Columnists
Russell, Kenny, Seamus, and Chris: Four Dead Soldiers
By D.L. McCracken
Oct 25, 2005, 12:49

April 10, 2003 will go down in history with the dubious distinction of being the day that America buried their first casualty of the war in Iraq. On that day amidst a sea of white headstones, 27 year-old Capt. Russell B. Rippetoe was laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetary, the final resting place of 250,000 American veterans. Capt. Ripptoe had only been in Iraq for one month.

On that early Spring day in 2003, as Ripptoe's parents were presented with a Bronze Star and a Purple Heart that their son was awarded posthumously, no one could imagine that within two years Ripptoe would be joined by 1,999 comrades and in the months and years yet to come, many more would continue to follow.

Today, October 25, 2005 marks another milestone. The Pentagon quietly announced that the number of American sons and daughters killed in Iraq since the beginning of that country's invasion had reached 2,000 in a war that the majority of U.S. citizens now believe was the "wrong thing to do".

On Monday October 24th it was announced that Lance Cpl. Kenneth J. Butler, Cpl. Seamus M. Davey and Petty Officer 3rd Class Christopher W. Thompson were killed in action in Iraq. One was a teenager and two were only 25 years old.

Four soldiers, the oldest, 27 and the youngest, 19 died in a war that will never be won. Russell, Kenny, Seamus, and Chris. Will anyone remember their names? Will the President who lied in order to start this war, remember them?

Let's stop reporting the killings by rank and battalions and regiments. We've become immune to the daily U.S. Department of Defence's official "casualty" list.

Instead, let's do this - for the remainder of this war in Iraq, let's begin informing the American people that today more families have lost a loved one. Today, 19 year-old Kenny Butler, 25 year-old Seamus Davey and 25 year-old Chris Thompson died tragically in a war that long ago lost its meaning.


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