Days before President Barack Obama and the First Lady host a White House dinner in honor of Iraq War veterans, top veterans' organization officials are instead calling for a more public celebrations.
According to Paul Rieckhoff, Founder of the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), the White House dinner is “a wonderful gesture from the First Family and an incredible honor for the few invited to attend.”
Though 200 people are expected to fill the White House's East Wing, including veterans from all branches and ranks, there are more than 1 million veterans from the Iraq Conflict. Mr. Rieckhoff continues by asking a very tough, yet important question: “[W]hat about the rest of them?”
Along with other veterans' organizations, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the IAVA urges the President to call for a nationwide plan to hold parades, memorials and celebrations in honor of the valor of the Iraq War veterans.
St. Louis recently held a city-wide parade with great success and thousands of attendees on January 28. In New York City, a once small grassroots effort to hold a “ticker tape” parade through the streets not only went viral but has attracted attention by the city's top decision makers.
However, New York City's Mayor, Michael Bloomberg, defers to advice from the Pentagon to wait.
To some, the Obama Administration and the Pentagon are dragging their feet in organizing nationwide celebration, but for others, the delay is appropriate. Since there are still troops on the grown in Afghanistan, any national celebration should wait until that conflict is over and those troops are home safely.
“Celebrating the Iraqi vets doesn't negate a future celebration for the Afghan vets or deny that we're still at war,” said Leslie H. Gelb, Board Member of IAVA, former correspondent for The New York Times and President Emeritus of the Council on Foreign Relations.
Former New York City Mayor, Edward I. Koch, called the Pentagon's advice to delay holding parades and celebrations until the War in Afghanistan is over as “ridiculous.”
