OFF TO WAR

[PA Democrat]

This photo plus the headline "OFF TO WAR" took up the entire top half of the front page of today's Pittsburgh Post Gazette. Immediately below this photo was a story about death of 23 Marines from Ohio this week.

People need to see photos and headlines like this every single day. The average American is too insulated from the actual costs of Bush's war.


John Beale, Post-Gazette
MOMMY HAS TO GO
Tech. Sgt. Tracey McArdle, of Edinboro, hugs her son, Tyler, 7, before being deployed with the 911th Military Airlift Wing to offer support for the war in Iraq. This is the third deployment for McArdle.


http://www.post-gazette.com/

[babylonsister]

1. Heartbreaking, and 3rd deployment?

:cry:

[PA Democrat]

3. Yeah, 3rd deployment.

Oh, and that sanctimonious idiot, Rick Santorum was on a local talk radio show today pontificating about the importance of mothers being at home for their kids. Sometimes you just want to scream.

[blondeatlast]

22. What an effing hypocrite.That would make an extraordinary LTTE. nt

[Mizmoon]

58. is that jackass doign anything to faciliate that?

Those fuckers talk out of their hats and then offer no real solutions. As far as I can tell many mothers would love to be home with their kids. There's just this little problem called "paying the rent" ...

[Shredr]

17. My feelings exactly

While Bush remains deployed in Crawford.

[lonestarnot]

20. This shit is driving me bonkers!

[Chicago Democrat]

56. me too

[1monster]

45. A dentist in our town, with two young children and a once thriving, now

dying practice, is right now in Iraq on his third deployment there. He was in the first group to go over BEFORE the official shooting started in 2003.

And he is there not as a dentist, and not as a medic, but as an infantry soldier.

His biggest mistake was in being a member of the reserves when Bush grabbed the presidency.

The Bush administration and their supporters are not just destroying the physical and mental health of these men and their famailies. They are also destroying their livelihoods and their abilities to provide for their families.

[AX10]

2. The average white middle class 'American' male who...

was the most ardent backer of the war and will never see a war are the worse. This is a sad picture. I know too many of these types who were all gung ho for the war but did not want to fight it(the oil war). :argh:

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. Another happy foot solder in bush's oil war.

er, I mean freedom fight, ...I mean fighting them there so we don't have to fight them here, I mean..

[Chicago Democrat]

59. er I mean

hehee

[SmokingJacket]

5. Oh, I wish she weren't doing that.

That little guy needs her so much more than Bushco does. She must not have any alternative -- western PA is hardly a hotbed of economic opportunity.

God, what a tragedy.

[BillZBubb]

6. It wouldn't make any difference if people saw it everyday.

The Chimperor is going to do what he wants. Most people might not like the war, but that won't stop them from voting for Repugs.

I think the latest election in Ohio showed just how screwed up the people of this country are. Dem war veteran versus corrupt Repug crone. Easy choice right? You would think so.

People won't turn on the Repugs until they feel real pain in their pocketbooks. Short of that, the Repugs can commit whatever outrage they want.

[PA Democrat]

8. It's a very slow process, but I think it can make a difference

It was the constant visual reminders of the costs of the Vietnam war that turned the American public against the war. Also, I look at Ohio as a positive. Hackett did incredibly well in a congressional district that is one of the strongest Republican strongholds in the country.

[nadinbrzezinski]

9. And I do not pass any hankey pankey either

we are getting to the pont that stealing will be far harder

[blondeatlast]

23. There is a tremendous cost to the children of the soldiers in Iraq

and Afghanistan. This is a relatively new situation with these conflicts.

There is going to be hell to pay in a few years.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Ah yes, working class fighting the wars

that the rich want...

yesterday I told a yuong Pug to put up or shut up!

