I do not recall hearing much about this...just that a soilder killed herself, but no one knew why..... either way, she may be better off, just look at all the homeless vets on the streets that have been suffering for years with mental illness brought on by previous wars and just look at how many current troops are refusing to go to war, to kill innocent people, all for a lie. i can't say i would not take my life if i was told i had to torture people and killed people to be "patriotic". lets all remember some wise words; "Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger." ~ Hermann Goering http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermann_Goering Hermann Wilhelm Göring http://history1900s.about.com/library/holocaust/blgoering.htm Leading member of the Nazi Party "All men recognize the right of revolution; that is, the right to refuse allegiance to and to resist the government, when it's tyranny or it's inefficiency are great and unendurable." ~ Henry David Thoreau http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau "Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official, save exactly to the degree in which he himself stands by the country. It is patriotic to support him insofar as he efficiently serves the country. It is unpatriotic not to oppose him to the exact extent that by inefficiency or otherwise he fails in his duty to stand by the country. In either event, it is unpatriotic not to tell the truth, whether about the president or anyone else" ~ Theodore Roosevelt, 26th President of the United States http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt "DISSENT IS PATRIOTIC... .it declares that we are still living in America despite the continued attack on our democracy and our constitution by the current administration! " ~ Denise Bensusan "Millions of innocent men, women and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites." ~ Thomas Jefferson (ref. Bartlett's 16th Ed., p.343) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_jefferson
"To announce that there should be no criticism of the president, or that we are to stand by the president, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American people." ~ Teddy Roosevelt, a Republican President in the early 1900's, was known for his no-nonsense approach to government. He was also a progressive. He stood up to the ultra-conservatives of his day. The Democrat Lady http://www.thedemocratlady.com "Blind faith in bad leaders is not patriotism" ~ Mayor Rocky Anderson http://www.slcgov.com/mayor/ "When an American voice is deemed unpatriotic because they ask "why", in peaceful opposition, then we as Americans must consider the source of such judgement to be venemous. The "real traitor" stands as the accuser." ~ Daniel Gargus **************** One of the first women to die in Iraq shot and killed herself after objecting to harsh "interrogation techniques." http://www.citizen-soldier.org/ussoldiersuicide.html Source; Truthout - Nov 1, 2006; http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/110106R.shtml Original; http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003345862 By Greg Mitchell November 01, 2006 One of the first women to die in Iraq shot and killed herself after objecting to harsh "interrogation techniques." The true stories of how American troops, killed in Iraq, actually died keep spilling out this week. On Tuesday, we explored the case of Kenny Stanton, Jr., murdered last month by our allies, the Iraqi police, though the military didn't make that known at the time. Now we learn that one of the first female soldiers killed in Iraq died by her own hand after objecting to interrogation techniques used on prisoners. She was Army specialist Alyssa Peterson, 27, a Flagstaff, Az., native serving with C Company, 311th Military Intelligence BN, 101st Airborne. Peterson was an Arabic-speaking interrogator assigned to the prison at our air base in troubled Tal-Afar in northwestern Iraq. According to official records, she died on Sept. 15, 2003, from a "non-hostile weapons discharge." She was only the third American woman killed in Iraq so her death drew wide press attention. A "non-hostile weapons discharge" leading to death is not unusual in Iraq, often quite accidental, so this one apparently raised few eyebrows. The Arizona Republic, three days after her death, reported that Army officials "said that a number of possible scenarios are being considered, including Peterson's own weapon discharging, the weapon of another soldier discharging or the accidental shooting of Peterson by an Iraqi civilian." But in this case, a longtime radio and newspaper reporter named Kevin Elston, unsatisfied with the public story, decided to probe deeper in 2005, "just on a hunch," he told E&P today. He made "hundreds of phone calls" to the military and couldn't get anywhere, so he filed a Freedom of Information Act request. When the documents of the official investigation of her death arrived, they contained bombshell revelations. Heres what the Flagstaff public radio station, KNAU, where Elston now works, reported yesterday: "Peterson objected to the interrogation techniques used on prisoners. She refused to participate after only two nights working in the unit known as the cage. Army spokespersons for her unit have refused to describe the interrogation techniques Alyssa objected to. They say all records of those techniques have now been destroyed...." She was was then assigned to the base gate, where she monitored Iraqi guards, and sent to suicide prevention training. "But on the night of September 15th, 2003, Army investigators concluded she shot and killed herself with her service rifle," the documents disclose. The Army talked to some of Peterson's colleagues. Asked to summarize their comments, Elston told E&P: "The reactions to the suicide were that she was having a difficult time separating her personal feelings from her professional duties. That was the consistent point in the testimonies, that she objected to the interrogation techniques, without describing what those techniques were." Elston said that the documents also refer to a suicide note found on her body, revealing that she found it ironic that suicide prevention training had taught her how to commit suicide. He has now filed another FOIA request for a copy of the actual note. Peterson's father, Rich Peterson, has said: "Alyssa volunteered to change assignments with someone who did not want to go to Iraq." Alyssa Peterson, a devout Mormon, had graduated from Flagstaff High School and earned a psychology degree from Northern Arizona University on a military scholarship. She was trained in interrogation techniques at Fort Huachuca in Arizona, and then sent to the Middle East in 2003. The Arizona Republic article had opened: "Friends say Army Spc. Alyssa R. Peterson of Flagstaff always had an amazing ability to learn foreign languages. "Peterson became fluent in Dutch even before she went on an 18-month Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints mission to the Netherlands in the late 1990s. Then, she cruised through her Arabic courses at the military's Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., shortly after enlisting in July 2001. "With that under her belt, she was off to Iraq to conduct interrogations and translate enemy documents." On a "fallen heroes" message board on the Web, Mary W. Black of Flagstaff wrote, "The very day Alyssa died, her Father was talking to me at the Post Office where we both work, in Flagstaff, Az., telling me he had a premonition and was very worried about his daughter who was in the military on the other side of the world. The next day he was notified while on the job by two army officers. Never has a daughter been so missed or so loved than she was and has been by her Father since that fateful September day in 2003. He has been the most broken man I have ever seen." An A.W. from Los Angeles wrote: "I met Alyssa only once during a weekend surfing trip while she was at DLI. Although our encounter was brief, she made a lasting impression. We did not know each other well, but I was blown away by her genuine, sincere, sweet nature. I dont know how else to put it - she was just nice.... I was devastated to here [sic] of her death. I couldn't understand why it had to happen to such a wonderful person." Finally, Daryl K. Tabor of Ashland City, Tenn., who had met her as a journalist in Iraq for the Kentucky New Era paper in Hopkinsville: "Since learning of her death, I cannot get the image of the last time I saw her out of my mind. We were walking out of the tent in Kuwait to be briefed on our flights into Iraq as I stepped aside to let her out first. Her smile was brighter than the hot desert sun. Peterson was the only soldier I interacted with that I know died in Iraq. I am truly sorry I had to know any." To Read PART II of this column on Army Spc. Alyssa Peterson; http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/pressingissues_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003352534 >>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...." ~ The Declaration of Independence - July 4th, 1776 --------------------------------- Everyone is raving about the all-new Yahoo! Mail beta. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
