The king of Zor, he called for war
And the king of Zam, he answered.
They fashioned their weapons one upon one
Ton upon ton, they called for war at the rise of the sun.

Out went the call to one and to all
That echoed and rolled like the thunder.
Trumpets and drums, roar upon roar
More upon more.
Rolling the call of "Come now to war."

Throughout the night they fashioned their might
With right on the side of the mighty.
They puzzled their minds plan upon plan
Man upon man
And at dying of dawn the great war began.

They met on the battlefield banner in hand.
They looked out across the vacant land.
And they counted the missing, one upon one,
None upon none.
The war it was over before it begun.

Two little kings playing a game.
They gave a war and nobody came.
And nobody came.
And nobody came.
And nobody came.
And nobody came.

~The Monkees~

Jim

This one has probably already been posted but here it is again

Listen children to a story
That was written long ago
'Bout a kingdom, on a mountain
And the valley folk below
On the mountian was a treasure
Burried deep beneath a stone
And the valley people swore
They'd have it for their very own

Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of Heaven
You can justify it in the end
There wont be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgement day
On the bloody morning after who...
One tin soldier rides away

So the people of the valley
Sent a message up the hill
Asking for the burried treasure
Tons of gold for which they'd kill
Cam an answer from the kingdom
With our brothers we will share
All the secrets of our mountain
N' all the riches burried there

Now the valley cried in anger
Mount your horses
Draw your sword
And they killed the mountain people
So they won their just reward
Now they stood beside the treasure
On the mountain dark and red
Turn the stone and which beneath it
"Peace on Earth"
Was all it said

Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of Heaven
You can justify it in the end
There wont be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgement day
On the bloody morning after who...
One tin soldier rides away

Go ahead and hate your neighbor
Go ahead and cheat a friend
Do it in the name of Heaven
You can justify it in the end
There wont be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgement day
On the bloody morning after who...
One tin soldier rides away

~Coven~
Jim

Interesting that now Jonathan Russell Howard's name has been removed from the list altogether after having been listed as pending confirmation for all this time. Just what did happen to Jonathan? Is he still alive? Is he MIA? More unanswered questions for the DOD. In the meantime the list has grown somewhat and added a couple more names (which will remain faceless names as long as Bush is in charge).

All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2586 Confirmed: 2582 Pending: 4

Date Name DOD
08/04/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/04/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/03/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/03/06 Ulloa Jr., George M. DoD Confirmation
08/02/06 Laird, Dustin D. DoD Confirmation
08/02/06 Jopek, Ryan D. DoD Confirmation
07/31/06 Ford, Joshua DoD Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

http://icasualties.org/oif/BY_DOD.aspx

We have lost a couple more of our finest even as most of America watches the fireworks in Lebanon. More faceless Americans have fallen unnoticed by the wayside.

All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2588 Confirmed: 2584 Pending: 4

Date Name DOD
08/05/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/04/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/04/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/03/06 Dechen, Kurt E. DoD Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

There have also been 19272 Americans wounded with 8789 of them not returned to duty within 72 hours.

http://icasualties.org/oif/default.aspx

There are still 324 US fatalities in Afghanistan with 795 injured there.

http://www.icasualties.org/oef/

Operation Housecall gets a visit from a righty

Week Five, Day Five
Posted by Stacy Bannerman on

“Who paid for those boots?” asks a smirking, steel-haired man. He’s not the first to do so, just the first one today. But it’s the end of the week, and my patience has already gone home. I glance at Anne Roesler, nodding my head slightly, to let her know I’ve got this one.

“Our loved ones did.”

“Oh, c’mon” he says disgustedly, “Who paid for ‘em?”

“Seriously, our soldiers paid for them.”

He tries another tack, and like the fifty-something man the day before, wants to know where he can get some of his own.

I hand him a recruiting brochure and direct him to the nearest military recruiter’s office in the area.

“They wouldn’t take me, I’m too old.”

“Do you have kids?”

“Yeah, but they’re in high school.”

“That’s perfect for the Early Entry program! They can sign up right now and start Basic Training as soon as they graduate.”

Shaking his head with disgust, he stalks off. This type of exchange happens daily, but I am still appalled at the callousness of people who first try to make a joke about what we’re doing in front of the Cannon House building. When that doesn’t work, they say or imply that they support the troops and we do not. But they get angry when we encourage them to demonstrate their support for the troops by actually becoming one, or at the very least, enlisting their children.

This scenario has played out in multiple variations since the vigil began five weeks ago. But not a single person has expressed the slightest bit of interest in committing themselves or their family members to military service. Each time they cut and run, I call out to their retreating backs, “Bring ‘em home, or go and help!”

I used to be nicer than this; at least I like to think I was. But five weeks of heat, and humidity, and daily descents into the Seventh Circle of Congressional Hell that is the House—and Senate--offices has burned away any nice I may once have had. What remains is raw, unadulterated truth, a pure passion for peace and the preservation of what is left of our loved ones. I am no longer willing to buffer the edges of my soul in order that the soul of Congress, and the people of this nation, can sleepwalk through this war.

