Two years ago today Carlos was waiting to get a "Happy Birthday Poppy" call from Alex in Iraq. Instead he got the van pull up to his house to tell him the news his very special son Alex had died in Iraq.
Two years ago today was a day that changed me forever. Even as I type this I have a really bad feeling in the pit of my soul. Two years ago - everyday we would hear how many have died in Iraq. It was soul killing to me. And then, Carlos blew up the van. I thought at the time his actions would awaken the people into fighting for life. Not their own life but the lives of the ones we decided to put in place of all of ours. We traded the lives of the military hero's for our own when we were told "were going to fight them over there so they don't come here to get us". It's like trading one set of people for another. Except...the fear that has all been instilled in some is vented in the wrong direction. The ones who want to kill and destroy us are not in Iraq. Today, I feel the ones who want to kill and destroy us live in the White House. They killed Alex and so many other. They don't care who they kill~ In New Orleans or in Iraq. 2 years ago, I really thought Carlos's actions would awaken people....but it didn't.
Today is a day I wish to celebrate Carlos's birth and not Alex's death. Life should be celebrated ~ It is so precious. HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY FRIEND! I wish to God you didn't have to spend the rest of your birthdays this way. So much hurt has been brought on to us for no good reason......except for the love of money and power but the PNAC who is in control of our government.
Learn more about Carlos and the day that changed him forever by clicking here.
May peace be inside all of us,
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CARLOS!
your friend always,
Cindy
| Son's death stirs protest over Iraq war |
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| As supporters of Sen. Joe Lieberman gathered at the Goodwin Hotel in Hartford Tuesday, Carlos Arredondo stood vigil outside, patiently waiting to learn if the three-term Democrat would go down in defeat. Arredondo, a 46-year-old handyman from Boston, has never met Lieberman, but takes the senator's support for the Iraq war personally. Two years ago, his son was killed fighting in Najaf. "His position on the war, being a Democrat, I do not agree. I do not agree at all," said Arredondo, who emigrated from Costa Rica more than 25 years ago. "I hope he loses tonight. He will give an example to the rest of the Senate." I met Arredondo on my way to the hotel. It would have been easy to breeze right by him but for his red pickup truck — more specifically, the casket draped with an American flag in the back. Atop the casket were his 20-year-old son's combat boots and uniform. The casket was filled with his first-born son's childhood toys — a soccer ball, stuffed Tweety Bird and Winnie-the-Pooh doll. A sign on the side panel states that Marine Lance Cpl. Alexander S. Arredondo was killed on Aug. 25, 2004. Arredondo, whose command of English is somewhat limited, said he had been driving the pickup truck around Connecticut for the past two days. People, he said, understood the message. "I don't need to say anything. It says it all," Arredondo said. "I am mourning my son." Arredondo hands me an envelope that he said would explain more. It includes a letter his son, who was born in Boston, sent while on the way to Iraq. The letter was written at sea on Jan. 19, 2003. Arredondo complained briefly of seasickness and his wonder at how blue and vast the ocean was. He wrote that it was difficult to comprehend how much his life had changed in such a short time. "I am not afraid of dying. I am more afraid of what will happen to all the ones that I love if something happens to me. Soon enough, I will be in the desert, outside the city of Baghdad, in full combat gear, ready to out my mission, wondering how this all happened so fast — wishing I was back home going to school, dating Sheila, taking care of my family," he wrote. "Just because I wonder what if, doesn't mean I'm not proud, it doesn't mean I feel like I made the wrong decision. It doesn't mean I have any regrets. I'm still proud to be fighting for my country." Arrendondo was killed 19 months later when his platoon was attacked while clearing a four-story hotel in Najaf. He was killed in an exchange of gunfire with enemy snipers. Carlos Arredondo was living in Hollywood, Fla., with his second wife, Melida, when three uniformed Marines approached his front door to tell him that his son had been killed in combat earlier that week. He snapped. The grief-stricken father walked into the garage, picked up a propane tank, a can of gasoline and a lighting device. He smashed the window of the Marine Corps van, got inside and set it ablaze. Arredondo suffered severe burns, according to an Associated Press report. "This is his scream that his child is dead. The war needs to stop," Melida Arredondo said during an interview the following day on ABC's "Good Morning America." Carlos Arredondo has calmed down a bit since then, but remains passionate about the war. He created the pick-up truck memorial to honor his son. Before bringing it to Connecticut, he visited the U.S. Capitol, where he was able to speak to Sen. Hillary Clinton to urge her to support an end to the war. Friends back in Costa Rica can't believe he is allowed to protest like this. It is a privilege he does not take lightly. "We have unbelievable democracy in this country," he said. There is a lesson here for everyone to learn including Lieberman. Political protest is what makes American democracy robust and special. Where is the peril in that? |
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