March 2008 - Posts
By John Rutherford, NBC News Producer
WASHINGTON – Two soldiers receiving Purple Hearts at Walter Reed Army Medical Center called Afghanistan a "forgotten war" being fought with not enough troops, supplies or support from the American people.
Army Spc. Jesse Murphree, 20, of Westminister, Colo., lost both legs to a roadside bomb on Dec. 27 in northeastern Afghanistan.
"Every day we were getting shot at," he said in an interview after receiving his Purple Heart on Friday. "And you hear about other people in Iraq, they got shot at a couple of times. We're like, we've been shot at every day.
"You start thinking you're fighting a forgotten war, like no one's paying attention. I went home on R&R before I got hurt and people were coming up to me, they're like, at least you're not in Iraq and stuff, and I was looking at them, and I was like, what? And they'd say, you don't do, they called it battle, they're like, you don't do battle anymore? And I'm like, are you kidding me? Like, yeah, I do," Spc. Murphree said.
"I know the area our unit's at is definitely hot and definitely feels they're forgotten about, like the people think that Afghanistan is really not a big deal or nothing's really going on. We still got people that are dying, we still got people that are getting hurt."
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By Denise Baker, NBC News Producer
ATLANTA – For one hour this Saturday night, Atlanta, along with nearly 200 other cities around the world, will go dark in what the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is calling the largest planned power outage in history.
WWF, an international environmental advocacy group, is spearheading the event in an effort to raise awareness about power consumption and climate change.
More than 2.2 million people participated in the inaugural Earth Hour last year, in which just one city – Sydney, Australia – went dark. The one hour outage produced a 10 percent drop in energy usage during the hour – double what had been predicted.
The Sydney event led to the push for a global effort this year. Other U.S. cities participating include Chicago, Phoenix, San Francisco, and international cities range from Bangkok to Tel Aviv.
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By John Rutherford, NBC News producer
WASHINGTON – The National Archives has created an interactive Web site in which people can learn about each of the 58,250 Americans killed in the Vietnam War and also pay tribute to them.
"These are individuals, these are people who have given their lives, these are many of them my friends," Vietnam veteran Richard Schroepfer says in a video on the site, which is called the "Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial."
The memorial provides a link to the service records and casualty reports of those who died in the war, average age: 22.8 years. Visitors are encouraged to contribute their own comments, stories and photos.
"We know there are many untold experiences and stories represented on the Wall, and we hope this interactive version of the Wall will help those affected by the war," Russell Wilding, CEO of Footnote.com, which partnered with the Archives on the project, told a news conference this morning.
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By Kerry Sanders, NBC News Correspondent
We always hear how small our world has become, and here’s a real-life example.
Six years ago, while on assignment in northern Afghanistan, I met the Nazir family.
The Nazirs are a small family: A husband, wife, son and daughter.
Farah Naz Nazir, the mother, was a women’s rights activist. The Taliban did not control that northern region. It was ruled by the so-called Northern Alliance.
But the Northern Alliance shared one Taliban value: a woman’s worth.
Afghanistan can be a tough place to be a woman.
This is the land of the bhurka, a robe that covers a woman head-to-toe.
It was just one of the many repressive impositions women endure.
The Nazir women didn’t take kindly to the rules.
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By John Rutherford, NBC News producer
WASHINGTON -- Unlike the 1960s, when tens of thousands marched on the Pentagon to protest the Vietnam War, small pockets of protesters fanned out across Washington to mark the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq.
They began Tuesday afternoon singing on the steps of the National Archives.
"Someone's in the White House with George,
Someone's in the White House I know-ow-ow-ow,
Someone's in the White House with George,
Cooking up another war-r-r-r."
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By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
WASHINGTON – Army Maj. Alan Rogers had no family of his own, so his friends became his family, and scores of them turned out Friday to say good-bye to him.
Rogers was killed Jan. 27 by a roadside bomb in Baghdad. He was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery.
An Army band led the procession down Bradley Road to Rogers' gravesite, followed by a horse-drawn caisson and all of those friends – civilian and military, young and old, black and white.
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| Courtesy U.S. Army |
| Army Maj. Alan Rogers was killed by a roadside bomb on Jan. 27 in Baghdad. |
"Today we lay to rest Maj. Alan Greg Rogers, a man of great courage," an Army chaplain told the mourners. "Whenever he was needed, he was there."
Rogers was remembered for his love of cookouts and entertaining friends.
