U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

As of Tuesday, March 9, 2010, at least 4,382 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 31,716 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s weekly tally.

U.S. Troop Casualties in Iraq

Latest identifications:

• None
• 3/11/10 update: Army Sgt. Aaron M. Arthur, 25, Lake City, S.C., died March 8, 2010 north of Al Kut, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over. Assigned to the 203rd Brigade Support Battalion, attached to the 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga.
• 3/11/10 update: Army Spc. Lakeshia M. Bailey, 23, Columbus, Ga., died March 8, 2010 north of Al Kut, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over. Assigned to the 203rd Brigade Support Battalion, attached to the 1st Battalion, 10th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Benning, Ga.

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan

As of Friday, March 5, 2010, at least 930 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. Outside the Afghan region, the department reports 76 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Latest identifications: 

• Marine Lance Cpl. Carlos A. Aragon, 19, Orem, Utah, died March 1, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, based out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.
• Army Spc. Josiah D. Crumpler, 27, Hillsborough, N.C., died March 1, 2010 in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit using small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Army Spc. Ian T. D. Gelig, 25, Stevenson Ranch, Calif., died March 1, 2010 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 782nd Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Army Spc. Matthew D. Huston, 24, Athens, Ga., died March 1, 2010 in Bala Murghab, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit using small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Army Sgt. Vincent L. C. Owens, 21, Fort Smith, Ark., died March 1, 2010 at Forward Operating Base Sharana, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered earlier that day when enemy forces attacked his vehicle using direct fire in Yosuf Khel. He was assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Nigel K. Olsen, 21, Orem, Utah, died March 4, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 4th Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve, based out of Camp Pendleton, Calif.
• Army Spc. Anthony A. Paci, 30, Rockville, Md., died March 4, 2010 at Gereshk, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered during a vehicle rollover. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 17th Infantry, 5th Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
• Army Spc. Alan N. Dikcis, 21, Niagara Falls, N.Y., died March 5, 2010 in Kandahar, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his vehicle with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 630th Engineer Company (Clearance), 7th Engineer Battalion (Combat Effects), 20th Engineer Brigade (Combat) (Airborne), Fort Drum, N.Y.
• 3/10/10 update: Army Pvt. Nicholas S. Cook, 19, Hungry Horse, Mont., died March 7, 2010 in Konar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Camp Ederle, Italy.
• 3/11/10 update: Army Pfc. Jason M. Kropat, 25, White Lake, N.Y., died March 9, 2010 in Khowst province, Afghanistan, from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small-arms fire, indirect fire, and rocket-propelled grenades. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.
• 3/11/10 update: Army Sgt. Jonathan J. Richardson, 24, Bald Knob, Ark., died March 9, 2010 in Khowst province, Afghanistan, from wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit using small-arms fire, indirect fire, and rocket-propelled grenades. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 9, 2009

Bachmann sounds the socialism alarm.
(Photo credit: CNN / Getty Images)

Bachmann on the Media Circuit

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that Rep. Michele Bachmann had not met face-to-face with constituents at townhall meetings in her district, but was active as ever on the talkshow circuit.

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“Patriot” Groups, Militias Surge in Number in Past Year

Southern Poverty Law Center
March 2, 2010

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The number of extremist groups in the United States exploded in 2009 as militias and other groups steeped in wild, antigovernment conspiracy theories exploited populist anger across the country and infiltrated the mainstream, according to a report issued today by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC).

Antigovernment “Patriot” groups – militias and other extremist organizations that see the federal government as their enemy – came roaring back to life over the past year after more than a decade out of the limelight. 

The SPLC documented a 244 percent increase in the number of active Patriot groups in 2009. Their numbers grew from 149 groups in 2008 to 512 groups in 2009, an astonishing addition of 363 new groups in a single year. Militias – the paramilitary arm of the Patriot movement – were a major part of the increase, growing from 42 militias in 2008 to 127 in 2009. 

The report, “Rage on the Right,” is the cover story in the Spring 2010 issue of the SPLC’s quarterly investigative journal Intelligence Report.

Video

Patriot groups have been fueled by anger over the changing demographics of the country, the soaring public debt, the troubled economy and an array of initiatives by President Obama that have been branded “socialist” or even “fascist” by his political opponents.

“This extraordinary growth is a cause for grave concern,” said Intelligence Report editor Mark Potok. “The people associated with the Patriot movement during its 1990s heyday produced an enormous amount of violence, most dramatically the Oklahoma City bombing that left 168 people dead.”

