A couple of months ago, I wrote a
diary about Donald Rumsfeld's cold, casual attitude over extending tours of duty for the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team:
Now, is -- if you extend somebody, is there some disappointment that they won't be home when they thought they might be home? Sure. And -- but, as I say, these are -- this is a professional military and they're doing a superb job. And I think that, were that to happen -- it has happened. I remember a couple of years ago there was a unit that was due to come out and it was held over for a matter of a few months more, and they handled it in a professional way and got on with life.
I then told you about the men from the unit Rumsfeld mentioned who had died during their extended tours and that they'd never be able to get on with their lives.
And now there are men from the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team that like those "fungibles" before them, will never be able to get on with their lives...
These were the men who
were redeployed to Baghdad to deal with the out of control sectarian violence
after some of them had already returned home, while others were in Kuwait, awaiting their flights home. And since then?
There was Cpl. Alexander Jordan, 31 years old, who died "when he encountered enemy forces using small arms fire." Said his mother:
Jordan's mother, Candace Jordan, recently had been preparing for her son's delayed homecoming. He was preparing to move back to Miami-Dade County with his wife, who lives in Anchorage, Candace Jordan said. The two were married in April.
"He wanted to have a house full of kids," she said.
And there was Sgt. David J. Davis, age 32, who died "of injuries sustained when an improvised explosive device detonated near his Stryker Armored Vehicle." Said a fellow soldier:
Sgt. Davis your memory will live on. You were a friend, a brother, and a hero to all of us medics. It is a shame your life had to be taken this way. My deepest sympathies to your wife, kids, and your entire family.
And Staff Sgt. Jonathan Rojas, age 27, who died "from injuries suffered from enemy small arms fire." According to his sister and aunt:
After serving seven years in the military, Rojas was looking forward to being a civilian and starting a family with his wife, Tasha Lynn, said his younger sister, Isaura Rojas.
"He was a great kid who never got in trouble," said his aunt, Sara Cruz. "He was very close to his family."
And there was Sgt. Nicholas R. Sowinski, age 25, who died "from injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle." Said a family friend:
It is such a loss for all of us that Nick is gone. If you knew Nick, you understand what I mean - he was the sort of man you wanted in this world, that rare sort of man with such strength of character that you wished you saw more often in these hard times.
And finally there was Staff Sgt. Eugene H.E. Alex, age 32, who died "when he encountered enemy forces using small arms fire." A friend simply said:
We never called him Eugene or Gene. Everybody called him Eug," Elliott said.
None of these men will ever get on with their life because they were guinea pigs in Donald Rumsfeld's grand experiment of going "to war with the Army you have, not the Army you want."
And for lack of a better phrase, adding insult to injury, last August Rumsfeld went to Alaska to meet with the families of the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team. And he lied to them:
Rumsfeld told families in August that the 172nd's arrival in Baghdad had contributed to a 40 percent to 50 percent decrease of civilian deaths there.
But as is often the case, the words from this administration didn't match reality:
Baghdad's morgue almost tripled its count for violent deaths in Iraq's capital during August from 550 to 1,536, authorities said Thursday, appearing to erase most of what U.S. generals and Iraqi leaders had touted as evidence of progress in a major security operation to restore order in the capital. [...]
By late August, Maj. Gen. William Caldwell was claiming a 46 percent decrease in the murder rate in Baghdad for that month.
Said the father of one of the 172nd Stryker Brigade:
...he was frustrated when he discovered some of Rumsfeld's more comforting comments were in question. He said the brigade's role in reducing civilian deaths made the reason for an extension easier to accept.
"I trusted what he said and felt good from the perspective, especially, that maybe this is something they had to do," he said.
Their reason for going to this war was a lie, their tour of duty was extended because of incompetence and the families of these men were "comforted" with a lie. Five more men are dead and meanwhile, Donald Rumsfeld is getting on with his life.