RIP: Omar Mora & Yance Gray
Two of the seven GIs in Iraq who wrote a controversial New York Times op-ed piece questioning the war have been killed.
Sergeants Omar Mora and Yance Gray died Monday when a cargo truck overturned in western Baghdad, two of seven U.S. troops killed and 11 injured just as General David Petraeus was about to report to Congress on progress of the surge. Their names were released today.
A third co-contributor, Staff Sergeant Jeremy Murphy, was shot in the head while the article was being written and is being treated for a severe brain injury at a military hospital in the U.S.
The op-ed was titled The War As We Saw It and expressed skepticism about U.S. gains in Iraq because, they wrote, Americans had long ago worn out their welcome and any possibility that they could win through counterinsurgency warfare was far-fetched.
Immigrant Basher Alert: Mora was a native of Ecuador and had just become a U.S. citizen.
More here.
6 Responses to “RIP: Omar Mora & Yance Gray”
Heartbreaking. And one of their other co-writers was brain-damaged shortly before the paper was sent to the Times. It reminds us that these people are real soldiers, even if we’ve never personally met them. Small towns confront this sort of thing every day; except in those cases, residents know these fallen soldiers far better than we know Omar Mora and Yance Gray.
Elrod:
Heartbreaking indeed.
I added the info about Staff Sergeant Murphy just as you posted your comment.
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The Lehrer news broadcast regularly puts up pictures of the recentlly killed. No commentary can match the impact of seeing a photo of an actual individual. It’s like attending a funeral every time they to it.
And yes, it does break one’s heart.
I know Yance personally, I grew up with him and he was a great friend, father (whom only got to see his lil girl ONCE ) and was scheduled to come home next month. We are all devastated in our little part of the world. He is going to be buried in Arlington where he deserves to be. This was his third tour in Iraq. We will all miss him greatly and pray he is in a better place now.