Out of President's Sight, Arlington's Rows of Grief Expand

[UpInArms]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/17/AR2005061701443.html

President Bush was in Minnesota yesterday talking about Medicare. The House was debating United Nations dues. And at Arlington National Cemetery, Army Spec. Louis E. Niedermeier of Largo, Fla., was being placed in Section 60, Grave 8188.

Sixteen days earlier in Ramadi, Iraq, according to his family, Niedermeier, a scout who pointed lasers to guide missiles to targets, was shot in the head by a sniper as he stepped from a Humvee. He was 20 years old.

Niedermeier, one of more than 1,700 American men and women who have died in Iraq, is the 144th to be laid to rest at Arlington. Arlington, just two miles from the White House, buries the Iraq dead at a rate of one or two a week.

But the nation's leaders are missing these somber and patriotic pageants. Members of Congress rarely attend. Top Pentagon officials do so only occasionally. And President Bush has yet to bury a fallen warrior. (emphasis mine)

...more...

Is Milbank trying to make up for the hachet job on Conyers?

[Cha]

1. I know..hard to believe

this is coming from milbank..it sounds more like a UK piece.

But, whatever, I hope rove and his gang of roving murderers and thieves read this and mo*&^@F@#$%^&* FUME!

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

2. So Milbank craps all over Conyers

for trying to get Congress to pay attention to the Downing Street minutes, proving that Bush had planned to invade Iraq all along -- and now he writes to complain that Bush isn't attending the funerals of the soldiers who were killed in that war? DOESN'T HE FREAKING GET IT??

[Media_Lies_Daily]

3. It'll take more than this for that little worm to become a reporter again.

[Daphne08]

12. I'll never respect that jackass again. He has shown his

true colors.

He's a mean and spiteful little man. Period.

[Botany]

4. Milbank is doing a CYA

he could have written this piece anytime ..... this was the e mail I sent him ...

Have you no shame? John Conyers should be sitting on his butt and enjoying his latter years yet he shows up and fights for all of us and
you belittle him. I will cancel my subscription to the Washington Post national weekly as soon as this e mail is sent ..... I have been getting
it for @ least 18 years but as long as you draw a paycheck from the post I want nothing to do with that paper.

Go visit Walter Reed and look @ the amputees; Do they not have the right to know how we got into this bloody mess?

Shame on you.

[MO_Dem]

8. Great wording, Botany!

I hope he reads it! Thanks for posting it.

[Frances]

9. I emailed the Post ombudsman

with a copy saying that I felt as though Milbank had spit on the woman whose son died in Iraq.

[Daphne08]

13. I also emailed the ombudsman as well as Milbank.

I hope they were besieged with letters from angry readers.

There was just NO excuse for such a mean-spirited piece! :grr:

[ovidsen]

5. Everyone should visit Arlington National Cemetery

At least once. I find it's more emotional than any of Washington's war memorials. It cuts to the core of the real cost of war.

For Bush, his gofers, and members of Congress to ignore the final resting places of so many true Americans is unforgivable.

Re: Dana's hatchet job on Rep. Conyers. Maybe he was just having a bad day. He's usually not a snark. This is more like him, IMO.

[demnan]

29. Yes but if you visit

please don't take video of the funerals like a tourist. Someone did that during my father's funeral and I found it very insensitive and in poor taste.

[ckramer]

6. I hope all fallen soldiers' family vote against republican in 2006

It's time to change the congress.

[Rainscents]

7. Washpost shut down the link to Dana Milbank's article this morning

It was refused when I try the link this morning. Dana and his boss, must had gotten thousands of emails yesterday and overnight. Hehehe

[Malikshah]

14. I just found it-- has it been changed-- does anyone have

a link for the one from yesterday? Can anyone do a comparison to see if the egregious lies were addressed?

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/06/16/AR2005061601570.html

[MasonJar]

10. I also gave him hell. This is not enough to make up for the slime

he wrote on the most important hearing in my lifetime. And I am old.

[AuntiBush]

11. Worse President ever!

I remember the Clintons with tears in their eyes attending a fallin hero's funeral... you remember, back when DEMOCRACY was alive and well in the one-time United States of America.

Sad. Really, sad.

[Miss Chybil]

15. This makes me sick. SICK!

:nuke:

[borlis]

16. I have a stupid question....

I was only to Arlington National Cemetery once, when I was 4 or 5. I honestly don't remember much. My question is how much land there is unoccupied? When will it be at capacity? :shrug:

[The_Casual_Observer]

17. It reached capacity long ago. They just keep finding spots here and

there. It's too grim for me.

[borlis]

18. Thanks n/t

[Historic NY]

20. Has been full but they are expanding

to meet demand at least until 2030. They are adding 40 acres and have several other plans.

