cbs morning news just devoted a long segment to his story about female soldier killed bullet to head

[rodeodance]

in Afgan.


Forum Name Latest Breaking News
Topic subject Kin say soldier hinted at concerns (Gay Female Soldier Killed Afghanistan)
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x3015998#3015998
3015998, Kin say soldier hinted at concerns (Gay Female Soldier Killed Afghanistan)
Posted by RamboLiberal on Thu Oct-04-07 01:01 AM

Source: Boston Globe

The Massachusetts National Guard soldier from Quincy who died Friday in Afghanistan asked her relatives to press for answers if anything happened to her while she was deployed, according to her family.

"She did say to us that she had concerns about things she was seeing when she was over there," Ciara Durkin's sister, Fiona Canavan, said in an interview with WGBH-TV. "She told us if anything happened to her, that we were to investigate it."

Questions surrounding Durkin's death prompted US Senators John F. Kerry and Edward M. Kennedy and US Representative William D. Delahunt yesterday to call for the Defense Department to thoroughly investigate the death of Durkin, a Quincy resident.

In a letter, Kerry urged Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates "to deploy your staff on this matter immediately, so that the answers and circumstances around Specialist Durkin's death are uncovered, expeditiously and thoroughly."

-----

"Ciara was a lesbian, and that's bound to come out," Canavan said. "It is possible that someone over there found that out, and, you know, maybe they were very homophobic."

Read more: http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/10/03/kin_say_soldier_hinted_at_concerns /

[tekisui]

1. Her warnings to her family suggest she knew something

someone didn't want her to know. She told them to ask alot of questions. The homophobic motive is a bullshit red herring.

[Marrah_G]

4. I agree, I doubt it was the Lesbian reason

She saw something she should not have and was probably going to spill the beans.

[soothsayer]

2. Hmm. I wish she'd let on to WHY she thought she might be killed.

[Zywiec]

3. If she did that, it would ruin all the conspiracy theories. n/t

[Dhalgren]

5. Pat Tillman...

What the hell is happening in Afghanistan? Is it about opium/heroine? In the end is it just drug-turf...

[zippy890]

9. opium/heroine and gang members in military?

read/heard about that problem in American military in Afghanistan

[tekisui]

6. She worked in a finance unit, and was working on investigations.

One article(I can't find the link, now) said that she warned her family that she had found or seen some things that could get her in trouble.


"Specialist Ciara Durkin, 29, of Quincy, was killed Thursday. Durkin was assigned to Task Force Diamond as part of a finance unit that deployed to the country in November, 2006."

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2007/09/30/member_of_national_guard_from_quincy_killed_in_afghanistan/

[Uben]

7. It's very suspicious

I'd imagine it was something about defense contractor fraud or kickbacks. I corresponded with a 56 yr old female soldier stationed in Balad, Iraq. She told me this war was definitely being fought for the contractors. When req's were put in to replace damaged goods, whether it be arms, ammo, Humvees, helicopters, you name it, they were filled quickly with enthusiasm!
Not that that is a bad thing, but she stated that no one ever questioned the reqs. Many times the items being replaced were usable and dependable. She said the aste was "mind blowing". I think BAlad is basically a supply base, but their soldiers still patrol, they still get hit with mortar attacks, and they definitely get casualties. She told me how many comrades they had lost but I don't remember the number.

She is home now, her tour completed. My wife and I will travel to Alabama, we're in Dallas area, to meet her in person and find out her true feelings on the war. I don't know her political affilliation, but she said when she got home, she would tell us her true feelings, which I know is that she hates Bush, the war, etc.! Hey, I know republicans who hate the war and Bush, too!

[bullimiami]

8. once again requesting defense to investigate themselves. they are liars.

noone that has anything to do with this administration can be trusted - no defense or justice department investigation.

defense has proven to be liars, torture, england, tillman.
justice are proven to be liars, torture, attorneys and so much more.

anything less than an independent impartial investigator with subpoena power is pointless.

[rodeodance]

10. even the network (cbs)----sees this as fishy

[flyarm]

11. and remember this West Point officer's "suicide" (?)

West Point Officer's 2005 Suicide A Painful Reminder of Corruption in Iraq

TPMmuckraker | Talking Points Memo | Officer's 2005 Suicide A Painful Reminder of Corruption in Iraq

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004022.php

Officer's 2005 Suicide A Painful Reminder of Corruption in Iraq
By Spencer Ackerman - August 28, 2007, 4:27PM
With the Pentagon's inspector general set to arrive in Iraq in a few weeks to personally investigate allegations of corruption in, among other places, the training of Iraqi security forces, it's worth remembering that suspicions of wrongdoing in the command led one officer to take his own life out of apparent shame. In a suicide note left on his bed in Baghdad, Lt. Colonel Ted Westhusing wrote, "I didn't volunteer to support corrupt, money grubbing contractors, nor work for commanders only interested in themselves." Westhusing, 44, killed himself on June 5, 2005.

Much about Westhusing's case remains a mystery. According to a definitive Los Angeles Times exploration of his death published in November 2005, the committed Christian and West Point graduate began working for the training command, known as MNTSC-I, in January of 2005. General David Petraeus, who now leads U.S. forces in Iraq, commanded MNTSC-I in 2004 and 2005. Westhusing's primary responsibility was to oversee a private company, USIS, which held a $79 million contract to train Iraqi special forces, and Petraeus told him he had exceeded "lofty expectations."

In May, however, someone -- apparently a USIS contractor -- slipped him an anonymous four-page letter contending widespread corruption within the company and the command. Journalist Robert Bryce obtained the letter (pdf) earlier this year for a piece in the Texas Observer:

Recently I was told that USIS... is only missing 4 weapons. Now, we just spent the last 9 months with almost 200 weapons missing so I wondered how we went from 200 to 4. The missing weapons are common knowledge within the camp and no one seems to be trying to hide it. The take on it is that the Iraqis are stealing them and it is not our problem. This is not true. A lot of weapons were signed out by instructors and never returned. ...
Our Log guys have lost total control over what is issued. If you try to match up what USIS is charging the government, the inventory on camp and what has been issued to Iraqis it will not even be close.

[Cheap_Trick]

12. i'm sure the DOD will get right on that

:sarcasm: