Today in Iraq

War News for October 21, 2003 No military honors for returning KIAs. “’There will be no arrival ceremonies for, or media coverage of, deceased military personnel returning to or departing from Ramstein [Germany] airbase or Dover [Del.] base, to include interim stops,’ the Defense Department said, referring to the major ports for the returning remains.” “Speaking on condition of anonymity, they said the policy covering the entire military followed a victory over a civil liberties court challenge to the restrictions at Dover and relieves all bases of the difficult logistics of assembling family members and deciding which troops should get which types of ceremonies.” This is a crock of pure shit. In order to save Lieutenant AWOL from the embarrassment of press coverage, Rummy is going to deny a military honor guard to American KIAs. “A White House spokesman said Bush has not attended any memorials or funerals for soldiers killed in action during his presidency as his predecessors had done, although he has met with families of fallen soldiers and has marked the loss of soldiers in Memorial Day and Sept. 11, 2001, remembrances.” In other words, Lieutenant AWOL is pleased to use wounded soldiers as campaign props at photo ops, but he doesn’t want the American people to see our fallen soldiers. This is true cowardice. Conservatives love to accuse “liberals” (meaning anybody who criticizes them) of military bashing. One of the favorite myths of con lore is the story of hippies spitting on soldiers returning from Vietnam. When I was a young 19-year old SP4 returning from Vietnam in 1972 nobody spit on me. In fact I got more respect from people my own age – who definitely hated that fucking war – than I did from the American Legion or the VFW. Those Republican assholes called me and my comrades a bunch of drugged-out psychos who “lost” a war. I guess people like to forget how hard it was for Vietnam vets to get a job when they got home. Having an RVN campaign citation on your DD214 wasn’t exactly a favorable recommendation to civilian employers who bought the conservative lie of the druggie nut jobs coming back from the war. People seem to have forgotten the reason why Congress passed legislation giving Vietnam vets Federal hiring preferences beyond the benefits given to veterans of other wars. At least our dead soldiers were welcomed with military honors during Vietnam. Maybe the living didn’t get a parade, as many Vietnam vets complained, but no president denied the dead a welcoming ceremony. Except this miserable poltroon, who swaggers in a flight suit, invites the enemy to “bring ‘em on” while safely protected by his Secret Service detail, and values his precious political hide more than he values the memory of his countrymen. So I really feel for the veterans of Bush’s War. Those guys aren’t even home yet and the Bushies are trying to hide their bodies. Conservatives like Bill Buckley trash-mouthed my generation of soldiers, but they’re not even going to honor the dead of this generation. I got real sympathy for you Bush War vets. Those Bush bastards are going to blame you for fucking up their war. You guys got a serious chickenhawk butt-fucking coming your way. You just don’t know it yet. Bring ‘em on: US troops ambushed in Fallujah. Ohio mother waits for her son to come home. Bush’s VA cuts hit home at VA hospital in New York. Veterans are pissed. These are real veterans. Not AWOL rich kids playing dress-up and make-believe for the camera. Casualty Reports Local story: Pennsylvania soldier killed in Iraq. Local story: Indiana soldier wounded in Iraq.