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 11:38 AM, May 25, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPERTom Manion has a moving article in today's Wall Street Journal, ahead of Memorial Day, explaining how he came "to fully understand the sacrifices of our troops and their families."
I served in the military for 30 years. But it was impossible to fully understand the sacrifices of our troops and their families until April 29, 2007, the day my son, First Lt. Travis Manion, was killed in Iraq.
Travis was just 26 years old when an enemy sniper's bullet pierced his heart after he had just helped save two wounded comrades. Even though our family knew the risks of Travis fighting on the violent streets of Fallujah, being notified of his death on a warm Sunday afternoon in Doylestown, Pa., was the worst moment of our lives.
While my son's life was relatively short, I spend every day marveling at his courage and wisdom. Before his second and final combat deployment, Travis said he wanted to go back to Iraq in order to spare a less-experienced Marine from going in his place. His words—"If not me, then who . . . "—continue to inspire me.
My son is one of thousands to die in combat since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Because of their sacrifices, as well as the heroism of previous generations, Memorial Day 2012 should have tremendous importance to our entire nation, with an impact stretching far beyond one day on the calendar.
(The whole Manion piece is here.) And Mary Katharine Ham wrote about the Manions two years ago for THE WEEKLY STANDARD:
I’ve known the Manion family for three years. I met them six months after Travis died, when 200 of his family members and friends came to Washington to run the Marine Corps Marathon in his honor. Travis had planned to run the race with his dad when he got back from Iraq. Instead, his father ran the race that day wearing two numbers. The official results say Travis Manion crossed the finish line at 4:19:39.
Back then, his mother Janet was barely able to speak at a pre-race dinner honoring Travis. This year, she virtually emceed the event. His older sister went from grieving her brother to leading a foundation in his honor. His father went from being a seemingly stoic, mostly silent, Gold Star father to a candidate for Congress in 2008, outperforming expectations in a tough Pennsylvania district and a bad year for Republicans, but ultimately losing to antiwar Iraq veteran Patrick Murphy.
Each member of the family has changed. Where they used to say “Since Travis . . . ,” trailing off without finishing the sentence, they now say “Since we lost Travis,” with affection and purpose. But beyond grieving, they’ve committed themselves to the mission Travis is no longer here to serve—the good of his fellow veterans, his country, and the people of Iraq.
Read Mary Katharine's piece here. For more, see the boss's Memorial Day post from last year.
7:54 PM, May 1, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPERHere are the prepared remarks of President Obama's Afghanistan speech, as prepared for delivery:
Remarks of President Barack Obama On the War in Afghanistan – As Prepared for Delivery Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan May 2, 2012 AFT
Read more... 9:29 PM, Apr 23, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPERIn the wake of the Arab Spring, the Obama administration is grappling with how to handle Islamists, radical adherents to Islam. Particularly, the issue has come to the fore in regards to Egypt, which, as Reuel Marc Gerecht notes, "is now certain" to elect "an Islamist" as its leaders the next time the Egyptian people go to the polls.
Read more... 5:17 PM, Apr 23, 2012 • By DANIEL DORONAn agreement to curb Iran's development of nuclear weapons was not reached at the International Conference in Istanbul.
Read more... 8:05 AM, Apr 19, 2012 • By DAVID GELERNTERThe future of Iran’s nuclear weapons program depends on one of those strange alignments of justice and personal gain that create eclipses and flood tides when planetary bodies are the actors. It’s important that the world understand these strange circumstances.
Read more... 10:40 PM, Apr 17, 2012 • By ANN MARLOWEZwara, Libya
As shells fell around the Amazigh city of Zwara on the evening of April 3, the city’s five tanks thundered back at its Arab neighbors in Rig Dalin. Men, ranging in age from their teens to their sixties, fought and supported the fighters—and updated the Zwara Media Center’s very active Facebook page. Also, they talked incessantly about the meaning of democracy, minority rights, gun control, and other topics usually left to less urgent settings.
Read more... 1:40 PM, Apr 17, 2012 • By STEPHEN SCHWARTZTwenty years have passed since the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina declared its independence from Yugoslavia at the beginning of March 1992. Bosnian independence came after Slovenia, Croatia, and Macedonia had left Yugoslavia in 1991. Slobodan Milosevic, the Yugoslav dictator, proclaimed Serbian “independence” inside Yugoslavia—of which Serbia was the dominant constituent—in 1990.
Read more... 7:03 AM, Apr 17, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPERSteve Hayes, with Mara Liasson and Charles Krauthammer, last night on Fox News:
Read more... 3:20 PM, Apr 16, 2012 • By THOMAS JOSCELYNThe Obama administration set forth its demands of Iran in advance of this past weekend’s negotiations over the Iranian nuclear program.
Read more... 10:55 AM, Apr 16, 2012 • By THOMAS JOSCELYNOn Sunday, insurgents launched a series of coordinated attacks on Western embassies in Kabul, as well as other targets throughout Afghanistan. Afghanistan’s interior minister, Bismillah Khan Mohammadi, said that at least two detained terrorists – one captured in Kabul, the other in Jalalabad – have told authorities that the Pakistan-based Haqqani Network is responsible.
Read more... Azawad proclaims independence in North Mali.9:25 AM, Apr 7, 2012 • By ROGER KAPLANIn the latest turn of events in the decade-long war on terror, U.S. counter-terrorism policy in Africa was dealt a blow – or an opportunity – with the declaration of independence of the Azawad, the territory claimed by the Tuareg tribes of northern Mali.
Read more... 9:31 AM, Apr 5, 2012 • By DANIEL HALPERSteve Hayes, with Mara Liasson and Charles Krauthammer, last night on Fox News:
Read more... 1:15 PM, Apr 2, 2012 • By THOMAS JOSCELYNAmbassador Ryan Crocker, the State Department’s man in Kabul, is clearly concerned about a premature drawdown of American and Western forces from Afghanistan.
Read more... 6:45 PM, Mar 20, 2012 • By JEFFREY DRESSLERIn testimony before the House Armed Services Committee today, General John Allen said the mission in Afghanistan remains on track, despite the infamous Quran burnings and last week’s civilian casualty incident.
Read more...
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