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thedrifter
03-01-09, 07:47 AM
Newsday.com
Obama administration's hard truths on the war front

Ellis Henican

March 1, 2009


Whatever we think of the war of the moment, on this much we should all agree: Let's never hide our eyes from its facts.

We got some fresh good news on the honesty-in-war front.

Barack Obama vowed to put the financial costs of war - in Iraq and Afghanistan - back in the regular federal budget. "For seven years, we have been a nation at war," he said in Washington. "No longer will we hide its price."

He then flew down to Camp Lejeune, N.C., and handed the Marines an actual date for the end of combat in Iraq. Write it down. Hold him to it. Aug. 31, 2010.

Two simple steps, two bold moves.

And as the president was acting decisively, his inherited secretary of defense, Robert Gates, was displaying command presence of his own: Lifting an 18-year-old ban on photographing the flag-draped coffins of America's returning war dead, so long as the grieving family approves.

These were three discrete actions, none depending on the others, each a step toward honesty in its own profound way. But taken together - and all in the same week - they hinted at a nation exhibiting a level of maturity on a subject as difficult as any anywhere.

Ending a war in the open. Paying the bills out front. Refusing now to hide its highest costs of all.

If there's one thing we've learned from Afghanistan and Iraq, it's that war should never be entered into blithely. If there's another, it's that we must always face its most difficult facts.



BUDGET MAGIC: After ratcheting up the warnings to something approaching hysteria, Gov. David A. Paterson turns up at Sequoya Middle School in Holtsville to reveal - well, maybe there won't be LI school-aid cuts at all. Thanks to the Obama stimulus plan, "every cut we made to school districts in this budget we will restore," the governor pledged. That easy? That quick? Easy and quick enough to make a cynic wonder how real the danger ever was.



THIEVES: Fans should note this gloating headline in The Kansas City Star: "Islanders Have Escape Clause in Coliseum Lease." Now take a guess which team will be on the home bench at KC's Sprint Center when the Isles meet the LA Kings for an exhibition game - just an exhibition game! - in September.



ASKED AND UNANSWERED: A Roosevelt home invader in a "Scream" mask, an East Hampton house burglar in a devil's mask - who said this week's criminals didn't have the Mardi Gras spirit? ... Why's Morgy rushing off? He's only 89 ... Why so much showy charity from all these disgraced business execs? The latest is ex-Islanders' co-owner (and renowned Alzheimer's angel) Stephen Walsh ... Is tiny George Schmelzer Park (West Main Street, Riverside) really a park - or a parking lot? Suffolk County lawyers smell a legal ruse by the Town of Riverhead to keep a trailer of homeless sex offenders away. And who wouldn't want to? ... What's happening to all the Fortunoff space? Better redeem those gift cards before March 8. Andrew Cuomo can't help you after that ... Bloomberg's Great Walked Way: How many more reasons do you need to take the train to Broadway? ... How soon until strapped LI country clubs start waiving initiation fees and offering discounted dues? March wouldn't be a crazy guess ... How dare the Vatican revise the Seven Deadly Sins? Have we all been saved already from gluttony, lust and greed? ... As health care costs keep rising, I keep trying to remember: Have I ever met a poor doctor? Or a poor hospital administrator? Or a poor insurance exec? None comes immediately to mind ... Was it just my imagination? Or were there more Wednesday ashes this year? Hey, you gotta turn somewhere in tough times ... Does News 12 anchor (and "The Challenge" host) Scott Feldman actually know the answers to all those questions? Is he, you know, smarter than a 12th-grader? ... What's the maximum age for actually GETTING the Jonas Brothers? 16? ... A monthly all-access subscription fee? A home delivery add-on? Stories and columns micro-priced one a time? What will finally convince readers (and not just on LI) to pay for news on the Net? Will anything? Oh, yeah: Will reporters and editors ever eat again? ... What can I possibly tell the kids at Miller Place High? Tuesday is Career Day, and my career's journalism. I'd better think of something quick.

E-mail ellis@henican.com



Ellie