GI SPECIAL 4B6:

THIS IS HOW BUSH BRINGS THE TROOPS HOME:

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW

Robson de Lima Barbosa of Brazil with his son, Corporal Felipe Carvalho Barbosa, at Green Street Baptist Church in High Point, North Carolina February 6, 2006. Felipe Carvalho Barbosa, a Brazilian native who recently became a U.S. citizen, was serving as an infantryman with the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment of the U.S. Marine Corps when he was killed in Iraq on January 28, 2006. REUTERS/Ellen Ozier

"Upon His Death My Brother's Body Was Left To Rot Like A Dead Animal On The Side Of The Road"

[Regardless of what you think of the war, this is inexcusable cruelty. Thanks to D for sending in. T]

"This site was last updated 01/05/06 http://www.soldiersplea.com/"

First and foremost, we absolutely support our troops fighting for our country. The purpose of this web site is to request signatures for a petition and to urge people to write their congress representative to establish proper mortuary services in Iraq for our fallen soldiers.

Our fallen family hero, 21 year old Sgt. Paul Saylor, died in Iraq on August 15th, 2005, and was returned to our family in an unnecessary state of decomposition so severe that viewing was impossible only 3 days after his death.

Our family feels that the viewing would have provided closure and given us a chance to say our final goodbye to our hero.

According to the Army Mortuary Services in Dover, Delaware, the current military procedures are to pack fallen soldiers in ice and then transport them to the United States Dover Air Force Base for a three step process:

1) Identification, which includes DNA, dental and fingerprinting

2) Perform autopsy

3) Embalming and preparation of the body

Paul was not even refrigerated.

If a proper mortuary facility was in place in Iraq, we would have been able to say our final goodbyes. We don't want this to happen to another soldier's family!

All fallen soldiers deserve to be treated with respect and dignity, and establishing proper mortuary services in Iraq will ensure no future family members are denied their final goodbye to their American hero who died for our country.

Please help us fight for those who fight for us by placing your name on the online petition on this website, and by going to the link www.congress.org, finding your government representative's address, and letting them know that you will not stand for this disrespect to be done to one more American hero.

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Paul’s Story:

On August 15th, 2005, my brother, Sgt. Paul A. Saylor of the 48th Brigade, 108th Scout Division lost his life while fighting for our country in Iraq.

A HUMVEE he was in accidentally rolled off the road and fell down an embankment into a canal. He was knocked unconscious and drowned. Paul was 21. He was, is, and always will be a hero like every other soldier fighting for America.

Upon his return home my family was told that my brother's body would not be viewable. We were told he was non-viewable due to injuries sustained from the accident.

This was not true. We asked our funeral director to open Paul's casket and see if there was any way we could view him to say our last goodbyes.

There have been recent instances in which the Army has failed to give our fallen heroes the honor they deserve in arriving at their final resting place, such as not having proper military escorts at airports, but this goes much deeper.

In truth, upon his death my brother's body was left to rot like a dead animal on the side of the road.

My family has talked and met with Army officials many times. At the formal investigation meetings, despite the fact that our questions on the treatment of Paul's body were made known prior to each meeting, the Army representatives failed to even acknowledge the question as to why a fallen hero's body would come back in such stages of decomposition as to be unrecognizable after such a short period of time (3 days).

The Army continues to investigate why my brother returned home in such deplorable condition. My brother, a hero, was neglected by the very institution he served.

Has the Army failed to give any more of our now over 2,200 fallen soldiers a proper, much less heroic, homecoming?

This must stop.

On September 20th we met with Army representatives, one of which is from the brand new 30 million dollar mortuary facility in Dover. When we questioned the reason a proper mortuary facility was not in place in Iraq we were told it was debated and the decision was made to bring the fallen to Dover for preparation.

While the facility is state of the art, safe in the United States complete with an indoor reflection pool, it doesn't do much good to the fallen heroes who are decomposing in Iraq due to the lack of proper facilities there (such as refrigeration).

There is talk of how much care is taken by the Army in such courtesies as the placing of uniforms on top of those who have fallen while in action, but what good is this if the bodies under those uniforms are left to rot?

