regarding staff sgt. ryan d. maseth -- a fascinating dialogue. . .

UPDATE -- 05.28.08:

i think what so many of you are
searching for today, actually was
posted to the back-up site for this
blog -- if you have heard about
some rather outrageously libelous
remarks regarding this young man,
on the web -- they were posted in
the comments to the back up site,
at wordpress -- used only when this
site experiences outages -- which it
rarely does, any longer.

click the above link, but be warned,
it is offensive to his memory.

-- nolo

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

earlier this week, i posted on
rep. henry waxman's letter seeking
answers from the department of de-
fense related to the accidental elec-
trocution, in iraq, of the above special
forces hero.

i know most people don't bother to
read the comments posted here, but i
thought this discussion -- because of
its widely-diverging views -- deserved
to be highlighted, in a post of its own.

you will see that here, the
very same text set below,
appears, as originally typed. . .

but do read this over -- i will not edit
for any grammatical or spelling errors:

5 COMMENTS:

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for writing this.. Ryan Maseth was a wonderful person and gave a life full of sacrifices to keep America Free and Safe. Its ashame to see rich Capitalistic War Profiteers such as KBR cheat our country, our tax dollar, our economy, and ultimately my best friends life. Please support your soldiers and freedom protectors and not such COs like KBR who give America a bad image and rob the American Economy.....PEOPLE BECOME AWARE OF SITUATIONS AND LEARN ABOUT KBR AND THEIR CORUPTION"

March 19, 2008 9:21 PM

nolo said...

i am honored to have anyone
who knew this fine young man
visit this humble blog.

thank you for commenting, anon.

may his passing not be in vain.

we should all remember him in our
own ways -- and may anyone res-
ponsible for any negligent-wiring
in the servicemens' showers be
brought to justice -- to answer
for it. our men and women deserve
the best we can get them, not this.

p e a c e

March 19, 2008 10:21 PM

nolo said...

UPDATE on Ryan's case:

. . .Yesterday, in a quest for someone to be held accountable, Sgt. Maseth's parents sued KBR Inc., the multibillion-dollar contractor hired to maintain and repair the electrical infrastructure at the Radwaniyah Palace complex in Baghdad, a former estate of Saddam Hussein, where Sgt. Maseth was killed.

Attorney Patrick K. Cavanaugh said the military and the contractor had known about the electrical problem since February 2007, yet it went uncorrected.

"The Defense Contract Management Agency, we believe, authorized [the contractor] to the tune of millions of dollars to make the repairs. And they never made the repairs," Mr. Cavanaugh said. "And we don't know why. A simple repair -- just ground the building -- and Ryan would be alive today. . ."

March 20, 2008 8:28 AM

Anonymous said...

I knew Ryan, I went through MOS-Q and I graduated with him, why are you using his tragic death to protest the war that he fought? He was a great SF operator and loved his country; I don’t think he would appreciate being used as a tool pawn of protest. it is unfortunate that he met such an unfortunate end but a large number of people die every day from accidents, a large number of people in Iraq die from accidents as my uncle did, but it does not honor the fallen to use there death to protest the war that they fought.

The community has lost a great asset and we will greave him as we greave all of our own

March 21, 2008 11:08 AM

nolo said...

hey, anon. no. 2 -- (yes, you,
anonymous commenter no. 4 --
the person who posted from
Kellog Brown & Root, yep,
in Arlington, Virginia!). . .

did you read what anon. no. 1,
the first commenter above, wrote?

it seems he also was a friend of
ryan's. so, it seems there is a
divergence of opinion, here.

and i think that is healthy.

it is healthy for our demo-
cratic republic.

i have been very careful -- in
my post, to simply report what
the family has shared with rep.
waxman's office -- and, in my
UPDATE (comment 3, above) -- not
to go beyond what the family's
attorney had to say, to the media,
in public remarks. i take it you
would agree that ryan's family
should be able to speak about
their views, on their son's death.

i do not mean to disrepsect
you -- but i do mean to suggest
that you may not hold a mono-
poly on what ryan would
have wanted. . .

and, i will admit that the more-
suspicious part of my nature finds
it an entirely fascinating co-
incidence that you posted from
a computer at KBR, and that KBR
is the one ryan's family is now
suing -- in connection with his
accidental electrocution, in iraq.

but as i say -- i think dissenting
views, from whatever source, add to
the richness of our understanding
of complex events, like this one.

feel free to offer your counter-
points, here. . . i will honor
your, and your father's, service
to our republic -- that counts,
in my book.

i will listen. i promise.

p e a c e

-- nolo