They are hiding the obviously female names of the marines

[PassingFair]

killed in Fallujah last week.
So far they have released the names of two:
Regina Clark and Holly Charette.
Regina Clark was 43 (FORTY THREE) years old! What was she doing in Iraq? Did she have children? WTF!!!! I wanna KNOW.
Note that the other casualties are NAME UNKNOWN.
I believe that they are sitting on the identification of these women until after the chimps speech tomorrow night.
Please contact your national and local news agencies and ask for information about these marines.
He will look mighty evil talking about how much "progress" we are making shoving "freedom" down the throats of the arab world with the images of our dead women fresh in America's minds.

www.icasualties.org

On edit: added link

[rodeodance]

1. some have not yet been identifed is what I have heard.

[Syncronaut Seven]

35. Must have been a hell of a crash to destroy their dog tags.

drip. drip. drip.

[Captain Hilts]

2. There are a lot of parents and 43 year olds in Iraq.

In that, she's not special.

[PassingFair]

5. Because it will NOT play well in Peoria...

that's why.
It's sure as hell not playing well with me.

[MissB]

7. No one wants to sacrifice mothers

in a war. No one.

You are right. It won't play well.

[ewagner]

3. I think you're right

When you stop to think about it, how bad would it be for Dubya to make aJohn Wayne/Macho,macho,macho man speech while the MSM was running a "poor orphaned kids" story 24/7?

The media has the information on the 43-year-old Regina Clark already so why aren't they running the bio on her and her family 24/7 now?

[Postman]

4. Because they are enablers of fascism and this debacle in Iraq

remember before the Iraq invasion, how they were propagandizing for this war?

They have blood on their hands also.

[Straight Shooter]

6. If you can find a contact for Knight Ridder, ask them.

They don't seem to be shy, lately, about exposing the hypocrisy of the bush administration.

As for the names being released and waiting identification, I hate to sound gruesome, but I thought 2 or 3 of them were blown to bits. You would think the survivors would know who was with them and therefore who died, but maybe it's protocol.

It's all so disgusting. Even more disgusting is that I think they're trying to suppress this story. A woman dying is no worse than a man dying, except we as a society are conditioned to believe that someone women are nurturers and should be protected, and somehow it's worse.

I know several men who are more appalled at 5 women dying in one attack than if it had been 5 men. I guess it comes down to: Do we miss our mothers more than our fathers when they die? That's an individual question for each family to answer.

When I say suppressing, I mean keeping it down. If 5 women marines had captured a couple of insurgents, we'd never hear the end of it.

[PassingFair]

10. Not so much do we miss one gender over another when they die as...

Who is doing the nuturing and raising of the children NOW.
Constant themes in fairy tales show that a child's greatest fear is of the mother dying. Because it's usually the mother that puts total emphasis on the child. If the father is the primary caregiver, that changes, but usually it is the mother.

[whatever4]

8. To me this one is just heartbreaking

It sounds like another case of being recalled, and not having a choice. The UCMJ; you're owned by the military. I feel for her son. This is such a fraudulent use of contract law, these recalls. When I think of all the people that urged me to join the reserves, oh *how* many times was I told I was missing out on opportunities, just because I didn't want to be under the UCMJ the rest of my natural life, and THIS is why. My friends, my family, everyone thought I was being a little bit silly. I'm here to tell you, but for an ounce less of stubbornness, I'd be in Iraq too.

And people wonder why anyone feels forced to go; they ARE forced to go. It's that or jail, under contract, literally owned by the military. Did you all know that if you hurt yourself, by getting frostbite or some other reckless act, you're charged with "damaging government property"? Look it up or ask someone else if you think I am exagerating. A lot of these people going don't feel they have a choice. They don't realize until they get there that jail may actually have been a better option.

And one wonders if they'd suffer any abuse in one of those military prisons, might any of the guards have recieved any training in *other* prisons. Might that be a consideration? I don't really know. But I shudder to think about it. It's not beyond the realm of possibility, it's not an unjustified concern.

How horrible that they're putting off the whole story until his "speech". I bet you're right about that. Sick. Just sick.

