The politicization of 9/11 rememberances

Isn't it odd how something can be completely unsurprising, almost expected, but enrage you nevertheless?

At the ceremonies in Washington marking the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, the Pentagon neatly hijacked the occasion into a support the troops/president/war rally.

As I've written before (more than once), I am uncomfortable with the way 'support our troops' has been insidiously transformed into 'support the president' and/or 'support the Iraq aggression.'

There are countless 'support our troops' rallies across the nation every week, countless yellow ribbons worn, countless bumper stickers, flags and lawn signs express support for the troops, countless care packages have been sent to the Middle East. Even if you accept at face value that the use of the phrase 'support our troops,' can't we think about someone else for just one day? It's one thing to respect the troops; it's entirely another thing to respect the troops to the exclusion of everyone else.

For just one day, couldn't our national thoughts have been directed somewhere other than to the military?

Isn't 364 days out of 365 enough?

Saddly, the Bush administration decided no. It decided to disrespect the 9/11 victims by making it into a pro-war rally.

As this article noted: Mimi Evans, 56, whose son is serving with the Marines in Iraq, flew from Cape Cod to express her displeasure with what she saw as the politicization of Sept. 11 commemoration. "I felt this event was exploitative in that it connected 9/11 and what our military is doing now."

I'm sure some will attack this woman for hating and undermining the troops (like her son), but she's right on. Iraq and 9/11 were completely unrelated, as is common knowledge for anyone who was willing to know. The Bush administration can no longer justify this aggression on its own merits, its pre-war reasons having been completely discredited, so it must hijack other somber events to prop up flagging support.

It's sad. First, the Bush administration exploited the 9/11 tragedy by invoking it in the justification for the completely unrelated aggression against Iraq. Now, it exploited a ceremony supposedly designed to remember the victims in order to make sure militarism doesn't take a back seat, even for a single day.

When everything, even a memorial service for civilian dead, always revolves around soldiers, then I consider that militarism.

Maybe if they weren't so busy exploiting rememberance ceremonies for political gain, they might have time to give due process to US citizens.

I would say 'Shame on you, Mr. President,' but it's been clear that his administration has none.