{Murdered} GI to her family: Ask many questions if I die

[PSPS]

Here's a story about a NG specialist who died from a "non-combat" gunshot to the head three miles inside the heavily protected Bagram Airfield in Afghanistan.

GI to her family: Ask many questions if I die; ‘I made some enemies,’ Durkin said

Durkin


By DIANA SCHOBERG and SUE SCHEIBLE
The Patriot Ledger

QUINCY - 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.’’

More at http://patriotledger.com/articles/2007/10/03/news/news01.txt

[BlooInBloo]

1. NPR did a long story this morning on the bunches of US military women...

... who've been sexually assaulted, and a number of them killed after complaining about it.

sheesh.

[ThomCat]

19. It totally makes me want to explode to know

that not only is our military covering up this shit, they're letting it continue! :grr:

I would like to have faith that people are all basically humane, but this stuff convinces me that a whole lot of people will enable and allow absolute evil just because it's their job, or because it's convenient.

[subsuelo]

21. and I can't help but wonder

how history will treat the rest of us... will we be looked upon as the American people who stood by and did nothing?

[pokercat999]

34. No we will be looked upon as the country that had an

Army of mercenaries. This is one of the results of an all "volunteer" Army, essentially mercenaries.

She probably discovered some financial scheme to steal or defraud by higher ups and this is a convenient way to dispose of "problems" in a war zone.

[reggie the dog]

79. i disagree

we have an all voulenteer army here in France and you can hardly say we are mercenaries. I live in a military town and come into regular contact with soldiers, I even teach english to some of them, they seem very professional and the ones I have talked to take their profession seriously, see war as something to be avoided because it represents a breakdown of society and speak of the geneva convention as a good thing.

[pokercat999]

88. Hmmmm I didn't say anything about the FRENCH ARMY!

You have the French Foreign Legion for your mercenaries, so your regular troops can act as a defensive army and protect YOUR country.

[reggie the dog]

92. so true

[dickbearton]

89. Reggie the dog, you sound confused...

You have to teach American soldiers English. What kind of
soldiers are these, the great volunteer army. You say you
teach English and yet you spell volunteer as voulenteer. Looks
as if you need a lesson yourself. As for American soldiers in
France, WTF are you even doing there, bloating the U.S.
military budget? 

[reggie the dog]

93. I am not a soldier

I am just an American expat in France. I teach english to French soldiers from time to time (sometimes at a university where I give english lessons, sometimes in night classes through the chambre de commerce. I made a comment to someone who said that there were problems in the US army because it is an all voulenteer army. I got the spelling crossed between the english and the french "volontiers". I just make the argument that many countries have all voulenteer armies without having such blatant torture etc. as we have seen coming out of Iraq.

[cartach]

37. Like the Germans

prior to and during WW2.

[raccoon]

38. Yep. Like the "good Germans." the ones the American soldiers forced to go

through the concentration camps after the camps were liberated.

[Tesha]

45. The phrase "Good Americans" will replace another well-known phrase. (NT)

[Sequoia]

53. The "Good American"

[texastoast]

68. Ding! Ding! Ding! Ding!

Bingo! Nail on the head! Etc.

[rodeodance]

54. thanks, i will try to find the story

[QueenOfCalifornia]

2. Thank you....

for this post. I do not wear a tinfoil hat and I believe this woman was murderd.

recommended

[Mythsaje]

3. Apparently it wasn't a joke...

This kind of crap needs a really bright light shined on it.

[lpbk2713]

4. I wonder if she found out what happened to those pallets of US dollars.

The hundreds of millions of dollars that vanished almost as soon as the plane hit the ground.

[lonestarnot]

14. Ugh try 6 billion.

[lpbk2713]

16. *A billion here, a billion there. Sooner or later you're talking about REAL money*

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/10/iraq_billions200710



I stand corrected. :thumbsup:

[lonestarnot]

17. You rich? Or just wanna be?

[dickbearton]

87. We all know George Bush is a traitor and a war criminal...

We all know huge amounts of money is stolen and we all know
the Republican criminals will do anything to cover it up. When
will Americans stand up and end this charade? I can only hope
they do, before it is to late. Educate everyone you come in
contact with, because the bought out MSM will not do it.

