| Publication: THE RECORD Date: 12/27/2006 Day: Wednesday Page: A01 Edition: All Editions Section: NEWS By SCOTT FALLON, STAFF WRITER Source: North Jersey Media Group Iraq toll passes that of 9/11 In North Jersey, milestone stirs anger and resolve North Jersey military families, veterans and relatives of terror victims reacted mostly with muted pessimism Tuesday to news that the number of American troops killed in Iraq had exceeded the death toll on Sept. 11, 2001. Those against the war said it was yet another indictment of President Bush's foreign policy that has gone horribly wrong in the years since the attacks. Those who support Bush's stance to stay the course said the losses have been worth it because the military campaign in Iraq has been a severe blow to al-Qaida. And then there are those like Joseph Phalon of Pequannock, who said it was nothing more than a depressing milestone. "It is a significant number, but does it really mean anything?" said Phalon, who lost his brother-in-law, Francis Deming of Franklin Lakes, in the trade center attack. "We're soon going to be looking at 3,000 [dead troops] and maybe even 4,000." Two soldiers were killed Monday in a bomb explosion southwest of Baghdad, pushing the U.S. military death toll in Iraq to 2,974 - one more than the number of deaths in the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States, according to an Associated Press count on Tuesday. Four more soldiers were killed in Iraq on Tuesday. The Sept. 11 death toll includes the 2,749 killed at the World Trade Center, 184 at the Pentagon and 40 passengers aboard United Flight 93. While all were killed in a few hours that morning, the deaths in Iraq have stretched across 45 months - with no end yet in sight. Many of the Iraq victims had enlisted in response to the attacks. Michael Glover joined the Marines after his boyhood neighborhood - the Belle Harbor section of Queens - lost several residents in the Sept. 11 attacks. Glover was killed by a sniper while on patrol in Fallujah. On Tuesday, the debate over whether the United States ought to have invaded Iraq was revived. And the question over what to do now, three years later, as attacks against U.S. troops intensify, was discussed by everyone. Some were angry that Bush has continued to bring up the Sept. 11 attacks as justification for the Iraqi invasion and three-year-old occupation. "Our president throws the 9/11 myth in our face to justify an unjust war," said Paula Rogovin of Teaneck, whose son, a Marine lieutenant, is scheduled to be deployed to Iraq in February or March. Rogovin is a member of Military Families Speak Out, which has organized a vigil every Wednesday near the Teaneck Armory calling for a withdrawal. Her neighbor Nancy Nygard will be out there again today supporting her son, who is serving in Afghanistan with the Army. "We believed we should have never gone into Iraq because we believed that al-Qaida was not in Iraq," said Nygard. Vince Micco, an Iraq war veteran who ran for Congress in November, sees it vastly differently. He compared the Sept. 11th attacks to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor. "We surely lost more people in any given battle in World War II than we lost on Dec. 7," he said. "President Bush said it was going to be a long war. It's going to be a long war like the Cold War. Iraq is just one battlefront in the wider war on terrorism and there have been a lot of successes." For John Scalzo, who served in the Army from 1953 to 1955 in Germany during the Cold War, the days of reflecting on the invasion are over. All that matters is victory. "We have to win for the men who died," he said. John Fenton, whose son Marine Sgt. Matthew Fenton died in May from wounds suffered in Iraq, said it was an insult to those who died on Sept. 11 that Osama bin Laden had not been killed or captured. "This country spoke out loudly on Election Day: Someone get us the hell out of Iraq," Fenton wrote in an e-mail interview, referring to the Democrats taking the House and Senate. This article contains material from The Record's news services. E-mail: fallon@northjersey.com |
| SOUTHEAST BERGEN Teaneck unlikely to sign anti-war measure Thursday, December 14, 2006 By BRIAN ABERBACK STAFF WRITER TEANECK -- Several members of the Township Council said this week they would be happy to sign a petition as individuals asking Congress to withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq. But they said it would not be appropriate for the full council to agree to anti-war groups' request for a resolution calling for a "prompt" end to the Iraq war. To read more click here. |
| Picture This: John Fenton Monday, November 20, 2006 PHOTOGRAPH AND STORY BY THOMAS E. FRANKLIN THOMAS E. FRANKLIN / THE RECORD John Fenton, center, joins a protests of the war in Iraq every Wednesday in Teaneck. Multimedia: John Fenton remembers his Marine son, Matthew Matthew Fenton, 24, of Little Ferry, a sergeant in the United States Marines, died in May from head wounds suffered while fighting in Iraq. Six months later, his father still is coming to grips with not just the loss of his only son, but also the trauma of seeing a small army of other gravely wounded soldiers at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., in the days before he died. To read more, click here. |