The Patriot movement has made significant inroads into the conservative political scene, according to the new report. “The ‘tea parties’ and similar groups that have sprung up in recent months cannot fairly be considered extremist groups, but they are shot through with rich veins of radical ideas, conspiracy theories and racism,” the report says.

Unlike the 1990s, the Patriot movement’s central ideas are being promoted by people with large audiences, such as FOX News’ Glenn Beck and U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota [links added]. Beck, for instance, reinvigorated a key Patriot conspiracy theory – the charge that the Federal Emergency Management Agency is secretly running concentration camps – before finally “debunking” it. 

The growth of Patriot groups comes at a time when the number of racist hate groups stayed at record levels – rising from 926 in 2008 to 932 in 2009, according to the report. The increase caps a decade in which the number of hate groups surged by 55 percent. The expansion would have been much greater in 2009 if not for the demise of the American National Socialist Workers Party, a key neo-Nazi network whose founder was arrested in October 2008. 

There also has been a surge in “nativist extremist” groups – vigilante organizations that go beyond advocating strict immigration policy and actually confront or harass suspected immigrants. These groups grew from 173 groups in 2008 to 309 in 2009, a rise of nearly 80 percent.

These three strands of the radical right – the hate groups, the nativist extremist groups, and the Patriot organizations – are the most volatile elements on the American political landscape. Taken together, their numbers increased by more than 40 percent, rising from 1,248 groups in 2008 to 1,753 last year.

There are already signs of radical right violence reminiscent of the 1990s. Right-wing extremists have murdered six law enforcement officers since Obama’s inauguration. Racist skinheads and others have been arrested in alleged plots to assassinate the president. Most recently, as recounted in the new issue of the Intelligence Report, a number of individuals with antigovernment, survivalist or racist views have been arrested in a series of bomb cases.

The hate groups listed in this report include neo-Nazis, white nationalists, neo-Confederates, racist skinheads, Klansmen and black separatists. Other hate groups target gays or immigrants, and some specialize in producing racist music or propaganda denying the Holocaust.

A list and interactive, state-by-state map of active hate groups can be viewed here.

——

Related media

Video

Number of hate groups reach record level (The Dylan Ratigan Show, MSNBC, March 2, 2010) — According to a new report, militias and other extremist groups increasing 244 percent in 2009. Mark Potok of the Southern Poverty Law Center and radio host Mark Williams of the Tea Party Express discuss. (08:33)

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Related reports on this site

Bachmann Conspiracy Nation (Feb. 20, 2010)

Town Hall Face (Photos: Landov, AP, Getty Images / Newsweek)

Conspiracy theories have long been a fixture on the political landscape, with political paranoia most virulent among politically marginalized sectors of the polity. So, with Democrats holding the reins of power, it stands to reason that the right fringe has become the prime repository of collective craziness.

Condemning Beck and Bachmann (Nov. 19, 2009)

Rage Grows in America: Anti‑Government Conspiracies

November 2009

Introduction: A Year of Growing Animosity

Since the election of Barack Obama as president, a current of anti-government hostility has swept across the United States, creating a climate of fervor and activism with manifestations ranging from incivility in public forums to acts of intimidation and violence.

Hate groups including neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan have grown since Barack Obama was elected president. (Image: NBC News)

What characterizes this anti-government hostility is a shared belief that Obama and his administration actually pose a threat to the future of the United States. Some accuse Obama of plotting to bring socialism to the United States, while others claim he will bring about Nazism or fascism. All believe that Obama and his administration will trample on individual freedoms and civil liberties, due to some sinister agenda, and they see his economic and social policies as manifestations of this agenda. In particular anti-government activists used the issue of health care reform as a rallying point, accusing Obama and his administration of dark designs ranging from “socialized medicine” to “death panels,” even when the Obama administration had not come out with a specific health care reform plan. Some even compared the Obama administration’s intentions to Nazi eugenics programs. … Full story

Bachmann Rebuked for Nazi Image (Nov. 12, 2009)

Sign displayed at U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann’s “House Call on Congress” anti-health care reform rally in Washington, D.C., Nov. 5, 2009. The sign reads, “National Socialist Health Care: Dachau, Germany — 1945.” (Photo credit: Lee Fang / ThinkProgress)

Anger in America (Oct. 31, 2009)

Bachmann Heads Teabaggers (Sept. 13, 2009)

Rep. Michele Bachmann speaks at a Tea Party at Lake George in St. Cloud, Minn., after a town hall meeting, Saturday, Sept. 12, 2009. (Photo credit: Jason Wachter / St. Cloud Times)

Invitation to Tea Party headlined by Michele Bachmann

Bachmann: “Slit Our Wrists” (Sept. 2, 2009)

Rep. Michele Bachmann speaks to a luncheon crowd at the Denver Athletic Club, Aug. 31, 2009 (Photo credit: Jason Kosena / The Colorado Statesman)

In a speech filled with urgent and violent rhetoric, Bachmann … drew a clear line on health care reform.

