Letters to the Editor
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Mora, Gray and the other 3,776 (as of today) are an "investment" according to Boehner of Ohio
"CNN reporter Wolf Blitzer asked Boehner Wednesday how much longer the United States would have to stay in Iraq.
“The loss in blood, the Americans who are killed every month, how much longer do you think this commitment, this military commitment is going to require?” Blitzer asked.
“We need to continue our effort here because, Wolf, long term, the investment that we're making today will be a small price if we're able to stop al-Qaida here, if we're able to stabilize the Middle East,” said Boehner."
So you see, it's like we are taking men and women and "spending them," putting their deaths into a kind of mutual fund, and the more we "invest" today, the greater the dividend and return on investment we will get tomorrow.
Only the people we "invested" won't be getting any quarterly checks at the cemetery.
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Op-Ed soldiers...Carry the story on
THANK YOU, JOAN, FOR WRITING THIS STORY!
I was so impressed with the collaboration of these soldiers
on writing the Op-Ed piece. I have passed it on as I think
their story speaks personally and strongly to the open-ended
question of assessment of the Iraq war situation. The debate over statistics is one thing. Personal testimony makes a stronger case for how the war is going.
Of course, the empathy for the two soldiers and their families is sourced in the "personalization" that happens by knowing a name and their story. But my hope would be that this story could become one that represents the particular grief of soldiers who give theirs lives for a war they don't believe in. It is a particularly tragic facet of the multifaceted Tragedy of this war.
I would hope this story would get television play and
become a true soldier's story.
As far as the true story of whether it was a real accident, or whether there was a "dirty deed" that promoted it...
in my opinion, that is not the important feature. I believe that "coincidence" is the metaphor from Nature, or from the "out there". (Metaphors be with you.) Coincidence
could be the way that Spirit(God/Cosmic Intelligence)says that this story is an Important one, and should be highlighted in
our society. (should it ever be discovered that the brakes were cut, or some such "accident", then that is another aspect of the story that should be highlighted)
Meanwhile I can pass it on. Joan, maybe you have a way to make this a bigger story.
With respect. Georgeann
MEANWHILE.....IMPEACHMENT IS THE ANSWER TO IRAQ AND MANY OTHER PROBLEMS CREATED BY THIS PRESIDENCY. IMPEACHMENT TOMORROW
WOULD GET THE ATTENTION OF BUSH AND CHENEY. THEN PERHAPS MORE
SENSIBLE PEOPLE COULD START REPAIRING THE DAMAGE AND TRAGEDIES
THESE DARTH VADER/DON QUIJOTES HAVE CREATED. IMPEACHMENT COULD PREVENT A WAR WITH IRAN.
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Joan's worst nightmare
Joan, just imagine what would happen in your silly little world if America actually defeats al Qaeda in the very place Osama himself considers the central battlefield of his precious jihad. Yes, Joan, I'm talking about an American victory in Iraq. Imagine that.
Not that you'd ever aspire to a goal as lofty as winning the first great battle in the war on terrorism. In fact, I'm sure your head will explode when that day finally comes to pass.
In the meantime, please don't pretend to cry crockadile tears for fallen heroes who happen to agree with your point of view on Iraq. Well over 3,000 other brave soldiers have met their fate there, too. And I'm quite sure that most of them would find your opportunism as transparent as it is nauseating.
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SUSPICIOUS
Were they brave or stupid? You can not go against the Bush regime and expect to live to tell about it. This was way too easy, they should have waited until they were on American soil. They may have been suicided after that but this ending was way too easy to perpetrate.
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STRANGE COINCIDENCE
Do some people actually think that "our people" aren't capable of causing the deaths of those who dare to speak out against this war publicly? Whether or not the deaths of Mora and Gray were accidental, accidental-on-purpose, or they were murdered, you can bet that others who would speak truth to power have now been silenced.
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Before we unsettle.....
Dear Joan:
Early on Sunday morning August 19, after having read the moving Op-Ed piece by the seven airbourne soldiers including Omar Mora and Yance Gray, I had thru the Times forwarded it to Dave Petraeus. Here was his response received within a hour:
"Our troopers are, indeed, wonderful, Bill. Thanks for forwarding this. To echo the final line of these great troopers, as a committed soldier who has now spent nearly three years here in Iraq and has a son in Airborne School, I, too, will see this mission through. Best -- Dave Petraeus"
None of us from whatever service or from whatever rank across whatever war ever hold our companion soldiers or sailors in less than wonder and admiration.
And it grows with the increasing distance in time and space from the initial point of departure.
Please don't hold this in the bottom of the blog...it might be worth a MSNBC sound bite for all those in harm's way behalf.
Godspeed, Bill Keller
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stop it!
Bill Keller, stop spouting hypocritical crap and get real. This misty eyed rubbish about heroic bands of brothers is why young people are still being sent to die in colonial wars in the 21st century. As for Petraeus: he should hang his head in shame for attempting to perpetuate and support a futile, unwinnable war that was entered into in a moral vacumn and has only gone downhill from there. I just read an article about how the salaries of CEOs of defence companies have doubled since 9/11 and the unbelievable amounts of money everyone involved in the Iraq war is making. Everyone that is except the people being sent there to die so that a lot of rich people can become even more obscenely wealthy. These people are determined to have war without end because it makes them rich. The soldiers are the 'investment' they make in running the defence industry that has become America's reason for existing. David Betrayus is not the disease he's a symptom of the disease. Would the army kill these soldiers for speaking out against the war? Of course they bloody would. In the eyes of the fanatics running this war these decent and honourable men were traitors. These same people run off at the mouth about Betrayus as if he's going to save the world. The question is who's going to save the world from people like Betrayus and the Kagans and Bush and deadeye Dickie? If the Republicans ever want to occupy the white house again they better start thinking about the size of the loss they face in 2008. Things are going to get a lot worse in Iraq and staying there for ten years in insanity - unless you happen to be the CEO of a defence corporation. Then it makes perfect sense.