Source:
Editor & PublisherNEW YORK Robert Capetillo never read the controversial column his son, Omar Mora, co-wrote with six other Iraq-based soldiers for The New York Times. But when he heard about it, he had only high praise.
"Everybody has a right to speak out," Capetillo told E&P Wednesday, just two days after Mora, an Army sergeant, and fellow column-writer Yance Gray, were killed in Baghdad. "We all have a right to speak out what we feel. There are personal feelings, that is a right here we all have."
Richard Gray, father of Yance Gray, offered similar views on his son's part in the column. "I thought it was well-written and there wasn't anything in it I disagreed with, with that situation over there," he said via phone from his Montana home. "He said once that they need to divide the country up into three different countries to make things work."
Among the statements in the column, published last month, were: "In short, we operate in a bewildering context of determined enemies and questionable allies, one where the balance of forces on the ground remains entirely unclear."
The column drew a strong Pentagon reaction defending the war, but apparently stopped short of punishing the soldiers.
Read more:
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003638829
I hope they make sure the Pentagon gives them truthful info on their sons deaths. Also in E&P.
Deaths of Soldiers 'Brings It Home' For 'NYT' Editorial Page Editor NEW YORK The deaths in Iraq of Sgt. Omar Mora and Sgt. Yance Gray are hitting closer to The New York Times than most, according to Editorial Page Editor Andrew Rosenthal. That's because the duo were among seven soldiers who penned a controversial Times column critical of some elements of the war just last month.
"It brings it home and it reminds you how distant most people are from this war," said Rosenthal, who said the soldiers sent the column unsolicited to the paper seeking its publication. "It would be ludicrous to say this war has now touched us, but it has in a way. These are guys who had been more public."
Mora and Gray, who died Monday in a vehicle accident in Western Baghdad, were among seven soldiers who co-wrote the column that ran in August and raised concerns about the operation there.
Among the column's statements: "In short, we operate in a bewildering context of determined enemies and questionable allies, one where the balance of forces on the ground remains entirely unclear."
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003638805Two of Seven Soldiers Who Wrote 'NYT' Op-Ed Die in Iraq NEW YORK The Op-Ed by seven active duty U.S. soldiers in Iraq questioning the war drew international attention just three weeks ago. Now two of the seven are dead.
Sgt. Omar Mora and Sgt. Yance T. Gray died Monday in a vehicle accident in western Baghdad, two of seven U.S. troops killed in the incident which was reported just as Gen. David Petraeus was about to report to Congress on progress in the "surge." The names have just been released.
Gen. Petraeus was questioned about the message of the op-ed in testimony before a Senate committee yesterday.
The controversial Times column on Aug. 19 was called "The War As We Saw It," and expressed skepticism about American gains in Iraq. “To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched,” the group wrote.
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003638726 
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