Troops' Gravestones Have Pentagon Slogans

[wakeme2008]

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-War-Gravestones.html

August 23, 2005
Troops' Gravestones Have Pentagon Slogans
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 2:25 p.m. ET

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) -- Unlike earlier wars, nearly all Arlington National Cemetery gravestones for troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan are inscribed with the slogan-like operation names the Pentagon selected to promote public support for the conflicts.

Families of fallen soldiers and Marines are being told they have the option to have the government-furnished headstones engraved with ''Operation Enduring Freedom'' or ''Operation Iraqi Freedom'' at no extra charge, whether they are buried in Arlington or elsewhere. A mock-up shown to many families includes the operation names.

..cut.

Families are supposed to have final approval over what goes on the tombstones. That hasn't always happened.

Nadia and Robert McCaffrey, whose son Patrick was killed in Iraq in June 2004, said ''Operation Iraqi Freedom'' ended up on his government-supplied headstone in Oceanside, Calif., without family approval.

''I was a little taken aback,'' Robert McCaffrey said, describing his reaction when he first saw the operation name on Patrick's tombstone. ''They certainly didn't ask my wife; they didn't ask me.'' He said Patrick's widow told him she had not been asked either.

..more at link


THIS IS BUSH PR AT IT's WORST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dickie Flatt]

1. No it's not.

[wakeme2008]

2. It is not what nt

[bahrbearian]

8. Its not Chimpys worst PR stunt.

The war was the worst.

[danalytical]

3. please explain why its not propaganda?

Seems pretty low to me.

[sakabatou]

11. It's low, but not his lowest point.

[susanna]

31. You know something, sakabatou...

that's sad. That there are SO many low points to this administration that I can't even pick the winner.

[walkon]

4. Well, they oughta put

"Bring 'em on!" on there. That's the Bush slogan for this war crime.

[Bob3]

5. Jesus just let the dead be...

haven't they done enough for you? You have to use their gravestones as fucking billboards - christ on a crutch why don't you use the back of the headstones as advertising space - recruiting ads, NASCAR Budweiser Beer maybe take something off the cost of burying them.

A disgrace. At Gettysburg (which I go to from time to time) they didn't stoop to shit like that. Some respect for the dead you pigs.

:mad:

edited I can't spell.

[Scurrilous]

6. I wonder why...

...Operation Iraqi Liberation wasn't an option?

[daleo]

17. Written like this:

O.peration
I.raqi
L.iberation

[alfredo]

18. Died in service of Empire

[edbermac]

7. "My blood for Bush's oil" seems apropos...

:grr:

[genieroze]

9. How about the truth. "You Died For Oil, Halliburton And The Rest

Of The Whores"

[OldLeftieLawyer]

10. What ever happened to the good old

"Mission Accomplished"?

[no_to_war_economy]

12. bush's favorite gravestone slogan

" Where are those Weapons of Mass Destruction, No Not Here ! "

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000964303

[Ganja Ninja]

13. Should have said this:

"Greater love hath no man than that he would lay down his life for the enrichment of Halliburton."

[catzies]

14. "Dulce et decorum est pro Halliburton mori." Has a certain ring to it.

A ring of tragedy and death for profits. :puke:

[Davis_X_Machina]

15. Product placement. n/t

[northzax]

16. well see, there's no war

so we can't use the name of the war...see?

[damntexdem]

19. Oh, the Pentagon hasn't really caught on yet:

we'll know they have when they start selling space on the tombstones for corporate messages. I wonder what Halliburton's will say.

[Greylyn58]

20. Can you imagine having your loved one--

who was killed in a war based on a pack of lies, going through eternity with a Propaganda slogan chiseled on their tombstone???

I would be go ballistic and they would have to remove it.

Disgusting!!

[TankLV]

22. If that was the case, I would be out there with my own hammer & chizel.

[Ilsa]

21. Oh, I'd prefer something really simple, like:

Operation Enduring Fuck-Up: The War That Shall End When the Oil Runs Dry.

But I suppose people visiting the cemetery wouldn't care for that one.

[davidinalameda]

23. Slogans appear on gravestones

http://www.wvgazette.com/section/News/2005082324

Unlike earlier wars, nearly all Arlington National Cemetery gravestones for troops killed in Iraq or Afghanistan are inscribed with the sloganlike operation names the Pentagon selected to promote public support for the conflicts.

Families of fallen soldiers and Marines are being told they have the option to have the government-furnished headstones engraved with “Operation Enduring Freedom’’ or “Operation Iraqi Freedom’’ at no extra charge, whether they are buried in Arlington or elsewhere. A mock-up shown to many families includes the operation names.

The vast majority of military gravestones from other eras are inscribed with just the basic, required information: name, rank, military branch, date of death and, if applicable, the war and foreign country in which the person served.

[BiggJawn]

24. The RW is going to eat our lunch over this.

I have been to cemeteries (not Arlington) and have seen the bronze plaques on veteran's graves.
they almost ALWAYS list what unit he was with, and more than a FEW of them have words on them like "Anzio" "Iwo Jima", etc.

"...and, if applicable, the war and foreign country in which the person served."

Just because "Operation Iraqi Oil-Grab" is a big, fat lie doesn't mean that a soldier shouldn't have it on his headstone.

What if we were to think that that calling the 1939-1945 war "World War 2" was a "slogan", would we raise a stink over stones with THAT name engraved on them?

This is a non-issue, IMO, and will BITE us if we pursue it.

Let the families grieve.

[rodeodance]

25. guess my question is:--Had the US military pursued this now--or has

it been done in the past by them? (paying for it)--Or has the family done it on their own (in the past)--if, so, did they pay for it?

I want to know if this is something new with this war (Irag).

And are there slogans for the troops who died in Afgan?

[RandomKoolzip]

26. With ya on this.

The families of the dead soldiers should be able to put anything they want on their gravestones. There's no reason to raise a stink.

[rodeodance]

27. and on second thought--this really is the issue--the families wishes.

I missed this important point on my first fast read.


Families are supposed to have final approval over what goes on the tombstones. That hasn’...t always happened.

[Inland]

28. Great. "Operation Freedom" slogan will mock their deaths for eternity.

In five years, when Iraq is a islamist theocracy wracked by civil war, the operation name will mock them and their sacrifice.

[Judi Lynn]

29. The article indicates some of the families don't like it

and had no say in the matter. From the N. Y. Times article:

''In one way, I feel it's taking advantage to a small degree,'' McCaffrey said. ''Patrick did not want to be there, that is a definite fact.''

The owner of the company that has been making gravestones for Arlington and other national cemeteries for nearly two decades is uncomfortable, too.

''It just seems a little brazen that that's put on stones,'' said Jeff Martell, owner of Granite Industries of Vermont. ''It seems like it might be connected to politics.''
(snip)

[Cha]

30. AMEN!

"It just seems a little brazen that that's put on stones,'' said Jeff Martell, owner of Granite Industries of Vermont. ''It seems like it might be connected to politics."

THis is WRONG!