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OpEdNews Op Eds    H1'ed 5/11/14

A Mother's Day Tribute-- That Should Not Have to Be Written

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By Walter Brasch

Nine American mothers will not enjoy Mother's Day this year.

Their sons were killed in the past month in Afghanistan.

This past Wednesday, a family of nine was killed by Taliban forces in Afghanistan.

On Friday, 9 Pakistani soldiers were killed. That same day, 29 Taliban were killed.

2,319 American soldiers were killed in America's longest war. A war that should never have lasted that long.

3,438 coalition troops, including Americans, were killed.

4,486 American soldiers were killed in the Iraq War. A war that should never have been begun. 4,804 coalition troops, including Americans were killed.

There are no accurate estimates of how many Iraqis--civilian and military--were killed. The best estimates place the total somewhere between 200,000 and 800,000.

What is known is that every person killed in war had a mother. And every mother, no matter what her son believed or fought for, cried at her son or daughter's death.

This past Friday, the United States dedicated Camp Mike Spann in Afghanistan, and turned it over to that country's military.

Johnny Micheal Spann was the first American killed in the Afghanistan War. That was in 2001.

Capt. Spann is buried in section 34 at Arlington National Cemetery.

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Walter Brasch is an award-winning journalist and professor of journalism emeritus. His current books are Before the First Snow: Stories from the Revolution , America's Unpatriotic Acts: The Federal Government's Violation of (more...)
 

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