GI to her family: Ask many questions if I die
By Nicole Belle Thursday Oct 04, 2007 1:39pmSadly, after Pat Tillman, this doesn't seem so hard to believe anymore...and if her death was the result of a Blackwater employee, the administration and Department of Defense will likely do everything in their power (and given the news yesterday, a few things technically not in their power) to force this story down the memory hole.
Patriot Ledger (h/t Heather):
Ciara Durkin was home on leave last month and expressed a concern to her family in Quincy: If something happens to me in Afghanistan, don't let it go without an investigation.
Durkin, 30, a specialist with a Massachusetts National Guard finance battalion, was found dead last week near a church at the Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. She had been shot once in the head, the Army says.
Fiona Canavan, Durkin's older sister, said today that when her sister was home three weeks ago, she told family members that she had come across some things that concerned her and had raised objections to others at the base.
‘‘She was in the finance unit and she said, ‘I discovered some things I don't like and I made some enemies because of it.' Then she said, in her light-hearted way, ‘If anything happens to me, you guys make sure it gets investigated,''' Canavan said. ‘‘But at the time we thought it was said more as a joke.''[..]
Canavan said that her sister was openly gay, but that the family had no specific reasons to think that had anything to do with her death.
Nefarious activities on the part of our government? Nah.
Spec. Dirkin was on to something and was killed for it. Watch the army blame it on her sexual orientation. FBI investigation anyone?
The hypocrites didn't kill Jesus until he messed with their money tables.
She should have told her family exactly what she had discovered. It would have led them in the right direction. Just one more tragedy that will be swept under the rug. SInce she worked in the fianace area, I guess they should follow the money. Again.
Sorry to go off topic but you have to catch this real quick.
I love it when those who would 'lead' us, are caught red-handed casting multiple votes. After you recall about how you and me may have to show a photo ID to vote, check out this hilarious video of Texas lawmakers caught casting votes for other members of the legislature.
http://www.ebaumsworld.com/video/watch/39986/
I just sent this to a friend at the Philly Enquirer
We are falling deeper and deeper into a black hole.
We need to keep stories like this in the news. Just keep reposting them here and everywhere else so that the media keeps picking up on it. Letting a story get buried is when people like her are truly dead.
Follow the money. Someone will, though Bush did his best to stop that Inspector General bill, the only people who truly *could* follow the money. Justice will come eventually.
Unfortunately, de rigueur in this era of cronyism and fraud.
Being "gay" has nothing to do with anything. It may be a scapegoat issue ("Perhaps she made an unwanted pass at somebody").
Another decent young person murdered.
The only Axis of Evil is the one that exists in the bowels of the White House. Their culture of death and corruption long ago trickled down into the military and corporate America.
Jason B @ 6:
Jason B @ 6:
Re-post, re-post re-post. Send it flying over the tubes. Forward it to all local and national news organizations, Get the investigation going and it on the teevee. That is the only way anything ever gets done now.
Still yet another example of the mob mentality that is running this country. I'd like to stop it but BAA there is nothing BAA I can do...
Baa baa Sheeple, have you any crime
Yes sir, yes sir, all the time
She may have found something interesting and been killed for it...but no doubt an investigation will find only privates and sgts at fault.
I get the distinct impression that when this war is over, and the people now in the field will be able to speak openly, a whole lot of ugly shit is going to come to light.
I wish she had given her family more details. Damn, if only she had.
And that's why there's such a need for laws to protect whistleblowers... and that's why this assinine government doesn't want to protect whistleblowers. They (government) have their asses hanging out a mile on pretty much everything.
Glad that Kerry and Kennedy are taking action on this. I also want some definitive answers regarding Pat Tillman's murder.
emerald @ 9:
It all goes through Washington first now.
Even this site (every site now days) goes to Washington (Big Brother-Total Information Awareness)
I think the clanging of pots and pans in the streets is the only way change can be brought about anymore.
If you go to the original post it says that Senator Kerry is helping the family try to obtain more information. The letter Kerry wrote to Gates accompanies the post.
I believe I read a very small reference to this unfortunate woman's story last week. Annoyed Canuck, there's already a whole lot of ugly shit coming to light. Has been for years. We are suffering a protracted death by a thousand cuts.
Janet @ 3:
------------------------
surely she left something with someone she trusts. people she trusted should be watching their backs.
Is it really so hard to imagine they would pull this? No? How about a few buildings getting knocked down then?
L.A. Confidential @ 15:
I vote for pitchforks, tar and feathers.
