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What We've Lost
"I'm not going to play like I've been a person who's spent hours involved with foreign policy. I am who I am."
—GEORGE W. BUSH, April 2000
"I don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called nation building."
—GEORGE W. BUSH, April 1999
"People say, how can I help on this war against terror? How can I fight evil? You can do so by mentoring a child; by going into a shut-in's house and say I love you."
—GEORGE W. BUSH, September 2002
WHILE Americans and much of the rest of the world mourned the dead from September 11, the administrationreacted reasonably and proportionately. It launched a full-out manhunt for the leaders of Al Qaeda that stretched to the far corners of the earth. But in the smoldering ruins of the World Trade Center, members of the Bush White House also found arguments they could use to sell the American public on an invasion of Iraq—part of a grand plan to "rid the world," the president said, "of the evil-doers."
In early 2004, a spate of books came out that showed what many suspected all along: In the days after the attacks, when the administration's resources should have been completely focused on the search for the terrorists and protecting Americans at home, the White House was almost irrationally keyed up on Iraq. A December 2003 report by Dr. Jeffrey Record for the Army War College summed up the situation thus: "The result has been an unnecessary preventive war of choice against a deterred Iraq that has created a new front in the Middle East for Islamic terrorism and diverted attention and resources away from securing the American homeland against further assault by an undeterrable al-Qaeda. The war against Iraq was not integral to the [global war on terror], but rather a detour from it."
You would think that if we were to lash out at anybody it would have been against the Saudis, given that fifteen of the nineteen terrorists responsible for the September 11 attacks were from Saudi Arabia. The Saudis are friends, though. Not necessarily friends of ours—but friends of the Bushes. Indeed, in the president's three post—September 11 State of the Union addresses, he didn't once even mention Saudi Arabia's role as an incubator of terrorists.
Not only were the Saudis ignored in the days immediately following September 11, they were actively aided by the Bush administration. Within minutes of the terrorist attacks, the Federal Aviation Administration grounded all planes in the United States—an order that stood for the next two days. Former vice president Al Gore couldn't get back from Austria. Even former president Bill Clinton had to cancel his travel plans. As Craig Unger, author of House of Bush, House of Saud: The SecretRelationship Between the World's Two Most Powerful Dynasties, initially pointed out in a report in Vanity Fair, "For the first time in a century, American skies were nearly as empty as they had been when the Wright brothers first flew at Kitty Hawk."
On September 13, in a meeting scheduled before the attacks, President Bush sat down with Prince Bandar, the well-connected Saudi ambassador to the United States (very well connected: he had been a racquetball partner of Secretary of State Colin Powell's years earlier, and in July 2003 he gave President Bush a painting worth $1 million). According to Unger, Bandar had been busy working the phones for two days, trying to get influential Saudis out of the United States. And though the nation's airspace was severely restricted, he was shockingly successful. Coincidentally, the day he met with the president, according to Unger, three Saudi men, all apparently in their twenties, were escorted to a private hangar in Tampa, where they boarded an eight-passenger Learjet and took off for Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky. There they were greeted by an American who helped them with their baggage as they made their way onto a waiting Boeing 747 with Arabic writing on it, which then departed.
Over the next few days, planes around the country shuttled wellborn Saudis and members of the bin Laden family to East Coast airports for flights home. Incredibly, departure points along the way included Boston's Logan and Newark airports, two of the airports where the hijackers had boarded their planes on September 11—and ones that would likely have instituted the greatest degree of lockdown in the days following the attacks.
On September 18, at least five members of the bin Laden family flew back to Saudi Arabia in a specially reconfigured Boeing 727. The next day, according to Unger, even as the president was crafting a speech to announce that "our war on terror ... will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped, and defeated," a private plane that had originated in Los Angeles and made stops in Orlando andWashington, DC, arrived at Logan—where, Unger says, at least eleven bin Laden family members came on board—soon to exit the country under the cover of darkness. In all, some 140 Saudis, including more than a dozen bin Laden family members, made it out of the United States by the third week in September. Not only had they not been fully vetted by the FBI, but the FAA and the White House denied that the September 13 flight even took place. So close was Bandar to the Bush administration that, according to Bob Woodward's book Plan of Attack, the vice president told the Saudi ambassador of the White House's decision to invade Iraq even before he told Secretary of State Colin Powell. Woodward quotes Cheney as saying, "Prince Bandar, once we start, Saddam is toast."
The invasion of Iraq—so costly in terms of lives, dollars, and our international reputation—diverted attention and resources that could have gone toward securing the nation. The Bush administration tried to convince Americans it was doing everything in its power to ensure the country's safety on land and in the air. The truth of the matter is somewhat different. In almost every single instance, tax cuts took priority over security. "President Bush vetoed several specific (and relatively cost-effective) measures proposed by Congress that would have addressed critical national vulnerabilities," a 2002 report from the Brookings Institution said. "As a result, the country remains more vulnerable than it should be today." At one point Cheney was actually sent over to Congress to lobby for less spending on counterterrorism measures, rather than more.
About a month after September 11, a New York Daily News investigative team attempted to take utility knives, razor knives, and pepper spray aboard twelve flights taking off from eleven different airports. They succeeded on all but one flight. A year later the paper tried again, boarding fourteen flights taking off from eleven airports while carrying the same banned items. They succeeded every time. Of even greater concern are the nation's general aviation airports like the ones at which theterrorists trained. There are nineteen thousand of these small airfields, according to CBS News, and few of them have much in the way of security, or even fences. Despite all the warnings about the possibility of passenger jets being attacked by shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles, the perimeters of even big American airports are woefully unsecured. In the summer of 2003, a boat containing three young men washed ashore at New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport. The men freely walked up and down the runways until they stumbled upon a police station.
And although passenger luggage is now more thoroughly screened at the gate, the vast majority of the nearly three million tons of cargo shipped in the holds of regular commercial airliners is not checked for weapons or explosives. Time reported that "security experts shiver when they talk about the nation's cargo-handling procedures. Thousands of low-paid workers have carte blanche to roam airports, ramps and runways without undergoing personal inspections or having their belongings checked."
Underscoring these vulnerabilities was the bizarre case in September 2003 of a man who shipped himself as air cargo from New York to Dallas undetected. "Today it was just a guy trying to fly cheaply from New York to Dallas to visit his parents," Representative Edward Markey told CNN, "but in the future, a member of al Qaeda could have himself packed into an air cargo container." A report issued by the Century Foundation in early 2004 stated that the Transportation Security Administration "estimates there is a 35 to 65 percent chance that terrorists are planning to place a bomb in the cargo of a U.S. passenger plane. Yet, only about 5 percent of air cargo is screened, even if it is transported on passenger planes."
Ninety-five percent of all foreign goods are shipped to America by sea—some eight million containers a year. Of those, only one in fifty is subjected to anything more than a cursory inspection, wrote Jonathan Chait in The New Republic in March 2003. Stephen Flynn, a former coast guard commander who oversaw a 2004 report on homeland security prepared by the Council on Foreign Relations, told Chait, "We havevirtually no security there." To test security at the ports, ABC News bundled just under fifteen pounds of depleted uranium in a lead-lined steel pipe and shipped it in a container from Jakarta, Indonesia—a notorious Al Qaeda rallying ground and a departure point that should have raised all sorts of flags. The container went out, bound for Los Angeles, a week before the August 2003 bombing of the Jakarta Marriott that killed twelve people. It arrived in LA intact and undetected. Rather than being embarrassed by the incident, the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI investigated the ABC staff responsible for the shipment, claiming they may have broken smuggling laws. Criminal charges were threatened.
The coast guard says it would cost $5.5 billion to fully secure U.S. ports over the next ten years. And although the White House has said that seaport security is a priority in keeping the nation safe from terrorist attacks, the Bush administration's budget for 2005 calls for just $46 million for port security grants. But that's better than 2003 and 2004, when port security didn't get a penny.
In late 2002, the administration succeeding in getting the United Nations' International Maritime Organization to pass a new law of the sea. The pact requires ships around the world to be installed with communications equipment, security personnel, computers, and surveillance cameras. The treaty also sets strict security standards for the ports of call of ships coming into U.S. waters. It was a worthy idea, but like so many Bush initiatives, because of the administration's tax cuts, there was no funding to back it up. Not only can foreign ports in developing countries not afford to comply with the new standards, many American ports can't either. For U.S. ports, the cost of compliance was estimated at $7 billion—152 times Bush's allocation for port security grants for 2005. And this is despite the terrorists' track record of attacks by boat—on the USS Cole, the French supertanker Limburg, Basra's oil terminals. Osama bin Laden may have ties to as many as three hundred vessels, reported the New York Daily News in September 2003, "ranging from a shadowy fleet of small fishing trawlers to freighters, experts say"
One thing Bush did do to make our ports safer: He issued a proclamation in early 2004 directing the Department of Homeland Security to seize any vessel, anywhere in U.S. waters, if it is believed that the boat might sail into Cuban waters. Amazingly, the proclamation went on to say that "unauthorized entries" into Cuban waters facilitate "the Cuban government's support of terrorism." "Aside from the order being a possible violation of the Bill of Rights," wrote Paul Magnusson in Businessweek, "the U.S. Coast Guard has had to draw up regulations and enlist cash-strapped local police departments and harbor patrols in the effort." (The order even managed to anger recreational boaters. "That's right, Popeye," said the editor of one boating magazine. "If you're unlucky enough to be reading this magazine in the cockpit of your most cherished possession—be it in San Diego, Seattle, Saginaw, or South Florida—and you wonder aloud how you'd always wanted to chase Hemingway's wake, by the letter of this new edict you have now forfeited the right to keep your boat.")
The administration allocated $115 million for rail security in the last two budgets—a paltry sum, especially in light of the Madrid train bombings in March 2004 that killed nearly two hundred people and the fact that, according to Time, five times as many people take trains than take planes on a given day. Lowly buses, which have virtually no security equipment or supervision, are a worry. Often you don't even need a key to start a bus—you just push a button. In late 2003, a man walked into the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York and got behind the wheel of a fifty-six-seater. He drove it out of the station and all the way to Terminal 4 at JFK airport, where police arrested him. (His blood alcohol tested above the legal limit.)
Of immediate worry is the safety of the nation's existing nuclear storage facilities and laboratories. Rich Levernier, a specialist with the Department of Energy, spent more than half a decade organizing mock-terrorist squads made up of U.S. military commandos, who would attempt to infiltrate the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and nine other nuclear facilities. At risk nationwide are more than sixty metric tons of plutonium and many times that amount of highly enricheduranium. (To make a crude nuclear weapon requires just eleven pounds of plutonium or forty-five pounds of uranium.)
Levernier told Mark Hertsgaard in a report in Vanity Fair that "some of the facilities would fail year after year. In more than 50% of our tests of the Los Alamos facility, we got in, captured the plutonium, got out again, and in some cases didn't fire a shot, because we didn't encounter any guards." This despite the fact that the facilities had been told months in advance both the day and approximate time the attacks would take place. The faux attackers were handicapped in other ways that real terrorists wouldn't be: Grenades, body armor, and armed helicopters couldn't be used, and safety guidelines had to be adhered to, which meant the mock terrorists couldn't drive over the speed limit.
During one pretend attack, after Levernier's squad managed to get into Los Alamos and make off with weapons-grade nuclear material, the facility complained, almost comically, that the attack shouldn't count because the "terrorists" carried the material off in a vehicle not on the approved list of weapons for war games—a Home Depot cart.
When Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham asked for $379.7 million in 2002 for added security measures at the country's nuclear facilities, the administration approved only $26.4 million, according to a story by Jonathan Chait in The New Republic. "The list of improvements Bush declined to fund included more secure barriers and fences, computer improvements to defend against hackers, equipment to detect explosives in packages and vehicles entering department sites, and a reduction in the overall number of sites that store bomb-grade plutonium and uranium," Chait wrote.
