by James Glaser
May 31, 2004

I thought because of Charmaine dying, I could get out of doing Memorial Day this year, but the VFW said they needed me. WW II vets are all close to 80 and we have to do a ceremony at seven cemeteries and the nursing home.

On Saturday I was out at Ardenhurst Cemetary putting the flag on the pole and one small flag on each veteran grave. It was sunny and bright and I was out there all alone. Each year I have to search to find all the graves on my list and as I do I think about each guy and what they might be thinking if they were around today.

Guys who died in WW I were farming with horses and the WW II vets would be amazed with computers. At each grave I always wonder what that guy's war was like. I think about how proud they were of our country and the service they gave and then I think about today's vet.

Like me, will they look back at their war as a waste? I remember my time in combat in Vietnam and I think about the million plus civilians killed by us and the 58,000 Americans who died so that some Americans and their corporations could get rich. I think about how we were going to make Vietnam a Democracy, almost exactly like we are doing in Iraq today.

Vietnam really jaded me on being gung ho about America. I knew what we did in wars and how we tortured and killed women, children, anybody we wanted to and for the most part we got away with it. Even today I meet veterans that say, "no way," we would never do that. Hey we did and we did it in spades,

Now today as I put out the flags I wonder what these guys would say about the photographs and videos that prove to the world that our military and our government is just as Evil as any other. For years the American public has been blinded by that waving flag, but now they have to look at the truth.

Memorial Day has always been a time of sadness for me, but also a day where I was proud to be an American. I am still proud, but it isn't the same.

Monday morning both of our VFW Honor Guard Units will salute the flag four times, one time at each cemetery. This year because of what our current President has allowed to happen in Iraq, there will be a taint on that flag.

Not only are we occupying Iraq, a nation that we made an unprovoked attack on, we now have been caught on film torturing civilians from that country. I think Andy Rooney of 60 Minutes said it best, "The day the world learned that American Soldiers had tortured Iraqi prisoners belongs high on the list of worst things that ever happened to our country. It's a black mark that will be in history books in a hundred languages for as long as there are history books."

Billions of people the world over have now seen the Evil we have done to the people in Iraq and that is going to hurt America for decades. President Bush is trying to sweep everything under the rug by saying that only a few low ranking troops are to blame and that hurts our country even more as reports keep coming out that those in Cabinet level positions authorized the use of torture in Iraq and where ever else we had prisoners.

The world knows that in our "Land of the Free," the American President can now send American citizens in prison forever and he has. These citizens have no rights, no lawyers, and no chance to plead "not guilty" before a court. The world can see the Evil that is creeping into Washington. They have seen the photographs of young Iraq and Afghan children who have lost their arms or legs. They have seen the film of thousands of Iraqi and Afghan children lying dead from American bullets and bombs.

This Memorial Day is a sad one. Every day more American troops are getting killed in foreign lands and every day American troops are killing innocent civilians. We kill those civilians, not because we want to, but because that is a part of each and every war. The rest of the world understands this, but we don't. Our government and media keep ugly sad things off of our airwaves.

Many Americans believe that we are only doing good in Iraq and Afghanistan, but these Veterans who we will honor today knew what really goes on in a war.

This Memorial Day I have to look at our flag knowing that there are billions of people the world over, that look at that same flag as a symbol of Evil and Terrorism and sad to say, under our current President, I can't really argue with them.

The American people are a great and compassionate people. We are however blinded by our flag and the words of President Bush, who is causing our country to be hated.

I can only hope that by next year under a new administration we will be on a path that allows us to once again lead the world by example, not with guns and bombs. It will take decades to wash off the taint George Bush has put on our flag and those we have tortured and maimed will still hate us decades from now, but we have to get back on the right path.

America claims to be a Christian country and all I can think of is that Jesus Christ is just sick every time he sees what we are doing to innocent people the world over. Can you even imagine what Jesus feels like when the President says what he is doing, is in Christ's name?

This is not a bad Jesus Christ quote to live by "You have heard that it is said, love your neighbor and hate your enemy, but I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your father."