By the way, while all these Foley Follies are happening...

[SteppingRazor]

http://blogs.southflorida.com/citylink_dansweeney/2006/10/by_the_way_while_all_these_fol.html

TWENTY-THREE (23) American soldiers have been killed in Iraq in just the first six days of October. At this rate, October stands to be the worst month for American casualties in Iraq since January 2005, and the fourth-worst month since the beginning of the war. Those 23 soldiers, half of whom died of small-arms fire, included Timothy Burke of Hollywood, Fla.

Burke would have come home in two months. The Sun-Sentinel's Brian Haas offered a pretty good story on him, but no story can ever completely do justice to the harsh truth that a unique individual -- complete with his own hopes, dreams and memories -- was struck down before his 25th birthday. Burke wanted to be a firefighter and a paramedic.

Too often, we treat men like Burke as a statistic -- hell, I just did it myself in the opening paragraph, with the gruesome October toll reported on icasualties.org. But this tendency to look at numbers instead of humanity robs us all of a true understanding of the meatgrinder reality of Iraq.

Burke was killed while sweeping a house in Taji for weapons. In the story, Haas notes "As relatives waited for Burke's body to return to the United States, they took consolation that the Army calls Burke's mission a success: Weapons were found and seized. But the sadness creeps in."

Indeed, the sadness creeps in. How could it not? But in a larger sense, Burke's death, and the death of 2,736 other American soldiers in Iraq, is made even more tragic by the unanswered questions. The success of Burke's mission is likely a case of winning the battle, but losing the war. After more than three years, we still have no proper explanation of our mission in Iraq, and no basis for having gone in the first place -- phantom weapons of mass destruction and illusionary ties to al-Qaeda have given way to the equally false fable of Iraqis standing up as we stand down, as the high number of casualties for October is partially due to American troops replacing corrupt Iraqi police on the streets.

Soldiers do as they are asked for the good of their country, at the very least offering several years of their lives and at most, offering their lives entirely. Such an act of selflessness is beyond my own ability to emmulate, or even at times understand. It is not up to soldiers to demand an end to this bloodbath. They have given enough, seen enough and they do not deserve the occasional cries of the anti-war left, who sometimes demand to know why the soldiers don't simply refuse to go. Why they don't refuse to obey "illegal orders."

What these voices do not understand is that discipline and dedication, and perhaps even more importantly, the very real desire to be there to protect one's comrades, would prevent most self-respecting soldiers from even contemplating such thoughts, let lone carrying those thoughts into actions. It is not up to soldiers to stop this war -- they will carry it out, no matter how long, no matter at what cost, until there will come a day when we look back on the idea of 2,700 American soldiers dead as a mere drop in a bloody bucket. It is not up to soldiers to stop this war, but, based as it was on lies, and based as it is on further lies, it is up to each and every American citizen to do what they can to stop this idiocy before another Timothy Burke. Before another Benjamin Rosales. Before another Edward Garvin. Before another Jonathan Rojas. Before another Daniel Isshak. Before another Joseph Perry. Before another Michael Oremus. Before another Satieon Greenlee. Before another Joe Narvaez. Before another Mario Nelson. Before another Denise Lannaman. Before another. And another. And another. ...

[Vexatious Ape]

1. Bush, Dick, and Rummy

Have conducted themselves like a group of overly fed rich kids on X-mas morning with a giant toy soldier set. I hate these damn sociopaths, I really do.

[sarcasmo]

2. Don't forget to add Kissenger.

Kick and Nom