Last week I mentioned a New York Times op-ed from a former Reagan staffer who took Bush to task for failing to attend military funerals for those who have died in Iraq.
“The commander in chief should publicly honor the individual lives sacrificed in war,” John Roberts wrote. “He should show his respect in front of the television cameras. A nation is a community, and the lives that are lost belong not just to their families, but to us all. As the only political figure who represents the whole nation, the duty of commemorating these deaths belongs uniquely to the president.” He added, “Skipping memorial services makes the president look weak. It creates the impression that he values his own political standing above the lost lives of servicemen and women.”
Almost immediately, a veterans’ group started a petition, which has generated almost 20,000 signatures, asking the president to “show our fallen soldiers the respect they deserve by…attending at least one funeral or memorial for our soldiers killed in Iraq.”
Wesley Clark quickly seized this issue and has been hammering Bush with it. Over the weekend, the Clark campaign issued a statement noting that Bush has “refused to attend a single military funeral of any soldier killed in Iraq.” The campaign noted that Carter, Reagan, Bush (Sr.), and Clinton all attended funerals for soldiers who were killed in conflicts under their command.
“Part of being a leader is facing the consequences of your actions, no matter how hard or painful that is,” Clark said. “President Bush owes more to the families of our soldiers. They should not be mourning alone.”
To his credit, Clark also brought the issue up in the Iowa debate this week and it was one of the bigger applause lines of the event.
“I warned we were going to war without a real plan as to what to do next and without adequate forces,” Clark said. “Now we see the consequences. We have an American president who visits the families of bereaved Britons and won’t visit our own families in this country. What is this coming to?”
I think the Bush White House has taken notice. As the Progress Report noted yesterday, Bush “held a rare meeting with families of fallen soldiers” at Fort Carson, Colo., on Tuesday.
For those keeping score at home, that’s three meetings with the families of slain soldiers since the war began, and 42 campaign fundraisers in the same time period.
Meeting with families is an important step, and I’m glad Bush made the gesture this week, we’re still waiting for Bush to follow in his predecessors’ footsteps and attend a funeral for a fallen soldier. As the Washington Post noted, Bush “has not attended any of the funerals of the 431 U.S. service members who have died since the invasion of Iraq. Bush’s critics point out that 40 of those funerals were at Arlington National Cemetery, just four miles from the White House.”
I suspect “Bush’s critics” will continue to point this out until the White House changes its policy.