There are similar problems with the nation's nuclear power plants. New York State's Indian Point facility, which is only an hour's drive north of Times Square, is a case in point. For decades, environmental and other groups have fought to have the plant closed. In 2003, in an effort to quiet fears, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission proudly announced that Indian Point had thwarted a mock-terrorist attack. That drill was as slanted in the facility's favor as the ones Levernier had staged at LosAlamos. Guards were reportedly told in advance when the attack would occur, and there were only three "terrorists." They were required to attack during daylight hours.
A 2003 report called "Controlling Nuclear Warheads and Materials: A Report Card and Action Plan" prepared by Harvard University found that Al Qaeda has been trying to get hold of nuclear weapons since the early 1990s. The report said that Chechen terrorists, who have close ties to Al Qaeda, made four reconnaissance missions to Russia between 2001 and 2002, checking out nuclear storage facilities and train yards where the material is moved. The report was commissioned by the Nuclear Threat Initiative, whose members include former senator Sam Nunn and Senator Richard Lugar. In 1991, they had created the Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, which sought to destroy the unprotected stockpiles of warheads and bomb-grade material in the former Soviet Union. The Bush administration has been reluctant to give it much in the way of funding. Duncan Hunter, a California Republican who is chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, somewhat enigmatically called the plan "open-ended, unfocused and ... self-defeating." According to James Traub in The New York Times, in early 2004, the White House at first tried to eliminate the program but finally agreed to keep it funded at $451 million per year—about 5 percent of what the Pentagon spends on missile defense.
Responding to a request by Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, a group that included Clinton's former secretary of state Madeleine Al-bright and former national security adviser Sandy Berger prepared a study in July 2003 called "An American Security Policy" The report listed six major areas of concern. Number one they called "The Loose Nukes Crisis in North Korea." Number two was weapons of mass destruction in Russia and other countries. Iraq came in at number four. Graham Allison of the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard told The Times's James Traub in early 2004 that "Iraq was a Level 2 issue. The Level 1 issue is that a terrorist could detonate a nuclear bomb in New York City instead of flying two planes into the World Trade Center."Traub quoted Allison as saying that the eventuality of this occurring was "more likely than not."
"America at Risk," a report released in 2004 by Democratic members of the House Select Committee on Homeland Security, stated that since the anthrax scare of 2001—02, not a single drug or vaccine for the pathogens rated as most dangerous by the Centers for Disease Control had been developed. The Pentagon's own review of the situation found weaknesses in "almost every aspect of U.S. biopreparedness and response." The Pentagon attempted to suppress its report, but parts of it were read to a reporter for The New York Times. One passage stated, "The fall 2001 anthrax attacks may turn out to be the easiest of bioterrorist strikes to confront." 60 Minutes reported that "just a few miles across the Hudson River from New York City, tucked underneath a heavily trafficked overpass, sits a nondescript chemical plant that manufactures disinfectant. According to government records, nearly 1,000 tons of deadly chlorine gas is stored here—the first agent ever used in chemical warfare during World War I ... [and] twelve million people ... within a fourteen-mile radius of the plant could be affected if the cloud of chlorine gas was released."
You would think that "first responders"—firefighters and emergency crews, like the ones who spent months at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon—would be a priority for a president who called the nation's security his "highest priority." They aren't. In his 2005 budget, Bush proposed reducing the $750 million allocated to the Assistance to Firefighters Grant Program to $500 million. When House Democratic Whip Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland wrote the president urging him to reconsider his decision, he was ignored.
The overall budget for first responders is $27 billion, to be spent between 2004 and 2008. When a task force from the Council on Foreign Relations surveyed emergency responder groups nationwide as to what programs and equipment they deemed necessary for a "minimum" response to another terrorist attack, the amount they came up with was $98.4 billion—almost four times what the Bush administration was givingthem. In early 2004, the U.S. Conference of Mayors released findings from a survey that said that of the 215 cities queried, 76 percent had yet to receive a penny from Washington for first-response units. Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton did a survey of her own in early 2003. Of the New York towns and cities she polled, 70 percent had not received any first-response funding.
When it came to dividing up the first $3 billion in funds allocated by the administration to homeland security, the amounts per capita in no way reflected the level of probable danger to the individuals in the states receiving the money. An Associated Press study in 2003 showed that New York State got $17 per person. The highest per capita payout for a state was nearly $36 for residents of Wyoming—the vice president's home state. American Samoa, the U.S. territory in the Pacific Ocean twenty-three hundred miles from Hawaii, received $94.40 for every resident.
In New York City, police officials say they need $900 million for preparedness alone. They received just $84 million. Of fifty major American cities, wrote Richard Schwartz in the Daily News, New York had the forty-ninth lowest per capita allotment—$5.87. The city that had the highest payout was New Haven, Connecticut, home to Yale University, alma mater of the president, his father, and his grandfather—it received $77.92 per person. Governor Jeb Bush's state, Florida, also did well, with Miami getting $52.82 per person; Orlando, $47.14; and Tampa, $30.57. USA Today reported in July 2003 that a harbor on Martha's Vineyard and the ferry company that runs boats between mainland Massachusetts and the Vineyard, where many legislators summer, received $900,000 for increased security. The paper said that when Todd Alexander, one of the harbormasters, told The Vineyard Gazette, "Quite honestly, I don't know what we're going to do, but you don't turn down grant money," the poor fellow was told not to speak to the press again.
In 2002, just as the whole Homeland Security apparatus was being set up, the Immigration and Naturalization Service—which, according to Chait in The New Republic, has a total of fourteen agents to track down twelve hundred illegal immigrants in the United States known tohave come from Al Qaeda—breeding countries—asked for $52 million to hire more staff. The request was denied in the interests of the tax cuts. Along the five-thousand-mile U.S.-Canadian border and the two-thousand-mile U.S.-Mexican border pass some four hundred million people each year. The borders are notoriously porous, and although there is rising concern that terrorists could easily slip into the United States across the Canadian border, there is, on average, only one guard every ten miles.
According to a March 2004 article in The New York Times, the Internal Revenue Service requested funds to hire eighty additional criminal investigators, to add to the "160 it has already assigned to penetrate the shadowy networks that terrorist groups use to finance plots like the Sept. 11 attacks and the recent train bombings in Madrid. But the Bush administration did not include funds for them in the president's proposed budget for the 2005 fiscal year." Although the White House is fond of making pronouncements stating that it has frozen $136.7 million in terrorists' funds, Rachel Ehrenfeld, the author of Funding Evil, a book about terrorists' money operations, said that amount is "a drop in the bucket."
In late 2003, the General Accounting Office reported that the IRS didn't have a plan for sharing information about terrorist financing with other government agencies. The GAO also said that both the Justice Department and the Department of the Treasury were a year behind in coming up with programs to investigate terrorist money-laundering operations and the money they get from selling black market gold and precious gems.
The Council on Foreign Relations summed up the overall state of the nation's safety in 2003, following an investigation headed by former senator Warren Rudman. "Although in some respects the American public is now better prepared to address aspects of the terrorist threat than it was two years ago," the report states, "the United States remains dangerously ill-prepared to handle a catastrophic attack on American soil."
"An attack on one is an attack on all."
—NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL GEORGE ROBERTSON, September 2001
With this statement, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's nineteen members invoked Article 5 of the group's charter to justify the eventual attack on Afghanistan in retaliation for the ones on September 11. It was the first time NATO had dipped into the part of the treaty that says that an attack on a member nation is an attack on the whole organization and therefore justifies a military response. In the White House Treaty Room shortly after the Afghan bombing began, Bush pronounced his resolve to the nation. "The battle is now joined on many fronts," he said. "We will not waver. We will not tire. We will not falter. And we will not fail. Peace and freedom will prevail."
Politicians, and especially presidents, have short and selective attention spans. The administration was never fully committed to rooting out Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Its hearts and minds were always on the oil-rich nation eight hundred miles to the west. As former security czar Richard Clarke told Seymour Hersh of The New Yorker, "One, they did not want to get involved in Afghanistan like Russia did. Two, they were saving forces for the war in Iraq. And, three, Rumsfeld wanted to have a laboratory to prove his theory about the ability of small numbers of ground troops, coupled with airpower, to win decisive battles." Clarke added that "the U.S. has succeeded in stabilizing only two or three cities. The President of Afghanistan is just the mayor of Kabul."
The Iraq invasion essentially left Afghanistan in the dust. Funding and human resources were shifted to the new theater of battle. In Plan of Attack, Bob Woodward reports that in July 2002, the administration diverted $700 million from the Afghanistan conflict to General Tommy Franks so that he could begin preparing for war in Iraq. The diversionwas not only kept from Congress, it was also in violation of the Constitution. By the end of 2003, the United States had budgeted more for just bringing oil into Iraq ($690 million) than for rebuilding Afghanistan ($672 million). Almost 50 percent of the commando units and intelligence specialists who had been combing the hills and mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan looking for Osama bin Laden and other members of Al Qaeda were reportedly diverted to Iraq when the war started there. USA Today stated in March 2004 that "Bob Andrews, former head of a Pentagon office that oversaw special operations, says that removing Saddam Hussein was a good idea but 'a distraction.' The war in Iraq, Andrews notes, entailed the largest deployment of special operations forces—about 10,000—since the Vietnam War. That's about 25% of all U.S. commandos."
The aftermath is as dispiriting as it is potentially explosive. A World Bank conference in 2002 estimated that Afghanistan would need $15 billion over the next ten years to get back on its feet. The United States spent $500 million over two years to create and train an Afghan army. As of March 2004, according to Time, only fifty-seven hundred soldiers—in a nation of twenty-eight million—had been hired and trained. The soldiers rarely leave the confines of Kabul, and desertion rates are running at 22 percent, according to NATO. By comparison, the armed followers of former Afghan president Burhanuddin Rabbani number close to fifty thousand in Kabul alone. The United Nations, says Time, "has managed to register just 9% of the country's 10.5 million eligible voters. Taliban rebels have threatened to kill U.N.-sponsored election teams and burn down schools and mosques where Afghans are signing up to vote."
The Center on International Cooperation estimated that by early 2004, only about $120 million of the $2.9 billion disbursed by donors toward reconstruction had resulted in any projects being completed. A 2004 report by the UN's Development Program stated that aid "has been much lower than expected or promised ... In comparison to other conflict or post-conflict situations, Afghanistan appears to have been neglected." The report went on to say that despite similarly sized populations,Iraq is receiving ten times the development aid that Afghanistan is receiving. Even citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina get 3.7 times more per capita in foreign aid than Afghans.
In mid-2003, the Council on Foreign Relations and the Asia Society issued a joint report that said, "Unless the situation improves, Afghanistan risks sliding back into the anarchy and warlordism that prevailed in the 1990s and helped give rise to the Taliban. Such a reversion would have disastrous consequences for Afghanistan and would be a profound setback for the US war on terrorism."
The Taliban is regrouping under its leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar, who is still in hiding and now has a hold on roughly a third of the country. The nation's warlords are again carving up other regions. Ismail Khan, the governor of western Afghanistan, and others have brought back the Taliban's infamous department of "Vice and Virtue," which sends young hoodlums into the streets to enforce segregation. Khan had previously made a radio announcement that women who walk with men other than their husbands should be beaten. On a visit to Afghanistan in April 2002, Donald Rumsfeld described Khan as "an appealing person, thoughtful, measured and self-confident."
In the eastern provinces, Hazrat Ali's forces are still being supported by the U.S. military because they had pitched in during the battle in Tora Bora against Al Qaeda. Human Rights Watch calls Ali one of the country's worst violators of human rights. His followers have been accused of raping women, sodomizing young boys, and stealing and kidnapping.
