NYT OpEd, Herbert: "Dying In Iraq"

[protect freedom impeach bush now]

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/07/31/opinion/31HERB.html

Dying in Iraq
By BOB HERBERT


Those are good kids that we're sending into the shooting gallery called Iraq, and unless you have the conviction of a Bush or a Rumsfeld or a Bechtel or a Halliburton, you have to be nursing the sick feeling that each death is a tragic waste, and that this conflict is as much of a fool's errand as the war in Vietnam.

Despite the deceit and chronic dissembling of their political leaders in Washington, and the wretched conditions on the ground in Iraq, the young men and women are fighting bravely. So there was Gov. George Pataki earlier this week with the unhappy task of asking for a moment of silence in remembrance of Sgt. Heath McMillin, a 29-year-old National Guardsman from Clifton Springs in upstate New York.

Sergeant McMillin was killed on Sunday when his unit was attacked while on patrol south of Baghdad.

Over the weekend The New York Times had an article about the close-knit family of Cpl. Travis J. Bradach-Nall, a 21-year-old marine from Portland, Ore., who was killed on July 1 while clearing mines in south-central Iraq. The corporal loved tattoos, and his favorite movie was "Ghostbusters." The article was accompanied by a photo showing his brother and three cousins with memorial "Ghostbusters" tattoos.

Why are these kids dying?

more.............

[BOSSHOG]

1. Excellent question Bob Hebert

Why are our kids dying? Because the right wing hate media machine at the direction of the white house has the moron lemmings convinced that awol bush is a man of integrity and that our intervention in iraq is rightous. They believe we are there to protect America. We are there to secure oil fields for rich republicans - that mission has been accomplished. If American kids must die to ensure republican goals are met so be it. The aforementioned machine will also ensure you are slandered as unpatriotic if you tell the truth. And the flags on freeper vehicles get more tattered by the day.

[OneBlueSky]

2. and they're not all kids . . .

I vividly recall the story of a 55-year-old reservist's funeral a week or two ago, accompanied by a photo of his grieving grandson . . . this is pure insanity . . .