The Edmond Sun
EDMOND —
Today, thousands of Edmond residents, their families and out-of-town visitors will congregate downtown and watch the LibertyFest parade. They will celebrate our nation’s independence with cookouts, family gatherings and on Sunday night a fireworks display.
After a tumultuous two years, there is much to celebrate about our city, state and nation. Better economic times are blooming up from the dirt of the recession. Edmond’s economy locally has felt some pain, but not as much as many other areas of the nation, thankfully. Our city recently approved a modest budget but we are not wholesale laying off public servants such as our police officers and firemen. We are grateful for this blessing brought about by good stewardship.
But some of our city’s families will have bittersweet celebrations this year — again. Their loved ones are still overseas fighting wars on foreign soil to protect the American way of life that we so cherish, and on this holiday, especially honor. Some have served multiple tours of duty, sacrificing over and over again for our freedoms.
It is time that our nation’s leaders start answering the really hard questions. When do we declare victory in Afghanistan? When do we bring our men and women home to tend to pressing needs in America, such as our porous borders?
In no way does this Editorial Board advocate just pulling up stakes and leaving our job undone in Afghanistan. But, we do believe that the American people — in particular those families who have sacrificed continually since Sept. 11, 2001 — deserve an answer as to how we achieve an end game in Afghanistan. How do we define some semblance of victory that leaves the country stepping toward self-governance? What key milestones need to be met in the next year?
The answers are out there, but far too few seem to talk about them. It’s time for our leadership to set clear objectives beyond a nebulous “maybe we’re finished by July 2011.” It’s time for our local military families to know whether they can truly celebrate the next Independence Day in peace.
