"DUSTWUN"? Better Off Dead?

Yesterday, the Department of Defense issued this news release:

"DoD Announces Army Soldiers as Whereabouts Unknown

The Department of Defense announced today the identities of four
soldiers listed as Duty Status Whereabouts Unknown (DUSTWUN) while
supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.They have been unaccounted for since May 12
in Al Taqa, Iraq, when their patrol was attacked by enemy forces using
automatic fire and explosives.They are assigned to the 4th Battalion,
31st Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division,
Fort Drum, N.Y.

Reported as DUSTWUN are:

Sgt. Anthony J. Schober, 23, of Reno, Nev.

Spc. Alex R. Jimenez, 25, of Lawrence, Mass.

Pfc. Joseph J. Anzack Jr., 20, of Torrance, Calif.

Pvt. Byron W. Fouty, 19, of Waterford, Mich."

These young men are reportedly the subjects of an intense ongoing search effort, involving several thousand troops, in the region where they disappeared. They join two others of their warrior brothers as, presumably, captives of some faction of the shadowy Iraqi "insurgency".

Things worked out relatively well for Jessica Lynch--the first of our troops to disappear on the Iraqi battlefield. Captured during the so-called "kinetic phase" of the war--during the initial invasion of the country--she was taken prisoner after the truck convoy in which she was a driver came under attack after making an unfortunate wrong turn. She was subsequently rescued from a hospital bed after a heroic Iraqi doctor went to American authorities and revealed her whereabouts. Despite having suffered some serious wounds and abuse at the hands of her captors, she made it home alive, and has gotten off to a good start on a productive life, even though she undoubtedly continues to suffer from some psychological trauma of her experience. Hers, though, was an exceptional case.

Others of our troops who have been taken prisoner in Iraq haven't fared nearly so well. Most of those who have been recovered after being taken prisoner were found dead, bearing signs of having suffered varying degrees of abuse. I think we can pretty much take it for granted that our own well-documented mistreatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib has contributed to a tendency to take a nasty brand of vengeance on our own people under circumstances like these.

In others of our wars, ranging from the time of Custer's "last stand" to the Marine assault on Okinawa it was considered prudent among the soldiery to "save your last bullet for yourself", lest you fall into the hands of a ruthless enemy who was known to have a prediliction for taking vengeance in particularly unpleasant ways on living captives. Whether American troops in Iraq have ever resorted to this expedient, or considered doing so, hasn't come to light. It wouldn't seem to be a completely unreasonable alternative, though, considering the kind of torture that has been inflicted on many of the Iraqis who have been abducted, murdered and had their bodies dumped randomly in Baghdad and elsewhere during the past several years.

I wouldn't want to dash the hopes of friends and families of those whose loved ones are among the missing, but the outlook for these guys truly is pretty bleak, realistically speaking--IF they wind up being found at all. Still, we can hope, and pray, for the best.

"DUSTWUN"? Better Off Dead?

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