Who has paid for these boots? 2,570 dead American soldiers; 18,988 wounded troops, and the nearly 100,000 Iraq War veterans with some level of post-traumatic stress disorder. For the more than 3,000 members of Military Families Speak Out, the price doubles, triples, quadruples. We pay with our children, our husbands, our brothers, and our wives. We pay in sleepless nights and nightmarish days. We pay with our marriages, our friendships, and sometimes, our jobs. We gave our loved ones to the military; now we give our lives to ending the war.

Who paid for those boots? We did. We still are. And today, it feels like we will be forever
http://www.mfso.org/article.php?id=675

Looking back on the memory of
The dance we shared 'neath the stars alone
For a moment all the world was right
How could i have known that you'd ever say goodbye

And now i'm glad i didn't know
The way it all would end the way it all would go
Our lives are better left to chance i could have missed the pain
But i'd of had to miss the dance


http://icasualties.org/oif/BY_DOD.aspx
All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2588 Confirmed: 2584 Pending: 4
Date Name DOD
08/05/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/04/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/04/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/03/06 Dechen, Kurt E. DoD Confirmation
08/02/06 Tomci, Joseph A. DoD Confirmation
08/02/06 Lee, Marc A. DoD Confirmation
08/01/06 Hsia, Hai Ming DoD Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

The toll continues to climb. Three more names added today. This is rapidly becoming the "forgotten" war as Israel continues its incursions into Lebanon and Hezbollah continues to shell Israel getting primary coverage on all news outlets. Let's make sure that the sacrifice of these brave Americans is not forgotten.

Total: 2591 Confirmed: 2586 Pending: 5
Date Name DOD
08/06/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/06/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/06/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/05/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/04/06 Storey, Clint J. DoD Confirmation
08/04/06 Beste, Bradley H. DoD Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

The long and winding road that leads to your door,
Will never disappear,
I've seen that road before It always leads me here,
Leads me to your door.

The wild and windy night the rain washed away,
Has left a pool of tears crying for the day.
Why leave me standing here, let me know the way

Many times I've been alone and many times I've cried
Anyway you'll never know the many ways I've tried, but
Still they lead me back to the long and winding road
You left me standing here a long, long time ago
Don't leave me waiting here, lead me to you door




All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2592 Confirmed: 2591 Pending: 1
Date Name DOD
08/06/06 Zamora, Jose DoD Confirmation
08/06/06 Clark, Carlton A. DoD Confirmation
08/06/06 Seale, Stephen A. DoD Confirmation
08/05/06 Kubik, Brian J. DoD Confirmation
08/04/06 Storey, Clint J. DoD Confirmation
08/04/06 Segura Jr., Leroy DoD Confirmation
08/04/06 Beste, Bradley H. DoD Confirmation
08/03/06 Ulloa Jr., George M. DoD Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

His neck is red as alabama clay
Now he's goin' home this time to stay
Where the roots run deep on the family tree
And the tractor rolls through the fields of green
His neck is red as alabama clay
Now he's goin' home this time to stay
Where the roots run deep on the family tree
And the tractor rolls through the fields of green




http://icasualties.org/oif/BY_DOD.aspx
All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2598 Confirmed: 2591 Pending: 7
Date Name DOD
08/09/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/09/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/09/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/09/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/09/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

We continue to add names to the list of those injured in Iraq at an alarming pace and the battlefield in Afghanistan seems to be heating up once again as well.

There have also been 19387 Americans wounded with 8840 of them not returned to duty within 72 hours.

http://icasualties.org/oif/default.aspx

There have beenl 324 US fatalities in Afghanistan with 851 injured there.

http://www.icasualties.org/oef/

Just what is the story with Raymond Salerno, III? Is he missing in action and they are unable to confirm his death? What other reasons could there be for carrying his name as unconfirmed dead for almost a month now? As we approach 2600 casualties and 1200 days since our dazed leader stated that the mission was accomplished, let us not forget all of the names on this website and their loved ones as well as the 324 who have died in Afghanistan and the many thousands who have been permanently scarred both physically and mentally by their service. The sad part of this whole situation is that we still appear to be wandering aimlessly in Iraq and Afghanistan as mayhem reign supreme in both theathers. How long can we allow this travesty before we are forced to take to the streets?

All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2599 Confirmed: 2592 Pending: 7

Date Name DOD
08/10/06 Long, Jeremy Z. DoD Confirmation
08/09/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/09/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/09/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/09/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/09/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

I heard a caller tell Tom Hartmann the other day that we had lost "2500 and change" American lives at which Tom literally freaked out. How can anyone refer to any number of deaths as "change"? According to the caller's logic, we can now start referring to the number of deaths as "2600 and change" until we reach 2700. Following this line of reasoning we should just start calling it "2000 and change". What would the difference be? It is shocking to me that anybody could be so callous when talking about someone's life ending. Perhaps this attitude is just due to the absence of images of American coffins being returned, wounded civilians in he Iraq and Afghanistan theaters, and objective eyewitness reports in our daily papers and on our "news networks". We have allowed ourselves to be manipulated to the point that we no longer view war as affecting hundreds of thousands (or more likely millions) of lives, but instead as the practice of our patriotism. Is anyone else as infuriated by this as I am?

