MNA 1652: Day 4 of MissionNOTAccomplished is 22 deaths away

[understandinglife]

American Deaths Since war began (3/19/03): 1630
http://www.antiwar.com/casualties /

1630 deaths triggers 'Day 3 of MissionNOTAccomplished' -- the next 24 hours are dedicated to that purpose.

Day 4 of MissionNOTAccomplished will be triggered when we reach, tragically, a total of 1652, in keeping with the way we are memorializing the day that Bu$h commenced his illegal war -- March 19th (3 + 19 = 22)

Please focus, everyone, on what that means; what the nature of the "3 + 19 = 22" metric is.

These are lives.

Lives that will never live again.

Never hug.

Never shrug.

Never drink a beer.

Never read a poem.

Never breath another scent of a flower.

Never hear a dog bark; a child laugh.

Never.

Never.

Never.

And, It is all because of lies and the lying fristian neoconsters and their gutless Bu$h that they will die.

What is the message of MissionNOTAccomplished?

It is simple and peaceful.

Please spend the next 24 hours doing two things:

1. STOP doing anything you typically would do;

2. Contact at least 10 people and urge them to follow your example and do both # 1 and # 2.

Thank you DU.

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - Be it MNA Day 3 or 8 or 15 or .... the day will come when 10s of millions of Americans and others stop their typical activities for 24 hours and urge 10 times that many to join should another MNA Day be required. On that glorious day what we once called "America" will emerge.

[EFerrari]

1. kick

:kick:

[puebloknot]

2. Sadness, raised....

....to the 22nd power. If we have children, imagine losing those children for any reason, but especially because of a lie.

Every death represents soul-searing, inconsolable loss to someone.

[savannahana]

10. "I had a son and his name was John."

"Every death represents soul-searing, inconsolable loss to someone."

Yes. As heard in this voice, passed to us through the images of the poet Garcia Lorca, from a war of 90 years ago.



RUNDOWN CHURCH
(Ballad of the First World War)


I had a son and his name was John.
I had a son.
He disappeared into the vaulted darkness one Friday of All Souls.
I saw him playing on the highest steps of the Mass
throwing a little tin pail at the heart of the priest.
I knocked on the coffins. My son! My son! My son!
I drew out a chicken foot from behind the moon and then
I understood that my daughter was a fish
down which the carts vanish.
I had a daughter.
I had a fish dead under the ashes of the incense burner.
I had an ocean. Of what? Good Lord! An ocean!
I went up to ring the bells but the fruit was all wormy
and the blackened match-ends
were eating the spring wheat.
I saw the stork of alcohol you could see through
shaving the black heads of the dying soldiers
and I saw the rubber booths
where the goblets full of tears were whirling.
In the anemones of the offertory I will find you, my love!
when the priest with his strong arms raises up the mule and the ox
to scare the nighttime toads that roam in the icy landscapes of the chalice.
I had a son who was a giant,
but the dead are stronger and know how to gobble down pieces of the sky.
If only my son had been a bear,
I wouldn't fear the secrecy of the crocodiles
and I wouldn't have seen the ocean roped to the trees
to be raped and wounded by the mobs from the regiment.
If my son had only been a bear!
I'll roll myself in this rough canvas so as not to feel the chill of the mosses.
I know very well they will give me a sleeve or a necktie,
but in the innermost part of the Mass I'll smash the rudder and then
the insanity of the penguins and seagulls will come to the rock
and will make the people sleeping and the people singing on the street-corners say:
he had a son.
A son! A son! A son
and it was no one else's, because it was his son!
His son! His son! His son!


FEDERICO GARCIA LORCA
translated by Robert Bly

from _The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart_
Robert Bly, James Hillman, and Michael Meade, Editors
HarperCollins Publishers, First Edition, 1992

[puebloknot]

12. Yes, Lorca says it...

...beautifully. Sadly.

Thank you.

[TheGunslinger]

3. Damn. These MNA days are coming quicker than I thought they would.

[understandinglife]

8. Yes. The slaughter of our troops due to the war criminal Bu$h is ....

.... accelerating. The atrocities expand.

The outcome of any war is unimaginable horror; the outcomes of illegal, imperialistic war destroy all legitimacy of the perpetrating nation. Thus, Bu$h and his neoconster fellow war criminals have rendered "America" past tense.

It is for all of us to halt the atrocities. Charge the offenders and prosecute them in courts of law. And, thereby, begin to rebuild what "America" once was.

