Peralta to be given Navy Cross posthumously

I think you deserved the Medal of Honor, Sergeant. Semper Fi. Rest in Peace.

Peralta to be given Navy Cross posthumously - Marine Corps News, news from Iraq - Marine Corps Times: "Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter will award the Navy Cross medal — the nation’s second-highest combat award for valor in combat — to Sgt. Rafael Peralta, who pulled an enemy grenade to his body before it exploded, the Marine Corps announced Wednesday.
Discussion: If Peralta's actions don't rate a Medal of Honor, what does?

Peralta, 25, died Nov. 15, 2004, while he and members of Alpha Company of 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, were in the second week of fighting in the Battle of Fallujah when he barged into a house with a rifle squad. They immediately came under fire from insurgents inside the house.

“Peralta was caught in a deadly crossfire between insurgents and his Marines, leaving him mortally wounded,” officials said in an announcement released by I Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton. “After the initial exchange of gunfire, the insurgents broke contact, throwing a fragmentation grenade as they fled the building.” The grenade stopped near Peralta’s head, they said, and “without hesitation and with complete disregard for his own safety, Peralta reached out and pulled the grenade to his body, absorbing the brunt of the blast and shielding fellow Marines only feet away. Peralta succumbed to his wounds.”

Officials did not say when the Navy Cross would be presented to Peralta’s family. In making the announcement, they acknowledged that the fatal blow may have come from another Marine’s weapon.

“Following multiple and exhaustive reviews, the evidence supports the finding that Peralta was likely hit by ‘friendly fire,’” officials said in the statement. “This finding has no bearing on the decision to award the Navy Cross medal.”"

Two More Counterterror SEALs Die in Afghanistan

Rest in Peace. You are True Heroes. Semper Fi.

I'll see you soon and buy you a beer.

Counterterrorism Blog: Two More Counterterror SEALs Die in Afghanistan: "Two more Navy SEALs from an extraordinarily elite and supersecret counterterrorism unit have been killed in Afghanistan, following the death two weeks ago of a SEAL from the same clandestine unit.

Details were - not surprisingly - vague. There is no direct evidence they died fighting in the new CIA-led offensive against Al Qaeda and the Taliban along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border. But their loss in Afghanistan is certainly significant and a real blow to their fellow operators in the Joint Special Operations Command, which includes the Army’s Delta Force.

The two SEALs were killed September 11 somewhere “in Afghanistan,” according to military press releases, and were part of the shadowy Naval Special Warfare Development Group, the elite counterterrorism force once known as SEAL Team 6. Typically, the military identifies which Afghan town, district, city or province where American troops perish. But for the third time since August 30, when Petty Officer 1st Class Joshua Thomas Harris, a Bronze Star recipient, was reported killed after being swept away during a combat river crossing, the precise location of the latest “DEVGRU” combat casualties is unknown.

Killed last week were Senior Chief Special Warfare Operator John Wayne Marcum, 34, and Chief (select) Special Warfare Operator Jason Richard Freiwald, 30, the Navy said. Each man had served in Iraq and Afghanistan and was a highly decorated SEAL. Before Harris, no DEVGRU SEAL had fallen in Afghanistan since March 2002, according to a review of Operation Enduring Freedom deaths at iCasualties.org.

Marcum earned four Bronze Star medals with the combat “V” distinguishing device, as well as the Joint Service Commendation medal, four Combat Action ribbons and a chestful of other decorations in his career. The younger Freiwald had also earned a Bronze Star and Combat Action ribbon, the Navy said.

Sadly, both SEALs leave behind a wife and daughter. The Naval Special Warfare Foundation, which accepts donations, will likely provide support for each family."

Secret work of SAS in Iraq exposed

I am glad that these guys are getting some recognition. They are in a field that is rarely acknowledged for its hard work keeping us safe. Thanks for the protection, lads!

Secret work of SAS in Iraq exposed - Telegraph: "Quoting the Special Air Service motto 'Who Dares Wins' the general said there had been numerous successes on many 'very important operations'.

'They have exceptional initiative, exceptional skill, exceptional courage and, I think, exceptional savvy. I can't say enough about how impressive they are in thinking on their feet,' said Gen Petraeus, the main architect of 'surge' strategy that has seen a substantial decrease in violence with the influx of extra American troops.

