Blogs

Total Fatalities: 5,374

4,367   Operation Iraqi Freedom

1,007   Operation Enduring Freedom

February 19, 2010: Lance Cpl. Joshua H. Birchfield (Marines, 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms,CA).  Incident: Died while supporting combat operations in Farah Province).

Hometown: Westville, IN; 24 years old.

February 19, 2010: Cpl. Gregory S. Stultz (Marines, 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan).  Incident: Died while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Hometown: Brazil, IN; 22 years old.

February 20, 2010: Staff Sgt. Michael David P. Cardenaz (Army, 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, CO).  Incident: Died in Kunar, Afghanistan when enemy forces attacked his unit with rocket-propelled grenades.

Hometown: Corona, CA; 29 years old.

February 20, 2010: Staff Sgt. Christopher W. Eckard (Marines, 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, NC).  Incident: Died while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Hometown: Hickory, NC; 30 years old.

February 21, 2010: Capt. Marcus R. Alford (Army, 1st Squadron, 230th Cavalry Regiment, Louisville,TN).  Incident: Died in Qayyarah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when their OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter had a hard landing.

Hometown: Knoxville, TN; 28 years old.

February 21, 2010: Sgt. Marcos Gorra (Army, 2nd Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, NC). Incident: Died at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained while supporting combat operations.

Hometown: North Bergen, NJ; 22 years old.

February 21, 2010: Chief Warrant Officer Billie J. Grinder (Army, 1st Squadron, 230th Cavalry Regiment, Louisville,TN).  Incident: Died in Qayyarah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when their OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter had a hard landing.

Hometown: Gallatin, TX; 25 years old.

February 21, 2010: Lance Cpl. Matthias N. Hanson (Marines, 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, NC).  Incident: Died while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.

Hometown: Buffalo, KY; 20 years old.

February 21, 2010: Lance Cpl. Adam D. Peak (Marines, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, NC).  Incident: Died while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Hometown: Florence, KY; 25 years old.

February 21, 2010: Pfc. J.R. Salvacion (Army, 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson,CO),  Incident: Killed in Senjaray, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit with a makeshift bomb.

Hometown: Ewa Beach, HI; 27 years old.

February 21, 2010: Lance Cpl. Eric Ward (Marines, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune,NC).  Incident: Died while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Hometown: Redmond, WA; 19 years old.

February 23, 2010: Cpl. Daniel T. O'Leary (Army, 307th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, NC).  Incident: Died in Fallujah, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over.

Hometown: Youngsville, NC; 23 years old.

February 25, 2010: Sgt. William C. Spencer (Army, 2nd Battalion, 146th Field Artillery Regiment, Olympia,WA).  Incident: Died at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds sustained Feb. 20 while supporting combat operations at Combat Outpost Marez, Iraq.

Hometown: Tacoma, WA; 40 years old.

February 27, 2010: Staff Sgt. William S. Ricketts (Army, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, NC).  Incident: Died at Bala Murghab, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms fire.

Hometown: Corinth, MI; 27 years old.

March 1, 2010: Lance Cpl. Carlos A. Aragon (Marines, 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, based out of Camp Pendleton, CA).  Incident: Died while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Hometown: Orem, UT; 19 years old.

March 1, 2010: Spec. Josiah D. Crumpler (Infantry, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, NC).  Incident: Died in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked their unit using small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fires.

Hometown: Hillsborough, NC; 27 years old.

March 1, 2010: Spec. Matthew D. Huston (Army, 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, NC).  Incident: Died in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked their unit using small arms and rocket-propelled grenade fires.

Hometown: Athens, GA; 24 years old.

March 1, 2010: Spec. Ian T.D. Gelig (Army, 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, NC).  Incident: Died in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with a makeshift bomb.

Hometown: Stevenson Ranch, CA; 25 years old.

March 1, 2010: Sgt. Vincent L.C. Owens (Army, 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, KY).  Incident: Died at Forward Operating Base Sharana, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered earlier that day when enemy forces attacked his vehicle using direct fire in Yosuf Khel.

Hometown: Forth Smith, AR; 21 years old.

