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| Home Front: Culture Wars |
| Anti-War Memorial Hits Caliphornia |
| 2005-03-13 |
| Laid out in rows stretching longer than a football field, 1,513 pairs of black military boots gave a sunsplashed park the quiet, somber mood of a cemetery. The traveling exhibit, a reminder of the U.S. troops lost in Iraq (news - web sites) , arrived on the West Coast this week as divisive as the war itself — especially for the families of the fallen men and women. To some of the families, it is a cathartic, fitting memorial in a nation they say seems largely anesthetized to the pain of a distant war. For others, it's an outrage tormenting them in their grief. "There's a difference between honoring our fallen and using them as pawns," said Georgette Frank, who believes the exhibit defamed the memory of her son, Marine Lance Cpl. Phillip Frank, by linking him with an anti-war agenda he never would have supported. The "Eyes Wide Open" exhibit, created by the American Friends Service Committee, a branch of the pacifist Quaker church, began its nationwide tour in Chicago with 500 boots — then the war's death toll. The exhibit arrived in downtown San Diego on Wednesday, but space was limited there because of what the county and organizers said was a misunderstanding over a permit. It was moved Thursday to Escondido, northeast of San Diego. Nine families have donated their sons' military boots for the exhibit, and others have provided time and support. Most of the boots come from military surplus stores. Cindy Sheehan calls the exhibit a wonderful memorial to her 24-year-old son, Army Spc. Casey Sheehan, who died last year in an ambush in Sadr City. She has left tissues, notes and many tears on the boots that bear her son's name and plans to donate his boots later this month. Sheehan, who lives in Vacaville, said the exhibit is also a fitting reminder in a nation that has banned media coverage of America's war dead as their remains arrive in flag-draped caskets. "If some people look at it and they're offended by it maybe they should be," she said. "I'm in unbearable pain every second of every day because of only one pair of those empty boots." About two dozen families, however, have asked that their loved ones' names be removed from the exhibit. The committee said it removes names from the boots on request, although the names are still read aloud during events. Frank said she and her husband believe the "naive" peace movement only encourages insurgents in Iraq with the message that continued violence will lead the United States to withdraw its troops. She said her son, felled by a sniper's bullet last year in Fallujah at age 20, was committed to bringing freedom and democracy to Iraq. "How can I be against the war when this is what my son went to do?" she asked. "And you know what, he succeeded on the Sunday when the Iraqis voted." Christine M. Dybevik of Coos Bay, Ore., was angered that the name of her son, Marine Lance Cpl. Gary Van Leuven, was used without her permission. Van Leuven, 20, was killed last year in a fierce fight in Husaba along the Syrian border. "This road back from hell is hard enough without having to defend my son's name in a political arena," Dybevik said. "Our sons made the ultimate sacrifice and they did it for the American way of life and not for some political view." Fernando Suarez del Solar of Escondido supports the exhibit, and donated the boots worn by his son, Lance Cpl. Jesus Suarez del Solar, 20, who was killed during the March 2003 Iraq invasion. "We don't need more empty boots," Suarez del Solar said. "We need the people inside the shoes home with their families in peace." |
| Posted by:Bobby |
| #15 "We don’t need more empty boots," Suarez del Solar said. "We need the people inside the shoes home with their families in peace." [Pissd off RANT] Ahem. DUMBASS! We had our boots at home. Kept them there for many years. Didnt work in WW2 when the evil of Hitler and Tojo arose. Ignoring evil DOES NOT WORK. Same goes for the 1990's - dont send in troops, just fling a curise missle or two. No matter how many thye kill at the Khobar Towers, the Cole, the US Embassy. I remember that even Bush was not sending them to fight anywhere until something about a couple towers falling, and THOUSANDS of Americans dead. Have you forgotten or are you simply willfully ignorant or are you just that stupid? When are you f***ing people get a f***ing clue? Peace with Islamists does NOT come from staying at home. If we keep our soldiers "at home with their families in peace", then that is where they AND their families will DIE. They came after us in 93, again in 9/11. You cannot wait until the wolf is at your door before you decide to go buy a gun to kill the wolf. Its far too late then. If anything, this is the one lesson 9/11 taught. The current