All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2601 Confirmed: 2594 Pending: 7

Date Name DOD
08/12/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/12/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/09/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/09/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/09/06 Jagger, Aaron Pending Confirmation
08/09/06 Brown, Jeffery S. DoD Confirmation
08/09/06 Mennemeyer, Steven P. DoD Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

I dont know why the numbers are off.

So bye-bye, miss american pie.
Drove my chevy to the levee,
But the levee was dry.
And them good old boys were drinkin whiskey and rye
Singin, thisll be the day that I die.
Thisll be the day that I die.





All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2601 Confirmed: 2594 Pending: 7
Date Name DOD
08/12/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/12/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/09/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/09/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/09/06 Jagger, Aaron Pending Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation


Btw.....here is a bit on Raymond A Salerno, III...........His pending status, is not.

Soldier's injuries lead to heart failure

He had shown marked improvement from severe burns he suffered when his tank blew up in Iraq.

GINA PACE
Published July 20, 2006
LAND O'LAKES - A Land O'Lakes soldier who was struck by a roadside bomb in Iraq in October died Sunday of heart failure caused by the stress of his injuries.

He was 27.

Army Spc. Raymond A. Salerno III's death came as a surprise to his family, who said his health had been steadily improving since he suffered third-degree burns on both hands, his left arm and leg when the Bradley tank he was in about 30 miles north of Baghdad hit a roadside bomb.

Salerno's health had improved enough that he could walk around and even travel.

About two months ago, he proposed to Nerea Guerrica of Tampa, the mother of their 7-month-old son, Nikolas.

"He was progressively getting better and better," said Salerno's mother, Robin Salerno. "When she said 'yes' to him he turned back to himself."

On the Fourth of July, he visited his family in Land O'Lakes and held his son.

Salerno graduated from Land O'Lakes High School in 1997, and worked his way up to night supervisor at Response Mail, a direct mail marketing company.

His mother said he joined the Army because he wanted to get a college education. Guerrica said he talked about going to the police academy and earning a pilot's license.

"Whatever he did he did well, and he did that for the military," said his father, Raymond Salerno Jr. "I'm so proud of him being a soldier."

After Salerno was injured, he was taken to Brooke Army Medical Center in Fort Sam Houston, Texas. His mother stayed for six weeks, nursing him back to health and changing his bandages, a process that sometimes took 10 hours.

As Salerno improved, he went back to his company at Fort Benning, Ga. Gradually, he took on duties such as answering the phone, his mother said.

"He was happy to get back to Fort Benning," Salerno Jr. said. "He had a lot of friends there; they were like his brothers."

Earlier this month, he went back to Brooke Army Medical Center for observation, where his heart failed and he died unexpectedly.

Inside their Land O'Lakes home, Salerno's family described him Wednesday as caring and kindhearted, and said he had a strong faith in God. He sent a birthday card this month to Guerrica. She received it before he died.

"I love you, and miss you. And I will see you soon. Until then I will see you in my dreams," he wrote.

Salerno is also survived by brothers Christopher and Joshua, and a sister, Camille.

A viewing will be held from 2 to 4 p.m. and from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday at Loyless Funeral Home in Land O'Lakes. A service will be at 10 a.m. Monday at Loyless, followed by a burial at Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell.

Salerno, Jr. said his son's entire company plans to travel from Fort Benning for the service.
© Copyright, St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.

Total: 2601

And i know a father who had a son
He longed to tell him all the reasons for the things he'd done
He came a long way just to explain
He kissed his boy as he lay sleeping
Then he turned around and he headed home again

Whoah god only knows, god makes his plan
The information's unavailable to the mortal man
We're workin' our jobs, collect our pay
Believe we're gliding down the highway, when in fact we're slip sliding away
(Paul Simon)



All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2601 Confirmed: 2597 Pending: 4
Date Name DOD
08/12/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/12/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/10/06 Long, Jeremy Z. DoD Confirmation
08/09/06 Ramirez, Ignacio DoD Confirmation
08/09/06 Jagger, Aaron DoD Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

I know a woman, (who) became a wife
These are the very words she uses to describe her life
She said a good day aint got no rain
She said a bad day is when I lie in the bed
And I think of things that might have been.

(same Simon)

....Yeh.


btw.....Im keeping this guy on the list until DoD figures out whether his family gets combat INS $ or they can blow his death off on something non-war-related.
Its all about the money afterall......we wouldnt wanna waste any money in Irag....certainly not in paying the families of the DEAD.

My feelings exactly. The DOD certainly is taking along time making up their minds on this one. There must be some amazing extenuating circumstances involved here.

Now the beach is deserted except for some kelp
And a piece of an old ship that lies on the shore.
You always responded when i needed your help,
You gimme a map and a key to your door.

