R.I.P Spec Dustin Donica: 3000 Cannot Just Be A Number

[unhappycamper]

R.I.P Spec Dustin Donica: 3000 Cannot Just Be A Number
by Steve Young | Jan 1 2007 - 12:56pm

I've been writing some semblance of this article to commemorate each time we reach another hundreth level of soldiers' lives sacrificed to George Bush's fire sale of sanity in Iraq. My concern has always been that we never forget that behind each number is a real person lost forever. Not a comma in history, but an every second heartbreak to every person that life had touched. Something that I don't believe this president feels, no matter what red, white and blue catchphrase he or his spokespersons use to feint a sense of loss,

This last week of 2006 brought us the loss of number 3000. The number's name is Spec Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas. When asked about the 3000 deaths, deputy White House Press Secretary, Scott Stanzell assured us that the President "will ensure their sacrifice was not made in vain." I'm sure Spec Donica's mother and father are relieved by the President's willingness to sacrifice their son and the others before him.

The only way that this President can truly comprehend what he continues to bring this country is to feel 3,000 times what every single one of those deaths felt like to their family. If he actually feels anyhting, my guess is the the closest he can relate to the parents of Spec Donica would be when his daughters' partying priveleges were lost in South America.

This week we mourn the tragic loss of Spec Donica, the 3000th US soldier to die in the Iraqi war. At the same time we begin the death march to 3100. So many of talk radio's Lords of Loud would choose to rationalize the 3000 killed as nominal when compared to the 55,000 killed in Vietnam. While to most, 3000 deaths are 3000 too many, to those who have not suffered personally, or dodged serving when they had the chance, 3000 deaths are also much too easy to cope with.

The administration continues to work diligently to hide the real cost of war, and not just through its exclusion from the budget. Discussions of death are meant only for very private consumption. But coffins hidden from public view should not keep private a family's heartache. It insulates the public from the truth, much like listening to "We're patriotic, or you're traitorous!" talk radio. The Lords of Loud honor the soldier by wrapping themselves in red, white and blue distortions. President Bush tells you and me that he honors those deaths by "staying the course" or "adapting to win" or "never been stay the course," or whatever the catchphrase of the week is. The President and talk radio's superstars say they pay tribute to those who have fallen. But in reality, their job has been to dismiss these deaths as fodder and justification for an unnecessary war, and for more deaths. That's not tribute. That's mad.

Still, one cannot swathe war into a "right" or "left" issue. It is not a question of whether invading Iraq was right or wrong. It's an issue that goes to the heart of war -- real war, and its real consequences. Within its reality is a means to how we can truly pay tribute to those who have fallen, how we can sincerely identify with those families who have lost -- and it is more than an outreach to the suffering. It's an exploration of one's own humanity.

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[PuraVidaDreamin]

1. And the madness and sadness continue...

Voice for creative non violence action in Feb!

http://www.vcnv.org/project/the-occupation-project

The vote on the $97 Billion Dollar Iraq war supplemental is Feb.7th.
If your congressperson votes to keep up funds for this illegal
and immoral war and occupation- WE WILL OCCUPY THEM!

Endorsed by Veterans For Peace!