November 25, 2004

EDITORIAL

Undermining the Pell Grants

aunted by soaring costs, as many as a quarter of low-income students with grades and test scores that make them prime college material no longer even apply to college. This is bad news at a time when skilled jobs are moving abroad and a college diploma has become the minimum price of admission to the new economy. The Bush administration, however, could actually make this problem worse by cutting the federal Pell grant program, which was developed to encourage poor and working-class students to pursue higher education.

The pending cut could cause as many as 1.2 million low-income students to have their grants reduced - and as many as 100,000 could lose their grants altogether. That inevitably means that students would either drop out or take longer to finish their degrees.

The Pell program, which is meant to help students pay for tuition and other expenses, like books and housing, has been gravely underfinanced for a long time. Congress has tried to mask the problem by tricky bookkeeping. In particular, Congress failed to revise the maximum grant to keep pace with rising costs. Left untouched for a decade, the aid formula is still capped at around $4,000 a year - far less than what it takes to support a college student. The Republican leadership tried to cut the Pell program by changing the formula for distributing the money in a way that would cut out students who had higher - although still inadequate - family incomes. The leaders backed off when middle-income families protested and student aid threatened to become an issue in the presidential campaign.

Back then, Congress agreed to hold off on any changes until it could look at the student aid problem as a whole during reauthorization of the Higher Education Act, which is due to come before the body next year. But with the election behind it, the Republican leadership has advanced a proposal that could slash the program anyway, by roughly $300 million. Eliminating the resources to help needy and qualified students go to college will not even put a dent in the nation's growing deficit, but it will greatly diminish opportunities for upward mobility for the nation's youth.

 

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Pell Grant recipients face cuts to aid

By BEN ANTONIUS / Aggie News Writer

Posted 12/02/2004

 

As many as a million college students could see their federal Pell Grants reduced, including an estimated 80,000 that could see their grants disappear entirely, under new rules approved by Congress.

  The change was due to a legally-required update of tax rules used to determine grant eligibility -- Congress actually boosted funding for the program by about $450 million. However, the maximum award will stay the same because of steadily rising demand for the low-income grants.

  According to the UC Davis Financial Aid Office, 6,765 UCD students receive the grants -- nearly one in four. Many grants are awarded according to financial need, and Pell Grants are designed to go to the neediest groups. Merriah Fairchild, spokesperson for the California Public Interest Research Group, said a reduction in Pell awards could make it impossible for some students to attend college.

  "I think these cuts, combined with fee increases that students are already struggling with, could be the tipping point for many students who are already on the financial margins," she said.

  However, Katy Maloney, associate director of the financial aid office, said students who lose some or all of their Pell Grants would have other options for covering their tuition costs. Maloney said that most students who lose Pell Grant money would be able to make up the difference by receiving an increase in other grants, such as university grants.

  "It should be okay, for those that are on time and do everything they need to," she said. Maloney noted that university grant applications must be received by Mar. 2, unlike Pell Grants, which have an open application period.

  The new Pell Grant rules were approved during the weekend of Nov. 18 and 19. Previous eligibility guides used tax law from 1988 to determine how much a student should be expected to contribute to their education. But taxes were higher in 1988 than the 2001 standards, so the new rules are expected to find applicants paying fewer taxes and therefore able to contribute more to their tuition.

  The Department of Education is legally required to use updated tax rules, but Fairchild characterized the move as the government passing off the burden of paying for education.

  "Essentially, Congress is deciding to pay for budget shortfalls out of the pockets of students," she said. "It's a sneaky way to shift the burden onto students and it's an indication that Congress is not prioritizing higher education."

  Fairchild urged concerned students to get involved by lobbying elected officials, making phone calls, writing letters or organizing events to get media attention. While federal education funding is at its highest levels ever, Fairchild said the new grants were not keeping pace with inflation and the rising cost of tuition.

  She said CalPIRG was campaigning to have the maximum Pell Grant award raised by $450 to $4,500, a goal she said would be "very challenging, given the make-up of Congress."

 

BEN ANTONIUS can be reached at campus@californiaaggie.com

 

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Posted on Sat, Nov. 20, 2004
Greenspan does it again HE SOUNDS WARNING ON FOREIGN CAPITAL; INVESTORS UNNERVED By Robert Manor Chicago Tribune CHICAGO - In remarks that roiled the financial markets, pushing the value of the dollar ever lower, Alan Greenspan warned that America's reliance on foreign capital poses a risk to the domestic economy. The Federal Reserve chairman, in a speech at the European Banking Congress in Frankfurt, Germany, said foreign investors could grow tired of financing the U.S. current account deficit and put their money elsewhere unless they receive higher interest rates. Like the trade deficit, the current account deficit tracks goods and services but also includes investment flows between countries. The deficit grew to a record $166.2 billion in the second quarter. For all of 2003, it was more than $500 billion. Although Greenspan said there was little sign so far that overseas investors and central banks have lost faith in the U.S. economy, his warning rattled Wall Street and currency markets. The Dow Jones industrial average tumbled nearly 116 points, its largest decline in two months. The dollar dropped to 103.08 against the Japanese yen from 104.09 Thursday, and to $1.3020 per euro from $1.2961. Prices of Treasury bonds fell sharply. ``Given the size of the U.S. current account deficit, a diminished appetite for adding to dollar balances must occur at some point,'' Greenspan said. ``International investors will eventually adjust their accumulation of dollar assets or, alternatively, seek higher dollar returns to offset concentration risk, elevating the cost of financing the U.S. current account deficit and rendering it increasingly less tenable.'' Although Greenspan didn't specifically address interest rates or the value of the dollar -- ``forecasting exchange rates has a success rate no better than that of forecasting the outcome of a coin toss,'' he said -- investors read between the lines. ``He's telling people rates are going to keep going higher and the dollar is going to keep going lower,'' Scott Gewirtz, co-head of U.S. Treasury trading at Deutsche Bank Securities in New York, told Bloomberg News. As the trade deficit grows, more dollars leave the United States. So far, foreign investors have recycled this money by buying U.S. Treasury securities -- which finances the government's budget deficit -- or stocks, corporate bonds and other dollar-denominated investments. The recycling has helped keep interest rates low and buoyed the stock market. Were overseas investors and central banks to reduce their buying or unload their investments, it would cause stocks and bonds to sink and interest rates to soar. ``Greenspan is saying that day might not be far down the road,'' said Ken Goldstein, an economist for the New York-based Conference Board, a private research group. ``Once this process starts, it's very difficult to change.'' Marc Pado, U.S. market strategist for investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald, said the growing deficit could ``deter future investments,'' though he does not expect overseas investors to dump their current assets. The slide in the dollar has unnerved investors recently because it raises the cost of foreign goods, from Japanese cars to Canadian lumber to German pharmaceuticals. Gita Gopinath, assistant professor of economics at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, said a continuing rapid decline in the dollar's value ``will have an inflationary effect on the economy.'' That's because more expensive imports allow domestic producers to raise prices, something that has been impossible for years because of competition at home and abroad. A cheaper dollar does have some benefits. It has been good for U.S. manufacturers because it makes their products less expensive in foreign markets. That can help exports and narrow the trade gap. Manufacturing and agricultural exports, both important sectors of the Midwest economy, especially benefit, as do the jobs such exports generate. ``There has been a lot of talk about outsourcing labor overseas,'' said Pado. ``A falling dollar works against that trend.'' Greenspan also said the Bush administration should work to reduce the country's budget deficit. ``Reducing the federal budget deficit -- or preferably moving it to surplus -- appears to be the most effective action that could be taken to augment domestic saving,'' he said.

 

 

 

November 20, 2004

Greenspan Sees No Rise Soon for the Dollar

By MARK LANDLER

RANKFURT, Nov. 19 - Alan Greenspan came to the home of the euro on Friday and suggested that the relentless decline of the dollar might well continue, offering little relief to those here who worry that the United States is seeking to gain a competitive advantage for its industries from a weaker currency.

In a speech to a banking congress here, Mr. Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, said that ballooning foreign borrowing on the part of the United States poses a future risk to the dollar's value.

He said that foreign investors, who help finance the large American trade and budget deficits by buying Treasury securities and other dollar-denominated assets, would eventually resist lending more money to the United States, causing the dollar to fall further.

Mr. Greenspan's comments came two days after the Treasury secretary, John W. Snow, appeared to rule out intervening in currency markets to help Europe and Japan - both heavily dependent on exports to sustain economic growth - stem the decline of the dollar. Mr. Snow, speaking in London, prodded European leaders to tackle their home-grown economic problems.

Taken together, the two speeches appear to be sending an unmistakable message that Washington, on the heels of President Bush's election to a second term, is prepared to tolerate a weaker dollar for the foreseeable future.

A falling dollar makes it more expensive for Americans to travel abroad and risks reviving inflation and sending interest rates higher in the United States. But for American manufacturers, who have been shedding jobs for years, it provides a powerful shot of adrenaline by making their exports cost less abroad and adding to pressure on foreign industries to raise the price of imported goods in the United States.

Given the uncertainties surrounding the global economy, Mr. Greenspan likened predicting the dollar's path to "forecasting the outcome of a coin toss."

While Mr. Greenspan, as he often does, relied on carefully chosen phrases open to various interpretations, the message seemed clear here to European bankers, who laughed nervously at the metaphor: The dollar, which has fallen to record lows against the euro this week - giving fits to European politicians and business executives - is likely to fall even further.

To analysts, the speech had a laissez-faire tone, leaving events in the hands of the market and giving speculators free rein to bet against the American currency without worrying that officials would get together to slap them down.

On Friday, in New York, the stock market reacted by falling sharply. At the close of trading, the Dow industrial average was down more than 115 points, to 10,456,91, a decline of more than 1 percent.

Currency traders drove the dollar to its lowest level in four and a half years against the Japanese yen, and near its record low against the euro. Treasury notes fell the most in two weeks.

The hints from Washington policy makers that they have no intention of supporting the dollar could add to the strains between the United States and Europe, which is increasingly worried that the rise of the euro is choking off its tenuous recovery. In France and Germany, growth in the third quarter dropped to 0.1 percent, as exports dried up.

European leaders are already raising distress flags. Germany's minister for economics, Wolfgang Clement, urged Asia, Europe and the United States to take coordinated action to stop the slide. The president of the European Central Bank, Jean-Claude Trichet - who is Mr. Greenspan's counterpart here - has called the shifts in exchange rates "brutal."

Mr. Trichet, who traveled a few blocks from the headquarters of the European Central Bank to appear on the same panel as Mr. Greenspan, pointedly declined to repeat that characterization.

Both central bankers later flew to Berlin for a meeting of the G-20, which includes the Group of 8 industrialized countries, as well as emerging economies. The downward path of the dollar is likely to be high on the agenda, but there is little hope for a concerted response.

Analysts said Mr. Greenspan's speech made it clear that the Federal Reserve would make no effort to influence the process of narrowing the United States' current account deficit, either through interest rate increases aimed at deliberately supporting the dollar or by intervening in the market.

The current account deficit, which encompasses annual trade as well as the balance of financial flows, has gone from zero in 1990 to nearly $600 billion this year. The nation's accumulated debt to foreign investors is $2.6 trillion, equivalent to 23 percent of the annual output of the economy.

"It was an either-or message," said Thomas Mayer, the chief European economist at Deutsche Bank. "Either the current account deficit comes down. Or the market will do it, but at a cost to the dollar. Will the Fed play a role in this? Probably not. It will stick to its mandate."

Speaking on a panel that included the deputy governor of the Bank of Japan, Kazumasa Iwata, Mr. Greenspan devoted most of his remarks to the effect that American fiscal policy has on global markets.

"Current account imbalances, per se, need not be a problem," he said in a characteristically technical speech, "but cumulative deficits, which result in a marked decline of a country's net international position - as is occurring in the United States - raise more complicated issues."

Mr. Greenspan said foreign investors, in part because they fear having too much money at risk in the United States, would eventually become reluctant to take on more such assets.

"It seems persuasive that given the size of the U.S. current account deficit, a diminished appetite for adding to dollar balances must occur at some point," Mr. Greenspan said. "But when, through what channels, and from what level of the dollar? Regrettably, no answer to those questions is convincing."

This is not the first time Mr. Greenspan has warned about the risks of a rapidly widening current-account deficit. In testimony before Congress last February, he said "foreign investors, both private and official, may become less willing to absorb ever growing claims on U.S. residents."

As he did last winter, Mr. Greenspan said on Friday that his preferred remedy would be for the Bush administration to bring down the current account deficit by taking steps to shrink the federal budget deficit. That would make more domestic savings available in the United States, reducing the dependence on foreign borrowing.

But analysts did not interpret Mr. Greenspan's remarks as a rebuke of the White House - which has indicated that it will seek to make the deep tax cuts of its first term permanent - but rather an effort to let the markets find their course.

That will be cold comfort to many Europeans, who say that their currency is absorbing the bulk of the pressure from the declining dollar, since Japan and other Asian countries have intervened aggressively in the market to prevent their currencies from rising significantly against the dollar.

Mr. Greenspan took issue with that suggestion, saying that based on his review of recent statistics, Asia's "very large" central bank interventions had had only a "moderate" effect on exchange rates.

For his part, Mr. Trichet seemed determined not to breathe another word about the dangers of a rising euro. Describing his previous comments on the subject as "poetry," he turned aside questions about the exchange rate.

