Two of the Seven NYT Op-Ed Soldiers Have Died in Iraq

[ProSense]

Two of the Seven NYT Op-Ed Soldiers Have Died in Iraq

by Brandon Friedman
Tue Sep 11, 2007 at 09:09:26 PM PDT

Two of the seven soldiers who wrote the New York Times op-ed piece criticizing U.S. counterinsurgency strategy 3 ½ weeks ago have been killed in Iraq. Yance T. Gray and Omar Mora died Monday in a vehicle accident in Baghdad. The AP has reported on Yance Gray here, and KHOU, a Houston-area TV station has reported on Omar Mora here. Their families have been notified.

I have confirmed through a source in Iraq that these are indeed the same soldiers who penned the op-ed piece.

I don’t know what else to say.

:cry: :cry:


NYT article excerpt here: The War, As They Saw It

[cboy4]

1. I don't know how that's possible considering how well

Gen. Betray Us says things are going right now.

How so very sad. :(

[wake.up.america]

4. I see we agree on NFL teams and Betray US. Guess Betray US needs the money

[beachmom]

13. Petraeus mentioned this accident yesterday when being questioned

by Feingold. He said combat deaths were down, but there had been some accidents. Then he cited this tragic accident.

In the Kos thread, Brandon said they died when their vehicle rolled over coming back from a completed mission.

[Olney Blue]

2. True patriots. RIP.

[Totally Committed]

3. I posted this in cali's thread in GD, but it belongs here, too, so.....

here is an excerpt from their NYT Op-Ed from August 19, 2007:

"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. (In the course of writing this article, this fact became all too clear: one of us, Staff Sergeant Murphy, an Army Ranger and reconnaissance team leader, was shot in the head during a ''time-sensitive target acquisition mission'' on Aug. 12; he is expected to survive and is being flown to a military hospital in the United States.) While we have the will and the resources to fight in this context, we are effectively hamstrung because realities on the ground require measures we will always refuse -- namely, the widespread use of lethal and brutal force...

...In a lawless environment where men with guns rule the streets, engaging in the banalities of life has become a death-defying act. Four years into our occupation, we have failed on every promise, while we have substituted Baath Party tyranny with a tyranny of Islamist, militia and criminal violence. When the primary preoccupation of average Iraqis is when and how they are likely to be killed, we can hardly feel smug as we hand out care packages. As an Iraqi man told us a few days ago with deep resignation, ''We need security, not free food.''

In the end, we need to recognize that our presence may have released Iraqis from the grip of a tyrant, but that it has also robbed them of their self-respect. They will soon realize that the best way to regain dignity is to call us what we are -- an army of occupation -- and force our withdrawal.

Until that happens, it would be prudent for us to increasingly let Iraqis take center stage in all matters, to come up with a nuanced policy in which we assist them from the margins but let them resolve their differences as they see fit. This suggestion is not meant to be defeatist, but rather to highlight our pursuit of incompatible policies to absurd ends without recognizing the incongruities."

http://select.nytimes.com/search/restricted/article?res=F5071EFC385A0C7A8DDDA10894DF404482

May their courageous words, and the bravery of the act of allowing them to be published speak to the fine character and lives of these young men. My grief is huge, but nothing, I am sure, to that of their families and friends this horrible morning. RIP, Mora and Yates... our hearts go with you.


TC

ETA: cali's thread in GD can be found at this link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x1790004

[MethuenProgressive]

5. I hope the circumstances of their deaths are investigated thoroughly.

It pains me to have that thought immediately upon reading this.

"This war is so fucking illegal." Pat Tillman

[beachmom]

14. Brandon said it was a vehicle accident. No foul play. n/t

[w4rma]

6. This seems like a very newsworthy connection. Where is the coverage? (nt)

[Totally Committed]

11. Not even the NYT has a story on its front page this morning...

I have yet to be able to make myself look inside.

Ugh.

Makes me sick.


TC

[beachmom]

7. This is horrible. Chuck Hagel was talking about them yesterday.

I am really upset about this. That's all I can say for now.

[babylonsister]

8. Beyond sad. They knew ... mt

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. Military hazing still occurs.

early on during our invasion, those troops who refused to pray with their squad leaders or who refused to put crucifixes on tank turrets found themselves in the open, in the most dangerous places without armor or body protection.

Since these seven fell off the reservation, I have no doubts that they are at higher risk than those who keep their mouth shut.

[beachmom]

15. It was not military hazing. It was a vehicle accident. n/t

[ChairmanAgnostic]

17. yeah and jessica lynch was captured and tortured, requiring

a huge firefight to recover her, and Pat Tillman died due to enemy fire.

You REALLY believe anything that they say at the start? How many times will their erroneous reports be corrected before you start questioning EVERYTHING about these jerks?

[SaveOurDemocracy]

10. Our brave young men and women ...

someone's mother/father, someone's son/daughter, someone's brother/sister, someone's friend/lover, someone's neighbor/coach. Unfulfilled lives, dreams, promise ... for what? :cry:

[frogcycle]

12. Hers's some info on the incident

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070911/ap_on_re_us/paratroopers_killed

Given that it was a truck with 17 82nd Airborne troops returning from a mission, with two of the writers included it is not unlikely that others were there too.

The DoD has still not released names - they wait 24 hours after notification of next of kin. Oftentimes the names hit local papers before the DoD announcement.

I googled the rest of the names and got no hits, but that does not mean much yet.

[beachmom]

16. More from TPM:

Back when the soldiers' Op-ed appeared, it received scant media attention -- far less, for instance, than an Op-ed by Michael O'Hanlon and Kenneth Pollack arguing that the surge is working.

In their Op-ed, the soldiers wrote that despite their grave misgivings about the war strategy's likelihood for success, "as committed soldiers, we will see this mission through." Now, even as the likes of O'Hanlon and Pollack continue to argue in Washington that the surge is working, and even as the "surreal" Washington political debate the soldiers described continues, the two men's commitment to the mission has cost them their lives.


http://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/2007/09/two_of_soldiers_who_penned_tim.php