Too many soldiers die=no more individual memorials

Michael Gilbert reports in The News Tribune that because the system can no longer handle the large numbers of soldiers killed in Iraq returning to Fort Lewis, Washington for appropriate individual memorial ceremonies, the army will have only one memorial service a month now to honor everyone killed during that time.

The one memorial observance a month for all soldiers killed policy has already been established at other US bases from which the soldiers were dispatched.

One soldier killed in Iraq, Casey Sheehan, whose mother Cindy tried in vain to make certain her son did not die for nothing, has quit her role of being "the face" of the new American anti-war movement on Memorial Day. Because she has been so villified for her anti-war views and Americans seem to be so apathetic about our military volunteers being killed in Iraq, she believes she can do no more to raise awareness or fight the system.

Just days earlier, Sheehan quit the Democrat party when dems went along with the vote to continue funding the war in Iraq.

"The most devastating conclusion that I reached this morning," wrote Sheehan, " was that Casey did indeed die for nothing." Casey would have just turned 28.

She continued, "Our brave young men and women in Iraq have been abandoned there indefinitely by their cowardly leaders who move them around like pawns on a chessboard of destruction and the people of Iraq have been doomed to death and fates worse than death by people worried more about elections than people."

She also slams leaders of the anti-war movement, characterizing it as "... a peace movement that often puts personal egos above peace and human life."

You can read her entire letter of resignation here.

Interestingly, Sheehan's right-wing detractors ripped her apart, day after day, with personal slurs, name-calling and allegations rather than with issues-oriented argument and debate; they also neglected to have any empathy for a woman whose son was killed in battle wearing a US uniform.

I'm always suspicious of people who are only capable of calling people with whom they disagree disparaging names rather than discussing issues over which they disagree.

As of yesterday, the death toll of US women and men soldiers killed in Iraq is 3,428, according to the Washington Post, which publishes the names and faces of every fallen hero. Officially, 25,549 US troops have been wounded; unofficial estimates run as high as 100,000.

May has been one of the most deadly months of the war for our soldiers; more than 117 women and men have been killed.

With Sheehan's resignation, George Bush and company register a big domestic win; there will be one less major distraction from the way they prefer us to live as Iraq continues to deteriorate, and our soldiers continue to be killed: with bid'niz as usual.