Parents of Slain GIs Travel to Iraq

[Judi Lynn]

Dec 26, 4:51 AM EST
Parents of Slain GIs Travel to Iraq
By GREG BLUESTEIN
Associated Press Writer

LYERLY, Ga. (AP) -- After her son Justin was killed serving in Iraq, a grieving Jan Johnson resolved to see the place where he died and to better understand why it happened.

Johnson and her husband, Joe, who also served in Iraq, were among a group of seven parents who lost children in the war who were picked to travel to northern Iraq in November as a scout team for a bigger trip next year.

"I wanted to go see where my son died," she said. "You hear in the news how bad Iraq is, that it isn't worth saving. ... I wanted to go find out for myself."

Family members of U.S. casualties of war have made pilgrimages in the past to Vietnam and other war zones where their sons and daughters died.
(snip/...)

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/P/PILGRIMAGE_TO_IRAQ?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2006-12-26-04-51-44

[Skittles]

1. and it made them pro-war

I find it disturbing they now think it was all worthwhile, based on a short clandestine trip

[CarbonDate]

2. "Isn't worth saving?"

What kind of disconnect does somebody have to have to not realize that we're the *reason* it's so bad over there?

[Skittles]

3. I think it is grief

I think they are simply desperate for anything that supports their only hold on sanity - that their child died for a just cause

[freefall]

4. My thought exactly. They have it backwards. The question they

should ask is what about Iraq and Iraqis made it OK for us to destroy them.

Peace,

freefall

[saigon68]

13. Their children died for nothing

NOTHING but the Chimpanzee's legacy.

[arewenotdemo]

14. exactly

could be that she's thinking of Iraqi "souls"

[xchrom]

5. who said ''it isn't worth saving''?

these might be grieving parents -- but promoting more murder, mayhem and death in iraq CANNOT be excused for lying or halucinating in order for a reason to be found for the death of their children.

just like viet nam -- people died doing their duty -- yes -- but that duty was attached to nefarious and malignant reasons.

[WePurrsevere]

6. They were "picked" by "Move America Forward" & they never went outside

the, "Kurdistan region in northern Iraq. It's one of the safest areas of the country, where suicide bombers rarely strike and the insurgency has little support among the Kurds, a minority long oppressed under Saddam Hussein's rule."

They were also guests of the Kurdistan regional government and visited with their dignitaries, etc and yet supposedly this whole trip was a "secret" that the US Defense Dept didn't know about?

Perhaps I'm just being overly cynical but there's something about this whole thing that makes me feel like I should pull on my thigh high waders.

[DoYouEverWonder]

8. Going to Kurdistan

is not going to Iraq.

They wanted to go to Sadr City but they couldn't. That should have given them a clue you would think?

Move America Forward is a non-partisan, not-for-profit organization committed to supporting America’s efforts to defeat terrorism and supporting the brave men and women of our Armed Forces.

http://www.moveamericaforward.org/index.php/MAF/AboutUs

Need I say more?

[DoYouEverWonder]

9. A quick look at their board of directors is plenty

of evidence of the extreme bias of this group.

Move America Forward

The Honorable Howard Kaloogian – Founder

The Honorable Howard Kaloogian served as a Republican Member of the California State Assembly from 1994-2000. Kaloogian was selected as Assistant Republican Leader, where he led the fight for smaller government and lower taxes.

Assemblyman Kaloogian went on to make history when he launched the Recall Gray Davis Committee, an effort which ousted Democrat Governor Gray Davis from office and resulted in the election of Arnold Schwarzenegger to the governor’s office. Davis was the first statewide elected official recalled in California’s history.



Melanie Morgan – Chairman

Melanie Morgan has established herself as one of the leading conservative voices in the nation. Every morning Morgan shows off her intellect and wit as the co-host of one of San Francisco’s top-rated drive time radio shows, “The Lee Rodgers and Melanie Morgan Show” on KSFO 560 AM.

Morgan has attracted a huge fan base over the course of her career as a television and radio reporter and commentator. She excels as much more than an entertainer, seeing her true mission being to inform and motivate. Melanie has been a leader for countless crusades that have left lasting changes on the political landscape.

Melanie Morgan has been a leader in the “Support the Troops” effort, speaking out against the anti-war and “Bash America” crowd and she has rallied thousands upon thousands of Americans to support the War on Terrorism, the U.S. Military and the men and women of the armed forces.

[Turbineguy]

10. So to follow that their loved ones die

they get duped by this organization that takes advantage of their grief.

I prefer Duke Cunningham or Tom Delay. At least they are merely corrupt.

[donheld]

7. "it isn't worth saving." -- They don't care that we thought it worth destroying?

They have no concern over what we destroyed, or why we destroyed it? I don't understand their thinking.

[kskiska]

11. This was the trip where a FReep went along for the ride

The man with the woman's name - Kristinn.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1733652/posts

[Judi Lynn]

17. Oh, my Gosh. This is the man I recall showed up to make his speech in Washington D.C.,

at a pro-war rally, when brazillions of normal people showed up to protest _Bush's plan to launch a war on Iraq. He seemed drunk at one of the two rallies I saw on C-Span. What a wreck.

~ click for photo ~

[Tempest]

12. They didn't go where their children died

"I wanted to go see where my son died," she said.


American soldiers are not being killed in Kurdish area the parents were taken to.

[anotherdrew]

15. "Move America Forward" is risking these people's live for a stunt n/t

[Pastiche423]

16. Sorry folks

No matter how much in denial you may be, your loved ones died in vain.