Mr. Mayer of Deutsche Bank said Mr. Trichet's silence suggested that his earlier efforts to talk down the currency had fallen short.

"They are basically seeing that there is very little they can do about it," Mr. Mayer he said. "They are not in a position to change interest rate policy to address it."

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November 19, 2004

OP-ED COLUMNIST

Bush's Echo Chamber

By BOB HERBERT

olin Powell, who urged the president to think more deeply about the consequences of invading Iraq, is being shoved toward the exit. And Condoleezza Rice, who blithely told America, "We don't want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud," is being ushered in to take his place.

Competence has never been highly regarded by the fantasists of the George W. Bush administration. In the Bush circle, no less than in your average youth gang, loyalty is everything. The big difference, of course, is that the administration is far more dangerous than any gang. History will show that the Bush crowd of incompetents brought tremendous amounts of suffering to enormous numbers of people. The amount of blood being shed is sickening, and there is no end to the grief in sight.

Ironically, Ms. Rice was supposed to be the epitome of competence. She was the charming former provost of Stanford University, an expert on Soviet and East European affairs who was also an accomplished pianist, ice skater and tennis player, and the presidential candidate George W. Bush's tutor on foreign policy.

She was superwoman. They didn't come more accomplished.

She and Mr. Bush developed a remarkable bond, and he made her his national security adviser. Which was a problem. Because all the evidence shows she wasn't very good at the job.

Ms. Rice's domain was the filter through which an awful lot of mangled and misshapen intelligence made its way to the president and the American people. She either believed the nonsense she was spouting about mushroom clouds, or she deliberately misled her president and the nation on matters that would eventually lead to the deaths of thousands.

Secretary Powell's close friend and deputy at the State Department, Richard Armitage, viewed Ms. Rice's operation with contempt. In his book "Plan of Attack," Bob Woodward said Mr. Armitage "believed that the foreign-policy-making system that was supposed to be coordinated by Rice was essentially dysfunctional."

In October 2003, the president, frustrated by setbacks in Iraq, put Ms. Rice in charge of his Iraq Stabilization Group, which gave her the responsibility for overseeing the effort to quell the violence and begin the reconstruction in Iraq.

We see from recent headlines how well that has worked out.

A crucial mentor for Ms. Rice was Brent Scowcroft, the national security adviser for the first President Bush. He appointed her to the National Security Council in 1989. Ms. Rice and the nation would have benefited if she had sought out and followed Mr. Scowcroft's counsel on Iraq.

Mr. Scowcroft's view, widely expressed before the war, was that the U.S. should exercise extreme caution. He did not believe the planned invasion was wise or necessary. In an article in The Wall Street Journal in August 2002, he wrote:

"There is scant evidence to tie Saddam to terrorist organizations, and even less to the Sept. 11 attacks. Indeed Saddam's goals have little in common with the terrorists who threaten us, and there is little incentive for him to make common cause with them."

Ms. Rice exhibited as little interest in Mr. Scowcroft's opinion as George W. Bush did in his father's. (When Bob Woodward asked Mr. Bush if he had consulted with the former president about the decision to invade Iraq, he replied, "There is a higher father that I appeal to.")

As I watch the disastrous consequences of the Bush policies unfold - not just in Iraq, but here at home as well - I am struck by the immaturity of this administration, whatever the ages of the officials involved. It's as if the children have taken over and sent the adults packing. The counsel of wiser heads, like George H. W. Bush, or Brent Scowcroft, or Colin Powell, is not needed and not wanted.

Some of the world's most important decisions - often, decisions of life and death - have been left to those who are less competent and less experienced, to men and women who are deficient in such qualities as risk perception and comprehension of future consequences, who are reckless and dangerously susceptible to magical thinking and the ideological pressure of their peers.

I look at the catastrophe in Iraq, the fiscal debacle here at home, the extent to which loyalty trumps competence at the highest levels of government, the absence of a coherent vision of the future for the U.S. and the world, and I wonder, with a sense of deep sadness, where the adults have gone.

Paul Krugman is on book leave until January.

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Screw you, America

Sometimes the fish in the barrel deserve to die

B Y C L I F   G A R B O D E N

America speaks with one voice. Unfortunately, it emanates from its ass.
--Barry Crimmins

November 17, 2004 N E W S   F E A T U R E

Don't forgive my anger. All this needs to be said. And I know that as soon as that stiff-faced to-the-manure-born right-wing lackey in the White House tries to appoint a 21st-century counterpart to Roy Bean to the Supreme Court in a few weeks, more people are going to wish they'd said it sooner. John Kerry fucked up. More important, America fucked up. And the people who fucked up the most--you infamous red-staters--are going to suffer along with the rest of us. To put it in lingo a NASCAR devotee would understand, "Y'all deserve a good talkin'-to." John F. Kerry, you're first.

In your befuddling concession speech, you actually called for unity and healing. Sounds good, clown, but can't you even imagine for a second that the people who supported you so zealously for the past five months might just see that insincere gesture of good sportsmanship as a betrayal? See, unlike you pols, we voters actually believe in shit. We believe that George W. Bush and his henchpeople are a real threat to the survival of democracy. We believe that they're killing people for profit. And we believe that they don't have a goddamn clue about forfending terrorism on U.S. soil.

That's not a position gap; that's an ideological gash. And it's not going to heal, because, unlike you expedient professional truth-manipulators, I'm not prepared to meet the enemies of freedom halfway just because you lost the election. Your speechwriters might see the Bush administration's failings as nothing more than convenient fodder for your campaign blather, but the GOP junta's sins don't go away just because decrying them no longer serves your ambitions. Last week they were the imperialist pigs who misled us into war and you were the savior. Now we're the goddamn Getalong Gang?! Screw that. Fight back or shut up.

Now, the rest of you. ...

A lot of us effete Easterners want to know: What the fuck is wrong with you?! You voted against your self-interest at every turn (you dumb-asses in South Dakota deserve special credit for voting out one of the most powerful Democrats in the Senate) and re-elected an ignorant cowboy who can't be trusted to remember a lunch order, never mind run a country. What in the name of God...?! Wait, it was in the name of God, wasn't it? Rendered weak and ignorant by a spoon-fed climate of fear, you slack-jawed inbred flatlanders have sought refuge in the traditional twin towers of mindlessness--jingoistic patriotism and fundamentalist religion. God's on your side. Like hell. Jesus loves us, dammit.

Okay, you want God? Let's talk about God. Your religion is bogus. Fundamentalism, the facile belief in the unexplained and un-researched, is something you born-agains (couldn't get it right the first time, huh?) share with Al Qaeda, whose ideologues doggedly adhere to religious misinterpretations every bit as silly and dangerous as yours. Just like you, Muslim fundamentalists long to impose an unrealistic and intolerant pseudo-Calvinist morality on the world. In fact, America's religious right has so much in common with the Shiah, it's a wonder you guys don't invite them to join the Rotary. Born-againsters look for the face of Christ in the wallpaper; fundamentalist Muslims hallucinate the voice of the 12th Imam; but aside from that (and extremely divergent attitudes toward pork), you both hate the same stuff--homosexuality, pacifism, Jews, education, uppity women, enlightenment, short skirts, gangsta rap, tattoos, infidels. ... (They also share your love of super-lethal weaponry.)

Well, sorry to burst your holy bubble, Jesus freaks, but God did not create the world in seven days; that's just ignorant. Like a lot of stuff in the Bible, it didn't happen. And Moses looked more like Jeff Goldblum than like Charlton Heston. Jesus didn't hunt; he fished. Jesus wouldn't want you (or anyone else) to have an assault rifle. What would Jesus do if he met you? He'd ask you to stop ruining his hard-won good reputation. (Y'know the guy died to redeem your sorry ass; you might at least show a little respect for what he was really about.)

What else is bothering you self-destructive morons? What other overwhelmingly urgent issue caused you to vote yourselves into the retirement poorhouse and sacrifice the four freedoms? Gay marriage? Dig it. Right at this moment in your little picturesque insular East Silage-for-Brains, U.S.A., there are gay and lesbian couples walking around--possibly even copulating. Really. It's been going on around you all your lives, and you've never been hurt by it. Now, if these same couples were "married" in any legal sense, they'd still walk and copulate as usual and it still wouldn't make any difference to you. You don't like or understand homosexuality? Fine. Nobody's asking your permission. But it's not your problem. And hiding it won't make it go away. Nor will persecuting gays change anybody's sexual preference. So, to put it aptly, go fuck yourselves and leave other people alone.

Anything else? Education deform ... er, reform. Some of you weren't even born the first time when, in 1968, legendary secular-humanist prophet Frank Zappa wrote: "All your children are poor unfortunate victims of lies you believe. A plague upon your ignorance that keeps the young from the truth they deserve." We repeat, creationism is absurd. Yet in the name of protecting this ridiculous and irrelevant belief, you toothless crank-heads are willing to eschew all science and learning this side of Copernicus. (Or do you still think the sun orbits the earth?) The Bushies really are on your side here. Leaders like G.W. and (yes, it's a fair comparison) Hitler rise to power by exploiting the support of the weak and stupid, so it's in their interest to encourage weakness and stupidity. That's where universal education becomes a threat. Education encourages creative thought. Creative thought empowers people. Fascists hate creative thought. So it's incredibly convenient for the GOP that you folks actually want your kids to be dumb. Which is why the No Child Left Behind initiative you endorse has, in fact, done nothing! Happy? Perhaps ignorance really is bliss.

What else is on your hate-laden Limbaugh-laid table? Flag burning? It's just cloth, guys. Sex ed? Heaven forbid your daughters learned the facts of life in time to prevent having to avoid an abortion.

Gun control? We said "control," not confiscation. And there are high-powered automatic weapons most civilians really do not need. Even moose tend to come at you one at a time. "But shooting's fun!" you argue. "It's a sport." Breaking windows and driving 100 miles an hour are fun, but they're legally controlled activities. "But," you object, "how do I defend my family when the nigras and the Jews and the Communists from Harvard come on my property?" Right. Lock the gate; everybody covets your Tupperware and your chard. We'll be right over.

Does it really bother you cornpone chuckleheads that "we" think you're under-educated, culturally limited and ignorant? Well, how about proving us wrong? For starters, get this straight: There were no weapons of mass destruction; the Iraqis did not attack the World Trade Center; lots of children (including many of yours) are left behind every day; the greenhouse effect is for real; and the Dixie Chicks were right. Pin down a few of those basics and then perhaps we'll talk.

Am I being elitist here? Disrespectful of the dignity of the masses? I fuckin' hope so, because 51 percent of the masses have had their say and it doesn't make sense. Besides, when I think about people being tortured while they're held without representation at Guantnamo and Iraqi families crawling out of the rubble of their own homes, I'm not too worried if I insult some Bible-sucking insurance salesman or a possum-breathed saw sharpener.

Too harsh? I know (because I've been so chided) that there are lots of good, right-thinking/left-leaning liberals out there who feel it's my responsibility to "understand" you. These are good people; unlike you assholes, they voted the right way. But this is why in true progressive circles the word liberal attracts adjectives such as "wishy-washy," "self-serving" and "useless."

In its own well-intentioned way, liberalism is, when you think about it, almost as big a problem as fundamentalism is. See, as much as I disagree with you and am disgusted by the shallow and pathetic pawns you've become, I respect your potential. That's why liberal Democrats can't bring themselves to do what the Republicans do so well -- cynically lie to you for selfish gain. (Do you really think Kerry would have banned the Bible?) We nice people actually expected reasoned arguments, logic and incontrovertible evidence to convince you that Kerry was the better candidate. Turns out that the GOP's double whammy of fear and loathing is a more powerful vote-getting tool.

Of course they, not we, laid the groundwork there. And that's the real shocker you fly-over chicken-rubbers are going to realize just before the end (of freedom, that is; I don't mean the Rapture, which is something else you believe in that's not going to happen): You've been duped, and the Bushies are laughing at you behind your spineless backs right now. The Republicans don't care about you; they just wanted your vote so they can stay in power and make their oil-and-blood-soaked cronies even richer. They're going to send your job overseas and destroy Social Security. In the name of catching terrorists, they're going to make sure you don't read any interesting books or travel without permission. They're going to toss you a minuscule tax cut in exchange for under-funding public education and social services, so there will be more poor people around to bother you. Perhaps you will become one of them.

They're going to shower the pharmaceutical companies with excess profits while denying you life-saving medical attention. They're going to let corporate conglomerates fill the air you breathe with carcinogens while they discourage clean-energy research. They're going to insist the ozone layer's OK until y'all bake your little red asses off. They're going to alienate the rest of the Western world and any portion of the Eastern world that isn't willing to supply Wal-Mart with cheap labor. They're going to throw more Saddam-esque bogeymen in your face while tacitly supporting Saudi terrorists and ignoring nuclear-armed Korean dictators. They're going to rig the system so that even you law-abiding yahoos won't be able to get a fair trial. And worst of all, they're going to dehumanize your children and send them off to kill or be killed in the name of oil profits.

And you bought into it all because you're afraid. And you're afraid because they scared you. And it was all so unnecessary. You don't have to be frightened. You (okay, most of you) aren't really stupid or helpless. I know you at your worst and best. I grew up with you; I shared outdoor plumbing with you; I complimented the dead deer hanging on your front porches. You can open your minds and accept or reject things on their merits instead of on their reputations in small-minded circles. You can think for yourselves.

