AP: Last Marine in unit mourns 11 lost friends

[UpInArms]

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/12793265.htm

HADITHA DAM, Iraq - Cpl. David Kreuter had a new baby boy he'd seen only in photos. Lance Cpl. Michael Cifuentes was counting the days to his wedding. Lance Cpl. Nicholas Bloem had just celebrated his 20th birthday.

Travis Williams remembers them all - all 11 men in his Marine squad - all now dead. Two months ago they shared a cramped room stacked with bunk beds at this base in northwest Iraq, where the Euphrates River rushes by. Now the room has been stripped of several beds, brutal testament that Lance Cpl. Williams' closest friends are gone.

For the 12 young Marines who landed in Iraq early this year, the war was a series of hectic, constant raids into more than a dozen lawless towns in Iraq's most hostile province, Anbar. The pace and the danger bound them together into what they called a second family, even as some began to question whether their raids were making any progress.

Now, all of the Marines assigned to the 1st Squad, 3rd Platoon, Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment, based in Columbus, Ohio, are gone - except Williams. They died in a roadside-bomb set by insurgents on Aug. 3 that killed a total of 14 Marines. Most of the squad were in their early 20s; the youngest was 19.

<snip>

"I didn't ever think we'd get engaged," said the soft-spoken, stocky Marine from Helena, Mont. "I just had the basic view of the American public - it can't be that bad out there."

...more...

[efhmc]

1. This is too sad and too complicated to even begin to comment on.

[henslee]

8. This is so sad. Young men robbed of their future. I notice that

soldiers have no problem questioning the competence of mission planning and the effectiveness of what they are doing. This is not too common.

[RageFist]

2. A friend of mine, who just got shipped out again,

lost over half of his unit of 35 the first time he was over there...truly sad and I can't begin to imagine what that must feel like. :(

[yorkiemommie1]

3. ' where have all the young men gone....

gone to graveyards every one

When will they ever learn?

When will they ever learn?

[UpInArms]

5. How many roads must a man walk down

Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind.

[progressivebydesign]

15. That song really says it all. Wish current band would remake, NOW. n/t

[NIGHT TRIPPER]

19. REMAKE? covers SUCK- maybe someone posseses their own creativity

enough to write their own words instead of borrowing or copying.
Or are the artists nowadays just brain dead?--or is it the corporate promoters and backers who have no sense and pass on great music and great acts?

However you look at it --current "standards" have dropped--so low that people assume they have to do covers in order do say something profound.--
There are a few getting through,--only a few--where there were once droves-

[MadisonProgressive]

23. And now for something completely different

[greblc]

28. Amen,where are todays protest songs?

[yorkiemommie1]

29. here's one

http://www.andyandrenee.com/mp3/andy_another_mans_war.mp3



in today's climate, outside of Green Day and others ( I'm the 60s, not up w/ today's music, ) how many publishers are going to risk protest music and how many stations are going to risk playing it? I my time, protest songs got LOTS of air play. Clear Channel owns many stations; I'm sure many stations self-censor also.



http://www.andyandrenee.com/index.php

they have more songs and play in SoCal and CO.


Edited to add link.

[SpiralHawk]

22. 11 more funderals Bush will ignore

He has not been to one yet. Has not honored one of our fallen sons and daughters.

Oh, he talks a good game -- but he does not show up in the hour of grief. He shows no respect to the soldiers who died fighting because of his WMD and 9/11 lies.

[stillcool]

4. The madness of our times...

evolves into a frightening crescendo. Only to subside to an eerie level of acceptance. Only to be brutally pierced wide open again..to a new far more horrific awareness of reality.

[medeak]

6. needs to be sent to MSM n/t

[OKNancy]

11. This *is* the Mainstream Media

AP is about as mainstream as it gets. But kudos to the writer.
This is a very well written article IMO.

EDITOR'S NOTE - Associated Press reporter Antonio Castaneda spent three weeks in western Anbar province in Iraq with Marines in Lima Company, 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment, 4th Division, earlier this year. He was with the unit when they led an offensive into the city of Haditha in late May. And he returned to the area after an August blast killed 14 Marines - and shortly before the unit began demobilizing to return to the United States by early October.

[medeak]

18. granted but it still needs to be spread about

on DU media list. The power of emails!

[DrZeeLit]

7. Another voice in the wilderness, answering Cindy's question....

What noble cause?

