Glorifying War With a Memorial Is Wrong

The “war memorial” proposed for the Chatsworth Metrolink station is a fraud and should not be built (“Donations Sought for War Memorial,” Aug. 22). The plan calls for a flagpole and a plaque paying tribute to veterans. Nothing in the plan evokes the true images of war, so it cannot truly be called a war memorial.

Where are the images of demolished buildings, or of a mother wailing while cradling her dead child? Those are the images of war. We should have to face those images when deciding whether to send troops into battle, rather than the government-sponsored sanitized images presented to us with the full cooperation of the media.

No more “Nintendo Wars.” No more fictions of the glory of military victories. There are no military victories. Every war and every battle is a failure. Every conflict represents the failure to peacefully resolve our differences. There is no glory in war--only shame.

DAVID HOLLAND

Northridge