And some day, you might figure that out. Meanwhile, you deserve what we all got thanks to you, you bastards.

Clif Garboden is senior managing editor of The Boston Phoenix and president of the Association of Alternative Newsweeklies. He can be reached at cgarboden@phx.com.

 

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Prospective graduate students encouraged to prepare early for admissions

Lengthy application process begins long before deadlines

By JESSICA KNOX / Aggie News Writer

 

  November is generally thought of as crunch time for prospective graduate students, but most have been working on researching, contacting and applying to graduate schools for months. There is a significant amount of work to complete before even beginning the application process, so students are advised that it is never too early to begin preparing for graduate school.

 

Getting prepared

  Prospective graduate students would be wise to take a Graduate Record Exam preparatory course during the summer months, followed immediately by the actual GRE, according to the UC Davis Educational Opportunity Program website. GRE preparatory courses can be found at the Experimental College on the UCD campus, but are also offered by private test preparatory companies.

  Kaplan Test Prep and Admissions offers preparatory classes for graduate school exams. However, its "higher test scores guaranteed" offer comes with a hefty price tag: $2,000 to $4,000 for private tutoring, and as much as $900 for an online course.

  Throughout the summer preceding their application deadlines, students should research their prospective graduate schools and get to know professors and employers who can provide letters of recommendation. Students should also look into fellowships, grants and other financial resources early, so the deadlines do not pass them by.

 

Resources on campus

  There are several resources at UCD for potential graduate students. Pre-Graduate School Advising is located in South Hall. This service has three professional staff advisers and three student advisers. Pre-Graduate School Advising also publishes a quarterly newsletter, Graduate Bound, which contains recent articles on the application and admission processes.

  Also in South Hall is the Student Recruitment and Retention Center, where students can meet in a more personal setting with student mentors from the Graduate Advancement Advocacy and Achievement Program. The GAAAP is the only student-run, student-initiated graduate recruitment program in the state.

  Graduate School Information Day is an annual event at UCD, usually held in mid-October in Freeborn Hall. Over 100 graduate institutions nationwide attend the event, where students can obtain applications and brochures, and talk to admissions counselors.

 

Reasons for attending graduate school

  Jeffery Gibeling, dean of Graduate Studies, said there are two main reasons students choose to attend graduate school. The first is intellectual curiosity and the opportunities it creates.

  "The result is usually a position of greater responsibility with a graduate degree in academia or industry," Gibeling said.

  Gibeling said the second reason is economics. The majority of students recognize the earning potential and job security that accompany a graduate degree.

  "Most of the time it will earn you a greater salary," said Betty Laber, program assistant for the Internship and Career Center. She also said that career possibilities increase as well, depending on the area of interest.

  Recent surveys have determined that Americans holding a master's degree earn an average of 35 to 50 percent more money than those with just a bachelor's degree, according to GradSource, an online newsletter for graduate students.

  Gibeling said students interested in graduate school should continue on after earning a bachelor's degree and complete their educations in one continuous stretch.

  "It's a matter of academic momentum," Gibeling said. However, he said occasionally students need some time away to identify what they want to study in graduate school.

  "The key to being admitted to graduate school is to know what you want to study and why you want to be there, in addition to academic qualifications," Gibeling said.

  However, not all believe that graduate school is necessary. Bradley Richardson, author of JobSmarts for TwentySomethings, said in a recent article on the "great graduate school debate" that there is a distinction between "nice to have" and "must have."

  "Which does my industry place a greater value on, experience or education?" Richardson asked in the article. He said that although a graduate degree might give an additional competitive edge, if it is not required, some employers may look to the job candidate with more work experience.

  "It really depends on what they have in mind for a career," said Veronica Valenzuela, graduate program liaison at UCD. Valenzuela said that in some fields, an individual can only go so far with a bachelor's degree. She said that students must outline their career goals before considering applying to graduate school, so they will know the advantages that a degree might or might not bring them in the job market.

 

JESSICA KNOX can be reached at campus@californiaaggie.com

 

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November 15, 2004

THE INSURGENCY

Rebels Routed in Falluja; Fighting Spreads Elsewhere in Iraq

By DEXTER FILKINS and JAMES GLANZ

ALLUJA, Iraq, Nov. 14 - American forces overran the last center of rebel resistance in Falluja on Sunday after a weeklong invasion that smashed what they called the principal base for the Iraqi insurgency.

While much of the city lay in smoking ruins and isolated bands of rebels still harassed American and Iraqi troops, the American takeover of Falluja addressed a growing problem that had gnawed at the Iraq occupation force for months. But American military commanders were reluctant to declare the invasion a total success and were forced to contend with insurgent violence spreading elsewhere, particularly in the northern city of Mosul.

The governor of Mosul's province, saying he had lost faith in local security forces, called in thousands of Kurdish militiamen for the first time to help quell the insurgent uprising there. The American commander in the area, Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, called the situation "tense, but certainly not desperate," and said the next few days would bring more hard fighting.

Tanks and armored vehicles, their guns blazing in all directions, finished the sweep through Falluja early Sunday and were followed by infantry troops of the 15,000-member invasion force that had first besieged the city on Nov. 7. The patrols turned up huge caches of weapons in methodical house-to-house searches.

"We're sweeping through the city now," said Maj. Gen. Richard Natonski, a senior Marine commander in Iraq. "We're clearing out pockets of resistance. There are groups numbering from 5 to 30. They're moving, too. They're trying to get behind us."

"People will never appreciate the movement of soldiers down here, what it took to move them and immediately conduct a relief in place with the soldiers," he said. "It ought to go down in the history books."

American commanders said 38 American servicemembers had been killed and 275 wounded in the Falluja assault, and the commanders estimated that 1,200 to 1,600 insurgents - about half the number thought to have been entrenched in Falluja - had been killed. But there was little evidence of dead insurgents in the streets and warrens where some of the most intense combat took place.

Army reconstruction teams were already beginning to survey the devastation in the city, which will require an enormous rebuilding effort. Most of Falluja's 250,000 residents had fled the city before the assault began and have been staying with relatives or in makeshift camps.

Solely from a military standpoint, the operation redressed a disastrous assault on Falluja last April that was called off when unconfirmed reports of large civilian casualties drove the political cost too high.

This time, the Americans, with the limited participation of Iraqi security forces, pummeled a dark and mostly abandoned city defended only by a wraithlike band of insurgents who fired Kalashnikovs, mortars and rockets at the Americans and then fled into alleys and apartment blocks, only to reappear elsewhere.

In the end they were no match for American armor, air power and military training.

As the battle for Falluja wound down, however, clashes continued for the fourth day between insurgents and American and Iraqi forces in Mosul. American commanders said guerrillas remained deeply rooted in the heart of that city. The revolt also appeared to be spreading to the town of Tal Afar, near the Syrian border, forcing American forces to encircle the area. In Ramadi, the insurgent stronghold 30 miles west of Falluja, violence against American troops continued as well. There were several attacks with small-arms fire, and insurgents fired a rocket-propelled grenade at troops. American commanders said many rebels who had fled Falluja were now in Ramadi.

A representative of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the most powerful Shiite cleric in Iraq, condemned the violence of both the Americans and the insurgent fighters.

"What is happening in Falluja, Samarra, Latifiya and other cities in Iraq is a disaster, because the occupation doesn't want our cities to be stable," the representative, Murtada al-Qezweni, said during prayers in the southern city of Karbala at the start of Id al-Fitr, the three-day holiday marking the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting.

In the northern Kurdish region, a member of the National Assembly died in a car crash on Saturday night after being ambushed by gunmen, Reuters reported. The politician, Waddah Hassan Abdel Amir, an official in the Iraqi Communist Party, and two of his aides were chased down by four cars between the cities of Khalis and Erbil.

Elsewhere, two relatives of Prime Minister Ayad Allawi were released by insurgents, though a third remained captive, Al Jazeera, the Arab news network, reported Sunday. News of the releases, attributed to unidentified sources, could not be immediately confirmed.

Those said to be released were the wife and daughter-in-law of Ghazi Majeed Allawi, a 75-year-old cousin, the network reported. The three were kidnapped last Tuesday. The next day, a group called Ansar al-Jihad posted an Internet message saying it would behead the three hostages within 48 hours unless Dr. Allawi called off the invasion of Falluja and released all prisoners in Iraq.

The fate of Dr. Allawi's cousin, Ghazi Allawi, remains unknown.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin of France said at a political congress that he believed that two French journalists abducted south of Baghdad in August were in a relatively calm area of Iraq. Mr. Raffarin said the assumption was based on information from the journalists' Syrian driver, who was discovered in a house in Falluja last week. "The messages we are getting have reassured us a little," Mr. Raffarin said, according to Reuters.

The kidnapped reporters are Georges Malbrunot, a writer for Le Figaro, and Christian Chesnot of Radio France Internationale.

In Baghdad, rocket and mortar explosions jolted the downtown area and the fortified compound known as the Green Zone, which houses the interim Iraqi government and the American Embassy.

The absence of insurgent bodies in Falluja has remained an enduring mystery. Roaming American patrols found few on Sunday in their sweeps of the devastated landscape where the rebels chose to make their last stand, the southern Falluja neighborhood called Shuhada by the Iraqis and Queens by the American troops.

Now, the Americans are rushing in engineers who will begin rebuilding what the conflict has just destroyed.

Falluja's power grid, for instance, is so decayed that it must be turned on sector by sector or it will fail, officials said. If residents manage to return before the power is on, they could be without services like plumbing, water and heat, and any ensuing crises could aid rebels hoping to destabilize the reconstruction.

Even as those needs loom, however, military officials have not yet allowed aid groups into the city, saying that the situation is not safe. The decision has outraged some critics who say substantial numbers of people still need aid.

Although large-scale fighting in Falluja appeared to have ended, American commanders have been reluctant to declare success.

"We don't want this to become a microcosm of what this whole country has become," said one Marine officer who spoke on condition of anonymity, citing the American claim of victory in Iraq in May 2003.

In Washington, a Pentagon spokesman, Bryan Whitman, said that it was too early to declare victory but that American and Iraqi troops had achieved one of their major objectives in eliminating the insurgents' largest haven.

Troops were still combing the deserted houses in southern Falluja on Sunday after a mechanized unit smashed through the Shuhada neighborhood the day before.

The searches have turned up large caches of weaponry like artillery shells and mortar rounds along with electronics for bombs and mujahedeen literature. Fearing booby traps, the troops generally entered the houses only after tanks rammed through walls or specialists put explosive charges on doors. American troops also discovered the body of a woman on a street in Falluja, but it was unclear whether she was an Iraqi or a foreigner.

As the searches moved southward through the neighborhood, leaving a swath of devastation behind, fighting continued around the city, and at least one marine was killed by a sniper on Sunday morning, shot through the head from an area that had been all but obliterated the night before.

It seemed clear that any further resistance would have to come from smaller bands of rebels rather than from a coherent fighting force.

In the northern city of Baiji, the site of Iraq's largest oil refinery, American troops fought off an ambush on Sunday morning, said Capt. Bill Coppernoll, a spokesman for the First Infantry Division. The troops called in air support and pursued the insurgents into a building. Apache helicopters fired missiles while M1 tanks blasted the building.

A Black Hawk helicopter carrying medical supplies north of Falluja was struck by antiaircraft fire on Sunday, but landed safely. Another helicopter was struck east of Falluja, but managed to land safely at the Baghdad airport.

Reporting for this article was contributed by Edward Wong from Baghdad, Eric Schmitt from Washington, Robert F. Worth from Falluja and an Iraqi employee of The New York Times from Karbala.

 

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November 15, 2004

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

Turning the Tax Tables to Help the Poor

By DALTON CONLEY

ow that the Republicans have solidified their control over the presidency and both houses of Congress, progressives might assume that the idea of helping the poor is off the table. But it doesn't have to be this way. If Democrats are crafty enough, they can sneak some progressive policy into the Republican agenda by focusing on specific tax relief, military benefits and President Bush's "ownership society" initiative.

The poor have been off the public agenda for the last two election cycles. This is in part because the left essentially ceded the debate on poverty in 1996, when welfare reform was enacted. Workfare presented Democrats with the chance to say that these "working families" deserved more. But aside from a call to raise the minimum wage, there has been little effort to renew the discussion about helping the bottom one-third of American households.

This is understandable in some ways. After all, how exactly does one prevent the outsourcing of good jobs for low-skilled workers? And how does one put more money into the hands of the poor when welfare is dead?

To add to the challenge, any progressive agenda today would have to be revenue-neutral, in our age of budget deficits. And more important, it would have to be sneaked through a government controlled by a party whose base is the top 20 percent of American households, not the bottom one-fifth.

Harold Wilensky, the political scientist, once lamented that the American left had not learned the lesson of Europe: allow taxation to be more regressive to collect enough money to finance the programs that liberals hold dear. European governments collect an enormous amount of revenue through the value-added tax (sales tax); their effective tax rates on lower-income workers are much higher than America's; and they do not rely very much on property taxes (which are the most progressive of all). In return for a more regressive tax structure, Europeans receive a litany of social services that are politically unthinkable in this country.