Whoops, we now have Blackwater to protect the oligarchy.
the junta always have their cover up artists on hand to memory hole their criminality
Neil @ 19:
ding.Ding.DING! Prizewinner!!!!!
Is there anymore a shread of doubt that our military people who dare to speak up are FRAGGED?
A military man I know from my neighborhood told me he was staying quiet to avoid being sent to Abu Garib (before they shut it down it was being used as a punishment/threat for our OWN TROOPS).
He said the people keeping our military members in line was Blackwater.
I wonder if Blackwater is keeping our Congress in line the same way?
I am going to make sure this story goes EVERYWHERE.
What happened to 'don't ask don't tell?'
It doesn't apply to the National Guard?
Add another murder to the pile orchestrated by bush, cheney and the war apologists. These guys are WAR CRIMINALS of the highest order, and need to be held to account for their actions against humanity.
I was reading a while back about the how the government spent money during World War 2 and afterward, during the time of the Marshall Plan. The contrast with Iraq is glaring.
The entire economy was on a war footing, and government directly controlled many industries. No expense was spared in producing as many tanks, planes, vehicles and other military supplies, as fast as humanly possible. World War 2 was by far the biggest economic event in American history to that time, and it was all run by the government. But there was very little corruption, because contracts were almost always tendered for public bidding. The low bid ruled. All military spending was subject to scrupulous oversight.
Back then, cheating on a military contract was tantamount to treason. Profiteering was considered to be deeply unpatriotic.
How times change.
Is there any dotted line between the personnel in Specialist Durkin's sphere of reference to the personnel in Tillman's sphere of reference? I'm not making any conclusions, just curious whether those in charge dovetail at some level.
I am surprised that after the Tillman tragedy, her family thought she might be joking despite her comment that she had made enemies.
The motto of our troops should now be: Trust No One.
single bullet
back of the head
3miles inside the green zone
this is about money, thievery, corruption.
Annoyed Canuck @ 27:
yep, the modern repug is a liar and thief. the dems are awaiting their turn at the trough.
Straight Shooter @ 28:
I think that motto is already taken by NSA or the CIA.
Annoyed Canuck @ 12:
Which is the exact reason this war will NEVER end, if the NEO-CONVICTS have their way.
Jenny'O @ 18:
Exactly. You document the situation, copy the evidence if you can, then put it in a secure place. Then call the media. If you're a whistleblower, you're safer if MORE people know about it.
In the mid-90s, there were a ton of bad movies made about rogue military units and government assassin squads and hitmen, and they were ridiculous and far fetched. After everything we've seen in the past seven years, though, the premise of roque elements in our goverment murdering whistleblowers doesn't sound as unlikely as it once did.
Isn't the idea of a law is that we all have our ideas of what is morally right. While not everyone has the same moral principles, most people will have some opinion on a particular issue. That's where laws come in. They are supposed to say that the MAJORITY of the people in this country feel that when faced with a particular issue, there's most often one outcome that's morally right.
We've determined thousands of these such laws. We've dtermined it's morally right to never kill people, so killing is against the law. Taking what another owns is morally wrong, so we got a law for that too.
Now, people, remember that no matter WHAT this soldier did, no matter WHAT she uncovered, there is NO excuse, NO moral "right", that means she should have been silenced by death. Sure, killing is acceptable, considered "moral" if they committed treason. But even if that happened (and I am NOT AT ALL SAYING SHE DID), there is NOTHING moral about a death for treason in this way.
No matter what excuse they come up with, nobody can possibly say it was moral to do it this way. Remember this, when the excuses come down the road. Someone did a morally wrong deed, and must be punished.
its been awhile since I been at BAF but to get shot outside of the chapel without anyone hearing it??? Hard to believe.
Go to google earth to get a look at the layout to many tents and buildings to include security details for this to have an air od "Discovery"
Only reason they are not sharing info would be to not compromise the investigation.
They'll have toshare the detailswithin the week.
The Patriot Ledger is not a Boston paper, it is a south of Boston suburban paper with very limited distribution. The teevee version most of Boston saw had not a whiff of this piece of the story. They already pegged it to her sexuality.
http://www3.whdh.com/news/articles/local/BO63738/
This story needs real scrutiny. It is already washed from the front page of the local teevee news sites.
Reporters are scared shitless to write anything negative about this administration, democracy does not entail knowing what is important, only thing for anyone to know is war is unavoidable, people will dye even if they arn't actually fighting anyone.
Just a question.
Is the Green Zone considered US territory like a US embassy, or is it sovereign Iraqi land? Can’t seem to find a clear answer in the WEB.