| In Teaneck, rallying the troops for peace Friday, January 5, 2007 By LAWRENCE AARON RECORD COLUMNIST You'd expect a fairly routine speech after two-and-a-half years of Wednesday evening peace demonstrations at the Teaneck Armory. But no, Paula Rogovin speaks with a full heart. Her voice cracked as she addressed her "troops," urging them to push for more accountability from local elected officials in Washington. "We've got to make them listen to us," she said earnestly, amid the honking and waving from drive-by demonstrators shouting encouragement and support. No more money should be allocated for the war, and Congress should not vote to approve spending legislation that ultimately prolongs the American military presence in Iraq. That's the thrust of peace activists who expect favorable response from Democrats newly empowered in Congress. To read more, click here. |
| City Belt January 08, 2007 3000 DEAD IN IRAQ How many more of these have to be flown home? Marking yet another grim Iraq War milestone with a marathon vigil in Highland Park By Leigh Davis “Hot enough for you?” was on the lips of many this past weekend, almost overshadowing the sad fact that in Iraq, the number of American soldiers killed had reached 3000 during the previous week. When I first said I’d do the overnight shift for Central Jersey Coalition Against Endless War’s marathon vigil marking the occasion, the first thing on my agenda was to locate a generator and radiant heater to try and keep warm. After all, we were expecting the number to hit sometime in January. Little did we know that we’d actually reach that number by New Year’s click here to read more |
| A soldier's story Wednesday, January 10, 2007 THE RECORD EDITORIAL Jeremiah Drozd has already served a grueling year in Afghanistan. Now the West Milford resident and his U.S. Army battalion are training for possible deployment to Iraq. The 22-year-old Drozd is ready to leave the military. He's looking forward to when his enlistment is due to end in July. But there's a good chance he will have to go to Iraq instead and that he will stay well beyond when his term of service is complete. President Bush in an address to the nation tonight is expected to call for an increase in troops in Iraq. News reports put the figure at 20,000 additional troops. In an Army stretched thin by fighting on two fronts, Iraq and Afghanistan, thousands more troops would not be easy to come by. Options would include calling back reservists, extending tours of those already in Iraq and speeding up deployment of those scheduled to go. The president needs to explain to the nation how an increase in troops would achieve anything beyond putting more American lives at risk. Voters made it clear in November they want a winding down of the war in Iraq, not an escalation. But even apart from that debate, there's the question of what it would mean for military personnel whose deployments could be extended involuntarily. The policy of forcing soldiers to serve beyond their required terms is known as "stop-loss." It's been used extensively in Iraq and Afghanistan. Drozd puts a human face on what an increased military presence in Iraq could mean for troops on the ground. In an interview published Tuesday in the Herald News, a sister paper of The Record, the young man told Staff Writer Suzanne Travers that he signed up for the Army while still a student at West Milford High School. He's enjoyed his military service for the most part. But his year of combat in Afghanistan was "just horrific," he said. Living conditions were terrible. He and his fellow soldiers conducted foot patrols in the mountains along the dangerous Pakistan border. People shot at him, he shot back. Drozd spoke to Travers last week while home on break. He is ready to come home. He is eager to continue his education. But the Army denied his application to end his term of service early to attend college. Now Drozd is back with his battalion in Europe. He has not filed for conscientious objector status. He has not deserted. He is doing what he signed up to do when he was just a kid in high school. But by July he will have fulfilled his commitment. Then, he wants to come home. Copyright © 10 January 2007 North Jersey Media Group Inc. |
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| The Record August 10, 2007 Menendez defends war funding support WILLIAM LAMB PARAMUS – U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez on Wednesday night defended his vote to continue funding the Iraq war, responding to criticism from anti-war activists that he had helped to prolong the unpopular conflict. for more, click here |
| MFSO in the News - 2006 and 2007 |