Your service to your country has been the very definition of honorable.

Thank you for providing us with an update on Jeremy Murphy's recovery condition. This is the first piece of information that I have seen on his condition. I also would encourage the filing of requests to interview the remaining four on a regular basis so that their safety and freedom from reprisals can be monitored on a routine basis.

r.i.p.

I personally know one of the young men who assisted in writing this article and am glad that his words, and those of his friends, are still being passed forward.

God bless Omar and Yance, their fellow soldiers, and their friends and family.

Every chosen word weighed more than months/years of what we hear from just about every other traditional source.

I am sick thinking that some of these messengers died getting the truth to us.

Please tell me that we are paying attention.

Thank you for reprinting this article, which ought to be required reading for all elected representatives. I weep for these astoundingly brave soldiers, and all their comrades in arms, whose courage and patriotism our Commander-in-Chief and his lackeys are squandering in this miserable, failing, disgusting war.

Accident, my ass. Corporate mercenaries now outnumber U.S. Armed Forces in Iraq. And they all know nothing is easier than committing murder in a combat zone.

A profound example of journalistic excellence and, I suspect, courage.

Many of us have suspected the truth reported in this article but hearing it first hand brings a chill and a tragic knowing. But then, just prior to reading this Salon article, I read how Obama is projecting a _complete_ removal of US troops by the end of 2008. This sits well with Colin Powell's answer to the question of when we could pull out? ---- How about this afternoon.

I feel a pit in my stomach reading this editorial which I'm sure the writers must have worked on and agonized over for quite some time before and after its publication.

It saddens me that these people who have such an accurate grasp of the situation are now no longer with us. To know that while their families were once feeling so much pride for their contributions now must be feeling so much sorrow and probably anger and the senseless nature of their death makes me wish there was something more I could do than just write a letter to the editor.

We have so many people in this country that must feel the same way but we are seemingly powerless to change the situation and prevent any more of these senseless deaths. We are told every vote counts so we voted out Republicans and brought in a Democratic majority only to have them roll over faster than a dog looking for a belly rub from any stranger who walks by.

At this point, I just don't know what to do any more and it sickens me. I have written my senators only to be answered with platitudes about "how hard it is to be president" and how none of us can know the great "burden" that Bush and our other "leaders" must bear.

Guess I'll go back to knitting my "prayer shawls" for the families of dead soldiers... as lame as that sounds. Good thing I have a lot of yarn. Looks like I'm going to need it for many years to come.

To any military families who may read this, please know I care and if you have any ideas for what we can do to help, please let us know. You shouldn't have to be going through this and will pray that you have a happier reunion with your loved ones than the families of the authors of this article.

Omar Mora’s story ran on the first page (below the fold) of the City & State section of the Houston Chronicle this morning. He and his mother came here from Ecuador when he was two years old.

The obit made no mention of his contribution to the op-ed describing the madness of the war in Iraq.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/5127764.html

What an amazing piece of writing explaining so lucidly the absurdity of the mission these brave and committed soldiers have been asked to undertake. Being professional soldiers, they didn't want to discuss the politics of the war. This leaves it up to ordinary people to tell the truth.

The missing elephant in the room has been the role of the neocons and the Israel Lobby who played a critical role (perhaps the most critical of all) in bringing about this war for the benefit of a foreign nation and who are yet pushing relentlessly for another war (see http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/pages/rosnerBlog.jhtml?itemNo=903360)

"It [the Israel Lobby] also wants America to help Israel remain the dominant regional power. The Israeli government and pro-Israel groups in the United States have worked together to shape the administration’s policy towards Iraq, Syria and Iran, as well as its grand scheme for reordering the Middle East.

Pressure from Israel and the Lobby was not the only factor behind the decision to attack Iraq in March 2003, but it was critical. Some Americans believe that this was a war for oil, but there is hardly any direct evidence to support this claim. Instead, the war was motivated in good part by a desire to make Israel more secure."

- Professors Mearsheimer and Walt, London Review of Books, http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html

Bring our guys home. These guys were less than a month from getting home, and they got killed during their extra three months thanks to wanker in chiefs escalation. The Iraqis will be cheering as we live, and so will we.

No one can ever argue supporting this occupation or surge without reading this first.

Inversely, those opposed should be galvanized in their resistance.

I hope the death of these two patriots is not in vain. I hope it propels this article into the hands of every person in this country.