A funeral procession, escorted by Patriot Guard and Battle Creek Police Department motorcycles and the Huron Potawatomi Police Department, drove slowly down M-66 to the town where Hansen and his family have long been community members, volunteers and friends admired by many.
"Jimmy was a great human being," said longtime friend Luke Houser, 24, who played football for Athens High, coached by Jimmy Hansen's father, Rich. "The whole family is just absolutely wonderful. This shouldn't have happened to them."
The above is from Justin A. Hinkley's "Athens pays tribute to Jimmy Hansen" (Enquirer). Mourners gathered today at the Battle Creek St. Phillip Catholic Church. Meanwhile Central Florida's News 13 reports that Marc Whisenart was on his second tour of duty in Iraq when he was killed yesterday in Kuwait as a resulted of the Hummer he was in flipping. Michael Perillo writes the Peoria Journal-Star and notes, "Are we to believe that the remaining 50,000 'combat-ready' soldiers, the 4,500 Special Operations Forces on 'kill or capture' missions, the 5,000 members of the 3rd Armored Calvary Regiment who were redeployed and thousands of other private contractors giving 'diplomatic security' are just risk-free peacekeepers?" Oh those phony, lying politicians with their insulting claims to 'end war.' Hey, remember when Kevin Rudd was oh-so-briefly Prime Minister of Australia? And remember the lying sack of ___ campaigning on ending Australia's involvement in Iraq? Not that Australia was all that involved. Their peak number was briefly 2000 and for most of the 'war' they had approximately 500 troops in Iraq. But Kevin Rudd swore that if he was prime minister then Australia was out of the Iraq War. They do so love to lie, don't they?
Today the Australian Department of Defence released "Brisbane soldiers return from Iraq deployment:"
Sixty five soldiers from the Australian Defence Force’s Security Detachment Sixteen (SECDET XVI) returned home to Brisbane today after their successful deployment rotation to Iraq.
The soldiers from 2/14 Light Horse Regiment (Queensland Mounted Infantry), were deployed as part of Operation KRUGER, the ADF’s contribution to the provision of security and support for the Australian embassy and its staff in Baghdad.
The Enoggerra based soldiers were welcomed home by family and friends.
The Chief of Joint Operations, Lieutenant General Mark Evans, commended the Officer Commanding, SECDET XVI, Major Allan Hamley and his soldiers who completed more than 1400 diplomatic tasks, over 40900 personnel searches and approximately 2800 vehicle searches during their deployment.
"SECDET XVI has continued to demonstrate the professionalism, flexibility and dedication to duty which Australian soldiers are renowned for,” Lieutenant General Evans said.
"I commend Major Hamley and his detachment for their tireless efforts providing effective security for Australia’s diplomatic mission and their interaction with Iraqi and Coalition forces, further enhancing Australia’s reputation in the international community."
Major Hamley says the strong relationships that his soldiers had established with the Iraqi Security Forces (ISF) enabled them to complete their mission with the full support of the host nation.
"The ISF have made noticeable improvements in Baghdad. Our soldiers’ adaptability enabled SECDET XVI to tailor its procedures to not only comply with, but fully support their vision. The Iraqi people have been very supportive and we are deeply grateful for their warmth and hospitality," Major Hamley said.
"The uncertain security situation surrounding the Iraqi elections provided a good test of SECDET XVI’s ability to undertake a demanding security task in a complex and dangerous environment.”
The next security detachment, SECDET XVII, drawn from Darwin based units, has deployed to Iraq and continues to provide security support to the Australian embassy through protecting Australian government officials, visitors and other staff.
SECDET XVII’s deployment marks a further reduction in the number of ADF personnel deployed to Iraq. Thirty five ADF personnel will assist in the provision of embassy security, as responsibility for this task transitions away from the ADF.
