No greater love than to lay down your life for another.

Rest in Peace, safe in the arms of Jesus, Hero.

goldenmike4393 on September 9, 2009 at 4:30 pm

Debbie, Corporal Bernard already WAS exploited by our leaders. The Afghan war is not about freedom, democracy, nor safety. The picture itself being described as exploitative, or insensitive is disingenuous at best.

When we see our own dying in a fight, we connect to the loss for those close to the corporal. When we see Afghans dying we do not connect, ‘they’ are seen as subhuman because, well because ‘they’ want to kill us. Or so we are instructed to think.

Joshua volunteered into the most agile and deadly arm of the military, asking to join the ranks of the nations military, the deadliest yet he, and his family knew the risk of dying the way he did were high.

Josh is dead because Afghans got him with an RPG. He was put in front of the RPG because the US Government, and a high percentage of the US population believe we have the right ot invade, bomb, shoot, and occupy other nations, who’s people have raised no hand against us, but are demonized with lies and propaganda.

For the American War Secretary, it was the photo that was insensitive. What Americans need to see as insensitive, and exploitative is our boys fighting, suffering and dying in an action that has nothing to do with our freedom, nor security.

On September 4th, almost an entire village was killed or maimed when an airstrike hit two tankers captured from inattentive occupation forces.
“‘Nobody was in one piece. Hands, legs and body parts were scattered everywhere. Those who were away from the fuel tanker were badly burnt,’ said 32-year-old Mohammad Daud, depicting a scene from hell. The burned-out shells of the tankers, still smoking in marooned wrecks on the riverbank, were surrounded by the charred-meat remains of villagers from Chahar Dara district in Kunduz province, near the Tajik border. Dr. Farid Rahid, a spokesperson in Kabul for the ministry of health, said up to 250 villagers had been near the tankers when the air strike was called in.”

Bitterly arguing that the pictures are the offensive pat, is like the criminal accusing the cops of the crime he committed.

Every marine and soldier who dies, make American armaments manufactures a million dollars. The only winners there are the arms makers, the losers are the wounded, and the families of the dead. Richard Holbrooke could not describe what success would even look like, and this was to a friendly publication, but he did say that “we will know it when we see it”. The definition of an unwinnable war.

Buttinski on September 9, 2009 at 4:43 pm

Why are we there???? Why are we there??? I am so sick of this – I am a Canadian but I LOVE my American brothers – we cannot change a muslim-islamic society as hard as we try!!! it cannot be done – they will not let it happen – they do not know what democrasy is…they do not know what freedom is….they do not know what tolorance is….why are we in these ISLAMIC countries whose sole ambition in life is to destroy ISRAEL and the WESTERN way of life???? let them be!!! keep them there for Gods (Yaweh) sake!!!! enough is enough!!!!! the Koran = EVIL!!!!

BIG IRISH on September 9, 2009 at 4:47 pm

“Soldiers” are in the US Army. The U S Marine Corps’ personnel are known as “Marines.”

dekelley82 on September 9, 2009 at 4:52 pm

Me,
“Um, you get three guesses as to where 9/11 was hatched, and what government gave them refuge to hatch such an activity.”
Well, it is no guessing that no government gave anyone refuge to plan 911.
The Taliban, as brutal and vicious as they are, are the Afghans, or at least what they prefer compared to the tribal warlords who leave the Afghans worse off. The Taliban were the sole source of order in the years after the US abandoned them after the Soviet withdrawl. The Taliban would not exist if the CIA did not enable the anti Soviet jihadi through Paki ISI who only funneled arms into Afghanistan via the most extremist if the Paki Islamists.

The ghostly Al Qaeda may have found refuge with permission from the Talibs, but are nowhere near Afghanistan today. The extremists who allegedly did the 911 attacks are not the Afghans. They have fled into the Paki/Afghan frontier where nobody has ever defeated the Pashtun tribes.

Forcing our will upon the Afghan farmers and herders in the name of 911 is mere propaganda used to maintain the US citizen support. The afghans have no military, no resources to survice, much less attack a giant like the US. So why bomb them into the stone age? They already are, and further fighting cannot help anything save Defense spending.

Gen Smedley Butler summed it all up in his ignored book, War is a Racket. Old men declare wars while the young suffer and die, while arms makers laugh all the way to the (offshore) bank.