Sara, oh sara,
Glamorous nymph with an arrow and bow,
Sara, oh sara,
Don't ever leave me, don't ever go.
(Sara, Bob Dylan)




All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2604 Confirmed: 2600 Pending: 4
Date Name DOD
08/15/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/15/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/12/06 Jenkins, Kenneth A. DoD Confirmation
08/12/06 Zeigler, Kevin L. DoD Confirmation
08/12/06 Lloyd, Michael C. DoD Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

Btw....These deaths do not even make the news anymore.
(I do not have a clue who the 4th pending is. And DoD probably doesnt either.)

Sad to think that the number killed since this conflict began will hit almost exactly the number killed on Sept. 11, 2001...and at about the same exact time

The DOD is playing fast and loose with this list now. They have deleted the two listings for 8/15 and replaced them with one for 8/16. The only other listing that is pending confirmation is Raymond Salerno, even though they list 3 as pending. I have screened the entire list back to 3/31/03 and can only find those two. Pretty soon the DOD will just stop providing these names in their quest to dehumanize this war.

All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2603 Confirmed: 2600 Pending: 3

Date Name DOD
08/16/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

http://icasualties.org/oif/BY_DOD.aspx

Add one pending and the #s get messy again.


They say ev'rything can be replaced,
Yet ev'ry distance is not near.
So i remember ev'ry face
Of ev'ry man who put me here.
I see my light come shining
From the west unto the east.
Any day now, any day now,
I shall be released.


All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2604 Confirmed: 2600 Pending: 4
Date Name DOD
08/17/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/16/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

I guess there must be somebody new doing the updates on this site, someone without an elementary knowledge of math or they haven't actaully looked at the list to see if they are correct.

There have now been 19,511 Americans injured in Iraq with 8886 of them not being returned to duty within 72 hours. This goes right along with the report released today about an increased number of IEDs aimed at Americans over the last few months. Of course, as usual, these figures do not include mental conditions as a result of this war, which have variously been reported as being in the tens of thousands.

http://icasualties.org/oif/default.aspx

There have also been 328 Americans injured in Afghanistan with 851 having suffered physical injuries.

Come down off your throne and leave your body alone.
Somebody must change.
You are the reason i've been waiting so long.
Somebody holds the key.

But i'm near the end and i just ain't got the time
And i'm wasted and i can't find my way home.

Come down on your own and leave your body alone.
Somebody must change.

You are the reason i've been waiting all these years.
Somebody holds the key.

But i can't find my way home.
But i can't find my way home.
But i can't find my way home.
But i can't find my way home.
Still i can't find my way home,
And i ain't done nothing wrong,
But i can't find my way home.
(Steve Winwood)




All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2605 Confirmed: 2601 Pending: 4
Date Name DOD
08/17/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/16/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/16/06 Phillips, John P. DoD Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

At least the DOD is now getting closer on confirmations, although they are still one off on the number that are pending.

All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2605 Confirmed: 2602 Pending: 3

Date Name DOD
08/17/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation


http://icasualties.org/oif/BY_DOD.aspx

The percentage you're paying is too high priced
While you're living beyond all your means
And the man in the suit has just bought a new car
From the profit he's made on your dreams
But today you just read that the man was shot dead
By a gun that didn't make any noise
But it wasn't the bullet that laid him to rest was
The low spark of high-heeled boys

If you had just a minute to breathe and they granted you one final wish
Would you ask for something like another chance?
Or something similar as this? don't worry too much
It'll happen to you as sure as your sorrows are joys
And the thing that disturbs you is only the sound of
The low spark of high-heeled boys

If i gave you everything that i owned and asked for nothing in return
Would you do the same for me as i would for you?
Or take me for a ride, and strip me of everything including my pride
But spirit is something that no one destroys
And the sound that i'm hearing is only the sound
The low spark of high-heeled boys




http://icasualties.org/oif/BY_DOD.aspx
All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2607 Confirmed: 2603 Pending: 4
Date Name DOD
08/19/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/17/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/16/06 McKenna IV, John J. DoD Confirmation
08/16/06 Glover, Michael D. DoD Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

The DOD site now says that there have been 333 Americans killed in action during Operation Enduring Freedom. They also still say that there have been 851 injured there, even though reports earlier today said that at least two more soldiers had been injured. I guess they are a little slow in updating that section of the board since that has been the total injured for the last week. I'll keep watching.

Hey, look yonder, tell me what you see
Marching to the fields of Vietnam(Enter war name here)?
It looks like Handsome Johnny with an M15,
Marching to the Vietnam war, hey marching to the Vietnam war.

Hey, what's the use of singing this song, some of you are not even listening.
Tell me what it is we've got to do: wait for our fields to start glistening,
Wait for the bullets to start whistling.
Here comes a hydrogen bomb, here comes a guided missile,
Here comes a hydrogen bomb: I can almost hear its whistle.



http://icasualties.org/oif/BY_DOD.aspx
All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2611 Confirmed: 2603 Pending: 8
Date Name DOD
08/21/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/20/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/20/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/20/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/19/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/17/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

"there must be some way out of here," said the joker to the thief,
"there's too much confusion, i can't get no relief.
Businessmen, they drink my wine, plowmen dig my earth,
None of them along the line know what any of it is worth."