Before presenting my brother's uniform to my mother, the funeral director had to remove the uniform and have it dry cleaned due to the smell and seepage because of the "care" he was given prior to his arrival home.

Many times we as Americans lightly and loosely use words like freedom and patriot, but now is a chance for you to help our most patriotic in making sure that the Army policies for the handling of our fallen soldier's remains are changed for the better. The Army should have proper mortuary facilities in Iraq to prepare our fallen loved ones.

There are certified funeral directors and morticians eager to volunteer to help our troops. There may even be some in our Army's brand new 30 million dollar complex that want to "volunteer" to help their Brothers in Arms.

Finally, an embalming machine cost is between 2,000-2,500 dollars. This cost is much less than letting one more of our troops be disgraced by their own.

No other soldier should be done like this, and no other family should have to go through this.

Please help, by placing your name on the online petition on this website, and by going to the link www.congress.org, finding your government representative's address, and letting them know that you will not stand for this disrespect to be done to one more American hero.

Please help. Our fallen heroes deserve better!

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

Kentucky Soldier Killed

Sgt. 1st Class Lance S. Cornett of London, Ky., who was killed Friday, Feb. 3, 2006, in Iraq. (AP Photo/United States Army Special Operations Command News Service)

Bomb Kills Local Marine

1/31/2006 By Debbie Pfeiffer Trunnell, Staff Writer LA HABRA

Before he left for Iraq in September, Marine Lance Cpl. Hugo Lopezlopez told his mother he would buy her a new house when he returned.

The former La Habra High School football player never got the chance to fulfill the promise.

He died Friday at a Texas military hospital, where his mother, Maria, had maintained a vigil at his bedside ever since the 20-year-old Marine was critically wounded by a homemade bomb in November.

"We were all devastated to hear the news," said City Councilman James Gomez of La Habra, where officials ordered flags flown at half-staff at City Hall and the local community center through Friday.

"We had been hoping and praying for a miracle because he is one of our own," Gomez added.

Lopezlopez attended Washington Middle School in La Habra, then La Habra High, where he played football on the school's 2003 CIF championship team. He enlisted in the Marines after graduating in 2004.

He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, 1 Marine Expeditionary Force out of Camp Pendleton, Marine officials said. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, his unit was attached to 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force.

On Nov. 20, while covering combat operations against enemy forces in Rawah, Iraq, the decorated Marine was critically injured by an improvised explosive device, military officials said.

On Tuesday, his family said the young Marine suffered burns over most of his body. He underwent burn surgery but died Friday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas.

Throughout his hospital stay, his mother was at his side, family members said.

Before he left for Iraq, Lopezlopez had celebrated his 20th birthday at his family's La Habra home with his mother, his father Fidencio, his 12-year-old brother Oscar, his 6-year-old sister Valerie and several friends, his relatives said.

Today, students and faculty at La Habra High will hold a moment of silence in his honor, said John Diaz, the school's guidance technician.

A memorial service will be held from 5 to 10 p.m. Friday at the La Habra Community Center, followed by a rosary service at 7:30 p.m. A funeral Mass will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Angela Merici Church in Brea. He will be buried at Memory Garden Memorial Park in Brea, his family said.

During his military career, had earned the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal, military officials said.

A fund has been established to help his family with funeral expenses. Contributions can be made through Wells Fargo Bank. Refer to the Hugo Fund, #6426539364.

Three other young men who grew up in the Whittier area have died in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan.

N.C. Marine Killed In Humvee Accident

Jan. 30, 2006 Associated Press, HIGH POINT, N.C.

A Marine from North Carolina who became a U.S. citizen less than a year ago was killed in Iraq when the Humvee in which he was a passenger overturned, family members said.

The accident occurred Friday in the Anbar province.

The body of Cpl. Felipe Barbosa, 21, of High Point has been returned to Dover, Del., but plans for the funeral service haven't been announced. He was an infantryman with 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment.

Family members, including his wife, Christina, 19, gathered Monday in High Point to remember Barbosa, who was born in Brazil. She had last spoken with her husband Jan. 23 by cell phone.

"We just talked a minute; they were having a sandstorm and the phone was breaking up. He said he was doing fine. He had told me not to worry about him; he was going to come back home; he wasn't going to die," said Christina Barbosa, who was married to her husband for 18 months.