Buttinski on September 9, 2009 at 6:28 pm

This is horrible. I sure hope the AP will reconsider doing anything like this again. And yes we are there because of 9/11,whether it is worth fighting remains to be seen…God willing the end is near. May God bless all our military ans their families.

freedom4usa on September 9, 2009 at 6:36 pm

Hey dumbass buttski !
You sound like one of those kool-aid drinking, shortbus riding leftwing, less than useless idiot. If your looking for sympathy for those ragheaded muzzy savages it’s in the dictionary between the words shit and syphalis ! Here let me help you understand a little bit, the job of war is go out and kill the enemy. If you think that singing kumbaya and holding hands is going to make things better you are effing delusional! We can win and it is very simple, can the current PC ROE, take the gloves off and use the simple logic of, if it looks dangerous KILL IT! Kill enough of them they run out of bodies for allah. Oh yes, I am a huge fan of disaportional force in spades.
Jarhead outstanding address
Semper Fi
Drakken

Drakken on September 9, 2009 at 8:15 pm

Drakken
Oh my, fearsome name calling! Your prowess is formidable.

The job of war is for young men to die while the rich cash checks. If you think winning is simple, tell that to the Brits, or the Soviets, the Pashtun kick everyone’s asses, the USMC is no better.

There is no way you could kill every one. And why? Are you still the good guy if you make it? Disaportional (sic) force? Not in a guerilla war, and not on their turf. Has not happened before, and won’t happen there.

Buttinski on September 9, 2009 at 11:11 pm

Friends, the brutal lesson of our Western adventures in Muslim lands is this: There will be no peace until their world is a smoldering carpet of charred flesh, splintered bone, and matted, crisped hair.

baseboru on September 9, 2009 at 11:15 pm

First of all, I only wish that our foreign policy was backed up with the generous use of NUKES. YES WE CAN use nukes to stop evil. Only annihilating the enemy ever really works. YES WE CAN live with being called names if we used nukes because the strong survive and the weak go the way of the horse and buggy.

I can only hope that we pave the middle east over one day and make the world a safer place.

As for buttinski, he’s just another bitch ass troll that has chosen a dead Marine as his target. May you burn in hell.

Joe on September 10, 2009 at 12:34 am

This makes me sick.

If the leadership of this country had any balls, it would have nuked Afghanistan on 9-12-01 and not lost a single soldier on the ground. The way things are going domestically right now, good, decent, patriotic men like Bernard are needed right here at home fighting for democracy, something we are quickly losing.

tempus fugit on September 10, 2009 at 6:46 am

Buttinski, suppose you live in a pleasant little neighborhood where everyone get along well but you have another neighborhood that have problems, noises, violence and crime occurring daily. Then one day, all of your friendly neighbors have enough and are being forced to move away because of the other neighborhood. You can’t move away because you love where you’re living in. The local police hasn’t done much to reduce the problems in that neighborhood because they are not getting enough money and resources. They also get bribed to look the other way or warned by community activists the police will be viewed as racist in national TV.

Soon, people from that problematic neighborhood notice the availability of lovely looking houses in your neighborhood and soon, they move in. With that, they bring their problems, noises, violence and crime with them.

Then your once pleasant neighborhood has gone to hell and you’re alone. You abhor violence and guns and you won’t do a thing about these new problems in your neighborhood, because, if you do, the new neighbors will turn on you and take your house. You either stay silent or be forced to move away from a place you love the most.

That, Buttinski, is Afghanistan in a small nutshell. Many Afghans love their country but either don’t know how to deal with the affairs of the country or don’t wanted to do something about bad peoples they’re living alongside with, that they are willing to look the other way and do nothing. In that instance, evil will thrive.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” ~ Edmund Burke.

You are that “good” man, terribly misguided and confused.

Bobby'sBrain on September 10, 2009 at 9:09 am

Pitman is yet another troll. This column is about a slain marine and the media cooperating with terrorists. Your post speaks of a problem with the existence of Israel, the only democracy in the middle east. Our only true ally over there, you scumbag.

[“Pitman”‘s BS-filled offensive comment was deleted. DS]

Joe on September 10, 2009 at 11:30 am

Appeasement in the face of aggression is cowerdice !
Buttski
At least I am doing something about it, how about you?? Sitting in your lazyboy drinking koolaid and wishing for a better world is typical of the left and their enablers. To degenerate this fine Marine and his ultimate sacrifice makes my blood boil ! Put up or STFU ! I would bet my next paycheck that you would never ever say what you said about that fine Marine to Jarhead or me in person, for you are a bloody jellyfish!
As too the AP reporter who printed that photo, next time they are in the sandbox have a little chat with them about the importance of not pissing us off.

Drakken on September 10, 2009 at 2:39 pm

An attack on our shores would see me next to you fighting in defense.

