War, service, remembrance and debate

by Mark Silva

In the sixth year of the war in Iraq - think about that phrase for a moment - President Bush is pausing this weekend to honor the heroes who have fallen for their country.

It's the Memorial Day weekend.

On Monday, the president will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington National Cemetery.

Today, the president speaks of the valor of those serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, and of the cause to which the commander-in-chief has committed these forces:

"Today, the men and women of our military are facing a new totalitarian threat to our freedom,'' Bush says in his weekly radio address. "Iraq, Afghanistan, and other fronts around the world, they continue the proud legacy of those who came before them. They bear their responsibilities with quiet dignity and honor. And some have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of their country.''

Service itself is honored, despite an unresolved domestic dispute over the war.

And service itself already has surfaced as a potentiially divisive issue in the campaign to replace the president whose two terms may be remembered largely for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq and a seemingly intractable U.S. commitment to the conflict there.

This week, the Senate approved a war-funding bill which, despite the president's objections, piled much more money on the table for a generous GI Bill for the higher education of those who have served since Sept. 11, 2001.

Sen. John McCain, the Republican Party's presumptive presidential nominee and a supporter of Bush's latest war strategy, sides with those insisting on keeping the war-funding bill clean of any additional spending. Sen. Barack Obama, the all-but-decided Democratic nominee who has opposed the war since its start, said on the Senate floor this week that he "can't understand why'' McCain "would line up behind'' Bush in opposing GI Bill funding.

"Perhaps, if Senator Obama would take the time and trouble to understand this issue he would learn to debate an honest disagreement respectfully,'' McCain said in a statement issued while campaigning in California. "But, as he always does, he prefers impugning the motives of his opponent, and exploiting a thoughtful difference of opinion to advance his own ambitions. If that is how he would behave as president, the country would regret his election."

And McCain, a Naval aviator who suffered torture at the hands of North Vietnamese captors during five and a half years as a prisoner-of-war, added this about Obama, who has not served in the military: "I will not accept from Senator Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did."

McCain has been loath to play the "I wore the uniform, you didn't" card, our colleagues at the LA Times' Top of the Ticket blog have noted: "After all, he could have laid it on the table during his often bitter battle with Bush for the GOP's 2000 presidential nomination. And it was available again -- to be directed at both Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney -- during McCain's intense strategic disagreements with the administration over the Iraq war.''

Obama measured his own response to McCain's comments, dismissing them as "schoolyard taunts" that "do nothing to advance the debate about what matters to the American people."

So, Happy Memorial Day weekend, and see the radio address here:

Thiis is the text of the president's weekly radio address:

Good morning. This Memorial Day weekend, kids will be out of school, moms and dads will be firing up the grill, and families across our country will mark the unofficial beginning of summer. But as we do, we should all remember the true purpose of this holiday -- to honor the sacrifices that make our freedom possible.

On Monday, I will commemorate Memorial Day by visiting Arlington National Cemetery, where I will lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. The tomb is the final resting place of three brave American soldiers who lost their lives in combat. The names of these veterans of World War I, World War II, and the Korean War are known only to God. But their valor is known to us all.

Throughout American history, this valor has preserved our way of life and our sacred freedoms. It was this valor that won our independence. It was this valor that removed the stain of slavery from our Nation. And it was this valor that defeated the great totalitarian threats of the last century.

Today, the men and women of our military are facing a new totalitarian threat to our freedom. In Iraq, Afghanistan, and other fronts around the world, they continue the proud legacy of those who came before them. They bear their responsibilities with quiet dignity and honor. And some have made the ultimate sacrifice in defense of their country.

One such hero was Sergeant First Class Benjamin Sebban of the Army's 82nd Airborne Division. As the senior medic in his squadron, Ben made sacrifice a way of life. When younger medics were learning how to insert IVs, he would offer his own arm for practice. And when the time came, Ben did not hesitate to offer his fellow soldiers far more.

On March 17, 2007, in Iraq's Diyala province, Ben saw a truck filled with explosives racing toward his team of paratroopers. He ran into the open to warn them, exposing himself to the blast. Ben received severe wounds, but this good medic never bothered to check his own injuries. Instead, he devoted his final moments on this earth to treating others. Earlier this week, in a ceremony at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, I had the honor of presenting Sergeant Sebban's mom with the Silver Star that he earned.

No words are adequate to console those who have lost a loved one serving our Nation. We can only offer our prayers and join in their grief. We grieve for the mother who hears the sound of her child's 21-gun salute. We grieve for the husband or wife who receives a folded flag. We grieve for a young son or daughter who only knows dad from a photograph.

One holiday is not enough to commemorate all of the sacrifices that have been made by America's men and women in uniform. No group has ever done more to defend liberty than the men and women of the United States Armed Forces. Their bravery has done more than simply win battles. It has done more than win wars. It has secured a way of life for our entire country. These heroes and their families should be in our thoughts and prayers on a daily basis, and they should receive our loving thanks at every possible opportunity.

This Memorial Day, I ask all Americans to honor the sacrifices of those who have served you and our country. One way to do so is by joining in a moment of remembrance that will be marked across our country at 3:00 p.m. local time. At that moment, Major League Baseball games will pause, the National Memorial Day parade will halt, Amtrak trains will blow their whistles, and buglers in military cemeteries will play Taps. You can participate by placing a flag at a veteran's grave, taking your family to the battlefields where freedom was defended, or saying a silent prayer for all the Americans who were delivered out of the agony of war to meet their Creator. Their bravery has preserved the country we love so dearly.

Thank you for listening.