Blood Is Thicker Than Water - Part 6 - "SHOCK"

SHOCK

April 13, 2003 The date of Aaron’s letter to me that is a part of part 6- "AWE"

Navy Cmdr. Joseph Acevedo, 46, of New York, New York.
Acevedo died in Manama, Bahrain. He was assigned to the Naval Forces Central Command, Tampa, Florida. Died on April 13, 2003.

Army Spc. Gil Mercado, 25, of Paterson, New Jersey.
Killed by a non-combat weapon discharge in Iraq. Mercado was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, Fort Campbell, Kentucky. Died on April 13, 2003.

The Marine That Was Lost in Aaron’s unit during OIF 1

Marine Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez, 22, of Los Angeles, California.
Killed in action in southern Iraq. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, Camp Pendleton, California. Died on March 21, 2003.

On April 13th in other war news: Ari Fleischer, press secretary to U.S. President George W. Bush, gives credit to The Pentagon for the apparent victory in the 2003 Iraq war. [1]
According to the Washington Times, the objectives of Operation Iraqi Freedom have shifted from victory in Iraq to "destroying remnants of Fedayeen Saddam and other paramilitaries, and rebuilding Iraq to nurture a new democracy." The Times also suggests that the Operation is hunting for evidence of weapons of mass destruction and for members of the former regime. [2]
Seven U.S. Prisoners of War are released to Coalition troops approaching Tikrit in Northern Iraq. The POWs included two Apache helicopter pilots, Chief Warrant Officer Ronald D. Young Jr. and Chief Warrant Officer David S. Williams, and five members of the Army's 507th Maintenance Company; Spc. Shoshana Johnson, Sgt. James Riley, Spc. Joseph Hudson, Pfc. Patrick Miller and Spc. Edgar Hernandez. All seven POWs had previously been shown held captive by Iraqi state television and Al Jazeera. [3]



Sunday, April 13, 2003
Pillagers Strip Iraqi Museum of Its Treasure

Many years ago I was a freshman at the University of California at Berkeley, and not having a strong sense of what I wanted to study, I spent a year studying ancient Middle Eastern Art History. I remember spending hours pouring over wildly expensive books full of beautiful photographs of statues, jewelry, and other artifacts. We had to know the name of each one, who it represented and where it was found. Today, reading this article in the New York Times, I can see that many of the pieces I studied in awe so many years ago are now lost, mostly due to the irresponsibility of men who go in to wage a "war" in which they face little or no opposition and who don't stop to think about the consequences of destroying the local legal forces. Again, the Americans show themselves to be so utterly ignorant of other countries and cultures.
posted by Maryanne 1:51 PM

Editor’s Note: Maryanne is Canadian—moved to Egypt—blogged a bunch !! (Lord! I didn’t even know yet what they were. Wonder if she still blogs?)
I pinked Berkeley.
I removed her link to the NY Times. ..You’re on your own there!!

And I think this is enough SHOCK for one night!!