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05/26/2003 Archived Entry: "Premature declaration of the year - 'Mission Accomplished'"
Premature declaration of the year - 'Mission Accomplished'
Sure, it put Americans' minds at ease, making them think that the dirty business in Iraq was finished. But even though most Americans have happily stopped paying attention, the post-declaration death toll keeps going up by nearly one a day:
Of this, the family and friends of Marine Sgt. Kirk Allen Straseskie are sure: He is wearing his dress blues and standing guard at the gates of heaven. Because that's where he said he would be if he were killed, and he was always a man of his word.
A week ago, Straseskie, 23, was standing on the bank of an Iraqi canal when a CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter crashed into the water shortly after takeoff. According to the Pentagon, he immediately plunged in to try to save the crew of four fellow Marines.
Instead, they died together -- some of the 23 U.S. soldiers, airmen and Marines who have lost their lives since President Bush declared on May 1 that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended."
In the public's mind, the war may be over, but U.S. troops continue to fall in Iraq at the rate of almost one a day. That is down from an average of three a day between the start of the war on March 19 and May 1, when a total of 139 American service members were killed.
Replies: 3 people speak up
Iraq? My God, Blah, that's soooo 15 minutes ago! What are you, some kind of ancient history nut? Hell, even the Lacey Peterson thing is old news.
Posted by Metropolitan99 @ 05/26/2003 09:49 PM NY
By the way, no disrespect was meant for Sgt. Straseskie or for the tragedy of that chopper going down.
My sarcasm was directed at the short attention span of the media and how quickly Iraq seems to have fallen off the radar screen.
Posted by Metropolitan99 @ 05/26/2003 09:58 PM NY
Off topic: it appears that those mobile labs tested negative for chemical and biological weapons. It's amusing to contrast the media hype the initial discovery receives with the obscure news coverage of the subsequent "letdown."
Posted by Metropolitan99 @ 05/26/2003 10:05 PM NY
