A
Anonymous
Guest
Heres a couple of articles about the latest Montana killed- a young fella from Faster Horses country:
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Soldier loved Army, gave frank assessment
Montanan co-wrote New York Times opinion critical of war
By The Associated Press
HELENA - A soldier from Eastern Montana killed in Iraq earlier this week was one of the authors of a high-profile New York Times opinion piece critical of the progress being made in the war.
Staff Sgt. Yance T. Gray of Ismay was remembered Wednes-day as a strong and friendly leader who loved the Army and dreamed of being a soldier his entire life. A member of the 82nd Airborne Division, he died Monday when the cargo truck he was riding in overturned in Baghdad.
Another co-author, 28-year-old Sgt. Omar Mora, also was killed in the crash.
The Times piece, called "The War As We Saw It," expressed doubts about American gains in Iraq. "To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched," the group wrote. In the last line, the authors reaffirmed their own commitment: "We need not talk about our morale. As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through."
full Gazette story:
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/09/13/news/state/20-gates.txt
This mission is done for two of them!! May God bless them in their next!
The full Times Opinion piece they wrote:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/opinion/19jayamaha.html?ex=1189742400&en=10c7f4155337e9ab&ei=5070
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Soldier loved Army, gave frank assessment
Montanan co-wrote New York Times opinion critical of war
By The Associated Press
HELENA - A soldier from Eastern Montana killed in Iraq earlier this week was one of the authors of a high-profile New York Times opinion piece critical of the progress being made in the war.
Staff Sgt. Yance T. Gray of Ismay was remembered Wednes-day as a strong and friendly leader who loved the Army and dreamed of being a soldier his entire life. A member of the 82nd Airborne Division, he died Monday when the cargo truck he was riding in overturned in Baghdad.
Another co-author, 28-year-old Sgt. Omar Mora, also was killed in the crash.
The Times piece, called "The War As We Saw It," expressed doubts about American gains in Iraq. "To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched," the group wrote. In the last line, the authors reaffirmed their own commitment: "We need not talk about our morale. As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through."
full Gazette story:
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/09/13/news/state/20-gates.txt
While we have the will and the resources to fight in this context, we are effectively hamstrung because realities on the ground require measures we will always refuse — namely, the widespread use of lethal and brutal force.
Political reconciliation in Iraq will occur, but not at our insistence or in ways that meet our benchmarks. It will happen on Iraqi terms when the reality on the battlefield is congruent with that in the political sphere. There will be no magnanimous solutions that please every party the way we expect, and there will be winners and losers. The choice we have left is to decide which side we will take. Trying to please every party in the conflict — as we do now — will only ensure we are hated by all in the long run.
In the end, we need to recognize that our presence may have released Iraqis from the grip of a tyrant, but that it has also robbed them of their self-respect. They will soon realize that the best way to regain dignity is to call us what we are — an army of occupation — and force our withdrawal.
Until that happens, it would be prudent for us to increasingly let Iraqis take center stage in all matters, to come up with a nuanced policy in which we assist them from the margins but let them resolve their differences as they see fit. This suggestion is not meant to be defeatist, but rather to highlight our pursuit of incompatible policies to absurd ends without recognizing the incongruities.
We need not talk about our morale. As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through.
This mission is done for two of them!! May God bless them in their next!
The full Times Opinion piece they wrote:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/19/opinion/19jayamaha.html?ex=1189742400&en=10c7f4155337e9ab&ei=5070