Comments on: Officer’s Death Brings New Attention to Iraq War Problems

By: charles austin

charles austin — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 22:00:00 +0000

Is it also worth noting that Capt. Freeman may have been killed by Iranians? Would that change the radicalization of our precious Senators?

By: charles austin

charles austin — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 22:39:43 +0000

The Senators' radicalization has an unprincipled zen-like quality to it. Gosh, what if they'd been a week later and missed this guy entirely? Would they have been quite so radicalized? What if Capt. Freeman had instead had a gung ho attitude and made his displeasure with their political posturing clear in no uncertain terms? Would they have been quite so radicalized?

Or was Capt. Freeman just a convenient prop for a story line they already had memorized? Alas, I am deply cycnical and find this kind of political profiteering off our war dead intensely distasteful. One thing's for certain, our country would have never been founded, or survived our Civil War, WW I, or WW II with the mentality and leadership displayed by Senators Dodd and Kerry.

War is still a terrible thing, but it is also still not the worst thing.

By: James Joyner

James Joyner — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:57:17 +0000

Everyone who dies is “a single man” (or woman). Obliviousness to this fact makes it easier to dodge the real cost of the war No argument there. That's really my point from another direction: There had already been over 3000 soldiers killed in Iraq before Brian Freeman. His death is tragic but not singularly so. Either it's worth risking the lives of men like Freeman to achieve our aims in Iraq or it's not. That's an a priori decision. I'm not criticizing Dodd or Kerry for being human. And, indeed, they'd long come to oppose the war before they even met Freeman. There's just something a little out of kilter about personalizing the war at this stage of the game.

By: Anderson

Anderson — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 16:43:31 +0000

The death of a single man, who they just happened to meet, shouldn’t have much impact on the public policy decision-making of thoughtful men who have as much access to big picture impact as Dodd and Kerry. Gotta disagree with you there. Everyone who dies is "a single man" (or woman). Obliviousness to this fact makes it easier to dodge the real cost of the war (note Hitler's refusal to visit the front or any wounded in hospitals). Such personal impressions shouldn't solely determine our policy, but I wish everyone making policy on this war knew someone who'd been killed over there.

By: Moderate Voters.org - An Alternative to the Far Right and Far Left.

Moderate Voters.org - An Alternative to the Far Right and Far Left. — Wed, 31 Dec 1969 18:00:00 +0000

Guardian Simon Tisdall: the Big Afghanistan Push Comes to Shove Guardian Soldier's Death Strengthens Senators' Antiwar Resolve Washington Post, Jonathan Weisman & Ann Scott Tyson [IMG] Blogged At: Outside The BeltwaySpy Pointed the Finger Times Suicide Blast Kills 3 At Israeli Bakery Los Angeles Times Suicide Bomb Campaign Feared As Three Killed in Holiday Resort Blast Times The 'Democrat Majority' is Still the Talk of the Capital