Another lesson, however, is that there is nothing particularly American about the paradox of progressive taxation - that folks resist progressive tax structures. The Republicans seem to have learned this. In fact, some pundits have even argued that the Republicans manage to stoke the populist anti-tax fire to reduce top marginal tax rates by raising them on lower income Americans. (Ronald Reagan's payroll tax increase provides the classic example.)

In facing this reality, Democrats can essentially choose from two responses. The first is the European option, for lack of a better name: agree to a flat tax in return for more spending on health care, child care and other services.

The other option would be to hijack the Republicans' fervor for tax cuts, the military and the ownership of private property. Let's start with tax cuts. From an accounting standpoint, there is no difference between a direct transfer to the poor and a refundable tax credit. In political terms, one is called welfare (a sure loser) and the other tax relief (an almost certain winner).

For example, the Democrats should advocate making the child tax credit refundable. While it has been expanded under Mr. Bush to $1,000 a child from $600, the credit does not fully benefit poor families who owe fewer taxes than the full credit amount. Making it refundable changes it into a program that is no different than a negative income tax - what McGovernites were proposing back in 1972, while calling it tax relief. Or, if we do end up with a flat tax, why not play a game of political chicken with Republicans by pushing the "no-tax" income exemption as high as possible?

The same goes with the payroll tax. Why not cut the payroll tax? The Social Security payroll tax is the biggest tax burden faced by poor Americans; cutting it would put more money in their pockets. Such a move would also stimulate hiring, since employers shoulder half the burden of the tax. This plan could be kept revenue-neutral by merely raising the amount of wages subject to the tax - now capped at $87,900.

The worship of all things military can also be co-opted for progressive ends. The military is now the de facto welfare state. The armed forces and the Department of Veterans Affairs are the two largest health care providers in the United States. The military is also a major bankroller of higher education through the G.I. Bill. And because of America's all-volunteer force, it is the nation's poor that disproportionately serve. By proposing major increases in benefits for the families of active personnel, reservists and veterans, Democrats can use that holiest of holy grails on the right - "our troops" - to help increase opportunities in American society.

Finally, Democrats can turn the right's worship of wealth to better ends by promoting asset ownership. While Mr. Bush is poised to campaign for an "ownership society," several proposals have been stymied in Congress to provide universal savings accounts. These bills would provide every American, as a matter of birthright, with a trust fund of a few thousand dollars. Meanwhile, individual development accounts - a little-known experiment that is part of welfare reform - have been providing matching funds for poor people's savings in selected areas of the country. Both these programs put wealth into the hands of the poor.

The United States is a country where - depending on how the question is worded - 90 percent of the population defines itself as middle class (and the top 20 percent of earners think they are among the top 2 percent). So if the left wants to achieve economically progressive ends, it must pursue a strategy William Julius Wilson has called "targeting through universalism" - namely, generating political support for programs by making them widespread (think Social Security). Put another way, don't begrudge the middle class family (or even the upper class one) a tax break; grin and bear it so that the poor can have their cake too.

Dalton Conley, director of the Center for Advanced Social Science Research at New York University, is the author, most recently, of "The Pecking Order: Which Siblings Succeed and Why?"

 

 

November 15, 2004

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

To the Point of No Returns

By MICHAEL J. GRAETZ

ew Haven — Since his re-election, President Bush has made it clear that he intends to fulfill his campaign promise to "lead a bipartisan effort to reform and simplify the federal tax code." But many in Washington are already betting that major changes won't happen, and tax lobbyists - including some with close connections to the administration and Republicans in Congress - are already working to make sure that they don't.

Two decades ago, many of those same forces were just as sure that Ronald Reagan's efforts at tax reform had little chance of passage. President Bush should take a page from Mr. Reagan's playbook: he must invest as much of his own time, energy and political capital in tax reform as he did in securing the tax cuts of his first term. And he must, as Mr. Reagan did, try to forge a bipartisan consensus. True bipartisan support is essential to obtain a genuine tax reform that has any hope of lasting.

Republicans and Democrats will have great trouble agreeing on any tax restructuring this time around. The consensus that produced the 1986 reform has unraveled. By now, everyone knows that, over time, the 1986 changes have failed to deliver on the promise of a broad-based, low-rate, fairer and simpler income tax.

Both the president and Congress now use the income tax the way my mother once employed chicken soup: as a magic elixir to solve all the nation's economic and social difficulties. The result is extraordinary complexity. In 1940 the instructions to the Form 1040 were about four pages. Today they are more than 100 pages, and the form itself contains more than 10 schedules and more than 20 worksheets. The complete tax code totals about 2.8 million words - about four times longer than "War and Peace" (and considerably harder to parse).

The public simply cannot cope - and neither can the I.R.S. If tax reformers are truly serious about getting the I.R.S. out of the lives of the American people, they must place tax simplification at the top of the agenda.

But in Congress, simplification is not necessarily a priority. Democrats are primarily concerned with maintaining a progressive tax system, while Republican tax cutters want to eliminate all taxes on wealth and capital income - they say to spur economic growth. Many Republicans are still disappointed that Mr. Reagan tried to fix the income tax rather than replace it.

The president has said that "simplification would be the goal" of any changes to the tax code. But the specifics of his plan are unknown. Will it be a flat rate tax on what people consume or on wages only, exempting all savings or investment income? Or will Mr. Bush propose one of the favorite plans of Congressional Republicans- replacement of the income tax with a national sales tax?

Neither will work alone. The so-called flat tax will stay neither pure nor flat for very long. And a sales tax would require much higher rates than proponents would accept to avoid indefensible increases in federal deficits. Both proposals would also produce a significant tax reduction for the wealthiest Americans, those who need it least - and a tax increase for middle-income folks.

The tax system can and should be fixed without such a shift in the nation's tax burdens. America should return the income tax to its pre-World War II status {minus} a relatively low-rate simple tax on a thin slice of the wealthiest Americans. Rather than repealing the alternative minimum tax, as many have urged, Congress should repeal the regular income tax. Enacting a value-added tax - a tax on sales of goods and services collected at all stages of production - at a rate of 14 percent would finance an income-tax exemption of up to $100,000.

Imagine a world of no tax returns for families that earn less than $100,000. Wealthier families, meanwhile, would face a vastly simpler income tax at a 25 percent rate on income of more than $100,000 after deductions for charitable contributions, home mortgages, medical expenses, and state and local taxes. Low and middle-income families would be protected from any tax increase by refunds of their payroll taxes.

This tax reform would eliminate more than 100 million of the approximately 130 million income tax returns filed each year. Unlike the flat tax or the sales tax, it would also keep income tax incentives for employers to provide health insurance and pensions to their employees. At the same time, the corporate income tax rate could be whittled down to 25 percent and, to eliminate corporate tax shelters, changes could be made to more closely link tax and book income.

This plan would fulfill President Bush's goals: promoting greater economic growth and more jobs for American workers. It would make the United States one of the most attractive nations for corporate investments in the world. This system would be fair. And it would be much simpler. For the 150 million people from whom no income tax would be required, April 15 would be just another day.

Michael J. Graetz, a professor of law at Yale, is the co-author of the forthcoming "Death by a Thousand Cuts: The Fight Over Taxing Inherited Wealth."

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"We're gonna' hold their feet to the fire . . . That's what democracy is all about."

George W. Bush

 

November 14, 2004

EDITORIAL

Saving 'Saving Private Ryan'

o one ever accused broadcast executives of being profiles in courage. But the pre-emptive timidity of a score of them was a sorry spectacle last Thursday when they decided not to show "Saving Private Ryan" on Veterans Day because they were afraid of the Federal Communications Commission. Station executives were openly fearful that the movie's realism in depicting the carnage and vulgarity of war might offend that newly righteous bureaucracy, whose blue nose was bent out of shape by the flash of Janet Jackson's breast during the last Super Bowl and, later, by Bono's casual airing of an obscenity assuredly in use among soldiers in Iraq.

The incident might seem minor - the vast majority of ABC network stations chose to run the film - except that the executives' timorousness is a sign of the effects of the government's growing willingness to intrude excessively into American culture. Before the Janet Jackson and Bono episodes, the F.C.C. took the position that context mattered - unscripted profanity at a public event like a music awards program or accidental glimpses of flesh would be excused, while deliberate and regular abuse of the public airwaves would not.

"Saving Private Ryan" was shown without the F.C.C.'s objection on network television the past two years. But the agency's shifting and arbitrary standards left executives at stations in Dallas, Atlanta and dozens of other cities wondering what the rules are and fearing for their licenses.

Pressure groups and organized campaigns complaining in the name of public morality have been a constant in the nation's political culture since the witch trials of Salem. Government officials should resist the temptation of joining the fray on either side. Some stations asked the F.C.C. to formally approve the airing of "Saving Private Ryan," and the agency properly resisted becoming an overt censor. Now the F.C.C. should move the standard back to where it was - a position of common sense.

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November 14, 2004

OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR

Barren Ground for Democracy

By ROBERT D. KAPLAN

ndersen Air Force Base, Guam

Whether one views the war in Iraq as a noble effort in democratization or a brutal exercise in imperialism, there can be little doubt that it has proved the proverbial "bridge too far" for those who planned and, like myself, supported it. While much has been made of the strategic missteps the Bush administration has made since the Saddam Hussein regime was toppled, it seems likely that even the best-executed occupation would have been a daunting prospect.

What we are witnessing is a legacy of history and geography - factors often denied by both liberal and conservative interventionists - catching up with America. Had our political leaders considered such factors, I suspect, they might have avoided some of the disasters of the occupation. These factors should also give President Bush pause as he plans to "spread freedom" in his second term. To see all this clearly, one must look at the campaign in the Persian Gulf region not as an isolated effort but as the culmination of a decade-long effort to bring the vast lands of the defunct Ottoman Empire in the Balkans and Asia into the modern world and the Western orbit.

After the Berlin Wall fell in 1989, communist satellites like Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary promptly evolved into successful Western democracies. This transition was relatively easy because the countries boasted high literacy rates, exposure to the Enlightenment under Prussian and Hapsburg emperors, and strong industrial bases and middle classes prior to World War II and the cold war. In retrospect, it seems clear that only the presence of the Red Army had kept them from developing free parliamentary systems on their own.

But the idea that Western-style democracy could be imposed further east and south, in the Balkans, has proved more problematic. Beyond the Carpathian mountains one finds a different historical legacy: that of the poorer and more chaotic Ottoman Empire. Before World War II, this was a world of vast peasantries and feeble middle classes, which revealed itself in Communist governments that were for the most part more corrupt and despotic than those of Central Europe.

Unsurprisingly, upon Communism's collapse, Romania, Bulgaria and Albania struggled for years on the brink of anarchy, although they at least avoided ethnic bloodshed. Of course, Yugoslavia was not so lucky. Though democracy appears to have a reasonably bright future there thanks to repeated Western intervention, it is wise to recall that for 15 years it has been a touch-and-go proposition.

Undeterred, Wilsonian idealists in the United States next put Iraq on their list for gun-to-the-head democratization. But compared with Iraq, even the Balkans were historically blessed, by far the most culturally and politically advanced part of the old Turkish Empire. Mesopotamia, on the other hand, constituted the most anarchic and tribalistic region of the sultanate.

In addition, the Balkans are affixed to Central Europe, and were thus a natural extension of it as NATO expanded eastward. Iraq is bordered by Iran and Syria, states with weakly policed borders and prone to radical politics, which themselves have suffered under absolutism for centuries.

Western intellectuals on both the left and right underplayed such realities. In the 1990's, those supporting humanitarian intervention in Yugoslavia branded references to difficult history and geography as "determinism" and "essentialism" - academic jargon for fatalism. In the views of liberal internationalists and neoconservatives, group characteristics based on a shared history and geography no longer mattered, for in a post-cold war world of globalization everyone was first and foremost an individual. Thus if Poland, say, was ready overnight for Western-style democracy, then so too were Bosnia, Russia, Iraq - and Liberia, for that matter.

That line of thinking provided the moral impetus for military actions in 1995 in Bosnia and in 1999 in Kosovo: interventions that reclaimed the former Yugoslavia into the Western orbit. But the people who ordered and carried out those interventions, liberal Democrats in general, were canny. While they agreed with the idealists' moral claims, they realized that it was the feasibility of the military side of the equation that made the interventions ultimately worth doing. Yes, they also favored democracy in places like Liberia, but they were wise enough not to risk the lives of Americans in such endeavors. They intuited that a modest degree of fatalism was required in the conduct of international affairs, even if they were clever enough not to publish the fact.

By invading Iraq, Republican neoconservatives - the most fervent of Wilsonians - simply took that liberal idealist argument of the 1990's to its logical conclusion. Indeed, given that Saddam Hussein was ultimately responsible for the violent deaths of several times more people than the Yugoslav dictator Slobodan Milosevic, how could any liberal in favor of intervention in the Balkans not also favor it in the case of Iraq? And because the human rights abuses in Iraq showed no sign of abatement, much like those in the Balkans, our intervention was justified in order to stop an ongoing rape-and-killing machine.

But rather than a replay of the Balkans in 1995 and 1999, Iraq has turned out like the Indian mutiny against the British in 1857 and 1858, when the attempts of Evangelical and Utilitarian reformers in London to modernize and Christianize India - to make it more like England - were met with a violent revolt against imperial rule. Delhi, Lucknow and other cities were besieged and captured, before being retaken by colonial forces.