Human Rights Watch has also been critical of Amniat-e Milli, the intelligence division of the interim Afghan government, which is backed by the United States. The Australian Financial Review reported, "Its members regularly torture prisoners [and] often innocent citizens whom officials shake down for money. Prisoners are shackled, beaten, hung upside down, given electric shocks or hung from their fingertips and covered with a thick blanket teeming with lice. The editor of a Kabul magazine that published an offending cartoon was told by an Amniat official,'Look, we have 30 bullets in our clip. I can shoot 30 of these bullets into your chest right now and there is no-one who can stop us.'"
The situation in the country is especially harmful to women, whose rights—or, rather, lack thereof—have essentially returned to the state they were under the Taliban. Colin Powell had stated definitively in November 2001 that the restoration of women's rights would "not be negotiable." Other members of the administration didn't share his conviction. In early 2002, the White House told the Senate it wanted to ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. Signed by Jimmy Carter in 1980 but never ratified by the Senate, the UN pact, the administration said, was "generally desirable and should be approved." The White House soon changed course. Powell began talking about its "vagueness" and "complexity" and thought the Justice Department should have a look at it. But Attorney General John Ashcroft had been a vocal critic of the treaty back when he was a member of the Senate and offered no endorsement of it this time. The White House walked away from the pact. "Standing with the United States in failing to ratify the convention," wrote the Houston Chronicle, "are nations known for their oppressive treatment of women, such as Afghanistan under the Taliban, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar." Under Democratic leadership in July 2002, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee took matters into its own hands and voted to put the measure to the full Senate for a vote. But nothing happened before that session of Congress adjourned. The Republicans won the Senate in 2002, and so the treaty sits, stalled and unratified. In early 2004, The New York Times reported that in Herat alone, more than forty women had chosen self-immolation over life during the previous six months.
Afghanistan is once again the leading producer of opium in the world, supplying 75 percent of the global market. Crop acreage is 36 times greater than it was during the Taliban regime, the White House said in November 2003. The harvest now brings in $2.3 billion a year.More than 1.7 million Afghans—6 percent of the population—are currently involved in opium production. In late 2003, the United Nations estimated that the average Afghan family brought in $184 a year; the average family involved in opium growing brought in $3,900 a year.
Where does the money go? Much of it winds up in the hands of the warlord militias, the Taliban, and other terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda and Hezb-i-Islami. "Any operation that Al Qaeda or the Taliban could conceive of could be funded right now," a diplomat told a reporter for the Chicago Tribune. "In terms of their needs, it's an unlimited source of financing." In early 2004, a UN report warned that Afghanistan was becoming an opium-based economy and a "terrorist breeding ground."
"Peace will be achieved by helping Afghanistan develop its own stable government."
—GEORGE W. BUSH, April 2002
"I analyzed a thorough body of intelligence—good, solid, sound intelligence—that led me to come to the conclusion that it was necessary to remove Saddam Hussein from power."
—GEORGE W. BUSH, July 2003
"I'm also not very analytical. You know I don't spend a lot of time thinking about myself, why I do things."
—GEORGE W. BUSH, June 2003
"People don't want war ... but [they] 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 exposingthe country to danger." That may sound like a quote from the Karl Rove playbook or a snippet from an internal memo from Rumsfeld's office. But it actually was said by Hitler's Luftwaffe chief and designated successor, Hermann Goering, to a psychologist in 1946, at the time of the Nuremberg war-crimes trials.
For Americans, September 11 was most certainly the defining single-day tragedy of our age. But, to put it in perspective, it was, however devastating, the only attack by a foreign element on U.S. soil in more than half a century—outside of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. European, African, and Middle Eastern countries have grown wearily accustomed to death tolls by terrorism that are registered almost weekly; month in, month out; year in, year out.
Make no mistake about it. September 11 was about terrorism—a new type of enemy for the United States. But it's an enemy without borders, capitals, or diplomatic structure. And yet in what may come to be seen as one of the most critical blunders in military history, the White House and the Pentagon irrationally picked Iraq as the target on which they would stake their careers—and the lives and reputation of the American people. Iraq was always the G-spot for the Bush administration. September 11 gave them a pretext they could manipulate to sell the nation on an invasion. As The Daily Show's Jon Stewart says, the United States is really bad at fear. And that climate of fear and patriotism in the wake of the attacks only made the administration's public relations job easier.
As Paul O'Neill, former treasury secretary under Bush, and journalist Ron Suskind point out in their book The Price of Loyalty, ten days into the administration, Iraq was officially on the Bush agenda. The attacks of September 11 gave the White House an excuse to carry out a radical restructuring of the Middle East. Rumsfeld seemed more keyed up on hitting targets—and fast—than on finding who and where the enemy was. On September 12, 2001, Richard Clarke says in his book Against All Enemies, "Secretary Rumsfeld complained that there were no decent targets for bombing in Afghanistan and that we should consider bombing Iraq, which, he said, had better targets. At first I thought Rumsfeldwas joking. But he was serious and the President did not reject out of hand the idea of attacking Iraq."
Egged on by the trio of neoconservatives who had the president's ear—Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, defense adviser Richard Perle, and Undersecretary of Defense for Policy Douglas Feith—the administration assembled a PR calculus for invading the country that it thought Americans would swallow:
• Iraq equals terrorism.
• Iraq equals biological weapons.
• Iraq equals weapons of mass destruction—in the president's words, "the smoking gun ... a mushroom cloud."
Except that:
• Saddam Hussein's regime was a secular one and Al Qaeda is a fundamentalist terror group dedicated in part to the overthrow of secular leaderships. There is no evidence whatsoever that Saddam ever funneled money to the terrorist organization. And, as the Europeans know but this administration has yet to figure out, the invasion of Iraq was not a blow against terrorism but rather a growth hormone for more of it.
• Inspectors, including Scott Ritter, Hans Blix, and most recently David Kay, all say that the international community's efforts—begun in the early 1990s after the Gulf War—to rid Saddam of stockpiles of biological and other weapons systems had been successful.
• There was no "smoking gun" in the way of weapons of mass destruction, merely "weapons of mass destruction-related program activities," whatever that means.
The miscalculations in going to war were endless. Vice President Dick Cheney predicted that American troops would be welcomed as liberators. Just over a month after the invasion of Iraq began, Rumsfeld compared the operation to the liberation of Paris after World War II. Except there was a big difference between Paris in 1944 and Baghdad in 2003: France was occupied by Germany, a foreign power. Iraq was in the grip of a native Iraqi. Not a very nice one, mind you, but an Iraqi nevertheless—which, if you live in the country being occupied, is a big difference. Foreigners dominating your country versus one of your own dominating your country? People of pride choose the latter any day. And the Iraqis are nothing if not proud people.
In its rush to war, the Bush administration bullied traditional allies who failed to see the logic of an invasion of Iraq. And it derided the United Nations for trying to maintain world order and the delicate dance of diplomacy necessary to avoid wars. Shortly after the invasion began, Perle callously dismissed the organization as "the looming chatterbox on the Hudson." (Perle's geography is a little off. The UN headquarters overlooks New York's East River.)
You've got to give it to the Bush administration, though—it's focused. When it wants to go to war, it goes to war come hell or high water, and never mind what anyone else thinks. In no particular order, in its rush to invade Iraq, the Bush White House did the following:
• It co-opted the CIA and other intelligence agencies. Mel Goodman, a twenty-four-year veteran of the agency, told Vanity Fair that CIA and Defense Intelligence Agency analysts were being called into their superiors' offices and told that their careers would be on the line if they didn't produce findings backing up the administration's desires on Iraq.
• It then cherry-picked intelligence favorable to its philosophy and its goals. .It deceived Congress (a felony, by the way).
• It deceived the American people (not a felony, but it should be). The deceit worked. In August 2002, an ABC News/Washington Post poll found that 79 percent of Americans felt that Iraq posed a threat to the United States. An October 2002 Gallup poll showed 56 percent of Americans in favor of going into Iraq. And a December 2002 Los Angeles Times poll showed that 90 percent of Americans thought Saddam was developing WMDs. (Incredibly, a September 2003 Washington Post poll found that 69 percent of Americans believed Saddam was personally involved in the September 11 attacks.)
• It deceived the United Nations. Not only that, it asked Britain to bug six Security Council members during the 2002-03 debate over enforcing Resolution 1441. Tony Blair's government may even have bugged the offices of UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
• It strong-armed some traditional allies into going along with us and trashed the ones that wouldn't.
• It had its attack machine tar Americans opposed to war as being chickens or, worse, traitors.
Furthermore, when it wanted to go to war, the Bush administration pushed the UN weapons inspectors to the wall, pressuring them to find the WMDs and find them fast. The White House said that time was running out ("the smoking gun ... the mushroom cloud"). Then, when it wanted to justify the war once "major combat operations" were over and Iraq had been leveled, the administration told the world not to rush the inspection process, that the inspectors needed more time to find the root reason given for the invasion—weapons of mass destruction. A University of Maryland poll conducted in May 2003 found that 34 percentof Americans believed the United States had found weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and 22 percent thought Iraq had used chemical or biological weapons during the war.
When all the administration's manufactured justifications for going to war crumbled on a bloody bone pile of deception and dissolution, the White House threw its weight behind another rationale for the war: Saddam had to be toppled for the good of the Iraqi people and stability in the Middle East.
Who are the winners in all of this? The vice president's old firm, Halliburton, is certainly one. Through May 2004, it won $4.7 billion in postwar contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to the Center for Public Integrity, even though it was overcharging the Pentagon for gas and meals. Bechtel is another winner. It received contracts totaling $2.8 billion over the same period, despite criticism from the army of the shoddy work it did building schools and other facilities. Few of these contracts were sent out for competitive bidding.
Who are the losers? Where do we begin? Saddam, his sons Uday and Qusay, and his murderous, despotic regime, obviously. Morale at the CIA is at an all-time low. A battered George Tenet resigned in June 2004 after weathering two of the biggest intelligence failures in the agency's history. Morale isn't much better at the FBI. The members of the National Guard who have stayed way past their terms of duty have paid a heavy price, as have their families. We've lost our reputation for being the world's responsible superpower—a standing that took two centuries to establish. And for what? The Iraqis hate us. We've alienated many of our traditional allies. America has been pushed into a conflict in Iraq without purpose and now without conclusion. "Bush's Vietnam," Senator Edward Kennedy calls it. The war was also an Al Qaeda recruitment officer's dream. And the Middle East is as unstable as it was before September 11, perhaps more so.
The death toll of Iraqi civilians as a result of the military intervention by spring 2004, has been estimated by iraqbodycount.net at upward of ten thousand. Add to that figure the untold thousands who have beenwounded, and it's the highest number of civilian noncombatant casualties involving U.S. troops since Vietnam. The Los Angeles Times reported in late 2003 that "the U.S. military does not keep statistics on the civilian deaths it has caused, saying it is 'impossible for us to maintain an accurate account.'"
In early November 2003, after a particularly bloody month for U.S. troops, the military adopted a get-tough strategy—encompassing a range of tactics—toward the growing insurgency. "In selective cases, American soldiers are demolishing buildings thought to be used by Iraqi attackers," The New York Times reported a month later. "They have begun imprisoning the relatives of suspected guerrillas, in hopes of pressing the insurgents to turn themselves in." They'd also wrapped entire towns in barbed-wire fences, allowing citizens in and out through a single checkpoint, and imposed curfews after dark. "This is absolutely humiliating," a schoolteacher told the Times. "We are like birds in a cage." Aside from angering the very people the military was trying to win over, "tactics like these are unethical under any moral code," reported The Christian Science Monitor, "and illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention."
The military's get-tough strategy was also being applied at Iraq's prisons, where thousands of suspected insurgents were being interrogated. Among those detained were innocent Iraqi civilians. Not by accident but by design, according to Hayder Sabbar Abd, one of the detainees forced to pose naked with a bag over his head in the now infamous Abu Ghraib photographs. Abd told the Times, "We were not insurgents. We were just ordinary people. And American intelligence knew this." The release of the Abu Ghraib photographs broke what little trust remained between Iraqis and their occupiers. As of May 2004, the military continued to battle the insurgency, and America's reputation around the world was at its lowest point in decades.