“You’re either for us or against us on this issue,” she said. …

At times, Bachmann’s legislative briefing sounded more like the plot of a slasher movie.

“Right now, we are looking at reaching down the throat and ripping the guts out of freedom,” she said. “And we may never be able to restore it if we don’t man up and take this one on.”

While Bachmann didn’t ask this audience to “rise up” against President Barack Obama’s tyrannical rule, they stood anyway and applauded when she announced she was No. 1 on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s list of “top targets.” …

Economy and Obama Volatile Mix (April 16, 2009)

An April 2009 Homeland Security intelligence estimate warns that right-wing extremists could use the bad state of the U.S. economy and the election of the country’s first black president to recruit new members and incite anti-government violence.

Bachmann Call for Armed Revolt? (March 24, 2009)

On March 21, 2009 Rep. Michele Bachmann said that she wants people in Minnesota “armed and dangerous” on the issue of an energy tax, “because we need to fight back” and “having a revolution every now and then is a good thing.”

Obama, Economy Fuel Hate Groups (Feb. 28, 2009)

A cross and swastika are burned at an event called Hated and Proud in Nebraska in July 2008. (Photo credit: Southern Poverty Law Center / CNN)

Obama Racist Backlash (Nov. 16, 2008)

Racial incidents around the country referring to President-elect Barack Obama, including schoolchildren chanting “assassinate Obama,” racial epithets scrawled on homes and cars, and Black figures hung from nooses, are shattering the post-election illusion of racial progress and harmony, highlighting the stubborn racism that remains in America. There have been “hundreds” of incidents since the election, many more than usual, said Mark Potok, director of the Intelligence Project at the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate crimes.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 3, 2009

History repeats? Job hunters mass for $4 a day work in 1935 and the line unwinds outside a New York City job fair in February 2009. (Photo credit: Associated Press)

U.S. Economy in Depression?

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that according to some economists, a Depression doesn’t have to be Great, with bread lines, rampant unemployment, and a wipeout in the stock market; the economy can sink into a milder depression — the kind spelled with a lowercase “d” — and it may be happening now.

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U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

As of Tuesday, March 2, 2010, at least 4,380 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 31,706 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s weekly tally.

U.S. Troop Casualties in Iraq

Latest identifications:

• Army Cpl. Daniel T. O’Leary, 23, Youngsville, N.C., died Feb. 23, 2010 in Fallujah, Iraq, of injuries sustained during a vehicle roll-over. He was assigned to the 307th Brigade Support Battalion, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Army Sgt. William C. Spencer, 40, Tacoma, Wash., died Feb. 25, 2010 at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Landstuhl, Germany, of wounds sustained Feb. 20 while supporting combat operations at Combat Outpost Marez, Iraq. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 146th Field Artillery Regiment, Olympia, Wash.

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan

As of Friday, Feb. 26, 2010, at least 924 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. Outside the Afghan region, the department reports 76 more members of the U.S. military died in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, for a total of 1,000 military deaths.

Latest identifications: 

• Army Sgt. Marcos Gorra, 22, North Bergen, N.J., died Feb. 21, 2010 at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained while supporting combat operations. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Matthias N. Hanson, 20, Buffalo, Ky., died Feb. 21, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Lance Cpl. Eric L. Ward, 19, Redmond, Wash., died Feb. 21, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Army Staff Sgt. William S. Ricketts, 27, Corinth, Miss., died Feb 27, 2010 at Bala Murghab, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 2, 2009

Photoshopped image on the Tild~ blog prompted by Rep. Michele Bachmann’s “Michael Steele, you be da man, you be da man!” remark.

Bachmann Retort ‘Kind of Stupid’

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that Rep. Michele Bachmann raised eyebrows at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. when she congratulated the new African-American chairman of the RNC with the words, “Michael Steele, you be da man, you be da man!”

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In yet another of her many out-of-state political appearances, U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) on Friday, Feb. 26, 2010 spoke to Hamilton County Republicans in Cincinnatti, Ohio.

Following is a Gannet news report from the St. Cloud Times — the largest daily newspaper in Rep. Bachmann’s congressional district — along with added sidebars for background context.

Bachmann Tells Republicans in Ohio: Put Brakes on Obama

St. Cloud Times / Gannett ContentOne
February 27, 2010

Cincinnati-area Republican leaders were hoping Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann would give a red-meat speech to fire up the party faithful Friday.

