OpEdNews - Page 2 of Article: Seeking Atonement For Wars Both Distant and Present

Gary Canant is not alone. There are many veterans who have the echoes of their conflicts reawakened by Iraq. Painful memories that had been submerged for decades have bubbled back up to the surface. That's one reason, he told me, that's he's going back to Vietnam — to give a proper goodbye to the men he served with and to atone for the horrors our military inflicted upon the Vietnamese people.

It took years for the American people to realize what was happening in Vietnam was wrong and that this nation needed to leave. We've reached that point in Iraq, but as was the case during Vietnam, the people are far ahead of the leaders.

"As a vet and a Marine I have very conflicted ideas about war," he told me this week, "but I believe that we have lost our way in this war, just like we did in Vietnam, and it will drag our nation down until NO is heard. We have lost our soul."

We will get our country, and our soul, back someday. And maybe, this generation of soldiers will be able to make a pilgrimage back to a peaceful, stable Iraq and come to terms with what they did there during their war. Maybe they will find forgiveness and closure.

For their sake, I hope it happens soon.

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