Barbosa, who became a U.S. citizen in February 2005, had joined the Marines on Dec. 31, 2002. His interest in the Marines dated to his years in Brazil, where his father and grandfather had served in the military, said his mother, Iraci Dunbar of Greensboro. The family moved here in 1994.

He hoped to go to college and work as a foreign missionary when he finished his military service, his wife said.

Slain Midstate Soldier Had Soft Spot For Mother:

"I’m Proud Of Him, But I Do Wish They All Could Come Home"

01/31/06 By LEON ALLIGOOD, Staff Writer, The Tennessean

MANCHESTER, Tenn.: Pfc. Brian J. Schoff was a bruiser of a young man, a hard-muscled soldier big enough to handle just about any kind of trouble that came his way, but he had one soft spot in life: his mama.

Yesterday, a teary-eyed Cathy Odle remembered her military son, age 22, who died Saturday in Baghdad, Iraq, from injuries received from a roadside bomb while his 101st Airborne Division unit was on a convoy mission.

She will miss his voice and his smile, but, in particular, the mourning mother said she would miss those times when he bear-hugged her, leaned into her ear and said, "I love you, Mama."

"He didn't care who knew it," she said proudly.

Odle regretted she will not feel her only child's embrace again, but she does not regret how he was raised, or how he behaved, or how he answered his country's call to a war that is questioned by many.

"I supported him. I'm proud of him, but I do wish they all could come home," the mother said.

She sat at the dining room table of her home. Within easy reach were photographs of her late son, "B.J.," as he was called. There was B.J. in his football uniform at Coffee County Central High School. He was No. 79, a defensive end.

"I could always remember his number because it was the year I graduated from high school, 1979,'' she said.

On a nearby table there was photo of B.J. as a tyke, dressed in Superman pajamas and offering a superhero pose.

"He loved Superman. They called him that because he had a Superman tattoo on his left chest, right above his heart,'' she said.

There was a photo of B.J. in uniform.

"How could you not like that smile? He had a beautiful smile."

Pfc. Schoff (pronounced with a long "o," so that that the name rhymes with "loaf") joined the Army in 2003, a year after he graduated from high school. In part, he joined the military to fulfill a promise to a friend who had joined the Army the previous year.

"He wasn't sure what he wanted to do with his life. He thought the military was the best job and it was a way he could do something for his country,'' the mother said.

She said her son, a hunter and outdoorsman, thrived in the rough-and-tumble world of the infantry. He was a mortarman. He completed the rigorous Air Assault School at Fort Campbell.

Odle said her son liked being in the military. "He made a lot of friends,'' she said.

The Odle home — the mother and Pfc. Schoff's father, Brian L. Schoff of Michigan City, Ind., divorced when B.J. was a boy — is a tan-colored modular affair situated at the end of Jones Village Road, a lane of white gravel.

It was the crunch of the gravel that told her trouble was afoot on Sunday. Then she saw two men in uniform, a captain and a chaplain, walk toward the front stoop.

"You know, I knew before they even got to the door,'' she said.

Odle, who remarried after her divorce, saw her son for the last time in November, just before the 4th Brigade Combat Team left for Iraq. She had talked to him on the phone several times since then. The last time was two days before he was killed.

"We had a long talk. We talked for quite awhile,'' she said.

The memory of that final phone conversation has provided solace. Odle, who said her son would be buried in Coffee County, recognized that many grieving parents never had such an opportunity. "It has made this easier. I'm grateful to God for that,'' she said.

Danish Troops Attacked Twice By Iraqis Angry About Mohammed Caricatures

06.02.2006 CPHPOST.DK ApS & PRAVDA.Ru

Anger over newspaper Jyllands-Posten's caricatures of Muslim prophet Mohammed resulted in two incidents on Sunday in which Danish forces in Iraq were attacked by angry crowds, according to the Army Operative Command. No one was injured in either incident.

In the first incident, Danish troops attempting to help at the scene of an accident in the city of al-Qurnah, where a group of children had been hit by a lorry, were shot at by an angry crowd. "The locals could have thought that the Danish soldiers caused the accident, sparking the anger," Defense Minister Soeren Gade said on Danish television.

