Prayers, Tears, and Compassion in Iraq

I suppose one could say I am a peacemaker. I much prefer peace to war. I shall do all that I can to prevent and end hostilities—in any form, at any place.

I have also been a soldier: a captain in the United States army. I was never in a declared war (Vietnam was ending before I received the orders that I expected to send me there); however, I know the lives and traumas of solders. I know the tears shed for fallen comrades—too many of the names on The Wall belong to my friends. This print hangs in my living room:

As a peacemaker who was once a warrior, I can identify with those, soldiers and non-combatants, who are caught up in the awfulness of war. And I am repulsed by the “peacemakers” who belittle and debase soldiers when that rage should rightly be directed toward the politicians who sent those men and women to war.

I recently received the photographs below in an email. I share them, not in praise of war, but in recognition of those soldiers whose prayers, tears, and compassion we too often do not see.