Semper Fi Staff Sgt. Alexander.

Posted by Raven at October 25, 2005 06:58 PM

I could never express in words the grief I feel when I learn of the death of an American Hero, nor can I express the sheer RAGE when "the left" uses that sacrifice for their goals. God Bless SSgt Alexander and his family, and God bless and protect those still serving.

Posted by Smoke Eater at October 25, 2005 08:00 PM

The left side of the universe does not deserve such men and women as these . . . who unselfishly give all that they have to give, and whose sacrifice is neither appreciated, nor respected.

Those of us who served know that it doesn't matter that the left are but spineless worms; what matters is that we served during a worthy cause, we served together, and we served our Country as best we could.

Semper Fi, Sergeant Alexander -- Guard Heaven well.

Posted by Mustang at October 25, 2005 08:05 PM

God bless the Alexander family. Thanks for a great post GM.

Posted by Squamata at October 25, 2005 08:25 PM

To be fair, the preponderance of those to the left are not primarilly interested, as you claim, in politicizing the death of the 2000th. They want the dying to end. The war was based on lies. That is an undeniable fact. It is the hope of many on the left that aside from the travesty of a young American Soldier dying, the 2000th may signify a tipping point where opinion might coalesce to a point where we might find a way out of this senseless war. Your point of view only serves to perpetuate the insane irrational fallacy which equates into the ever expanding toll of fallen US soldiers. It is incredible hypocrisy to feign such humanitarian concern for the face behind the # 2000 yet support our continued involvement in the charade which is known as the War in Iraq.

Posted by Mike Miller at October 25, 2005 08:56 PM

What offends me is the worship of numbers, as though "2000" has some magical import just because it's a round number, reducing the value of a human life to just a number.

I have far more respect for people whose vigils involve reading out the names of our fallen warriors.Indeed we all would like the dying to end; the issue, as all too often in our human history, is under what conditions that can happen.

Rest in peace, George Alexander; I pray that your sacrifice will lead to a better world, a better life for the suffering people of Iraq. I also pray for comfort for your family and friends in their dark hour. And I pray that the verdict of history will echo Francis Scott Key's words (with one small text change):

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserved a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto - "In God is our trust."

Posted by civil truth at October 26, 2005 01:15 AM

And so it is acknowledged by many that the majority did not actively support or assist in our own Revolution. Nope, it was left to the few to carry the many. Once again, in the face of naysayers, the semi-informed "intelligensia", and the craven MSM and puffed up (and really silly) Lefty "entertainers", the few...mostly unheralded and unthanked..will do the right thing for the rest of us. Thanks to our Men and Women who serve, day in and day out....to preserve our freedom...and advance freedom for others. Indeed, how truly noble.

Posted by tad at October 26, 2005 07:33 AM

Mr. Miller, you couldn't be more wrong if you tried. Even a brief glance at headlines across the world will tell you that this is almost a joyful moment for the majority of the anti-war crowd.

What you forget is that all of these folks were volunteers. And while many of them, most of them, all of them did not want to give their lives, they had an option not to join.

Focusing on the number of deaths rather than the sacrifice these fine young men and women have made to free a people and keep them free minimizes their sacrifice.

Posted by GM Roper at October 26, 2005 07:57 AM

I heard a term today used today as it relates to this issue, but I think it is appropriate for what much of the left says. I plan on adding it to my dictionary for future use. The term?

"Malicious Compassion."

Posted by Woody at October 26, 2005 09:48 AM

Mr. Miller, you couldn't be more wrong if you tried.--GMR

Oh I beg to differ. Mr Miller and like minded ' citizens-of-the-world' have an almost infinite ability to be ever more wrong. He wasn't even trying hard in this post and still managed to hit the doh target with room to spare.

In the space of a very few lines we have:

A. The left is not 'primarily' interested in promoting the death figure. The dead soldiers are not even worth primary consideration. They are just a tool in the hands of the defeatist factions. Hmm, I believe that is precisely the point you have made in your post,was it not.