The bloody debacle did not signal the end of the British Empire, which expanded for another century. But it did signal a transition: away from an ad hoc imperium fired by an intemperate lust to impose domestic values abroad, and toward a calmer, more pragmatic empire built on international trade and technology.

In that vein, it seems inevitable that the coming four years will be a time of consolidation for America rather than of expansion; for it may take that long to bring Iraq to a level of stability equivalent to that of the post-conflict Balkans. Only after Iraq is secure will it be possible for our diplomats to work credibly on behalf of democracy throughout the Middle East.

As for our overstretched military, increasingly it will have to work unobtrusively through native surrogates in the hunt for terrorists: for as the histories of Rome, France and Britain all reveal, the successful projection of power is less about direct action than about the training and subsequent use of indigenous troops.

Moreover, in a world where every field operation is subject to intense scrutiny by global news media, the only empire that can be broadly acceptable is one consisting of behind-the-scenes relationships. That, in turn, will require an increased emphasis on what academics and diplomats call "area expertise." A good model can be found in "Wax and Gold," a classic work of area studies about the Amhara people of Ethiopia written by the sociologist Donald N. Levine of the University of Chicago in 1965. Mr. Levine defined pragmatism as a respect for liberal progress not in a fixed, ideological sense, but in terms of "the cultural context" in which such progress takes place: each people and terrain according to its own pace of political development, in other words.

While democracy can take root anywhere (look at Indonesia and Afghanistan), it cannot be imposed overnight anywhere. Keep in mind that in Afghanistan we dismantled only a regime and not an entire bureaucratic apparatus of control like in Iraq; for in Afghanistan no such apparatus had existed. Over sizable swaths of the country there had been only warlords and tribal militias, with whom we had to work for many months before we began to co-opt them into a new legitimate authority: or, as the situation demanded, help that new authority to gradually ease them out. In Afghanistan following 9/11, we did what we had to do, and otherwise accepted the place as it was. The result has been change for the better.

Pragmatism is not about looking away, but it is about humility in the face of long-standing historical and cultural forces. In foreign policy, a modest acceptance of fate will lead to discipline rather than indifference.

Robert D. Kaplan, a correspondent for The Atlantic Monthly, is the author of "Balkan Ghosts" and "The Arabists."

 

 

November 14, 2004

OP-ED COLUMNIST

Slapping the Other Cheek

By MAUREEN DOWD

ou'd think the one good thing about merging church and state would be that politics would be suffused with glistening Christian sentiments like "love thy neighbor," "turn the other cheek," "good will toward men," "blessed be the peacemakers" and "judge not lest you be judged."

Yet somehow I'm not getting a peace, charity, tolerance and forgiveness vibe from the conservatives and evangelicals who claim to have put their prodigal son back in office.

I'm getting more the feel of a vengeful mob - revved up by rectitude - running around with torches and hatchets after heathens and pagans and infidels.

One fiery Southern senator actually accused a nice Catholic columnist of having horns coming up out of her head!

Bob Jones III, president of the fundamentalist college of the same name, has written a letter to the president telling him that "Christ has allowed you to be his servant" so he could "leave an imprint for righteousness," by appointing conservative judges and approving legislation "defined by biblical norm."

"In your re-election, God has graciously granted America - though she doesn't deserve it - a reprieve from the agenda of paganism," Mr. Jones wrote. "Put your agenda on the front burner and let it boil. You owe the liberals nothing. They despise you because they despise your Christ." Way harsh.

The Christian avengers and inquisitors, hearts hard as marble, are chasing poor 74-year-old Arlen Specter through the Capitol's marble halls, determined to flagellate him and deny him his cherished goal of taking over the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Not only are they irate at his fairly innocuous comment after the election that anti-Roe v. Wade judges would have a hard time getting through the Senate. They are also full of bloodthirsty feelings of revenge against the senator for championing stem cell research and for voting against Robert Bork - who denounces Mr. Specter as "a bit shifty" - 17 years ago.

"He is a problem, and he must be derailed," Dr. James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, told George Stephanopoulos.

Sounding more like the head of a mob family than a ministry, Dr. Dobson told Mr. Stephanopoulos about a warning he issued a White House staffer after the election that the president and Republicans had better deliver on issues like abortion, gay marriage and conservative judges or "I believe they'll pay a price in the next election."

Certainly Mr. Specter has done his part for the conservative cause. He accused Anita Hill of "flat-out perjury" for a minor inconsistency in her testimony against Clarence Thomas, that good Christian jurist who once had a taste for porn films.

Some in the White House thought of giving Mr. Specter the post and then keeping him on a short leash. But the power puritans have no mercy. They say he's a mealy-mouthed impediment to the crusade of evangelicals and conservative Catholic bishops - who delivered their vote with ruthless efficacy - to overturn Roe v. Wade.

Mr. Stephanopoulos asked Dr. Dobson about his comment to The Daily Oklahoman that "Patrick Leahy is a 'God's people-hater.' I don't know if he hates God, but he hates God's people," noting that it was not a particularly Christian thing to say about the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee. (Especially after that vulgar un-Christian thing Dick Cheney spat at Mr. Leahy last summer.)

"George," Dr. Dobson haughtily snapped back, "do you think you ought to lecture me on what a Christian is all about?" Why not? The TV host is the son of a Greek Orthodox priest.

Acting as though Mr. Bush's decisions should be taken on faith, John Ashcroft lashed into judges for not giving Mr. Bush unbridled power in his war against terror.

Speaking Friday before an adulatory Federalist Society, a group of conservative lawyers, Mr. Ashcroft echoed remarks he made to the Senate soon after 9/11 arguing that objecting to the president's antiterror proposals could give "ammunition to America's enemies."

He asserted that judges who interfere in or second guess the president's constitutional authority to make decisions during war can jeopardize the "very security of our nation in a time of war."

And since the president has no end in sight to his war on terror, that makes him infallible ad infini- tum?

 

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November 13, 2004

EDITORIAL

As the Dollar Declines

or all its professed desire for a strong dollar, the Bush administration has apparently decided that letting the dollar slide is a good way to shrink America's trade deficit. This is dubious economic policy. It provides a modicum of relief to American exporters, but it increases the nation's vulnerability to higher prices and higher interest rates, while ignoring fiscal measures that would more assuredly anchor the United States in the global economy.

The dollar, which has declined nearly 30 percent against the euro since President Bush took office in 2001, fell to a record low this week. The decline has not been as marked against other currencies, largely because China and Japan prop up the dollar by investing heavily in United States Treasury securities - in effect, lending us money so we can buy their goods. Meanwhile, the Treasury secretary, John Snow, has largely eliminated the phrase "strong dollar" from his workaday vocabulary.

The underlying problem is that deficits in America's global transactions are at record levels, putting Americans at risk of either a slow deterioration in living standards or abrupt spikes in inflation and interest rates. There are three ways to get that deficit down: America can reduce the federal budget deficit, thus lowering the amount of interest we pay foreign countries to finance that deficit; trading partners like Europe and Japan can expand their economies, increasing their demand for American goods; or America can allow its dollar to fall to increase its exports.

The only lasting remedy is to reduce the federal budget deficit. That, in turn, calls for specific policies, like - we may have mentioned this before - rolling back the Bush tax cuts. Letting the dollar weaken is a far less responsible approach, an unwieldy and risky attempt to reduce the trade imbalance without the political pain of deficit reduction.

During the Bush years, 92 percent of the nearly $1 trillion increase in publicly held debt has been financed by foreign lenders. Foreign ownership of Treasuries has tripled from the peak of the Reagan deficits in 1983. Because of this enormous dependency, anything that might affect foreign lenders' willingness to invest in Treasuries - including dismay over the United States' long-term fiscal disarray, better investment opportunities elsewhere, or geopolitical or economic strife - could cause the dollar to tank.

No one knows if or when that would actually happen, though the dollar's slide since the election doesn't inspire confidence. But we do know that financial flows are quick and unsentimental. A fiscal policy that esteems controlling the deficit over tax cuts is the best way to avoid a debilitating dollar decline.

There is truth to the complaint that countries in Europe and elsewhere are not doing enough to bolster consumption within their own economies. But there's precious little the United States can do about it. Instead of complaining, Washington should get its own affairs in order.

The president, wed as he is to deficit-bloating policies, is not likely to step up to that responsibility without a stern shove from Congressional Republicans and Democrats alike. While they're at it, they should press Mr. Bush to choose Treasury officials who are true economic stewards, not merely cheerleaders for his "tax cuts above all" policies. If leadership is not forthcoming, the invisible hand of the global financial community is all too likely to provide the push.

 

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Are you Pro-Bush?  Are you Pro-Life?

Well, here's something to think about this Veteran's Day:

 

Cpl. Roberto Abad, Sgt. Michael D. Acklin II, Spc. Genaro Acosta, Pfc. Steven Acosta, Capt. James F. Adamouski, Pvt. Algernon Adams, Sgt. Brandon E. Adams, Spc. Clarence Adams III, 1st Lt. Michael R. Adams, Pfc. Michael S. Adams, Lt. Thomas Mullen Adams, Spc. Jamaal R. Addison, Lance Cpl. Patrick R. Adle, Capt. Tristan N. Aitken, Spc. Segun Frederick Akintade, Lance Cpl. Nickalous N. Aldrich, Spc. Ronald D. Allen Jr., Sgt. Glenn R. Allison, Lance Cpl. Michael J. Allred, Capt. Eric L. Allton, Cpl. Nicanor Alvarez, Cpl. Daniel R. Amaya, Pfc. John D. Amos II, Lance Cpl. Brian E. Anderson, Airman 1st Class Carl L. Anderson Jr., Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael C. Anderson, Spc. Michael Andrade, Pfc, Spc. Yoe M. Aneiros, Lance Cpl. Levi T. Angell, Army Spc. Edward J. Anguiano, Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Todd Arnold, Lance Cpl. Alexander S. Arredondo, Spc. Richard Arriaga, Staff Sgt. Jimmy J. Arroyave, Spc. Robert R. Arsiaga, Sgt. Evan Asa Ashcraft, Pfc. Shawn M. Atkins, Maj. Jay Aubin, Capt. Matthew J. August, Lance Cpl. Aaron C. Austin, Spc. Tyanna S. Avery-Fedder, Lance Cpl. Andrew Julian Aviles, Pfc. Eric A. Ayon, Sgt. 1st Class Henry A. Bacon, Sgt. Andrew Joseph Baddick, Staff Sgt. Daniel A. Bader, Staff Sgt. Nathan J. Bailey, Spc. Ronald W. Baker, Spc. Ryan T. Baker, Sgt. Sherwood R. Baker.

Pfc. Chad E. Bales, 1st Lt. Kenneth Michael Ballard, Maj. Spc. Solomon C. Bangayan, Lt. Col. Dominic R. Baragona, Pfc. Mark A. Barbret, Pfc. Collier E. Barcus, Sgt. Michael C. Barkey, Spc. Jonathan P. Barnes, Command Sgt. Maj. Edward C. Barnhill, Lance Cpl. Aric J. Barr, Sgt. Michael Paul Barrera, Maj. Carlos Barro Ollero, Sgt. Douglas E. Bascom, Spc. Todd M. Bates, Sgt. 1st Class Michael Battles Sr., Gunnery Sgt. Ronald E. Baum, Spc. Alan N. Bean Jr., Spc. Bradley S. Beard, Spc. Beau R. Beaulieu, Capt. Ryan Beaupre, Spc. James L. Beckstrand, Sgt. Gregory A. Belanger, Cpl. Christopher Belchik, Sgt. Aubrey D. Bell, Pfc. Wilfred D. Bellard, Staff Sgt. Joseph P. Bellavia, Sgt. 1st Class William M. Bennett, Spc. Robert T. Benson, 1st Lt. David R. Bernstein, Spc. Joel L. Bertoldie, Staff Sgt. Stephen A. Bertolino Sr., Staff Sgt. Marvin Best, Cpl. Mark A. Bibby, Sgt. Benjamin W. Biskie, Sgt. Michael E. Bitz, Sgt. Jarrod W. Black, Chief Warrant Officer Michael T. Blaise, Capt. Ernesto M. Blanco, Command Sgt. Maj. James D. Blankenbecler, Spc. Joseph M. Blickenstaff, Spc. Nicholas H. Blodgett, Sgt. Trevor A. Blumberg, Lance Cpl. Jeremy L. Bohlman, Gunnery Sgt. Jeffrey E. Bohr Jr., Lance Cpl. Todd J. Bolding, Sgt. Dennis J. Boles, Sgt. 1st Class Craig A. Boling, Petty Officer 3rd Class Doyle W. Bollinger Jr, Sgt. 1st Class Kelly Bolor, Staff Sgt. Stevon A. Booker.

