Charges dropped.

The Army dismissed a cowardice charge but filed another count against an Army interrogator who sought counseling after he saw the body of an Iraqi man cut in half by American fire.

...After seeing the mangled corpse, Pogany says he began shaking and vomiting and feared for his life. Soon, Pogany says, he had trouble sleeping and started suffering what he thought were panic attacks.

Now he faces another charge: Dereliction of Duty.

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Check out this article: Parents who protested war mourn death of soldier son

As a boy, Benjamin Colgan marched with his parents in peace protests. Joseph and Pat Colgan, 62 and 60, respectively, whose activism dates from the Vietnam War, were surprised when their son enlisted in the Army. But they continued to support him, even as they opposed the war in Iraq.

On Monday, their worst fears came true. Colgan, 30, a second lieutenant, the father of two young daughters with a third child due next month, died Saturday when a roadside bomb exploded as he responded to a rocket-propelled grenade attack in Baghdad, the Defense Department said.

Word came with a knock on the door at the Colgans' home. "I saw the cross on his lapel pin and I said, 'No, not my son! Not my son!' " his mother said. "There will be many people experiencing the same thing," she added. "This war, it shouldn't be."

Lt. Colgan had recently become disenchanted with the war.

His parents were concerned when he gave a dim appraisal of Baghdad in an e-mail Friday. "What raised a red flag was when he said, 'It's getting real old and getting real crazy,' " his father said. As a young child, he had joined his parents on marches to protest nuclear weapons at Naval Submarine Base Bangor. Then, to pay for college, he enlisted in the Army after graduation from Mount Rainier High School in Des Moines in 1991. "That was hard, but you support your children," his mother said.

More from Lt. Colgan's mother:

His mother says his death has only strengthened her position against the war. "People keep asking, 'Are the Iraqis better off?'" she said. "What we have to start asking is, 'Are we better off?' And we're not. We're losing our children."

[Thanks to Ziska's John Emerson for the link]

The New York Times reports that Saddam Hussein tried to make a last minute deal to avoid war.

As American soldiers massed on the Iraqi border in March and diplomats argued about war, an influential adviser to the Pentagon received a secret message from a Lebanese-American businessman: Saddam Hussein wanted to make a deal.

Iraqi officials, including the chief of the Iraqi Intelligence Service, had told the businessman that they wanted Washington to know that Iraq no longer had weapons of mass destruction, and they offered to allow American troops and experts to conduct an independent search. The businessman said in an interview that the Iraqis also offered to hand over a man accused of being involved in the World Trade Center bombing in 1993 who was being held in Baghdad. At one point, he said, the Iraqis pledged to hold elections.

The messages from Baghdad, first relayed in February to an analyst in the office of Douglas J. Feith, the under secretary of defense for policy and planning, were part of an attempt by Iraqi intelligence officers to open last-ditch negotiations with the Bush administration through a clandestine communications channel, according to people involved.

Interviews and documents show that Saddam approved of the efforts. Before rebuffing the overtures, Pentagon Advisor Richard N. Perle met in London with the Lebanese-American businessman, Imad Hage.

Mr. Perle said he sought authorization from C.I.A. officials to meet with the Iraqis, but the officials told him they did not want to pursue this channel, and they indicated they had already engaged in separate contacts with Baghdad. Mr. Perle said the response was simple: "The message was, `Tell them that we will see them in Baghdad.' "

There's lots more to the story, go read the whole thing.

Every Saturday night in November and December, there will be a peace march in St. Petersberg, Florida. 6:30 to 8:30. Meet at 2nd Ave. N. and Bayshore Dr. N. between Baywalk and the pier. The message: Get out of Iraq. Get out of Afganistan. And more:

GET OUR TROOPS OUT OF IRAQ!!!! NO MORE DEAD AND WOUNDED SOLDIERS! Enough is enough. Iraqi resistance is growing. Things are getting very ugly. The longer we stay, the more terrorists will be created. The invasion of Iraq was a mistake, and so is the occupation. Sure, leaving Iraq will create problems, but staying will create even more. Bring in the U.N. and have elections in Iraq. If we believe in democracy, let's do what the majority of Iraqis want -- get out of their country!

Details at St Pete for Peace.

Received from defense attorney and Vietnam Vet Terry Kindlon, on the new William Buckley column on the Chinook Helicopter:

History repeats! Sh*t happens! Found an interesting piece today by William F. Buckley, Jr., on the subject of why we shouldn't get too worked up about one little helicopter full of dead soldiers. The analysis has a certain appeal for us cynics who see all those pesky "Iraq is Vietnam" parallels, because, here, for the first time since right after the 1968 Tet Offensive, a conservative columnist is patiently instructing us--again--that if you'll just compare the number of soldiers killed in a given period of time (like, five minutes for example) to the number of Americans killed in car accidents in a year, you will not feel particularly upset about the dead soldiers (especially if none of them happens to be you, your kid, your father, mother, sister, brother or anybody else you actually used to play golf with at the country club). I can distinctly remember a fat guy in a hard hat making that car wreck argument back in 1969. It didn't work for me, but then I actually knew a bunch of the dead soldiers, so I guess I didn't really have the proper perspective.