The SAS, working alongside MI6, the Special Reconnaissance Regiment and the Special Forces Support Group, are based in The Station, a high security area in Baghdad's Green Zone.

SAS snipers have been extremely successful shooting dead suicide bombers about to detonate their devices and troopers have called in clinical air strikes to kill terror chiefs known as 'high value targets'.

Officers have said Baghdad is one of the 'most challenging' environments the unit has ever faced in the world.

It is thought the troops have killed hundreds of insurgents both in Baghdad and when they have been called down to Basra to assist regular British troops.

But British special forces have paid a high price for their success in Iraq with 10 killed and scores seriously wounded, with some losing limbs."

'Great Escape' veteran Eric Dowling dies at 92

I never guessed that any of these men were still alive. It is sad that they are gone. I wish I could have met him and heard his real story about the war and the Great Escape.

May the Lord accept him for an eternity of rest, because if he went to the other place he would probably escape anyway.

'Great Escape' veteran Eric Dowling dies at 92 - Yahoo! News: "Eric Dowling, who helped plan the mass wartime breakout from a German prison camp that inspired the movie 'The Great Escape,' has died at 92.

Peter Dowling said his father died at a nursing home near Bristol in southwest England on July 21, a day before his 93rd birthday. The Aabletone Nursing Home on Thursday confirmed the death.

Seventy-six Allied prisoners escaped from the Stalag Luft III prison camp on March 24, 1944, in a daring breakout. All but three were recaptured, and 50 were shot on the orders of Adolf Hitler to deter future attempts.

The escape attempt was one of the most celebrated incidents of the war, recounted in a 1963 film starring Steve McQueen and Richard Attenborough."

Soldiers recount deadly attack on Afghanistan outpost

Very cool report of the Taliban attack on the US/Afghani outpost on July 13th. Reading the stories of the survivors and heroes is inspiring! Can we make this into a movie?

Soldiers recount deadly attack on Afghanistan outpost | Stars and Stripes: "Everything was on fire. The trucks. The bazaar. The grass.

It looked surreal. It looked like a movie.

That was what Spc. Tyler Stafford remembered thinking as he stepped onto the medical evacuation helicopter. The 23-year-old soldier would have been loaded onto the bird, but the poncho that was hastily employed as his stretcher broke. His body speckled with grenade and RPG shrapnel, the Vicenza, Italy, infantryman walked the last few feet to the waiting Black Hawk.

That was Sunday morning in eastern Afghanistan’s Kunar province. At a forward operating base — maybe as big as a football field — established just a few days prior.

Outnumbered but not outgunned, a platoon-plus element of soldiers with 2nd Platoon, Company C, 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne), 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team accompanied by Afghan soldiers engaged in a fistfight of a firefight.

After maybe two hours of intense combat, some of the soldiers’ guns seized up because they expelled so many rounds so quickly. Insurgent bullets and dozens of rocket-propelled grenades filled the air. So many RPGs were fired at the soldiers that they wondered how the insurgents had so many.

That was July 13. That was when Stafford was blown out of a fighting position by an RPG, survived a grenade blast and had the tail of an RPG strike his helmet.

That was the day nine Chosen Company soldiers died."

Sunday Ship History: Coast Watchers in the South Pacific

I always was interested in these brave souls who risked it all. Eagle has what might be the definitive story that is too short for a book. Go read it and enjoy!

EagleSpeak: Sunday Ship History: Coast Watchers in the South Pacific: "It seems that every good movie about the naval war in the Pacific mentions the 'Coast Watchers.' In Harm's Way, Father Goose and even the The Wackiest Ship in the Army all feature coast watchers in setting out the path to Allied victory.

So, who were the Coast Watchers?

The Coast Watchers, also known as the Coast Watch Organisation, Combined Field Intelligence Service or Section 'C' Allied Intelligence Bureau, were Allied military intelligence operatives stationed on remote Pacific islands during World War II to observe enemy movements and rescue stranded Allied personnel. They played a significant role in the Pacific Ocean theatre and South West Pacific theatre, particularly as an early warning network during the Guadalcanal campaign.

Perhaps surprisingly, the Coast Watchers were not a spur of the moment creation of World War II. Instead as is found here:

Shortly after World War 1, the [Australian] Naval Staff instituted a system of civilian coast watchers, whose duty it was to report any matters of naval intelligence coming to their notice. Slowly the scheme was developed until the settled part of the Australian coast was under observation. In the late twenties the organization was extended to Papua, New Guinea and the Solomon Islands."