March 4, 2010: Lance Cpl. Nigel K. Olsen (Marines, 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, based out of Camp Pendleton, CA).  Incident: Died while supporting combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.

Hometown: Orem, UT; 21 years old.

March 4, 2010: Spec. Anthony A. Paci (Army, 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry, 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, WA).  Incident: Died at Gereshk, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered during a vehicle rollover.

Hometown: Rockville, MD; 30 years old.

Prayer for the Children, Fiber art by Susan Wei, Ashland, NH

As I do occasionally, I was wandering through youtube in search of Croatian music.  I don't know how many people know of the proliferation of choirs that come out of Croatia and other republics of the former Yugoslavia, but there are many.  While on my journey I found this offering by Kurt Bestor, the Prayer of the Children.  What a powerful piece.  Here is a little information about Bestor and how he came to write the piece.  It is performed below byt the Baylor University Men's Choir.

Prayer of the Children is a song for a four-part men's choir, with words and music written by Kurt Bestor and arranged by Andrea S. Klouse. 

Bestor served as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Serbia during the 1970s. He lived with many different races and religions of people in this war torn country; Serbians, Muslims, Croatians, etc. At one point, he was working in a hospital caring for the children who had been devastated by the war that was not theirs. While retrieving supplies from a neighboring town, this hospital was bombed. Bestor came back to find it destroyed and all the innocent little children he had come to care for dead. When he returned to the US, he was inspired to write a song in tribute to the children, the innocent, who were the ones most suffering from the war. Bestor described how he came to write the song:

Having lived in this war-torn country back in the late 1970's, I grew to love the people with whom I lived. It didn't matter to me their ethnic origin - Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian - they were all just happy fun people to me and I counted as friends people from each region. Of course, I was always aware of the bigotry and ethnic differences that bubbled just below the surface, but I always hoped that the peace this rich country enjoyed would continue indefinitely. Obviously that didn't happen. When Yugoslavian President Josip Broz Tito died, different political factions jockeyed for position and the inevitable happened - civil war. Suddenly my friends were pitted against each other. Serbian brother wouldn't talk to Croatian sister-in-law. Bosnian mother disowned Serbian son-in-law and so it went. Meanwhile, all I could do was stay glued to the TV back in the US and sink deeper in a sense of hopelessness. Finally, one night I began channeling these deep feelings into a wordless melody. Then little by little I added words....Can you hear....? Can you feel......? I started with these feelings - sensations that the children struggling to live in this difficult time might be feeling. Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian children all felt the same feelings of confusion and sadness and it was for them that I was writing this song.

He told Meridian Magazine:

"Those children didn't hate anybody," he said. "They didn't care about who owned the land, or who had the power or the money. These are adult neuroses. They just wanted to have a mom and dad and a place to play."

Can you hear the prayer of the children
on bended knee, in the shadow of an unknown room?
Empty eyes with no more tears to cry
turning heavenward toward the light.
Crying," Jesus, help me
to see the morning light of one more day,
but if I should die before I wake,
I pray my soul to take."
Can you feel the hearts of the children
aching for home, for something of their very own.
Reaching hands with nothing to hold onto
but hope for a better day, a better day.
Crying," Jesus, help me
to feel the love again in my own land,
but if unknown roads lead away from home,
give me loving arms, 'way from harm."
(oooooo la la la la etc etc.)
Can you hear the voice of the children
softly pleading for silence in their shattered world?
Angry guns preach a gospel full of hate,
blood of the innocent on their hands.
Crying," Jesus, help me
to feel the sun again upon my face?
For when darkness clears, I know you're near,
bringing peace again."

Dali čujete sve dječje molitve?

Can you hear the prayer of the children?

Source: Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prayer_of_the_Children.

The Afghan Women’s Writing Project began as an idea during novelist Masha Hamilton’s last trip to Afghanistan in November 2008. Her interest in Afghanistan was sparked in the late 1990s during the Taliban period, when she understood it was one of the worst places in the world to be a woman. Masha first visited the country in 2004, and was awed and inspired by the resolute courage of the women she met. When she returned, she saw doors were closing and life was again becoming more difficult, especially for women. She began to fear we could lose access to the voices of Afghan women if we didn’t act soon.

