Free Republic

There is saintliness in a soldier's prospective acceptance of an honorable death in combat. To diminish such a deed, especially in service of a political agenda, approaches sacrilege. ADVERTISEMENT So it was with the manner in which The New York Times last week noted the death of Cpl. Jeffrey Starr, USMC, of Snohomish, Wash., who was killed in Ramadi on April 30 during his third tour of duty in Iraq. The young Marine's death was a centerpiece in the Times' coverage of America's 2,000th combat death in Iraq. The newspaper's overview of the war is no secret: To hear the...

The New York Times cut patriotic comments from a letter written by a U.S. Marine before he was killed in Iraq. The family of Cpl. Jeffrey Starr slammed the Times for selectively excerpting the letter he wrote to his girlfriend, intending for her to read it in the event of his death. A November 2 Times story about soldiers killed while serving multiple tours of duty mentioned 22-year-old Starr, who was serving his third tour of duty when he died, and included this excerpt from his letter: "I kind of predicted this ... A third time just seemed like I’m...