Boots on the Ground.

I'm sorry I missed the ceremony at the Aspen Volunteer Fire Department this morning. There is a piece from "the pile" outside our Volunteer Fire Department and this morning a wreath was added along with a helmet and boots.

Most people don't notice this piece of iron next to the flagpole but it stands by the doors to the Station and every Firefighter passes by it to enter.

Some of our guys just got in the truck and started driving that day.

But this day isn't just about remembering... it's about learning.... "Homeland Confusion" in the OpEd of the Times today.

Those days of standing shoulder to shoulder outside the US Congress seem like a fantasy; but it did happen. How quickly we forget our Solidarity, our sense of Community. 

Of all the Opportunities which where squandered in those crisp Fall days of 2001 this, in my opinion, is the most heart breaking. The World stood united in sympathy and outrage. We could have done better things with that Good Will than start 2 Wars.

Yet there is hope. I don't know if John Kerry's non-military solution was just a toss off or a brilliantly crafted ploy to maneuver stalled weapons talks to the forefront.

Former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's Remarks on Syria:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=0h2TUWrJacg

Perhaps after 12 years of war we are finally ready to acknowledge what the Nobel Peace Prize Committee said in the wake of the Towers falling. "If" President Bush was able to answer 9/11 without going to War they said they'd give him the Prize. The sentiment was echoed in analysis by The Aspen Institute right after the attack. Combating poverty would do more to undermine radical Islam than Military action. 

Has our anger cooled? Am I seeing cracks of sanity breaking through the murk of Congress? More likely this is just another quirk of fate, that the predictable reverse psychology of US Politics now means there is a chance for Peace, a chance for restraint, a chance for reason over vengeance. 

I'll take it anywhere I can get it because when I think of "Boots on the Ground" this is what I see.

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