Chief Warrant Officer Clarence E. Boone, Capt. John J. Boria, Pfc. Rachel K. Bosveld, Spc. Mathew G. Boule, Staff Sgt. Elvis Bourdon, Pvt. 1st Class Samuel R. Bowen, Staff Sgt. Hesley Box Jr., Pvt. Noah L. Boye, Lance Cpl. Aaron Boyles, Spc. Edward W. Brabazon, Cpl. Travis J. Bradach-Nall, Staff Sgt. Kenneth R. Bradley, Staff Sgt. Stacey C. Brandon, Spc. Artimus D. Brassfield, Pfc. Joel K. Brattain, Pfc. Jeffrey F. Braun, Chief Warrant Officer William I. Brennan, Staff Sgt. Steven H. Bridges, Spc. Kyle A. Brinlee, Staff Sgt. Cory W. Brooks, Sgt. Thomas F. Broomhead, Sgt. Andrew W. Brown, Tech. Sgt. Bruce E. Brown, Lance Cpl. Dominic C. Brown, Cpl. Henry L. Brown, Pfc. John E. Brown, Spc. Larry K. Brown, Spc. Lunsford B. Brown II, 1st Lt. Tyler H. Brown, Spc. Philip D. Brown, Pfc. Timmy R. Brown Jr., 1st Lt. Tyler H. Brown, Cpl. Andrew D. Brownfield, Petty Officer 3rd Class Nathan B. Bruckenthal, Lance Cpl. Cedric E. Bruns, 2nd Lt. Todd J. Bryant, Sgt. Ernest G. Bucklew, Spc. Roy Russell Buckley, Pfc. Paul J. Bueche, Lt. Col. Charles H. Buehring, Lance Cpl. Brian Rory Buesing, Sgt. George Edward Buggs, Spc. Joshua I. Bunch, Staff Sgt. Christopher Bunda, Staff Sgt. Michael L. Burbank, Staff Sgt. Richard A. Burdick, Spc. Alan J. Burgess, Lance Cpl. Jeffrey C. Burgess, Pfc. Tamario D. Burkett, Sgt. Travis L. Burkhardt.

Pfc. David P. Burridge, Pfc. Jesse R. Buryj, Pfc. Charles E. Bush Jr., Pvt. Matthew D. Bush, Pfc. Damian S. Bushart, Sgt. Jacob L. Butler, Capt. Joshua T. Byers, Cpl. Juan C. Cabralbanuelos, Pfc. Cody S. Calavan, Sgt. Juan Calderon Jr, Sgt. Charles T. Caldwell, Spc. Nathaniel A. Caldwell, Staff Sgt. Joseph Camara, Spc. Michael C. Campbell, Sgt. Ryan M. Campbell, Spc. Marvin A. Camposiles, Spc. Isaac Campoy, Spc. Ervin Caradine Jr., Spc. Adolfo C. Carballo, Pfc. Michael M. Carey, Cpl. Richard P. Carl, Pfc. Ryan G. Carlock, Pfc. Benjamin R. Carman, Staff Sgt. Edward W. Carmen, Spc. Jocelyn L. Carrasquillo, Sgt. Frank T. Carvill, Capt. Christopher S. Cash, Spc. Ahmed A. Cason, Pfc. Jose Casanova, Lance Cpl. James A. Casper, Capt. Paul J. Cassidy, Staff Sgt. Roland L. Castro, Sgt. Sean K. Cataudella, Lance Cpl. Steven C. T. Cates, Pfc. Thomas D. Caughman, Staff Sgt. James W. Cawley, Spc. Jessica L. Cawvey, Petty Officer 3rd Class David A. Cedergren, Lance Cpl. Manuel A. Ceniceros, Cpl. Kemaphoom A. Chanawongse, Spc. James A. Chance III, Staff Sgt. William D. Chaney, Chief Warrant Officer Robert William Channell Jr., Spc. Jason K. Chappell, Pfc. Jonathan M. Cheatham, Sgt. Yohjyh L. Chen, Lance Cpl. Marcus M. Cherry, 2nd Lt. Therrel S. Childers, Spc. Andrew F. Chris.

Staff Sgt. Thomas W. Christensen, Spc. Brett T. Christian, Spc. Arron R. Clark, Staff Sgt. Michael J. Clark, Lance Cpl. Donald J. Cline Jr., Pfc. Christopher R. Cobb, Lance Cpl. Kyle W. Codner, 1st Sgt. Christopher D. Coffin, Pvt. Bradli N. Coleman, Cpl. Gary B. Coleman, 2nd Lt. Benjamin J. Colgan, Sgt. Russell L. Collier, Sgt. 1st Class Gary L. Collins, Lance Cpl. Jonathan W. Collins, Chief Warrant Officer Lawrence S. Colton, Spc. Zeferino E. Colunga, Sgt. Robert E. Colvill, Sgt. Kenneth Conde Jr., Sgt. Timothy M. Conneway, Spc. Steven D. Conover, Capt. Aaron J. Contreras, Lance Cpl. Pedro Contreras, Sgt. Jason Cook, Command Sgt. Major Eric F. Cooke, Sgt. Dennis A. Corral, Chief Warrant Officer Alexander S. Coulter, 2nd Lt. Leonard M. Cowherd, Spc. Gregory A. Cox, Pfc. Ryan R. Cox, Lance Corporal Timothy R. Creager, Sgt. Michael T. Crockett, Staff Sgt. Ricky L. Crockett, Sgt. Brud J. Cronkrite, Lance Cpl. Kyle D. Crowley, Pvt. Rey D. Cuervo, Pfc. Kevin A. Cuming, Spc. Daniel Francis J. Cunningham, Staff Sgt. Darren J. Cunningham, Spc. Carl F. Curran, Cpl. Michael Edward Curtin, Staff Sgt. Christopher E. Cutchall, Pfc. Brian K. Cutter, Pfc. Anthony D. D'Agostino, Spc. Edgar P. Daclan Jr., Capt. Nathan S. Dalley, Lance Cpl. Andrew S. Dang, Spc. Danny B. Daniels II, Pvt. 1st Class Torey J. Dantzler, Pfc. Norman Darling, Capt. Eric B. Das.

Spc. Shawn M. Davies, Pvt. Brandon L. Davis, Staff Sgt. Craig Davis, Staff Sgt. Donald N. Davis, Spc. Raphael S. Davis, Staff Sgt. Wilbert Davis, Staff Sgt. Jeffrey F. Dayton, Pvt. Jason L. Deibler, Spc. Lauro G. DeLeon Jr., Sgt. Felix M. Delgreco, Sgt. Jacob H. Demand, Staff Sgt. Mike A. Dennie, Spc. Darryl T. Dent, Pfc. Ervin Dervishi, Spc. Daniel A. Desens, Pfc. Michael R. Deuel, Pvt. Michael J. Deutsch, Petty Officer 3rd Class Christopher M. Dickerson, Cpl. Nicholas J. Dieruf, Spc. Jeremiah J. DiGiovanni, Spc. Jeremy M. Dimaranan, Spc. Michael A. Diraimondo, Spc. Anthony J. Dixon, Spc. Ryan E. Doltz, Sgt. Michael E. Dooley, Chief Warrant Officer Patrick D. Dorff, Petty Officer 2nd Class Trace W. Dossett, Lance Cpl. Scott E. Dougherty, 1st Sgt. Robert J. Dowdy, Pfc. Stephen P. Downing II, Spc. Chad H. Drake, Pvt. Jeremy L. Drexler, Cpl. Jason L. Dunham, Staff Sgt. Joe L. Dunigan Jr., Spc. Robert L. DuSang, Spc. William D. Dusenbery, 2nd Lt. Seth J. Dvorin, Petty Officer 2nd Class Jason B. Dwelley, Pfc. Sheldon R. Hawk Eagle, Staff Sgt. Richard S. Eaton Jr., Cpl. Christopher S. Ebert, Sgt. William C. Eckhart, Spc. Marshall L. Edgerton, Pfc. Shawn C. Edwards, Spc. Andrew C. Ehrlich, Sgt. Aaron C. Elandt, Spc. William R. Emanuel IV, Lance Cpl. Mark E. Engel, Spc. Peter G. Enos, Senior Airman Pedro I. Espaillat Jr.

Pfc. Analaura Esparza Gutierrez, Sgt. Adam W. Estep, Pvt. Ruben Estrella-Soto, Pfc. David Evans, Cpl. Mark A. Evnin, Pfc. Jeremy Ricardo Ewing, Sgt. Justin L. Eyerly, Pvt. Jonathan I. Falaniko, Sgt. James D. Faulkner, Pfc. Raymond J. Faulstich Jr., Capt. Brian R. Faunce, Capt. Arthur L. Felder, 2nd Lt. Paul M. Felsberg, Spc. Rian C. Ferguson, Master Sgt. Richard L. Ferguson, Master Sgt. George A. Fernandez, Staff Sgt. Clint D. Ferrin, Spc. Jon P. Fettig, Cpl. Tyler R. Fey, Sgt. Jeremy J. Fischer, Sgt. Paul F. Fisher, Lance Cpl. Dustin R. Fitzgerald, Pfc. Jacob S. Fletcher, Spc. Thomas A. Foley III, Sgt. Timothy Folmar, Gunnery Sgt. Elia P. Fontecchio, Spc. Jason C. Ford, Capt. Travis A. Ford, Chief Warrant Officer Wesley C. Fortenberry, Sgt. 1st Class Bradley C. Fox, Spc. Craig S. Frank, Lance Cpl. Phillip E. Frank, Staff Sgt. Bobby C. Franklin, Pvt. Robert L. Frantz, Pvt. Benjamin L. Freeman, Sgt. David T. Friedrich, Spc. Luke P. Frist, Spc. Adam D. Froehlich, Pvt. Kurt R. Frosheiser, Pfc. Nichole M. Frye, Sgt. 1st Class Dan H. Gabrielson, Lance Cpl. Jonathan E. Gadsden, Capt. Richard J. Gannon II, Spc. Tomas Garces, Lance Cpl. Derek L. Gardner, Cpl. Jose A. Garibay, Spc. Joseph M. Garmback Jr., Sgt. Landis W. Garrison, Sgt. Justin W. Garvey, Spc. Israel Garza.

1st Sgt. Joe J. Garza, Pfc. Juan Guadalupe Garza Jr, Spc. Christopher D. Gelineau, Lance Cpl. Cory Ryan Guerin, Cpl. Christopher A. Gibson, Pvt. Jonathan L. Gifford, Pvt. Kyle C. Gilbert, Command Sgt. Maj. Cornell W. Gilmore, Petty Officer 3rd Class Ronald A. Ginther, Pfc. Jesse A. Givens, Spc. Michael T. Gleason, Cpl. Todd J. Godwin, 2nd Lt. James Michael Goins, Spc. Christopher A. Golby, Spc. David J. Goldberg, Lance Cpl. Shane L. Goldman, Cpl. Armando Ariel Gonzalez, Lance Cpl. Benjamin R. Gonzalez, Cpl. Jesus A. Gonzalez, Cpl. Jorge Gonzalez, Lance Cpl. Victor A. Gonzalez, Cpl. Bernard G. Gooden, Pfc. Gregory R. Goodrich, Sgt. 1st Class Richard S. Gottfried, Spc. Richard A. Goward, 2nd Lt. Jeffrey C. Graham, Sgt. Jamie A. Gray, Petty Officer 2nd Class Michael J. Gray, Sgt. Tommy L. Gray, Lance Cpl. Torrey L. Gray, Cpl. Jeffrey G. Green, Lt. Col. David S. Greene, Pfc. Devin J. Grella, Spc. Kyle A. Griffin, Staff Sgt. Patrick Lee Griffin Jr., Cpl. Sean R. Grilley, Pvt. Joseph R. Guerrera, Chief Warrant Officer Hans N. Gukeisen, Pfc. Christian D. Gurtner, Lance Cpl. Jose Gutierrez, Pfc. Richard W. Hafer, Staff Sgt. Guy S. Hagy Jr., Spc. Charles G. Haight, Lance Cpl. Michael J. Halal, Pfc. Deryk L. Hallal, Pvt. Jesse M. Halling, Pfc. Andrew Halverson, Chief Warrant Officer Erik A. Halvorsen, Capt. Kimberly N. Hampton, Sgt. Michael S. Hancock.

Pfc. Fernando B. Hannon, Sgt. Warren S. Hansen, Sgt. James W. Harlan, Sgt. Atanacio Haro Marin, Staff Sgt. William M. Harrell, Sgt. Foster L. Harrington, Pfc. Adam J. Harris, Sgt. Kenneth W. Harris Jr., Pfc. Torry D. Harris, Pfc. Leroy Harris-Kelly, Pfc. John D. Hart, Sgt. Nathaniel Hart, Sgt. 1st Class David A. Hartman, Sgt. Jonathan N. Hartman, Staff Sgt. Stephen C. Hattamer, Staff Sgt. Omer T. Hawkins II, Sgt. Timothy L. Hayslett, Chief Warrant Officer Brian D. Hazelgrove, Sgt. David M. Heath, Spc. Justin W. Hebert, Pfc. Damian L. Heidelberg, Pfc. Raheen Tyson Heighter, Spc. Jeremy M. Heines, Staff Sgt. Brian R. Hellerman, Staff Sgt. Terry W. Hemingway, Cpl. Matthew C. Henderson, 1st Lt. Robert L. Henderson II, Staff Sgt. Kenneth W. Hendrickson, Sgt. Jack T. Hennessy, Spc. Joshua J. Henry, Pfc. Clayton W. Henson, Spc. Armando Hernandez, Spc. Joseph F. Herndon II, Pfc. Edward J. Herrgott, Spc. Jacob B. Herring, Sgt. 1st Class Gregory B. Hicks, Spc. Christopher K. Hill, Spc. Stephen D. Hiller, Sgt. Keicia M. Hines, Pfc. Melissa J. Hobart, Sgt. Nicholas M. Hodson, Sgt. 1st Class James T. Hoffman, Spc. Christopher J. Holland, Staff Sgt. Aaron N. Holleyman, Staff Sgt. Lincoln D. Hollinsaid, Spc. James J. Holmes, Spc. Jeremiah J. Holmes, Cpl. Terry Holmes, Airman 1st Class Antoine J. Holt, Pfc. Sean Horn, Master Sgt. Kelly L. Hornbeck.