Damn yellow bellied chicken hawk

[Imagevision]

10. This photo should run next to headlines of Bush going on vacation.

[PA Democrat]

11. Yes run that mother's photo next to this one of the Vacation President

[radar]

13. Or maybe a pic of Jenna enjoying the nightlife in DC?

"First daughter party girl Jenna Bush was spotted last Saturday night at Zucchabar in DC..."
There's something about Jenna
by John in Paris - 8/01/2005 03:43:00 PM
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/08/theres-something-about-jenna.html

For what it's worth, it's confirmed - that was Jenna dry-humping the bf in Adams Morgan
by John (temporarily) in Paris - 8/04/2005 07:09:00 PM
http://americablog.blogspot.com/2005/08/for-what-its-worth-its-confirmed-that.html

[dcfirefighter]

15. Can't believe Jenna was in Adams-Morgan

Not a very republican area, lots of crowded, smoky, multicultural bars & clubs. Nice place to get your drink on.

I figured that even Georgetown was beneath her.

[Talismom]

12. I just showed this photo. to one of my twin 7 yr olds and hugged him

a little longer than usually. They're starting to ask about the war and the whys and the whos and whether they'll have to go too. Someday,I want them to be the most aware, questioning, recruiter-proof teens that ever walked the face of this earth!F--k these greedy neocons; they can't have these kids!

[SeattleGirl]

14. THIRD DEPLOYMENT?

Unbelievable. And unbelievably sad.

[PA Democrat]

16. Yes, the print edition of the paper noted that she also has a 4 year-old

daughter.

[SeattleGirl]

21. I don't know whether to scream or cry

or maybe both. I understand that nobody made any of the soldiers join up, but just because they did, and just because they are following their orders doesn't give this administration the right to abuse them like this -- and sending them back again and again and again is abusive, IMHO.

:mad: :cry:

[blondeatlast]

24. That child is saying goodbye to mommy for the third time.

I just pray it's not the LAST time.

That is trauma we're witnessing, and it will soon be on a grand scale; multiplied by tens of thousands.

Sleep well in Crawford, George Bush.

[PA Democrat]

28. Yeah, those are some "family values" Republican style.

Bush will be playing cowboy on his fake ranch while this child goes to bed without his mother's kiss every night and has to worry about death and war at an age that he should have no greater worry than what to do with the remaining days of his summer vacation.

I can't imagine this mother's pain. It would have killed me to have to leave my kids at such a young age.

[blondeatlast]

18. Will it take the trauma of the children to stop it?

It's beginning to look that way.

In Vietnam, few soldiers had children; contrast that with this occupation.

I'm crying; I can't imagine having to say goodbye to my son--especially not for the THIRD TIME.

[Chicago Democrat]

55. Monk burned themselves alive in the Viet Nam era.

and now children send their mothers into battle. What will it take this time to stop this madness?


?

[blue neen]

19. It seems like the Post-Gazette is getting a little bolder

with their war coverage. Yesterday their main headline (and it was very large) was about the 14 Marines killed.

This picture is heartbreaking.

[PA Democrat]

27. And you can bet that Scaife's Tribune Review would NEVER run a photo

like this one.

The Tribune Review is the local competing newspaper owned by by RW billionaire Richard Mellon Scaife.

[Chicago Democrat]

57. We need to get this photo out there!

kik

[blondeatlast]

25. Photographs like these will wake the people up.

There are few of us who cannot imagine what it would be like to have your child in a situation like this.

Here is another compelling, heartbreaking photo from a thread two days ago:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x4250790

[BigBearJohn]

26. This picture has to be blasted EVERYWHERE - Wide distribution

Made me cry... just thinking of the tears
that kid is gonna suffer if Momma doesn't
come back.

This world is too fucking cold.

[w8liftinglady]

40. I sent a letter to the editor

..thanking them for their bravery and kindness in showing the true cost of this war.

[PA Democrat]

43. The Post Gazette has been doing a better job than most reporting on Iraq

Today they ran the photo below on the top half of the front page.


U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Jeremiah Crosby, 20, of Alamogordo, New Mexico, from Lima Company of the 3rd Battalion, 25th Regiment from Ohio, sleeps with his hand on a picture of his wife, Kandice Crosby, during a lull in the fighting in Parwana, near Haditha, Iraq, Friday, Aug. 5, 2005. A roadside bomb nearby killed 14 Marines, many from this platoon, and a civilian interpreter, in the deadliest roadside bombing suffered by American forces in the Iraq war. (AP Photo/Jacob Silberberg)
http://www.post-gazette.com/images3/saturday.pdf

[MrMickeysMom]

51. Godspeed your baby's return, too

And thanks for writing the PG. We say every day... "Send em all home"
:thumbsup:

[WHAT]

29. stay. safe.