[Annces]

5. Oh boy

Corruption is one mean animal to deal with.

[theoldman]

6. A lot of people are getting rich off the war in Afghanistan just

like in Iraq. If you are making millions you can pay someone a few thousand dollars to bump off anyone who is likely to expose what you are doing.

[avrdream]

33. It's always about the money.

Recommended and kicked.

[reggie the dog]

81. at a certain point

you just have to tell the folks buying a hit on you that you will shut up forever for half of what they will pay for the hit. Sometimes I think this has happened to lots of politicians.

[Junkdrawer]

7. But...but...we'll disrespect her family if we ask questions...

At least, that's what we're always told...

[me b zola]

8. I hope Durkin's family contacts the family of Pat Tillman

The is comfort, strength, and safety in numbers.

[Ilsa]

9. This is how fascism works. Even people in uniform are afraid of

the others with guns. Why wouldn't we be afraid of Blackwater? Why wouldn't we be afraid if everything we do or say might be under surveillance?

[wildbilln864]

12. Part of the....

"Strategy of Tention" IMHO. :hi:

[Ilsa]

10. This thread needs to be filed in research with other items

of criminality, theft, murder, etc. What a horrible situation.

[wildbilln864]

11. K&R! Thanks for posting this! n/t

[KansDem]

13. I hope she left papers or documents behind for her family to find...

...that might help to shed some light on this bizarre mystery.

[lonestarnot]

15. She left numbers in her finance unit. But someone might scrub them now before they

could be discovered since this has been posted here.

[NYC]

18. Whoever knew to kill her knew to scrub them.

We'll be lucky if any evidence remains.

[tom_paine]

20. Another Loyal American murdered by Loyal Bushies

I wish for justice for her family and that her Loyal Bushie murderer pays for his crime.

However, we all know how often Loyal Bushies pay for their murders...I'm still waiting for the first one...

[HCE SuiGeneris]

25. Greed, money and male dominated militarism killing

off our best... the whole debacle is utterly pathetic. :mad:

[tom_paine]

40. That, too. But those things have always been with us humans.

Which is bad enough, don't get me wrong, but only when such impulses (ingrained in the human psyche for a vast majority of people, comfort and acquisition being primate-root-desires) are mated to Unquestioning Obedience, Conscience Eradication, and Authoritarianism (see my sigline for the long trek into the age-old mechanism of the archetype) is when these State-Sponsored or State-Approved Killings kick into overdrive.

We are just edging closer to that particular abyss, though I suspect, for PR reasons, those kinds of killing will always be performed much more sproadically and infrequently as Extreme Authoritarians like the Soviets and the Nazis did.

Can't let people form those negative associations, you see.

[Imagevision]

22. In 2004 eight Billion disappeared and nothing has been reported since, defense/war big $$$ sick

Americans backing Bush's war biz...

[snot]

23. One thing that needs to be spread is:

if you ever think you know anything someone wishes you didn't, you need to copy any evidence you've got, write it down together with who you think wishes you didn't know it and why, and put copies in at least 2 places: (1) in a safe deposit box; and (2) with a lawyer, with instructions to open the envelope if anything happens to you. Then TELL whoever you think wishes you didn't know it that you've made arrangements for the info to be released if anything happens to you.

I just made that up so maybe there's a better plan, but this might have been better than whatever she did instead.

[Colorado Progressive]

24. Wow. How do the repukes even justify their bullshit war?????

Have we had ENOUGH yet????????????

[Greyhound]

27. Apparently not yet. Unless and until large numbers of us feel it here

we really couldn't care less. The war is not real to enough of us yet, and that's just how it's been played.
:kick:

[Kurovski]

26. K&R. (nt)

[girl gone mad]

28. And yet..

Democrats continue to vote to fund this illegal and unethical war.

[natrat]

73. at this point it's obvious blackmail,corruption or threats-pick one

[girl gone mad]

77. agreed. n/t

[Eurobabe]

29. Surreal, what has the US come to?

[riverdeep]

30. Why aren't conservatives who whine and complain

they don't want welfare queens soaking up their hard earned money up in arms about the billions lost in this looting spree?

