20 January 2007

Justifying a father's loss

In this morning's Guardian there is a moving tribute from a British man, Bill Stewardson, to his son, Alex Green, who was killed recently in Iraq whilst serving in Basra.

I feel for Mr. Stewardson's loss. It is tragic to lose a child at any age in any circumstance. Alex was just 21 and the father of a 2 year old. In his article he speaks movingly about his son.

Yet no matter how much I sense Mr. Stewardson's pain I cannot subscribe to his argument that "if our troops pull out my son will have died in vain". Despite my opposition to the illegal invasion I do wonder if removing western troops from Iraq now is the right thing to do or just the politically expedient thing. There is a material risk that the violence will worsen, perhaps only briefly and that the country will descend into full on civil war. More innocent people will die. In a sense this mirrors Mr. Stewardson's argument but to suggest that staying on at this juncture is the only means to ensure that the loss of his son, and the loss of all the other sons and daughters, can be perceived to have value is, I am afraid, wrong on all counts.

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