posted September 15, 2007 11:58 PM              

They were referring to the ordeals of Iraqi citizens, trying to go about their lives with death and suffering all around them. But sadly, although they did not know it at the time, they might almost have been referring to themselves.

Photo Gallery: Loyal Soldiers and War Skeptics
AP

Staff Sgt. Yance T. Gray, left, and Sgt. Omar Mora died in a cargo truck accident in Baghdad less than a month after they co-authored an op-ed critical of the Iraq war that appeared in The New York Times.
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Two of the soldiers who wrote of their pessimism about the war in an Op-Ed article that appeared in The New York Times on Aug. 19 were killed in Baghdad on Monday. They were not killed in combat, nor on a daring mission. They died when the five-ton cargo truck in which they were riding overturned.

The victims, Staff Sgt. Yance T. Gray, 26, and Sgt. Omar Mora, 28, were among the authors of "The War as We Saw It," in which they expressed doubts about reports of progress.

"As responsible infantrymen and noncommissioned officers with the 82nd Airborne Division soon heading back home, we are skeptical of recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable and feel it has neglected the mounting civil, political and social unrest we see every day," the soldiers wrote.

Sergeant Gray's mother, Karen Gray, said by telephone on Wednesday from Ismay, Mont., where Yance grew up, "My son was a soldier in his heart from the age of 5," and she added, "He loved what he was doing."

The sergeant's father, Richard, said of his son, "But he wasn't any mindless robot."

Sergeant Gray leaves a wife, Jessica, and a daughter, Ava, born in April. He is also survived by a brother and a sister.

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Sergeant Mora's mother, Olga Capetillo of Texas City, Tex., told The Daily News in Galveston that her son had grown increasingly gloomy about Iraq. "I told him God is going to take care of him and take him home," she said.

A native of Ecuador, Sergeant Mora had recently become an American citizen. "He was proud of this country, and he wanted to go over and help," his stepfather, Robert Capetillo, told The Houston Chronicle. Sergeant Mora leaves a wife, Christa, and a daughter, Jordan, who is 5. Survivors also include a brother and a sister.

While the seven soldiers were composing their article, one of them, Staff Sgt. Jeremy A. Murphy, was shot in the head. He was flown to a military hospital in the United States and is expected to survive. The other authors were Buddhika Jayamaha, an Army specialist, and Sgts. Wesley D. Smith, Jeremy Roebuck and Edward Sandmeier.

"We need not talk about our morale," they wrote in closing. "As committed soldiers, we will see this mission through."

Copyright © 2007 The New York Times Company
2007-09-13 09:41:17
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Txspursfan03 11:25:50 PM Sep 15 2007
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vlasicjr, unfortunately has a point...to a certain degree, I mean this man was elected twice and not by just the 32% who still support the war. But the reality is what choice do we have but to expect our leaders do the right thing and what is in the best interest of the country...Naiive I know, I know.

But it does not all fall on those who put these leaders in power. WHERE DOES THE BUCK STOP?? There has to be SOME accountablity and this President and Administration has had ZERO, they get to exit quietly exiting the stage (Tommy Franks, Wolfowitz,Tenet, Rumsfield, Rove,Gonzales). Zero accountability while scapegoating after scapegoating continues. Abu Ghirab was the most shameful until recently. Now the Marines of Haditha. For the hell and lack of preperation these young men have to endure...It should be no shock that incidents like this happen...and what did Bush do, hang them out to dry when it is his screw-ups that got our military in the quagmire of Iraq.

vlasicjr 11:10:59 PM Sep 15 2007
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TALK IS CHEAP FOLKS!!!-You are the ones who put in the Leaders-or didn vote!?!
So who is at fault??

Txspursfan03 10:54:58 PM Sep 15 2007
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Ladybugonthego is right on! Until you have walked in our shoes... I am former gulf war vet as my husband who remained in and went to Iraq too. And as for montgomeryjhn, it is sad and pitiful that your hate for the democrats and your peceived way of the left (as preached to you by people like Limbaugh, Hannity and O'Reilly) is so much more important to you that you have to trash the soldiers that come out against the war. I or my spouse was not given a list of the Presidents policies or future policies, we just joined to serve, regardless of who was President, but that does NOT mean they or we have to agree, this is what free speech is. The flipside is if you or other people AGREE with the policy/war why don't THEY/YOU join. That is the real question. I wish people like you can spend ONE day, even ONE hour in the Iraq my husband and these soldiers saw. You'd see what a jackass you are being.

plzgonow 10:22:05 PM Sep 15 2007
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we are paying for this war...we are paying their taxes..they wont pay taxes themselves you see...they dont even understand what taxes are there..so we pay our taxes and their taxes and they kill us...and we kill them and isnt this a lovely story?

flora489 09:01:26 PM Sep 15 2007
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PLPolosk. did you know ano;ther one of the seven came home on leave and died. No explanations given. Did he kill himself, was he killed as, I believe, two others were killed. All in all only three survive. No publicity and no reasons given. It is dangerous for a soldier to speak his mind.

crawfordsopfre 08:24:16 PM Sep 15 2007
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The problems we face as leaders of the free world is that through out history we have grown from a place that for the most part have valued people as important to a place that considers people to be the problem.
I noted that in a previous note the concern is ficused on ridding this country of Latin Americans for fear of the Anglos becomeing fewer and fewer.In spite of this type of thinking this country has been a place that others in other countries seek to get in any way they can.It's been that way from the time that the settlers came to America.Then it was the Anglos wanting to get in and the Native Americans makeing adjustments to the Anglos english speaking plans for their home.When will we learn HATE has done more harm to this country than ignorance will allow to be seen. How can we truly be fighting a war for the stated purpose of bringing democracy to the people of Iraq,when the war of ignorance associated with hatred in this country ,which has been a democratic society for hund

CKen705270 08:13:45 PM Sep 15 2007
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If they had to institute the draft again, would we still be in Irag?

maxina000 07:23:42 PM Sep 15 2007
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you know smalt, you claim it was for UN resolution, but it was without the authority of the UN, you can't have it both ways.

Smalto11 06:11:21 PM Sep 15 2007
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it is not war for oil..it is enforcement of UN res 1441 that was unanimous and called for military action upon any one of 12 major breech points..the vast majority of the US house and senate voted to support the pres. in his action...clinton, edwards, kerry, reid, kennedy, etc..this is war for violation of international law..

Oxasl1962 05:00:12 PM Sep 15 2007
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To all theidiots that support that war for oil and the republicans, you are why America is going to hell. You have no brains and quit blaming the democrats because you have had the fing republicans in for too many years. Its been their policis that this country has been following. No wonder the head of the republican (NEW NAZI) party said that its better to dumb down the american public so they don't think for themselves. Learn history and see that our republican policies are just sugar coated democracy , really communist and socialism combined
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