"One day children will look back and say, my dad, my mom, went to Iraq"

[bigtree]

"I told these men and women that their service is necessary for the security of the United States of America, and that they're serving in historic times. And one day their children will be able to look back and say, my dad, or my mom went to Iraq and Afghanistan and helped a young country become a democracy, and therefore the world is more peaceful for it." -- Bush, Meets with Military Personnel Returned From Iraq and Afghanistan During His War Campaign Through Missouri


A look at criminal cases against U.S. soldiers stemming from the deaths of Iraqis since the war began in 2003:

The Associated Press
June 30, 2006 11:48 AM
http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=564761162873701869

PENDING CASES:

-Pfc. Corey R. Clagett, Spc. Juston R. Graber, Staff Sgt. Raymond L. Girouard and Spc. William B. Hunsaker charged with premeditated murder of three male detainees in Salahuddin province in May. Clagett, Girouard and Hunsaker also charged with obstructing justice for allegedly threatening to kill another soldier who was a witness in the case.

-Hospitalman Third Class Melson J. Bacos; Sgt. Lawrence G. Hutchins III; Lance Cpl. Tyler A. Jackson; Pfc. John J. Jodka; Cpl. Marshall L. Magincalda; Lance Cpl. Robert B. Pennington; Lance Cpl. Jerry E. Shumate Jr.; and Marine Cpl. Trent D. Thomas charged with premeditated murder in April shooting death of Iraqi man in Hamdania. All eight also charged with kidnapping, larceny, conspiracy, assault and housebreaking.

-Five U.S. Army soldiers from 502nd Infantry Regiment being investigated for allegedly raping a young woman in March, then killing her and three members of her family in Mahmoudiyah, south of Baghdad . . .

-National Guard Sgt. Milton Ortiz Jr. and Spc. Nathan B. Lynn charged in shooting death of unarmed Iraqi man near Ramadi in February. Both also charged with obstructing justice. Lynn charged with voluntary manslaughter. Ortiz also faces charges of assault and communicating a threat in separate incident involving another Iraqi man.

-Capt. James Kimber, Capt. Lucas M. McConnell, Staff Sgt. Frank D. Wuterich and an unidentified Marine under investigation for killings of two dozen unarmed Iraqi civilians in western town of Haditha on Nov. 19, 2005 in revenge attack after one of their own died in a roadside bombing . . .

-Chief Warrant Officer Jefferson L. Williams, Sgt. 1st Class William Sommer and Spc. Jerry Loper charged with murder and dereliction of duty, along with Chief Warrant Officer Lewis Welshofer, an incident in resulting in death of Iraqi Maj. Gen. Abed Hamed Mowhoush after an interrogation in 2003 at a detention camp in al Qaim . . .


CONVICTIONS: 14


CLEARED/ACQUITTED: 3


full report: http://www.newspress.com/Top/Article/article.jsp?Section=WORLD&ID=564761162873701869

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

1. Years after the war...

there's going to be an awful lot of vets with an awful lot of problems, and there's going to be an awful lot of stereotypes about vets having awful problems, and there's going to be an awful lot of silence about the war for awhile, and Hollywood is going to make some awful movies about muscle-bound vets going back to Iraq to rescue POWs, replete with awful action scenes, and there's going to be an awful lot of hubris, and somebody's going to start an awful new war in some new part of the world, and it will be supposed to be some awful sort of catharsis for the last war, and then a few years after that they'll be a new awful war to finish the job of the previous...

[Tempest]

2. And many will say "and they never came back"

Or "they came back with serious mental and physical problems."

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

3. My Thought Exactly

How many had children born while they were away, that will never return?

[Tempest]

4. One in my town of Bakersfield

His wife was pregnant at the time of his death.