In memory of Army Pfc. Kristian Menchaca:

[partylessinOhio]

Christina Menchaca, 18, second from left, watches as the remains of her husband, Army Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, are unloaded off an airplane at the Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport in Brownsville, Texas, Monday, June 26, 2006. Menchaca was killed recently in Irag. Menchaca's funeral is scheduled for Wednesday.



Under honor guard escort, the remains of Army Pfc. Kristian Menchaca are unloaded off an airplane at the Brownsville-South Padre Island International Airport in Brownsville, Texas, Monday, June 26, 2006.



Maria Vasquez reacts as the casket of her son, Army Pfc. Kristian Menchaca, is lowered at his funeral in Brownsville, Texas, Wednesday, June 28, 2006. Menchaca was one of two soldiers apparently captured and killed by insurgents earlier this month in Iraq.

BROWNSVILLE
Hundreds Attend Funeral for Kristian Menchaca

June 29, 2006, 01:57 AM

Reported by Romeo Cantu

Hundreds of mourners turned out Monday in Brownsville to remember a slain soldier for his devotion -- to duty and to his family.

Services were held for Private First Class Kristian Menchaca of Houston. The 23-year-old soldier was abducted from a checkpoint in Iraq and killed.

Mass was celebrated at the Brownsville Event Center.

Afterwards, under the shade of the mesquite trees, more than 500 people gathered Wednesday afternoon to say their final farewells to Menchaca at the Buena Vista Burial Park in Brownsville.

As Menchaca's flagged draped casket was taken out of the hearse, his mother, Maria Vasquez, was heard crying for her son.

"I felt that I had to come to pay condolences to the family and be for Kristian here and I love him dearly," said Aurora Torres Silleck, of Brownsville, who was one of the first to arrive at the cemetery.

More at link:


http://www.team4news.com/Global/story.asp?S=5090114&nav=6uz2au5V

--------------------------------

EDIT: COPYRIGHT. PLEASE POST ONLY 4 OR 5
PARAGRAPHS FROM THE COPYRIGHTED NEWS SOURCE
PER DU RULES.

[Redstone]

1. All for a lie.

Redstone

[ShortnFiery]

2. Rest in Peace: USA PFC Kristian Menchaca

:cry: Tragic. I hope the friends an extended family provide comfort to his wife and mother.

[IndianaGreen]

6. He might have been set up by his own platoon

Right after the killing of Spc. Babineau and the kidnapping of Pfc. Menchaca and Pfc. Tucker, there was a lot of speculation as to why 3 GIs were by themselves manning a checkpoint at night in a very dangerous location.

What if one or more of these GIs had expressed a desire to report the rape and the murder that members of his platoon had committed, and the reason why they were sent "solo" to the checkpoint was because someone wanted them dead in order to cover up the crime?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=2702805&mesg_id=2702805

[The Magistrate]

9. You Do Understand, Ma'am

That there is not a shred of evidence for this.

There is no reason at all to suppose any of these men expressed the slightest such desire.

[IndianaGreen]

10. This sort of thing happens more often than you can imagine in a platoon

and it happened in Vietnam with regularity. Here is one from Iraq:

-Four soldiers charged with murder after being accused of shooting three detainees north of Baghdad on May 9 and threatening to kill a fellow soldier if he told the truth.

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/world/story.html?id=f5703832-8d95-4349-8883-62f586fc9d05&k=82161

[IndianaGreen]

3. Congressman wants answers in Menchaca’s kidnapping, death

Here is a story about Menchaca's platoon:

U.S. troops accused of killing Iraq family (after raping daughter)

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x2364723

Here is a story originally posted by Breeze54:

Congressman wants answers in Menchaca’s kidnapping, death
BY EMMA PEREZ-TREVIÑO
The Brownsville Herald

A senior member of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee said Monday many questions surround the slaying of Army Pfc. Kristian Menchaca and two fellow soldiers who were ambushed and kidnapped June 16 in Iraq.

And U.S. Congressman Solomon P. Ortiz wants answers.

“We want to know exactly how it happened,” said Rep. Ortiz, D-Corpus Christi, questioning the operating procedures that might have made the troops vulnerable to an ambush.

<snip>

Menchaca, a native of Brownsville and Houston, Army Pfc. Thomas L. Tucker, 25 of Madras, Ore., and Army Spc. David J. Babi-neau, 25 of Springfield, Mass. and Kentucky — a three-man security team — came under fire June 16 while manning a checkpoint at a canal crossing next to the Euphrates River south of Yusufiyah.

The three soldiers were assigned to the 1st Battalion, 502nd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 101st Airborne Division, Fort Campbell, Ky.

Babineau died at the ambush site while attackers took Menchaca and Tucker to an unknown location. The soldiers were later killed them, according to a the prepared statement issued Monday.

http://www.brownsvilleherald.com/ts_comments.php?id=71429_0_10_0_C

[Botany]

4. Blessings and prayers for his soul and his family & friends

Army Pfc. Kristian Menchaca :patriot:

:cry:

I wish I could hug that family and let them cry on my chest ..... their pain comes through.

This damn war must stop.

[Patchuli]

5. Not another mother's son, DAMMMMITTTTTTTTTT!! nt

[Ken Burch]

7. words from a Gordon Lightfoot lyric come to mind:

(Even though the Menchacas were already married, it couldn't have been for long, so I still feel it's appropriate...)


"Well there was a young girl watching in the early afternoon
When she heard the name of someone who said he'd be home soon
And she wondered how they got him, but the papers did not tell
There would be no sweet reunion, there would be no wedding bells
So she took herself into her room and she turned the bed sheets down
And she cried into the silken folds of her new wedding gown..."

"The Patriot's Dream still lives on today,
It makes mothers weep and it makes lovers pray.
Let's drink to the men who were caught by the chill
of the patriotic fever and the cold steel that kills"

R.I.P Pfc Menchaca. May the hearts of the Menchaca family and Mrs. Vasquez somehow heal. May George W. Bush burn in the flames of hell.

[partylessinOhio]

8. Thank you! That was very appropriate for this, another terrible loss

for a family, for another mother, for another young wife.

Why is there joy and celebrations held in the White House when it should be draped in black for soldiers dying in an unnecessary invasion of a sovereign nation based on lies? Shouldn't the Decider be forced to share the pain and anguish of the dead and wounded that he has destined?