US soldier killed in Mosul

[leftchick]

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/59706E87-1D69-4E3F-931C-AFFFFF576CD5.htm

A US soldier has been killed in a firefight in the northern city of Mosul, a US army officer said.

"One soldier was killed in a firefight. He was shot by insurgents," said Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Kurilla on Sunday.

The death raises the number of US soldiers killed in Iraq to 1372 since the March 2003 invasion, according to the latest figures from the Pentagon.

Twenty US soldiers have died in the volatile city of Mosul since 21 December when a bomber blew himself up in an army mess hall, killing 22 people, including 14 US troops.

[oneighty]

1. There are never the right words

for these happenings, these unfortunate boys and girls dying on our behalf, never knowing life only death. What can be said?

I know we all care.

Cry for our children? How many tears are there?

180

[0007]

3. .....and many are old timers.

[Wright Patman]

2. Heck, a lot of them

are in their 30s and 40s, most leaving behind widows and a house full of kids to fend for themselves. It ain't just boys. This is not like Vietnam.

[oneighty]

7. My children are

Thirties pushing forty. To me they are still children.

But yes they are not all children.

Where have all the young men (And now women too) gone?

Gone to ashes everyone.

When will we ever learn?

From a song of course.

180

[VALibby]

4. there are no words....

for how this makes me feel. The tears are many and the anger strong. When will it stop?

[ckramer]

5. 1372 deads and keep counting

[jasop]

6. I hope its not my brother..

I feel sick everytime I hear about Mosul and a soldier dying.

[leftchick]

11. I hope it isn't either jasop....

welcome to DU.


peace

[diamond14]

8. "They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for

"They wrote in the old days that it is sweet and fitting to die for one's country. There is nothing sweet nor fitting in your dying. You will die like a dog for no good reason." Ernest Hemingway



RAMADI, Iraq
A memorial service for Tom Vitagliano from West Haven, Connecticut, George Geer from Munsing, Michigan and Jesus Fonseca who died last week in Iraq. Photographer: Joe Raedle, Getty Images, Photo Date: 01/21/05



Mosul, Iraq...January 10, 2005

[antonialee839]

9. He was a newlywed

with a young wife still in college. She broke the news of his death
on the strykernews bulletin board.

[NYC]

10. 20 dead in one month?

If so, the rate has gone down. It seemed to be averaging 2 a day.

...Twenty US soldiers have died in the volatile city of Mosul since 21 December when a bomber blew himself up in an army mess hall, killing 22 people, including 14 US troops...

[OrangeCountyDemocrat]

14. 20 Dead In Mosul Alone

I believe when you say 2 a day, you're referring to All Iraq. There have apparently been 20 Deaths in 1 Month, in city of Mosul alone. Many more when the entire country is considered, I'm sure.

[NYC]

17. My mistake.

Thanks.

[jamesinca]

12. Neil Young lyric comes to mind

Another kid that never goes to school
Never gets to fall in love
Never gets to be cool

Keep on rocking in the free world

[bluestateguy]

13. This man's death was not necessary to make America safer

I wonder if Paul Wolfowitz will ever know his name.

[PA Democrat]

15. Dulce Et Decorum Est

Bent double, like old beggars under sacks,
Knock-kneed, coughing like hags, we cursed through sludge,
Till on the haunting flares we turned our backs
And towards our distant rest began to trudge.
Men marched asleep. Many had lost their boots
But limped on, blood-shod. All went lame; all blind;
Drunk with fatigue; deaf even to the hoots
Of disappointed shells that dropped behind.

GAS! Gas! Quick, boys!-- An ecstasy of fumbling,
Fitting the clumsy helmets just in time;
But someone still was yelling out and stumbling
And floundering like a man in fire or lime.--
Dim, through the misty panes and thick green light
As under a green sea, I saw him drowning.

In all my dreams, before my helpless sight,
He plunges at me, guttering, choking, drowning.

If in some smothering dreams you too could pace
Behind the wagon that we flung him in,
And watch the white eyes writhing in his face,
His hanging face, like a devil's sick of sin;
If you could hear, at every jolt, the blood
Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs,
Obscene as cancer, bitter as the cud
Of vile, incurable sores on innocent tongues,--
My friend, you would not tell with such high zest
To children ardent for some desperate glory,
The old Lie: Dulce et decorum est
Pro patria mori.

- Wilfred Owen

[TacticalPeek]

16. remember those who are shortening their lives

A Poem That I Wrote In A High Fever

You who are lengthening your lives
with the best doctors and the best medicines
remember those who are shortening their lives
with the wars
that you in your long lives are not
preventing.

You who are again screwing
the younger generations
and winking at each other
the winking of your eyelids
is like the chill of the swinging shutters
in an empty house.


-- Yehuda Amichai

(Translated from the Hebrew, by Leon Wieseltier.)