BoatBanter.com - Death be not proud

"Harry Krause" wrote in message
...
At Central Command, Death Gets an Online Demotion

By ALEX BERENSON
The New York Times

AGHDAD, Iraq — More than 300 American troops have been killed since the
war in Iraq began. According to Pentagon records, more than 160 have
been killed since President Bush declared on May 1 that major combat
operations had ended. At least 70 of those deaths have been the result
of hostile fire.

Every week seems to bring more deaths. When the guns are silent, there
are fatal traffic accidents, fires, even electrocutions.

But as the death toll rises, it is growing less visible, at least to
those who visit the Web site operated by the United States Central
Command, which controls American troops in Iraq.

Until early September, the Central Command official site,
www.centcom.mil, posted press releases of American military deaths at
the top of its home page, along with other releases. The result was a
mélange of good news and bad that reflected the gap between intention
and outcome plaguing the United States-led occupation here.

Earlier this month, for example, a visitor to the Web site would have
seen "Coalition Offers Help With Water, Jobs, Public Safety," topped by
a reference to deaths in the First Armored Division: "Two Soldiers
Killed, One Wounded in Attack and 1AD Soldier Killed in Helicopter
Accident."

But about two weeks ago, the site began offering a different picture of
the occupation in which death assumed a far less prominent role.

In fact, the deaths of American soldiers were now nowhere to be seen on
the home page. To find them, visitors had to scroll to the bottom of the
page and click on a small link called "Casualty Reports."

Central Command was not trying to hide the deaths of American soldiers,
said Maj. Michel Escudie, a military spokesman.

It was done for clarity, he said. The change was made to help reporters
more easily distinguish between casualty-related releases and other
releases.

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And it doesn't rain in Indianapolis in the summertime.

"DEATH be not proud, though some have called thee
Mighty and dreadfull, for, thou art not so,
For, those, whom thou think'st, thou dost overthrow,
Die not, poore death, nor yet canst thou kill me.
From rest and sleepe, which but thy pictures bee, 5
Much pleasure, then from thee, much more must flow,
And soonest our best men with thee doe goe,
Rest of their bones, and soules deliverie.
Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, kings, and desperate men,
And dost with poyson, warre, and sicknesse dwell, 10
And poppie, or charmes can make us sleepe as well,
And better then thy stroake; why swell'st thou then;
One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally,
And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die."

John Donne

--
* * *
email sent to will *never* get to me.

I just marvel at the cut-n-paste skills you alone possess.
No one else here even comes close. Still can't get up
the nerve to play with the big boys in alt.politics??
What a sad little man you've become.

Harry K,....reduced to playing "cut-n-paste-politics" in the "Boating"
newsgroup

What a legacy.

db~And I thought dead fish stunk....