[Red Zelda]

36. Great point

because their Bushjesus can do no wrong.
And when He throws billions around, that's fine for (most of) them.

[Divine Discontent]

60. I really truly believe this comment of yours!

They are hypnotized into backing and believing whatever their (and forgive me LORD) "Bushjesus" tells them!

SIXTY NINE EFFING PERCENT OF REPUBLICANS SUPPORT THE PRESIDENT'S WORK AS GOOD OR EXCELLENT!

They treat him like a prophet, surely.



Dumbfounding. Such a chaotic, horribly mangled, law breaking, vessel of poop they have ran from DC, and somehow, some 30+ million who voted for him last time support him - if you believe in polls. lol....

[orleans]

31. i hope she gave her sister a BETTER CLUE!

so she has more to go on then just saying "i want an investigation"

if she didn't provide more information to her sister or family then WHY NOT?

[bagrman]

39. I hope that there is a little package that winds up on Olbermans desk.

She couldn't send what she found to any one in the government.

[opihimoimoi]

32. Where O where is John Wayne when we need him? Or Morgan Freeman?

Somehow, they would know how to deal with this shit...

[trusty elf]

57. You're joking, right?

[opihimoimoi]

62. Facetiousness allows for latitude....lol

[trusty elf]

65. I guess it was obvious,

but sometimes I can't tell anymore.

:hi:

[opihimoimoi]

76. Love that cufflink...LOL

[kestrel91316]

66. Morgan Freeman lives in his small hometown in MS and owns a

fabulous restaurant there.........FYI. He's one of my favorite actors. Wish HE could be President......

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morgan_Freeman

[Wapsie B]

80. I'll take Nancy Pelosi

[SlingBlade]

35. Looks like she

stumbled upon some corrupt financial dealings. Imagine that huh.
I’ve often wondered what happened to those piles of cash that the solders
found stashed in Sadams hideous in Iraq.

With the typical Bush finical system in place I’d be willing to bet this
is a case of murder simply to cover up corruption and the sad thing is it will
probably work.:nuke:

[BeHereNow]

42. I know for certain that you are correct.

Because I fear for a loved one- I will say no more.
BHN

[SlingBlade]

44. I’m sorry your in that position

Unfortunately power and especially the power they weld over our loved ones is a tried and true practice these last few years.

They've learned from some of the best most successful criminal enterprises this nation has ever seen.
The Bush crime family.

[soleft]

41. I wonder if Olberman is going to report on this

He's probably the only one who would make a big deal in MSM

[Tinksrival]

43. Such a waste

She has such a kind face.

I would bet she died because of the culture of evil greed we now live with.

[Joanne98]

46. She worked in the FINANCE UNIT! Calling Henry Waxman!!!!!

[whistle]

47. Holy crap, here was someone who might have had information

...about the missing billions of dollars and suddenly she gets a bullet shot to the head! :wtf:

[paritom]

48. Kick

&R

[formerrepuke]

49. Kick.n/t

[Zookeeper]

50. It sounds like an execution style killing....

No attempt to make it look like an accident or a result of enemy fire.

Perhaps it was meant to also serve as a warning to anyone else on the base who was aware of the information she had.

[sicksicksick_N_tired]

51. Horrifying!!!!

:scared:

[gasperc]

52. well sounds like this could become a gigantic story

of epic proportions, let's see where it goes

Both Hartman and Ed Shultz have been hitting these stories hard. I hope Olberman takes it up.

[redqueen]

59. That's the next place it needs to go if it's to get ANY attention

from the corporate-whore media.

Olbermann's show is our most effective means of breaking through the filter and getting real news out to the public.

[hisownpetard]

55. Did they steal her computer? n/t

[hisownpetard]

56. I wonder how much Blackwater got paid for that day's assignment. n/t

[Judi Lynn]

58. Finding out what she learned would certainly help. She was very, very brave.

She was the one who served her country, not the ones who killed her.

Need to remember her name: Ciara Durkin.