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[TheGunslinger]

9. And their rhetoric is getting more and more desperate

Blasting Newsweek...expressing "shock" at the Saddam in underwear photos.


Their feigned indignation is so goddamned transparent it makes me ill!

[understandinglife]

11. As is the 'media' -- about itself

Reassuring the public that print and television news are dependable has proved frustratingly elusive.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/22/weekinreview/22healy.html?hp

Wonder Why - duh.

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - on the path to Day 4, tragically

[puebloknot]

13. Thinking out loud, late at night

1) They don't really want a public trial for Saddam. He might tell some embarrasing stories.

2) They are shocked, just SHOCKED, that someone was able to get through their security to shoot pictures of Saddam in his underwear, and an investigation will ensue.

3) Someone got through their security AGAIN (damn) and shot Saddam again, this time with a gun and fatally.

4) A special commission is being appointed by the White House to look into the OUTRAGEOUS failure on *someone's* part to keep the prisoner alive, so he could be tried publicly.

[merh]

4. Not in my name.

:cry:

[Ellipsis]

5. ...

[merh]

6. ...

:cry:

[savannahana]

7. ...

[Ellipsis]

14. ...

...more on Marla. (article from May 3rd.)

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=17933

[savannahana]

15. ...

peace

[LiberallyInclined]

16. 3 + 19 =22...?

i'm sorry...but i'm just not getting the connection...day four is 22 deaths away?

i'm just not groking to whatever numerology you're using.

[understandinglife]

17. Bu$h launched his illegal war and imperialistic occupation of Iraq on...

... March 19, 2003.

March (3) + Day (19) = 22

Thus, every 22 additional deaths from the start of MNA activates a 24 hour period in which everyone is requested to do the simple 2 steps mentioned in the OP.

MNA Day 3 was activated upon reaching 1630 American soldier deaths in Iraq.

MNA Day 4 will be reached when 1652 American soldiers have died (1630 + 22 = 1652).

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[LiberallyInclined]

19. more power to you...

but i still don't get it- it just sounds...goofy.

if you need to explain your message- and it still doesn't make sense, you need a new message.

[understandinglife]

20. Thank you for your comments.

However, prior to now, we've not encountered any difficulty with the message since starting MNA.

A mechanism to trigger a repeatitive act of resistance that memorializes the start of an illegal act (March 19th, 2003) seems to make sense, to not be the least bit 'goofy,' and works.

You and everyone else can watch the death chart and know what to do during the 24 hours after another 22 US soldiers serving in Iraq, die.


Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - Tragically on the path to MNA Day 4

[LiberallyInclined]

21. okely-dokely, understandinglife-erino...

:eyes:

[understandinglife]

18. MNA Day 4 is now only 16 deaths away

American Deaths Since war began (3/19/03): 1636
http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

For additional reflection on the current status of "America":
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3708092

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - Be it MNA Day 4 or 8 or 15 or .... the day will come when 10s of millions of Americans and others stop their typical activities for 24 hours and urge 10 times that many to join should another MNA Day be required. On that glorious day what we once called "America" will emerge.

[hiley]

30. ...

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public."
Theodore Roosevelt, 1912





http://www.antiwar.com/casualties /

[savannahana]

22. "We mourn a changeling: you"

ODE FOR THE AMERICAN DEAD
IN ASIA


1.
God love you now, if no one else will ever,
Corpse in the paddy, or dead on a high hill,
In the fine and ruinous summer of a war
You never wanted. All your false flags were
Of bravery and ignorance, like grade school maps:
Colors of countries you would never see --
Until that weekend in eternity
When, laughing, well armed, perfectly ready to kill
The world and your brother, the safe commanders sent
You into your future. Oh, dead on a hill,
Dead in a paddy, leeched and tumbled to
A tomb of footnotes. We mourn a changeling: you;
Handselled to poverty and drummed to war
By distinguished masters whom you never knew.


2.
The bee that spins his metal from the sun,
The shy mole drifting like a miner ghost
Through midnight earth -- all happy creatures run
As strict as trains on rails the circuits of
Blind instinct. Happy in your summer follies,
You mined a culture that was mined for war:
The state to mold you, church to bless, and always
The elders to confirm you in your ignorance.
No scholar put your thinking cap on nor
Warned that in dead seas fishes died in schools
Before inventing legs to walk the land.
The rulers stuck a tennis racket in your hand,
An Ark against the flood. In time of change
Courage is not enough: the blind mole dies,
And you on your hill, who did not know the rules.


