Maine dad says daughter had plans for Hawaii after Iraq (A Mother Dies)

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

LITCHFIELD, Maine — The father of an Army warrant officer who was killed in a Black Hawk helicopter crash in Iraq said Sunday he still can´t understand what his daughter was doing in the aircraft.

"I just say to myself, why a 43-year-old woman with an 8-year-old boy, (why) they´d send her up to a mission in Tikrit," said Bernard Mayo, who is 67. "It doesn´t make any sense to me. But what does about this crazy thing? Not much."

Mayo´s daughter, Sharon Swartworth, a 26-year Army veteran, who was among the six people killed Friday when their helicopter went down near the Tigris River. An investigation was under way Sunday to determine what caused the crash, but several officers believed the Black Hawk was shot down by insurgents.

Mayo said his daughter, who would have turned 44 Saturday, had plans to move to Hawaii with her husband after completing her present assignment
<snip>
I'm sure an autopen signed letter from Bush will quell the need a child has for a mother.

Sleep well, Mr. Bush. Like Pilate, you will never be able to wash the innocent blood from your hands.

On edit: Here's the link
http://news.mainetoday.com/apwire/D7UNA0QG1-312.shtml

[qanda]

1. link please

eom

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

2. It's up now. Sorry about that.

[Cha]

3. Any of these deaths from the first

bomb on March 21st(is that right?)that killed a Syrian cab driver to the present day are on bush's hands and his handlers.

[Malva Zebrina]

4. these families

will never be the same again--never. Bush has made them die for him--if it were for a "larger cause than themself" as the AWOL idiot said, he would not have had to lie--Rice would not have had to lie, Powell would not have had to lie, ditto Rumsfeld and the rest of the dirty warmongers who lied for their own power--and our chldren are dying, not for America's freedoms as they were told, but for the AWOL commander in chief, who likes to dress up like a real soldier and pretend he is one--and his buddies' fortunes.

That's what they are dying for--this coward of a man who sees money, not people, before his greedy, beady eyes--these families will never be the same--ever. It is so very sad--and the saddest part is that he will not, evidently, be called on his lies and he may possibly be elected in 2004, incredibly, to bring more of his death and dying to our children in the form of the permanent war on a noun--so ridiculous on the face of it-so out of touch with the language--yet no one calls him on it. He should have been booted out of there the minute he tried his bullying coup. Why wasn't he? -May the five corrupt judges be tortured with vivid, horrendous nightmares for the rest of their lives, of what they have done when they enabled the Bush coup- basically, they share responsibility for these deaths

[Cha]

5. "greedy beady eyes" I want to add

greedy beady lyin' eyes to that apt description!

There must be one or two involved in bush's acendency who have consciences that will be extremly bothered by what has transpired since their meddling in our Democracy!

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

6. IMHO, every life is sacred, every untimely death a tragedy. The

deaths of young sons or daughters or the parents of other sons and daughters becomes more than tragic. The effects increase on an exponential scale.

Each one of the deaths caused by this insiduous greedy grab for domination should be embraced and remembered to fuel protest and dissent around this and like endeavors.



It seems as if to compound the insult to humanity on American soil, the reporting of the nearly ten thousand Iraqi deaths has been largely ignored. Perhaps because the truth is too cruel for our gentle psyche? Perhaps because the "tit for tat" mentality could not wrap around the "you killed 2700 on 9-11, and now we killed 10,000 (even though the Iraqi people were in no way connected with the events of 9-11 except in the color of their skin)?

It makes me tired to be an American today. Ashamed and embarassed. However, it also brings back the memories and principles of what America once was and was intended to be. I have to keep faith that the founding ideals and documents will soon be rediscovered and this new Government of greed and self-service will be put assunder so pride will be something not purchased but attained by deed.

[UpInArms]

7. here's a link to a

teenager's essay regarding her dad's deployment

http://www.lenconnect.com/articles/2003/11/09/news/news02.txt

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

8. Touching piece. I hope her father returns unscathed.

So many families suffering for the corporate shill.

[Donna Zen]

9. Blood on their hands

Please include the media in your thoughts. While the heads of state are often corrupt by nature or design, it is the media's job to out them. Having a media that is officially part of the "big lie" machine, is killing some one by one, and killing our democracy day by day.