war is teaching that tyranny cannot stand against democracy, if free people step in and support the democracy. And the end of tyranny will be the end of terror for the most part. Any rational person knows this. What the hell happened to you Mr Solar? You SON knew and willingly paid the ulitmate price of freedom, and now you piss on his last best gift, with idiotic naieve statements like the one quoted above, statements that ignore reality and ignore the burden that soldiers carry in order to keep you and other moral cowards like you alive and free. You should get on your knees and grovel before God that hard men, brave men, self-sacrificing men (and women as well), such as your son exist and carry guns into harms way to protect mice like you. [spit]. [/Pissd off RANT] |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2005-03-13 6:50:48 PM |
| #14 "We don’t need more empty boots," Suarez del Solar said. "We need the people inside the shoes home with their families in peace." [Pissd off RANT] Ahem. DUMBASS! We had our boots at home. Kept them there for many years. Didnt work in WW2 when the evil of Hitler and Tojo arose. Ignoring evil DOES NOT WORK. Same goes for the 1990's - dont send in troops, just fling a curise missle or two. No matter how many thye kill at the Khobar Towers, the Cole, the US Embassy. I remember that even Bush was not sending them to fight anywhere until something about a couple towers falling, and THOUSANDS of Americans dead. Have you forgotten or are you simply willfully ignorant or are you just that stupid? When are you f***ing people get a f***ing clue? Peace with Islamists does NOT come from staying at home. If we keep our soldiers "at home with their families in peace", then that is where they AND their families will DIE. They came after us in 93, again in 9/11. You cannot wait until the wolf is at your door before you decide to go buy a gun to kill the wolf. Its far too late then. If anything, this is the one lesson 9/11 taught. The current war is teaching that tyranny cannot stand against democracy, if free people step in and support the democracy. And the end of tyranny will be the end of terror for the most part. Any rational person knows this. What the hell happened to you Mr Solar? You SON knew and willingly paid the ulitmate price of freedom, and now you piss on his last best gift, with idiotic naieve statements like the one quoted above, statements that ignore reality and ignore the burden that soldiers carry in order to keep you and other moral cowards like you alive and free. You should get on your knees and grovel before God that hard men, brave men, self-sacrificing men (and women as well), such as your son exist and carry guns into harms way to protect mice like you. [spit]. [/Pissd off RANT] |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2005-03-13 6:50:48 PM |
| #13 LR - Thanks - I think we all needed that. RWV - Tell us how you really feel. This is Rantburg after all.... |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2005-03-13 10:21:20 PM |
| #12 I still haven't forgiven the fucking Quakers for holding blood drives for the North Vietnamese during the war. It was treason then, but politics protected them. The Quakers are too good to fight, but not too good to enjoy the protection and freedoms that better men than they gave their lives to provide. May these sanctimonious prigs burn in lakes of brimstone in Hell forever. |
| Posted by: RWV 2005-03-13 10:08:23 PM |
| #11 Ohhhh.... ENGLISH! No WONDER the frogs and krauts don't get it! |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-03-13 9:54:34 PM |
| #10 John Stuart Mill - English philosopher and economist, 1806-1873. |
| Posted by: Lone Ranger 2005-03-13 9:51:19 PM |
| #9 Good post, LR! I am familar with the TR quote, but not the JSMill. He wasn't European, was he? |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-03-13 9:41:21 PM |
| #8 Personally, I would like to see the local VFW, or ROTC, or USAR Center co-opt this "protest" by adopting it, and turning it into a memorial. Post an honor guard at the four corners - 24 hours per day, and have aflag detail and honor guard perform evening retreat, and then have a military bugler play taps. One man's war protest is another man's memorial to fallen warriors. I have remembrance of standing in a small town along the Hudson River in New York - Congers, NY - looking at a memorial to fallen war dead - WWI, WWI, Korea, Vietnam - and also the Civil War, and the Spanish-American war - that little town of maybe 1,500 people (1994) had sacrificed its sons for over 150 years. And - as I gazed at the Congers memorial, I thought back to the similar war memorials I had stood before as a US Army Captain, in little villages in Germany - Hildesheim, and Koerborn - also places with populations of maybe 800 or 1,000 people (as of 1982) - and