As commander-in-chief of the Iowa National Guard, Governor Tom Vilsack talked personally with the families of the fallen soldiers.
Vilsack, a Democrat who is mulling a run for the White House in 2008, seemed to express his frustration with the way the Bush Administration is waging the war in Iraq when he spoke earlier this afternoon with reporters. “It’s difficult to continually make these calls and not be able to say much to the families other than our thoughts and our prayers are with them and we know how devastating this is. The family I spoke with today (was) clearly devastated, clearly devastated,” Vilsack said. “I’m getting tired of making these calls, I can tell you that. I’m getting very tired of makin’ ’em.”
Since the terror attacks of September 11th, 2001, 16 Iowa National Guard soldiers have been killed while on active duty.