Without Reservation
militaryweek.com
A biweekly column by Karen Kwiatkowski, Lt. Col. USAF (ret.)
posted 10 February 04
Occupational Hazards
The presidency of Herbert Hoover, coinciding with the market crash of 1929 and a net job loss for his single Presidential term, may or may not hold lessons for the presidency of George W. Bush. But Hoover had an observation that Mr. Bush might want to take to heart. Hoover was right when he said "Older men declare war. But it's the youth who must fight and die!"
Almost half of the over 530 American soldiers killed in Iraq thus far have been Specialists, Privates First Class, or Sergeants.
Fifteen percent of our newly dead American soldiers in Iraq died before their first legal drink of beer or wine, still anticipating their 21st birthday. We have laws to keep young people away from alcohol in this country, because we care deeply about the health and safety of our young people.
Military records suggest that about 9,000 U.S. troops have been evacuated from Iraq for a wide spectrum of reasons, including combat wounds, accident injuries, psychological problems, infections and illness. Colonel David Hackworth recently wrote, "I think it's safe to say that, so far, somewhere between 14,000 and 22,000 soldiers, sailors, airmen and Marines have been medically evacuated from Iraq."
At least 21 American soldiers in Iraq have committed suicide, a rate one-third higher than prior to the invasion.
And we know of at least 17, and probably far more, of those killed in Iraq have been the sole child or only son in their family. Spielburg's Saving Private Ryan, while not historically accurate, warms the hearts of idealistic Americans. It opens with a scene from a military graveyard – a place perhaps unfamiliar to George W. Bush these days, but increasingly familiar to American parents, spouses, siblings and children, as a result of a war unneeded for national security, and as we now realize, based on illusion and artfulness generated by the Pentagon and the White House.
Do we care about these "necessary" losses in the name of American national defense? Well, admittedly, it wasn't really defense. We all know now, as many of us did then, that Saddam Hussein wasn't working with terrorists or threatening the United States. We recognize today that in late 2002 when Mr. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney spoke — to Americans and to the Congress — of Iraqi UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) that could deliver biological weapons to the East Coast of the United States, their mendacity was consciously designed to inflame domestic fear, and pressure a quick vote for an illegal pre-emptive invasion.
Perhaps American national interests were at stake in other ways. After all, Saddam was a evil dictator who killed many of his own people. Kurds died at his command in the late 1980s during the final years of the Iran-Iraq war. More recently, in 1991, Shia Muslims died in southern Iraq on his orders. Of course, this was after the United States encouraged the Shia to rise up in the hectic weeks after the liberation of Kuwait, and then sat back while Saddam's forces, flying the armed helicopters we permitted him under the negotiations, slaughtered the Shia idealists. Well, I guess a dozen years later we decided Saddam was a bad dictator. No wonder our credibility with the Iraqis is microscopic.
We mustn't forget how important oil flow, energy prices, and dollar-traded petroleum is to America's ongoing foreign debt financed existence. Saddam followed Venezuela's shift to the euro for oil exports back in November 2000. National interest, why not? Messieurs Bush and Cheney forgot to mention that in the run-up to pre-emptive war. Pre-emption of the petro-euro would have been an honest, albeit far from compelling, rationale for invading Iraq.
And the wonderful new bases we'll have – that's part of national security, isn't it? Bush and Cheney, even Secretary Rumsfeld forgot to mention this – but it's a major reason for our current occupation. Building bases is what Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root, and Bechtel do best. And don't forget all the new contracts we are able to award American companies now that Saddam's gone.
For all these reasons of "national security," Americans have been asked to pay. And pay, and pay. We are paying with tax dollars, with new debt, with money spent in Iraq that clearly would be better spent, or saved, at home. We are paying with the lives of our children, brothers, sisters, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins. Some families have given to George W. Bush their very namesakes, their precious only sons and daughters.
