While Bryan Bender (Boston Globe) reports that the numbers for Bully Boy's planned escalation are again going up, the US military makes a few announcements. First, they announce: "A Marine assigned to Multi National Force-West died March 14 in a noncombat related incident in Al Anbar Province." Then they announce: "One Soldier died as a result of injuries sustained from an explosion when Task Force Lightning Soldiers were attacked while conducting combat operations in Salah ad Din Province, Thursday." 3210 is the current number of US service members who have died in the illegal war since it started nearly four years ago according to ICCC.
In England a verdict has been reached in a case involving US service members. Polly notes this from the BBC:
The death of a UK soldier when a US pilot fired on his convoy in Iraq was unlawful, a coroner has ruled.
The "friendly fire" incident near Basra in March 2003 which killed Lance Corporal Matty Hull, 25, amounted to a criminal act, Andrew Walker said.
Video footage from the cockpit of the US A-10 "tankbuster" plane was shown to his family during the inquest, but was not shown at the Oxford inquest.
The coroner said the death was "entirely avoidable".
He said: "I believe that the full facts have not yet come to light."
No American witnesses gave evidence at the inquest, despite Mr Walker's requests to them to co-operate more fully with his investigation.
He said the US pilots should have flown lower to confirm identities before opening fire.
"I don't think this was a case of honest mistake," he said.
You'll note that Matty Hull was killed nearly four years ago. With news of another action to note the four year anniversary of the illegal war, Melinda highlights this from WJLA:
Christian peace activist plan a service Friday night at the National Cathedral followed by a march to the White House to demonstrate opposition to the war in Iraq. The groups behind the Christian Peace Witness for Iraq march expect several thousand people to show up, and organizers say several hundred plan to stage acts of civil disobedience that could lead to arrest.
[. . .]
Organizers include the District-based religious group Sojourners/Call to Renewal, American Friends Service Committee and Lutheran Peace Fellowship. The event starts with a 7 p.m. service at the cathedral and a march that begins at about 8:15 p.m. Friday.
Mia notes that today on KPFA at 1:30 pm, Aaron Glantz will host Making Contact (1:30 pm PST) and the topic is (or will include) war resistance with Glantz discussing last month's court-martial of Ehren Watada (which ended with Judge Toilet calling a mistrial -- over defense objections). Glantz was in Tacoma reporting on the court-martial so the program should contain a lot of information even if you think you know the basics already.
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