Not George W.
Lost Voices – Why the deaths of Yance T. Gray and Omar Mora are particularly galling.
By Fred Kaplan in SLATE
On Monday, while Gen. David Petraeus prepared to testify before two House committees about the successes of the surge, seven of his soldiers died when their transport vehicle overturned in a highway accident west of Baghdad.
Two of those soldiers, Staff Sgt. Yance T. Gray, 26, and Sgt. Omar Mora, 28, were part of another group of seven—the seven noncommissioned officers of the 82nd Airborne Division who wrote a brave, well-reasoned op-ed in the Aug. 19 New York Times, calling the prospect of victory “far-fetched” and appraisals of progress “surreal.”
One of the other NCOs, Staff Sgt. Jeremy A. Murphy, was shot in the head during a firefight before the op-ed piece was published. (Rushed to a military hospital, he is alive but recovering slowly.)
It is sad and appalling that nearly half of the authors of that op-ed are now casualties of the war that they publicly criticized but more than willingly continued to fight. (The last paragraph of their piece read: “We need not talk about our morale. As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through.”) …
The Iraq war claims two soldiers who wrote a critical op-ed. – By Fred Kaplan – Slate Magazine
Rick McCharles 
I like that mosaic. It’s called War President, and was first posted to the internet on April 4, 2004 (http://amleft.blogspot.com/archives/2004_04_01_amleft_archive.html#108112087436221697) when “only” about 600 US soldiers had been killed. (As of today, there have been 4,223 – see http://projects.washingtonpost.com/fallen/) As a result, some photos are used more than once, but none more than three times. I suspect it would be no problem to make one now and never have a repeat. I wonder when we will see one of Harper entitled War Prime Minister.
The photo is both shocking and moving. But in the second paragraph of Kaplan’s article there is a link to the letter published by the NY Times August 19. It is the letter that gave me much food for thought: indeed, what is Bush true agenda in Iraq, the agenda we’re not told? Surely not what he gives out. Is he intending the gradual murder of a whole nation at the hands of its own warring sides both of which we persist in arming, as the soldiers’ letter seems to allude? Or is it conceivable that both the Army’s top commander and the Comander-in-Chief fail to see what mere soldiers know?
This is so insulting I am a Us soldier and I cant belive this photo. Whoever created this has no heart for the Iraq’s we saved. Why do people hate Bush so much? If you went to Iraq you’d see the good that we have accomplished. To my buddy Manny why aren’t you on this photo?
It’s a symbolic frustration, I think.
The program to liberate Iraq from a dictator and make the world safer has not worked nearly as well as we would have wanted.
But I think the soldier on the ground still has the respect and thanks of most thinking people.
Donnie,
I live in Canada and don’t get to talk to many US soldiers. I hate to be so stupid about this, but when you say you can’t believe this photo, do you say that because you think the photo disrespects you as a soldier? That’s the impression I got from your message, but I’d like to be sure.
I think the soldiers should come home. but i worry what if they do and then the terrorists come back. also even if you don’t like George W. Bush you still shouldn’t disrespect him. A few years ago we all wanted to go to war but now everyone thinks we should come home. what if terrorist come back then what we want to go back to war?
All do respect but people are just senseless, i take this photo as disrespect to me and my comrades…..it makes a statement of anti-war because of death toll, and clearly is a statement made by someone who cannot think properly. if ti had been an American flag with dead soldiers, if it had been a cross with dead soldiers i would view it as an honor…..but god….
how many have died? 4,000, 5,000….
i want you all to kneel down and thank God for such a LOW count, thank god for us not being in the days such as WW2, where the average battle loss was one thousand per large battle……
Stop whining over what we have lost, i feel for those that have lost, but it is needed, what we are doing is a good thing.
1. Over 500 WMDS found in Iraq, i feel if we didn’t go and they were used then we would be screwed, yea, the democrats (Americas shame) think they were old, but if it was set off in a large American city, you would all hate bush for not going to war when we had the chance.
2.
A senseless war? i admit, war sucks, but it is a needed item in our world. Without war, things would be much worse for you and me.
So i will continue to fight, for my country, and for my comrades, but i wish that someday soon i can come home, and spit on the liberal democrats who committed treason against me, my comrades, and our country. May god be with you libs, because after death you will most likely burn for turning good into bad, and bad into good.
i dont even know why i speak out at events and rallies. every time i look at an anti war liberal i ask the question..
this is good ————- this is bad
which do you choose….
“the one to the right”
i do however honor opinions, our country is built on them, its freedom, however an opinion that lacks any sense, any “duh” factor, is just idiotic, its like a guy walking into your store and asking you to worship satin……….
so i will continue to fight,a nd continue to speak out at rallies on my own time. and like i have done many times, i will find anti protesters on the street, and call up my comrades and surround them with the word of the soldier.
we want to be there, we are doing good. leave us to do our work……….so that we dont have to say “we told you so” later.