[radwriter0555]

9. Know what? They DO have a choice. They can choose NOT to go...

I know, I know. Jail, charges, no pay, etc? But I'd rather be broke and homeless and take a stand for what's right than serve a murderous, genocidal regime.

We all have a CHOICE.

[Lucille]

11. Would you rather your kids be poor, broke, and homeless? nt

nt

[radwriter0555]

13. YES. I'd rather live in my car than serve a murderous, genocidal regime

for a paycheck.

It's called ethics.

[whatever4]

20. Yes

As I said, imho many don't realize until they get there that Jail would have been a better, more humane option. Most folks find it difficult to picture themselves breaking the law, so it's probably just that must more difficult for military folks.

That's how I explain it to myself, anyway.

[whatever4]

26. Yes and this is what I meant to post

I hit the post instead of preview

It's easy to say what'd you'd do. A lot harder to be positive that is what YOU WOULD do. Talk is cheap. As I said, imho many don't realize until they get there that Jail would have been a better, more humane option. Most folks find it difficult to picture themselves breaking the law, so it's probably just that must more difficult for military folks.

That's how I explain it to myself, anyway.

Past that, I justify nothing about this war or the military to you folks, or anyone else. THAT was not my intent. I *thought* we weren't attacking each other?

And you're damned welcome for my damned service. And no, I talked like that before I joined.

goodness, are we rabid dogs or are we thinking individuals here? Back off me people, I play nice not nearly as well as otherwise. Please, enough carnage. Truly, you have no idea, no IDEA the battles I've waged on mainstream newsboard forums, OHHHHHHHHHHHH mfg Don't get me started, I'm here for sanctuary people, sanctuary!

[northzax]

23. that's your choice

I assume you've defaulted on your taxes, right? cause if you pay a dime in taxes, sales tax, income tax, Social Security/Medicare taxes, you are just as guilty as they.

What? not paying taxes has you end up in Jail? bad luck.

[cynatnite]

16. The worst stories make news and are not indicative of the entire military

In most cases if a person refuses to serve, they're given their release. At times a person can face jail depending on the circumstances such as being on the battlefield.

The other you were talking about rarely ever happens. I've never seen anyone in the military getting charged for damaging public property. People do get tattoos and piercings and there are regulations covering those. It's all a matter of uniform.

Also, as you are aware, when someone goes into the military whether it's the guard, reserves or active duty, they are supposed to be told the scope of what it means to be in the service. In that sense they do own you because when you are called, you go.

[whatever4]

29. Really?

"In most cases if a person refuses to serve, they're given their release. At times a person can face jail depending on the circumstances such as being on the battlefield.

The other you were talking about rarely ever happens. I've never seen anyone in the military getting charged for damaging public property. People do get tattoos and piercings and there are regulations covering those. It's all a matter of uniform.

Also, as you are aware, when someone goes into the military whether it's the guard, reserves or active duty, they are supposed to be told the scope of what it means to be in the service. In that sense they do own you because when you are called, you go."

Really? Because I guess that "most cases" doesn't apply to the some odd hundred that have gone to Canada? I've read more than once case of refusing to go being "denied", along with "conscientious objector" status. Could you back that up?

The other I was talking about I learned in Alaska, and knew troops that had been charged. Also insurance being denied for those in auto accidents that didn't wear their seat belt. You can be denied medical coverage and military treatment if your injuries are proven to have been from something you did. Even working on airplanes in -30 degree temps in Alaska, getting your ear tips and nose frostbitten. On the job. Because they were supposed to be "careful", those guys, working 12s.

It's not all a matter of uniform.

As far as your last comment, it goes to the heart of the matter. These troops have not been recalled for any kind of action the forms would have lead us to believe was reasonable. I DID NOT fail to sign over considerations of getting recalled for anything close to what Iraq is. In fact, when I mentioned the very possibility of that kind of thing happening in the future, to my family, they laughed. It was a laughable idea.

It's not so laughable now.

