The White House spins and the dead don't care.

[TayTay]

Dixon, Christopher R., Private 1st Class in the US Marine Reserve died in Iraq on 05/11/05. He was 18 years old, the same age as my son.

Republican National Committee Chairman Ken Mehlman, appearing on NBC's "Meet the Press," said Senate Democrats such as Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.), Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and John F. Kerry (Mass.) were "smearing Karl Rove" and urged them to apologize. Citing Cooper's article and others, Mehlman said: "Democrat partisans on the Hill have engaged in a smear campaign where they have attacked Karl Rove on the basis of information which actually vindicates and exonerates him, not implicates him." http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/17/AR2005071700755.html

Crowley, Kyle D., Lance Corporal, U.S. Marine, died in Iraq on 04/06/04. He was 18, the same age as my son.

C reported on his recent talks in Washington. There was a perceptible shift in attitude. Military action was now seen as inevitable. Bush wanted to remove Saddam, through military action, justified by the conjunction of terrorism and WMD. But the intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy. The NSC had no patience with the UN route, and no enthusiasm for publishing material on the Iraqi regime's record. There was little discussion in Washington of the aftermath after military action.
http://www.downingstreetmemo.com/memos.html

Huff, Sam W., Private 1st Class in the U.S. Army died in Iraq on 04/18/05. She was 18, the same age as my son.

Rove, the architect behind President Bush’s election victories, on Wednesday night told a gathering of the New York Conservative Party that “Liberals saw the savagery of the 9/11 attacks and wanted to prepare indictments and offer therapy and understanding for our attackers.” Conservatives, he said, “saw the savagery of 9/11 and the attacks and prepared for war.”

He added that groups linked to the Democratic Party made the mistake of calling for “moderation and restraint” after the terrorist attacks. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8324598/

Mihalakis, Michael G., Specialist in the U.S. Army National Guard died in Iraq on 12/26/03. He was 18, the same age as my son.

The Rove thing isn't about partisan politics. It isn't about gaining an advantage for 2006. It's about 23 kids who will never live to see their 19th birthday because they died in a war that the President of the United States initiated based on lies. It's about 110 19 year olds who will never live to marry, raise children, buy a house or get a job. It's about 199 20 year olds who will never be old enough to legally buy a beer, who will never graduate from college and never again embrace a sister or laugh with friends.

And it's about families, real American families who will forever ache to hold someone who will never come home. It's about parents who have had to bury a kid who never really got to taste life and who now never will. Because of a war that was based on lies.

That's what the Rove thing means to me.
Names and dates of the beloved deceased from: http://icasualties.org

[politicasista]

1. That is sad

[wisteria]

2. Very powerful stuff!

Apologize? Apologize for what!Screw Mehlman!I want to see them apologize for tricking us into war and for its poor planning, resulting in the deaths of too many soldiers and Iraq's. I'd like to stuff Mehlman mouth with an apple and roast him.Unfortunately, I would probably have a hard time finding a large enough apple.

[globalvillage]

3. Very sad.

I saw Mehlman today, and he's a dick, as are Rove and the rest of the BFEE.
It rips me apart to hear about kids dying. Hopefully, they will be vindicated, soon, although that won't give them back what they lost.

Your post is very moving, thank you.

[TayTay]

4. I double-posted this ti GD

Cuz it seemed like a GD thing to do.

[whometense]

5. Beautiful.

Really beautiful. We can't remind ourselves of this enough.

Every night when they post the names and pictures of the war dead at the end of the PBS Newshour I think exactly the same thing. My son's age.
My daughter's age. It's heartbreaking.

And the Bush administration they're ciphers, pawns in their stupid game of Reality Risk. These people have no heart and no conscience. There is no hell hot enough for them.

We have to hold their feet to the fire. We can't let them get away with this. It has to stop. That's what the Rove thing means to me. A chance to take them down and make them pay. A chance to expose them for the monsters they are. A chance to make the people of this country look hard at the truth and not turn away.

[MH1]

6. Very nice post. Thanks.

I have a nephew in the Reserves. Not in Iraq - yet.

I have another nephew who is 15, and his brother is 13. I hate to think how long this war will go on. And/or what the next insane twist in US foreign policy will be.

[Island Blue]

7. Thanks for posting this

I didn't see it last night because I wasn't feeling well and I turned in early, but when I woke up this morning I was thinking about how the * Administration has told so many lies (and lies about their lies) that it is now impossible to separate truth (if there is any) from fiction. Anyone who tries to tell the truth (Reid, Kerry, etc.) just gets shouted down.

I think I feel some of my post-election depression sneaking back in. I'm tired of people lying about things that really matter - I wish they would just go back to lying about who they aren't having sex with.

[karynnj]

8. Powerful

This is really powerful. I agree that it's not partisan politics. What they have done in destabilizing the world since 911 has not only killed young Americans, but has made the world more dangerous. As to Kerry apologizing to Rove for questioning actions he did do, Rove should apologize for six months of vicious character assignation and outright lies.

I agree with your earlier posts about the difficulty of unseating a President in a time when people bonded to him as a source of security in a scary time. My husband, youngest daughter and I landed in Heathrow on July 7 and took a taxi to the bed and breakfast we were staying at, we learned about the bombings. (We were in London on a British Airlines stop over for 3 days on the way to Spain where we stayed a week)

As everyone was asked to not travel, we caught up on sleep and watched TV. The British TV was considerably tougher in their questions than the US TV would have been and the government talked about pursuing the people who did it and those who backed as a large crime. Far more what Kerry talked of than Bush. The press questioned the lowering of security as the G8. (Bush by the way had a bike accident there - the press reported that he said he should start acting his age - they reported it in a somewhat snarky manner without comment. Quite nice.)

By Sunday when we left for Spain, all the British politicians etc were rallying behind Blair. It was pretty reminiscent of 911 in the way people rallied around the leader, but differed in the government seeming to be more responsive to questions.

In Spain (Costa Del Sol), we found that the people we came in contact with (waiters, tour guides etc.) often went out of their way, on hearing our accents, to let us know that they HATE Bush, but love American culture. As they could have been jeopardizing their tips, this was a stronger action than it sounds.

[whometense]

9. Thanks for the report.

It's endlessly fascinating to hear how things look from over there. I'm glad you're back and safe. My older son is on his way to Paris for a week after three weeks in Italy and Switzerland, and I can't wait for his report as well.

Guest-poster Morbo at The Carpetbagger Report had a good post over the weekend about his recent trip to Paris.

For starters, don't hesitate if you have the opportunity. Go. Paris is a great city, full of history, art and culture. And don't believe any of that junk you hear about the French being rude. It's a crock. Every country has its share of jerks, of course, but on balance the French are a delightful people who love Americans. They are also smart enough to know that many of the Americans who come to visit now are probably not fans of the Bush administration. In casual conversations, just insert some criticism of Bush and let the fun begin.

[karynnj]

10. Thank you

I hope your son has a great time! I think the comment that Americans traveling to Europe now are mostly anti- Bush is true of those we met. On a tour of Cordoba, when a guide asked what states we were from - they were all Blue (Mass, Il, NJ, NY etc) - he said he wanted to meet a Texan!