Lookie there, 65 just left and more are going back. But Kevin Rudd 'ended' the Iraq War for Australia. We all should have paid a little more attention to the Whore From Down Under. See, Kevs 'ended' the war the same way Barack did, in 2009 Kev's renamed troops as well insisting that 'combat' troops were gone. The Daily Express spun in real time that "all" the troops were gone but -- sotto voice -- noted "The exception is the security detachment, compromising about 100 soldiers with armoured vehicles who guard the Australian Embassy and transport diplomats and officials around Baghdad." They didn't leave. And Kevin The Whore From Down Under was just a flittering, flickering, oh-so-briefly prime minister. Barack might want to take note of that fact. 19 months was all the time Kevin spent as prime minister. And never forget that the Whore Class can't be embarrassed. That's why they pimp and whore for war. Only a fool would write the following:
I had not been quite this crazy since the spring of 2003, when my new French au pair had up and quit on the eve of the Iraq war ("It's too dangerous here"), which happened to be the very week when my book (of which I had not written a word) was officially due to its publisher. Back then, I’d become mentally paralyzed, unable to decide for days whether to order a basic or deluxe Hello Kitty package from Birthday Express. Now, it was chocolate: double boiler or not?
That's Judith Warner, New York Times, and only a war whore could write so embarrassing and do so without ever realizing how shallow they came off, how out of touch and most of all, how stupid.
Yes, dear, the tragedy of the Iraq War was that your au pair quit.
Not since, Eva Gabor's dog Misha was 'killed in action' in World War II had anyone so suffered so nobly and bravely as did dear Judith The Whore Warner. The idea that press could ever provide perspective? It becomes laughable when you read the rot and crap that Warner expels from her mind onto the page.
The following community sites -- plus Antiwar.com and Cindy Sheehan -- updated last night and today:
- And now he goes behind closed doors4 hours ago
- THIS JUST IN! CLOSE THE DOOR!4 hours ago
- Terry Gross spends a week with men22 hours ago
- The raids, the continued crimes22 hours ago
- Chuck, Fringe22 hours ago
- Margaret Witt wins22 hours ago
- Cold Pasta Salad in the Kitchen22 hours ago
- The White House's latest attack22 hours ago
- The never-ending attacks22 hours ago
- Batman: Mystery of the Batwoman22 hours ago
And we'll close with this from Libbyliberal's "The Secret is Not in Trying to Win a Rigged Game, It's Walking Away From It" (Corrente):
People of conscience need to call out both the rat bastards and the rabid rat bastards. Not protect and enable the Dem rat bastards because they are not as rabid as Repubs and Teapartiers. Which makes them even worse. They have potential still to be rational, humane and sane. Or do they?
I keep trying to figure out how to get farther this time. I also keep trying to figure out why there isn't a bigger tent for the people of conscience. Why the health care single payer folks couldn't have a fire in their collective belly to end the illegal wars and support those people of conscience and vice versa. I mean, I am guessing they do, but how to channel that support formally and effectively? And the climate change folk, and the women's rights folk.
There are so many fresh and not so fresh any more hells ... and we of course can not be fighting on every front. But we need each other collectively. Because so many of us get the travesty to humanity collectively on all of these fronts. But we need to form that effective and loud critical mass.
A lot of small choirs of conscience. How do we rally those with conscience into a focused voice? There is the theory of the 100 monkeys. Once the hundredth monkey gets the message of truth and reality, the entire monkey nation gets it. With Vietnam I think the hundredth monkey was actually Walter Cronkite. When he got it (being in the media helped for sure) the Vietnam War, so late in the game with so much devastation, lost traction. Though some never got it and came back with a vengeance as insane neocons. Cheney, Rumsfeld, et al. Power mad.
We have a window of opportunity here in the next six is it weeks. I hoped we could make demands. But we have the colossal ego of Obama who only seems to know the art of hypocrisy and we piss him off now. Yeah, no drama Obama seems to only have strike back power when it comes to us. Go figure. He must protect his EGO on all of this and we will not enable his EGO. And Obama's vast enablers are fighting for his "brand" and their egos, too, I suppose. Can't admit to the con. Can't see the forest of humanity and are lost among the "team trees".
The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.
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