The cost of the war in terms of dollars? By May 2004, the first anniversary of the official end of combat operations, the U.S. share of the invasion was about $100 billion and climbing at the rate of about $8 billion per month.
On May 1, 2003, Bush, in a borrowed navy pilot's suit, was dropped onto the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln, then sailing in dangerous waters thirty miles offshore from San Diego. The banner behind him reading "Mission Accomplished" was a clever idea for a photo op backdrop, but it was a foolish, swaggering gesture that has come back to haunt the administration and will for years to come. A year to the day since that landing aboard the Lincoln, 833 American and coalition forces had lost their lives in the war and its bloody aftermath.
This is what war really looks like:
The British Toll
Cpl. Stephen John Allbutt, 35 Sapper Luke Allsopp, 24 Cpl. Russell Aston, 30 Maj. Stephen Alexis Ballard, 33 Fusilier Russell Beeston, 26 Colour Sgt. John Cecil, 36 Trooper David Jeffrey Clarke, 19 Lance Cpl. Andrew Jason Craw, 21 Staff Sgt. Simon Cullingworth, 36 Lance Bombardier Llywelyn Karl Evans, 24 Lt. Philip D. Green, 31 Capt. Philip Stuart Guy, 29 Sgt. Alexander Hamilton-Jewell, 41 Leonard Harvey, 55 Marine Sholto Hedenskog, 26 Sgt. Les Hehir, 34 Lance Cpl. of Horse Matty Hull, 25 Cpl. Richard Thomas David Ivell, 29 Capt. David Martyn Jones, 29 Pvt. Andrew Joseph Kelly, 18 Lance Cpl. Thomas Richard Keys, 20 Lt. Antony King, 35 Lt. Marc A. Lawrence, 26 Capt. James Linton, 43 Cpl. Paul Graham Long, 24 Marine Christopher R. Maddison, 24 Flight Lt. Kevin Barry Main, 36 Lance Cpl. Ian Keith Malone, 28 Lance Cpl. James McCue, 27 Cpl. Simon Miller, 21 Staff Sgt. Chris Muir, 32 Piper Christopher Muzyuru, 21 Sgt. John Nightingale, 32 Sgt. Norman Patterson, 28 Cpl. Ian Plank, 31 Cpl. Dewi Pritchard, 35 Gunner Duncan Geoffrey Pritchard, 22 Sgt. Steven Mark Roberts, 33 Operator Mechanic (Comm.) Second Class Ian Seymour, 29 Lance Cpl. Karl Shearer, 24 Cpl. David John Shepherd, 34 Pvt. Jason Smith, 32 Maj. James Stenner, 30 Lance Cpl. Barry Stephen, 31 Warrant Officer Second Class Mark Stratford, 39 Pvt. Ryan Lloyd Thomas, 18 Sapper RobertThompson, 22 Maj. Matthew Titchener, 32 Fusilier Kelan John Turrington, 18 Lt. Alexander Tweedie, 25 Company Sgt. Maj. Colin Wall, 34 Maj. Jason George Ward, 34 Lt. Philip West, 32 Flight Lt. David Rhys Williams, 37 Lt. James Williams, 28 Lt. Andrew S. Wilson, 36 Rifleman Vincent Calvin Windsor, 23
The Italian Toll
Chief Warrant Officer Massimiliano Bruno, 40 Cpl. Alessandro Carrisi, 23 Chief Warrant Officer Giovanni Cavallaro, 47 Sgt. Maj. Giuseppe Coletta, 38 Cpl. Emanuele Ferraro, 28 Lt. Massimiliano Ficuciello, 35 Pvt. Andrea Filippa, 31 Chief Warrant Officer Enzo Fregosi, 56 Chief Warrant Officer Daniele Ghione, 31 Sgt. Maj. Ivan Ghitti, 30 Pfc. Domenico Intravaia, 46 Pvt. Horacio Majorana, 29 Chief Warrant Officer Filippo Merlino, 46 Warrant Officer Silvio Olla, 32 Cpl. Pietro Petrucci, 22 Chief Warrant Officer Alfio Ragazzi, 39 Chief Warrant Officer Alfonso Trincone, 44
The Spanish Toll
Master Sgt. Alfonso Vega Calvo, 41 Sgt. Maj. José Lucas Egea, 42 Sgt. Luis Puga Gandar, 29 Cmdr. Gonzalo Perez García, 42 Sgt. José Antonio Bernal Gómez, 34 Maj. Alberto Martínez González, 43 Navy Capt. Manuel Martin Oar, 57 Maj. José Merino Olivera, 49 Maj. Carlos Barro Ollero, 36 Maj. Jose Carlos Rodríguez Perez, 41 Sgt. First Class Luis Ignacio Zanon Tarazona, 36
The Bulgarian Toll
Sgt. Dimitar Dimitrov, 25 Sgt. First Class Ivan Hristov Indjov Jr., 36 Capt. Georgi Hristov Kachorin, 29 Pvt. Svilen Simeonov Kirov, 25 Sgt. Anton Valentinov Petrov, 26 Second Lt. Nikolai Angelov Saruev, 26
The Ukrainian Toll
Pvt. Ruslan Androschuk, 24 Capt. Olexei Bondarenko, 34 Pvt. Konstantin M. Khaliev, 23 Sr. Sgt. Yuriy Koydan, 23 Jr. Sgt. Sergiy Suslov, 20 Yaroslav Zlochevskiy, 23
The Polish Toll Maj. Hieronim Kupczyk, 44 Lance Cpl. Gerard Wasilewski, 20
The Thai Toll Sgt. Amporn Chulert, 46 Sgt. Mitr Klaharn, 43
The El Salvadoran Toll Pvt. Natividad Mendez Ramos, 19
The Danish Toll Cpl. Preben Pedersen, 34
The Estonian Toll Jr. Sgt. Andres Nuiamäe, 21
The American Toll
ARMY: Sgt. Michael D. Acklin II, 25 Spc. Genaro Acosta, 26 Pfc. Steven Acosta, 19 Capt. James F. Adamouski, 29 Pvt. Algernon Adams, 36 First Lt. Michael R. Adams, 24 Pfc. Michael S. Adams, 20 Spc. Jamaal R. Addison, 22 Capt. Tristan N. Aitken, 31 Spc. Ronald D. Allen Jr., 22 Sgt. Glenn R. Allison, 24 Pfc. John D. Amos II, 22 Spc. Michael Andrade, 28 Sgt. Edward J. Anguiano, 24 Spc. Richard Arriaga, 20 Spc. Robert R. Arsiaga, 25 Cpl. Evan Asa Ashcraft, 24 Capt. Matthew J. August, 28 Spc. Tyanna S. Avery-Felder, 22 Sgt. First Class Henry A. Bacon, 45 Sgt. Andrew Joseph Baddick, 26 Staff Sgt. Daniel Bader, 28 Staff Sgt. Nathan J. Bailey, 46 Spc. Ryan T. Baker, 24 Sgt. Sherwood R. Baker, 30 Spc. Solomon C. Bangayan, 24 Cpl. Juan C. Cabral Banuelos, 25 Lt. Col. Dominic R. Baragona, 42 Spc. Jonathan P. Barnes, 21 Sgt. Michael Paul Barrera, 26 Spc. Todd M. Bates, 20 Spc. James L. Beckstrand, 27 Sgt. Gregory A. Belanger, 24 Sgt. Aubrey D. Bell, 33 Pfc. Wilfred D. Bellard, 20 Staff Sgt. Joseph P. Bellavia, 28 Sgt. First Class William M. Bennett, 35 Spc. Robert T. Benson, 20 First Lt. David R. Bernstein, 24 Spc. Joel L. Bertoldie, 20 Staff Sgt. Stephen A. Bertolino, 40 Cpl. Mark A. Bibby, 25 Sgt. Benjamin W. Biskie, 27 Sgt. Jarrod W. Black, 26 Chief Warrant Officer 2 Michael T. Blaise, 29 Capt. Ernesto M. Blanco, 28 Command Sgt. Maj. James D. Blankenbecler, 40 Spc. Joseph M. Blickenstaff, 23 Sgt. Trevor A. Blumberg, 22 Sgt. First Class Craig A. Boling, 38 Sgt. First Class Kelly Bolor, 37 Staff Sgt. Stevon A. Booker, 34 Chief Warrant Officer Clarence E. Boone, 50 Pfc. Rachel K. Bosveld, 19 Spc. Mathew G. Boule, 22 Spc. Edward W. Brabazon, 20 Staff Sgt. Kenneth R. Bradley, 39 Staff Sgt. Stacey C. Brandon, 35 Spc. Artimus D. Brassfield, 22 Pfc. Joel K. Brattain, 21 Pfc. Jeffrey F. Braun, 19 Staff Sgt. Steven H. Bridges, 33 Staff Sgt. Cory W Brooks, 32 Sgt. Thomas F. Broomhead, 34 Cpl. Henry L. Brown, 22 Pfc. John E. Brown, 21 Spc. Larry K. Brown, 22 Spc. Lunsford B. Brown II, 27 Pfc. Nathan P. Brown, 21 Pfc. Timmy R. Brown Jr., 21 Second Lt. Todd J. Bryant, 23 Sgt. Ernest G. Bucklew, 33 Spc. Roy Russell Buckley, 24 Spc. Paul J. Bueche, 19 Lt. Col. Charles H. Buehring, 40 Sgt. George Edward Buggs, 31 Staff Sgt. Christopher Bunda, 29 Staff Sgt. Richard A. Burdick, 24 Sgt. Travis L. Burkhardt, 26 Pfc. Charles E. Bush Jr., 43 Pvt. Matthew D. Bush, 20 Pfc. Damian S. Bushart, 22 Sgt. Jacob L. Butler, 24 Capt. Joshua T. Byers, 29 Sgt. Charles T. Caldwell, 38 Spc. Nathaniel A. Caldwell, 27 Staff Sgt. Joseph Camara, 40 Sgt. Ryan M. Campbell, 25 Spc. Marvin A. Camposiles, 25 Spc. Isaac Campoy, 21 Spc. Adolfo C. Carballo, 20 Cpl. Richard P. Carl, 26 Spc. Ryan G. Carlock, 25 Staff Sgt. Edward W. Carman, 27 Spc. Jocelyn L. Carrasquillo, 28 Pfc. Jose Casanova, 23 Spc. Ahmed A. Cason, 24 Capt. Paul J. Cassidy, 36 Staff Sgt. Roland L. Castro, 26 Sgt. Sean K. Cataudella, 28 Spc. Doron Chan, 20 Spc. James A. Chance III, 25 Spc. Jason K. Chappell, 22 Pfc. Jonathan M.Cheatham, 19 Sgt. Yihjyh L. Chen, 31 Spc. Andrew F. Chris, 25 Staff Sgt. Thomas W. Christensen, 42 Spc. Brett T. Christian, 27 Spc. Arron R. Clark, 20 First Sgt. Christopher D. Coffin, 51 Cpl. Gary B. Coleman, 24 Second Lt. Benjamin J. Colgan, 30 Staff Sgt. Gary L. Collins, 32 Chief Warrant Officer 2 Lawrence S. Colton, 32 Spc. Ze-ferino E. Colunga, 20 Sgt. Timothy M. Conneway, 22 Spc. Steven D. Conover, 21 Command Sgt. Maj. Eric F. Cooke, 43 Sgt. Dennis A. Corral, 33 Chief Warrant Officer Alexander S. Coulter, 35 Sgt. Michael T. Crockett, 27 Staff Sgt. Ricky L. Crockett, 37 Pvt. Rey D. Cuervo, 24 Spc. Daniel Francis J. Cunningham, 33 Spc. Michael Edward Curtin, 23 Staff Sgt. Christopher E. Cutchall, 30 Pfc. Anthony D. D'Agostino, 20 Capt. Nathan S. Dalley, 27 Pfc. Norman Darling, 29 Pvt. Brandon L. Davis, 20 Staff Sgt. Craig Davis, 37 Spc. Raphael S. Davis, 24 Staff Sgt. Wilbert Davis, 40 Staff Sgt. Jeffrey F. Dayton, 27 Pfc. Jason L. Deibler, 20 Sgt. Felix M. Delgreco, 22 Spc. Darryl T. Dent, 21 Pfc. Ervin Dervishi, 21 Pfc. Michael R. Deuel, 21 Pvt. Michael J. Deutsch, 21 Spc. Jeremiah J. DiGiovanni, 21 Spc. Michael A. Diraimondo, 22 Sgt. Michael E. Dooley, 23 Chief Warrant Officer Patrick Dorff, 32 Master Sgt. Robert J. Dowdy, 38 Staff Sgt. Joe L. Dunigan Jr., 37 Spc. William