Dulce Et Decorum Est

How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Iraq?

On Friday, January 30, ten days after President Barack Obama promised American soldiers would begin to responsibly leave Iraq, a gun battle broke out in the district of Baiji. One American soldier and one Iraqi militant were each shot to death. A second American soldier was wounded in the gunfire.

SALAH AL-DIN / Aswat al-Iraq: A gunman who shot down a U.S. soldier and wounded another in the district of Baiji was killed by U.S. army fire on Friday, a police source said.

A gunman from Baiji opened fire on Friday afternoon at U.S. soldiers who were standing in front of al-Rifaie school, which is used as a voting center, in the central part of the district, (35 km) north of Tikrit city, killing one of them and injuring another, the source told Aswat al-Iraq news agency.

The U.S. soldiers fired back at the gunman, killing him instantly, the source said, adding the U.S. soldiers arrested the gunman’s brother inside his house in central Baiji.

Aswat al-Iraq news agency managed to contact a source within the U.S. forces’ Joint Coordination Office who said that a gunman opened fire at the U.S. servicemen in Baiji district and the U.S. soldiers fired back and shot him down.

–Aswat al-Iraq (2009-01-30): Gunman killed after shooting down U.S. soldier in Baiji

How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?

How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Iraq?

Private Grant A. Cotting, a 19 year old boy from Corona, California, was killed in Iraq on Saturday, January 24, four days after President Barack Obama promised American soldiers would begin to responsibly leave Iraq.

A 19-year-old Army private from Corona died in what military authorities described today as a non-combat-related incident in Iraq.

Pvt. Grant A. Cotting died Saturday in the Iraqi city of Kut, about 100 miles south of Baghdad, according to the Department of Defense.

Cotting suffered injuries while with his unit — the 515th Sapper Company, 5th Engineer Battalion, 4th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade, officials said.

The brigade is headquartered at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

The circumstances surrounding the incident are under investigation, a Pentagon statement said.

–The Desert Sun (2009-01-27): Soldier from Corona killed in Iraq

How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?

How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Iraq? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?

Army National Guard Specialist Matthew Pollini was killed in Iraq on Thursday, January 22, two days after President Barack Obama promised American soldiers would begin to responsibly leave Iraq.

Sergeant Kyle J. Harrington was killed in Iraq on Saturday, January 24, four days after President Barack Obama promised American soldiers would begin to responsibly leave Iraq.

Just after his graduation from Swansea’s Joseph Case High School in 2003, Kyle J. Harrington joined the Army. He was deployed to Iraq in 2005 and was more than halfway through his second tour of duty when he died Saturday, his wife, Faith, said yesterday.

Harrington, 24, a sergeant, had married his high school sweetheart, Faith (Ryan), before leaving for Iraq. They lived on the Fort Lewis Army base in Washington state.

Faith Harrington said her husband’s death was not combat related but occurred as a result of a fork-lift accident.

Though the Army did not give her specific details, she was told that an investigation is underway.

They won’t tell me anything, said Harrington, who said she could not say where in Iraq her husband had been stationed.

A spokeswoman for the Defense Department said she could not confirm or deny Harrington’s death, citing a congressionally mandated timeline that prohibits releasing information on military deaths until 24 hours after all family members are notified.

Harrington died two days after Army National Guard Specialist Matthew Pollini, 21, of Rockland, was killed in Iraq when the Humvee he was riding in on a military base rolled over. Since the war began in 2003, 4,232 servicemen and women have been killed in Operation Iraqi Freedom, not counting Harrington.

He had two children, Joshua, 5, and Kaylee, 2.

–Matt Collette, The Boston Globe (2009-01-26): Soldier dies in accident in Iraq, wife says

Pollini, 21, was less than a month into his first tour of duty with the 772nd Military Police Company, a National Guard unit based in Taunton.

He was married on Dec. 22 and shipped out four days later.

We had lots of plans, Sarah Pollini, 20, said.

In a statement issued by his office, the adjutant general of the Massachusetts National Guard, Maj. Gen. Joseph C. Carter, said, The loss of a Soldier is a tragedy and we hope the Pollini family finds some consolation in the knowledge that Specialist Pollini gave his life while defending our nation, said General Carter [...].

–Allison Manning, EnterpriseNews.com (2009-01-25): Another Massachusetts soldier killed in Iraq, second in three days

Four U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq on Monday, January 26, six days after President Barack Obama promised American soldiers would begin to responsibly leave Iraq.

KIRKUK, Iraq (AFP) — Four US soldiers were killed on Monday when two helicopters crashed in northern Iraq, American and Iraqi military officials said, but an insurgent group later claimed responsibility.

Four coalition forces members were killed when two aircraft went down in northern Iraq at approximately 2:15 am (2315 GMT Sunday), a US army spokesman said in an initial statement.

The cause of the incident is unknown but does not appear to be the result of enemy action, a separate US military statement said later.

An Iraqi military official told AFP two helicopters were involved in the incident, while police said the crash occurred near the northern oil city of Kirkuk.

However, the Nakshabandiya insurgent group — close to executed president Saddam Hussein’s still fugitive deputy Izzat Ibrahim al-Duri — later said that it had shot down the coalition aircraft.

Asked about the claim, the US military issued a further statement, which said: There is no indication that the helicopter crash is a result of enemy action.

The Nakshabandiya handed out leaflets on the streets of Kirkuk, saying that they had shot down two helicopters and would soon show a video, an AFP correspondent witnessed.

A statement on their website said: We announce with pleasure the shooting down of two helicopters of the American enemy. It was a night ambush from the Anti-Aircraft Resistance Brigade. It was two Blackhawks shot down Sunday evening at 10.30pm in Hawijah, 50 kilometres (30 miles) west of Kirkuk.

The group said that the attack had killed more than 20 soldiers and that the video would show the entire operation.

Hawijah is a largely Sunni Arab town within the disputed oil province of Kirkuk and was the scene of a massive US operation to try to capture Ibrahim in late 2003.

The US military is currently taking a back seat to an increasingly large Iraqi force made up of 560,000 policemen and 260,000 military personnel, with the US providing logistic and air support on request.

According to the Pentagon, 143,000 American troops are deployed in Iraq.

Under an agreement signed between Washington and Baghdad in November, the US military is due to withdraw its combat troops from Iraq by the end of 2011 and to pull them back from built-up areas by the end of June this year.

At least 4,236 US military personnel have died in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, according to an AFP tally based on the independent website www.icasualties.org, including the deaths on Monday. Fifteen troops have died so far this year.

–Agence France-Presse (2009-01-26): Four US soldiers killed in Iraq helicopter crash

How do you ask a man to be the last man to die in Iraq? How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?