Dad followed dead son's footsteps among his fellow soldiers in Iraq

[Kadie]

Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2009

Dad followed dead son's footsteps among his fellow soldiers in Iraq
Father to speak in Stockton on Thursday
By Adam Ashton

BAGHDAD -- Staff Sgt. Darrell "Skip" Griffin Jr. wanted to give Americans a close-up view of his two tours of duty in Iraq, to see the blood and the grit in the aftermath of an attack on a convoy, to feel his anxiety in watching the lives of ordinary Iraqis fall apart in the crossfire between sectarian killers and the soldiers who hunted them.

His plans to write a book with his father, Darrell Griffin Sr., were cut short by a sniper's bullet in Baghdad on March 21, 2007.

Darrell Griffin Sr. wouldn't let go of their project. He gathered Skip's e-mails, journals and photographs to piece together the

When that wasn't enough, he arranged to visit Skip's company in Baghdad, an unprecedented "embed" for a 55-year-old father of a fallen soldier.

snip...
Q: Some of Skip's most moving e-mails in the book are ones in which he describes average Iraqis becoming the war's unintended victims -- losing their homes, jobs and families. How did you see that awareness develop?

A: That's one reason he wanted to go back. He didn't feel complete yet. He did feel the Iraqi people got caught in the middle and they often got forgotten. One term that drove him crazy was "collateral damage," because it desensitizes people. Collateral damage is people.

more...
http://www.modbee.com/featured/story/821927.html

[Octafish]

1. ''Collateral damage is people.''

Someone please explain to me, why are we in Iraq?

[Kadie]

2. Hi Octafish.

Someone please explain to me, why are we in Iraq?

Good question.



:-(

[Orsino]

3. This is the way you end a war.

:thumbsup: