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# Columnist can flash peace sign in Iraq
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/columnist-can-flash-peace-sign-in-iraq-editor/
- Published: 2007-05-26T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-24T00:52:06.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import

*By James Zeruk Jr. Veteran, United States Air Force*

David Pisarra’s rambling, convoluted piece regarding how we should honor the fallen on Memorial Day (“We don’t honor the fallen as we should,” May 22) was a real head-scratcher. Particularly towards the end (yeah, I know, I can’t believe I read it that far, either). Pisarra says, Here I was all this time thinking those flag-covered caskets were because of oil or George Bush trying to take over the world or something... duh. Pisarra rides awful loose in the saddle of this fallen-soldier high horse of his.

Pisarra says, “We can’t give honor to those who have fallen while we continue to wage war,” and, “To honor the dead, we would send people on peace missions.” He says that we can only remember the dead, not honor them, unless, of course, we do it his way.

Pisarra should get a clue. His Utopian end-all-war ideology about honoring fallen troops, though warm and fuzzy it may be, is void of substance and reality. Open minds, face paint, flowers, cultural exchanges, creativity and all the rest of his philosophy doesn’t deter evil, it emboldens it, because to evil, peace is weakness. And that is what evil preys upon. Does he really believe that the Taliban or Al Qaeda, or any terror group, can be reasoned with? If Pisarra’s ideas are so wonderful and sure, why doesn’t he go to Iraq or Afghanistan, meet some warlords and practice what he preaches?

Traditional Memorial Day remembrances of those who died in preservation of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is honoring them, Mr. Pisarra. Furthermore, after my little flag is planted at a veteran’s marker and my prayer has been whispered, after names have been read, gun-salutes fired, missing-man formations flown, wreathes laid, Taps bugled, real tears dried, and wind-bag politicians ignored, the fallen want me, my family and my friends to have some summer fun.

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 26, 2007.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/052607.pdf?ref=smdp.com)