The Common Ills: The forgotten toll of the forgotten war

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

The forgotten toll of the forgotten war

Funeral services are scheduled for today for Staff Sgt. Todd W. Selge, of Burnsville, who was killed in Iraq when his vehicle rolled over.
Selge, 25, died during night operations Sept. 3 about 30 miles northwest of Baghdad. He was wounded in Iraq in March 2007 on his first tour and was a month into his second tour when he died.

The above is from Paul Walsh's "Funeral today for 'devoted soldier' from Burnsville who was killed in Iraq" (Minneapolis Star-Tribune) regarding the funeral service for Todd Selge today "at noon at Hosanna Lutheran Church" with visistation scheduled for two hours prior. Walsh tells you his survivors include his wife Dellonamarie Selge and their children Dallas and Austin.

Yesterday's snapshot noted DoD's announcement of Duane A. Thornsbury's death and how that announcement brought the total number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war to 4344. And to provide background on a memorial service held on Sunday for seven soldiers who died in helicopter crash, we dropped back to the September 18th snapshot and the excerpt included the total then: 4168. Heather and Brady both e-mailed to point those two figures out. A little less than a year later and 276 service members have died. Brady: "Maybe that's 'manageable' for liars like Norman Solomon, but for those who care about ending the Iraq War and who were not pledged delegates for Barack Obama, it's outrageous." Heather: "That's nearly 300 [dead] and it reminds me of the first weeks of the War when people kept dismissing the death toll and saying it was too small to matter. But it keeps climing and this is like Vietnam in that regard. It's not as if 500,000 US soldiers were killed in Vietnam on one day and 500,000 more a day later, etc. It built up day after day the same way it does here." Norman Solomon, The Man Who Forgot Iraq, is on Democracy Now! today with I-Need-Attention Benjamin. Both are Barack whores who lost all credibility and will never get it back. CODESTINK is nothing but a joke today.

Speaking of Democracy Now!, last Friday a segment with Jeremy Scahill was finally aired. (It was a taped segment.) It was Iraq-related so it wasn't 'pressing'. Too bad. On that segment, Jeremy called out Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for his silence over the death by electrocution in Iraq of one of Reid's own constituents. Las Vegas' KTNV reports that yesterday Reid suddenly became interested in the death of Adam Hermanson and wants an investigation. We highlighted Jeremy's report in The Nation last week but if you're late to the story -- or confused because there have been so many deaths by electrocution in Iraq -- click here.

Lloyd highlights the Washington Post's editorial "The 'Forgotten' War" from yesterday and the senator mentioned in the excerpt below is John Kerry (Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee):

The senator has good reason for concern. While Afghanistan has properly become a focus in Washington, the U.S. mission in Iraq is far from finished. Monthly U.S. fatalities declined into the single digits this summer after American troops withdrew from Iraqi cities -- but Iraqi civilian casualties in August were the highest in a year. Iraq remains at the strategic center of the Middle East: As Mr. Hill noted, it could be "an engine for regional stability and economic growth" or "a source of regional tension and dispute."

Meanwhile I-Need-Attention Benjamin wants you to sign a petition and worship her tired and ugly ass. She says "it's a little lonely here" in DC and apparently she's not getting enough press to feed her vanity. She just needs to go away. She's a trashy whore who betrayed the peace movement and no one respects her anymore. Now that UPFJ has rightly imploded, CODESTINK has the worst reputation on campuses among the left.

At Third Sunday, "Truest statement of the week" went to Ian Wilder for this statement from "Code Pink and UFPJ just Don’t Get It: Tom Hayden edition" (On The Wilder Side):

I am tired of supporting organizations that don’t support me. How about supposed anti-war organizations stop sending messages out from Democrats who support a pro-war President? How about they stop going underground every time a Democrat runs for President?
UFPJ and Code Pink have not been friends. They have wanted Green Party bodies and dollars, but not our voices. We will not stop these wars until the peace movement is ready to directly confront the politicians, Democrat and Republican. And that includes confronting them [on] the campaign trail and in the voting booth.

We stressed Ian's words while speaking on campuses yesterday and intend all week. They're worth noting here again.

The following community sites updated yesterday: