Last week we observed the 60th (!!) anniversary of the Korean war..”the Forgotten War” some call in..but any of us who lived thru it would hardly call it that.
Nor would the families of 7900 (!!) missing U-S servicemen from that war...still gone, still missing, still a heartbreak on their families and friends.
And that war is technically not over. No peace treaty has been ratified. The U-S is still obligated, by treaty, to defend South Korea if the North becomes warlike again (as it did just a few short, short weeks ago, remember?) Though Washington does seem to have a way with words, announcing last week that the coup (by any definition but theirs) in Egypt wasn’t really a coup after all.
But it’s the MIAs from Korea (and WW2 and WW1..and all the rest) that bother me. That’s a matter we don’t seem to take into account when the U-S rushes swiftly to war (WMD proof or not). Or the small matter of Congress letting the President declare war, contrary to the Constitution...an abdication of its power that has gone on for how many wars so far?
Or the cost of caring for veterans,"and his widow and his orphans” in Mr. Lincoln’s famous phrase. Most surveys show the U-S has done a sad, sad job here..leaving it to we private citizens to care for them, as a fine group of Jessamine Countians did for a seriously wounded veteran and his family over the weekend.
But, overlooking the missing 7900 from the Korean war (and how can we?) since January I can recall officials of the executive or legislative branch seriously calling upon the U-S to start a war against North Korea, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Somalia...have I left out any others?
Don’t we ever learn?
I'm just sayin'...
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