The National Guard belongs here, at HOME.
right on! @ 14:
Oh, Hades, right on, if rape victims can't even come forward without fear of reprisals from their superiors/attackers, for pete's sake, what do you expect? If the American public can't even bother the outrage for women dying of dehydration in an attempt to avoid being raped on a midnight run to the latrine, FSM knows they won't bat an eyelash at the embezzlement of a few drop-in-the-bucket million dollars. If a sex scandal won't stick...why the surprise?
I can't believe that the culture wasn't already there before 2001, though. It happens when you emphasize the group over the individual--something hard-wired into any fighting force. That being said I see two exacerbating factors in the military of 2007, however: 1.) The infiltration by the Religious Right, which layers that brand of arrogance over an already-inflexible culture, and 2.) The deplorable example set by the swaggering all-hat-no-cattle cowboys in the White House. I learned the proverb "The head of the fish stinks first" from a career military guy, and I don't consider that a coincidence. It's just sad that what passes for "leadership" these days is just dragging our credibility through the muck. I'd take a borderline nut-job like Patton or even a competent desk-general like Pershing over these self-righteous gits. Just somebody who actually can take enough time off from primping for the next level of command long enough to actually understand the war that they're supposed to be fighting. (Hint: It's not for the greater glory of the Chimperor-in-Chief, much less the greater profit of Halliburton and Blackwater.)
RagingGurrl @ 34:
I'm rather confident I would be speaking for all on this C&L thread when I say that we
were sorry to learn of C. Durkin's death in Afghan and our sympanthy goes out to the family.
If she did in fact "have some interesting infomation" in her possession that caused her concern, and she did not someway/somehow share or document in written form that info, then unfortunately anything she may have had concerns about is most likely as dead as she.
We can all spectular as to what that information may have been...and also about the cause
of her death(suicide or otherwise), but until the autopy results are released(family choice),
we will not know.
It's high time for all of us to do a little investigating in things such as this. For some reason a lot of progressives and people who value the truth get assassinated and shot down. See MLK Jr. Pat Tillman. Paul Wellstone. And now this girl. So few rotten scoundrel Conservatives ever have this misfortune.
Any links to resources of who may be behind the rampant corruption in our country would be well appreciated by me. Thanks.
They were saying on the radio this morning on my way to work that she was "shot in the back of the head in an apparent suicide". Yeah, right, back of the head shot = suicide?
Mike Mid City @ 2:
Spc. Durkin wasn't the only soldier that knew unwanted information that soon after died from a single bullet to the head at Bagram Airfield. Biagram Airfield seems has a history of soldiers dying after it became aware they knew things they shouldn't know.
Bagram Airfield also seems to have a bit of problem with heroin use among US soldiers and heroin trafficking and apparently this has been an issue for years.
Sy Hersh, like always, was onto the heroin problem at Bagram Airfield years ago and I think that Spc. Durkin and Spc. Torres' deaths are probably related in someway. The situations are eerily similar:
The deceased both made their loved ones aware that they stumbled upon something the shouldn't have.
Both of the deceased soldiers were found dead not long after with a single bullet in their heads.
The Military told the families of both soldiers conflicting stories of how their loved one died.
The Military stone-walled both families for any information after it was determined that the initial cause of death told to the families was not true.
Both are similar to the Pat Tillman case, except in these cases... The soldiers literally were killed in the same way, at the very same place.
Something is really, really not right with this Bagram Airfield.
This gives me cold chills and tears.
IgnoranceIsNotBliss @ 45:
"I am making out the report now. We haven't quite decided yet whether he committed suicide or died trying to escape. " - Captain Ranault, "Casablanca"
I've been following this story closely. Reading between the lines she may have given her sister some details on why she was concerned.
I doubt the sister would have told the press. She could be waiting and wants to be sure she can trust someone with power with the info.
Can't say I blame her. It's a good move on the sister's part if I'm right. I would play dumb too... at least I hope I would.
RagingGurrl @ 34:
True enough -- but in the military, unfortunately, free speech is extremely curtailed. If I understand it right, she would have needed permission from the brass to speak to reporters, unless she leaked the information. Certainly, though, whatever she found should have been recorded (photocopied, whatever) and sent to someone who would keep it safe and know how to use it in the event of her murder.
Chances are she was killed to keep her quiet, but, if the suicide story doesn't fly they'll blame it on the Taliban or a jilted lover. Either would fly with the belly slappers.
She's in a battle zone. It's too easy to make murder look like a casualty of war.
