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04/20/2004 Archived Entry: "People are getting angry."
People are getting angry.
In Wisconsin:
Some families upset that a Wisconsin National Guard unit had its tour of duty in Iraq extended 120 days now say they hope their Internet campaign will reduce the obligation."We realize the extension has gone through. We are hoping this might shorten it," Linda Aber of Racine said Monday.
Aber helped set up a Web site calling on President Bush and members of Congress to intervene on the 32nd Military Police Company's behalf and allow the unit to come home.
Aber, whose 22-year-old daughter Kelli is with the company, acknowledged the letter and e-mail campaign lost steam when U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld officially signed off on the 120-day extension Thursday.
"Obviously, we are not going at it with the rage we had been going," she said.
About 160 members of the police company based in Madison and Milwaukee have been in Iraq since March 2003.
In Alabama:
"The frustration level is very high," said Joe Birin delli of Fairhope, one of the organizers of the 1165th's family support group. The group met Saturday with Guard officers at the James P. Nix Center in Fairhope to discuss the extension, Birindelli said.Some family members left believing their loved ones might not be home until Christmas; government officials, however, said the current plan would have the soldiers home by late summer.
"Of course, there was a lot of anger and a lot of venting," Birindelli said. "There were a lot of parents and spouses and they needed to vent. There were a couple of colonels from National Guard headquarters, too. They took the brunt of it."
"We found out that if they really wanted to, they could keep them until 2005," Bacon said. "These guys need to come home. These guys are not professional soldiers. They're supposed to be defending our state, not off fighting a war."
One member of the 1165th, Spc. Christopher Taylor, 25, of Daphne, was killed Feb. 16 when an "improvised explosive device" -- defined by the FBI as a homemade bomb -- struck the convoy in which he was riding.
"Gov. Riley should say something," Bacon said. "He should say, 'This is enough, send our soldiers home.'"
And in Michigan:
John and Janet Welch's two sons, PFC William Welch and Spec. Richard Welch were to end their tour of duties in Iraq this month after fighting there for a year. But the recent uprisings throughout Iraq will delay their homecoming and that of the Army's 1st Armored Division they serve with, possibly by as much as six months."I am heartbroken," said Bill and Rick's mom, Janet Welch. "When they called I just couldn't believe it."
Just two weeks ago, John, Janet and youngest son, Andy, were eagerly anticipating seeing their sons and brothers again, and were busy planning the big July 4 weekend wedding for Bill and Janet, the Montague woman he quickly married before a justice of the peace right before shipping out to Iraq a year ago.
Now, the wedding is canceled for the second time. Young Janet is waiting for her husband at Ft. Polk, Louisiana, but she's coming home to Whitehall that weekend anyway, and is very upset over the matter, according to her mother-in-law.
Replies: 7 people speak up
Um... the second news item, marked Louisiana, is actually Alabama.
Posted by Kate @ 04/20/2004 07:37 PM NY
Oops. Will correct. Thank you, oh, proofreader. :)
Posted by editor @ 04/20/2004 07:54 PM NY
:)
I know some folks in Fairhope; that's why it caught my eye.
Posted by Kate @ 04/20/2004 08:16 PM NY
It's getting really depressing everyday reading about the deaths. The picture of all the coffins at DKos last night gave me the chills. By the way, great site. I got the link from Justin at Aproximately perfect. Good reading.
Posted by sean @ 04/20/2004 09:01 PM NY
I'm a musician, too, editor--a pro here in St. Louis (I play and sing in my own jazz trio--guitarist). Last September I gigged a wedding for June for a woman who was organizing it for her daughter. The groom is a captain over in Iraq.
They had to cancel on me twice because he has never yet made it home, after being in the invasion, the occupation, etc. I don't know much about the situation--it's tough to ask questions, y'know--but I would assume that for an officer, especially a GOOD one, getting any kind of furlough, even to get married, the chances have to be slim.
Later.
Posted by Daddy-O @ 04/21/2004 12:03 AM NY
I am saddened by their betrayal by the madman who calls himself President Bush. My sorrow is tempered with the knowledge that most of those people will vote for him anyway this November.
Posted by George Johnston @ 04/21/2004 01:50 AM NY
Hey Daddy-O--
Didn't know you were a fellow St. Louisan. We need to get together and tip a few back sometime and bitch about how The Texas Souffle completely ruined the Cardinals' opening day this year. :)
Posted by The Tater @ 04/21/2004 03:33 PM NY