In any event, now that Mr. Buckley has resurrected this argument, I'm wondering if I can use it as a defense in my next murder case? Sample opening statement: "Ladies and Gentlemen, please put the charges against my client 'into perspective.'" There were 43,000 'Mericans killed in car wrecks last year, not to mention 16 people killed in one helicopter wreck, and my client is merely accused of killing one little family of four..."

Think it'll work?

The Pentagon is oiling up the draft machine. We join Maxspeak in calling upon Country Joe and the Fish to phone their office--it's time for a comeback.

For those of you too young to remember Country Joe or the "Feel Like I'm Fixing to Die Rag",here's Country Joe himself on the song from his latest website.

Update: Here's the notice from the Selective Service Website.

There was new information Sunday and Monday that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. It came from Iraqi Deputy Prime Minister Tariq Aziz who surrendered to the U.S. and has been interrogated by U.S. officials:

The Post said Aziz, who surrendered to U.S. authorities in April, also claims Iraq did not possess stocks of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons on the eve of the war. That assertion compliments similar statements from other detained Iraqi leaders and scientists.

The newspaper said several high-ranking detainees say the reason Saddam did not disabuse United States and other intelligence services of their belief he had weapons of mass destruction was to save face with his Arab neighbors.

The prisoners say Saddam believed Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates and other countries paid him deference only because they feared he had weapons of mass destruction.

France denies coaching Saddam. More details on Aziz's statement are here.

Here's the latest on the Colorado soldier charged with cowardice after being sent home from Iraq following his request for psychological counseling. We note that he had volunteered to go to Iraq:

FORT CARSON - A hearing is set for noon Friday for 32-year-old Staff Sgt. Georg Pogany. Pogany, a member of the 10th Special Forces Group, has been charged with violating Article 99 of military code, specifically of cowardice while on duty in Iraq.

Pogany suffered stress while he was in Iraq in late September and asked a commanding officer if he could see a psychologist, said his attorney, Richard Travis. After that visit, Travis said, commanding officers ordered Pogany to return to the United States.

Pogany volunteered to go to Iraq, Travis said. "He wasn't trying to shirk his responsibilities."

15 U.S. soldiers, headed for R&R were killed today when their helicopter was shot down. Another 6 were wounded.

The only day that saw more U.S. casualties came March 23, during the first week of the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

Update: One of the first comments to this post referred to the deaths as "excellent." Like many of the subseuqent commenters, we are offended by the remark and are deleting the comment. We mention it so that these subsequent comments retain context.

Update: 18 Americans in all died today.

15 U.S. soldiers, headed for R&R were killed today when their helicopter was shot down. Another 6 were wounded.

The only day that saw more U.S. casualties came March 23, during the first week of the invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

Update: One of the first comments to this post referred to the deaths as "excellent." Like many of the subseuqent commenters, we are offended by the remark and are deleting the comment. We mention it so that these subsequent comments retain context.

Update: 18 Americans in all died today.

A Colorado woman i faces punishment for refusing Iraq duty to avoid losing custody of children.

Simone Holcomb and her husband of three years, Vaughn Holcomb, also a soldier, were both sent to Iraq early this year. The children's paternal grandmother came from Ohio to look after them.

Then an ex-wife came along and sued for custoday. The Holcombs came home on emergency leave....

A judge in a custodial hearing mandated that one of the parents must stay home to look after the children in order for Vaughn to retain full custody of the two. ....Vaughn, 40, went back to Iraq. Simone, 30, stayed - without the Army's permission. Now she faces dismissal and even jail time.

"I was told by the Army ... to get on a plane," Simone said Saturday night. "I even told them it was unlawful and they said 'I don't care, get on a plane.' It's against the law for me to abandon my children. I can no sooner walk out on my children than I can rob a bank just because the Army told me to."

Simone is being treated as an AWOL.

A Colorado woman i faces punishment for refusing Iraq duty to avoid losing custody of children.

Simone Holcomb and her husband of three years, Vaughn Holcomb, also a soldier, were both sent to Iraq early this year. The children's paternal grandmother came from Ohio to look after them.

Then an ex-wife came along and sued for custoday. The Holcombs came home on emergency leave....

A judge in a custodial hearing mandated that one of the parents must stay home to look after the children in order for Vaughn to retain full custody of the two. ....Vaughn, 40, went back to Iraq. Simone, 30, stayed - without the Army's permission. Now she faces dismissal and even jail time.

"I was told by the Army ... to get on a plane," Simone said Saturday night. "I even told them it was unlawful and they said 'I don't care, get on a plane.' It's against the law for me to abandon my children. I can no sooner walk out on my children than I can rob a bank just because the Army told me to."

Simone is being treated as an AWOL.