Staff Sgt. Jeremy R. Horton, Capt. Andrew R. Houghton, Lance Cpl Gregory C. Howman, Pfc. Bert E. Hoyer, Spc. Corey A. Hubbell, Pfc. Christopher E. Hudson, 1st Lt. Doyle M. Hufstedler, Staff Sgt. Jamie L. Huggins, Spc. Eric R. Hull, Cpl Barton R. Humlhanz, Lance Cpl. Justin T. Hunt, Spc. Simeon Hunte, 1st Lt. Joshua C. Hurley, Lance Cpl. James B. Huston Jr., Lance Cpl. Seth Huston, Pvt. Nolen R. Hutchings, Pfc. Ray J. Hutchinson, Pfc. Gregory P. Huxley Jr., Spc. Benjamin W. Isenberg, Spc. Craig S. Ivory, Pfc. Leslie D. Jackson, Spc. Morgen N. Jacobs, Chief Warrant Officer Scott Jamar, Cpl. Evan T. James, 2nd Lt. Luke S. James, Spc. William A. Jeffries, Petty Officer 2nd Class Robert B. Jenkins, Sgt. Troy David Jenkins, Spc. Darius T. Jennings, Pfc. Ryan M. Jerabek, Sgt. Linda C. Jimenez, 1st Lt. Oscar Jimenez, Capt. Christopher B. Johnson, Spc. David W. Johnson, Pfc. Howard Johnson II, Spc. John P. Johnson, Pfc. Markus J. Johnson, Spc. Maurice J. Johnson, Hospital Corpsman 3rd Class Michael Vann Johnson Jr., Spc. Nathaniel H. Johnson, Staff Sgt. Paul J. Johnson, Chief Warrant Officer, Pfc. Rayshawn S. Johnson, Pvt. Devon D. Jones, Capt. Gussie M. Jones, Staff Sgt. Raymond E. Jones Jr., Spc. Rodney A. Jones, Lt. Kylan A. Jones- Huffman, Sgt. Curt E. Jordan Jr., Sgt. Jason D. Jordan.

Staff Sgt. Phillip A. Jordan, Cpl. Forest J. Jostes, Spc. Spencer T. Karol, Spc. Michael G. Karr Jr., Spc. Mark J. Kasecky, 1st Lt. Jeffrey J. Kaylor, Spc. Chad L. Keith, Lance Cpl. Quinn A. Keith, Lance Cpl. Bryan P. Kelly, Cpl. Brian Kennedy, Chief Warrant Officer Kyran E. Kennedy, Staff Sgt. Morgan D. Kennon, 1st Lt. Christopher J. Kenny, Spc. Jonathan R. Kephart, Cpl. Dallas L. Kerns, Chief Warrant Officer Erik C. Kesterson, Capt. Humayun S. M. Khan, Spc. James M. Kiehl, Pt. Jeungjin Na Kim, Staff Sgt. Kevin C. Kimmerly.  Spc. Levi B. Kinchen, Staff Sgt. Lester O. Kinney II, Pfc. David M. Kirchhoff, Staff Sgt. Charles A. Kiser, Lance Cpl. Nicholas Brian Kleiboeker, Spc. John K. Klinesmith Jr., Sgt. Floyd G. Knighten Jr., Petty Officer 3rd Class Eric L. Knott, Spc. Joshua L. Knowles, Staff Sgt. Lance J. Koenig, Cpl. Kevin T. Kolm, Pfc. Martin W. Kondor, Chief Warrant Patrick W. Kordsmeier, Capt. Edward J. Korn, Sgt. Bradley S. Korthaus, Cpl. Jakub Henryk Kowalik, Sgt. Elmer C. Krause, Pvt. Dustin L. Kreider, Pfc. Bradley G. Kritzer, Capt. John F. Kurth, Sgt. 1st Class William W. Labadie Jr., Sgt. Joshua S. Ladd, Sgt. Michael V. Lalush, Lance Cpl. Alan Dinh Lam, Spc. Charles R. Lamb, Spc. James I. Lambert III, Pfc. James P. Lambert, Sgt. Jonathan W. Lambert, Capt. Andrew David Lamont, Staff Sgt. Sean G. Landrus, Gunnery Sgt. Shawn A. Lane.

Pfc. Moises A. Langhorst, Spc. Tracy L. Laramore, Spc. Scott Q. Larson Jr., Chief Warrant Officer Matthew C.  Laskowski, Staff Sgt. William T. Latham, Pfc. Karina S. Lau, Cpl. Jeffrey D. Lawrence, Staff Sgt. Mark A. Lawton, Lance Cpl. Travis J. Layfield, Staff Sgt. Rene Ledesma, 2nd Lt. Ryan Leduc, Cpl. Bum R. Lee, Pfc. Ken W. Leisten, Staff Sgt. Jerome Lemon, Spc. Cedric L. Lennon, Pfc. Farad K. Letufuga, Spc. Justin W. Linden, Spc. Roger G. Ling, Spc. Joseph L. Lister, Staff Sgt. Nino D. Livaudais, Sgt. Dale T. Lloyd, Sgt. Daniel J. Londono, Spc. Ryan P. Long, Spc. Zachariah W. Long, Pfc. Duane E. Longstreth, Sgt. Edgar E. Lopez, Lance Cpl. Juan Lopez, Sgt. Richard M. Lord, Staff Sgt. David L. Loyd, Capt. Robert L. Lucero, Pfc. Jason C. Ludiam, Lance Cpl. Jacob R. Lugo, Pfc. Jason N. Lynch, Pfc. Christopher D. Mabry, Lance Cpl. Gregory E. MacDonald, Lance Cpl. Cesar F. Machado-Olmos, Pfc. Vorn J. Mack, Lance Cpl. Joseph B. Maglione, Spc. William J. Maher III, Staff Sgt. Toby W. Mallet, Chief Warrant Officer Ian D. Manuel, Pfc. Pablo Manzano, Pfc. Lyndon A. Marcus Jr., Staff Sgt. Paul C. Mardis Jr., Cpl. Douglas Jose Marencoreyes, Master Sgt. Jude C. Mariano, Spc. James E. Marshall, Sgt. 1st Class John W. Marshall, Pfc. Ryan A. Martin, Staff Sgt. Stephen G. Martin.

Sgt. Francisco Martinez, Pfc. Francisco A. Martinez Flores, Pfc. Jesse J. Martinez, Spc. Michael A. Martinez, Pfc. Oscar A. Martinez, Spc. Jacob D. Martir, Sgt. Arthur S. Mastrapa, Chief Warrant Officer Johnny Villareal Mata, Lance Cpl. Ramon Mateo, Spc. Clint Richard Matthews, Lance Cpl. Ramon Mateo, Cpl. Matthew E. Matula, Staff Sgt. Donald C. May Jr, Pfc. Joseph P. Mayek, Spc. Patrick R. McCaffrey Sr., Lance Cpl. Joseph C. MacCarthy, Pfc. Ryan M. McCauley, Cpl. Brad P. McCormick, 1st Lt. Erik. S. McCrae, Spc. Donald R. McCune, Spc. Dustin K. McGaugh, Pfc. Holly J. McGeogh, Sgt. Brian D. McGinnis, Spc. Michael A. McGlothin.  Petty Officer 2nd Class Scott R. McHugh, Hospitalman Joshua McIntosh, Spc. David M. McKeever, Spc. Eric S. McKinley, Pvt. Robert L. McKinley, Staff Sgt. Don S. McMahan, Sgt. Heath A. McMillin, 1st Lt. Brian M. McPhillips, Cpl. Jesus Martin Antonio Medellin, Spc. Irving Medina, Spc. Kenneth A. Melton, Cpl. Jaygee Meluat, Petty Officer 3rd Class Fernando A. Mendezaceves, Gunnery Sgt. Joseph Menusa, Staff Sgt. Eddie E. Menyweather, Spc. Gil Mercado, Spc. Michael M. Merila, Spc. Christopher A. Merville, Sgt. Daniel K. Methvin, Pfc. Jason M. Meyer, Sgt. Eliu A. Miersandoval, Spc. Michael G. Mihalakis, Pfc. Matthew G. Milczark, Cpl. Jason David Mileo, Pfc. Anthony S. Miller, Pfc. Bruce Miller Jr., Staff Sgt. Frederick L. Miller Jr.

Sgt. 1st Class Marvin L. Miller, Sgt. Joseph Minucci II, Sgt. First Class Troy L. Miranda, Spc. George A. Mitchell, Sgt. Keman L. Mitchell, Sgt. Michael W. Mitchell, Spc. Sean R. Mitchell, Pfc. Jesse D. Mizener, Staff Sgt. Jorge A. Molinabautista, Pfc. Anthony W. Monroe, 1st Lt. Adam G. Mooney, Lance Cpl. Jason William Moore, Pfc. Stuart W. Moore, Sgt. Travis A. Moothart, Spc. Jose L. Mora, Sgt. Melvin Y. Mora, Pfc. Michael A. Mora, Master Sgt. Kevin N. Morehead, Capt. Brent L. Morel, Petty Officer 3rd Class David J. Moreno, Sgt. Gerardo Moreno, Spc. Jaime Moreno, Pfc. Luis A. Moreno, Spc. Dennis B. Morgan, Staff Sgt. Richard L. Morgan Jr., Pfc. Geoffery S. Morris, Pfc. Ricky A. Morris Jr., Lance Cpl. Nicholas B. Morrison, Sgt. Shawna M. Morrison, Sgt. Keelan L. Moss, Spc. Clifford L. Moxley Jr., Sgt. Cory R. Mracek, Sgt. Rodney A. Murray, Sgt. Krisna Nachampassak, Spc. Paul T. Nakamura, Spc. Nathan W. Nakis, Pvt. Kenneth A. Nalley, Chief Warrant Officer Christopher G. Nason, Maj. Kevin G. Nave, Spc. Rafael L. Navea, Spc. Charles L. Neeley, Staff Sgt. Paul M. Neff II, Pfc. Gavin L. Neighbor, Spc. Joshua M. Neusche, Cpl. Dominique J. Nicolas, Lance Cpl. Joseph L. Nice, Spc. Isaac Michael Nieves, Lance Cpl. Patrick R. Nixon, Spc. Allen Nolan, Spc. Marcos O. Nolasco.

Sgt. William J. Normandy, Spc. Joseph C. Norquist, 1st Lt. Leif E. Nott, Staff Sgt. Todd E. Nunes, Spc. David T. Nutt, Cpl. Mick R. Nygardbekowsky, Spc. Donald S. Oak Jr., Pfc. Branden F. Oberleitner, Lance Cpl. Patrick T. O'Day, Spc. Charles E. Odums II, Spc. Ramon C. Ojeda,  Cpl. Terry Holmes Ordonez, Cpl. Brian Oliveira, Spc. Justin B. Onwordi, Spc. Richard P. Orengo, Lt. Col. Kim S. Orlando, Lance Cpl. Eric J. Orlowski, 1st Lt. Osbaldo Orozco, Pfc. Cody J. Orr, Staff Sgt. Billy J. Orton, Sgt. Pamela G. Osbourne, Lance Cpl. Deshon E. Otey, Pfc. Kevin C. Ott, Sgt. Michael G. Owen, Lance Cpl. David Edward Owens Jr, Sgt. Fernando Padilla- Ramirez, Pvt. Shawn D. Pahnke, Spc. Gabriel T. Palacios, Capt. Eric T. Paliwoda, 1st Lt. Joshua M. Palmer, Staff Sgt. Dale A. Panchot, Pfc. Daniel R. Parker, Pfc. James D. Parker, Pfc. Kristen Parker, Cpl. Tommy L. Parker Jr., Sgt. Harvey E. Parkerson III, Sgt. David B. Parson, Staff Sgt. Esau G. Patterson Jr., Master Sgt. William L. Payne, Sgt. Michael F. Pedersen, Staff Sgt. Abraham D. Penamedina, Spc. Brian H. Penisten, Sgt. Ross A. Pennanen, Staff Sgt. Gregory V. Pennington, Pfc. Geoffrey Perez, Staff Sgt. Hector R. Perez, Sgt. Joel Perez, Spc. Jose A. Perez III, Pfc. Luis A. Perez, Lance Cpl. Nicholas Perez.