B. The 'war is based on lies' meme, shows its ugly head once again. Can we move to something more original and more ACCURATE. This one is just boring now. And ps,Mike, saying something is undeniable really does not make it so. Just FYI.

C. The contemptuous dismissal of the overwhelmingly stated belief of the people actually doing the fighting (and therefore the dying) that they do in fact have " ... humanitarian concern for the face behind the # 2000 yet support our continued involvement in the charade which is known as the War in Iraq."

It is the 'left' who have politicised these deaths even though they are not 'primarily' interested in the death figure, and certainly not in the individuals comprising those deaths. Disdained in life;exploited in death. Yeah the 'left' really cares for these people who have put themselves in harm's way BY CHOICE.

No GM, Mike could be more wrong. He just needs to try a little harder. He is a vast warehouse of WRONG. Just give him a chance.

Posted by dougf at October 26, 2005 10:23 AM

Doug, I bow to your superior analysis. Good job my very good friend. Damn good job.

Posted by GM Roper at October 26, 2005 11:00 AM

Thanks for saying that, because right now all I feel is anger.

The deaths are certainly frustrating, but we need to chill out and resist our rage and anger. President Bush said this would be a long and difficult war -- a war of our lifetimes. We were asked to expect hardship and sacrifice. Me, I'm surprised and happy that the fatality number isn't closer to 20,000. I believed there were WMD and the fatalities would be much higher, so I'm glad we never found WMD, that would have been a huge disaster. In fact, when all is said and done, I doubt there will be more than 10,000 American fatalities in Iraq in the next ten years, and that's much lower than Vietnam.

Posted by Tom Byers at October 26, 2005 12:08 PM

The only reason I can't say I knew George my whole life is because he is 2 years older than me. We were neighbors and friends. George is a hero and always will be. I spoke to George before his last and final tour and he willing went but understand he didn't agree with the cause. He recognized this was going to another Vietnam and had bad feeling about going this time. Yes George is a hero. I do so support the troops but no I don't agree with this war. George died doing what he took an oath to do not what was his personal belief.

Posted by Lifelong friend of George at October 26, 2005 01:06 PM

LfG, thank you for your respectful and heartfelt comments. You make it clear that George was a man of honor who kept his word - an increasingly rare species in our present era. Again, my prayers for his family and friends - and for our nation.

Posted by civil truth at October 26, 2005 02:47 PM

2000 fatalities are tragic, but it is still less than the WTC bodycount.

Posted by Ray Connolly at October 27, 2005 10:48 AM

George brings up the point that these soldiers have served by choice. I would agree only to the extent it is an undeniable fact. There are caveats however. 2 come to mind in particular. The first being the make up of the majority of our young men and women who have given their lives in the service of our Country. Many, having few or unattractive choices with respect to their future due to growing up in an environment of poverty and disadvantage were led to believe that a choice to serve was a way to carve out a future for themselves and equated military service as a noble endeavor. And please don't spin that to say I mean all. And it is not my intent to dimminish such a choice, but to not recognize that some chose to serve out of economic desperation would be less than honest. The manner in which some were recruited exploited that fact. Some have claimed they were decieved with respect to what real opportunity they would be affored in signing on. Secondly,I can only wonder what the extent of their willingness to volunteer would have been had they known the true parameters of the cooking of intelligence and if they had been privy to the manipulation which was perpetrated by the current administration so as to get us into this immoral war. Pick up the paper, it seems that America is waking up to what many progressives have known for a long time. It has recently become increasingly difficult for the military to recruit. That is largely due to the fact that the rationale for this war has proven to be a lie. My outrage is at the loss of even 1 life resulting from a lie perpatrated by those who knowingly went about a campaign to mislead. It is shameful to send young soldiers to their death when those who lead us to war knowing mislead. And that is what lies at the center of people zeroing in on a #. It is fallacy to claim that those who do so are diminishing the sacrifice of those who have given their lives. It is because they hold those lives as precious that they make their stand.If I didn't care about the lives of those who are serving I wouldn't have the opinion I have. We should not have gone to War in Iraq because we were lied to. That is at the heart of the problem. I think it also outrageous that the above comments sanctimoniously claim I could not be more wrong. If you truly are concerned about right and wrong you would come to grips that it is wrong to send young men and women to their death while not being honest with respect to the rationale for war.

