June. It's been a little more than a month since Memorial Day and another national holiday is fast approaching.I'll be back in a few days. I thought it might be a little soon to post another list, but after seeing it, I realize that it won't be practical to wait until it's longer. It's already tempting to just skim over the names, there are so many of them. Read them. And while you do, think about the dangerous alternate reality that exists in the White House.

06/30/05 Mercer, Chad
"Our mission in Iraq is clear. We're hunting down the terrorists."
06/28/05 Carrillo, T. J.
06/28/05 Hall Jr., Robert E.
06/28/05 Hornedo, Mann
06/28/05 NAME NOT RELEASED YET
06/28/05 NAME NOT RELEASED YET
06/28/05 NAME NOT RELEASED YET
06/28/05 NAME NOT RELEASED YET
06/28/05 NAME NOT RELEASED YET
06/28/05 NAME NOT RELEASED YET
06/28/05 NAME NOT RELEASED YET
06/28/05 NAME NOT RELEASED YET
06/28/05 NAME NOT RELEASED YET
06/28/05 NAME NOT RELEASED YET
06/28/05 NAME NOT RELEASED YET
06/28/05 NAME NOT RELEASED YET
06/28/05 NAME NOT RELEASED YET
06/28/05 NAME NOT RELEASED YET
06/28/05 NAME NOT RELEASED YET
06/28/05 NAME NOT RELEASED YET
06/27/05 Coutu, Matthew S.
06/27/05 Shepard, Steven E.
06/27/05 Mariotti, Keith R.
06/26/05 Kaufman, Charles A.
06/24/05 Pineda, Carlos
"We will succeed in Iraq, just like we did in Afghanistan."
06/23/05 Phelps, Christopher W.
06/23/05 Powell, Chad W.
06/23/05 Charette, Holly A.
06/23/05 Muy, Veashna
06/23/05 NAME NOT RELEASED YET
06/23/05 Tackett, Joseph M.
06/23/05 Valdez, Ramona M.
06/23/05 Clark, Regina R.
06/22/05 Duplantier II, Arnold
06/21/05 Idalski, Nicholas R.
06/21/05 Vaughn, Brian A.
06/21/05 Stewart, James D.
06/21/05 Hoskins, Christopher L.
06/20/05 Kilpatrick, Christopher R.
"I think they're in the last throes, if you will, of the insurgency."
06/18/05 Harris, Noah
06/18/05 Long, William A.
06/18/05 Crumpler, Adam J.
06/17/05 McNulty, Michael L.
06/17/05 Horrigan, Robert M.
06/16/05 Cometa, Anthony S.
06/16/05 Heldt, Erik R.
06/16/05 Maloney, John W.
06/15/05 Trovillion, Tyler S.
06/15/05 Whitley, Dion M.
06/15/05 Maynard, Chad B.
06/15/05 Baez, Cesar O.
06/15/05 Flores, Jonathan R.
06/15/05 Jaime, Jesse
06/14/05 Hayes, Michael Ray
06/14/05 Klinger, Joshua P.
06/14/05 Clemons, Nathan B.
06/14/05 Jones, Anthony G.
06/13/05 Kinslow, Anthony D.
06/13/05 Mattek Jr., John J.
06/13/05 Kuhns Jr., Larry R.
“I would never claim that the exact nature of this insurgency was understood at the time that we went to war.”
06/11/05 Arnold Sr., Larry R.
06/11/05 Prince, Neil A.
06/11/05 Byers, Casey
06/11/05 Lapinski, Stanley J.
06/11/05 Lee Sr., Terrance D.
06/10/05 Castillo, Mario Alberto
06/10/05 Kilpela, Andrew J.
06/09/05 Birch, Dustin V.
06/09/05 Keeling, Thomas O.
06/09/05 Edwards, Mark O.
06/09/05 Chavez, Daniel
06/09/05 Seymour, Devon Paul
06/09/05 Squires, Brad D.
06/09/05 Murray, David Joseph
06/08/05 Arizola Jr., Roberto
06/08/05 Allen, Louis E.
06/08/05 Esposito, Phillip T.
06/08/05 Fasnacht, Michael J.
06/08/05 Tucker, Marc Lucas
06/08/05 Kashmer, Douglas E.
06/07/05 Burri, Eric T.
06/07/05 Crowe, Terrence K.
"Somebody said, well, you know, we had made up our mind to go to use military force to deal with Saddam. There's nothing farther from the truth."
06/06/05 Smith, Jonathan L.
06/06/05 Romines, Brian M.
06/06/05 Mininger, Robert T.
06/05/05 Ulbrich, Brian Scott "Scotty"
06/05/05 French, Carrie L.
06/05/05 Poelman, Eric J.
06/05/05 Vasquez, Justin L.
06/05/05 Westhusing, Theodore S.
06/03/05 Villar, Linda J.
06/03/05 Mendoza, Antonio
06/01/05 Edmundson, Phillip C.
06/01/05 Case, Virgil R.
06/01/05 Niedermeier, Louis E.
05/31/05 Langmack, Steven M.
05/31/05 Ramos, Miguel A.
05/30/05 Downs, William
05/30/05 Fresques, Jeremy
05/30/05 Crate, Casey
05/30/05 Starr, Jeffrey B.
05/30/05 Argel, Derek
05/29/05 Cortes III, Victor M.
05/28/05 Sayles, Phillip N.
05/28/05 Smart, Albert E.
05/28/05 Barnhill, Michael S.
"Because of the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, two terror regimes are gone forever, freedom is on the march, and America is more secure."  ¶ 6:33 PM**by 9Driver: |

 
Even less newsworthy. We've established that the deaths of female soldiers in Iraq isn't as newsworthy as a missing girl in Aruba. The deaths of male soldiers are non-existent. Here's an article from last year about Matthew Coutu, a University of Maine ROTC graduate who was killed in action on Monday:

"There was no doubt in our minds he was going to be our number one cadet."

