….and then there’s the Iraq war….
by Linda Gaither
In the Rochester airport last week I was followed up the arrivals ramp by a soldier in desert camouflage. He had been sitting next to me on the flight from Atlanta and spent most of the journey playing peak-a-boo with the two-year-old in the seat in front of us. As we rounded the final turn of the ramp, a roar of applause and greetings nearly swept us away. “Welcome home” and “We love you, Mike” signs were everywhere. And then, taking my breath away, was the moment of reunion with his own two-year-old in the arms of a weeping mother. I felt embarrassed, rather like an intruder who had stumbled into a private family moment. Private! No, this was not private, this home-coming belonged to the public square of the airport. I would think about the soldier all day. What was his story? What scars did he bear? What scars had he inflicted in the line of duty? Did he know that we all join in the welcome home, unlike the experience of my own generation of soldiers in the Vietnam era?
This issue of Episcopal Peace Witness is devoted to the Iraq war. Our Journal piece presents the reflections of a theologian, Gary Dorrien, on the religio-political realities of the war. Many of our regular Features focus on the war and the wider Middle East situation. We invite your responses, as well as ideas for future themes.