3.
Wet in the windy counties of the dawn
The lone crow skirls his draggled passage home:
And God (whose sparrows fall aslant his gaze.
Like grace or confetti) blinks and he is gone,
And you are gone. Your scarecrow valor grows
And rusts like early lilac while the rose
Blooms in Dakota and the stock exchange
Flowers. Roses, rents, all things conspire
To crown your deaths with wreaths of living fire.
And the public mourners come: the politic tear
Is cast in the Forum. But, in another year,
We will mourn you, whose fossil courage fills
The limestone histories; brave; ignorant; amazed;
Dead in the rice paddies, dead on the nameless hills.


-THOMAS MCGRATH
from _The Rag and Bone Shop of The Heart_
Robert Bly, James Hillman, and Michael Meade, Editors
HarperCollins Publishers, First Edition, 1992

[puebloknot]

23. How many more odes....

....for the dead in a war will there be before humanity awakens?

I must get a copy of this book. Thank you, Savannahana.

[Ellipsis]

24. ...seven more

The Sad and Silent Song of a Soldier

By Phil Ochs

And the flag draped coffins are a sailin' home
And the waves are watching as the engine drones
As the ship draws near, hear the bugle moan
The sad and silent song of a soldier

With a hero's greeting we will welcome him,
With hero's speeches we will honor him,
With a hero's ending we will bury him,
That's the sad and silent song of a soldier.

And comfort his family with a telegram,
We regret to inform you we have lost a man,
But we gave him the highest medal of the land,
That's the sad and silent song of a soldier.

We know what an awful price he had to pay,
But the enemy was contained for another day,
We trained him well, but he would have wanted it that way,
That's the sad and silent song of a soldier.

Oh, the weary wounded they wait by his side,
Wondering why they hadn't also died,
the picture of victory on its pride,
That's the sad and silent song of a soldier.

And the flag is at half mast wet with foreign rain,
Ignored by the stranger he had helped to train,
To him it was his duty to them again,
That's the sad and silent song of a soldier.

At Arlington he's lowered down without a pause,
And his native land welcomes him with open jaws,
And the tombstone reads such a noble cause,
That's the sad and silent song of a soldier.

Now a moment of silence for the broken man,
While the president proudly crows "we'll never bend",
And cheers their replacements marching off again,
That's the sad and silent song of a soldier.

And the flag draped coffins are a sailin' home,
And the waves are a watchin' as the engines drone,
As the ship draws near, hear the bugle moan
The sad and silent song of a soldier.

[understandinglife]

25. MNA Day 4 now only EIGHT deaths away

American Deaths Since war began (3/19/03): 1644
http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us

[understandinglife]

26. Eight U.S. Soldiers Killed Over Two Days in Iraq

Eight U.S. Soldiers Killed Over Two Days in Iraq

By RICHARD A. OPPEL Jr.
and TERENCE NEILAN
Published: May 24, 2005

BAGHDAD, Iraq, May 24 - Eight American soldiers were killed in attacks by insurgents over the past the two days, the military said today, as a renewed wave of violence continued.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/05/24/international/middleeast/24cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1116993600&en=547bd56397c505af&ei=5094&partner=homepage

Peace.

We need an Opposition Party to have any hope of restoring "America"

[understandinglife]

27. MNA Day 4 just 7 deaths away. Dictator Bu$h went to bed at 9pm.

American Deaths Since war began (3/19/03): 1645

Peace.

It's time to RAP

[merh]

28. May 24 2005 - 1647

http://icasualties.org/oif/

:cry:

[merh]

31. Posted on Tue, May. 24, 2005

Four Mississippi soldiers killed in Iraq

By MICHAEL NEWSOM

SUN HERALD

DATELINE - Four soldiers from the 155th Brigade Combat Team were killed Monday when a bomb exploded the Humvee they were riding in.

Two of those soldiers are believed to be from South Mississippi. The Mississippi National Guard confirmed soldiers were from Sardis, Forworth and the Coast.

The soldiers were riding in a Humvee in Haswa, 30 miles South of Baghdad, The Associated Press reported Tuesday, when the bomb exploded.

http://www.sunherald.com/mld/sunherald/11727132.htm

:cry:

[hiley]

29. so many little children without a parent ...