They got what they hoped for.

More than 600 Hamilton County Republicans listening in the East Plaza of Paul Brown Stadium heard Bachmann implore them to go out and work for the election of Republicans “so we can put the brakes on the Obama agenda, put the brakes on the Obama machine.”

“It’s up to us to stop it,” said Bachmann, who has become a favorite of the most conservative wing of the GOP in recent years. “The president has embraced a policy that would have the federal government controlling 48 percent of our economy in just two years’ time. We have to stop him.”

She urged the Republicans to go to her Web site and look at a graph of federal deficits over the past several administrations.

“Yes, George Bush had some big spending years; we all know that,” Bachmann said. “But it is tiny potatoes compared to what it going on now.”

Sidebar: Bachmann’s True Colors

The 53-year-old Minnesota congresswoman has become a lightning rod for controversy for a raft of public statements, mostly on cable news networks, that have made her a favorite of the conservative movement and anathema to Democrats.

Sidebar: Bachmann on the Media Circuit

One of her most controversial statements came last June when speaking about the federal government bailout of General Motors. She called the Obama administration “a gangster government.”

Sidebar: Gangster Government

She has said carbon dioxide isn’t a harmful gas, warned of the coming of a “global currency” and said that voters should ask themselves if their members of Congress are “pro-America or anti-America.”

Sidebar: Bachmann Says ‘I’m Not a Kook’

But it was a statement on MSNBC where she raised the possibility that Obama might have “anti-American views” that made her the enemy of the left, Bachmann said Friday.

Sidebar: Bachmann Bears False Witness

“I had Nancy Pelosi fly into my district on a plane — your plane — and say she was handing my opponent $1 million and that I was the worst human being that ever lived,” Bachmann said.

From reading the news reports in Minnesota, she said, “you would have thought that I had eaten children.”

Sidebar

Fact check: Is Nancy Pelosi targeting Michele Bachmann?
(By Eric Roper, Star Tribune “Hot Dish Politics” blog, Jan. 22, 2010)

The Democrats, Bachmann said, will go after her this fall, and it was clear the Hamilton County Republican Party was happy to help her out. …

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Related links

Where’s Michele?
Missing in Minnesota and in Washington D.C.
(Maureen Reed for Congress)

Where in the World is Michele Bachmann?
(Tarryl Clark for Congress)

The Bachmann Agenda
(Tarryl Clark for Congress)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — March 1, 2009

More Bachmann Bad Press for GOP

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that Salem-News.com published a commentary on Rep. Michele Bachmann by Dorsett Bennett, “an Independent/Libertarian.” “There’s no point in trying to fact-check such unhinged stupidity,” writes Bennett, “but I should note that none of this is in any way grounded in reality. I should also note that we’re not talking about some strange nut screaming on a street corner; this is all coming from an elected member of Congress.”

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Pope: I Pray for Chile Earthquake Victims

“I implore God to give them relief from suffering and courage in this adversity”

Pope Benedict XVI delivers his 2008 Christmas Day blessing from St. Peter’s Basilica. (Photo credit: Franco Origlia / Getty Images)

Feb. 28, 2010 

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday urged the survivors of Chile’s devastating quake to be courageous and asked the Catholic church to play a role in relief efforts.

Photo chronicle Earthquake rocks Chile A devastating magnitude-8.8 earthquake strikes Chile.

The pontiff, speaking first in Italian and then in Spanish, told pilgrims in St. Peter’s Square that he was praying for the victims.

“My thoughts go to Chile and to the population struck by the earthquake, which has caused much loss of human life and huge damage,” Benedict said.

“I am sure that solidarity won’t be lacking,” he said, singling out the local church in that predominantly Roman Catholic country for a role in disaster relief.

“I pray for the victims, and I am spiritually close to those so tried by such a grave calamity,” he said. “For those, I implore God to give them relief from suffering and courage in this adversity.” …

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 28, 2009

A cross and swastika are burned at an event called Hated and Proud in Nebraska in July 2008. (Photo credit: Southern Poverty Law Center / CNN)

Obama, Economy Fuel Hate Groups

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that the Southern Poverty Law Center had released its annual hate group report, titled “The Year in Hate.” The study identified 926 hate groups active in 2008 and found that the number of hate groups had grown by 54 percent since 2000.

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U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

As of Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2010, at least 4,379 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 31,693 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s weekly tally.

