October 9, 2005: Headlines: COS - Namibia: Iraq: Joplin Globe: Namibia RPCV Fern Holland Remembered
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October 9, 2005: Headlines: COS - Namibia: Iraq: Joplin Globe: Namibia RPCV Fern Holland Remembered
Namibia RPCV Fern Holland Remembered
Seen from what Brassfield called a "jaded perspective," it might seem that Holland's death and the deaths of the thousands of others in Iraq would be in vain if America pulled out and the country reverted to civil war or succumbed to another dictator.
Namibia RPCV Fern Holland Remembered
Bring them home? Stay to the finish?
Americans wrestle with war in Iraqas casualties climb
From staff reports
10/9/05
Two thousand Americans dead.
Nearly half as many as were killed during the eight years of the American Revolution. Twice as many as were killed in nearly a century of Indian wars.
As the price Americans pay in Iraq climbs - and it probably will top 2,000 either later this month or early the next - the questions become more haunting, more daunting: Do we remain? Should we pull out? What are the costs if we do? If we don't?
Nearly two-thirds of Americans, according to a CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll conducted just over two weeks ago, want a full or partial withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.
"Their position is wrong," President Bush told the pollsters. "Withdrawing our troops would make the world more dangerous."
What to do?
[Excerpt]
Remembering Fern
Years ago, Brent Brassfield was running a sporting goods store when he met a "bright" and "dedicated" young woman named Fern Holland who dated one of his co-workers.
By March 2004, Brassfield was mayor of Miami. Holland by then had gone on to become an attorney, a Peace Corps volunteer in Africa and a human-rights activist whose work took her all over the world. It took her to Iraq, too, where she was gunned down in an ambush on March 9, 2004, at the age of 33.
Seen from what Brassfield called a "jaded perspective," it might seem that Holland's death and the deaths of the thousands of others in Iraq would be in vain if America pulled out and the country reverted to civil war or succumbed to another dictator.
Brassfield doesn't see it that way. He said Holland died fighting for the rights of others, and that is how should she should be remembered. He proposed a memorial to her in Miami.
"Fern's humanistic endeavors were way beyond what she did in Iraq," he said. "She had a calling. It wasn't just an Iraqi experience for Fern. It would be most appropriate to do something in her honor. We just haven't finalized what we are going to do. We feel that whatever we do should do her justice."
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Story Source: Joplin Globe
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Namibia; Iraq
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