Para Hero Slams Treatment Of Frontline Troops

The military knows that they have a job to do, and they are more than willing to do it and make the world a better place.

Colonel Tootal, take the Liberal jerks on and I pray that you can win. They control the government and will try to paint you as a bloodthirsty maniac who loves to slaughter little kids for fun. They will try to make you look like the Taliban and the Taliban look like you and your troops.

You beat the terrorists and thugs who wanted to kill you and your men. Now you have a worse and more insidious enemy - the Liberals. I will pray for you, sir.

MoD News - Para Hero Slams Treatment Of Frontline Troops: "A highly decorated commander who led British troops in Afghanistan has strongly criticised defence officials and the government for poor treatment of frontline soldiers and for being 'stuck in a Cold War mentality' that has denied troops in the field key equipment.

In his first public statement since leaving the army last week, Lt Colonel Stuart Tootal, who led 3rd battalion of the Parachute regiment in Afghanistan in 2006, said he had been deeply shocked by how 'our wounded soldiers were not being looked after'.

'All the guys I fought with were really motivated and really professional and the least a grateful nation owes them is the right gear and the right support,' he told The Observer

Tootal, who received the Distinguished Service Order for his role in Afghanistan, agreed that conditions for injured soldiers were much improved but said that wounded servicemen being on mixed NHS wards with civilians remained 'unacceptable' and that, though changes proposed by the government's Command Paper on service personnel welfare announced last week were a 'welcome positive step', they were 'late in the day'.

The senior officer's resignation after 20 years in the army caused consternation among defence chiefs when news leaked last year. Last month another senior soldier who served in Afghanistan, Brigadier Ed Butler, a former SAS commander, left the army amid reports of frustration with equipment shortages and budget cuts. "

The Story Is About Honor & Valor, Not Victims

This is the true story about what happened at the Combat Outpost in Afghanistan where the US slaughtered the hundreds of attacking Jihadis. It sounds like a great movie to me!

Now that I know the full story, this turned from a horrible incident into a heroic incident. Too bad the MSM could not report it that way.

Wolf Howling: The Story Is About Honor & Valor, Not Victims: " The story the MSM should be reporting has nothing in common with the NYT article. The story is how a reinforced platoon size element of soldiers, vastly outnumbered, defeated a joint Taliban and al Qaeda attack on their position. The nine men who died at that Combat Outpost were not nine victims. They were nine soldiers who paid the ultimate price for their bravery. Their bravery and valor and that of every man on that mountain is the story.

This from Jeff Emanuel provides the entire story:

. . . Three days before the attack, 45 U.S. paratroopers from the 173d Airborne, accompanied by 25 Afghan soldiers, made their way to Kunar province, a remote area in the northeastern Afghanistan-Pakistan border area, and established the beginnings of a small Combat Outpost (COP). Their movement into the area was noticed, and their tiny numbers and incomplete fortifications were quickly taken advantage of.

A combined force of up to 500 Taliban and al Qaeda fighters quickly moved into the nearby village of Wanat and prepared for their assault by evicting unallied residents and according to an anonymous senior Afghan defense ministry official, "us[ing] their houses to attack us."

Tribesmen in the town stayed behind "and helped the insurgents during the fight," General Mohammad Qasim Jangalbagh, the provincial police chief, told The Associated Press. Dug-in mortar firing positions were created, and with that indirect fire, as well as heavy machine gun and RPG fire from fixed positions, Taliban and al Qaeda fighters rushed the COP from three sides.

The attackers quickly breached the outer perimeter, and, under a withering barrage of supporting fire, a contingent of a mere 70 U.S. and Afghan soldiers combined were forced to fight for survival on their own outpost against the all-out assault from nearly 100 assailants.

The overwhelmingly outnumbered U.S. troops called in artillery, as well as fixed and rotary-wing air support, to help the repulse the attacking forces.
As recounted by the AP and other media outlets, nine U.S. paratroopers lost their lives -- a full fifth of the American contingent.

Further, fifteen U.S. and four Afghan soldiers were also wounded in the attack, meaning that, against an assault and support force of nearly 500 militant fighters, only 21 U.S. and 21 Afghan soldiers were able to fight at full strength -- and they succeeded not only in killing dozens of attackers, but in repelling the onslaught completely.