Hope they will investigate her murder until they determine how it happened, SOMETIME. Don't hold your breath for this administration to do the right thing, of course. That's not going to happen.

[Maestro]

61. I was talking to a friend of mine had has a friend that served in Iraq

He told that the military friend of his explained that this war is nothing but a money making scheme now with many, many fat cats getting richer at the expense of the Iraqis and our soldiers. He stated that at one time he loved serving his country but now sees it as a detriment. He is scarred for life because of what is done in the name of money. Durkin probably came upon some scheme that got generals, diplomatic friends of Darth and * plus corp ceos richer. Now she has been "fixed." It's disgusting.

I'm curious. Who is repsonsible for the autopsy, the military? Can the family ask for a third party to perform the autopsy? I'd like to know what type of bullet killed her and if it was military issued ammo.

[BrklynLib at work]

67. That is exactly what was said on Olbermann the other night in reference to Blackwater...

and they said...the worse it gets over there, the more money they make.
And the more places around the world where there is conflict..the more money they will make.

[antigone382]

83. Apparently the family has asked for an independent autopsy...

(from the story)

Canavan said that the offices of Sen. John Kerry and Edward Kennedy have been tremendously supportive in the ongoing investigation. U.S. Rep. William Delahunt has also been pressing the Pentagon for answers.

Other family members are coming in for Durkin’s funeral on Saturday at St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Quincy, she said.

Kerry sent a letter to Secretary of Defense Robert Gates on Tuesday. It contained a list of questions he said were raised by Durkin’s family:

—Why had the family not gotten a response to its request for an independent autopsy?

—Why did the family not receive the results of the Army’s autopsy when it was told it would?

—Why had the Army not made Durkin’s will and other paperwork available to the family so they could plan her funeral?

Asked in a telephone interview about what the seriousness of the questions might imply, Kerry said there were ‘‘no implications.’’

‘‘There’s simply a request for a family at a moment of great loss and great anxiety to have everything possible happen to put their minds at ease,’’ he said. ‘‘There have been some unfortunate situations, as we’ve seen historically in the past few years, of false information being given, of people not sufficiently having their questions answered.’’

[Maestro]

90. Thanks

I couldn't read the story at work...

[everydayis911]

63. It wouldn't surprise me

If Blackwater is doing all the killing in the middle east. Somebody has to keep this war going. They have the weapons the know how and the support for the village idiot Bush.

[ooglymoogly]

64. Any body citizen or soldier who entrusts his/her life to this

government and has a different opinion from it, is living in a suicidal la la land.

[Exultant Democracy]

69. The Qaeda The Qaeda The Qaeda! Support our troops! We are a christian nation

Stop giving aid and comfort to our enemies.

[yardwork]

70. OMG. This is incredible.

k&r

[yardwork]

71. kick - this is far more important than whining about Hillary.

Please, people. Focus.

[bdamomma]

72. killed by her own perhaps, another Pat Tillman thing.

disgusting.

[AntiFascist]

74. How are we expected to "support the troops" when...

there is so much corruption and some of the higher-ups are turning against their own? This is one troop who really deserves our support.

What is it that Pat Tillman and Ciara Durken learned about Afghanistan that had to be squelched? Why is Sibel Edmonds gagged? Could it have something to do with the incredibly profitable poppy (heroin) crop? Why does Waxman feel that there is nothing that deserves to be investigated when there are agents willing to come forward with evidence? Something really stinks about all this. How many in Congress are profitting from this multi-billion dollar business?

[PATRICK]

75. Army recruiting

even as reported by CNN shows the dangerous degradation of the Armed Services. Not only is lawless merc Blackwater growing into a massive private army but the people's army is swelling with illiterates, non citizens, and criminals whose convictions for heaven knows what are suspended for "volunteering" to take a $20,000 bonus instead. 15,000 pre-cons.

Nazi Germany did not destroy its army to rebuild it like apparently our neo-fascists think necessary. An individual death like this cries out for Congressional concern, but if the larger issues cannot muster even the necessary re-balancing of powers the victims will keep multiplying. Whatever the solution to this case the odds are overwhelming high that she is yet another purposeful victim of RW Bush dynasty, Crazy Dick, corporate crime. All this from surrendering the legitimacy of our government to overtly fraudulent theft.