[helderheid]

12. Clark

Thursday, Clark, 43, was one of six U.S. troops killed by a suicide bomber who attacked a convoy returning from Fallujah checkpoint duty, according to U.S. military officials. The bombing also resulted in 13 wounded, including 11 women, according to a statement released from the Marine base called Camp Fallujah.

Clark is the 101st member of the armed services with ties to Washington state killed in the Iraq war, according to a Seattle Times database. And she appears to be the first Washington woman to die in the war.

Even in a war that has increasingly put women into peril, Clark did not seem likely to be thrust into frontline duty outside the walls and wire of U.S. military bases.

In civilian life, Clark worked for more than 10 years at the deli and bakery at Fuller's Market Place in Centralia before tackling a new job as a state corrections officer, according to Haubrick.

Clark lived with her son, Kerry Clark, who graduated from high school last year. Regina Clark's mother, Mellita Fountain, has occupied a mobile home on the same tract of land.

In the Naval Reserve, Clark, a petty officer first class, was slotted as a mess-hall cook. And preparing food was a big part of her duties in earlier deployments in 2001 and 2003, according to Haubrick.




But this year, as she arrived in Iraq, the Marines, in an effort to be culturally sensitive to Muslim women, sought to find U.S. women to do the checkpoint searches, according to a Marine press release.

Fallujah has been one of the most treacherous towns for U.S. troops and was the focal point of a major U.S. offensive last fall that sought to flush out insurgents. But in a phone call a few weeks ago with her mother, Clark did not talk about the dangers of her job.

"She talked about a new woman friend she had made from Tennessee, and how she hadn't had a shower in five days," Fountain said. "She was so happy that I had sent a bunch of baby wipes."

Fountain and Kerry Clark learned about the death Friday when Navy officers in white suits came to the homestead. By Saturday, as The Chronicle in Centralia published several stories about Clark, television reporters converged on the property.

Asked what he would do now, Kerry Clark told KING-TV, "I don't know. I'm going to have to figure that out. That's the hard point. I've got friends. Thank God."

By yesterday, Kerry Clark was unavailable for comment, having flown to New York to appear on a television show, Fountain said.

Regina Clark centered much of her life on her son, according to friends. She was born in Germany but raised in the United States. She joined the Navy and married a fellow sailor, but they separated when Kerry Clark was still a little boy and he was raised by a single mother, according to Fountain.

Though Regina Clark was a sailor through and through, friends say that as Naval Reserves mobilized post-9/11, Clark felt a conflict between her duty as a mother and her duty to serve.

Clark believed strongly in America's responsibilities as a superpower and didn't hesitate to go on her first two deployments, which each lasted six months or less, according to Fountain.

While she was gone, Fountain and friends helped look after her son.

Upon her return from her second deployment in 2003, Clark resumed work at Fuller's deli but said she was disturbed by some of the things she had seen. She talked about retiring from the military, according to Haubrick, who worked with her in 2003 at the deli.

"She said she didn't feel like herself anymore, and for Regina, that takes a lot — she was very happy-go-lucky," Haubrick said.

Clark's third deployment initially was supposed to begin last year, before her son's high-school graduation, Haubrick said.

But Clark was able to work a deal to postpone that deployment to this year and to take on the assignment that landed her in Fallujah, which would be her last deployment before retirement.

As Clark prepared to depart for this final round of duty, she still strongly supported the U.S. mission and President Bush, according to Fountain.

"I have a feeling that we shouldn't have been there, and made a remark about President Bush," Fountain said.

"She said, 'That's my leader and commander in chief you're talking about.' "

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002349229_iraqmom27m.html

[PassingFair]

15. No mention of a husband.

Her "commander in chief" just made her son a teenage orphan.

[DemBeans]

18. wait...

She was a reservist, and didn't Rumsfeld tell Congress last week that he didn't think reservists were doing multiple tours, and in any event it was all strictly voluntary if they DID do multiple tours? Or was he only talking about the Guard?

Anyway, sending this 43 year old woman for THREE tours shows how they've abused our military beyond the breaking point. Bastards.

[whatever4]

30. Absolutely

Anybody they can bully. Just like with the recruiters; they're scraping the barrel. Guess who pays the price? Anyone too poor to fight it, and gee, wonder how many former military fall into that category?