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties /



14 Defining Characteristics of Fascism
http://www.ericblumrich.com/14.html

[savannahana]

32. "They call it easing the Spring"

from
LESSONS OF THE WAR
Naming of Parts


To Alan Michell

Vixi duellis nuper idoneus
Et militavi non sine gloria


Today we have naming of parts. Yesterday,
We had daily cleaning. And tomorrow morning,
We shall have what to do after firing. But today,
Today we have naming of parts. Japonica
Glistens like coral in all of the neighboring gardens,
. . . And today we have naming of parts.

This is the lower sling swivel. And this
Is the upper sling swivel, whose use you will see,
When you are given your slings. And this is the piling swivel,
Which in your case you have not got. The branches
Hold in the gardens their silent, eloquent gestures,
. . . Which in our case we have not got.

This is the safety-catch, which is always released
With an easy flick of the thumb. And please do not let me
See anyone using his finger. You can do it quite easy
If you have any strength in your thumb. The blossoms
Are fragile and motionless, never letting anyone see
. . . Any of them using their finger.

And this you can see is the bolt. The purpose of this
Is to open the breech, as you see. We can slide it
Rapidly backwards and forwards: we call this
Easing the spring. And rapidly backwards and forwards
The early bees are assaulting and fumbling the flowers:
. . . They call it easing the Spring.

They call it easing the Spring: it is perfectly easy
If you have any strength in your thumb: like the bolt,
And the breech, and the cocking-piece, and the point of balance,
Which in our case we have not got; and the almond-blossom
Silent in all of the gardens and the bees going backwards and forwards
. . . For today we have naming of parts.


- HENRY REED
from _The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart_
Robert Bly, James Hillman, and Michael Meade, Editors
HarperCollins Publishers, First Edition, 1992

[understandinglife]

33. MNA Day 4 now 5 deaths away, so very sadly....

American Deaths Since war began (3/19/03): 1647
http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

Peace.


It's happened, Mr Lucas

[Ellipsis]

34. ...

While digesting Reader's Digest
In the back of a dirty book store,
A plastic flag, with gum on the back,
Fell out on the floor.
Well, I picked it up and I ran outside
Slapped it on my window shield,
And if I could see old Betsy Ross
I'd tell her how good I feel.


Chorus:
But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
They're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more. 


Well, I went to the bank this morning
And the cashier he said to me,
"If you join the Christmas club
We'll give you ten of them flags for free."
Well, I didn't mess around a bit
I took him up on what he said.
And I stuck them stickers all over my car
And one on my wife's forehead.


Repeat Chorus:


Well, I got my window shield so filled
With flags I couldn't see.
So, I ran the car upside a curb
And right into a tree.
By the time they got a doctor down
I was already dead.
And I'll never understand why the man
Standing in the Pearly Gates said...


"But your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more.
We're already overcrowded
From your dirty little war.
Now Jesus don't like killin'
No matter what the reason's for,
And your flag decal won't get you
Into Heaven any more."

Your Flag Decal Won't Get You Into Heaven Anymore
© John Prine

And a perspective

"How many atoms on the head of a pin?
How many stars in the universe? Think about it.
The bottom line is... Gaia couldn't give a rats ass about her parasitic carbon based life forms ....she doesn't want em anymore then dog wants fleas.
Now be of good dear and get me another vodka Martini with a lemon twist."

Mel Famie 1961

[understandinglife]

35. Helen Thomas speaks to truth to power, once again.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3730225

Spokesman for the Bu$h dictatorship lies and lies and lies, in response.

Peace.


It has happened, Mr Lucas


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - how ever long it takes, the day must come when tens of millions of caring individuals peacefully but persistently defy the dictator, deny the corporatists cash flow, and halt the evil being done in Iraq and in all the other places the Bu$h neoconster regime is destroying in the name of "America."

[understandinglife]

36. MNA Day 4 now 2 tragic deaths away

American Deaths Since war began (3/19/03): 1650

:cry:

Peace.

[savannahana]

37. "Something for your poetry, no? he said."

THE COLONEL



What you have heard is true. I was in his house. His wife

carried a tray of coffee and sugar. His daughter filed her

nails, his son went out for the night. There were daily pa-

pers, pet dogs, a pistol on the cushion beside him. The moon

swung bare on its black cord over the house. On the televi-

sion was a cop show. It was in English. Broken bottles were

embedded in the walls around the house to scoop the knee-

caps from a man's legs or cut his hands to lace. On the win-

dows there were gratings like those on liquor stores. We had

dinner, rack of lamb, good wine, a gold bell on the table

for calling the maid. The maid brought green mangoes, salt,

a type of bread. I was asked how I enjoy the country. There

was a brief commercial in Spanish. His wife took everything

away. There was some talk then of how difficult it had be-

come to govern. The parrot said hello on the terrace. The

colonel told it to shut up, and pushed himself from the table.