Dave Dusenbery, 30 Second Lt. Seth J. Dvorin, 24 Staff Sgt. Richard S. Eaton Jr., 37 Sgt. William C. Eckhart, 25 Spc. Marshall L. Edgerton, 27 Pfc. Shawn C. Edwards, 20 Spc. Peter G. Enos, 24 Sgt. Adam W. Estep, 23 Pvt. Ruben Estrella-Soto, 18 Pvt. David Evans Jr., 18 Pfc. Jeremy Ricardo Ewing, 22 Pvt. Jonathan I. Falaniko, 20 Capt. Brian R. Faunce, 28 Capt. Arthur L. Felder, 36 Spc. Rian C. Ferguson, 22 Master Sgt. Richard L. Ferguson, 45 Master Sgt. George A. Fernandez, 36 Staff Sgt. Clint D. Ferrin, 31 Spc. Jon P. Fettig, 30 Sgt. Paul F. Fisher, 39 fc. Jacob S. Fletcher, 28 Spc. Thomas A. Foley III, 23 Spc. Jason C. Ford, 21 Chief Warrant Officer 3 Wesley C. Fortenberry, 38 Sgt. First Class Bradley C. Fox, 34 Staff Sgt. Bobby C. Franklin, 38 Pvt. Robert L. Frantz, 19 Pvt. Benjamin L. Freeman, 19 Sgt. David T. Friedrich, 26 Spc. Luke P. Frist, 20 Spc. Adam D. Froehlich, 21 Pvt. Kurt R.Frosheiser, 22 Pfc. Nichole M. Frye, 19 Sgt. First Class Dan H. Gabrielson, 39 Sgt. Landis W. Garrison, 23 Sgt. Justin W. Garvey, 23 Spc. Israel Garza, 25 First Sgt. Joe J. Garza, 43 Spc. Christopher D. Gelineau, 23 Pvt. Kyle C. Gilbert, 20 Sgt. Maj. Cornell W. Gilmore I, 45 Pfc. Jesse A. Givens, 34 Spc. Michael T. Gleason, 25 Spc. Christopher A. Golby, 26 Spc. David J. Goldberg, 20 Pfc. Gregory R. Goodrich, 37 Sgt. First Class Richard S. Gottfried, 42 Spc. Richard A. Goward, 32 Second Lt. Jeffrey C. Graham, 24 Spc. Kyle A. Griffin, 20 Cpl. Sean R. Grilley, 24 Pvt. Joseph R. Guerrera, 20 Chief Warrant Officer Hans N. Gukeisen, 31 Pfc. Analaura Esparza Gutierrez, 21 Pfc. Richard W. Hafer, 21 Spc. Charles G. Haight, 23 Pvt. Jesse M. Hailing, 19 Chief Warrant Officer Erik A. Halvorsen, 40 Capt. Kimberly N. Hampton, 27 Sgt. Michael S. Hancock, 29 Sgt. Warren S. Hansen, 36 Spc. Kenneth W. Harris Jr., 23 Pfc. Leroy Harris-Kelly, 20 Pfc. John D. Hart, 20 Sgt. Nathaniel Hart Jr., 29 Sgt. Jonathan N. Hartman, 27 Staff Sgt. Stephen C. Hattamer, 43 Pfc. Sheldon R. Hawk Eagle, 21 Sgt. Timothy L. Hayslett, 26 Chief Warrant Officer 2 Brian D. Hazelgrove, 29 Spc. Justin W. Hebert, 20 Pfc. Damian L. Heidelberg, 21 Pfc. Raheen Tyson Heighter, 22 Staff Sgt. Brian R. Hellermann, 35 Staff Sgt. Terry W. Hemingway, 39 First Lt. Robert L. Henderson II, 33 Staff Sgt. Kenneth W. Hendrickson, 41 Pfc. Clayton W. Henson, 20 Pfc. Edward J. Herrgott, 20 Sgt. Jacob R. Herring, 21 Sgt. First Class Gregory B. Hicks, 35 Spc. Christopher K. Hill, 26 Spc. Stephen D. Hiller, 25 Sgt. Keicia M. Hines, 27 Sgt. First Class James T. Hoffman, 41 Spc. Christopher J. Holland, 26 Staff Sgt. Lincoln D. Hollinsaid, 27 Spc. Jeremiah J. Holmes, 27 Master Sgt. Kelly L. Hornbeck, 36 Pfc. Bert E. Hoyer, 23 Spc. Corey A. Hubbell, 20 Pfc. Christopher E. Hudson, 21 First Lt. Doyle M. Hufstedler, 25 Staff Sgt. Jamie L. Huggins, 26 Spc. Eric R. Hull, 23 Spc. Simeon Hunte, 23 First Lt. Joshua C. Hurley, 24 Pfc. Ray J. Hutchinson, 20 Pfc. Gregory P. Huxley Jr., 19 Spc. Craig S. Ivory, 26 Spc. Marlon P. Jackson, 25 Chief Warrant Officer Scott Jamar, 32 Second Lt. Luke S. James, 24 Spc. William A. Jeffries, 39 Sgt. Troy David Jenkins, 25 Spc. Darius T. Jennings, 22 Pfc. Howard Johnson II, 21 Spc. John P. Johnson, 24 Spc. Justin W. Johnson, 22 Spc. Maurice J. Johnson, 21 Spc. Nathaniel H. Johnson, 22 Staff Sgt. Paul J. Johnson, 29 Chief Warrant Officer Philip A. Johnson Jr., 31 Pfc. Rayshawn S. Johnson, 20 Pvt. Devon D. Jones, 19 Capt. Gussie M. Jones, 41 Staff Sgt. Raymond E. Jones Jr., 31 Sgt. Curt E. Jordan Jr., 25 Sgt. Jason D. Jordan, 24 Cpl. Forest J. Jostes, 22 Spc. Spencer T. Karol, 20 Spc. Michael G. Karr Jr., 23 Second Lt. Jeffrey J. Kaylor, 24 Spc. Chad L. Keith, 21 Chief Warrant Officer Kyran E. Kennedy, 43 Staff Sgt. Morgan D. Kennon, 23 Spc. Jonathan R. Kephart, 21 Chief Warrant Officer Erik C. Kesterson, 29 Spc. James M. Kiehl, 22 Staff Sgt. Kevin C. Kimmerly, 31 Spc. Levi B. Kinchen, 21 Staff Sgt. Lester O. Kinney II, 27 Pfc. David M. Kirchhoff, 31 Spc. John K. Klinesmith Jr., 25 Sgt. Floyd G. Knighten Jr., 55 Spc. Joshua L. Knowles, 23 Pfc. Martin W. Kondor, 20 Chief Warrant Officer 3 Patrick W. Kordsmeier, 49 Capt. Edward J. Korn, 31 Sgt. Elmer C. Krause, 40 Pvt. Dustin L. Kreider, 19 Capt. John F. Kurth, 31 Sgt. First Class William W. Labadie Jr., 45 Spc. James I. Lambert III, 22 Staff Sgt. Sean G. Landrus, 31 Spc. Tracy L. Laramore, 30 Spc. Scott Q. Larson Jr., 22 Chief Warrant Officer 2 Matthew C. Laskowski, 32 Staff Sgt. William T. Latham, 29 Pfc. Karina S. Lau, 20 Staff Sgt. Mark A. Lawton, 41 Spc. Cedric L. Lennon, 32 Spc. Farao K. Letufuga, 20 Spc. Roger G. Ling, 20 Spc. Joseph L. Lister, 22 Staff Sgt. Nino D. Livaudais, 23 Sgt. Daniel J. Londono, 22 Spc. Ryan P. Long, 21 Spc. Zachariah W Long, 20 Pfc. Duane E. Longstreth, 19 Staff Sgt. David L. Loyd, 44 Capt. Robert L. Lucero, 34 Jason C. Ludlam, 22 Pfc. Vorn J. Mack, 19 Spc. William J. Maher III, 35 Staff Sgt. Toby W Mallet, 26 Chief Warrant Officer Ian D. Manuel, 23 Pfc. Pablo Manzano, 19 Sgt. Atanacio Haro Marin, 27 Sgt. First Class John W. Marshall, 50 Sgt. Francisco Martinez, 28 Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Villareal Mata, 35 Spc. Clint Richard Matthews, 31 Pfc. Joseph P. Mayek, 20 Spc. Dustin K. McGaugh, 20 Spc. Michael A. McGlothin, 21 Spc. David M. McKeever, 25 Pvt. Robert L. McKinley, 23 Staff Sgt. Don S. McMahan, 31 Sgt. Heath A.McMillin, 29 Spc. Irving Medina, 22 Spc. Kenneth A. Melton, 30 Staff Sgt. Eddie E. Menyweather, 35 Spc. Gil Mercado, 25 Spc. Michael M. Merila, 23 Sgt. Daniel K. Methvin, 22 Pfc. Jason M. Meyer, 23 Sgt. Eliu A. Miersandoval, 27 Spc. Michael G. Mihalakis, 18 Pfc. Anthony S. Miller, 19 Pfc. Bruce Miller Jr., 23 Staff Sgt. Frederick L. Miller Jr., 27 Sgt. First Class Marvin L. Miller, 38 Sgt. Joseph Minucci II, 23 Spc. George A. Mitchell, 35 Sgt. Keman L. Mitchell, 24 Sgt. Michael W. Mitchell, 25 Spc. Sean R. Mitchell, 24 Pfc. Jesse D. Mizener, 24 First Lt. Adam G. Mooney, 28 Pfc. Stuart W. Moore, 21 Sgt. Travis A. Moothart, 23 Spc. Jose L. Mora, 26 Master Sgt. Kevin N. Morehead, 33 Sgt. Gerardo Moreno, 23 Pfc. Luis A. Moreno, 19 Spc. Dennis B. Morgan, 22 Sgt. Keelan L. Moss, 23 Sgt. Cory R. Mracek, 26 Spc. Paul T. Nakamura, 21 Spc. Nathan W. Nakis, 19 Pvt. Kenneth A. Nalley, 19 Chief Warrant Officer Christopher G. Nason, 39 Spc. Rafael L. Navea, 34 Staff Sgt. Paul M. Neff II, 30 Pfc. Gavin L. Neighbor, 20 Spc. Joshua M. Neusche, 20 Spc. Isaac Michael Nieves, 20 Sgt. William J. Normandy, 42 Spc. Joseph C. Norquist, 26 First Lt. Leif E. Nott, 24 Spc. David T. Nutt, 32 Spc. Donald S. Oaks Jr., 20 Pfc. Branden F. Oberleitner, 20 Spc. Richard P. Orengo, 32 Lt. Col. Kim S. Orlando, 43 First Lt. Osbaldo Orozco, 26 Pfc. Cody J. Orr, 21 Staff Sgt. Billy J. Orton, 41 Pfc. Kevin C. Ott, 27 Pvt. Shawn D. Pahnke, 25 Spc. Gabriel T. Palacios, 22 Capt. Eric T. Paliwoda, 28 Staff Sgt. Dale A. Panchot, 26 Pfc. Daniel R. Parker, 18 Pfc. James David Parker, 20 Pfc. Kristian E. Parker, 23 Sgt. David B. Parson, 30 Staff Sgt. Esau G. Patterson Jr., 25 Master Sgt. William L. Payne, 46 Sgt. Michael F. Pedersen, 26 Staff Sgt. Abraham D. Penamedina, 32 Spc. Brian H. Penisten, 28 Sgt. Ross A. Pennanen, 36 Staff Sgt. Hector R. Perez, 40 Sgt. Joel Perez, 25 Spc. Jose A. Perez III, 22 Pfc. Wilfredo Perez Jr., 24 Staff Sgt. David S. Perry, 36 Spc. Alyssa R. Peterson, 27 Staff Sgt. Brett J. Petriken, 30 Pfc. Jerrick M. Petty, 25 Sgt. First Class Gladimir Philippe, 37 Sgt. Ivory L. Phipps, 44 Capt. Pierre E. Piche, 29 Pfc. Lori Ann Piestewa, 23 Spc. James H. Pirtle, 27 Staff Sgt. Andrew R. Pokorny, 30 Spc. Justin W. Pollard, 21 Spc.Larry E. Polley Jr., 20 Sgt. Darrin K. Potter, 24 Spc. James E. Powell, 26 Pvt. Kelley S. Prewitt, 24 Sgt. Jaror C. Puello-Coronado, 36 Staff Sgt. Michael B. Quinn, 37 Staff Sgt. Richard P. Ramey, 27 Sgt. Christopher Ramirez, 34 Spc. Eric U. Ramirez, 31 Pfc. William C. Ramirez, 19 Pfc. Brandon Ramsey, 21 Sgt. Edmond L. Randle, 26 Pfc. Cleston C. Raney, 20 Spc. Rel A. Ravago IV, 21 Pfc. Ryan E. Reed, 20 Staff Sgt. Aaron T. Reese, 31 Sgt. First Class Randall S. Rehn, 36 Staff Sgt. George S. Rentschler, 31 Sgt. Sean C. Reynolds, 25 Sgt. Ariel Rico, 25 Pfc. Diego Fernando Rincon, 19 Capt. Russell B. Rippetoe, 27 Sgt. First Class Jose A. Rivera, 34 Cpl. John T. Rivero, 23 Spc. Frank K. Rivers Jr., 23 Sgt. Thomas D. Robbins, 27 Sgt. Todd J. Robbins, 33 Spc. Robert D. Roberts, 21 Staff Sgt. Joseph E. Robsky Jr., 31 Pfc. Marlin T. Rockhold, 23 Spc. Philip G. Rogers, 23 