David Hackworth, I wish you could see this image.

Hack, you won’t believe this: John Holley and his wife Stacey say that they were told by the military that their son’s body — the body of their only child — would arrive “as freight” at Lindbergh Field.

Matthew was a medic with the 101st Airborne unit and died on Nov. 15.


“When someone dies in combat, they need to give them due respect they deserve for (the) sacrifice they made,” said John Holley.
John and Stacey Holley, who were both in the Army, made some calls, and with the help of U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer, Matthew was greeted with honor and respect.


“Our familiarity with military protocol and things of that sort allowed us to kind of put our foot down — we’re not sure other parents have that same knowledge,” said Stacey Holley.


The Holleys now want to make sure every fallen hero gets the proper welcome.


The bodies of dead service members arrive at Dover Air Force Base.
From that point, they are sent to their families on commercial airliners.


Reporters from 10News called the Defense Department for an explanation. A representative said she did not know why this is happening. (Read all at 10News.com.)


Arms and Influence blog, where I first read about this story, says it so well:

Regardless of your position in the war, I think every American can agree that the bodies of American soldiers should be transported and delivered to the United States with full dignity and respect. If the Defense Department is cutting corners, as this report suggests, perhaps a few political opponents might unite to demand better treatment for the bodies of the fallen. (Emphasis mine.)

Hackworth wrote in 2004:

Donald Rumsfeld – who’s known as a people-eating systems man – has a long history that shows he prefers technology to humans. Certainly as SecDef he’s always gone for high-tech military gear rather than giving the boots on the ground max priority when it comes to the basics: armored vehicles and vests, sufficient ammo and all the other vital stuff that helps soldiers make it through the Valley of Death.


His beloved shock-and-awe whiz-bang wonder weapons worked well enough initially in Afghanistan and Iraq, but as we saw on the tube last week, we’re once again back to the age-old struggle of man against man – with grunts, not machines, taking and holding ground.


And now, apparently, Rumsfeld’s obsession with machines and their efficiency has translated into his using one to replace his own John Hancock on KIA (killed in action) letters to parents and spouses. Two Pentagon-based colonels, who’ve both insisted on anonymity to protect their careers, have indignantly reported that the SecDef has relinquished this sacred duty to a signature device rather than signing the sad documents himself. … Read all.


After his staff lied about it — and thanks to Hackworth’s loud campaign — Rumsfeld finally said he would sign the letters personally. I wonder if he is. As we know, you can’t believe anything these maniacal idiots tell us.


BUT IT’S NOT JUST THE U.S. DEAD who are treated so callously — with their families receiving their children’s bodies as “freight” and the condolence letters being auto-signed.

I could not believe the president’s response to this question following his latest speech on Iraq today.

I thought I might answer some questions. (Laughter.) Yes, ma’am.


Q Since the inception of the Iraqi war, I’d like to know the approximate total of Iraqis who have been killed. And by Iraqis I include civilians, military, police, insurgents, translators.


THE PRESIDENT: How many Iraqi citizens have died in this war? I would say 30,000, more or less, have died as a result of the initial incursion and the ongoing violence against Iraqis. We’ve lost about 2,140 of our own troops in Iraq.


Yes.

Q Mr. President, thank you —


THE PRESIDENT: I’ll repeat the question. If I don’t like it, I’ll make it up. (Laughter and applause.)


Q — Thank you for coming to the city where liberty was born. Central to your policy in Iraq is the role of the Iraqis. We hear widely different tales about how the Iraqis are doing in their own area of defense.


First things first: I think this was a planted question. Bush had those numbers too ready.


But, it doesn’t matter that he’d been prepped for the question. What mattered was that the words “ I would say 30,000, more or less, …” fell so easily from his lips. It was just a number. And his self-satisfied look gave away that he was pleased with himself for remembering the correct answer.


What matters is that he didn’t convey a single word of sympathy or caring for those 30,000 dead.


What is odd is that the rounded number of 30,000 so closely matches the Iraq Body Count site’s numbers of a minimum of 27,383 and a maximum of 30,892.


What is sickening is that Bush just moved on to the next question, joking along the way … with nary a recognition of so many dead and wounded, or any evidence of any caring about those human beings. What a fucking asshole he is.


Hack, even if you’re gone, we need your ever-present conscience and writings to remind us to challenge these heartless thugs every step of the way. And, I’m glad your Web site remains up for us to read.


Update [2005-12-13 17:4:28 by susanhu]: Meteor Blades notes:

Obviously, your point here …

…is not to challenge the numbers but rather the attitude. So I won’t go into a long rant, however:

With all due respect to the Iraqi Body Count folks, their study is nearly six months old and “is based on comprehensive analysis of over 10,000 media reports published between March 2003 and March 2005″. I personally think the Lancet study’s calculatons about how many Iraqis may have died in – or, better stated because – of this war should not be ignored. Perhaps as many as 194,000, Lancet’s authors concluded. Certainly more  than 100,000. And that study was done more than 15 months ago.  

-9.13, -7.64.