by James Glaser
November 10, 2003

Every President has gone to the Memorial Services of some of the men or women that have died under their command. The President of the United States is the Commander in Chief of our Armed Forces and as such has a responsibility to the men and women under him.

President Ronald Reagan went to the Memorial service for the 239 Marines killed by a terrorist attack in Lebanon while serving under his command. President Bill Clinton was at the service for the sailors that were killed by a terrorist attack on the USS Cole. The First President Bush attended services for many of those that died in the first Gulf War.

Now I don't want to see this President Bush on TV doing this. I don't even think the media should be at a family funeral, but it would be nice to know that this George Bush knows what his orders have caused. Just maybe seeing that coffin being lowered into the grave and hearing taps a few times would make the war more real for George.

The President owes his presence at each and every funeral for Americans that died under his watch. I know that isn't possible as so many are dying, but if he attended just a few, it would show the country that he is in touch with sacrifice his war requires.

I have to wonder about the President's fear of and the whole Nation's fear of, wounded Soldiers and Marines in hospitals all around this country. These wounded and maimed troops are true American heroes and should be treated as such.

In a New York Press report, written by Michelangelo Signorile, the singer Cher talks about visiting our troops and asks, "Why are none of Cheney, Wolfowitz, Bremer, the President, why aren't they taking pictures with these guys?"

Cher went on to say, "I would like to say I had the occasion the other day to spend the entire day with the troops that had come back from Iraq and had been wounded, and I also visited troops during the Vietnam era." "But the thing that I was most shocked by as I walked into the hospital, the first person I ran into was a boy about 19 or 20 years old who'd lost both of his arms. And when I walked into the hospital and visited all these boys all day long, everyone had lost either one arm, one limb or two limbs or had lost one limb and there were, there were a lot of legs that seemed to be missing."

I would like to see every star in Hollywood going to visit those troops along with their Commander in Chief. Members of Congress should be going over every evening, after all they voted to send these guys to Iraq.

All it would take is one short request by President Bush and every wounded Soldier or Marine would be flooded with cards and visits by those in power. These troops that gave so much, would know that they were not forgotten by their country. What the heck ever happened to all the compassion President Bush talked about when he ran for office?

One visit to these troops by the President of the United States would cause every politician to visit them too. All of the men and women in Congress would be forced to look into the eyes of these Veterans and when it came time to cut their benefits again, they might just have second thoughts. Until President Bush works up the courage to make this visit, these wounded and maimed young men and women will remain out of sight and out of mind.