Sgt. First Class Robert E. Rooney, 43 Staff Sgt. Victor A. Rosales-Lomeli, 29 Sgt. Scott C. Rose, 30 Sgt. Randy S. Rosenberg, 23 Sgt. Lawrence A. Roukey, 33 Spc. Brandon J. Rowe, 20 Sgt. Roger D. Rowe, 54 Lt. Jonathan D. Rozier, 25 Sgt. John W. Russell, 26 Chief Warrant Officer Scott A. Saboe, 33 Spc. Rasheed Sahib, 22 First Lt. Edward M. Saltz, 27 Spc. Gregory P. Sanders, 19 Spc. Matthew J. Sandri, 24 Staff Sgt. Barry Sanford Sr., 46 Staff Sgt. Cameron B. Sarno, 43 Spc. Justin B. Schmidt, 23 Pfc. Sean M. Schneider, 22 Maj. Mathew E. Schram, 36 Spc. Christian C. Schulz, 20 Pfc. Kerry D. Scott, 21 Spc. Stephen M. Scott, 21 Spc. Marc S. Seiden, 26 Capt. Christopher Scott Seifert, 27 Sgt. Juan M. Serrano, 31 Staff Sgt. Wentz Jerome Henry Shanaberger III, 33 Spc. Casey Sheehan, 24 Lt. Col. Anthony L. Sherman, 43 Capt. James A. Shull, 32 Pvt. Sean A. Silva, 23 Sgt. Leonard D. Simmons, 33 Pfc. Charles M. Sims, 18 Spc. Uday Singh, 21 Spc. Aaron J. Sissel, 22 Pfc. Christopher A. Sisson, 20 First Lt. Brian D. Slavenas, 30 Pvt. Brandon Ulysses Sloan, 19 Pfc. Corey L. Small, 20 Sgt. Keith L. Smette, 25 Capt. Benedict J. Smith, 29 Chief Warrant Officer Bruce A. Smith, 41 Cpl. Darrell L. Smith, 28 Chief Warrant Officer Eric A. Smith, 41 Pfc. Jeremiah D. Smith, 25 Spc. Orenthial J. Smith, 21 Sgt. First Class Paul R. Smith, 33 Capt.Christopher F. Soelzer, 26 Sgt. Roderic A. Solomon, 32 Pfc. Armando Soriano, 20 Cpl. Tomas Sotelo Jr., 20 Pfc. Kenneth C. Souslin, 21 Maj. Christopher J. Splinter, 43 Pvt. Bryan Nicholas Spry, 19 Sgt. Maj. Michael B. Stack, 48 Staff Sgt. Robert A. Stever, 36 Pfc. William R. Strange, 19 Spc. William R. Sturges Jr., 24 Spc. Paul J. Sturino, 21 Spc. Joseph D. Suell, 24 Spc. John R. Sullivan, 26 Spc. Narson B. Sullivan, 21 Pfc. Ernest Harold Sutphin, 21 Staff Sgt. Michael J. Sut-ter, 28 Chief Warrant Officer Sharon T. Swartworth, 43 Sgt. Thomas J. Sweet II, 23 Staff Sgt. Christopher W. Swisher, 26 Sgt. Patrick S. Tainsh, 33 Spc. Christopher M. Taylor, 25 Maj. Mark D. Taylor, 41 Capt. John R. Teal, 31 Master Sgt. Thomas R. Thigpen Sr., 52 Spc. Kyle G. Thomas, 23 Sgt. Anthony O. Thompson, 26 Spc. Jarrett B. Thompson, 27 Spc. Brandon S. Tobler, 19 Sgt. Lee D. Todacheene, 29 Sgt. Nicholas A. Tomko, 24 Spc. Ramon Reyes Torres, 29 Second Lt. Richard Torres, 25 Sgt. Michael L. Tosto, 24 Spc. Richard K. Trevithick, 20 Staff Sgt. Roger C. Turner Jr., 37 Pvt. Scott M. Tyrrell, 21 Spc. Eugene A. Uhl III, 21 Sgt. Melissa Valles, 26 Spc. Allen J. Vandayburg, 20 Chief Warrant Officer Brian K. Van Dusen, 39 Staff Sgt. Mark D. Vasquez, 35 Spc. Frances M. Vega, 20 First Lt. Michael W Vega, 41 Staff Sgt. Paul A. Velazquez, 29 Staff Sgt. Kimberly A. Voelz, 27 Sgt. Jeffrey C. Walker, 33 Sgt. Donald Ralph Walters, 33 Pvt. Jason M. Ward, 25 Chief Warrant Officer Aaron A. Weaver, 32 Spc. Douglas J. Weismantle, 28 Pfc. Michael Russell Creighton Weldon, 20 Chief Warrant Officer 2 Stephen M. Wells, 29 Spc. Jeffrey M. Wershow, 22 Spc. Christopher J. Rivera Wesley, 26 Spc. Donald L. Wheeler, 22 Sgt. Mason Douglas Whetstone, 30 Pfc. Marquis A. Whitaker, 20 Sgt. Steven W White, 29 Pfc. Joey D. Whitener, 19 Sgt. Eugene Williams, 24 Spc. Michael L. Williams, 46 Sgt. Taft V. Williams, 29 Sgt. First Class Christopher R. Willoughby, 29 Command Sgt. Maj. Jerry L. Wilson, 45 Staff Sgt. Joe N. Wilson, 30 Spc. Trevor A. Win'E, 22 Spc. Robert A. Wise, 21 Spc. Michelle M. Witmer, 20 Spc. James R. Wolf, 21 Second Lt. Jeremy L. Wolfe, 27 Sgt. Elijah Tai Wah Wong, 42 Sgt. Brian M. Wood, 21 Capt. George A.Wood, 33 . Spc. Michael R. Woodliff, 22 Spc. James C. Wright, 27 Pfc. Jason G. Wright, 19 Pfc. Stephen E. Wyatt, 19 Sgt. Michael E. Yashinski, 24 Sgt. Henry Ybarra III, 32 Sgt. Ryan C. Young, 21 NAVY: Lt. Thomas Mullen Adams, 27 Petty Officer Third Class Doyle W. Bollinger Jr., 21 Petty Officer Third Class Christopher M. Dickerson, 33 Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason B. Dwelley, 31 Petty Officer Second Class Michael J. Gray, 32 Petty Officer Third Class Michael Vann Johnson Jr., 25 Lt. Kylan A. Jones-Huffman, 31 Seaman Joshua Mclntosh, 22 Petty Officer Third Class David J. Moreno, 26 Boatswain's Mate First Class (SW) Michael J. Pernaselli, 27 Signalman Second Class (SW) Christopher E. Watts, 28 Lt. Nathan D. White, 30 AIR FORCE: Tech. Sgt. Bruce E. Brown, 32 Capt. Eric B. Das, 30 Staff Sgt. Patrick Lee Griffin Jr., 31 Airman First Class Antoine J. Holt, 20 Master Sgt. Jude C. Mariano, 39 Staff Sgt. Scott D. Sather, 29 Maj. Gregory Stone, 40 Maj. William R. Watkins III, 37 MARINES: Cpl. Daniel R. Amaya, 22 Lance Cpl. Brian E. Anderson, 26 Lance Cpl. Levi T. Angell, 20 Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Todd Arnold, 30 Staff Sgt. Jimmy J. Arroyave, 30 Maj. Jay Thomas Aubin, 36 Lance Cpl. Aaron C. Austin, 21 Lance Cpl. Andrew Julian Aviles, 18 Pfc. Eric A. Ayon, 26 Pfc. Chad E. Bales, 20 Lance Cpl. Aric J. Barr, 22 Capt. Ryan Anthony Beaupre, 30 Sgt. Michael E. Bitz, 31 Lance Cpl. Thomas A. Blair, 24 Gunnery Sgt. Jeffrey E. Bohr Jr., 39 Pvt. Noah L. Boye, 21 Cpl. Travis J. Bradach-Nall, 21 Cpl. Andrew D. Brownfield, 24 Lance Cpl. Cedric E. Bruns, 22 Lance Cpl. Brian Rory Buesing, 20 Lance Cpl. Jeffrey C. Burgess, 20 Pfc. Tamario D. Burkett, 21 Pfc. Benjamin R. Carman, 20 Lance Cpl. James A. Casper, 20 Staff Sgt. James W. Cawley, 41 Cpl. Kemaphoom A. Chanawongse, 22 Chief Warrant Officer Robert William Channell Jr., 36 Lance Cpl. Marcus M. Cherry, 18 Second Lt. Therrel S. Childers, 30 Lance Cpl. Donald J. Cline Jr., 21 Pfc. Christopher R. Cobb, 19 Capt. Aaron J. Contreras, 31 Pfc. Ryan R. Cox, 19 Lance Cpl. Kyle D. Crowley, 18 Lance Cpl. Andrew S. Dang, 20 Cpl. Nicholas J. Dieruf, 21 Cpl. Jason L. Dunham, 22 Cpl. Mark A. Evnin, 21 Cpl. Tyler R. Fey, 22 Capt. Travis A. Ford, 30 Lance Cpl. Phillip E. Frank, 20 Lance Cpl. David K. Fribley, 26 Capt. Richard J. Gannon II, 31 Cpl. Jose A. Garibay, 21 Pfc. Juan Guadalupe Garza Jr., 20 Lance Cpl. Cory Ryan Geurin, 18 Cpl. Christopher A. Gibson, 23 Pvt. Jonathan L. Gifford, 30 Lance Cpl. Shane L. Goldman, 20 Cpl. Armando Ariel Gonzalez, 25 Cpl. Jesus A. Gonzalez, 22 Cpl. Jorge A. Gonzalez, 20 Cpl. Bernard G. Gooden, 22 Lance Cpl. Torrey L. Gray, 19 Pfc. Christian D. Gurtner, 19 Lance Cpl. José Gutierrez, 22 Pfc. Deryk L. Hallal, 24 Sgt. Nicolas M. Hod-son, 22 Pvt. Nolen R. Hutchings, 19 Cpl. Evan T. James, 20 Pfc. Ryan M. Jerabek, 18 First Lt. Oscar Jimenez, 34 Staff Sgt. Phillip A. Jordan, 42 Cpl. Brian Matthew Kennedy, 25 Lance Cpl. Nicholas Brian Kleiboeker, 19 Cpl. Kevin T. Kolm, 23 Sgt. Bradley S. Korthaus, 28 Lance Cpl. Jakub Henryk Kowalik, 21 Sgt. Michael V. Lalush, 23 Lance Cpl. Alan Dinh Lam, 19 Sgt. Jonathan W. Lambert, 28 Capt. Andrew David La Mont, 31 Pfc. Moises A. Langhorst, 19 Lance Cpl. Travis J. Layfield, 19 Pfc. Christopher D. Mabry, 19 Lance Cpl. Gregory E. MacDonald, 29 Lance Cpl. Joseph B. Maglione, 22 Cpl. Douglas José Marenco Reyes, 28 Pfc. Francisco A. Martinez-Flores, 21 Cpl. Matthew E. Matula, 20 Staff Sgt. Donald C. May Jr., 31 Sgt. Brian McGinnis, 23 First Lt. Brian M. McPhillips, 25 Cpl. Jesus Martin Antonio Medellin, 21 Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Menusa, 33 Pfc. Matthew G. Milczark, 18 Cpl. Jason David Mileo, 20 Lance Cpl. Jason William Moore, 21 Capt. Brent L. Morel, 27 Pfc. Geoffery S. Morris, 19 Pfc. Rick A. Morris Jr., 20 Maj. Kevin Nave, 36 Cpl. Patrick R. Nixon, 21 Lance Cpl. Patrick T. O'Day, 20 Lance Cpl. Eric J. Orlowski, 26 Lance Cpl. David Edward Owens Jr., 20 Sgt. Fernando Padilla-Ramirez, 26 First Lt. Joshua M. Palmer, 25 Pfc. Chance R. Phelps, 19 Second Lt. Frederick E. Pokorney Jr., 31 Pfc. Christopher Ramos, 26 Sgt. Brendon C. Reiss, 23 Sgt. Duane R. Rios, 25 Lance Cpl. Anthony P. Roberts, 18 Pfc. José Franci Gonzalez Rodriguez, 19 Cpl. Robert M. Rodriguez, 21 Cpl. Randal Kent Rosacker, 21 First Lt. Timothy Louis Ryan, 30 Capt. Benjamin W. Sammis, 29 Pfc. Leroy Sandoval Jr., 21 Pfc. Dustin M. Sekula, 18 Lance Cpl. Matthew K.Serio, 21 Lance Cpl. Brad S. Shuder, 21 Cpl. Erik H. Silva, 22 Lance Cpl. John T. Sims Jr., 21 Lance Cpl. Thomas J. Slocum, 22 Pfc. Brandon C. Smith, 20 First Sgt. Edward Smith, 38 Lance Cpl. Matthew R. Smith, 20 Lance Cpl. Michael J. Smith Jr., 21 Cpl. Michael R. Speer, 24 Sgt. Kirk Allen Straseskie, 23 Lance Cpl. Jesus A. Suarez del Solar, 20 Staff Sgt. Riayan A. Tejeda, 26 Lance Cpl. Jason Andrew Tetrault, 20 Cpl. Jesse L. Thiry, 23 Master Sgt. Timothy Toney, 37 Pfc. George D. Torres, 23 Lance Cpl. Elias Torrez III, 21 Lance Cpl. Ruben Valdez Jr., 21 Lance Cpl. Gary F. VanLeuven, 20 Cpl. David M. Vicente, 25 Cpl. Scott M. Vincent, 21 Lance Cpl. Michael B. Wafford, 20 Staff Sgt. Allan K. Walker, 28 Lance Cpl. Christopher B Wasser, 21 Staff Sgt. Kendall Damon Waters-Bey, 29 Staff Sgt. Aaron Dean White, 27 Lance Cpl. William W. White, 24 Cpl. Joshua S. Wilfong, 22 Lance Cpl. Michael J. Williams, 31 Lance Cpl. William J. Wiscowiche, 20 Second Lt. John T. Wroblewski, 25 Lance Cpl. Robert P. Zurheide Jr., 20 COAST GUARD: Damage Controlman Third Class Nathan B. Bruckenthal, 24