It's too bad she didn't detail her suspicions and any evidence, put it in an envelope and give it to her sister to place in a safe deposit box. Had she done that, and let the perps know the story would live beyond her, she might still be alive.
I hope the Boston Globe gets going on this.
Sounds supsicious enough to me.
yellow dog @ 51:
I personally think the deaths of both Pfc. Durkin and Pfc. Torres in 2004 had to do with heroin trafficking that is taking place at Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan. Google Bagram and heroin and see what you get. Seems like just about every time I've read about Bagram Airfield heroin was mentioned. I put some of the Bagram heroin links in my previous comment.
jeez... nothing like being vague.
she could have at least written a letter with some details
to be sent to the press if something happened to her.
It's a slippery slope when you try to lie cheat and steal and it looks like the military has some severe problems that it's trying to hush up in many areas Don't think for one moment that this is considered inappropriate by these assholes
Jesus...just...Jesus... And some will harp about and wonder why enlistment numbers are falling...... This whole situation stinks to high heaven... And unless those people who are really close to this deceased service member rattle cages of congress and the military pentagon types big time.. I really doubt we'll even be treated to a Tillman type dog and pony show...Let alone get at the truth of this 'murder'... Yep, that's what this all sound like to me... Someone or some group are really going to want to sweep this one under the rug... Sounds like she stumbled onto embezzlement of some kind... Maybe she found evidence of those shrinkwrapped millions somehow lost after being flown to Iraq.. I don't know.. I just know this stinks and I wouldn't let my dog serve in the military under these conditions let alone give my approval if my 20 something son suddenly took leave of his young senses and wanted to enlist....JD
I hope she kept a detailed diary that will be found.
This is out right murder by the US Military. Bagram has no Afghans on base if is always in lock down. Remember when Cheney was their the bomb was hit but no one could get in the gate. Durkin found out how the Military has been illegally spending money and she was killed to keep her mouth shut. Now the fake story the Military give saying she was gay is an out right lie. My daughter worked in her department while in Afghanistan and to many fellow officers know better. Next we'll hear Al Qaeda did it but that's the kind of story Cheney gives to cover up his crimes. This is a case of premeditated murder and it was done by the United States Military. As soldiers speak up they are killed as was the soldiers who did the op ad in the New York Times. Oh for those who think so much of the flag pin Officer Durkin was wearing one but the US killed her anyway.
She worked in FINANCE people and told her brother she discovered something bad , so it probably has to to do money being stolen, or goods and I listen to cnn reprehensible news , not surprising it wasn't a top story and they never uttered the word MURDERED .
In fact there was an investigator, an officer who supposedly committed " suicide " , investigating fraud at another base .
Col. Theodore Westhusing, a West Point ethics professor who was overseeing the training of Iraqi security forces and was investigating corruption in Iraqi government/Pentagon relations ended up committing 'suicide'.
In Full @ Newsweek
Bonus! A rambling screed @ my site in regard to this and other issues like 'missing' (quotes intentional) guns, the PKK and how they might have ended up with those guns Westhusing was concerned with (Glocks, also part of the Waxman probe into Blackwater's 'business' affairs), other fun stuff.
Yeah I am sure it was Al-CiaDuh...
thats what happens to defectors i think every american should continue doing nothing and just follow tom cruise's lead and build underground shelters in case of alien attack...
america, we already past the 14th step. WAKE THE FUC% UP!!!
make sure to wear red today and tomorrow to support burmese monks and people who fight for life
Janet @ 3:
I'm quite certain there's some scary shit going on; we'll never know about. Maybe she didn't want her family to know what she knew. They waterboard people. There are no "good guys" and "bad guys", it's all about "winning" at any cost. People can (be made to) disappear, or worse.
If I was an investigator. Hearing, what she did, that she discovered and reported something and made enemies because of it. She worked in finances, and add Blackwater with her concern to family in case of her future death she sort of prdictively feared.
I would dig deep.........................................................
[...] Crooks and Liars " GI to her family: Ask many questions if I die [...]
You are not looking at the big picture.
Other soldiers have died in both Afghanistan and Iraq under suspicious circumstances that have been tied to uncovering embarrassing information or have been against the war.
The seven soldiers from Iraq who wrote an op-ed against the war - three of them are dead, two from one IED. A colonel sent to Iraq to investigate deeds by US forces - suicide. The colonel was a catholic, former instructor at West Point, in a good marriage with three small children, and two weeks away from going home.
There are others.
I challenge anyone to go to CNN.com or MSNBC.com and find ANYTHING about this story without doing a site search. Aaaaannnnd. GO!!!