U.S. Troop Casualties in Iraq

Latest identifications:

• Army National Guard Capt. Marcus R. Alford, 28, Knoxville, Tenn., died Feb. 21, 2010 in Qayyarah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter had a hard landing. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 230th Cavalry Regiment, Louisville, Tenn.
• Army National Guard Chief Warrant Officer Billie J. Grinder, 25, Gallatin, Tenn., died Feb. 21, 2010 in Qayyarah, Iraq, of wounds suffered when his OH-58D Kiowa Warrior helicopter had a hard landing. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 230th Cavalry Regiment, Louisville, Tenn.

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan

As of Friday, Feb. 19, 2010, at least 913 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department.

Latest identifications: 

• Army Pfc. Charles A. Williams, 29, Fair Oaks, Calif., died Feb. 7, 2010 at Camp Nathan Smith, Afghanistan, of injuries sustained while supporting combat operations. He was assigned to the 97th Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade, Fort Riley, Kan.
• Army Spc. Bobby J. Pagan, 23, Austin, Texas, died Feb. 13, 2010 in Zhari province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.
• Army Staff Sgt. John A. Reiners, 24, Lakeland, Fla., died Feb. 13, 2010 in Zhari province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.
• Marine Cpl. Jacob H. Turbett, 21, Canton, Mich., died Feb. 13, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Army Sgt. Jeremiah T. Wittman, 26, Darby, Mont., died Feb. 13, 2010 in Zhari province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.
• Marine Pfc. Jason H. Estopinal, 21, Dallas, Ga., died Feb. 15, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Navy Petty Officer 1st Class Sean L. Caughman, 43, Fort Worth, Texas, died Feb. 16, 2010 while supporting operations in Kuwait. Caughman was assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion Twenty-Two.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Noah M. Pier, 25, Charlotte, N.C., died Feb. 16, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Alejandro J. Yazzie, 23, Rock Point, Ariz., died Feb. 16, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.
• Marine Pfc. Eric D. Currier, 21, Londonderry, N.H., died Feb. 17, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Marine Pfc. Kyle J. Coutu, 20, Providence, R.I., died Feb. 18, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Kielin T. Dunn, 19, Chesapeake, Va., died Feb. 18, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Larry M. Johnson, 19, Scranton, Pa., died Feb. 18, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Marine Sgt. Jeremy R. McQueary, 27, Columbus, Ind., died Feb. 18, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Combat Engineer Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Joshua H. Birchfield, 24, Westville, Ind., died Feb. 19, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Farah province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif.
• Marine Cpl. Gregory S. Stultz, 22, Brazil, Ind., died Feb. 19, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 3rd Reconnaissance Battalion, 3rd Marine Division, III Marine Expeditionary Force, Okinawa, Japan.
• Army Staff Sgt. Michael David P. Cardenaz, 29, Corona, Calif., died Feb. 20, 2010 in Kunar, Afghanistan, when enemy forces attacked his unit with rocket-propelled grenades. He was assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.
• Marine Staff Sgt. Christopher W. Eckard, 30, Hickory, N.C., died Feb. 20, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 8th Engineer Support Battalion, 2nd Marine Logistics Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Marine Lance Cpl. Adam D. Peak, 25, Florence, Ky., died Feb. 21, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Army Pfc. J.R. Salvacion, 27, Ewa Beach, Hawaii, died Feb. 21, 2010 at Senjaray, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Fort Carson, Colo.

Read personal details about these service members 

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

——

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 23, 2009

Coleman v. Franken Live Coverage

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I featured live coverage of the trial to decide the winner of the Coleman-Franken contest for U.S. Senate, courtesy of The UpTake.

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Helping Nurse an Impaired Water Back to Health

One person can make a difference

Nancy Carver of Rice, Minn., has led by example by restoring her shoreline on Little Rock Lake to native flowers and grasses during the past two years. She is helping educate her neighbors on how to develop restoration plans for their shorelines. (MPCA video)

February 2010

What do you do when you find out your lake has been placed on the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency’s (MPCA) Impaired Waters list? If you were Nancy Carver of Little Rock Lake near Rice, Minn., you would start attending workshops and reading everything you could about restoring your shoreline and helping to make a lake healthy again.

“What I learned was making sure to have a properly working septic system and restoring a natural shoreline were two important things lake home owners could do on their own. My septic system checked out okay so the next step was to make the shoreline environmentally friendly to the lake,” says Nancy. The first things she did were to stop mowing all the way to the shore and plant some new native grasses to develop a buffer to the lake.

With help from her local Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR), MPCA, and American Meadows, Nancy learned about more affordable options for natural plantings. Nancy says, “A SWCD manager and a DNR staff person came to my home and found some native flowers and bur reed already starting to grow along my shore. And American Meadows helped me choose more plants native to Central Minnesota and develop a planting plan.