"One of the hardest parts of my job is to console the family members who have lost their life."
—GEORGE W. BUSH, April 2004
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the President to explain to us what the exit strategy is."
—GEORGE W. BUSH, April 1999
This list of war dead was compiled with the help of U.S. military sources and ArmyTimes.
Copyright © 2004 by Graydon Carter
|To begin with...
|The president's wars
|The military
|The economy
|The environment
|Health care
|The judiciary
|The state of the union
|Our reputation
|The president by the numbers
|And finally...


text:
All I am UIC
November 20, 2014The music round up
Check out top venue choices
November 19, 2014Frantic about finals?
Ready or not, it's almost time
November 18, 2014Helping out alumni
Student Alumni Ambassadors boost leadership skills, network with alumni
November 18, 2014Where to go when you need help
Student Services Building houses different services that can help
November 17, 2014Positive thinking
Looking forward to finishing school, getting hired
November 14, 2014Waking up 21
Making the most of life
November 13, 2014Fired up for the Flames forever
Showing school spirit for every sports season
November 12, 2014Interested in Internships?
Gain experience, practice interviewing, impress future employers
November 11, 2014Second round of midterms
Determined to pass math exam with help from good notes, tutoring
November 10, 2014Colder weather worries
Looking forward to holidays but not frigid temperatures

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Recent Stories
- University and industry collaborations recognised by prestigious award
- Forty South Lakes Science teachers visit the faculty
- Physics PhD student wins EPSRC Doctoral Prize
- New network for particle accelerator engineers
- Faculty leads new initiatives to stimulate postgraduate teaching and business innovation
- Lancaster research to help business decision-makers protect against cyber attack
- Lancaster University helps British fishing tackle manufacturer reel out new product
- Research institute opens in China
- Lancaster University engineers help discover the world's biggest cave
- China visit helps establish research and development links for UK businesses
LEC Research to Feature on BBC National News
Story supplied by LU Press Office
Professor Barbara Maher of the Lancaster Environment Centre has been interviewed for BBC national news following her novel research using magnetic measurements of roadside tree leaves as a proxy for vehicle-derived particle pollution.
The BBC's environment and science correspondent David Shukman spent two days on location in Lancaster for a feature to be broadcast on the BBC Six O'Clock or Ten O'Clock TV news bulletins later this month.
Analysis of leaves at different heights shows that concentrations of dangerously fine-grained (< 10 mm) particulate material (PM10), rich in iron, lead and organic carcinogens, are highest at ~ 0.3 m (i.e. small child height) and at 1.5 - 2 m (adult head height) above ground level.
Conventional pollution monitoring station collectors, typically placed at 3 m above the ground, thus significantly under-estimate kerbside particle concentrations. These results indicate that vulnerable groups, especially young children, are exposed to fine, metal-rich, vehicle-derived particles, with significant potential hazard to health.
Prof Maher took him to a pollution hotspot at Cable Street in Lancaster before the film crew moved onto Cathedral RC Primary School, where she explained to children from the school's Environment Club how to monitor levels of fine particles on roadside trees near the playground.
The children were later invited back to the University's internationally known Centre for Environmental Magnetism & Palaeomagnetism at LEC for more information on the research.
David Shukman said: "It's been very interesting to see what's going on at the University and hear how it ties in with people's daily life. Pollution is a big topic at the moment."
Fine-grained pollution particles pose some health risk at any level of exposure, particularly with regard to heart attack and stroke, lung cancer, low birth weights, and mental development in children.
Professor Maher along with Ruth Mitchell (Lancaster University) and colleagues Catherine Moore from the University of East Anglia and Dr Juergen Matzka from the Danish Meteorological Institute analysed roadside tree leaves from a variety of roadside locations.
They found that concentrations of PM10 were highest at the height of a small child - 0.3m - and also at adult head height, between 1.5 and 2m. This means that monitoring station collectors placed at 3m above the surface significantly under-estimate kerbside, near-surface PM10 concentrations. These results indicate that vulnerable groups, especially young children, are exposed to fine, metal-rich, vehicle-derived particules.
High levels of trace metals are implicated in lung disease and central nervous system disorders ranging from learning disorders to dementia and possibly even Alzheimer's disease.
Professor Barbara Maher said her research had shown that magnetic measurements of roadside tree leaves could provide the key data for assessing accurately the levels of pollution that people are exposed to in different areas, and thus identifying much more precisely the specific health risks which result.
Fri 01 May 2009
Associated Links
- Cathedral School - The Cathedral Catholic Primary School, Lancaster
- Lancaster Environment Centre - Innovation, training and research for a sustainable future
Latest News
University and industry collaborations recognised by prestigious award
Lancaster University and resident company The REACH Centre have been recognised for their outstanding track-record of working together at a prestigious award ceremony.
Story supplied by LU Press Office
Wed 12 November 2014
Forty South Lakes Science teachers visit the faculty
On 24th October, forty teachers from across the South Lakes area visited the Faculty of Science and Technology, as part of a partnership between Lancaster University, Research Council UK, and the South Lakes Federation.
Thu 06 November 2014
Physics PhD student wins EPSRC Doctoral Prize
Peter Hodgson, who has just successfully defended his PhD, has now rounded off the achievement with the award of an EPSRC Doctoral Prize by the Faculty of Science and Technology.
Thu 30 October 2014
New network for particle accelerator engineers
Lancaster University has played a lead role in the inaugural meeting of a new engineering network for all types of engineers working on particle accelerators in the UK.
Fri 17 October 2014


text:
Young Money star Nicki Minaj has stepped forward to clarify reports claiming her newly leaked "We Miss You" record is a tribute track to her slain cousin.
Despite references to a July death, Minaj said the record was put together last year.
"Tho the lyrics of "We Miss You" eerily depict the circumstances surrounding my cousin's death, I wrote & recorded that song on 5/24/2010," she tweeted July 7th.
"It was sent to Mariah Carey & Keyshia Cole over a year ago for a possible feature. It didn't make "Pink Friday" due to clearance issues."
"Its an unauthorized leak. Thank u ALL for your kind words and well wishes. Love" (Nicki Minaj's Twitter)
"We Miss You" officially premiered last night (July 6) courtesy of New York's Hot 97 radio host Funkmaster Flex.
"Why'd you have to leave in July on a peaceful and serene summer night?" – Nicki Minaj. Funkmaster Flex let loose this previously unreleased track entitled "We Miss U" from the Young Money Barbie Queen Nicki Minaj moments ago which reminisces over the loss of a lost one. (Soul Culture)
While the track initially appeared to be a tribute, additional reporting also claimed it was an unreleased song.