Spc. Wilfredo Perez Jr., Petty Officer 1st Class Michael J. Pernaselli, Staff Sgt. David S. Perry, Pfc. Charles C. Persing, Staff Sgt. Dustin W. Peters, Spc. Alyssa R. Peterson, Staff Sgt. Brett J. Petriken, Staff Sgt. James L. Pettaway Jr., Staff Sgt. Erickson H. Petty, Pfc. Jerrick M. Petty, Lt. Col. Mark P. Phelan, Pfc. Chance R. Phelps, Sgt. 1st Class Gladimir Philippe, Sgt. Ivory L. Phipps, Capt. Pierre E. Piche, Pfc. Lori Piestewa, Capt. Dennis L. Pintor, Spc. James H. Pirtle, Pfc. Jason T. Poindexter, 2nd Lt. Frederick E. Pokorney Jr., Staff Sgt. Andrew R. Pokorny, Spc. Justin W. Pollard, Spc. Larry E. Polley Jr., Sgt. Darrin K. Potter, Pfc. David L. Potter, Sgt. Christopher S. Potts, Spc. James E. Powell, Lance Cpl. Caleb J. Powers, Cpl. Dean P. Pratt, Pfc. James E. Prevete, Pvt. Kelley S. Prewitt, Sgt. Tyler D. Prewitt, Pfc. James W. Price, 1st Lt. Timothy E. Price, Lance Cpl. Mathew D. Puckett, Sgt. Jaror C. Puello- Coronado, Staff Sgt. Michael B. Quinn, Staff Sgt. Richard P. Ramey, Sgt. Christopher Ramirez, Spc. Eric U. Ramirez, Pfc. William C. Ramirez, Pfc. Christopher Ramos, Spc. Tamarra J. Ramos, Pfc. Brandon Ramsey, Pvt. Carson J. Ramsey, Sgt. Edmond L. Randle, Pfc. Cleston C. Raney, Capt. Gregory A. Ratzlaff, Spc. Rel A. Ravago IV, Spc. Omead H. Razani.

Spc. Brandon M. Read, Pfc. Christopher J. Reed, Pfc. Ryan E. Reed, Sgt. Tatjana Reed, Staff Sgt. Aaron T. Reese, Spc. Jeremy F. Regnier, Sgt. 1st Class Randall S. Rehn, Sgt. Brendon C. Reiss, Staff Sgt. George S. Rentschler, Sgt. Sean C. Reynolds, Lance Cpl. Rafael Reynosa- Suarez, Sgt. Yadir G. Reynoso, Cpl. Demetrius L. Rice, Sgt. Ariel Rico, Spc. Jeremy L. Ridlen, Pfc. Diego Fernando Rincon, Cpl. Steven A. Rintamaki, Sgt. Duane R. Rios, Capt. Russell B. Rippetoe, Pfc. Henry C. Risner, Sgt. 1st Class Jose A. Rivera, Cpl. John T. Rivero, Spc. Frank K. Rivers Jr., Sgt. Thomas D. Robbins, Sgt. Todd J. Robbins, Lance Cpl. Anthony P. Roberts, Lance Cpl. Bob W. Roberts, Spc. Robert D. Roberts, Staff Sgt. Joseph E. Robsky, Sgt. Moses D. Rocha, Pfc. Marlin T. Rockhold, Pfc. Jose Francis Gonzalez Rodriguez, Cpl. Robert M. Rodriguez, Spc. Philip G. Rogers, Sgt. 1st Class Robert E. Rooney, Cpl. Randal Kent Rosacker, Staff Sgt. Victor A. Rosales, Pfc. Richard H. Rosas, Sgt. Scott C. Rose, Sgt. Thomas C. Rosenbaum, Sgt. Randy S. Rosenberg, Spc. Marco D. Ross, Sgt. Lawrence A. Roukey, Capt. Alan Rowe, Spc. Brandon J. Rowe, Sgt. Roger D. Rowe, 2nd Lt. Jonathan D. Rozier, Spc. Isela Rubalcava, Pfc. Aaron J. Rusin, Sgt. John W. Russell.

1st Lt. Timothy Louis Ryan, Chief Warrant Officer Scott A. Saboe, Spc. Rasheed Sahib, Cpl. Rudy Salas, Cpl. William I. Salazar, 1st Lt. Edward M. Saltz, Capt. Benjamin W. Sammis, Spc. Sonny G. Sampler, Spc. Gregory P. Sanders, Pfc. Leroy Sandoval Jr., Spc. Matthew J. Sandri, Staff Sgt. Barry Sanford, 1st Lt. Neil Anthony Santoriello, Spc. Jonathan J. Santos, Pfc. Brandon R. Sapp, Staff Sgt. Cameron B. Sarno, Staff Sgt. Scott D. Sather, Lance Cpl. Jeremiah E. Savage, Capt. Robert C. Scheetz Jr., Spc. Justin B. Schmidt, Spc. Jeremiah W. Schmunk, Pfc. Sean M. Schneider, Cpl. Dustin H. Schrage, Maj. Mathew E. Schram, Lance Cpl. Brian K. Schramm, Spc. Christian C. Schulz, Master Sgt. David A. Scott, Pfc. Kerry D. Scott, Spc. Stephen M. Scott, Spc. Marc S. Seiden, Capt. Christopher Scott Seifert, Pfc. Dustin M. Sekula, Lance Cpl. Matthew K. Serio, Sgt. Juan M. Serrano, Staff Sgt. Wentz Jerome Henry Shanaberger III, Spc. Jeffrey R. Shaver, Maj. Kevin M. Shea, Spc. Casey Sheehan, Sgt. Kevin F. Sheehan, Sgt. Daniel Michael Shepherd, Sgt. Alan D. Sherman, Lt. Col. Anthony L. Sherman, Pfc. Harry N. Shondee Jr., Lance Cpl. Brad S. Shuder, Capt. James A. Shull, Pfc. Kenneth L. Sickels, Lance Cpl. Dustin L. Sides, Cpl. Erik H. Silva, Pvt. Sean A. Silva, Sgt. Leonard D. Simmons.

Pfc. Charles M. Sims, Lance Cpl. John T. Sims Jr., Spc. Uday Singh, Spc. Aaron J. Sissel, Pfc. Christopher A. Sisson, Pfc. Nicholas M. Skinner, Petty Officer 3rd Class David Sisung, 1st Lt. Brian D. Slavenas, Pvt. Brandon Ulysses Sloan, Lance Cpl. Richard P. Slocum, Lance Cpl. Thomas J. Slocum, Pfc. Corey L. Small, Sgt. Keith L. Smette, Capt. Benedict J. Smith, Sgt. Benjamin K. Smith, Pfc. Brandon C. Smith, 2nd Lt. Brian D. Smith, Chief Warrant Officer Bruce A. Smith, Cpl. Darrell L. Smith, 1st Sgt. Edward Smith, Chief Warrant Officer Eric A. Smith, Pfc. Jeremiah D. Smith, Lance Cpl. Matthew R. Smith, Lance Cpl. Michael J. Smith Jr., Spc. Orenthial J. Smith, Sgt. 1st Class Paul R. Smith, Capt. Christopher F. Soelzer, Sgt. Roderic A. Solomon, Cpl. Adrian V. Soltau, Maj. Charles R. Soltes Jr., Sgt. Skipper Soram, Pfc. Armando Soriano, Cpl. Tomas Sotelo Jr., Pfc. Kenneth C. Souslin, Spc. Philip I. Spakosky, Pfc. Jason L. Sparks, Cpl. Michael R. Speer, Staff Sgt. Trevor Spink, Maj. Christopher J. Splinter, Sgt. Marvin R. Sprayberry III, Pvt. Bryan N. Spry, Sgt. Maj. Michael B. Stack, Pfc. Nathan E. Stahl, 1st Lt. Andrew K. Stern, Staff Sgt. Robert A. Stever, Maj. Gregory Stone, 2nd Lt. Matthew R. Stovall, Pfc. William R. Strange, Sgt. Kirk Allen Straseskie, Pfc. Brandon C. Sturdy.

Spc. William R. Sturges Jr., Spc. Paul J. Sturino, Lance Cpl. Jesus A. Suarez Del Solar, Spc. Joseph D. Suell, Spc. John R. Sullivan, Spc. Narson B. Sullivan, Lance Cpl. Vincent M. Sullivan, Staff Sgt. Michael J. Sutter, Pfc. Ernest Harold Sutphin, Chief Warrant Officer Sharon T. Swartworth, Spc. Thomas J. Sweet II, Staff Sgt. Christopher W. Swisher, Maj. Paul R. Syverson III, Sgt. Patrick S. Tainsh, Sgt. DeForest L. Talbert, Sgt. 1st Class Linda Ann Tarango-Griess, Spc. Christopher M. Taylor, Maj. Mark D. Taylor, Capt. John R. Teal, Staff Sgt. Riayan A. Tejeda, Lance Cpl. Jason Andrew Tetrault, Spc. Joseph C. Thibodeaux, Master Sgt. Thomas R. Thigpen Sr., Cpl. Jesse L. Thiry, Sgt. Carl Thomas, Staff Sgt. Kendall Thomas, Spc. Kyle G. Thomas, Sgt. Anthony O. Thompson, Spc. Jarrett B. Thompson, Sgt. Humberto F. Timoteo, Capt. John E. Tipton, Pfc. Joshua K. Titcomb, Spc. Brandon T. Titus, Spc. Brandon S. Tobler, Sgt. Lee D. TodacheeneCpl. John H. Todd III, Sgt. Nicholas A. Tomko, Master Sgt. Timothy Toney, Pfc. George D. Torres, Lance Cpl. Michael S. Torres, 2nd Lt. Richard Torres, Spc. Ramon Reyes Torres, Lance Cpl. Elias Torrez III, Sgt. Michael L. Tosto, Spc. Richard K. Trevithick, Pfc. Andrew L. Tuazon, Staff Sgt. Roger C. Turner Jr., Pvt. Scott M. Tyrrell, 2nd Lt. Andre D. Tyson, Spc. Eugene A. Uhl III, Lance Cpl. Drew M. Uhles.

Rick A. Ulbright, Pfc. Daniel P. Unger, Spc. Robert Oliver Unruh, 1st Sgt. Ernest E. Utt, Sgt. Michael A. Uvanni, Staff Sgt. Gary A. Vaillant, Lance Cpl. Ruben Valdez Jr., Sgt. Melissa Valles, Spc. Allen J. Vandayburg, Spc. Josiah H. Vandertulip, Chief Warrant Officer Brian K. Van Dusen, Lance Cpl. John J. Vangyzen IV, Lance Cpl. Gary F. Van Leuven, Staff Sgt. Mark D. Vasquez, Spc. Frances M. Vega, 1st Lt. Michael W. Vega, Staff Sgt. Paul A. Velazquez, Cpl. David M. Vicente, Sgt. 1st Class Joselito O. Villanueva, Cpl. Scott M. Vincent, Staff Sgt. Kimberly A. Voelz, Staff Sgt. Michael S. Voss, Spc. Thai Vue, Lance Cpl. Michael B. Wafford, Sgt. Christopher A. Wagener, Sgt. Gregory L. Wahl, Staff Sgt. Allan K. Walker, Sgt. Jeffery C. Walker, Sgt. Donald Ralph  Walters, Pvt. Jason M. Ward, Pfc. Nachez Washalanta, Lance Cpl. Christopher B. Wasser, Pvt. David L. Waters, Staff Sgt. Kendall Damon Waters-Bey, Maj. William R. Watkins III, Petty Officer 2nd Class Christopher E. Watts, Chief Warrant Officer Aaron A. Weaver, Spc. Michael S. Weger, Staff Sgt. David J. Weisenburg, Spc. Douglas J. Weismantle, Pfc. Michael Russell Creighton Weldon, Lance Cpl. Larry L. Wells, Chief Warrant Officer Stephen M. Wells, Spc. Jeffrey M. Wershow, Spc. Christopher J. Rivera Wesley, Sgt. James G. West, 1st Lt. Alexander E. Wetherbee, Spc. Donald L. Wheeler, Sgt. Mason Douglas Whetstone, Pfc. Marquis A. Whitaker.

Staff Sgt. Aaron Dean White, Lt. Nathan D. White, Sgt. Steven W. White, Lance Cpl. William W. White, Pfc. Joey D. Whitener ,Spc. Chase R. Whitman, Spc. Michael J. Wiesemann, Cpl. Joshua S. Wilfong ,Sgt. Eugene Williams, Lance Cpl. Michael J. Williams, Spc. Michael L. Williams, Sgt. Taft V. Williams ,1st Lt. Charles L. Wilkins III, Sgt. 1st Class Christopher R. Willoughby, Spc. Dana N. Wilson, Command Sgt. Maj. Jerry L. Wilson, Staff Sgt. Joe N. Wilson, Lance Cpl. Lamont N. Wilson, Lance Cpl. Nicholas Wilt, 1st Lt. Ronald Winchester, Spc. Trevor A. Wine, Lance Cpl. William J. Wiscowiche, Spc. Robert A. Wise, Spc. Michelle M. Witmer, Pfc. Owen D. Witt, Spc. James R. Wolf, 2nd Lt. Jeremy L. Wolfe, Sgt. Elijah Tai Wah Wong, Sgt. Brian M. Wood, Capt. George A. Wood, Spc. Michael R. Woodliff, Spc. James C. Wright, Pfc. Jason G. Wright, 2nd Lt. John T. Wroblewski, Lance Cpl. Daniel R. Wyatt, Pfc. Stephen E. Wyatt, Sgt. Michael E. Yashinski, Sgt. Henry Ybarra III, Pfc. Rodricka A. Youmans, Sgt. Ryan C. Young, Lance Cpl. Andrew J. Zabierek, Spc. Nicholas J. Zangara, Spc. Mark Anthony Zapata, Pfc. Nicholaus E. Zimmer, Cpl. Ian T. Zook, Lance Cpl. Robert P. Zurheide Jr.

Bush lied.  People died.

 

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