“It was so exciting to see plantings bloom in all the colors and variety of native flowers earlier this summer. And now the bold colors of the fall blooms are beginning to show. I will continue to work on this project until nature takes control.”

Of course with any worthwhile project there are hurdles. Nancy says early on there was resistance among some of her neighbors because it appeared as though she was just ignoring her lawn and making their neighborhood look sloppy. By meeting with her neighbors and explaining her intentions were to create a natural shoreline and do her part to help restore the health of the lake, that resistance turned into acceptance and appreciation. Several of her neighbors are taking her lead and developing plans to restore their shorelines as well.

Nancy says that without the help from the SWCD, DNR, MPCA, “and the muscle and sweat from a wonderful young man named Keith, this project would not have become a reality for me and my lake.”

It is also important to note that without the brains and passion of a wonderful young woman named Nancy Carver, this project would not have become a reality for our environment.

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Related links

Minnesota Water Stories

Little Rock Lake Association

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Related content on this site

Aubrey Immelman meets with Little Rock Lake resident Nancy Carver to discuss water quality issues at Little Rock Lake, July 24, 2008.

Patrick (2) fishing from a constituent’s dock during a campaign swing to Little Rock Lake in Benton County, September 1, 2008. 

Aubrey Immelman listens to Little Rock Lake residents at the Little Rock Lake TMDL Public Meeting and Open House at Sauk Rapids-Rice Middle School, July 29, 2008, to learn about water quality issues on Little Rock Lake in Benton County. The main focus of the TMDL project is to mitigate phosphorus, the water quality limiting nutrient responsible for the toxic blue-green algae blooms in the lake.

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 21, 2009

Minnesota private college students present their scholarly research in the Capitol rotunda.

Barack Obama’s Leadership Style

Sarah Moore and Angela Rodgers in the Capitol rotunda.

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that two of my student research associates in the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics, Sarah Moore and Angela Rodgers, presented their research on “The Personality Profile of President Barack Obama: Leadership Implications” at the 6th annual Minnesota Private Colleges Scholars at the Capitol event, Feb. 19, 2009 in the State Capitol rotunda, St. Paul, Minn.

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Conspiracy theories have long been a fixture on the political landscape, with political paranoia most virulent among politically marginalized sectors of the polity. So, with Democrats holding the reins of power, it stands to reason that the right fringe has become the prime repository of collective craziness.

Newsweek has a handy primer on the current proliferation of political paranoia, but omits mention of conspiracy theorist-in-chief Michele Bachmann, which has been added to Newsweek’s coverage by way of sidebars.

Know Your Conspiracies

Town Hall Face: An unsightly condition caused by unsanitary health-care politics. (Photos: Landov, AP, Getty Images / Newsweek)

By David A. Graham
Newsweek Web Exclusive
February 12, 2010

Excerpts

1. Barack Obama was not born in the United States.

It’s not clear where he must have been born instead: some say Indonesia; some say Kenya (initial suggestions that Hawaiian natives weren’t citizens when he was born in Honolulu in 1961 were quickly dismissed). The point, so-called birthers say, is that he wasn’t born in the good old US of A, hence isn’t a natural-born citizen and therefore cannot legally be president.
Proponents: Chief birther and Beverly Hills dentist and attorney Orly Taitz, WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah, Rep. Nathan Deal (R-Ga.), former presidential and Senate candidate Alan Keyes, assorted tea partiers.
Kernel of Truth? It’s fully debunked. Forged Kenyan birth certificates have been exposed, and — despite protestations to the contrary — Obama’s birth certificate has been certified by the state of Hawaii, and images have been shown on national television. And that’s leaving aside plenty of circumstantial proof, like birth announcements in both major Hawaiian papers from August 1961.

2. Anthropogenic global warming is a hoax.

[Read more]

Sidebar: A ‘Rash of Lies and Falsehoods’ (April 9, 2009)

3. Goldman Sachs intentionally created the economic crisis.

[Read more]

4. Democrats’ health plan will create death panels.

Part of Barack Obama’s devious plan to reform health insurance will be the creation of panels of experts who will decide whether or not patients are “worth” treating, making them arbiters of life and death.
Proponents: Sarah Palin, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Iowa), a lot of angry town-hall-meeting attendees.
Kernel of Truth? Palin was apparently referring to a provision of draft legislation that would have funded consultation about end-of-life care. There was and is, however, no plan for rationing care as a cost-cutting measure, and fact-checking outlet PolitiFact named the theory the “Lie of the Year” in 2009.

