Posted by
Mike Tatu on Sunday, January 21, 2007 1:50:43 AM
In what many call the greatest speech by an American President, Abraham Lincoln spoke to the assembly at Gettysburg about the need to carry on the fight:
"It
is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished
work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced"
The State of the Union speech that President Bush gives Monday will be at least 15 times longer than the Gettysburg address and yet will not be nearly effective as the Gettysburg address, given today, would be in discussing today's situation in Iraq. The Gettysburg address was given before the War was over - to that point the Union had lost more battles than it won - in contrast, some would say that we have "lost" this war after winning every battle, firefight and skirmish to date.
If only Lt Mark Daily could have been selected to serve as the President's speech writer rather than serve his country in Iraq. In his MySpace Blog posted shortly prior to his death in Iraq this week, Lt. Daily clearly defines why we need to continue the work that has been "thus far so nobly advanced". This posting should be required reading for Congress, the State Department and the Pentagon. It should be read aloud at the next session of Congress.
LT Laura Walker helped build roads and bridges to democracy, lets hope LT Mark Daily's words can build bridges of understanding on why we need to help the Iraqis keep building Iraq's Road to Democracy
May they both Rest In Peace