Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. - John 15:13

October has not been kind to the US military. This month has brought over 70 American dead in Iraq in the first three weeks alone.

When I take a good hard look at the deeds of the brave men who are currently engaging our enemy and then consider the words, deeds and morality of the men who are charged with dispatching them there, it provides a very stark contrast; a juxtaposition of sorts.

On September 29th, 2006 Petty Officer Michael Monsoor - a Navy SeAL and his team were providing protection for Iraqi units when the enemy tossed a grenade at their rooftop position, hitting him in the chest. With only a second to react, he did what some brave American hero always steps up to do. He jumped on the grenade and took one for the team. He died, so that his teammates could live. When I think about the selfless sacrifice of this man and the rest of our soldiers who continue to give their lives, I get goosebumps. It makes me proud to be an American. But when I think about the greed, scandal and deviance; the selfishness, and lust; the dysfunction of our political leadership, I get mad.

Our leadership continues to show contempt and utter disdain for those who sent them to Washington through their failure to reign in Bush’s astronomical spending and his bumbling of Iraq; through their failure to stand up and show their conservative base that they represent conservative values; through the growing list of corruption, influence peddling and abuse of power scandals. They seem to take for granted that we gave them the privilege to represent us. Instead of doing what’s best for the country, they troll for young pages, take bribes, dismantle the border, sell their influence, ignore the will of their constituents and generally abuse the public trust.

Every time I see this juxtaposition of honor next to greed, I am reminded how far we’ve really disintegrated as a society and how corrupt and dishonest our political leadership has become. They have completely turned their back on all of us, including our military men and women.

It matters not how tough-talking Republicans are on the war, or how much anyone says they care about our troops. Continuing to let them get blown to pieces by roadside bombs because they drive around in humvees with inadequate or even no armor says otherwise.

Iraq has now degenerated into all-out civil war. Tit-for-tat reprisal killings are now slaughtering untold thousands and our soldiers are now in the middle. The Bush Administration made far too many fatal assumptions and put its faith in an Iraqi government incapable of bringing order to chaos. With an election looming, Bush is more concerned than ever about throwing his enemies red meat by admitting a course correction is needed. In addition, he now has to contend with the inability or unwillingness of the Iraqi government to act as a government capable of exerting control.

Finally, Maj. General William Caldwell; The same Caldwell that says nary a peep in regards to seven imprisoned Marines, now has something to say about the strategy in Iraq, namely it’s not working.

This is the price of this war, paid in blood since October 1st. They aren’t statistics. They are your fathers, sons and brothers and the list continues to grow. They come from middle America. They come from Florida to the Pacific Northwest; From New York to California. This mess is affecting families and making orphans all across this nation. The most disgusting thing is the number of men killed in their vehicles by IED.

