The domino theory medal

IN THE NEWS
Something you might have missed in the news over the last several weeks is a push to create a "War on Terrorism" expeditionary medal for service in Afghanistan or Iraq. Frankly, I don't fully trust the description of how this proposal came into being, unless the service chiefs have lost their collective minds.

Campaign medals are a good idea. Regardless of the political controversy around any specific military operation, the troops deployed in that conflict do their duty, as ordered by the civilian authorities. Soldiers do the job; their political masters take the punishment if the war turns out to be a bad idea, or it was badly executed. Our servicemen and servicewomen in Iraq and Afghanistan deserve that recognition.

However, granting a medal that conflates both Afghanistan and Iraq with the "war on terror" is a terrible idea. Not only does it further politicize the military, but it also ensures that, for years to come, service in Iraq will be a painful memory for many veterans.

Imagine, for a moment, if veterans of the Vietnam War received a "Distinguished Service in the Prevention of Dominos Falling" medal. Years later, the very name of the medal would continue to rub salt in a psychic wound. For the men and women who risked their lives in Vietnam, and often returned physically or mentally shattered, recognition of their service is honor enough. (And it took to long for the US public to collectively grant it.) Honor their fulfillment of duty; let history judge Johnson, Nixon, and their subordinates. The last thing a Vietnam vet needs is a constant reminder of a discredited PR ploy that the Johnson Administration used to ratchet up support for the war.

We know that the link between Saddam Hussein and Osama bin Laden didn't exist. Any terrorists we're fighting in Iraq now are ones we weren't facing before, we might never have faced, and in fact, might never have joined a terrorist group except for their outrage at the invasion. We've helped, not hurt, Ansar al-Islam, an al Qaeda ally, though the invasion, while straining the military resources we might be using to fight terrorists elsewhere in the word. Meanwhile, men and women of conscience, skill, and patriotism continue to risk life and limb every day while serving in Iraq.

Granting a "War on terror" expeditionary medal for service in Iraq is cynical agitprop. It's an insult to the very soldiers it's meant to honor.

Comments

[major jon]

The men and women who served from our unit pinned theirs on today. Nobody looked too insulted to me.

[Kingdaddy]

Would it have made a different to pin on a medal for service rendered in Iraq or Afghanistan? Did it have to say, "the war on terror"?