. . . Perhaps the most important takeaway from that encounter, though, is the one that the mainstream media couldn't be bothered to pay attention long enough to learn: that, not for the first time, a contingent of American soldiers that was outnumbered by up to a twenty-to-one ratio soundly and completely repulsed a complex, pre-planned assault by those dedicated enough to their cause to kill themselves in its pursuit.

That kind of heroism and against-all-odds success is and has been a hallmark of America's fighting men and women, and it is one that is worthy of all attention we can possibly give it."

FSM Joins In An Historic Effort to Help U.S. Troops!

Go and help out! I know that anyone who would read my blog will want to help.

Family Security Matters » Publications » FSM Joins In An Historic Effort to Help U.S. Troops!: "Move America Forward has launched an effort to ship the largest number of care packages to U.S. troops - in history. Between now and June 26th we're asking Americans to sponsor personalized care packages that we will then ship over as part of a mass shipment to our troops - just in time for the 4th of July holiday!"

John Roy Carlson: Under Cover

An American Hero that I have never heard of? I am amazed that I have missed this guy in my readings. I am ordering this book and going to learn more. Thanks for this Solomon!

Solomonia: John Roy Carlson: Under Cover: "John Roy Carlson is a name mostly forgotten, though it deserves to be remembered. In brief, Carlson was the pen name for a guy named Arthur Derounian, an Armenian from Alexandria, Greece who moved to the US as a young man with his family in 1921. Having experienced life in a region of war-torn ethnic strife, Carlson (for simplicity, I will refer to him by the name he wrote under) fell in love with America, with democracy, with all the nation stood for (and, as his later career would show, a philosemite). He made good, worked hard, and attended the Columbia J-school (in the days before it turned you into the enemy, haha).

An incident in 1933 was formative. He witnessed the assassination of a beloved Armenian priest right there in the aisle of a New York church perpetrated by members of an Armenian political party. The incident hammered home to Carlson that two oceans were not enough to keep the political violence of the Old World away from his beloved new home. That home needed active protection on the part of those, like himself, who knew the dangers that were out there.

So Carlson was well prepared as the 1930's wound on, and Fascism arose, casting its choking vines westward. Under the assumed identity of "Italian-American" George Pagnanelli, Carlson spent the late 1930's and early '40s infiltrating American fascist organizations, culminating in his most well-known book, written in 1943, Under Cover; My Four Years in the Nazi Underworld of America -- The Amazing Revelation of How Axis Agents and Our Enemies Within Are Now Plotting to Destroy the United States. It reads like a mystery novel, and contains a history with so many rhymes with the present that the public square deserves a recitation."

First Soldier to Hit Beach Remembers D-Day

A nice remembrance.

FOXNews.com - First Soldier to Hit Beach Remembers D-Day - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News: "Leonard Schroeder remembers the day he led the charge that drove the Nazis out of France like it was yesterday.

'Well about 80 percent of the guys on the boat were sick, upchucking,' he told MyFOXTampaBay.com on the anniversary of D-Day. 'They were dropping all those bombs on the place where we were going in.'

He recalled he first had to figure out where to ground the boat, 'without getting bombed by our own guys,' Schroeder told the station, adding then they had to dodge Nazi missiles, and then machine guns as they charged the Nazi fort.

Schroeder keeps the boots he wore that day in his garage."

Marine Who Got Medal of Honor at 17 for WWII Service Dies at 80

Another Hero from the Greatest Generation has passed. Are there any left?

Thank you, sir. Semper Fi!

FOXNews.com - Marine Who Got Medal of Honor at 17 for WWII Service Dies at 80 - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News: "Jack Lucas, who at 14 lied his way into military service during World War II and became the youngest Marine to receive the Medal of Honor, died Thursday in a Hattiesburg, Miss., hospital. He was 80.

Ponda Lee at Moore Funeral Service said the funeral home was notified that Lucas had died during the pre-dawn hours at Forrest General Hospital. He had been battling cancer. Lee said funeral arrangements were incomplete.

Lucas was just six days past his 17th birthday in February 1945 when his heroism at Iwo Jima earned him the nation's highest military honor."

Soldier receives Medal of Honor

Congratulations!

That makes Two soldiers, Two sailors, one Marine, and zero airmen.... Interesting mix!

I hope this inspires more of our brave heroes to extra brave acts that save lives and, hopefully, get the war over sooner.

