Canton, Ohio Times-Reporter: Soldiers’ families deserve the truth

[Kolesar]

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Army Spc. Jesse Buryj of Canton ... died on May 4, 2004, when a dump truck barreled through a checkpoint in Karbala, striking the armored vehicle he was in. The impact sent the 21-year-old soldier flying to the ground.

The next day, Buryj’s family was told he had died a hero, killed in the crash. It wasn’t until nine months later that his parents learned that their son had really died from a bullet to the back after he hit the ground. He had been a victim of friendly fire, killed either by U.S. or allied Polish troops that day, according to the House committee report, which was released Monday.

Two months after his death, Buryj’s mother, Peggy, met with President Bush while he was making a campaign stop at Canton. She asked the president to find out the truth about what happened to her son, and Bush promised to help.

“A few months later, a Bush-Cheney campaign official contacted the family,” congressional investigators found, according to the Associated Press. “Rather than offer assistance, the official asked Specialist Buryj’s mother to appear in a campaign commercial for the president. Mrs. Buryj refused.”

Mrs. Buryj didn’t find out the cause of her son’s death until February 2005. A Washington Post story in 2006 suggested that the cause of Buryj’s death was kept quiet during the 2004 presidential campaign out of fear that revealing that a U.S. soldier might have been shot by Polish troops would have angered a coalition ally.

Unbelievable.

We see no excuse for the military’s – or the president’s campaign staff’s – conduct in this instance.

Buryj’s family deserves an official apology from all involved. And we’d like to see the U.S. military be more forthright with the families of those killed in combat
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http://www.timesreporter.com/opinion/x1470905083/Our-opinion-Soldiers-families-deserve-the-truth