The Afghan Women’s Writing Project is aimed at allowing Afghan women to have a direct voice in the world, not filtered through male relatives or members of the media. Many of these Afghan women have to make extreme efforts to gain computer access in order to submit their writings, in English, to the project.  Here is a sampling of their work.

My First Namaz

Meena

In the rainy season of Pakistan, the news of my grandmother’s death made our lives rainier
This season showed me my father’s tears for the first time
His red eyes hurt so much, I wanted to take the pain away but didn’t know how

Educated Afghans: Return!

Who can solve these problems? Of course, the government. Who can help government? Of course, we Afghans must start taking action. I make a friendly request to all educated Afghans who live in Western countries to take the initiative. We need educated Afghans to come back to their motherland and help those helpless people. I know life is terrible in Afghanistan. The West is full of luxuries. Afghanistan is a poor country. The lifestyle is underprivileged. But we have to sacrifice for something we adore. If we want to create a safe life for the next generation, we have to sacrifice to come live among our people, take their hands and show them the right way. We have a saying in Afghanistan: “When you are stable and secure, take the hand of the one who has fallen and help him/her to stand up.”

Women Walking Alone

Shogofa

I am from long line of women who have walked alone …
From a land that smells of the blood of innocent people
From a people who have lost everything in war – sons, daughters, fathers, and mothers
From a people feeling hopeless
I am from long line of women who have walked alone

Visit the Afghan Women's Writing Project at www.awwproject.org.

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere."  Martin Luther King, Jr. 

The poem below, Pledge of Resistance, is a statement of conscience that is associated with Not in Our Name project.  Unfortunately, the project itself came to an operational close over a year ago.  The work of the group is still captured on their website: notinourname.net and the beliefs they espoused shared by many. The group which came into existence soon after 9/11 worked collectively on three points of unity: no war on the world, no detentions and roundups and no police state restructions.  The Pledge of Resistance is read by hip hop artist, Saul Williams.  Williams is also seen in the documentary, Voices in Wartime.

The Pledge of Resistance

We believe that as people living
in the United States it is our
responsibility to resist the injustices
done by our government,
in our names

Not in our name
will you wage endless war
there can be no more deaths
no more transfusions
of blood for oil

Not in our name
will you invade countries
bomb civilians, kill more children
letting history take its course
over the graves of the nameless

Not in our name
will you erode the very freedoms
you have claimed to fight for

Not by our hands
will we supply weapons and funding
for the annihilation of families
on foreign soil

Not by our mouths
will we let fear silence us

Not by our hearts
will we allow whole peoples
or countries to be deemed evil

Not by our will
and Not in our name

We pledge resistance

We pledge alliance with those
who have come under attack
for voicing opposition to the war
or for their religion or ethnicity

We pledge to make common cause
with the people of the world
to bring about justice,
freedom and peace

Another world is possible
and we pledge to make it real.

Big Ask

Carol Ann Duffy
(In memory of Adrian Mitchell)

What was it Sisyphus pushed up the hill?
I wouldn't call it a rock.
Will you solemnly swear on the Bible?
I couldn't swear on a book.
With which piece did you capture the castle?
I shouldn't hazard a rook.

When did the President give you the date?
Nothing to do with Barack!
Were 1200 targets marked on a chart?
Nothing was circled in black.
On what was the prisoner stripped and stretched?
Nothing resembling a rack.

Guantanamo Bay - how many detained?
How many grains in a sack?
Extraordinary Rendition - give me some names.
How many cards in a pack?
Sexing the Dossier - name of the game?
Poker. Gin Rummy. Blackjack.

What's your understanding of 'shock' and 'awe'?
I didn't plan the attack.
Once inside the Mosque, describe what you saw.
I couldn't see through the smoke.
Your estimate of the cost of the War?
I had no brief to keep track.

Where was Saddam when they found him at last?
Maybe holed under a shack.
What happened to him once they'd kicked his ass?
Maybe he swung from the neck.
The WMD ... you found the stash?
Well, maybe not in Iraq.

Carol Ann Duffy is a Scottish poet, playwright and professor of contemporary poetry.  She was appointed Britain's poet laureate in 2009.