DIGGING DEEPER
By Ivan G. Goldman
By Ivan G. Goldman
Our expanding casualty list from Iraq of 3,265 American dead and 26,188 wounded or med-evaced for other causes comes to us incomplete. In all U.S. wars before this, casualties included dead, wounded, and missing. This administration begrudgingly releases stats on dead and wounded but doesn’t want to remind Americans that two of our soldiers are missing, so it doesn’t, and our obliging nitwit mass media go along, making the two soldiers invisible men, trees falling in a forest uninhabited by real journalists.
The fate of these two soldiers is unknown. They should be listed on any casualty toll and not forgotten, which is what the White House would like us to do.
Among the many reasons this administration wants us to forget them is its blatant disavowal of the Geneva Convention, and innumerable documented instances of Iraqi prisoners being tortured, humiliated, beaten, and killed. It knows it can’t plead for humane treatment and be taken seriously after all the world saw photos of war crimes at Abu Ghraib, for which no one above the rank of sergeant has been tried.
Among the many reasons this administration wants us to forget them is its blatant disavowal of the Geneva Convention, and innumerable documented instances of Iraqi prisoners being tortured, humiliated, beaten, and killed. It knows it can’t plead for humane treatment and be taken seriously after all the world saw photos of war crimes at Abu Ghraib, for which no one above the rank of sergeant has been tried.
Bush, Cheney, et al, see our troops as inanimate chess pieces they don’t identify as actual people – you know, the kind they see around the country club or the boardroom. Neither Bush nor Cheney has attended even one funeral of the fallen -- a first in American history for people filling those offices. If you want to know how much our tyrannical team cares for our soldiers, ask any of the disabled Iraq war vets who've been waiting two years for a check.
Army Reservist Ahmed Qusai al-Taie, 42, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, was abducted October 23, 2006 when he left the Green Zone, reportedly to see his Iraqi wife. Al-Taie was born in Iraq, but moved to the U.S. as a teenager. His Military Occupational Specialty is translator. The accompanying photo of him (on the left) was released by a Shiite milita – you know, the pals our dimwitted warrior prince has allied himself with against the Sunnis. These buddies of his also killed Casey Sheehan, Cindy’s son.
Al-taie was first reported at "a relative's home when three cars pulled up to the residence," a U.S. military spokesman said. "The hostage-takers handcuffed him and forced him into one of their vehicles," Maj. Gen. William Caldwell said.
Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin, 23, of Batavia, Ohio, pictured on the right, from footage shown on Arabic-language Al Jazeera TV, disappeared in April 2004 after his convoy was attacked near Baghdad International Airport. He was a PFC at the time. His status originally was "whereabouts unknown." The military changed that to "missing-captured" after Al-Jazeera showed a videotape of Maupin held captive by insurgents.
Two months later, Al-Jazeera said it had received a videotape and statement from insurgents who claimed they killed Maupin, but U.S. officials were unable to verify this, and his status remains "missing-captured."
Maupin and al-Taie are our sons. If you’re a taxpayer, you sent them out there to do a job. We have a responsibility to get them back. Don’t let this administration get away with erasing their existence.
