Dallas Morning News
Veterans Day. When you think of – or thank – veterans of the current Middle East war, think of this: U.S. soldiers are fighting in Iraq today in part because of an event that ended on this date 90 years ago: World War I.
It is well known how the tumult of the Great War lit the fire under Nazism and communism, the twin totalitarianisms that would grieve the 20th century. But the Great War's culmination also meant the demise of the Ottoman Empire and the drawing of the modern Middle East's map by the victorious British. Iraq and many of its regional neighbors emerged from that war. The Arab nationalism and Islamism that have convulsed the Middle East over the last century were a response to the waning of Western imperialism forced by the same war.
Interesting, i had not really connected Veterans Day WWI with Iraq.
What I do know is honey commemorated Veterans Day in silence from 1974 until 2002. He got out of the Marines in 1973, and resumed college in Feb 1974, only discussing his service with his dad, a Korean War vet, and other veterans on campus.
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