Sidebar: Bachmann Rebuked for Nazi Image (Nov. 12, 2009)

5. Barack Obama is a secret Muslim.

[Read more]

6. Sarah Palin is not the mother of her 1-year-old son, Trig.

[Read more]

7. ACORN is part of a liberal conspiracy to steal elections.

The coalition of community organizations first came under fire after allegations that members were filing fraudulent voter-registration forms in order to beef up the Democratic vote in the 2008 elections. Pressure heated up after a videotaped sting humiliated the group. 
Proponents: Glenn Beck, conservative commentators Michelle Malkin and Andrew Breitbart, Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa), unsuccessful N.Y. Conservative Party congressional candidate Doug Hoffman.
Kernel of Truth? The James O’Keefe videos showed questionable conduct at the very least, but neither they nor anything else proves a vast left-wing conspiracy between Democrats and ACORN to steal elections.

Sidebar: ACORN: Bachmann ‘Pants on Fire’ (July 2, 2009)

8. FEMA is establishing detention camps.

The government has quietly made the Federal Emergency Management Agency a shadow government. Even now, FEMA has concentration camps ready across the country to intern American citizens. The idea attracted leftists during the Bush administration and — updated for the Obama administration — now has right-wing adherents.
Proponents: Glenn Beck (briefly), the Internet.
Kernel of Truth? Too silly to discuss.

9. The Council on American-Islamic Relations is trying to infiltrate Capitol Hill and spread jihad.

[Read more]

10. Obama wants to conscript Americans into a civilian defense corps.

The group would be a brownshirtlike organization that would enforce order in the United States.
Proponents: Glenn Beck, Watergate burglar and media personality G. Gordon Liddy, Ann Coulter.
Kernel of Truth? Liberal press watchdog Media Matters says the theory stems from a speech Obama made in which he argued for the importance of the Foreign Service, AmeriCorps, and the Peace Corps. That’s a far cry from an American Gestapo — a claim for which there’s no support.

Sidebar: Bachmann Brainwashing Paranoia (April 8, 2009)

11. Time magazine wants to restrict the Internet to licensed users.

12. 9/11 was an inside job.

[Read more]

Kernel of Truth? Not even the staunchest mainstream George W. Bush bashers believe this one. Enough said.

13. The Omnibus One-World Government, Unified Currency, Dollar-Abolishing, Free Trade-Advocating Theory of Everything.

To make, first reheat old theories about elite organizations that supposedly control various world governments and would like to create a single, unitary, global regime — the Bilderberg Group, the Council of Foreign Relations, and the Trilateral Commission. Add a healthy portion of slightly newer but equally discredited theories about the Amero, a pan-North American currency, and the NAFTA superhighway, a planned thruway from Canada to Mexico said to be six football fields wide. Freshen with the economic-crisis-born idea that Ben Bernanke is trying to destroy the value of the dollar. Add a pinch of tea-party spice from former Alabama State Supreme Court Chief Justice Roy Moore, who believes there’s a plan underfoot to have a United Nations guard at every American’s door. The finished product should taste a little like this.
Proponents: Alex Jones, finance blog Zero Hedge, WorldNetDaily, conservative news site NewsMax, Roy Moore.
Kernel of Truth? Eh, sounds plausible to us.

Sidebar: Bachmann Says ‘I’m Not a Kook’ (March 28, 2009)

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 20, 2009

Iraqi Shoe Hurler Goes on Trial

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that Muntadhar al-Zeidi, the Iraqi reporter who hurled his shoes at George W. Bush, said at his trial that President Bush’s smile as he talked about achievements in Iraq had made him think of “the killing of more than a million Iraqis, the disrespect for the sanctity of the mosques and houses, the rapes of women,” and enraged him.

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The Fargo-Moorhead Forum ran a good editorial on Rep. Michele Bachmann last week, though I take issue with the editorial board’s characterization of Bachmann as “fun” (in the headline) “darned entertaining,” (in the lead) and ”goofy” (in the closing paragraph).

In truth, Michele Bachmann is the face of an emerging brand of American protofascism being spawned by the ”perfect storm” of the attacks of 9/11, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, and the election of America’s first African-American president.

In the public interest, the Forum editorial follows in its entirety.

Bachmann is Fun, But No Friend

Forum Editorial Board
February 12, 2010

If nothing else, Michele Bachmann is darned entertaining. In her role as Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District member of the U.S. House of Representatives, the conservative Republican has become the darling of the Tea Party set and a stir-’em-up attraction at Republican rallies, although describing her as “conservative” doesn’t do her justice. Nor is it fair to thoughtful conservatives, because she subscribes to a hat full of peculiar notions that could cause her to be mistaken for a mad hatter.

