How not to memorialize the Iraq War

President Trump’s plan to construct a 250-foot-tall triumphal arch in the nation’s capital has received widespread attention and criticism. But there is another monumental project underway that has received less coverage and deserves public discussion.

Earlier this month, the planners of the Global War on Terrorism Memorial publicly released their design for a permanent monument on the National Mall. Congress approved the general project in 2017 and approved its location in 2021.

The design is appropriately solemn and, like the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, largely abstract rather than didactic. If it helps to bring peace to the families of the over 7,000 service members who have died in America’s post-9/11 wars, it will serve a great purpose.

But the monument is also a missed opportunity.

Above all, the name of the monument is misleading. A majority of the American service members that the monument will memorialize died in the Iraq War, which lasted from 2003 to 2011. By treating the Iraq War as part of a so-called Global War on Terrorism, the monument will permanently enshrine and promote the false arguments made by the administration of President George W. Bush to justify the war.

President Bush, who is also the honorary chairman of the memorial foundation, popularized the idea of a “war on terrorism” in public speeches shortly........

© The Hill