[Postman]

22. What kind of "sickness" enables a mother to put aside her "motherly"

instincts in favor of supporting the "responsibilities of a superpower"??

I know about patriotism. I served in the military myself.

Is it the loss of our humanity in some way?

[whatever4]

31. Probably the same thing that makes them work

Or that one crazy gal I used to work with, from China. She had leave her husband and daughter behind in China, to come here for an advanced degree in biochemistry. Her nation sent her to all the best schools, and she was offered an opportunity here. It took I believe it was five years for her daughter to be allowed to come, and longer for her husband, I forget how long. Now her daughter sounds as American as anyone, and that's exactly how my friend wanted it. One more crack like that about women, working and motherhood, gloves come off, that's all I got to say.

Yeah, we're all bloodthirsty, us moms. Insert frownly face here. Better stop for the day, this is starting to get me doing down a destructive path. Some housework, that's the ticket.

[hootinholler]

36. WTF is a PO1 (male or female) doing manning a checkpoint??

Jesus fucking-A Christ! She was a goddamned mess cook in the Navy! WTF was she doing in country to begin with? It's not like she was a corpsman attached to a Marine unit. I thought KBR was cooking for the troops anyway. So why was she there?

-Hoot

[madrchsod]

14. i posted several days ago that

the top does not want this story released that there is nothing left of the others,they must have taken the full blast. the national and local news has been instructed by the top not to release anything about this tragedy. this info was passed on by someone "in the know" to my wife.

[PassingFair]

19. They want it down the memory hole.

At least until Wednesday.
It BLOWS my mind that they are able to hide this.

[RamboLiberal]

25. Exactly - when they listed the others as missing presumed dead

That was the code for there's going to probably be an empty or near empty coffin coming home to some grieving parents/loved ones.

I see nothing sinister that the Marines are slow in releasing the names. They want to be absolutely postive about the remains before they release the names to the public. I would assume the families already know. And note in some cases these stories make local news first if families choose to release that a loved one is dead before the military makes the announcement on the DOD.

[progressivebydesign]

17. One woman was from Washington State. Had a son, 18. n/t

[northzax]

21. it routinely takes days for the military to release the names

of soldiers killed in Iraq. This attack just got more attention so oyu notice it. Maybe one of them's parents are on a trip and they can't get ahold of them, who knows? but they always tell the family first, which is the way it should be. Hey, maybe the family asked for anonymity for a week or so to get their affairs in order to face the media onslaught, I would.

You often see a news release "the Pentagon confirmed that the Marine killd in Fallujah last week was Bob Smith, 31, of Anytown"

[PassingFair]

24. Right....

I think they are covering. I think they are bailing with both buckets.

[northzax]

27. it was a weekend

you think they're covering, I think they're giving the families time. You want CBS at your daughter's funeral? THe media attention is precisely why they don't release the names for a while, they want the families to give permission first (yes, this is how it works, you know those pictures you see? released by the family, not the military.)

By the way, on Friday night, a man was shot on the corner of my block. He died. The police have not released his name yet because they are trying to contact his family. Are they covering something up, or do they not want his family to learn of the death on the news?

[PassingFair]

33. Damn straight I'd want CBS at my daughter's funeral

if she had been sacrificed for this oil grab! CBS ABC NBC even FAUX! I'd want them ALL there. To report on what this administration has wrought.

[northzax]

34. but that's your choice

wouldn't you prefer to make that choice, rather than have it made for you? what if it was FOX?

[Tsiyu]

28. Is it still true that women can't earn combat medals?

Just curious if anyone knew, as our local news ran a "Should women be in combat" story last night.

Years ago, I wrote a song about the fact that women could fight in wars but not receive recognition:

"Ladies don't get no reward for fightin'
There ain't no honor for a lady in combat.
Don't matter if it's an enemy
or a common homegrown scum
Cuz girls are girls.
And men are men and that's that."

[leftchick]

32. A little more on Clark with photo...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x3957715#3957802

this is so sad. :(