My friend said to me with his eyes: say nothing. The colonel

returned with a sack used to bring groceries home. He spilled

many human ears on the table. They were like dried peach

halves. There is no other way to say this. He took one of

them in his hands, shook it in our faces, dropped it into a

water glass. It came alive there. I am tired of fooling around

he said. As for the rights of anyone, tell your people they can

go fuck themselves. He swept the ears to the floor with his

arm and held the last of his wine in the air. Something for

your poetry, no? he said. Some of the ears on the floor

caught this scrap of his voice. Some of the ears on the floor

were pressed to the ground.



May 1978

- CAROLYN FORCHE

from _The Rag and Bone Shop of the Heart_
Robert Bly, James Hillman, and Michael Meade, Editors
HarperCollins Publishers, First Edition, 1992

[maveric]

38. Whats the significance of the number 1652?

[understandinglife]

39. As noted in the OP, ....

.... MNA memorializes every additional 22 deaths in Iraq by calling for a 24 hour period in which what ever is ordinary and routine in each person's life, stops. And, you encourage as many others to do the same, as possible.

The next MNA Day is 1 tragic death away from a total of 1652 reported US soldiers killed in Iraq since Bu$h began his illegal war and occupation on March 19, 2003.

MNA Day 5 will occur when that total advances to 1674 (1652 + 22).

If we could mobilize millions of our fellow citizens to stop buying gas, stop shopping, stop ...., for 24 hours, every time an MNA Day arrives, we might, peacefully, begin to get the message to those who work for us in DC, that an orderly, near-term exit plan from Iraq needs to be implemented, now.

Thank you for your question.

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - how ever long it takes, the day must come when tens of millions of caring individuals peacefully but persistently defy the dictator, deny the corporatists cash flow, and halt the evil being done in Iraq and in all the other places the Bu$h neoconster regime is destroying civilization in the name of "America."

[understandinglife]

40. www.afterdowningstreet.org -- updated

Bonifaz's memo to Conyers:
http://rawstory.com/exclusives/alexandrovna/memo_bush_impeachable_offenses_526

www.afterdowningstreet.org

In February and March 2003, John Bonifaz served as lead counsel for a coalition of United States soldiers, parents of U.S. soldiers, and Members of Congress (led by Representatives John Conyers, Jr. and Dennis Kucinich) in a federal lawsuit challenging President George W. Bush’s authority to wage war against Iraq absent a congressional declaration of war or equivalent action. Bonifaz is the author of Warrior-King: The Case for Impeaching George W. Bush (NationBooks-NY, 2004, foreword by Rep. John Conyers, Jr.), which chronicles that case and its meaning for the United States Constitution.

The organizations forming the AfterDowningStreet.org coalition include: Global Exchange, Gold Star Families for Peace, Democrats.com, Veterans for Peace, Code Pink, Progressive Democrats of America, and Democracy Rising. These organizations, beginning today, will be urging their members to contact their Representatives to urge support of a Resolution of Inquiry.

For more information, see www.AfterDowningStreet.org, or contact:
• Democrats.com, President Bob Fertik, and Washington Director David Swanson, 202-329-7847 (contact Swanson to set up an interview with Bonifaz.)
• Global Exchange, Co-Founder Medea Benjamin.
• Code Pink, Executive Committee Member Gael Murphy.
• Gold Star Families for Peace Member Cindy Sheehan. (Sheehan's son, U.S. Army Spc. Casey Sheehan was killed in Iraq April 4, 2004.)
• Consultant Steve Cobble.
• Progressive Democrats of America Executive Director Tim Carpenter.
• Veterans for Peace Executive Director Michael T. McPhearson.
• Democracy Rising's Kevin Zeese.
• Rainbow Push's Butch Wing, 773-FREEDOM.
• Velvet Revolution's Brad Friedman.
• Justice Through Music's Jeff Cohen, [e-mail]

Peace.


www.missionnotaccomplished.us - how ever long it takes, the day must come when tens of millions of caring individuals peacefully but persistently defy the dictator, deny the corporatists cash flow, and halt the evil being done in Iraq and in all the other places the Bu$h neoconster regime is destroying civilization in the name of "America."

