Gravestone sloganeering
posted by Rick at 7:34 PM

The Bush League has reached a new low in exploitation of the dead. The Associated Press reports that families of fallen soldiers are being offered, at no cost (save the lives of their loved ones, of course), the opportunity to embellish the headstone of the departed with one of the catchy PR names the Pentagon uses for their adventures nowadays - names like "Operation Enduring Freedom" and "Operation Iraqi Freedom."

This is, needless to say, a new thing.

The vast majority of military gravestones from other eras are inscribed with just the basic, required information: name, rank, military branch, date of death and, if applicable, the war and foreign country in which the person served.

. . .

Since 1997, the government has been paying for virtually everything inscribed on the gravestones. Before that, families had to pay the gravestone makers separately for any inscription beyond the basics.

It wasn't until the invasion of Iraq in March 2003 that the department instructed national cemetery directors and funeral homes across the country to advise families of fallen soldiers and Marines that they could have operation names like "Enduring Freedom" or "Iraqi Freedom" included on the headstones.

I wonder whether DOD would foot the bill if the bereaved family wanted the headstone inscribed with something more honest, like "Bush's Folly" or "illegal war of aggression."