And this brave soldier, the one left after all his squad died says....

"I think the most frustrating thing is there's no sense of accomplishment," Williams said. "You're biding your time and waiting. But then you lose your friends, and it's not even for their own country's freedom."

I salute his honesty.
NOW BRING HIM HOME!!!!

[Benhurst]

9. Recommended NT

[bonito]

10. Mr rove Mr chaney why are you killing americans

[IndianaGreen]

12. Had they listened to us, no one would have died in Lima Company

The question we face today is a simple one: How many names do we want on the panels of a future Iraq War Memorial?

If we continue to listen to Bush or to his "support the mission" echo among the Congressional Democrats, we will have more names than what we have already.

If you want to save lives, you must support an immediate and unconditional withdrawal from Iraq, anything less than that will add more names to the Iraq Wall.

[ticapnews]

13. What the hell are we doing there?

But, among some Marines and even officers, there are doubts whether progress has been made:

"I had concerns that the operation was hastily planned and executed, with significant risks and little return,"
"The average citizen in Haditha either wants a handout, or wants us to die or go away."
"From a squad leader's perspective, the intelligence never helped me accomplish my mission,"
"Their intelligence is better than ours,"
"I pushed them back out the door to finish the mission," said Lawson. "They did it, but they were crying as they pushed on."
The insurgents lurk nearby - capable of launching mortars and suicide car bombs and quietly re-entering cities soon after the Marines return to their bases on the outskirts..... "We've been here almost seven months and we don't control" the cities, said Gunnery Sgt. Ralph Perrine, an operations chief in the battalion from Brunswick, Ohio. "It's no secret."

So much criticism, whining and crying. Why do these soldiers hate America? :sarcasm:

With each passing day this looks and feels more and more like Vietnam...

:mad: :cry: :nuke:

[progressivebydesign]

14. That story just really got to me. Has to be the saddest I've read so far.

I truly hope Travis Williams will be okay when he gets back... that's an unbelievable loss for him to carry, losing all in your squad. RIP to the fallen.

[Rowdyboy]

16. How do you "win" when you can't trust anything you're told?

"In a war where intelligence is the most valued asset, the Marines say few local people will divulge "actionable" information that could be used to locate insurgents.

Some Iraqis apparently fear reprisal attacks from militants. Many just want to stay out of the crossfire. Others hate the Americans enough to protect the insurgents: Marines say lookouts in cities would often launch flares as their vehicles approached.

In this region ruled by Sunni tribal loyalties, few voted for the new central Iraqi government, and many suspect the U.S. military is punishing them and empowering their longtime rivals, the Shiites of the south and the Kurds of the north.

"From a squad leader's perspective, the intelligence never helped me accomplish my mission," said Sgt. Don Owens, a squad leader in Lima Company from Cincinnati, who fought alongside the 1st Squad throughout their tour.

"Their intelligence is better than ours," Owens said".

[jbnow]

17. All these losses

to destroy another country.

We owe those people...the soldiers we sent there and the people of the country we sent them to.
Just leaving is not enough, though staying isn't helping.

Returned soldiers need to get all the help they need for as long as it takes.
But what about Iraq? It was bad for Saddam's enemies before but there was little crime, women were free, there was order. Now there is chaos and regression of rights and freedom. We owe them. But what and how? We can't just say "It's not our problem", yet we are not the solution.

Damn bush and their ideology.

These kids over there fighting and seeing no progress, just more and more of the same. To have to fight and even die for a noble cause is heartbreaking, but this is so far beyond that.

If bush babies were aborted, how many lives would be spared?

[judaspriestess]

20. Do these type of stories get published in the "Red States"

I would say no, How can you be pro-life and let these young men die for someone elses freedom when they don't give a crap about what we do.

DAMNED IF YOU DAMNED IF YOU DON'T

[OKNancy]

24. Yes

of course it is published in "red states" Check google news.
A quick check of just two pages ( there were 106 references) shows AL, GA, KS, KY, NC and GA...and more

[currents]

21. My younger brother goes over there for 3rd time in nov

He signed up in 2000

[Olney Blue]

26. currents, welcome to DU....

my heart goes out to you and your brother.....

[NeoConsSuck]

25. Ah, but look at the all the gains

for Halliburton and their investors:

http://chart.finance.yahoo.com/c/6m/h/hal

[greblc]

27. Semper Fi