The troops fired warning shots to disperse the crowd as they retreated from the area to take several children to a nearby hospital.

In another incident, a crowd threw stones at patrolling Danish forces.

10,500 IED Attacks In 2005:

"Shia" Fighters Using Shaped Charges

February 6, 2006 By ERIC SCHMITT, New York Times Company

[T]he number of attacks with makeshift bombs against allied and Iraqi forces and Iraqi civilians nearly doubled in the last year, to 10,593 in 2005 from 5,607 in 2004.

The military says it is able to discover and defuse only about 40 percent of the bombs, and the result is deadly: 407 of the 846 Americans killed last year in Iraq were killed by the bombs, which are called improvised explosive devices.

The American military adviser team to Iraqi special police forces in Salman Pak, 12 miles southeast of Baghdad, said it had been seeing more sophisticated shaped-charge explosions since last spring.

A senior Army intelligence officer said the charges were being used mostly by Shiite militia groups, but added, "Our fear is that the technology will migrate to Sunni insurgent groups."

REALLY BAD PLACE TO BE:

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW!

U.S. Marines with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) walk across the desert at midday as they conduct a patrol near Hit January 30, 2006. (Bob Strong/Reuters)

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

U.S. SERVICE MEMBER KILLED IN EASTERN AFGHANISTAN

2/6/2006 AFGHANISTAN COALITION PRESS INFORMATION CENTER. KABUL, AFGHANISTAN Release Number: 06-02-06C

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan: One U.S. service member was killed today when enemy forces northwest of Methar Lam in Laghman Province opened fire on a U.S. patrol.

The patrol quickly pursued the enemy, returning fire and requesting close-air support. The enemy fled the area. No battle-damage assessment was available.

In a separate incident south of Khost, Afghan and U.S. forces engaged two enemy fighters near a boarder control point killing one and wounding the other. Two border policemen also were wounded in the incident.

Ferriday Marine Dead After Being Wounded

January 31, 2006 By Tom Bonnette, The News-Star

Lance Cpl. Billy D. Brixey Jr., 21, of Ferriday, died Friday at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany from wounds received in Afghanistan.

The Department of Defense announced Monday that Brixey was wounded by an improvised explosive device while traveling in a convoy in Afghanistan on Wednesday.

He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

Brixey's grandfather, Joe Brixey, said the Marine was riding in a military vehicle as a passenger when the explosion happened.

"They were on patrol in a convoy when they were hit by what they told me was a roadside bomb. It wounded him pretty bad," Joe Brixey said.

The family learned of the Marine's death Saturday when military personal arrived at the home of Brixey's father, Billy D. Brixey Sr., of Vidalia, the grandfather said.

Collaborator Government Kills Afghans Protesting Muhammad Drawings At U.S. Occupation Base

06 February 2006 By Amir Shah, The Associated Press

Afghan troops shot and killed four protesters, some as they tried to storm a U.S. military base outside Bagram, the first time a protest over the issue has targeted the United States.

The worst of the violence in Afghanistan was outside Bagram, the main U.S. base, with Afghan police firing on some 2,000 protesters as they tried to break into the heavily guarded facility, said Kabir Ahmed, the local government chief.

13 people, including eight police, were wounded, he said.

Afghan police also fired on protesters in the central city of Mihtarlam after a man in the crowd shot at them and others threw stones and knives, Interior Ministry spokesman Dad Mohammed Rasa said.

Two protesters were killed and three people were wounded, including two police, officials said.

About 200 protesters also tried to break down the gate of the Danish government's diplomatic mission office in the capital, Kabul, but failed, said police who were guarding the building.

The protesters then threw stones at the mission and beat some officers guarding it, as well as some guards at a nearby house used by Belgian diplomats.

Police wielding batons and rifle butts dispersed demonstrators walking toward the presidential palace. An Associated Press reporter saw at least three protesters bleeding from injuries, and at least seven more who were arrested and driven away in a police vehicle.

"Long live Islam! We are Muslims! We don't let anyone insult our prophet!" chanted the demonstrators, many of whom appeared to be teenagers.