In March 2003, 19-year-old Brandon S. Tobler of Portland, Oregon and Staff Sgt. Donald C. May Jr., 31, of Richmond, Virginia were killed. Both were their parents' sole offspring. SSgt May's mother, Brenda, said "No matter how old they are, no parent should ever have to bury their only child." Also that month, 27-year-old Lt. Thomas Mullen Adams of La Mesa, California and 29-year-old Staff Sgt. Kendall Damon Waters-Bey of Baltimore, Md. were killed. Both were only sons. Kendall had four sisters. Asked what he would tell President Bush, his father, Michael, said, "This was not your son or daughter. That chair he sat in at Thanksgiving will be empty forever."
In April, 19-year-old Alan D. Lam of Snow Camp, N.C. was killed. He was the youngest child in his family, the precious son loved dearly by his four older sisters. April also brought a death notification to the parents of 21-year-old Marine Cpl. Mark Evnin of Burlington, Vermont. He was their only child.
In September, 20-year-old SPC Richard Arriaga of Ganado, Texas was killed. He had wanted to become a pediatrician, but instead was buried in grief by his parents and three younger sisters.
In October, 31-year-old Capt. John R. Teal of Mechanicsville, VA, was killed. An only son, he continued a extended family tradition of dying in noble wars. Teal's ancestors died in the American Civil War, on the beaches of Normandy, and last year, in a roadside explosion in Baqubah, Iraq. George W. Bush must be so proud.
Also in October, 26-year-old SPC Joseph Carl Norquist originally of Martinez, California was killed in Iraq. "Joe believed in the job he was doing in Iraq. He thought it was worth it for the children, who would have better opportunities for a better life," his parents, Sue and Carl Norquist, said of their only child.
October also brought the death of 21-year-old Private First Class Analaura Esparza-Gutierrez. She was the second female soldier killed in combat, but that means little. "She didn't deserve to die," Agustin Velazco Esparza said of his only child. Esparza doesn't speak English, but in Spanish he urged President Bush to bring home other parents' children. "There are a lot of young people over there and as long as they are over there, they are going to die."
In November, 21-year-old Staff Sergeant Eugene A. Uhl, III, of Amherst, Wisconsin was killed. His mother said he was the last male family member likely to pass on the Uhl name. In this month, Betty Russell in Portland, Texas, mourned the loss of her only child, 26-year-old Sgt. John Wayne Russell, killed in Mosul. November also brought the deaths of only children 1st Lt. Pierre Piche, 28, of Burlington, Vermont and Army Spc. Brian Penisten, of Fort Wayne, Indiana. Lisa Johnson, Pierre's mother, said, "This was not supposed to happen." John Penisten, a phone systems installer, and his wife Mona, a nurse, had learned, just an hour before that dark visit by the military chaplain, that their son had planned to get married the coming Friday while home on leave.
Christmas Eve didn't bring joy to the Yashinski household of Monument, Colorado. Instead, the 24-year-old only child of James and Debora Yashinski, Sgt Michael Emerson Yashinski, was killed at Kirkuk Air Force Base in Iraq.
In January 2004, another only son, 24-year-old Private Rey D. Cuervo, of Laguna Vista, Texas, was killed. So was Staff Sgt. Craig Davis from Opelousas, Louisiana. Wilda Gallien, a close friend of Craig's mother, Clara Mae Davis, said "He was the only child she had. If she had 10 of them, it would still be hard. He was a sweet and dear child."
These sons and daughters are gone, with over 530 others, forever, and one wonders: for what. Our sons and daughters are not part of the necessary carnage of some necessary war. Soldiers and Marines in Iraq, and most Americans realize this even as the Bush-Cheney team continues to hem and haw about what they said or didn't say, reverting to a feeble "Well, Saddam was a bad leader."
Just as these thousands of deaths are not simply "collateral damage," the death and destruction of noble American sons and daughters is not simply an occupational hazard. It is a signpost of a good people misled, and a Republic ungrounded.
© 2004 Karen Kwiatkowski
Lt. Col. Kwiatkowski can be reached at karen@militaryweek.com. |
