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June 4, 2004/Sivan 15 5764, Vol. 56, No. 37
Press onEditorialEndless rows of graves.That's what brings tears to the eyes of Holocaust survivor Helen Handler, especially now. With Memorial Day just past and the 60th anniversary of D-Day almost upon us, we are reminded of the immense sacrifice of American soldiers for the cause of liberty. "All the young people died so that I could live," says Handler, who works tirelessly to assure we will not forget - both those who perished in the Holocaust and those who gave their lives trying to save them. "Did you liberate Paris or did you open the gate to Dachau?" Handler writes in a moving tribute. The responsibility to remember - and to honor - weighs especially heavy this year when we recall the costs of war even as they accrue. American soldiers are on the frontlines in Iraq, and as the war goes into its 15th month, 800 have died and another 4,500 have been wounded. Those numbers may pale against the loss of some 1,465 Americans on one day, June 6, 1944, when allied forces landed in Normandy. "Eisenhower acts, Montgomery leads," trumpeted the headlines in the New York Times. "We will accept nothing less than full victory," Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower exhorted the troops. But the price remains high. The Iraq war remains the subject of intense debate, compounded by the distressing Abu Ghraib prison scandal. The graphic photos discomfort, but they have pricked our sensibilities - and sensitivities. How to mediate military force with moral authority? How to reconcile national security interests with a commitment to human rights and international law? More questions than answers have been posited in the extensive media coverage. And not just reporters are asking them, but former government officials, such as Richard A. Clarke, and now President Bill Clinton. They take us inside decision-making at the highest levels that can bring us to the brink of war - and beyond. And filmmakers, such as Michael Moore in "Fahrenheit 911" and Jehane Noujaim in "Control Room," offer controversial alternative views of the conflict and its ramifications. They are provoking the vigorous national conversation that says as much about the ideals our soldiers are so courageously defending as our rights and responsibilities to exercise them. Speak out, is the message, press on. So that those endless rows of graves - and the words of Handler - shall not be in vain. |