[LiberalFighter]

19. was shot in the head by a sniper

This suggests that the insurgents are not a rag-tag bunch.

[Mythsaje]

21. They're obviously not...

well-trained, well-equipped, and well-funded.

Bush stuck America's foot in a snake pit.

[EFerrari]

22. Shame, Dana. This fakery means nothing to families

who have lost a son or daughter for a LIE.

[Mountainman]

23. I wonder if Bush sees their ghosts coming for him in the night?

Can't you see the ghosts walking the 2 miles to the White House, on up to the fucker's bedroom and standing there while he hides under the covers?

Bush is a rancid piece of human waste!

[leftchick]

27. no, he said he sleeps good.

sign of a true sociopath.

[malmapus]

24. "Bush has yet to bury a fallen warrior"

EDIT: read it wrong


HAH maybe he doesn't go for security reasons? Can imagine a few fathers / mothers who are burying their children would want a chance to get their hands around his throat.

[Justice]

25. Only 144 of 1700 Service Men and Women Buried At Arlington?

In local stories about funerals of the fallen, I've read that many families want the grave of their loved one close by so they can visit it.

I understand that, but also understood being buried at Arlington was a honor reserved for very few.

I am very surprised that such a tiny number of our service people in this war are buried there, and wonder if it is a reflection on the families' view of the war.

[demnan]

28. Probably not

I think that it is a reflection on the fact that there are many military cemetaries throughout the country. And I also think that people plan burials for where it is convenient to have a funeral. My family is buried there, but we live in the area. We were still against the Vietnam War after my brother served thereand this war, however. I don't think being buried in Arlington signifies how you feel about war really.

[demnan]

26. Yes they are expanding the cemetary

also restrictions are tight now on who gets buried at Arlington. Back in the 1950's my grandfather obtained plots for he and my grandmother, my parents and an additional family member. Both my grandfather and father were Captains in the Army during wars, WWI and WWII, respectively.

The husbands and wives are buried on top of each other to conserve room at Arlington. My father was buried there 10 years ago with full military honors. He and my grandfather both died of illnesses related to old age, they didn't die in battle. My mother will be buried there when she dies.

Not many people any more have family plots at Arlington Cemetary.

I remember on 9/11 I walked down and was taking pictures of the Pentagon which is close to where I lived at the time. I took a picture of Arlington Cemetary as well and noted that a lot more people would be buried there before too long.

[patdem]

30. Is he being a 'journalist' or a 'columnist' with this piece?

I think if he is being a 'journalist' he cannot call people 'wingnuts' but if he is being a 'columnist' he can, or something like that according to the omsbudsman at the post.

[Art_from_Ark]

32. More like "space filler"

[Mortos]

31. Staff writer Lila de Tantillo contributed to this report.

Maybe she is responsible for the tone and criticism of this report. Shame on Bush the coward.

President Clinton (the guy who hated the military) honored the sailors of the USS Cole at a memorial service and soldiers killed in other operations.
http://www.laprensa-sandiego.org/archieve/october20/clinton.htm


The elder President Bush spoke at a memorial for 47 sailors killed in a peacetime explosion aboard the USS Iowa in 1989. "I can only offer you the gratitude of a nation," he said at the ceremony.

President Reagan spoke at a memorial for sailors of the USS Stark killed during a misguided Israeli air attack in 1987, for 241 Marines who died in Beirut and for other casualties in Grenada. "We grieve along with the families," he said at the Beirut-Grenada memorial.

President Clinton went to Dover in 1996 for the return of 33 Americans, including Commerce Secretary Ron Brown, killed in a Croatia air crash. He did the same at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland in 1998 for Americans killed in a Nairobi terrorist bombing.

President Carter attended funerals at Arlington National Cemetery, including a combined service for eight military personnel who died in the failed hostage rescue attempt in Iran in 1980. "It's hard to accept the loss of these brave young men at the peak of their life and career," he said in the eulogy.

No matter what you think of our last 4 Presidents politically, they all had the courage to make public statements of grief and condolence to our soldiers, sailors and airmen who died in service to their country.

Bush is like all the other rah rah conservative war fans; all talk, no sacrifice. A man who only has the courage of his convictions, when other people carry them out.

I have seen war. I have seen war on land and sea. I have seen blood running from the wounded. I have seen men coughing out their gassed lungs. I have seen the dead in the mud. I have seen cities destroyed. I have seen 200 limping, exhausted men come out of line—the survivors of a regiment of 1,000 that went forward 48 hours before. I have seen children starving. I have seen the agony of mothers and wives. I hate war. I have passed unnumbered hours, I shall pass unnumbered hours thinking and planning how war may be kept from this nation. -Franklin D. Roosevelt

Now there was a President.

[ngGale]

33. You are probably right about ...

Tantillo writing this article. BTW - great quote by FDR.