Posted by Mike Miller at October 27, 2005 06:58 PM

Mike, I have followed this Iraq war from the days leading up to it and to date do not believe that it is accurate to say that the war was based on a lie. Errors are not the same as lies.

I do not think the final word is in yet on the WMD issues, and so it is premature to call that a lie. Don't forget the exigencies of the calendar: we wanted to invade in December or January and the tactics of Saddam and Europe (who had their own double-game going with Saddam with the connivance of the UN) were designed to delay us till the weather conditions made invasion impossible. Then there were the difficulties of interpreting ambiguous intelligence data under extreme time pressure along with an inclination to interpret data most unfavorably with respect to Saddam's intentions (which was not an unreasonable viewpoint to take). The process was seriously flawed, but that is not the same as a lie.

In any case, we need to focus on the issue of where do we go from here. That is worthy of serious, reflective discussion.

Posted by civil truth at October 27, 2005 08:21 PM

I think it also outrageous that the above comments sanctimoniously claim I could not be more wrong. ---Mike Miller
=================================

Yada,yada,yada. Let's sum up your essential argument shall we---- Bush Lied; People Died . Oh the Shame. The Horror,The Horror.

Tedious I fear and so yesterday , and as CT took the time to point out not exactly accurate.

But enough of this. Been there; done that. The reason I wanted to reply to you is your dastardly accusation that, insofar as I was one of the 'above' commentators ,I was therefore someone who did"sanctimoniously claim (that you) could not be more wrong".

I did no such thing,sir. I in fact went out of my way to refute that unfortunate misunderstanding. In my view you have an almost infinite capacity to be 'more wrong', and I will continue to defend your abilities in that area as best I can.

Assuring you of my ongoing support in this matter, I remain:

Sincerely yours,

Posted by dougf at October 27, 2005 09:38 PM

I read all of the postings and the war was an out right blatant lie straight from the pit of hell. I am quite angry because George Alexander, Jr was my daughters father and now she has no father to see her grow up. Would I protest the war no because we are so screwed into this thing it is not funny but it was a lie. He told me on numerous occasions just like countless others that have been there there ARE no WMD. We have been there for two years and if there were some they would have blown our stupid *** up by now. This is Bush issue and now we have to figure out a way to get out of it, but at this point it does not matter anymore because my loved one is gone never to come back again and by the way is Bush going to come to her cheerleading competitions or to her graduation indeed not. He has no idea who the hell she is or anything else. My daughter is 5 and has the rest of her life to look forward to without her dad and a bunch of stupid ass clippings because he wanted to be a fucking hero. The hell with that.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
This comment is from the Mother of Sgt. Alexanders daughter who lives in San Antonio, Texas (confirmed). We offer our sympathies to both her and her daughter and though we understand the source of her anger and disillusionment, we disagree with the sentiments described. All evidence indicates that Sgt. Alexander, was indeed worried about his return trip to Iraq, and that while he didnot believe that we would ever find WMD, he both had a job to do, and he believed in what he was doing in the Army. A close friend of his, with whom he went to school attended the funeral services. "At the services on Liberty Street, a close friend and former classmate, Greg DeJarnett, called Alexander a hero, who "stood for something and didn't fall for anything."

We offer our condolences to Baby Mamma and to Sgt. Alexander's daughter and we hope that in the future, Baby Mamma works through her grief and anger.

GM

Posted by Baby Mamma at October 30, 2005 11:37 PM