Troops’ Gravestones Have Pentagon Slogans
Unlike earlier wars, nearly all Arlington National Cemetery gravestones for troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan are inscribed with the slogan-like operation names the Pentagon selected to promote public support for the conflicts.
Families of fallen soldiers and Marines are being told they have the option to have the government-furnished headstones engraved with “Operation Enduring Freedom” or “Operation Iraqi Freedom”.
Also available:
- I (heart) Donald Rumsfeld.
- I Was Killed Looking For Non-Existent WMDs, And All I Got Was This Lousy Tombstone.
- I Feel Used.
- Cheney/Rumsfeld ‘08!
- The Rich Get Richer. The Poor Get Shot Dead Through The Side Of An Unarmored Humvee.
The owner of the company that has been making gravestones for Arlington and other national cemeteries for nearly two decades is uncomfortable, too.
“It just seems a little brazen that that’s put on stones,” said Jeff Martell, owner of Granite Industries of Vermont. “It seems like it might be connected to politics.”
That’s an absurb insinuation. Putting the Pentagon’s operation name on the tombstone has nothing to do with politics.
It’s just that names like “Operation Enduring Freedom” and “Operation Iraqi Freedom” are more succint than “That War Where We Invaded A Non-Hostile Country For No Damn Reason, Therefore Destabilizing The Entire Middle East And Creating A New Generation Of Terrorists Who Will Blow Themselves Up On A Subway Train During Rush Hour To Avenge The Death Of Their Brothers Killed By Cluster Bombs During A Wedding Reception.”
Former Sen. Max Cleland, D-Ga … called the practice “a little bit of glorified advertising.”
“I think it’s a little bit of gilding the lily,” Cleland said, while insisting that he’s not criticizing families who want that information included.
“Most of the headstones out there at Arlington and around the nation just say World War II or Korea or Vietnam, one simple statement,” he said. “It’s not, shall we say, a designated theme or a designated operation by somebody in the Pentagon.”
Okay. Maybe it is a little bit of advertising. It’s actually a guerilla marketing campaign for the premiere of next summer’s Operation Enduring Freedom: The Ride.
Children under 5 and multiple amputees ride free!