"no reason to get excited," the thief, he kindly spoke,
"there are many here among us who feel that life is but a joke.




http://icasualties.org/oif/BY_DOD.aspx
All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2611 Confirmed: 2604 Pending: 7
Date Name DOD
08/21/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/20/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/20/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/20/06 Newman, Randy Lee Pending Confirmation
08/19/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/17/06 Arellano, James J. DoD Confirmation
08/16/06 McKenna IV, John J. DoD Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

The last two verses of a poem I wrote based on a dream I had. I'd like to think of it as an offering to all of the lost boys:

"My legs did the running but my brother gave me the strength.
Who, then, was protecting whom? Who ran and who was carried?
Who was brave and who only wished to be so?
And in the end we both were everything, fused like smoke and fire,
like mist from a lake evaporating in the heat of another rising morning.

If, while awake, I could only have such power against tyrants
and could steal back the boys who died, running with them
tucked under my arms, as their life’s blood ran back into their bodies,
up from the stained ground, reversing time, reversing war, running back
to before they were ensnared, exploited, condemned, abandoned.
To run, to be rescued, without distinction between who is what:
rescuer or rescued, without distinction between us."

Very nice writing, Stinky.
Thanks for sharing.

So, in comparing Rain's list from yesterday to today's DOD list, they state that there are now 2613 deaths with 4 pending even though there have not been any new listings of either names or names not release yet. This list continues to mystify me as to how they come up with their totals. Some days they subtract numbers, other days they add some without putting up more names, and every day they list one more as pending than actually appears on the list. Maybe the DOD is just overwhelmed and can't keep an accurate count any longer, which is really a sad state of affairs when they are dealing with the lives of Americans.

All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2613 Confirmed: 2609 Pending: 4

Date Name DOD
08/21/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/20/06 DeRoo, Gabriel G. DoD Confirmation
08/20/06 Kenyon, Chadwick T. DoD Confirmation
08/20/06 Galvez, Adam A. DoD Confirmation
08/19/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/17/06 Arellano, James J. DoD Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

Oh, if only it were so! Nice sentiments expressed here in a very readable freestyle form.

Thanks, Aleman and Rain.

http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?op...&Itemid=182

....the numbers tick off so quickly the number is much different since Ive typed this.


"According to a recent UN report, 5818 civilians were killed and at least 5762 wounded in May and June 2006.
Soon, Irag will be empty.

Unfortunately, most people see these as just a couple more numbers since we are not allowed to put faces along side of them. That would be comparable to losing at least 60,000 Americans over a couple of months if you allow for the difference in population of the two countries. Move along folks, nothing to see here if you believe the Bush cabal!

Richard Perle--“I believe demolishing Hussein’s military power and liberating Iraq would be a cakewalk....It was a cakewalk last time.."
General Richard B. Myers, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, serenely anticipated “a short, short conflict.”
Vice-President Cheney said that the war would go “relatively quickly,” and that American troops would be “greeted as liberators.” He went on, when asked if the fighting might prove to be long, costly, and bloody, “Well, I don’t think it’s likely to unfold that way.”

Perle, still a Defense Policy Board member chairman, predicted on the eve of the war that it would last no longer than three weeks, adding, “And there is a good chance that it will be less than that.” Last summer, he declared that “support for Saddam, including within his military organization, will collapse at the first whiff of gunpowder.” In the February 24th issue of National Review, David Frum, the former “axis of evil” White House speechwriter, wrote that “the Iraq fight itself is probably going to go very, very fast. The shooting should be over within just a very few days from when it starts.”


Left alone with just a memory
Life seems dead and so unreal
All that's left is loneliness
There's nothing left to feel

You don't have to say you love me
Just be close at hand
You don't have to stay forever
I will understand
Believe me, believe me



http://icasualties.org/oif/BY_DOD.aspx
All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2617 Confirmed: 2611 Pending: 6
Date Name DOD
08/24/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/24/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/23/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/21/06 Clemmons, Brad A. DoD Confirmation
08/20/06 DeRoo, Gabriel G. DoD Confirmation
08/20/06 Newman, Randy Lee DoD Confirmation
08/19/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/2821...oratewar23.html
Wednesday, August 23, 2006

When war is on the horizon, follow the money

GARY FERDMAN AND MYRIAM MIEDZIAN
GUEST COLUMNISTS

Pop quiz: Who founded the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq?

A. A prominent Iraqi political exile.

B. Bruce Jackson, former Lockheed Martin vice president

C. Neoconservatives William Kristol and Paul Wolfowitz.

Answer: b.

What does this mean? To understand our nation's foreign policy, including military interventions, follow the money.

This should come as no surprise. Our country is built on the profit motive; we proved its effectiveness by outlasting the Soviet Union.

While Americans understand that making money motivates McDonald's or Wal-Mart, and some are concerned about businesses donating large sums to influence politicians, most are unaware of how the profit motive helps shape U.S. foreign policy.