the "kriegsgefallenerandenksmal" has lists for WWI and WWI - and they must each have lost 100 men - out of what then must have been populations of only 300 or 400 people. If I was in Escondido, and saw this display, I'd take a walk through it - but I'd be doing so to honor the fallen, and pay my respects - not to mock them, or lament that their sacrifice was futile. I would also not be one to criticize the bitter remarks of a parent of a fallen soldier - they should be allowed to vent their grief as they see the score - whether I agree with their view, or not. "It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, and comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat." - Theodore Roosevelt, speaking at the Univeristy of Paris, Sorbonne, April 23rd, 1910 "War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself." John Stuart Mill |
| Posted by: Lone Ranger 2005-03-13 9:27:39 PM |
| #7 I remember when the press trumpeted the first 1,000 killed in Iraq. I shreiked, "Let me know when it gets to 3,000," (as in, the number killed in one day {9/11/01}). Some people can only see their own loss. Myself, my youngest son is on his way back from Iraq (USMC). I thank God he has not been injured, but he has seen death and horrible injuries, and told his Mother that he feels "older," so I don't yet know how his tour has affected him. He told me, "It's funny. The first thing you worry about when you hear the blast (of a mine or IED) is 'please don't let it be my friends'". God bless out troops. Some serve so that more can complain ©. |
| Posted by: Bobby 2005-03-13 9:24:25 PM |
| #6 del Solar has done everything possible to enable the deaths and subjugation of Iraqis, Afghanis, and now Syrians, Lebanese and Iranians. I think his son would spit on that heritage |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-03-13 8:06:27 PM |
| #5 ...I have no words for Mr. Suarez del Solar that could possibly EVER comfort him. I do have to ask though what the families of the Three Thousand would say if they could have their loved ones back in their boots. Mike |
| Posted by: Mike Kozlowski 2005-03-13 7:14:54 PM |
| #4 usual suspects - antiwar and ultimtely antiamerican |
| Posted by: Frank G 2005-03-13 7:09:29 PM |
| #3 The left loves dead Americans, especially dead American military. The left will never honor courage or sacrifice; they will only honor their own egos and they will use whatever they have to do that. This time it is 1513 brave men and woman who died so they can stroke their own egos with a compliant media. |
| Posted by: badanov 2005-03-13 6:59:39 PM |
| #2 Christine M. Dybevik of Coos Bay, Ore., was angered that the name of her son, Marine Lance Cpl. Gary Van Leuven, was used without her permission. Any lawyers out there? Do0es she have a cause of action? Get creative! |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-03-13 6:55:26 PM |
| #1 "We don’t need more empty boots," Suarez del Solar said. "We need the people inside the shoes home with their families in peace." [Pissd off RANT] Ahem. DUMBASS! We had our boots at home. Kept them there for many years. Didnt work in WW2 when the evil of Hitler and Tojo arose. Ignoring evil DOES NOT WORK. Same goes for the 1990's - dont send in troops, just fling a curise missle or two. No matter how many thye kill at the Khobar Towers, the Cole, the US Embassy. I remember that even Bush was not sending them to fight anywhere until something about a couple towers falling, and THOUSANDS of Americans dead. Have you forgotten or are you simply willfully ignorant or are you just that stupid? When are you f***ing people get a f***ing clue? Peace with Islamists does NOT come from staying at home. If we keep our soldiers "at home with their families in peace", then that is where they AND their families will DIE. They came after us in 93, again in 9/11. You cannot wait until the wolf is at your door before you decide to go buy a gun to kill the wolf. Its far too late then. If anything, this is the one lesson 9/11 taught. The current war is teaching that tyranny cannot stand against democracy, if free people step in and support the democracy. And the end of tyranny will be the end of terror for the most part. Any rational person knows this. What the hell happened to you Mr Solar? You SON knew and willingly paid the ulitmate price of freedom, and now you piss on his last best gift, with idiotic naieve statements like the one quoted above, statements that ignore reality and ignore the burden that soldiers carry in order to keep you and other moral cowards like you alive and free. You should get on your knees and grovel before God that hard men, brave men, self-sacrificing men (and women as well), such as your son exist and carry guns into harms way to protect mice like you. [spit]. [/Pissd off RANT] |
| Posted by: OldSpook 2005-03-13 6:50:48 PM |