[spirit of wine]

78. At this point the mystery is gone but the anger remains

More insecurity seems to be coming from within our own defense structure like hired contractors and lowered standards for recruits for the military. This administration has shown that cronyism and corruption can also play a role in their government but to the detriment of our safety. The death of this soldier seems like she was murdered for having found out information that could have lead others to their inevitable conclusion. I am sorry for her and family and loved ones, her intellect was her demise.

[earth mom]

82. Time for tinfoil.

:tinfoilhat:

[Maq]

84. Major Gloria D Davis 6 Dec 2006 date of SUSPICIOUS death

Major Gloria D Davis Date of Death 6 December 2006

Maqs' opinion: This Major in the finance end of the War is said to have comitted Suicide. VERY SUSPICIOUS to me She has an 18 year career I say she was murdered because of what she knew. Just like Ciara Durkin

It has been reported in The New York Times (US says company bribed officers for work in Iraq--31 Aug 07) that Gloria had admitted to an Army investigator that she had accepted at least $225,000 in bribes from Lee Dynamics. The following day she committed suicide. The US has begun proceedings to seize her assets, a move her heirs are contesting.



SOURCE: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D06E7DC1339F937A1575AC0A9619C8B63

An Officer's Suicide

Although a Justice Department official said it was too early to know if the suspects in the corruption investigation operated independently or in a network, public records indicate that several served overlapping tours. At least two officers who worked at Camp Arifjan when Major Cockerham was there committed suicide after learning they would face bribery charges. One, Maj. Gloria D. Davis of Missouri, shot herself in December 2006, a day after admitting she took at least $225,000 in bribes, government officials said.
NOTE: The news article does not mention the name of who the second person who is said to have committed suicide.

[proud patriot]

85. GRR

:grr:

[DrBlix]

86. Then there wae Lt. Col. Westhusing

Reportedly committed suicide......General David Petraeus wae his commanding officer.
.
Officer's 2005 Suicide A Painful Reminder of Corruption in Iraq
By Spencer Ackerman - August 28, 2007, 4:27PM
With the Pentagon's inspector general set to arrive in Iraq in a few weeks to personally investigate allegations of corruption in, among other places, the training of Iraqi security forces, it's worth remembering that suspicions of wrongdoing in the command led one officer to take his own life out of apparent shame. In a suicide note left on his bed in Baghdad, Lt. Colonel Ted Westhusing wrote, "I didn't volunteer to support corrupt, money grubbing contractors, nor work for commanders only interested in themselves." Westhusing, 44, killed himself on June 5, 2005.
.
Much about Westhusing's case remains a mystery. According to a definitive Los Angeles Times exploration of his death published in November 2005, the committed Christian and West Point graduate began working for the training command, known as MNTSC-I, in January of 2005. General David Petraeus, who now leads U.S. forces in Iraq, commanded MNTSC-I in 2004 and 2005.
.
Westhusing's primary responsibility was to oversee a private company, USIS, which held a $79 million contract to train Iraqi special forces, and Petraeus told him he had exceeded "lofty expectations."
snip
.
The provenance of the letter is unknown, and it alleged even more serious charges -- including contractor murder of Iraqi civilians. Westhusing initially wrote to a commander, Major General Joseph Fil, that USIS was "complying" with the terms of its contract, and that the "evidence suggests the other allegations are not true as well" barely a week before his death.
.
Investigators came to much the same conclusion, though questions about missing weapons were recently corroborated by a Government Accountability Office report disclosing that MNSTC-I lost nearly 200,000 rifles and pistols during 2004 and 2005.
.
http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/004022.php

[in_cog_ni_to]

91. I wish she would have been more specific about what she uncovered and

I wish she had told her family. SOMETHING, SOMEONE needs to bring these thugs down.:(

I suppose her death is being called a suicide? Even if it is investigated, if she knew something that was never to be exposed, that investigation is for nothing more than show.