Howard Zinn on Memorial Day

from the Progressive (originally published in 2005):


by Howard Zinn


Another Memorial Day. Another war. Yes, let's honor those who died in the nation's many wars. But if we do not want to keep adding to the soldiers' graves, let's also ask why they died.

We know our political leaders will speak solemnly to the nation while the flags are unfurled and the bugles blow, and they will say, as they always do, "They gave their lives for their country."

And that is supposed to satisfy the families of the dead, supposed to satisfy all of us whose children and grandchildren may be called upon to serve in future wars.

But that sentence, "They gave their lives for their country," contains two falsehoods.

First, these young men and women did not "give" their lives. Their lives were taken from them by the politicians who sent them to war and who now bow their heads on Memorial Day. ................(more)

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