This is a heart-wrenching picture.

[Coexist]

30. oh my gosh, I got chills

how heartbreaking.

[seabeyond]

31. my god what are we doing. look at that baby in her arms

those closed eyes, the wrapping and folding into one.

heartbreaking. heartbreaking

[PassingFair]

32. This photo actually made me cry!

3rd Deployment!
She and her family suffer for *'s war chest.

[driver8]

33. I am choked up. That picture is so powerful...

I have two little ones at home. It would tear me to shreds to have to leave them to fight this filthy, corrupt war. To hug them that last time and not know if I would ever get to hug them again would drive me absolutely insane. I don't know if I could handle it.

[Kurovski]

34. Beautiful photograph.

Tender and profound.

[ngGale]

35. My heart is breaking ....

3rd time, FGS somebody make it stop. :cry:

[JNelson6563]

36. Oh that is horrible

Look at that. If that doesn't make ya sick.....

I hope with all my heart that child will once again be able to put his arms around his mother's neck like that.

As a mom the thought of leaving my babies like that is unbearable.

Ugh.

[leftchick]

37. and the moran in chief** is clearing brush at the pig ranch

this is unbearable. :(

[democrank]

38. I`m going to scream!

That AWOL, POS Bush and his maniacal sidekick Cheney are war criminals enjoying a lengthy vacation. Ms. McArdle is about to begin her third tour. THIRD!!!! It`s so twisted.

[w8liftinglady]

39. We need to unify on this

We are against the war largely because we DO support our troops.My son has done 2 tours in Baghdad so far.

[PA Democrat]

41. I agree

We can support the troops by insisting that they be used only in true matters of national defense. I think that so many people have been silent about Iraq because they have not had to pay any personal price for the war. Only the few who have loved ones who volunteered to serve our country have been called upon to make a sacrifice. Bush handed out tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans whose children rarely go off to war and told everyone to go shopping.

I hope your son is soon home safely with you.
:hug:

[w8liftinglady]

42. Thanks...

Me,too-I have dedicated all my energy into ending this bogus war.

[phusion]

44. FUCK!

I hate these bastards in Washington so much.

What happens when our Sept. 24th protest is ignored? Are we taking to the streets to stop these murderers?

:mad: :mad:

[BigBearJohn]

46. This lady NEEDS to be the new WORLD WIDE poster for stopping the war!

Remember this one?



Tech. Sgt. Tracey McArdle's picture should be the NEW poster.

STOP THE MASTER OF DISASTER -- NOW!!!

[Chicago Democrat]

60. Bingo!

Im sending copies

[kenny blankenship]

47. Ain't it great? L'il Dude is wearing his camos too!

And when it's his turn, off he'll march.

[BigBearJohn]

48. That poor mother deserves to be with her son loving him every day

instead of scum-infested Iraq.

[BigBearJohn]

49. I AM VERY PISSED! What kind of a country sends its mothers to war???

Answer: ONLY MOTHER-FUCKERS

GRRR

:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:
:mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad: :mad:

[BigBearJohn]

61. KICK

[tabasco]

50. 3rd deployment? That's uniquely American ...

Bush is a war criminal. We must regain control of our Nation and punish the neocons with HARD TIME.

Justice will not be done until Bush and Cheney are serving life sentences in federal prison for their crimes against the American people, the Iraqi people, and all humanity.

[Chicago Democrat]

54. kiik

[Chicago Democrat]

52. Photo of the Decade!

Must be seen coast to coast!


THE PHOTO OF THE ANTI WAR MOVEMENT!

[Chicago Democrat]

53. A Modern Madonna and Child! Incredible!

THe best photo ever taken

[w8liftinglady]

62. Great analogy..