Soldier receives Medal of Honor - Marine Corps News, news from Iraq - Marine Corps Times: "A 19-year-old soldier with an infectious grin and a deep love for his fellow soldiers was honored Monday with the nation’s highest award for valor.

Spc. Ross McGinnis’ parents, Tom and Romayne, were presented with the Medal of Honor by President George W. Bush during an emotional ceremony at the White House.

“Ross did what he did for his buddies,” Romayne said. “He did that all his life.”

Tom McGinnis said he “was trying to make it through the ceremony. We’ve been through this a lot.”"

Pennsylvania soldier killed in Iraq is to get Medal of Honor

I am glad to see another hero honored. This is a great day to make the announcement.

I will pray for the family again, just to help them get through the attention and the honor. Amen.

The Associated Press: Pennsylvania soldier killed in Iraq is to get Medal of Honor: "The nation's highest military honor will be given to 19-year-old Army Pfc. Ross McGinnis of Knox, Pa., on June 2.

McGinnis 'distinguished himself by extraordinary heroism,' said White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto.

He was in the gunner's hatch of a Humvee on Dec. 4, 2006, when a grenade sailed past him and into the truck where four other soldiers sat. He shouted a warning to the others, then jumped on the grenade that was lodged near the vehicle's radio. It blew up and killed him.

Lt. Col. Anne Edgecomb, an Army spokeswoman, said McGinnis easily could have jumped out of the truck and saved himself.

'The instinct is, jump out of the vehicle, but his four buddies were in the vehicle with him ... and he chose to place himself on top of the grenade and absorb the impact, and it saved their lives,' Edgecomb said.

McGinnis was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, in Schweinfurt, Germany."

Hero's tale is 'too positive' for the BBC

Too positive?? This is yet another reason to ban the once proud BBC. They have fallen into the pit of stupidity and I am not sure there is a way out for them. Pity. They used to be such a great organization.

Hero's tale is 'too positive' for the BBC | International News | News | Telegraph: "Private Johnson Beharry's courage in rescuing an ambushed foot patrol then, in a second act, saving his vehicle's crew despite his own terrible injuries earned him a Victoria Cross.

For the BBC, however, his story is 'too positive' about the conflict.

The corporation has cancelled the commission for a 90-minute drama about Britain's youngest surviving Victoria Cross hero because it feared it would alienate members of the audience opposed to the war in Iraq.

The BBC's retreat from the project, which had the working title Victoria Cross, has sparked accusations of cowardice and will reignite the debate about the broadcaster's alleged lack of patriotism."

Medal of Honor

http://www.militarytimes.com/projects/flash/07medalofhonor/

This is a tribute to the men who have won the Medal of Honor. I think it is a must see because there are so many heros in this war who are being ignored by the media and we rarely get to see them. Here we get to see the Bravest of the Brave. Semper Fi.

Why we fight to help others

The immortal words of 2LT Mark Daily
By Michelle Malkin · January 19, 2007 01:37 AM

daily.jpg
Army 2nd Lt. Mark J. Daily, 23

A reader e-mails that 2LT Mark Daily was killed in an IED attack in Mosul along with three other soldiers. He was named the ROTC's outstanding cadet for 2005 and also a Distinguished Military Graduate, the highest ROTC award. The OC Register profiles him here.

This was his MySpace post explaining his decision to enter the military. I'm reprinting it in full because it deserves to be read and remembered--and because it will probably only get briefly mentioned or excerpted in most MSM coverage of his death. Read the whole thing:

Sunday, October 29, 2006

WHY I JOINED
Current mood: optimistic

Why I Joined:

This question has been asked of me so many times in so many different contexts that I thought it would be best if I wrote my reasons for joining the Army on my page for all to see. First, the more accurate question is why I volunteered to go to Iraq. After all, I joined the Army a week after we declared war on Saddam's government with the intention of going to Iraq. Now, after years of training and preparation, I am finally here.

Much has changed in the last three years. The criminal Ba'ath regime has been replaced by an insurgency fueled by Iraq's neighbors who hope to partition Iraq for their own ends. This is coupled with the ever present transnational militant Islamist movement which has seized upon Iraq as the greatest way to kill Americans, along with anyone else they happen to be standing near. What was once a paralyzed state of fear is now the staging ground for one of the largest transformations of power and ideology the Middle East has experienced since the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. Thanks to Iran, Syria, and other enlightened local actors, this transformation will be plagued by interregional hatred and genocide. And I am now in the center of this.