This is caused in part by our leaders draping decisions, especially wars, in patriotism. Take Iraq; President Bush leads Americans to believe that Saddam Hussein was involved in 9/11, has weapons of mass destruction, and threatens our national security. Once he invades Iraq, any questioning is portrayed as endangering our troops and homeland.

By the time most Americans realize that none of it is true, thousands of young soldiers are killed or maimed and hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars are flowing to often incompetent, politically connected Pentagon contractors.

For most decent, caring Americans it is almost unthinkable that the profit motive played a significant role in putting our soldiers in harm's way. It is painful to acknowledge that we have been lied to, and to ask, why? Why was this war started? What role did our president's, vice president's, and secretary of state's close ties to the oil industry play? Which powerful American companies stood to profit?

Bruce Jackson founded the Committee for the Liberation of Iraq in 2002, a few months after retiring from Lockheed Martin. In 2001, he and other members of the neocon Project for a New American Century wrote to President Bush stating that "American forces must be prepared to back up our commitment to the Iraqi opposition by all necessary means." A year earlier, Jackson had chaired the subcommittee that produced the Republican Party's foreign policy plank that George Bush ran on in 2000.

Any chance that the views Jackson promoted had something to do with the billions that Lockheed Martin pockets thanks to the war?

For war profiteers, soldiers returning maimed or in caskets, and a $500 billion Pentagon budget paid for by the taxes of ordinary citizens, are externalities -- costs and consequences borne by others.

There is nothing new about weapons manufacturers encouraging wars and profiteering from them.

During the Civil War, President Lincoln stated that those profiteering from defective weapons "ought to have their devilish heads shot off."

The role of weapons manufacturers in creating the tensions that led to World War I is well documented, and no doubt influenced President Roosevelt's 1934 message to Congress that "the uncontrolled activities of the manufacturers, and merchants of engines of destruction," were a menace to world peace.

Profiteering was so common during WWII that then-Sen. Harry Truman became a national hero by bringing to heel war contractors whose waste and inefficiency threatened the war effort.

In his famous farewell address, President Eisenhower warned the nation of the "undue influence" of the military-industrial complex, and the need to control it.

As the war in Iraq grinds on at a cost of more than $250 million per day, and another contractor-heavy organization, the Iran Policy Committee, calls for a pre-emptive strike against Iran, there is a dire need to act on his warning.

Just as government food inspection and child labor laws were enacted to protect us against the worst excesses of capitalist exploitation, our government must assure that corporate interests do not trump the national interest in foreign policy.

Pentagon contractors' congressional allies routinely defeat or bury in committee initiatives that could curtail war profiteering. This June, for example, all 55 Senate Republicans voted to kill an amendment strengthening laws governing waste, fraud and abuse in defense (43 of 45 Democrats voted for it).

In his farewell address, Eisenhower called for "an alert and knowledgeable citizenry" to stand up to the military industrial complex. Isn't it time to heed his call and demand that our representatives rein in the war profiteers?
Myriam Miedzian is the author of "BOYS WILL BE BOYS: Breaking the Link between Masculinity and Violence."

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/IBO427510.htm

FACTBOX-Security developments in Iraq, Aug 24
24 Aug 2006 07:48:52 GMT
Source: Reuters
Iraq in turmoil
More
Aug 24 (Reuters) - Following are security and other developments in Iraq reported on Thursday, as of 0730 GMT.

BAGHDAD - A U.S. soldier was killed on Wednesday after his unit clashed with militants south of Baghdad, the U.S. military said on Thursday. Two insurgents were also killed in the fighting, it said.

MOSUL - A hospital in Mosul received the bodies of seven people with gunshot wounds, including five from the same family, a hospital source said.

BALAD - Gunmen killed three policemen on Wednesday at a checkpoint in Balad, 80 km (60 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Police found the bodies of three people, handcuffed and with gunshot wounds, in Kut, 170 km (105 miles) southeast of Baghdad, police said.

SUWAYRA - Police found a body, handcuffed and with gunshot wounds, in the town of Suwayra, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD - Two policemen were wounded when a roadside bomb went off near their patrol in central Baghdad on Thursday, police said.

NEAR LATIFIYA - Police retrieved a body, handcuffed, blindfolded and with gunshot wounds, from a river near Latifiya, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

TIKRIT - Police retrieved a body from the Tigris river in the city of Tikrit, 175 km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, a joint U.S. and Iraqi policing centre said.

BAIJI - Police found the body of an Iraqi near the town of Baiji, 180 km (112 miles) north of Baghdad, after earlier finding its severed head in the same town on Wednesday, police said on Thursday.

BAQUBA - Three policemen and three civilians were wounded when a roadside bomb exploded near a police patrol in the religiously mixed city of Baquba, 65 km (40 miles) north of Baghdad, police said.