It is not the semper fi jarhead that ensured my rights, it was the founding fathers who wrote the constitution that protects my rights.

Marines fighting today is for warmonger profits. This war has nothing to do with safety, or democracy. Projection of American force, upon a population that is incapable of any harm to us is all about making money. The great wars of the last century were wars of choice, many millions died because of nations fighting nation while agreeing the fighting kept the elite safe.

Everybody in the corporate elite love wars, bootmakers get big contracts, fabric mills crank out material for uniforms, steel mills and foundries heat up and pump out metals for guns and ordnance.

All this material must be used so the manufacturers keep production up, while men like Josh suffer and die.

It’s not the pix that is obscene, it is putting him where he doesn’t belong.

And putting an act, that of using 911 to rationalize nuking Afghanistan, lower than whale dung is not name calling.

Buttinski on September 10, 2009 at 5:05 pm

PS,
Thanks guys for your replies. Isn’t it boring preaching to the choir?

Buttinski on September 10, 2009 at 5:11 pm

It’s not the weapon, it’s the warrior, you KNOW that.

Speaking of invasions, what armada does landlocked Afghanistan have to mount an attack from, where is their army and heavy armor needed to move them?

Whatever attack might happen, it won’t have any Afghans amongst the ranks.

Buttinski on September 10, 2009 at 5:41 pm

i already complained to the AP

mindy abraham on September 11, 2009 at 10:54 am

Buttski
The reason you sleep peaceably in your bed at night is because rough men like me stand ready to do violence of your behalf. Your weak and live a decent life here because of better men than yourself. Jarhead and myself have served our country because we believe in a cause greater than ourselves, something that you cannot or will not ever understand.
You seem to have the misunderstanding that we cannot win in the sandbox? Well boy, I have to say that my experience proves otherwise, pretty simple, you deal with the savages savagely. give them the mailed fist they get it, for the muzzy is at your feet or at your throat, and I have proved time and again it works, love to get more detailed but alas OPSEC. One last thing, you are not fit to lick my or Jarheads boots because you are a coward and hide behind mommys skirt. Nice try though boy!

Drakken on September 11, 2009 at 3:49 pm

I remember when Nobama lifted the ban on pictures of our casualties. Gates (SecDef) supported him. Most of us (Marines, vets and our families) felt this was a very bad decision that would lead to things like this – casualties exploited for personal gain, and as propaganda for the enemy. By enemy I mean the third world savage carpet kissers we are exchanging lead with and the anti-victory cowards who walk among us.

The AP listened to the family and considered their objections to the photo being published. But after holding a board of senior editors they decided to go with it anyway. So a bunch of candy fisted, egg headed sissies decided screw the family, screw DoD, run with it! Nothing quite like weak, cowardly “men” exploiting a fallen warrior.

From their perspective the Marine is a tool to show the American people the cost of the war. He is a tool to tell a larger story. Fair enough. Whats next? Are we going to see graphic pictures of rape, murder and accident victims? I mean they are just tools to illustrate the larger stories right? Hell, if we want the American people to understand the price of drunk driving why not take pictures of the charred remains of the children killed by their drunken aunt and mother in New York a few weeks ago? Who cares if the families do not want their children exploited that way.

I served as an infantry Marine for 24 years. I have lost friends in the war. I brought one of them home to his wife after he was killed in action. I have also brought two Marines home to their mothers after they were killed in action. My son in law, son and step son are all serving in the Marine Corps now. Like LCpl. Bernard they are all young, 20 – 26 and all of them are infantrymen. My son in law was wounded in action in 2005. The thought of any of them being exploited – violated in this way makes me shake with rage.

I say now, that if I lose one of my boys no force on earth, not that of law, nor self restraint, no pleading or begging, would stop me from beating the living hell out of anyone who would attempt to exploit their sacrifice and my grief. That includes media whores or anyone in the anti-victory crowd. That includes members of the “church” who who show up at the funerals of fallen soldiers and Marines just to brutalize their families. It includes the cute little lefties like the guy in Arizona who makes tee shirts with pictures of our war dead on them. It includes the people who do the mobile anti-war displays featuring boots, coffins and the like with names and or pictures of our war dead attached to them.

If I have to do time to defend the honor of my boys, to protect their memory and what they, their comrades and I fought for, I am willing to do it. I have a feeling that if one AP editor were to get the ever loving hell beaten out of him by a parent of a fallen Marine the AP exploited it would not happen again.

Jack on September 12, 2009 at 11:37 am