those who gave the ultimate sacrifice in Afghanistan. I have submitted the following email letter to the Winston-Salem Journal editor, but I fear that it will not be printed, as I just had a letter printed last week on the ABC Nightline show that did a similar stunt. Here is my email. Perhaps someone from North Carolina might send this letter to the Journal (letters@wsjournal.com) in hopes that it will be printed. You may also adapt it if your leftist paper did the same thing.....
The Journal made fitting tribute to our fallen soldiers in the Iraq theater of operations in its May 30 edition, on the eve of Memorial Day, by listing each individual's name, rank, branch of service, age and circumstances of death. This is as it should be at a time of solemn remembrance and thankfulness for the ultimate sacrifice given by those who volunteered to serve. We are, however, engaged in a continuing conflict in Afghanistan, not yet completed, which began before Iraq, and which has cost the lives of U.S. soldiers, some of whose lives were laid down as recently as May 29. Why were these brave souls not included in the long list of lives lost? Are their lives less precious? Do their families grieve less? Was their service less honorable than that of those lost in Iraq? My prayer is that this was but an oversight on the part of the Journal and the Associated Press. My fear is that this was a conscious omission intended to highlight the loss of life in a war that some oppose; and that to include the names of those lost in Afghanistan, a conflict overwhelmingly supported by America would dilute the intended point of the list, not to honor the war dead, but to protest the war in Iraq. Please assure your readers that this was not the case--if you can.