BAQUBA - A civilian was wounded when a roadside bomb went off near a shop selling alcohol in Baquba, police said

These mist covered mountains
Are a home now for me
But my home is the lowlands
And always will be
Some day you'll return to
Your valleys and your farms
And you'll no longer burn
To be brothers in arm

Through these fields of destruction
Baptism of fire
I've watched all your suffering
As the battles raged higher
And though they did hurt me so bad
In the fear and alarm
You did not desert me
My brothers in arms

There's so many different worlds
So many different suns
And we have just one world
But we live in different ones

Now the sun's gone to hell
And the moon's riding high
Let me bid you farewell
Every man has to die
But it's written in the starlight
And every line on your palm
We're fools to make war
On our brothers in arms



All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2619 Confirmed: 2614 Pending: 5
Date Name DOD
08/24/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/24/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/23/06 Hirlston, James D. DoD Confirmation
08/23/06 Barbieri, Thomas J. DoD Confirmation
08/22/06 Darga, Paul J. DoD Confirmation
08/20/06 Kenyon, Chadwick T. DoD Confirmation
08/20/06 Galvez, Adam A. DoD Confirmation
08/19/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

I-will be watching over you
I-am gonna help you see it through
I-will protect you in the night
I-am smiling next to you...in silent lucidity

If you open your mind for me
You won't rely on open eyes to see
The walls you built within
Come tumblng down, and a new world will begin
Living twice at once you learn
You're safe from pain in the dream domain
A soul set free to fly
A round trip journey in your head
Master of illusion, can you realize
Your dream's alive, you can be the guide...



All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2622 Confirmed: 2620 Pending: 2
Date Name DOD
08/26/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/25/06 Pierson, Jordan C. DoD Confirmation
08/24/06 King, Jeremy E. DoD Confirmation
08/24/06 Thorne, William E. DoD Confirmation
08/24/06 Williams, Dwayne E. DoD Confirmation
08/24/06 Solomon, Gordon G. DoD Confirmation
08/19/06 Quick, Marquees A. DoD Confirmation

Not only is this guys name no longer pending but it has been removed from the list. I guess DoD found a way to get out of calling his death combat related. Opps, on his family.
07/16/06 Salerno III, Raymond A. Pending Confirmation

I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
I look at the floor and i see it needs sweeping
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don't know why nobody told you how to unfold your love
I don't know how someone controlled you
They bought and sold you.

I look at the world and i notice it's turning
While my guitar gently weeps

With every mistake we must surely be learning
Still my guitar gently weeps
I don't know how you were diverted
You were perverted too
I don't know how you were inverted
No one alerted you.

I look at you all see the love there that's sleeping
While my guitar gently weeps
Look at you all...
Still my guitar gently weeps.



http://icasualties.org/oif/BY_DOD.aspx
All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2628 Confirmed: 2620 Pending: 8
Date Name DOD
08/27/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/27/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/27/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/27/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/27/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/27/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/26/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation

I looked to see what happened to Raymond Salerno but do not see his name listed after it was carried as not confirmed for over a month. What is up with that? I notice as well that we have added yet another ten names to the list over the last two days. I was hoping to come back from a short holiday visiting family and find a slowdown in the growth of this list, but I guess that was just wistful thinking. May your souls rest in eternal peace, Amen.

http://icasualties.org/oif/BY_DOD.aspx

All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2638 Confirmed: 2631 Pending: 7

Date Name DOD
08/29/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/29/06 Warndorf, Tyler Pending Confirmation
08/28/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/28/06 Schneider, Matthew E. DoD Confirmation
08/27/06 Hansen, Jeffrey J. DoD Confirmation
08/27/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/27/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/27/06 Benson, Darry DoD Confirmation
08/27/06 Jones, Joshua D. DoD Confirmation
08/27/06 Smith, Tristan Pending Confirmation
08/27/06 Hildreth, Seth A. DoD Confirmation
08/27/06 Almazan, David J. DoD Confirmation
08/27/06 Champlin, Donald E. DoD Confirmation
08/27/06 Dolan, Dan DoD Confirmation
08/27/06 Cross, Kenneth DoD Confirmation
08/26/06 Zayas, Edgardo DoD Confirmation
08/26/06 Weimortz, David G. DoD Confirmation

Aleman, see post #341, re Raymond Salerno.


The words that you said
They still ring in my head
Don't you know
We say goodbye
With a tear in our eye
Oh, where'd you go

It's alright you can sleep tonight
Knowing you'll always live on in a song

Farewell to old friends
Let's raise a glass to the bitter end
Farewell to old friends
Will you be the same when we see you again



http://icasualties.org/oif/BY_DOD.aspx
All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2639 Confirmed: 2632 Pending: 7
Date Name DOD
08/30/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/29/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/29/06 Warndorf, Christopher Tyler DoD Confirmation
08/28/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/27/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/27/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/27/06 Smith, Tristan Pending Confirmation

A spaycial dedication to rummi.


Someone's got it in for me, they're planting stories in the press
Whoever it is i wish they'd cut it out but when they will i can only guess.
They say i shot a man named gray and took his wife to italy,
She inherited a million bucks and when she died it came to me.
I can't help it if i'm lucky.

Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your mouth,
Blowing down the backroads headin' south.
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth,
You're an idiot, babe.
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

I ran into the fortune-teller, who said beware of lightning that might strike
I haven't known peace and quiet for so long i can't remember what it's like.
There's a lone soldier on the cross, smoke pourin' out of a boxcar door,
You didn't know it, you didn't think it could be done, in the final end he won the wars
After losin' every battle.

I woke up on the roadside, daydreamin' 'bout the way things sometimes are
Visions of your chestnut mare shoot through my head and are makin' me see stars.
You hurt the ones that i love best and cover up the truth with lies.
One day you'll be in the ditch, flies buzzin' around your eyes,
Blood on your saddle.

Idiot wind, blowing through the flowers on your tomb,
Blowing through the curtains in your room.
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth,
You're an idiot, babe.
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

It was gravity which pulled us down and destiny which broke us apart
You tamed the lion in my cage but it just wasn't enough to change my heart.
Now everything's a little upside down, as a matter of fact the wheels have stopped,
What's good is bad, what's bad is good, you'll find out when you reach the top
You're on the bottom.

I noticed at the ceremony, your corrupt ways had finally made you blind
I can't remember your face anymore, your mouth has changed, your eyes
Don't look into mine.
The priest wore black on the seventh day and sat stone-faced while the building
Burned.
I waited for you on the running boards, near the cypress trees, while the springtime
Turned slowly into autumn.

Idiot wind, blowing like a circle around my skull,
From the grand coulee dam to the capitol.
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth,
You're an idiot, babe.
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe.

I can't feel you anymore, i can't even touch the books you've read
Every time i crawl past your door, i been wishin' i was somebody else instead.
Down the highway, down the tracks, down the road to ecstasy,
I followed you beneath the stars, hounded by your memory
And all your ragin' glory.

Idiot wind, blowing through the buttons of our coats,
Blowing through the letters that we wrote.
Idiot wind, blowing through the dust upon our shelves,
We're idiots, babe.
It's a wonder we can even feed ourselves.

Thanks, Rain. I guess I just overlooked this when I came back to the board from my trip. I just can't believe that the DOD can list a real person for over a month and then just delist them at the drop of a hat. No explanations, no traces left. Very nicely done boys.

There have now been 19,773 Americans injured in Iraq with 8991 of them severely injured enought to not return to duty within 72 hours. Anybody have any idea how many Americans have been processed through Ramstein (I think that is the name of the evacuation hospital in Germany) since March, 2003?

Something is definitely wrong with this site http://www.icasualties.org/oef/ as they still list 333 Americans killed in Afghanistan with 851 injured, the same figures that have shown up there for at least a couple of weeks. As much action as there is in Afghanistan I refuse to believe that there have been no American casualties in over two weeks. I gues they have just started listing every injury or death in Afghanistan is coalition force deaths these days. There is no transparency whatsoever.

Remember these brave individuals and their families as you gather this weekend with your loved ones. TAke a moment to reflect on their sacrifice, say a prayer for their loved ones and that there may be a time soon when all of our forces will be brought home from Iraq safetly.

All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2642 Confirmed: 2638 Pending: 4

Date Name DOD
08/30/06 Hanson, Joshua R. DoD Confirmation
08/30/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/30/06 Wolfe, Colin J. DoD Confirmation
08/29/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/28/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/28/06 Schneider, Matthew E. DoD Confirmation
08/27/06 Hansen, Jeffrey J. DoD Confirmation
08/27/06 Lee, Qixing DoD Confirmation
08/27/06 Benson, Darry DoD Confirmation
08/27/06 Jones, Joshua D. DoD Confirmation
08/27/06 Smith, Tristan DoD Confirmation

Well i came by your house the other day, your mother said you went away
She said there was nothing that i could have done
There was nothing nobody could say
Me and you we've known each other ever since we were sixteen
I wished i would have known i wished i could have called you
Just to say goodbye bobby jean

Now you hung with me when all the others turned away turned up their noise
We liked the same music we liked the same bands we liked the same clothes
We told each other that we were the wildest, the wildest things we'd ever
Seen
Now i wished you would have told me i wished i could have talked to you
Just to say goodbye bobby jean

Now we went walking in the rain talking about the pain from the world we hid
Now there ain't nobody nowhere nohow gonna ever understand me the way you did
Maybe you'll be out there on that road somewhere
In some bus or train traveling along
In some motel room there'll be a radio playing
And you'll hear me sing this song
Well if you do you'll know i'm thinking of you and all the miles in between
And i'm just calling one last time not to change your mind
But just to say i miss you baby, good luck goodbye, bobby jean


http://icasualties.org/oif/BY_DOD.aspx
All fatalities with active DOD links have been confirmed by The Department of Defense.
Total: 2644 Confirmed: 2639 Pending: 5
Date Name DOD
09/03/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
09/03/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/30/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/29/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation
08/28/06 NAME NOT RELEASED YET Pending Confirmation

nuther brd belch dupe.