The Hollywood Liberal December 1, 2004

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December 1, 2004.

Canada Protests the Monkey

Yaya Canada

No to Bush and No to War

USA Today

Deaths in combat ricochet here at home

By Elliot Blair Smith, USA TODAY

In a Marine bar near Camp Lejeune, a blond woman handed a beer to the man drinking black coffee. She liked his Irish accent, which he admitted was phony, and his smile, which was genuine. It was the same big grin that blazed out of so many childhood photographs in which the crew-cut youth dressed like the Marine he since had become. The love affair of Deborah and Donald May began in September 1999 as a happy collision of two hearts. It ended March 25, 2003, during the first days of the Iraq (news - web sites) war, when the tank commanded by Staff Sgt. May, 31, plunged into the Euphrates River and sank to the bottom. He and his three tankmates drowned, trapped inside. In less than four years together, the Mays had married, moved to the Marine base at Twentynine Palms, Calif., had two sons and were raising Deborah's daughter from her first marriage. Their talk, their letters, were filled with life and love. Today, however, Deborah belongs to a fast-growing sorority of American war widows. As if by ricochet, each American service man and woman killed in combat leaves behind a trail of secondary casualties: spouses, children, parents. Through Nov. 20, 45% of the 1,374 U.S. service personnel killed in Iraq and Afghanistan since September 2001 were married, the Defense Department says. Considered survivors, the widows and widowers of war dead are among the conflict's walking wounded. Amid heavy fighting in recent weeks, the toll is rising

Read the whole story, and Your comments

H.L.s Take: This story really brings it home about the aftermath of war. It is heartbreaking and disturbing. If more people read stories like this, maybe there would not be so much war. While I was reading it I thought of a song that a speaker at one of the war rallies sang, I remembered the words and found it on the net. It has been performed in the past by Simon & Garfunkle, and Arlo Guthrie.

Last Night I had The Strangest Dream

by Ed McCurdy

Last night I had the strangest dream
I'd ever dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war

I dreamed I saw a mighty room
Filled with women and men
And the paper they were signing said
They'd never fight again

And when the paper was all signed
And a million copies made
They all joined hands and bowed their heads
And grateful pray'rs were prayed

And the people in the streets below
Were dancing 'round and 'round
While swords and guns and uniforms
Were scattered on the ground

Last night I had the strangest dream
I'd never dreamed before
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war.

But It wont end soon enough

Pentagon Sending More Troops to Iraq

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

WASHINGTON - The Pentagon has decided to bolster U.S. forces in Iraq in advance of elections scheduled for late January by sending elements of the 82nd Airborne Division from Fort Bragg, N.C., and extending the tours of duty for other units already in Iraq, officials said Wednesday.
At least two Army brigades now operating in northern Iraq will have their tours extended by about two months, until after the election, an Army official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Also, a unit of about 2,000 Marines will stay longer than planned, though won't exceed the seven-month limit that the Marine Corps places on Iraq deployments, another official said. The Army generally sends its troops to Iraq for 12 months.
The decisions were to be announced later Wednesday. Members of two battalions of the 82nd Airborne, and their families, were notified of the decision Tuesday, the official said. The battalions were given what the Army calls a warning order, alerting them that they will be going.

H.L.s Take: Every day the war goes on the Rich get richer selling tanks, guns, and bombs, and grabbing oil. Meanwhile the people who pay taxes, and have to work hard to get by keep being killed, not to mention the innocent people who just happen to live where the bombs fall. Live it up Georgie boy, Having a good time?

Heres one from Sutton Impact

Take care people, see you tomorrow

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