[hiley]

41. largest show of Iraqi force

Iraqi troops to form giant cordon
BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraq announced plans Thursday to deploy 40,000 police and soldiers in the capital and ring the city with hundreds of checkpoints "like a bracelet" in the largest show of Iraqi force since the fall of Saddam Hussein.
snip--
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari told a small group of Western reporters that next week's planned crackdown, dubbed Operation Lightning, was designed "to restore the initiative to the government." Insurgents have killed more than 620 people since his government was announced on April 28.

"We will establish, with God's help, an impenetrable blockade surrounding Baghdad like a bracelet surrounds a wrist," Defense Minister Saadoun al-Duleimi said.

snip--
American forces will back the Iraqis with logistical aid and air cover during Operation Lightning, according to the U.S. military.

Al-Jaafari said all of Baghdad's 23 entry points would be controlled. Interior Minister Bayan Jabr, who helped announce Operation Lightning, or "Barq" in Arabic, said there would be 675 checkpoints along with mobile checkpoints to try to deter assailants around the city and in areas where attacks are frequent
snip--

http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2005-05-26-zarqawi_x.htm

[hiley]

42. Huge US raid on western Iraq town

Hundreds of US soldiers have swept through the western Iraqi town of Haditha, searching homes and seizing suspected insurgents.
"About 15 came to my house and searched everything, looking for arms and asking if I knew any insurgents," an academic, Maher Dali, told Reuters.

At least 10 people are reported to have been killed in fierce gun battles.

snip--
An Associated Press report says helicopters dropped US marines near palm groves to block off one side of the town, while other troops established checkpoints and moved into the centre of the city on foot and in armoured vehicles.

"Right now there's a larger threat than should be in Haditha and we're here to tell them that they're not welcome," battalion commander Lt Col Lionel Urquhart told the news agency.

The US marines said six insurgents were killed in a battle in central Haditha, including one man identified as a cleric, and four died in separate incidents elsewhere.

Two US soldiers were injured in the fighting.
snip--
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4578755.stm

One man was arrested, apparently for owning too much ammunition

[hiley]

43. Van Buren Soldier Killed In Iraq (Arkansas)

By Aaron Sadler
Thursday, May 26, 2005 8:40 AM CDT
times record
A newly wed Van Buren soldier was killed in Iraq on Tuesday when a car bomb exploded near the vehicle he was driving, family members said.Spc. Dustin Fisher's parents received word of his death from military officials Wednesday. Fisher, 22, married his wife, Alicia, just days before his deployment early this year.
"He was just really happy," said his mother, Brenda Fisher. "He was so happy to be married and have a wife."
The Department of Defense had not released information about Fisher's death late Wednesday. Family members said Fisher was one of the three soldiers killed when a bomb exploded next to their convoy.
His father, Waldo Fisher, said his son was part of a team escorting a high-ranking Iraqi official.
Waldo Fisher, a civics teacher at Darby Junior High School, is the president of the local chapter of Vietnam Veterans of America. Seasoned at helping others who grieve, he said he is unsure how he will cope."Right now, I'm not sure that anything I've done since my 35 years I've served in Vietnam is going to help me at all," he said.
snip---
He was eager to return home for a two-week leave in late June, his mother said.Fisher joined the Army two years ago. Waldo Fisher said his son thought the Army would help him "grow up."Brenda Fisher said Fisher had plans to re-enlist in the Army or become a firefighter.
"He had his whole life planned and now it's no more to be," she said.
Waldo Fisher learned of his son's death from officers who came to Darby on Wednesday afternoon. He had been bothered all morning by radio news reports about the bombing.

"I had a real bad feeling in my stomach, but I put it aside until I went to my principal's office and saw the two military people," he said. "I knew what they were there for."

snip--
http://www.swtimes.com/articles/2005/05/26/news/news01.txt


Spc. Dustin Fisher's Aunt is a Teacher and works with my Husband.:cry:

[hiley]

44. no...........

[understandinglife]

45. No and No and NO and NO and NO.......AND no.........

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3736375

Stop the dictator Bush; stop the vermin neoconster fellow war criminals.

STOP the atrocities.

STOP killing our fellow citizens.

STOP destroying civilization.

STOP.

Peace.

[understandinglife]

46. Tragically, the number of American soldiers who have died in Iraq: 1653

A new, MNA post will be started later today.

Peace.