Memorial Day, 2007

Schoolmates mourn slain soldier

TORRANCE, Calif. - Schoolmates remembered Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. as a gentle jock Thursday, hours after Army officials confirmed the 20-year-old's body was found during an exhaustive search for him and two other soldiers ambushed in Iraq.

Friends at South High School observed a moment of silence and described him as a "pumped up" athlete who made them laugh and comforted them when they needed it.

"You'd be sad and sitting there by yourself, and he'd come up to you and just talk to you, and say, 'Hey, how's your day? Are you OK?'" childhood friend Erika Esquivel said.

Anzack, who graduated two years ago, should be honored for "his service to America and for representing South High and Torrance so proudly and so well," Principal Scott McDowell told students in a second-period classroom announcement.

Outside, the front steps became a makeshift shrine of flowers, flags and balloons, marked with a sign reading: "You're our HERO." The soldier's Web page was also flooded with condolences.

Anzack, an Army gunner, vanished with two other soldiers May 12 when their combat team was ambushed about 20 miles outside of Baghdad. The attack, subsequently claimed by al-Qaida, killed four other Americans and an Iraqi.

Anzack's family had held out hope for the past 11 days. They had already endured a rumor weeks earlier that he was dead, then said Army officials told them Wednesday that a body found floating in the Euphrates River was his. The military confirmed Thursday that Anzack had been shot in the head, and his body dumped.

At South, Anzack played football and was on the wrestling and swim teams. He was "always pumped up and ready to try something new," Esquivel said.

Anzack's father told his hometown newspaper, The Daily Breeze, that family members had gathered in his home for a vigil led by an Army chaplain after hearing of the death.

"We said a prayer for the other two boys, then sat around and talked about Joseph," Joseph Anzack Sr. said.

Relatives remained inside their home Thursday.

In Iraq, members of Anzack's platoon choked back tears at news of his death and said they would not stop looking for the other two missing soldiers.

"We can't leave them behind. I just hope that they have enough faith to keep them going. What they're going through right now, I can't imagine," said Pfc. Sammy Rhodes, 25, of Albuquerque, N.M.

-more-

A long time ago, we defeated Saddam's Iraq militarily, driving Savage and Sons into hiding and eventually ridding the world of all three.

At the same time, many of you -- you know who you are: MoveOn.org, Daily Krotch ... er, KOS ... AP, Reuters, MSNBC, Michael Moore, Bill Maher, Keith Blowberwoman, Blowsie -- were doing the bidding of the enemy .

Since then, there have been several elections in Iraq, wherein brave Iraqis risked being murdered by your "Minutemen" to vote for the government they would live under -- as opposed to the tyranny YOU would have them suffer at the evil hands of.

As the Iraqis have tried to build a government and infrastructure, you have continued to give aid and comfort to the "insurgents" -- by which we mean terrorists.

Since the war started, the Nutroots have been keeping a body count which they tie to Bush, Halliburton and the "Neo-cons", convenient bogeymen for children with an 8-year old's worldview.

Well we believe turnabout is fair play.

At this point, we have no problem with assigning partial blame -- for we certainly cannot excuplate the Jihadist troglodytes -- for the murder and certain torture of Pfc. Joseph Anzack Jr. -- and those of hundreds of Coalition soldiers and thousands of Iraqis -- to the Voices of Treason within America: The Looney Left (Rosie, Cindy Sheehan, et al), the Internet kids, their reps in Congress (Durbin, Reid, Kennedy) and the quislings in the media -- ABC, "The NY Times", "60 Minutes" and all fellow travellers.

Loose lips sink ships.

Treasonous tongues, cameras and keyboards lose wars and get people decapitated.

al-Qaeda have played you for the Useful Idiots you are, yet you cannot see beyond your Bush hatred.

You have, wittingly or not, given the enemy reason to fight on.

Though they understand that they could never achieve victory miltarily, they -- at least -- learned the lesson of Vietnam: Victory can be had by appealling to America's soft pink subversive underbelly.

Every IED blast, every car bomb and every kidnapping is aimed at YOU, and you lap them up like good little Dhimmi and turn around and, rather than spewing the vitriol where it belongs -- at the evil enemy -- you use it to undermine our Commander and Chief, the troops and their mission, which is, after all, the defeat of Islamofacism.

What you flakes fail to grasp is that yours will be the first necks on the chopping block when Sharia comes to the U.S.

All your loathing of Bush, Cheney and wiretaps will not save you from the blade.

If you think that "suffering" the mere disapproval of "radical" Christians is disconcerting, wait till this bunch is in charge. Suffice it to say we can't envision any abortion clinics or "adult" book stores left standing under the Sharia.

So, concentrate on your bongs, bathhouses and vegan buffets and let the adults do the dirty work of defending Civilization from the predations of the vile beasts who murdered Pfc. Joseph Anzack and would massacre you and your family in the time it takes to pretend a Ted Rall is cartoon funny.

God bless America.

God save us from the Enemy -- without and within.