[Mb-civic] CBC News - MARINE DEATHS PROMPT NEW CALLS FOR U.S. TO LEAVE IRAQ

[CBC News Online]

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MARINE DEATHS PROMPT NEW CALLS FOR U.S. TO LEAVE IRAQ
WebPosted Thu Aug  4 18:13:01 2005

--- At least four more U.S. soldiers and marines have been killed in Iraq
as one of deadliest violent upsurges of the war continues.

        Those killed Thursday include three soldiers killed by a roadside
        bomb in Baghdad and a marine shot in Ramadi. That brings to 24
        the number of marines killed in just three days.

         Nineteen of the marines are from the same unit, the Third
         Battalion, 25th Marines, based in the Cleveland, Ohio suburb of
         Brook Park.

        President George W. Bush has called the deaths a grim reminder
        that the country is still at war. While in Brook Part, the deaths
        are the subject of a growing debate over whether it is time to
        bring the troops home.

        Paul Montgomery had two sons in the U.S. Marine Corps. Both
        signed up in the wake of Sept. 11. Now one is on his way home for
        the funeral of his older brother.

         Lance Cpl. Brian Montgomery, 26, was one of five local marines
         killed in an ambush in Iraq on Monday. Fourteen more dies in an
         attack on Wednesday.

        Paul Montgomery tries to explain why his son died.

        "My son died doing something he believed so deeply in," he said
        through tears and grief. "I can't tell you how proud he was of
        his uniform, and his flag, and his country."

        Montgomery says his son knew what he was doing. "This isn't
        Vietnam. This is a war that we are winning. And we have to
        realize that if we don't fight it there, there will be terrorists
        back here again, doing the same thing they did on Sept. 11."

        But some believe it is time for the U.S. to pull out of Iraq.

        Larry Oldcorn, a Vietnam veteran who carries the scars of his war
        service on his arms and face, says the fighting in Iraq has gone
        on long enough.

        "Bring them home. Let them people fight their own war over there.
        This is turning out to be just another Vietnam," says Oldcorn. He
        calls it 'George's War.'

        Brook Park has become a flashpoint for the debate over American
        involvement in Iraq. When the town's mayor has suggested in
        interviews that so many deaths in one week could have an effect
        on the community's feelings about the war, it drew the ire of
        syndicated national call-in talk shows.

        Paul Montgomery bristles when he hears talk that it's time to get
        out of Iraq. "They're going to have to realize, if we pull out of
        Iraq, if we let those people sort it out on their own, the
        terrorists have won, and soon they're going to be over here."

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