CNN:
Washington's Mount Rainier National Park is expected to remain closed Tuesday as authorities continue to investigate the deaths of a park ranger and the man suspected of killing her.
Authorities found Benjamin Colton Barnes' body Monday, face down in a river in the park. He was the suspect in the New Year's Day shooting death of park ranger Margaret Anderson.
More innocent victims of the Iraq war.
According to the LA Times,
Barnes' former girlfriend, Nicole Santos, had sought protection from him in 2011 for the couple's young daughter. She said Barnes suffered from stress after his deployment to Iraq in 2007 and 2008.
...
Santos said in court papers that Barnes kept a small arsenal of guns and knives at his home and had been suicidal. "If you come home don't be surprised to find my brains splattered all over the walls," Barnes texted her when she tried to leave him last January. In July, Santos said, he texted her: "I want to die."
"He gets easily irritated, depressed, angry and frustrated," she wrote. "I am fearful of what Benjamin is capable of."
I'm so frickin' angry I just want to scream.
The huge tragedy is people who clamor to go to war don't care about the cost. Not just the trillions of wasted dollars, but the cost in humanity. No-one comes back from a war whole. Some are missing limbs, but many - maybe most - are missing part of their souls. Whatever you call it, their lives have been pretty well destroyed. They're sitting on the street corners and freeway entrances all around us here in Portland. They are the throw-aways from the war that made too many generals and politicians and contractors rich. THOW-AWAYS. Like used artillery shells, bought, paid for, and dumped in the bin when no longer useful.
Anyone who thinks Iraq was fought "to defend our country" is a fool. No-one has died "defending our country" since about 1945. Since then, it's all been about money and pride and oil and winning elections, and has little to do with us ordinary Americans. I hope it's not necessary to point out that I respect the soldiers; but I have nothing but contempt for the politicians that did this to them.
There's a guy here in Portland that posts here as Bohica. He says never give a moment of silence for the veterans; instead scream at the top of your lungs. He's right.