Epitome of the Bush Administration

In August 2006, Mr. Bush conducted meetings with the family members of five Maine soldiers who died in either Iraq, Afghanistan or the September 11th attacks at the Pentagon. During her and her children's time with Mr. Bush, Hildi Halley tearfully described the impact that the death of her husband, Army National Guard Capt. Patrick Damon, had on their family. On the other hand, after her two children left the room, Halley's comments for Mr. Bush became more direct and critical. Now I obviously understand that Halley would be upset over the loss of her husband and that Mr. Bush has a specific job to perform as commander-in-chief (regardless of how poorly he has served in that particular role). With that being said, there are a couple of aspects of this story that are absolutely frustrating.

Building roads as an engineer in Afghanistan for Operation Enduring Freedom (whatever in the hell that means), Damon collapsed and died unexpectedly at the age of 41. Despite a lack of heart problems in either his or his family's medical history, the initial Army reports attributed Damon's death to a sudden heart attack. Halley was subsequently informed that there was no evidence that a heart attack killed her husband, leaving the cause of death as inconclusive. Based on the report from the State Medical Examiner, many of his family members believe that Damon died from an adverse reaction to some of the vaccines administered to him. The original conclusion from the Army clearly sounds like the U.S. military covering themselves once again.

With that being said, the most blood boiling part of all this is what occurred at the very end of Halley's meeting with Mr. Bush. Before then, Halley informed Mr. Bush that "I hold you responsible for my husband's death. You made a mistake and it's your responsibility as a Christian man to end this war.'' She also informed him that "As President, you're here to serve the people. And the people are not being served with this war." Bush responded with "I'm not going to have a philosophical debate over politics". By the time Mr. Bush rose to end the meeting, Halley was no longer able to control her anger: "[Patrick's] dead. For what? I've lost my soul mate.'' Not agreeing with Halley's view of the war, Mr. Bush declared that "We see things differently''. And, considering the situation, the dialogue between the two is completely understandable. However, what has amazed me about their meeting is that, during his parting exchange with Halley, Mr. Bush bothers to hand a souvenir presidential coin to the grieving widow. Seriously, a presidential coin? This woman's husband died while serving our country and you slip her a coin as you are walking out of the room? What do grieving mothers and fathers receive? A set of "presidential" steak knives that he took from the White House kitchen? Give me a break.