Posted on Apr 22, 2015
Was a Gold Star Mother justified in demanding an apology from the CJCS after his Ramadi remark?
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General Dempsey recently said that the Iraqi city of Ramadi is not symbolic in the international fight against D'aesh. A Gold Star Mother, mother of the first Navy SEAL killed in combat in that war-torn city, took extreme offense on behalf of the herself and the other Gold Star Families who lost their Service-members.
Does every place where a US Service-member falls become sacrosanct? If so, does it become so to the point where it cannot be discussed in raw, realistic, strategic terms? Was this a faux pas on the part of the CJCS?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/04/21/in-apology-to-gold-star-mother-u-s-general-draws-distinction-between-wars-in-iraq/
Does every place where a US Service-member falls become sacrosanct? If so, does it become so to the point where it cannot be discussed in raw, realistic, strategic terms? Was this a faux pas on the part of the CJCS?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/04/21/in-apology-to-gold-star-mother-u-s-general-draws-distinction-between-wars-in-iraq/
Leader
Iraq
Legacy
Gold Star Families
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 2
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I understand all the sides of this argument. I have personally struggled with the pain of the irrelevance of the bits of dirt where friends of mine lost their blood.
But the death of a SM in a place doesn't make it a strategic national interest.
But the death of a SM in a place doesn't make it a strategic national interest.
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LTC (Join to see)
Capt Richard I P., I find myself in the same position. Maybe attenuation is the issue here. For instance, we don't offend the legacy of the lives lost in the Mexican-American War by speaking ill of Ciudad Juarez.
Obviously GEN Dempsey didn't intend to offend, and he wasn't being flippant. Hopefully this is water under the bridge and doesn't cause undue restraint in future geopolitical public discussions.
Obviously GEN Dempsey didn't intend to offend, and he wasn't being flippant. Hopefully this is water under the bridge and doesn't cause undue restraint in future geopolitical public discussions.
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