Rest well, and thank you

[Lanya]

Ohioan killed by explosive in Iraq
Northeast Side man’s Army service would have been up in early January
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Barbara Carmen and Matt Zapotosky
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH
Spc. Vincent Pomante III, 22, had a good sense of humor and was proud of serving his country, his mother said.

Karen Pomante packed her son’s Christmas gifts and made sure to mail them by last Sunday’s deadline to reach Iraq.

Don’t send much, her 22-year-old son had told her. Vincent Pomante III would have to pack it when he came home. His three-year hitch with the Army would be up Jan. 9.

Instead, Pomante, a standout wrestler for Westerville South High School, will come home to full honors.

The U.S. Army specialist and tank gunner was killed Wednesday by an improvised explosive device. His family is still waiting to find out exactly how and where he was killed.

His mother learned of her son’s death Thursday, and family members, including the soldier’s younger sister, Amy, and his father, Vincent Jr., are making funeral arrangements.

Karen Pomante said her son was proud of his Army service.

"9/11 had a huge effect for my son and his friends," she said.

Her son, known to friends and family as "V.J.," was happy most of the time, his mother said. "He really liked being outside. He liked to fish. He liked to play Frisbee golf. He sailed with his friends whenever he could be anywhere near water."

George Crooks, Pomante’s wrestling coach at Westerville South, remembered the lanky kid who was "able to put anybody in the cradle."

Pomante, who was nearly 6 feet, 5 inches and wrestled at 189 pounds, had qualified for the district tournament in his senior year after a comeback victory against a wrestler from Hilliard Davidson.

"He jumped up in joy," Crooks said. "It was a good way for him to finish his four-year career."

Off the mat, Pomante was "always smiling" and was famous for bringing his sense of humor to the team. Four days before he had to shave his head for wrestling season, Pomante came to school sporting a mullet, Crooks said.

Now the only reminders Crooks has of Pomante are an American flag patch and an Iraqi dinar that Pomante gave him during a visit home last year. Both are hanging in Crooks’ classroom.

His mom had sent V.J. a small Christmas tree, some beef jerky, a new pillow and CDs of comedian Larry the Cable Guy.

"He thought he was going to be home by the end of February," she said.

http://www.dispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/12/09/20061209-A1-00.html

[Xavier_Onassis]

"He thought he was going to be home by the end of February," she said.
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Now he'll be home sooner, but in pieces. This poor soldier was brave, but was killed on what can only be described as a fools' errand, the fools being Juniorbush & Co.
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We really need to let the Iraqis determine their own destiny. Or destinies.

If there is a military solution to the Godawful mess this misbegotten war, it will not be determined by our military.

Is there any precedent for the US establishing a democracy anywhere at all? I suggest that we aren't good at it. Certainly not as good as the Aussies in East Timor and other Pacific island nations. Not as good as the Danes in Greenland.

In the Philippines, it happened only after the US left Clark and Subic, and a nearly decade had passed.

The US set up a puppet govt. in Korea in 1952. It became democratic around 1994. In Taiwan the dates were a dictatorship from 1948 through 1992. It took the death of Balaguer in the Dominican Republic before that country became truly democratic.

How is Grenada doing?  How about Panama?

Of course, both of those had a semi democratic system before the US supported less than democratic dictatorships.

I think Juniorbush likes the idea of "democracy" because his experience is that democracies can be manipulated by massive ratwing advertising, lies and voter manipulation a la Rove, and in the worst of cases, fraud and intimidation by lawyer scum like James Baker.

Juniorbush is a friend of democracy in about the same way as Frank Perdue is a friend of poultry.
 

[Plane]

"Is there any precedent for the US establishing a democracy anywhere at all? I suggest that we aren't good at it. Certainly not as good as the Aussies in East Timor and other Pacific island nations. Not as good as the Danes in Greenland."


You should go to Europe sometime , I have been there and I saw American influence everywhere , Europe is not perfect but it is what we have made it, still a work in progress.