9/11 widow visits Iraq to encourage troops

This just makes me so sad. How many degrees of exploitation can you find?

...

Widow of 2001 terror attack visits troops in Iraq
By Associated Press, 8/3/2003 15:13

NEPTUNE, N.J. (AP) U.S. troops in Iraq got a personal show of support from a New Jersey widow of the 2001 terrorist attacks.

Virginia Bauer, 46, who was named New Jersey Lottery commissioner earlier this year, took part in a USO-sponsored trip last month to Baghdad, Kuwait and Qatar.

The Rumson woman was one of three representatives of victims' families participating in the weeklong Project Salute tour that also included sports and entertainment celebrities.

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"I told them I was a mother who lost her husband and was supporting the troops," Bauer told the Asbury Park Sunday Press. "Many of them said to us they joined the Army and joined the military after Sept. 11 because it affected them so much they felt they needed to so something."

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/215/region/Widow_of_2001_terror_attack_vi:.shtml

...to link 9/11 to Iraq.

One tragedy compounded by another. How proud she must be.

Another lame attempt to convince the ignorant and un-informed that the invasion and occupation of Iraq was both justified and tied to the war on terrorism.

and replied with one sentence:

"What does Iraq have to do with 9-11?"

Never got a response.

Edited to add: This sort of behavior illustrates the desperate need for improved and widespread mental health treatment in the US. People are either in some sort of serious denial, suffering from an inability to thinky logically or compleatly disconnected from reality. And it is now on such a large scale as to be the norm. This frieghtens me in the extreme. We have become a nation where a huge portion of the population simply cannot follow along with reality.

When I read the subject line, I thought they were sending Lisa Beamer out for another tour...