Iraq Just a Comma in History?

This week, President Bush tried out a new line of rhetoric about Iraq. Well, he had a lot to say, much of it strictly political in nature. But one thing he said was apparently intended to be more of a statesmanlike utterance (I know…hard to comprehend that since we haven’t pursued any statesmanship in so long). But in any case, he said that he expected that what was going on in Iraq now would be, in the context of history, “just a comma.”

As we all know, a comma is a grammatical device to signify a brief pause between clauses. It has no meaning of its own, it is used only to set off what comes before from what comes after.

Such an unfortunate metaphor for the families of the 2,737 service people who have died in Iraq. For them, it has meant an indelible “period.” Someone deeply meaningful to them is gone forever. And, in making the sign this week, I was almost embarrassed to focus on just the American lives lost because so many more Iraqi lives have been lost and ruined. And to think…this was all not only discretionary and pre-emptive…but made up.

Unconscious and unconscionable.