Is this why I joined?

Yes. Much has been said about America's intentions in overthrowing Saddam Hussein and seeking to establish a new state based upon political representation and individual rights. Many have framed the paradigm through which they view the conflict around one-word explanations such as "oil" or "terrorism," favoring the one which best serves their political persuasion. I did the same thing, and anyone who knew me before I joined knows that I am quite aware and at times sympathetic to the arguments against the war in Iraq. If you think the only way a person could bring themselves to volunteer for this war is through sheer desperation or blind obedience then consider me the exception (though there are countless like me).

I joined the fight because it occurred to me that many modern day "humanists" who claim to possess a genuine concern for human beings throughout the world are in fact quite content to allow their fellow "global citizens" to suffer under the most hideous state apparatuses and conditions. Their excuses used to be my excuses. When asked why we shouldn't confront the Ba'ath party, the Taliban or the various other tyrannies throughout this world, my answers would allude to vague notions of cultural tolerance (forcing women to wear a veil and stay indoors is such a quaint cultural tradition), the sanctity of national sovereignty (how eager we internationalists are to throw up borders to defend dictatorships!) or even a creeping suspicion of America's intentions. When all else failed, I would retreat to my fragile moral ecosystem that years of living in peace and liberty had provided me. I would write off war because civilian casualties were guaranteed, or temporary alliances with illiberal forces would be made, or tank fuel was toxic for the environment. My fellow "humanists" and I would relish contently in our self righteous declaration of opposition against all military campaigns against dictatorships, congratulating one another for refusing to taint that aforementioned fragile moral ecosystem that many still cradle with all the revolutionary tenacity of the members of Rage Against the Machine and Greenday. Others would point to America's historical support of Saddam Hussein, sighting it as hypocritical that we would now vilify him as a thug and a tyrant. Upon explaining that we did so to ward off the fiercely Islamist Iran, which was correctly identified as the greater threat at the time, eyes are rolled and hypocrisy is declared. Forgetting that America sided with Stalin to defeat Hitler, who was promptly confronted once the Nazis were destroyed, America's initial engagement with Saddam and other regional actors is identified as the ultimate argument against America's moral crusade.

And maybe it is. Maybe the reality of politics makes all political action inherently crude and immoral. Or maybe it is these adventures in philosophical masturbation that prevent people from ever taking any kind of effective action against men like Saddam Hussein. One thing is for certain, as disagreeable or as confusing as my decision to enter the fray may be, consider what peace vigils against genocide have accomplished lately. Consider that there are 19 year old soldiers from the Midwest who have never touched a college campus or a protest who have done more to uphold the universal legitimacy of representative government and individual rights by placing themselves between Iraqi voting lines and homicidal religious fanatics. Often times it is less about how clean your actions are and more about how pure your intentions are.

So that is why I joined. In the time it took for you to read this explanation, innocent people your age have suffered under the crushing misery of tyranny. Every tool of philosophical advancement and communication that we use to develop our opinions about this war are denied to countless human beings on this planet, many of whom live under the regimes that have, in my opinion, been legitimately targeted for destruction. Some have allowed their resentment of the President to stir silent applause for setbacks in Iraq. Others have ironically decried the war because it has tied up our forces and prevented them from confronting criminal regimes in Sudan, Uganda, and elsewhere.

I simply decided that the time for candid discussions of the oppressed was over, and I joined.

In digesting this posting, please remember that America's commitment to overthrow Saddam Hussein and his sons existed before the current administration and would exist into our future children's lives had we not acted. Please remember that the problems that plague Iraq today were set in motion centuries ago and were up until now held back by the most cruel of cages. Don't forget that human beings have a responsibility to one another and that Americans will always have a responsibility to the oppressed. Don't overlook the obvious reasons to disagree with the war but don't cheapen the moral aspects either. Assisting a formerly oppressed population in converting their torn society into a plural, democratic one is dangerous and difficult business, especially when being attacked and sabotaged from literally every direction. So if you have anything to say to me at the end of this reading, let it at least include "Good Luck"

Mark Daily

On his MySpace front page, he featured this quote:

"Patience demolishes mountains" -Arab proverb

He wanted to be a journalist.

These are the kind and caliber of men who fight for us. Twenty-three years young. God rest his soul. And never, never forget.