Bachmann is in Bismarck today at the invitation of the North Dakota Republican Party. The idea is to energize the party faithful, who probably don’t need to be energized this election year. But the fallout from the visit could very well be (maybe should be) to cause sensible North Dakotans to wonder why the state party and its marquee candidate – Gov. John Hoeven for the U.S. Senate – would cozy up to Bachmann and her, frankly, loony ideas. Not only are some of her ideas bizarre, she happily rejects federal policies and initiatives that have enjoyed bipartisan support from North Dakotans and their elected officials for generations – Hoeven among those popular leaders.

For example:

• Bachmann favors privatization of Social Security, which would mean handing over billions of Social Security dollars to Wall Street. Had that happened when President George W. Bush proposed it, thousands of North Dakotans would have seen their Social Security accounts take big losses or dry up altogether.
• She wants to eliminate Social Security and Medicare, which was actually proposed by House Republicans last week.
• She wants investigations into members of Congress she believes are anti-American, who just happen to be Democrats. Would that McCarthy-like net scoop up North Dakota Democratic Sens. Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad? Rep. Earl Pomeroy? Minnesota 7th District Congressman Collin Peterson?
• Bachmann voted five times against the 2008 farm bill (Congressional Record), legislation Hoeven favored; he traveled several times to Washington to help the state’s congressional delegation get the bill passed. And how about this: Bachmann received $251,973 in federal subsidies for her family’s farm from 1995 to 2006.

Her goofy comments aside, Bachmann’s take on serious policies disqualifies her as a friend of North Dakotans. Her agenda would return North Dakota to a marginal economic outpost instead of its current role as a vibrant player in the nation’s energy, research and agribusiness economies. Hoeven can take some credit for that success because he was willing to work across party lines in order to position the state to take advantage of appropriate federal programs. But if he reaches across the aisle in Bismarck today and finds Bachmann there, he should smile politely and step smartly in the opposite direction.

Forum editorials represent the opinion of Forum management and the newspaper’s Editorial Board.

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Related reports on this site

The Empress of Exaggeration (Aug. 8, 2009)

Michele Bachmann Unmasked (July 20, 2009)

Bachmann: MN Press Pushes Back (May 3, 2009)

FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 18, 2009

A school boy killed by an explosion is seen surrounded by relatives, as some chant anti-U.S. and Afghan government slogans in Rodad, Nangarhar province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo credit: Rahmat Gul / AP)

Afghan Deaths at All-Time High

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that the number of Afghan civilians killed in armed conflict surged to a record 2,118 in 2008 as the Afghanistan war turned increasingly bloody. Insurgents were responsible for 55 percent of the deaths, but U.S., NATO, and Afghan forces killed 39 percent, the report said. Of the 829 deaths by the coalition forces, 552 were blamed on airstrikes.

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U.S. Military Deaths in Iraq

As of Tuesday, Feb. 16, 2010, at least 4,376 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.

Since the start of U.S. military operations in Iraq, 31,651 U.S. service members have been wounded in hostile action, according to the Defense Department’s weekly tally.

U.S. Troop Casualties in Iraq

Latest identification:

• Army Pfc. Adriana Alvarez, 20, San Benito, Texas, died Feb. 10, 2010 in Baghdad, of injuries sustained while supporting combat operations. She was assigned to the 504th Military Police Battalion, 42nd Military Police Brigade, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.

U.S. Military Deaths in Afghanistan

As of Friday, Feb. 12, 2010, at least 902 members of the U.S. military had died in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department.

Latest identification:

• Army Sgt. Adam J. Ray, 23, Louisville, Ky., died Feb. 9, 2010 in southern Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 5th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash. 

Remember Their Sacrifice

Related links

Iraq Casualties

Afghanistan Casualties

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2/20/10 Update

2 U.S. Helicopter Pilots Killed in Iraq

Feb. 21, 2010

BAGHDAD – The U.S. military says two Army helicopter pilots have been killed in an accident on a base in northern Iraq.

The military said in a statement that there were no “enemy forces” present and no hostile fire reported.

It said the aircraft made a “hard landing” Sunday near an airfield inside the base, but gave no further details. The military often uses the phrase “hard landing” to mean a crash. …

The deaths raise to at least 4,378 the number of U.S. military personnel who have died in Iraq since the war began in March 2003. …

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FROM THE ARCHIVES: One Year Ago — February 16, 2009

Bush Not ‘Worst President Ever’

One-year retrospective: One year ago today, I reported that historians had ranked Abraham Lincoln the best U.S. president and James Buchanan the worst. Former President George W. Bush was ranked 36th out of the 42 men who had been chief executive by the end of 2008, according to a survey conducted by the cable TV channel C-SPAN.

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