Iraq in Microcosm from Iowa to all of us

A few days ago the Washington Post wrote about 224th Combat Engineer Battalion which headed to Ramadi in late February with 31 soldiers. Six weeks later it was down to 25. The article was specifically about a young specialist who was killed by a sniper. It was a heart rending story.

It continues for this battalion of Iowa National Guardsman, both in Iraq and in Iowa.

First one for "Private Jonah"

Sgt. Casey Byers, 22, of Schleswig never got to meet his 5-month-old daughter, Hailey, before he died in Iraq.

"If there's any regrets — you didn't get to see, hold and touch your precious daughter Hailey," the soldier's father, Bill Byers, said in a statement read by the Rev. Chris Burtnett at the funeral on Wednesday.

Casey Byers was with the Iowa National Guard's 224th Engineer Battalion, which arrived in Iraq in January. His daughter was born in Ames shortly thereafter. Byers died June 11 south of Ramadi, Iraq, when a bomb detonated under his armored Humvee. He was the 28th Iowan to die in Iraq since the war began in March 2003.

And then there is one for Dick Cheney and his "last throes" brigade and Dear Leader who once infamously said there'd be "no casualties" out of Iraq. There are tragedies from Iraq to Iowa:

Spc. Justin "Paul" Byers, 19, wrote a letter he was going to read at his older brother's funeral. But he died before he could read the note. Officials say he committed suicide when he was hit and killed by a truck Monday night.

Why did he commit suicide, undoubtedly being destraught played a part, but in another story in the same paper came this:

Distraught over his older brother's death in Iraq and his own deployment this fall to the war zone, Justin "Paul" Byers purposely stepped in front of a pickup truck Monday night, ending his own life, officials said.

About an hour before Sgt. Casey Byers' funeral began Wednesday morning, Crawford County's medical examiner said he had ruled Justin Byers' death a suicide.

Two brothers dead...both from Bush's War!

I hope some of the right-wing reads this and realizes that this is what they are doing to these young people...

I suppose they can find solace in their car magnets.