What is a life worth?

Today there was an editorial from Daniel Henniger in the WSJ about a Medal of Honor granted to Bruce Crandall for his heroics in Vietnam. Mr. Crandall is now 74 and he led a helicopter rescue of a wounded soldiers in Vietnam.

Daniel quoted the Secretary of the Army, Francis Harvey, thusly:

The courage and fortitude of America's soldiers in combat exemplified by these individuals is, without question, the highest level of human behavior. It demonstrates the basic goodness of mankind as well as the inherent kindness and patriotism of American soldiers.

Mr. Henniger then states that the evil liberals might take a different view. And this liberal certainly does.

The logical extension that Mr. Henniger took on the Iraq situation vis-a-vis this quote is an abomination. Now I expect some bombast on the Op-Ed page. But neither Vietnam nor Iraq are wars of necessity (and that is a loaded term!) - they are wars that have been crystalized by a purely political motive.

Is Mother Teresa not the embodiment of the highest form of kindness? Is she not an international patriot? Are these solider pawns of a voluntary (perhaps conceptual) war (with larger picture motives such as: containment or the "war on terror") extolling the highest virutes of human evolution.

I say decidedly not. If this war in Iraq had a clean and tidy and pure motive (maybe like the original war in Afganistan - perhaps), would there not be a strong drive to defend the country? Pat Tillman in Afganistan was held up as an example in this manner. If the patriotic drive for this war in Iraq were so strong, why are 30-40% of the troops in Iraq composed of the National Guard? (and some might say that this is the example of altruism). But when you see the double page in the Post every month of the dead in Iraq, and many of them are the Guard, is that altruistic? Or duty?

The haze across this line of thought comes to the fore. It would wonderful if we could pruge this linkage of those who serve from the political games of the Administrative and Legislative branches. Both Dems and Republicans support the troops - and who couldn't? However, to be politically tenable, forced war service and a forced war must have a transparent goal. And we have no transparency. Zip. Zilch. None.

The antics at Walter Reed summarize the false dedication of the Administration and the Legislative branches of government to our soldiers. A soldier can lose a limb but they cannot get proper outpatient care nor will they (and/or their dependents) receive proper support for their loss.

If we foist upon our soldiers the highest motives, then we should give them the best care for their sacrifice. Correct? If the government can lose 10 billion (yes children, that is a B) in Iraq during their activities - and this is lost, unaccounted for, just gone - we ought to give, at the bare minimum, an equivalent amount to those who are being used as a pawn.

What did the ~3,000 widows/widowers get for their loss in 9/11? Average is floating around 4 million or so. Should our soldiers not get a same amount? Or similiar amount? When the defense department gets over 600 Billion this year to run their operations and plenty more for the Iraq debacle, can we not give our blood tithe to the wounded and dependents of the dead that we sent to war? If the 9/11 dependents are multi-millionaires, ought not someone who, during the war, died or lost two legs, one leg, two arms, one arm, blinded, deaf, etc get a similar shake?

What does an E3 get for their limb loss? Hint - nothing close to 1 million. What does the widow with kids get for the loss of their E3 breadwinner - Hint: much less than a million.

If these soldiers are the best and brightest of America (Bushism) - and the goal is pure and true (the Administration's stance) - ought those who have lost in that goal not get the same as the 9/11 dependents? By this logic, I would say that they should get more.

If we treat the Trade Center losses so highly, ought we not treat the soldiers the same? I say we should - especially when they are the our game pieces in this trillion dollar game in Iraq.