US Army Spc. Joseph R. Perez, 21- Ontario, CA (KIA)
US Army Sgt.Lester D. Baroncini Jr., 33 - Bakersfield, CA
US Army PFC. Stephen D. Bicknell, 19 - Prattville, AL (IED)
US Army Spc. Daniel W. Winegart, 23, - Kountze, TX(Vehicle crash)
US Army Ssgt. Garth D. Sizemore, 31 - Mount Sterling, KY (KIA)
USMC 2nd Lt. Joshua L. Booth, 23 - Fiskdale, MA (KIA)
US Army Cpt. Mark C. Paine, 32 - Rancho Cucamonga, CA (IED)
US Army Spc. Timothy J. Lauer, 25 - Saegertown, PA (IED)
US Army Ssgt. Joseph M.Kane, 35 - Darby, PA (IED)
US Army Sgt. Charles M. King, - Mobile, AL. (IED)
US Army PFC Keith J. Moore, 28 - San Francisco, CA (non-combat related)
US Army Sgt. Johnathan E. Lootens, 25 - Lyons, NY (IED)
1st Lt. Joshua Deese, 25 - North Carolina (no city provided) (IED)
US Army 2nd Lt. Johnny K. Craver, 37 - McKinney, TX (IED)
USMC Sgt. Johnathan J. Simpson, 25 - Rockport, TX (KIA)
USMC Lcpl. Joshua M. Hines, 26 - Olney, IL (KIA)
USMC Sgt. Brock A. Babb, 40 - Evansville, IN (KIA)
US Army Cpl. Luis E. Tejeda, 20 - Huntington Park, CA (IED)
USAF A1C Leebernard E. Chavis, 21 - Hampton, VA(KIA)
US Army PFC. Kenny F. Stanton, Jr., 20 - Hemet, CA (IED)
US Army Sgt. Nicholas R. Sowinski, 25 - Tempe, AZ (IED)
US Army Sgt. Gene A. Hawkins, 24 - Orlando, FL (IED)
US Army PFC. Thomas J. Hewitt, 22 - Temple, TX (IED)
USMC Sgt. Justin T. Walsh, 24 - Cuyahoga Falls, OH (KIA)
US Army Cpt. Shane T. Adcock, 27 - Mechanicsville, VA (KIA)
USMC Lcpl Derek W. Jones, 21 - Salem, OR (KIA)
USMC Lcpl Jeremy S. Sandvick Monroe, 20 Chinook, MT (KIA)
USMC Cpt. Robert M. Secher, 33 - Germantown, TN (KIA)
USMC Sgt. Julian M. Archeaga, 23 - Oceanside, NY (KIA)
USMC Lcpl. Jon E. Bowman, 21 - Dubach, LA (KIA)
USMC PFC. Shelby Feniello, 25 - Connellsville, PA (KIA)
USMC Lcpl. John E. Hale, 20 - Shreveport, LA
USMC Lcpl Stephen F. Johnson, 20 - Marietta, GA (KIA)
USMC Lcpl. Bradford H. Payne, 24 - Montgomery, AL (KIA)
US Army PFC Phillip B. Williams, 21 - Gardnerville, NV
US Army Sgt. Brandon S. Asbury, 21 - Tazewell, VA (KIA)
US Army Spc. Timothy A. Fulkerson, 20 - Utica, KY (IED)
US Army Ssgt. Lawrence L. Parrish, 36 - Lebanon, MO (IED)
US Army Spc. John E.Wood, 37 - Humboldt, KS (IED)
US Army PFC Shane R. Austin, 19 - Edgerton, KS (KIA)
US Army Cpl. Nicholas A. Arvantis, 22 - Salem, NH (KIA)
US Army Cpl. Carl W. Johnson II, 20 - Philadelphia, PA (IED)
US Army PFC. Dean R. Bright, 32 - Roseburg, OR (KIA)
US Army Spc. Timothy R. Burke, 24 - Hollywood, FL (KIA)
US Army Ssgt.Christopher O. Moudry, 21 - Baltimore, MD (KIA)
US Army Spc. George R. Obourn Jr., 20 - Creve Coeur, IL (KIA)
US Army Ssgt. James D. Ellis, 25 - Valdosta, GA (IED)
US Army Spc. Raymond S. Armijo, 22 - Phoenix, AZ (IED)
US Army Spc. Justin R. Jarrett, 21 - Jonesboro, GA (IED)
US Army Spc. Kristofer C. Walker, 20 - Creve Coeur, IL(IED)
USMC Lcpl. Edward M. Garvin, 19 - Malden, MA (KIA)
USMC Cpl. Benjamin S. Rosales, 20 - Houston, TX (KIA)
US Army Ssgt. Daniel Isshak, 25 - Alta Loma, CA (KIA)
US Army Ssgt. Johnathan Rojas, 27 - Hammond, IN (KIA)
US Army Sgt. Joseph W. Perry, 23 - Alpine, CA (KIA)
USMC Cpt. Justin D. Peterson, 32 - Davidsburg, MI (Non-combat related)
US Army Cpl. Michael K. Oremus, 21 - Highland, NY (KIA)
US Army PFC. Satieon V. Greenlee, 24 - Pendleton, SC
US Army Sgt. Mario Nelson, 26 - Brooklyn, NY (RPG)
US Army Ssgt. Joe A. Narvaez, 25 - San Antonio, TX (KIA)
US Army Sgt. Chase A. Haag, 22 - Portland, OR (IED)
USMC Lcpl. Christopher B. Cosgrove III, 23 - Cedar Knolls, NJ (KIA)
USMC Cpl. Aaron L. Seal, 23 - Elkhart, IN(KIA)

* KIA - USMC described all deaths as “during combat operations”, while the army attributed them to small arms fire.

** IED - In most cases the deaths were attributed to actual IEDs, but there were several incidents of soldiers killed when landmines planted in the roadway detonated near vehicles. For simplicity’s sake, they were also classified as IED.

*** compiled from DoD’s website as of 8:00 PM PST 10/19/2006. While the official, reported, overall US military death toll for October is reported as 74 as of today, this list omits several US soldiers KIA in Afghanistan, as well as a couple of military deaths that occurred outside Iraq.