Sign Tallying Military Deaths Upsets Army
Saturday December 31, 2005 1:02 PM
By PATRICK CONDON
Associated Press Writer
DULUTH, Minn. (AP) - Scott Cameron never imagined his modest memorial to American troops in Iraq would transform a quiet street here into the latest front of the nation's tense debate about the war in Iraq.
His sign tallying the war's dead and wounded reen treated in this country is shameful,'' Cameron said this week.
His tribute has irritated the military recruiters next door, who dislike the daily reminder of friends lost. Staff Sgt. Gary Capan, the post's commander, requested that the sign come down for his colleagues' benefit.
``They're saying, 'Why should we have to look at that? We lost people over there,''' said Staff Sgt. Gary Capan, the post's commander. ``It's not just a number to them.''
Some of Cameron's supporters believe the sign will hurt recruiting.
``You're a young kid and you see those stark numbers, you might realize there's a cost you didn't consider,'' said Gary Tonkin, a Vietnam veteran.
It all started a month ago, when Cameron, a volunteer for Democratic gubernatorial candidate Steve Kelley, posted a sign in the window of the campaign's local office. It reads, ``Remember the Fallen Heroes,'' and contains three tallies: the number of American troops killed in Iraq, the number wounded and the days passed since the war began.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5514486,00.html