The Death of Innocents

Ten years ago, Pete was alive.

He was in Baghdad, Iraq.  He was doing what his commanding officers told him to do.

He was doing what the Commander in Chief, George W. Bush, told him to do.


Pete was part of, The Surge.  The Surge was an infusion of military to deal with what our government failed to plan for.


Ten years ago, Pete was part of a Cavalry Regiment sent in to deal with crap that our government never expected to deal with.   But due to their bad planning, they sent innocent young men and women into the their worst nightmares.  And, their nightmares became real.


Those nightmares are now shared by over 4,000 families who have no answers as to why.


We share in those nighmares of the 50,000 parents from Vietnam.  Why?


As I understand it, Pete's platoon was on an overnight mission in a part of the city where bad guys thrived.

The bad guys were Shia militiamen, supported by Iran, who were deeply involved in killing as many American troops and Sunni Iraquis as possible.


Pete's partner unit had discovered a huge cache of Iranian weapons hidden in a soccer stadium a few days before. The weapons were blown up in a huge explosion.


The prevailing belief is that Pete's unit was attacked as payback.


Ten years ago, Pete was alive.

What in the hell was he doing there?  What in the name of God was our Commander in Chief thinking?


Saddam Hussein had been captured years before.


Iraq was overrun by Iranian assholes with artillery, bombs and training.


Nobody bothered to tell the American people or the families of American military what the fuck was going on.


It was several years after Pete's death that I met a senior official at the Pentagon who was the guy in charge of monitoring Iran.

"Mr. Burks, I guessing nobody told you that your son died in a proxy war with Iran."

He said it like a good military man would.  No emotion.  No commentary.  Just fact.


My precious boy died in Iraq in a proxy war with Iran?  What?  What the fuck?  What the fucking fuck?

And today, the place where he died and where thousand of Americans died and bled is overuun by Iran?


I'm still trying to recover from that statement.


Ten years ago Pete was alive.


Pete told us he had hoped he would be deployed to Afghanistan.  He could understand that military intervention due to the Taliban and Bin Laden and the now defamed al Qaueda.  Many had died and are still dying in Afghanistan.  We still don't have a clear strategy there.


Sweet boy, you died serving your country.  You went to war as a result of 9/11.  You went to war knowing it was a less than 1% chance that anything could happen to you, yet you were part of the 1%.


God Bless and Godspeed to those who died in Iraq.  God Bless and Godspeed to those who were injured in Iraq.  God Bless and Godspeed to all those who served in Iraq.  God Bless and Godsp[eed to all who have served, bled and died in Afghanisan.

God Bless and Godspeed to all who wear the Cloth of our Nation.


I hope one day we will have an answer as to why.  But, I doubt we will.


Damn you Iran.  Not the people, but the towelheads in charge.


Damn you terrorists.


I will go to my grave fighting your terrorism.  I will go to my grave educating people about how evil you are.


A young man recently said to me, "America hasn't had a good clean war since WWII."  He's 30.  All he knows is the last 18 years of crap in Afghanistan and Iraq.


We need to understand what the misuse of our military has done to our young people.  What it has done to the trust of parents.


Damn you, Iran.  Damn you, radical Islamists.


Damn you, leaders without spines or souls.


God Bless America.


Thank God for men and women who are brave enough to wear the Cloth of our Nation.


Let us pray for clarity and proper use of our military going forward.


Good night, sweet boy.  I love you.  I miss you.  I thank you.  I'll see you soon.