"Alan was such a sweet, kind, loving person," a friend wrote in the online guest book. "He brought everyone together to have a good time."
An only child of elderly parents, Rogers was often called home to Hampton, Fla., for medical emergencies.
"A mother couldn't have asked for a better son," a former neighbor told the Gainesville Sun. "Anytime they called, he would get here if he could."
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By Jim Miklaszewski, NBC News Chief Pentagon Correspondent
WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon sharks are circling CENTCOM Commander Adm. William "Fox" Fallon for a magazine interview in which he appears to openly criticize President Bush on the administration's Iran policy. The very public comments raised speculation Fallon would either volunteer or be forced to resign.
Defense Secretary William Gates
announced Tuesday that
Fallon is stepping down as head of U.S. Central Command. He said Fallon
took the decision because he felt the statements attributed to him
created a misperception about his goals and those of President Bush.
The current issue of Esquire Magazine portrays Fallon as the one person in the military or Pentagon standing between the White House and war with Iran. The article credits Fallon with "brazenly challenging his commander in chief" over a possible war with Iran, which Fallon called an "ill-advised action," and implies Fallon would resign rather than go to war against Iran.
Asked on Monday whether Gates still has full confidence in Fallon, Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell would only say that Fallon "still enjoys a working – a good working relationship with the Secretary of Defense."
Although reporters did not specifically ask about a possible Fallon resignation, Morrell freely offered, "Admiral Fallon serves at the pleasure of the president." That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement, but far from a political death knell.
Still, the gruff, outspoken CENTCOM commander has his detractors. "How many times can [Fallon] get away with these kinds of remarks," before he's forced out the door, asked one senior Pentagon official. The reason may be that on Iran, Gates and many senior military officials happen to agree with Fallon.
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By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
WASHINGTON -- Three soldiers received Purple Hearts this week at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Afterward I asked them a series of questions sent to me by readers in response to my "Purple Hearted Candor" post about the last award ceremony.
On Tuesday I spoke with Sgt. Christopher Ritchey, 25, of Hudson, Ohio; Staff Sgt. Dale Cherney, 43, of Mosinee, Wis., and Sgt. Michael Minard, 26, of Grand Junction, Colo.
The first soldier, Sgt. Ritchey, was wounded in December by a roadside bomb north of Fallujah, Iraq:
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| NBC News |
| Sgt. Christopher Ritchey |
1. Question from Merry Jones, Rockmart, Ga.: "How can we best show our appreciation for the wounded that are stateside and the others who are still in the Mideast?"
Sgt. Ritchey: "I think the best way people can support troops coming back is to just listen, because I think it helps to just talk about what happened. Get things out in the open and, you know, not hide anything. I think that really helps the healing process."
2. Question from Mireya, Berwyn, Ill.: "What would you say to a young 18-year-old who is thinking of joining the military, what advice would you give to them? What advice do you wish was given to you when you first signed up?"
Sgt. Ritchey: "I would tell someone joining to make sure they know what they're getting into and not be naive. Read everything before you sign it. A lot of people gave me advice, and I ignored a lot of good advice. I guess I wish I would have just finished school before joining the Army."
3. Question from Joel, Boston: "As the enemy has no airplanes, no navy, no tanks, no artillery, etc. ... how come the USA is not kicking their butt?"
Sgt. Ritchey: "The enemy is really cunning, and they're fighting a guerilla war. We're doing the best we can, and in a lot of respects, from what I've seen, we are really kicking their butt."
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By John Rutherford, Producer, NBC News, Washington
WASHINGTON – The only original copy of the 1297 Magna Carta outside of England was taken out of its display case at the National Archives Monday for a one-time press photo opportunity.
Archives officials admonished jostling photographers and cameramen to keep their distance from the russet-colored document, considered the foundation of English law.
"No heavy breathing or drooling on the document," teased the National Archives' Susan Cooper. The parchment may have been out of its display case, but it was still sealed in a glass-topped encasement.
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| Getty Images |
| Photographers point their cameras to a 1297 version of Magna Carta during a press viewing of the document at the National Archives on March 3 in Washington, DC. |
This copy of the Magna Carta – the only one in private hands – was owned for centuries by an English family, the Brudenells. Texas billionaire Ross Perot bought it for $1.5 million in 1984 from relatives of the family and loaned it in 1985 to the National Archives, but he terminated the loan last year, took back the document, and sold it at auction for $21.3 million to David Rubenstein, managing director of the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm in Washington, D.C.
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