I am only 15 years old and I looked at this site and find it very disrespectful to the troops in Iraq and our president. They are there because they want to keep our country safe. I may be young to be speaking my opinion, but it is America and we have the right to speak our opinion. I state my opinion to people who will listen and I am not trying to put down the person who put this picture up, because they must have some kind of talent, but maybe they should be using it to honor those who have died and not make it an anti-bush picture. He may have put our troops in Iraq but he sure as hell didn’t start the war. It was those terrorists who bombed America on Sept. 11th who started it. By having the troops in Iraq we are being protected. I support our troops, and am actually thinking about becoming a soldier myself when I get the chance. I love my country, and I love our troops. Sure it would be wonderful if they were home with us, but who is making them go. It isn’t like when we had the draft where they HAD to go. They are putting themselves out there and the least you people could do would be able to support them.
Hey Meg,
I don’t think you are too young to have an opinion on such an important issue nor do I think you are too young to let people know how you feel. Good for you!
One thing I wanted to disagree with you about is your statement that it was the 9-11 terrorists who started this war. In fact, the previous Iraqi government and the 9-11 terrorists are two completely different sets of people. Smudging the boundaries between these two sets of people helped the president to sell the war in Iraq but it is now apparent “that Saddam did not want to work with Osama bin Laden at all, much less give him weapons of mass destruction.” (Al Gore, Aug 7, 2003). In the Kerr Report, published July 29, 2004, it is stated that there was significant pressure brought to bear on the intelligence community to find such links but that “(d)espite the pressure, however, the Intelligence Community remained firm in its assessment that no operational or collaborative relationship existed.”
If this is true (and you should go check it out: you may want to begin at the wikipedia article on the Iraq War; that’s where you can a find a link to this Kerr Report among others), does that change what you think? Is it possible then that one can find fault with the war without disrespecting the troops who are fighting it?
Yours,
Brian
I have often wondered, if Bush lied to get us into Iraq, why then did he not plant WMD’s to be found?
Good point.
The WMD controversy is a big part of the Bush legacy, deserved or not.
This photo mosaic is disrespectful, distasteful, and shameful. As a US Marine currently deployed to Iraq’s Anbar Province, I would like to share with you one of the most confusing trends among the ranks of the Iraq war’s opponents stateside. They claim to support the troops, but not their cause. There isn’t any logic in this, because the US military is currently a volunteer force, and as is constantly brought up by these anti-war types, the war has been going on for upwards of five years now. That means anyone who felt they should get out of the military has had their chance, as enlistments are generally a four year affair. Basically, either show your support across the board, or come to grips with what you are- an anti-war, anti-military anti-American. This being my second deployment to the same location, I’ve seen first hand the improvements that have been made here. The last time I was here, our base was attacked on a weekly (and sometimes daily) basis. This year, we have not been attacked once here, in one of the most “unstable” regions in the “second most unstable country in the world”. Wars cannot be fought without military forces, and military forces have no reason to exist but to fight wars. That being said, if you are anti-war, you are anti-military, and pretending to be anything else cheapens the legacy of every fighting man, past or present.
I’m sorry you feel that way, Luke.
My feeling is that you should not be in Iraq. Even though, as you say, things are improving, Iraq should be rebuilt and stabilized by the people there.
And it will be. When the foreign troops finally leave.
It is interesting to read all these comments … compare public opinion against the soldiers opinion.
I will refrain from saying whether I agree or disagree with this war; instead I shall give you some insight on what this is all about (from a military point of view).
Being an army officer, (not US Army), I studied military leaders and their thought; such as Sun Tzu and Napoleon among others. As the Prussian General Carl Von Clausewitz wrote in the 17th Century, military operations are sustained mainly by three aspects:
a) Military forces
b) Political support
c) Peoples’ support (public opinion)
The insurgents in Iraq know that they cannot hope to win a conventional war. They do not have the assets or man power to defeat the coalition and they also know that the political will is bent on maintaining military presence in the area. The only hope they have in succeeding is by attacking the public opinion at home.
Why do you think they abducted soldiers and posted their beheadings on the internet and news channels. The answer is to horrify the public. They are also succeeding in destroying public support by the ever increasing amount of casualties. At over 4000 dead and no immediate solution to this conflict the people want their sons / daughters to return home safe.
Be strong; keep supporting your brave soldiers and honour those who gave the ultimate sacrifice. That way you will negate victory to the insurgents.
You have no damn right to put the soldiers who have been killed in a picture like that. What the hell is ya’lls problem
That they’re in a mosaic doesn’t affect them at all. So what is my problem? That they were used as pawns in a war engineered by the worst president in the history of the US, were thereby killed pointlessly, and now lie dead instead of holding their children and loving their spouses and standing upright in their communities. That’s my problem. That you don’t also have this problem is what I’d call your problem.