The danger of yellow ribbon patriotism

[julialnyc]

Viewpoint: The danger of yellow ribbon patriotism
By JOE KLEIN
TIME columnist
Monday, August 22, 2005; Posted: 11:38 a.m. EDT (15:38 GMT)
Why Cindy Sheehan's Crawford war vigil spurned a long-awaited dialogue on Iraq.

Around the time that the forlorn gold star mother Cindy Sheehan began her vigil outside the President's ranch in Crawford, Texas, I had dinner with a military officer who had commanded a battalion in Iraq.

"I lost five lieutenants in a year," he told me. "I collected body parts. I don't know how I'll ever get over that. And you just get the feeling that the rest of the country doesn't understand. They're not part of this. It's peacetime in America, and a few of us are at war."

We have had a long season of sunshine patriotism in the U.S. since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. We love our troops without qualification, and rightly so. They have fought with courage and restraint in a horrifying chaos of battle.

The yellow ribbons and support our troops signs are heartfelt. But there is a growing sense this summer that mere patriotic displays just won't cut it anymore.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

[zbdent]

1. Spurned? Shouldn't that be "spurred" - or -

"spawned"?