It's official: My Brother died in vain and a nation barely blinked

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

Excerpt from: http://www.pej.org/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1516&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Peace Earth And Justice News

This didn't qite fit LBN, but I felt many of us here would benefit from this piece. TYJ

By Dante Zappala
Dante Zappala is a part-time teacher in Los Angeles.
January 14, 2005

This week, the White House announced, with little fanfare, that the two-year search for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq had finally ended, and it acknowledged that no such weapons existed there at the time of the U.S. invasion in 2003.

For many, this may be a story of only passing interest. But for me and my family, it resonates with profound depth.

My brother was Sgt. Sherwood Baker. He was a member of the Pennsylvania National Guard deployed a year ago with his unit out of Wilkes-Barre. He said goodbye to his wife and his 9-year-old son, boarded a bus and went to Ft. Dix, N.J., to be hastily retrained. His seven years of Guard training as a forward observer was practically worthless because he would not face combat. All he needed to do was learn how to not die.

He received a crash course in convoy security, including practice in running over cardboard cutouts of children. We bought him a GPS unit and walkie-talkies because he wasn't supplied with them. In Iraq, Sherwood was assigned to the Iraq Survey Group and joined the search for weapons of mass destruction.

David Kay, who led the group until January 2004, had already stated that they did not exist. Former United Nations weapons inspector Hans Blix had expressed serious doubts about their presence during prewar inspections. In fact, a cadre of former U.N. inspectors and U.S. generals had been saying for years that Iraq posed no threat to our country. On April 26, 2004, the Iraq Survey Group, at the behest of the stubborn administration sitting safely in office buildings in Washington, was still on its fruitless but dangerous search. My brother stood atop his Humvee, securing the perimeter in front of a suspect building in Baghdad. But as soldiers entered the building, it exploded; the official cause is still not known. Sherwood was struck by debris in the back of his head and neck, and he was killed.
<SNIP>

More here:

[Nikepallas]

1. I'm sorry your brother passed away And I hope BUSHCO gets

What they deserve for the bullshit and pain they have caused this country and it's soldiers.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

2. That was the title of the piece, not what happened to me....

(Thank God).

[Nikepallas]

4. Sorry for the misunderstanding: Glad your family is safe and well

but the second part of the message holds.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

5. No problem and I agree completely. (nt)

[Tinoire]

3. All those young kids... Dead.. For NOTHING!

I pray to see Bush and all the Nazis supporting him sentenced at the Hague before I die.

Thanks for the Memories George.

[Karenina]

6. ACCOUNTABILITY.

I dream of PNAC and their idiot bastard *son "front man" being frog marched OUT of the WH, their domiciles and bunkers, tried at the Hague, CONVICTED, then locked in Spartan cells FÜR IMMER UND EWIG.

My fantasy is to drop them all into an active volcano. :evilgrin:

[yinkaafrica]

7. I fear that will never happen

I suspect quite the opposite: his pogrom against free
people will continue unopposed.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

8. That's a worthwhiile dream, but you know damn well he'll

never travel abroad after this term.

[Cuban_Liberal]

9. So did my nephew.

:grr::cry:

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

11. I remember the day you first posted the news...

I just wish there was more we could do to stop this madness.

It just seems to get worse.

[cry baby]

10. So sad - condolences to you and your family.

Edited: I see that it wasn't your family - it still makes me sad and mad at the same time that anyone has to go thru this.

[Hissyspit]

12. Email This Commentary

When I emailed the commentary from the LA Times, I changed the head to "His Brother Died In Vain" to avoid confusion, not offering it as the headline, but as subject head.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

14. In hindsight, I should have done the same.

[theresistance]

13. The real tragedy of all this

Is that they didn't die in vain as far as the neo-crazies are concerned - they achieved their goals (using lies etc)!