Nicki Minaj remembers a lost loved one on the poignant "We Miss You." While the song is reportedly an old recording, the timing is uncanny considering the tragic passing of her cousin earlier this week. "Why'd you have to leave in July on a peaceful and serene summer night?" she eerily asks. "I'll never love again." (Rap-Up)
Earlier this week, the New York Police Department confirmed Minaj's cousin, Nicholas Telemaque, was murdered.
The NYPD tells E! that Telemaque was found with multiple gunshot wounds yesterday at 2:40 a.m. after officers responded to a 911 call of shots fired. "He was the victim of multiple gunshot wounds in his upper torso," an NYPD spokesman said. EMS arrived on the scene shortly after and transferred him to Kings County Hospital where he was pronounced DOA. (E! News)
Check out "We Miss You" below:


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AMD Catalyst 10.7 For Linux Has Eyefinity Support
Published on 26 July 2010 01:26 PM EDT
Written by
Michael Larabel
42 Comments
As was
widely anticipated
, today AMD is rolling out their Catalyst 10.7 graphics driver for Windows and Linux platforms. On the Windows side, their Catalyst 10.7 rolls out support for OpenGL ES 2.0. ATI Radeon HD 2000/3000/4000/5000 series graphics cards (along with the FirePro hardware) running Windows can now take advantage of OpenGL ES 2.0 support with HTML5 for in-browser graphics rendering. However, that support hasn't yet made its way to the Catalyst Linux driver, but there are other changes packed away in this month's update.
First and foremost, the Catalyst 10.7 Linux driver finally rolls out official support for Eyefinity on consumer-grade Radeon HD 5000 series hardware. Eyefinity is AMD's technology introduced with the ATI Radeon HD 5000 "Evergreen" graphics cards for driving three or more displays simultaneously from a single graphics card. Back when it was
publicly displayed
last September, 24 monitors were being driven via Eyefinity and that was running under Linux and demoed by
Matthew Tippett
. Finally, with the Catalyst 10.7 driver, this technology is officially supported on Linux.
The Catalyst 10.7 also carries "production support" for Ubuntu 10.04 LTS (even though going back to Catalyst 10.4 has worked with the Lucid Lynx release) and "early look support" for openSUSE 11.3. There are also a handful of resolved issues with the Catalyst 10.7 Linux driver, which are listed below.
- Applying display rotation using Catalyst Control Center or XRandR no longer causes display to turn blank with mouse cursor
- Disabling the primary display in clone/dual-head mode no longer causes Catalyst Control Center not to launch after X restart
- CrossFire can now be enabled properly on the first Gemimi card under a 2 Gemini multi-adapter configuration
- Xserver no longer fails when applying "Maintain Aspect Ratio" option from GPU scaling at maximum resolution
- [SUSE] Desktop corruption no longer visible after applying rotation using Catalyst Control Center and restarting X
- Enabling a second ASIC without a monitor connected no longer causes black screen and X window not launching when startx is executed
- [Ubuntu 10.04] X segmentation fault no longer occur at startup on multi-ASIC systems
- Catalyst Control Center: Gamma control changes no longer affect the wrong display in clone mode
- Switching to clone mode by pressing Fn+F4 now functions properly after connecting
That's about it for the Catalyst 10.7 Linux release. While not officially announced, Catalyst 10.7 may also work better with newer kernel and X.Org Server releases too. It's unknown right now whether AMD will be adding OpenGL ES 2.0 support to their Linux driver -- chances are they will, but like the time it took Eyefinity to be certified on Linux, it could be a number of months till it emerges. At least those with the open-source ATI Gallium3D drivers will be able to have OpenGL ES 1.1/2.0 support using the OpenGL ES state tracker.
The Catalyst 10.7 Linux x86/x86_64 driver can be downloaded at
42 Comments
News Archives
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AMD's "AMDKFD" HSA Driver Is Ready For Pulling In Linux 3.19
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AMD Gallium3D Marks Huge Win: Beating Catalyst In Steam On Linux Game
Radeon For Linux 3.19 Picks Up DPM Fixes, Better TTM Performance
LLVM 3.5.1 Planned For December Debut
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About The Author
Michael Larabel is the principal author of Phoronix.com and founded the web-site in 2004 with a focus on enriching the Linux hardware experience and being the largest web-site devoted to Linux hardware reviews, particularly for products relevant to Linux gamers and enthusiasts but also commonly reviewing servers/workstations and embedded Linux devices. Michael has written more than 10,000 articles covering the state of Linux hardware support, Linux performance, graphics hardware drivers, and other topics. Michael is also the lead developer of the
Phoronix Test Suite
, and
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Business - Companies - EARNINGS
Fashion retailer IT sees profits plunge over Hong Kong slump
Posted May 23rd 2014, 12:51am by TIFFANY AP
... Tiffany Ap email@example.com Profits at fashion firm IT drop in HK slump Fashion retailer IT's profit fell 27.3 per cent year on year as it faced rising rental and labour costs in its main markets, and a slowdown in Hong Kong retail spending. Net profit for the year ended February was down to HK$280 million, compared to HK$385 million the year before. Turnover increased ...http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1518235/fashion-retailer-it-sees-profits-plunge-over-hong-kong-slump
Business - China Business - EARNINGS
Golden Eagle profit down 23.2pc
Posted Aug 27th 2014, 01:27am by TIFFANY AP
... the transaction through from start to finish," said chief executive Su Kai. The firm struck deals with Taiwanese fast-fashion retailer iRoo, South Korean pizza chain Mr Pizza and American fashion ...http://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1580994/golden-eagle-profit-down-232pc
Business - Companies - EARNINGS
LVMH sales slow in Hong Kong as Chinese demand drops globally
Posted Jul 25th 2014, 11:58am by Reuters
... Reuters in Paris LVMH hit hard by sharp drop in demand in city LVMH has seen a drop in demand from Chinese buyers in its home market and overseas, as well as a slowdown in Hong Kong because of political unrest, the French fashion, spirits and cosmetics group said after posting below-forecast second-quarter sales and profits. The world's No 1 luxury group said growth ...http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1558885/lvmh-sales-slow-hong-kong-chinese-demand-drops-around-world
Business - Companies - EARNINGS
Fast Retailing cuts 2014 profit forecast
Posted Jul 11th 2014, 01:31am by BLOOM
... Bloomberg in Tokyo Fast Retailing cuts annual profit forecast Fast Retailing, Asia's biggest clothing retailer, cut its forecast for annual profit for the second time in the current fiscal year, citing losses from its J Brand fashion unit in the US. Net income will probably be about 78 billion yen (HK$5.95 billion) for the year ending August, lower than its previous forecast ...http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1551432/fast-retailing-cuts-2014-profit-forecast
Business - Companies - EARNINGS
Giordano sales fall 5pc as consumer demand weakens
Posted Nov 01st 2012, 12:00am by Celine Sun
... Celine Sun in Beijing email@example.com Casual wear retailer sees gross profit drop 4pc on 5pc revenue dip, sparking sell-off in shares Giordano sales fall as consumer demand weakens Casual wear chain Giordano International reported a 5 per cent decline ...http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1074164/giordano-sales-fall-5pc-consumer-demand-weakens
Business - Companies - EARNINGS
Mainland Chinese tourists help push up sales at Prada
Posted Feb 20th 2013, 12:00am by Anita Lam
... Anita Lam email@example.com Mainland tourists help push up sales at Prada The Italian fashion house Prada saw sales in Europe outside its home market leap by a third in the year to January, surpassing even the fast-growing Asia-Pacific region, with one analyst crediting mainland tourists for the rise. In a filing to the Hong Kong exchange on Tuesday, the luxury leather goods ...http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1154253/mainland-chinese-tourists-help-push-sales-prada
Business - Companies - EARNINGS
New retail strategies spur 23pc jump in Hysan revenue
Posted Mar 08th 2014, 01:40am by Yvonne Liu
... are fashion retailers, compared with 60 per cent previously. We have also introduced more flagship stores in our retail portfolio." He is optimistic about the retail market since the middle class ...http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1443167/new-retail-strategies-spur-23pc-jump-hysan-revenue
Business - China Business - EARNINGS
Shareholders on alert over poor corporate earnings of 100 Hong Kong companies
Posted Jan 27th 2014, 04:23am by Denise Tsang, Eric Ng
... spending for hurting their revenues and warned that profits would drop significantly for last year. Retailers including Shirble Department Store, shoe seller Daphane, fashion house S Culture ...http://www.scmp.com/business/china-business/article/1414442/profit-warnings-point-2013-being-another-bad-year
Business - Companies - EARNINGS
Link happy to host Chinese shoppers
Posted Nov 14th 2013, 03:09am by JOANNA CHIU
... to us" now that it was "fashionable" to shop on the city's outskirts, said Nicholas Sallnow-Smith, the chairman of the company. Link Reit owns more than 180 retail and car park ...http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1355466/link-happy-host-chinese-shoppers
Business - Companies - EARNINGS
Bond issue talk buoys I.T. despite profit slide
Posted May 04th 2013, 12:00am by Anita Lam
... Anita Lam firstname.lastname@example.com Talk of bond issue buoys I.T despite profit slide Shares of fashion retailer I.T rose to a two-month high of HK$3.20 yesterday despite an 18 per cent drop ... annual results briefing but executives would not rule out raising funds in the debt capital market. The fashion chain has net cash of HK$900 million, of which two-thirds are in yuan. Meanwhile, ...http://www.scmp.com/business/companies/article/1229610/bond-issue-talk-buoys-it-despite-profit-slide
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Brothers jailed for conspiring to attend terror training camp in Syria
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Cyclists to stage 'die-in' at Elephant and Castle after rider dies in HGV crash
Published: 14 May 2014
Updated: 19:47, 14 May 2014
Cyclists have revealed plans to stage a "die-in" and "draw-in" protest at the scene where a cyclist was killed by a lorry yesterday.
Campaigners are planning to draw green and white chalk around an area they say should be segregated at the junction to protect cyclists.
The protest follows the death of a 47-year-old man after he was hit by an HGV at the busy junction on Tuesday.
A lorry driver, 49, was arrested on suspicion of causing death by careless driving after stopping at the scene.
On a Facebook page announcing next week's protest, organisers said: "To mark yesterday's tragedy and to protest at the continued total failure by Southwark Council and TfL to install emergency protected by-passes at dangerous junctions such as the Elephant, we will draw in Green and White Chalk the protected cycle-lane that Southwark and TfL should be installing immediately."
The campaigners also said they would be staging a "die-in" with bodies and bikes along the route of a cycle lane they say is necessary at the junction.
A previous "die-in" protest, held after six cyclists were killed in the space of just a few weeks last November, attracted more than 1000 campaigners.
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Wednesday's collision at Elephant and Castle happened at the junction with Newington Butts - an area which was remodelled in 2010 during Boris Johnson's controversial policy of "smoothing traffic flow".
A TfL spokesman said the junction may be subject to review depending on the outcome of the police investigation into the crash.
Leon Daniels, managing director of surface transport at TfL, added: "The southern junction at Elephant and Castle, where this tragedy occurred, was converted from a roundabout to a signalised junction in 2010, hugely improving the facilities for pedestrians and cyclists through the area.
"We know that HGV's are a disproportionate cause of death and serious injury and are taking a number of steps to tackle this. This includes working with the industry to ensure that HGV's are fitted with safety equipment as standard and tough new measures that would ban dangerous lorries from central London."
A Southwark Council spokeswoman said: "Our thoughts are with the family and friends of the cyclist who died yesterday. Although Transport for London is responsible for the southern roundabout at Elephant and Castle where the tragic accident took place, we will of course offer every assistance to TfL and the police in reviewing safety at this junction."
The protest will be held from 5.30-6.30pm on May 21.
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