We Mourn Students, But Not Soldiers (Bill Press)

Bill Press ^ | 04/16/2007 | Bill Press

[NotchJohnson]

We Mourn Students, But Not Soldiers April 26, 2007

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

It never occurred to me there was any disconnect in President Bush's order that flags be flown at half-staff to honor the memory of 32 students and faculty gunned down at Virginia Tech. It was, I believed at the time, the fitting tribute of a nation, united in grief, over the slaughter of so many young and talented people.

I still believe President Bush did the right thing. But now I'm also troubled by the disconnect: Why are flags flown half-staff to mourn slain students, yet never flown half-staff to mourn slain soldiers in Iraq or Afghanistan?

That burning question was first raised, not by me, but by Army Sgt. Jim Wilt of Combined Joint Task Force-82, stationed at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. Writing online, Wilt noted that, as at other military bases around the world, flags had been lowered at Bagram to commemorate the tragic deaths at Virginia Tech. Nonetheless, he added: “I find it ironic that the flags were flown at half-staff for the young men and women who were killed at VT, yet it is never lowered for the death of a U.S. servicemember.”

Recently, in fact, a fellow soldier stationed at Bagram had been killed by enemy forces, leaving Wilt to ponder: “Is the life of Sgt. Alexander Van Aalten, a member of our very own task force, killed April 20 in Helmand province, not valued the same as these 32 students?” Good question!

Or how about the nine young Americans killed by one suicide bomber just outside Baghdad, one week to the day after the Virginia Tech shootings? They also died violent and senseless deaths. Don't they deserve the same recognition? Shouldn't their photos and life stories also be told? And why aren't the flags lowered for them?

For one simple reason, some might say: We expect soldiers to be killed, but not students. Which begs the question: Did we really expect over 3,200 troops — and counting — to be killed in Iraq after President Bush announced “Mission Accomplished”?

The truth is, a Virginia Tech-like slaughter happens in Iraq almost every day. Yet there's one very practical reason why Wilt's suggestion that slain soldiers receive the same flag honors as slain students will probably never happen: Given the way things are going in Iraq and Afghanistan, flags would be flying at half-staff every day.

Of course! That's the point! What better reminder that we are bogged down in a bloody, seemingly endless war than to see the Stars and Stripes only halfway up the flagpole — day after day after day? Otherwise, for most Americans, the war remains a distant operation, for which only our brave soldiers and their loved ones pay the price.

But drawing attention to the human cost of the war is the last thing President Bush wants. For the last four years, in fact, he and his cronies have done everything possible to conceal the number of war casualties. Until he got caught, Donald Rumsfeld used an autopen to sign condolence letters to the families of soldiers killed in action. Photographers are prohibited from shooting or publishing photos of flag-draped coffins returning to the States. And, to this date, Bush has not attended the funeral of even one soldier killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

By law, only the president can order flags to be flown half-mast at federal buildings nationwide. Within each state, however, governors have the same authority. And several governors — including Jennifer Granholm of Michigan and John Baldacci of Maine — have already acted, issuing a decree that all flags be flown half-staff the day a soldier from their state is buried.

Deciding to lower the flag state-by-state is not as meaningful as a national tribute, but, for now, it's the least we can do show our soldiers and their families that the American people really do care.

And why not? In the words of Army Sgt. Jim Wilt: “Isn't it time our flag saluted back when a person makes the ultimate sacrifice? Shouldn't the flag, which represents our society, tip its hat when someone dies to ensure it will fly another day?”

[NotchJohnson]

I would not go that far. it takes someone special like Bill Press to find an angle like this. VT had nothing to do with the war but he found a way.

[gridlock]

Bill Press is not the only one. Every moonbat Democrat in the country is all over this one. They want to demostrate that the President does not care about the troops, and they don’t care how stupid they sound when they try to make the point.

There are rules for flying the flag at half staff for a reason. President Bush chose to ignore those rules and those reasons, and now he will pay the political price. As well he should.

Stupidity should be punished, even when it is the good guys being stupid.