There is exactly one newspaper (registration to get past front page) in the entire country that thought Matthew's death was noteworthy. The Camden Herald, near his former hometown of Rockport, thought it was worth 45 words or so.

What a very strange war we're fighting. The President talks of "sacrifice", but offers tax cuts. The dead come home quietly and discreetly--no photographs allowed. The papers that cover their deaths almost seem embarrassed to be doing so. Shhhh. It's important to maintain the illusion that these are anonymous "troops". They have no mothers, fathers, friends or teachers.

It's much easier to support the sacrifice of "troops" than the deaths of our best and brightest young men and women. For a war that even the President can't settle on a reason for. And that he doesn't know how to get out of.

Have a happy Fourth of July.  ¶ 7:56 AM**by 9Driver: |

 
The speech. Hmmm. How to begin? Should I rail at the weasel words:

"Today Iraq has more than 160,000 security forces trained and equipped for a variety of missions."

Or at his refusal to take responsibility for screwing up the post-invasion plan:

"If our commanders on the ground say we need more troops, I will send them. But our commanders tell me they have the number of troops they need to do their job."

But what's the point? I guess the main point is that this speech showed no change. No new insights. No willingness to admit that this war requires a new and effective way of thinking about the "War on Terror". Let's do something more fun. How about a word count?

Terror, or Terrorists, or Al Qaida-----------------25 mentions

9-11, Defending America from evil------------------9 mentions

Weapons of Mass Destruction----------------------0 mentions

1700 dead US troops-------------------------------0 mentions

Regret for starting an unnecessary war--Sorry, what was I thinking?  ¶ 9:21 PM**by 9Driver: |

 
Is it possible to underestimate the taste or intelligence of a Dittohead? Apparently not.

  ¶ 3:37 PM**by 9Driver: |

 
Foot dragging? I was looking at the DoD press releases this evening and came upon the name of another of the women killed in the June 23 convoy bombing. Regina Clark.

The curious thing is that this story came out on KOMO local news on Saturday, but the DoD didn't release her name until this afternoon or evening. I know that they wait until the family has been notified, but it seems obvious that her family knew on Saturday, since her son provided the photo used in the news story. So why the delay?

The identities of some of the others killed in that attack were also released today:

Ramona M. Valdez
Veashna Muy
Chad Powell

Remember them, too.  ¶ 11:34 PM**by 9Driver: |

 
Sunday. More missing white woman coverage. I won't even bother to post the pages. As usual, the other women who died this week in very public circumstances aren't getting any coverage. To remedy this, here's a little article I found about Holly Charette.

Mail is a mission for one Marine

CAMP BLUE DIAMOND, AR RAMADI, Iraq (May 3, 2005) -- For Marines and Sailors here, there may be nothing sweeter than the sound of mail call. One Marine with Headquarters Battalion makes it her mission to deliver those delightful words.

Lance Cpl. Holly Charette, a 21-year-old from Cranston, R.I. recently deployed here from Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, N.C. She is one of the thousands of 2d Marine Division Marines serving in the Al Anbar Province as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Charette's job allows her to meet many of the people in Headquarters Battalion, where she works. Her part in the Global War on Terrorism is something different than most Marines. And that's not all that sets her apart from her fellow service members.

"I never really thought too hard about being a mail person, but it's really an important job and people depend on me," said Charette. "There are a lot of stresses involved, but it's really worth it at the end of the day."....

Of course, the story doesn't have a happy ending. Holly died on Thursday in a suicide bomb attack on her convoy. Holly, I wish I could give your picture and story wider circulation.

Update: I see Atrios has posted a link to another blogger who writes a nice tribute to Holly. Better looking blog, too.

  ¶ 11:10 AM**by 9Driver: |

 
Scary thoughts......

There has been quite a bit of clamor suggesting that Karl Rove is taking a much more public role this term. His whole "Liberals want our soldiers to die" schpiel was supposedly part of this whole new campaign to fire up the GOP base and reopen the partisan chasm which several GOP and independent types have begun to slip into.

But why Rove? There is a bigger issue in play here than just momentum.

Is it about the Supreme Court or agenda? Do they think that it will be easier to go "Nuclear" with a rabid right wing nut-case nominee or ram through a few more giveaways for the uber-wealthy if the Democrats are pissed? Maybe.

But I just had a very disturbing thought.

What if Rove's more public face has something to do with Rove's future? Is it possible that Rove might actually be contemplating a position of some sort? Elected perhaps? (They'd vote for him in his home state of Texas.)

What about an appointed post? And to be completely paranoid.....

... didn't they just take Dick Cheney to the hospital, *again*.

  ¶ 12:09 AM**by Def: |