The Liberal Avenger
From Editor and Publisher:
The Op-Ed by seven active duty U.S. soldiers in Iraq questioning the war drew international attention just three weeks ago. Now two of the seven are dead.
Sgt. Omar Mora and Sgt. Yance T. Gray died Monday in a vehicle accident in western Baghdad, two of seven U.S. troops killed in the incident which was reported just as Gen. David Petraeus was about to report to Congress on progress in the “surge.” The names have just been released.
Mora, 28, hailed from Texas City, Texas, and was a native of Ecuador, who had just become a U.S. citizen. He was due to leave Iraq in November and leaves behind a wife and daughter. Gray, 26, had lived in Ismay, Montana, and is also survived by a wife and infant daughter.
The accident in Iraq occurred when a cargo truck the men were riding in overturned.
The Daily News in Galveston interviewed Mora’s mother, who confirmed his death and that he was one of the co-authors of the Times piece. The article today relates: “Olga Capetillo said that by the time Mora submitted the editorial, he had grown increasingly depressed. ‘I told him God is going to take care of him and take him home,’ she said. ‘But yesterday is the darkest day for me.’
One of the other five authors of the Times piece, Staff Sergeant Jeremy Murphy, an Army Ranger and reconnaissance team leader, was shot in the head while the article was being written. He was expected to survive after being flown to a military hospital in the United States.
The New York Times Op-Ed is here.
At the time the Op-Ed was written, there was plenty of the hate-mongering we’ve come to expect from the pro-war crowd whenever someone challenges the president’s rosy assessments. Some questioned the soldiers’ patriotism, and some said that they were merely fronts for a Democratic propaganda writer. Some even said that the soldiers should face a court martial for engaging in treason (see this thread).
But it should be said that there were also many who disagreed, but still managed to honor the writers’ service. I suspect that most of these were veterans, while most of those who questioned their patriotism were not. One reasoned and respectful rebuttal appeared on the Black Five website.
I think there’s a lesson here. People can disagree about important matters without calling one another traitors. When we give each other the benefit of the doubt, it leads to a more enlightened discourse. And soldiers, especially combat veterans, deserve the benefit of any doubt when it comes to their patriotism and commitment to duty.
If the idiots over at Moveon understood that, they wouldn’t have embarrassed themselves with their “General Betray Us” ad in the New York Times.
(cross posted at appletree)
