Dispatches

Some food for thought about the developments in the Ft. Hood massacre story:

• In a statement about it's investigation into the Ft. Hood massacre, the FBI says "the alleged gunman acted alone and was not part of a broader terrorist plot."

• Yet The New York Times and other media outlets are reporting that U.S. intelligence agencies have intercepted communications between the alleged shooter and a radical cleric in Yemen known for his incendiary anti-American teachings – so even if it wasn't a broad plot, it's going to be harder for many folks to ignore the hand of extremism in this case.

• President Barack Obama, in an address at Ft. Hood, declined to use the word "terrorism" to describe what happened last Thursday afternoon, saying instead that "twisted logic" was to blame.

• But perhaps in a nod to those, including some family members of the victims, who say the nation should not rush to dismiss religious extremism as a cause, Obama noted that "no faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favor. And for what he has done, we know that the killer will be met with justice – in this world, and the next."

In the wake of the horrible massacre that claimed the life of his great-nephew and 12 others at Ft. Hood, Dick Nemelka's anger is understandable.

That doesn't mean everyone will see eye-to-eye with Nemelka's opinions about what the United States should do in response to this terrible event. But it's clear that the 66-year-old retired professional basketball player and attorney represents a large number of Americans when it comes to how he views Thursday's attacks — the acts of a man he calls an "extremist Muslim."

"If the Army would let me, I would travel myself to Fort Hood and permanently end the life," of  Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, Nemelka wrote me in an e-mail.

Nemelka believes that the War on Terrorism has a front in United States. And although he spent 35 years as an attorney, he wrote "prevention is far better than prosecution."

America, he wrote, needs "to be more active in finding" radical extremists inside it's borders. "I may be in the minority, but I would support an all out war on the terrorists that live here in the United States. A lot has been said about profiling by the police or other law enforcement agencies based on color or religion, but perhaps we need to do more to prevent acts of terrorism."

"This may require the use of new techniques or the softening of some alleged constitutional rights," Nemelka continued. "But we cannot stand by and watch our loved ones be murdered."

"We must act now to protect and defend our right to live in peace," he concluded.

What do you think? Are these the words of a man who has been deeply angered by the murder of his nephew, or is the massacre at Ft. Hood a sign that we need to take another look at whether religion influences violence in America? Comments here or e-mail me at military@sltrib.com.

Former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad is wrong.

After Afghans went to the polls on Aug. 20, incumbent President Hamid Karzai claimed victory. Then Karzai was forced to accept that widespread fraud made a run-off with top challenger Abdullah Abdullah necessary. Then, on Sunday, Abdullah unexpectedly dropped out of the race, saying that there were no evidence that the second round of voting would be anymore fair than the first. On Monday, the Afghan Independent Electoral Commission (which critics say is independant in name only, since its commissioners were hired by Karzai) announced Karzai the winner.

Khalilzad has said that Abdullah's withdrawal "puts the election issue behind us."

Hardly.

The U.S. government, which congratulated Karzai in a statement from its embassy in Kabul, may be content to whistle past the graveyard, but it's fighting history. This is, after all, the same nation that supported the corruption-laden leadership of Nguyễn Văn Thiệu  in Vietnam and Syngman Rhee in Korea. Both men ultimately lost popular support of their countrymen — and it's probably worth noting that both men died in exile in the United States.

Although he might maintain the support of the United States government, Karzai has little hope of cobbling together a legitimate government from the wreckage of this election nightmare.

Meanwhile, tens of thousand of U.S. service members, including no small number of local service members, are heading to Afghanistan. President Barack Obama's military commanders want even more troops. Popular opinion back home is hopelessly befuddled, though it seems to be turning against additional troop increases.  And the number of U.S. deaths in Afghanistan is on pace to more than double last year's number.

No, the election issue is not behind us. Not even close. No matter what course the U.S. takes in Afghanistan, this mess will fester for a long time to come.

I hate days like this.

It began with a call from my editor. "Did you read the obituaries over the weekend?" she asked.

I hadn't, so I missed the short item announcing the death of former soldier Patrick Dwyer, who apparently had succumbed to complications from decompression sickness related to a military diving accident 12 years ago. His funeral was just over an hour away in Sandy.

I was pulling the suit from the closet when I received another call from a colleague in our D.C. bureau.

“Did you see the announcement from the DOD?” he asked.

Another Utah soldier, Kimble Han, had been killed in Afghanistan.

•••

There’s no good way to handle these things, so I stood against the wall at the funeral parlor and tried to keep my eyes open for someone who looked like they were in charge.

After a few minutes, I spotted Patrick’s step-father, Bob. I approached him, introduced myself and asked if I could have a moment of his time. He graciously obliged, and pulled over Patrick’s mother, Mary, to speak with me.

They told me about a young man who faced incredible pain and inexorable personal demons, but never complained over his lot. He was a soldier, they said, and he carried on.

I stayed for the funeral and caught Patrick’s biological father in the parking lot afterward.

“I’d like to do a story about your son’s life,” I told him.

He took my hand and reached out to touch my shoulder.

“Really?” he asked.

“Yes, sir,” I said. “Is that OK with you?”

“Oh yes,” he said, looking as though he were fighting back tears. “Thank you. Thank you.”

•••

Three hours later I was standing at the doorstep of Kimble Han’s family’s home in Saratoga Springs, alongside photographer Rick Egan, with whom I traveled to Iraq in 2005.

We’re accustomed to being stopped at the threshold, but that’s where we found a man standing on the porch talking on a mobile phone. Without so much as pausing his conversation to ask who we were, he reached over, opened the door, and gestured for us to go inside.

We stepped in and heard... laughing.

Lots of laughing. Lots and lots of laughing.

We introduced ourselves. Kimble’s mother, Lisa, gave me a hug.

“Thank you for coming,” she said.

Earlier on the phone, Lisa had told me about her son, who faced incredible fear in his last days, as fellow soldiers were being picked off in roadside bomb attacks and the entire war in Afghanistan seemed to be unraveling around them. But although he was afraid, he did not waiver from his duties. He was a soldier, she said, and he carried on.

Rick snapped some photos as I chatted with Kimble’s big Utah family. They laughed and laughed and laughed.

“We weren’t like this on Saturday, of course,” explained Kimble’s older brother, Jerod. “But we’ve had some time to digest this now.”

It was, of course, a tragedy, Jerod said — particularly because Kimble and his wife, Melissa, been married just days before he left for war. But this devout Christian family, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, believes that they won’t be parted from Kimble for long.

And so for now, they said, they simply wanted to celebrate his life.

•••

I hate days like this. But sometimes I get to help families share their stories. And in doing so, sometimes I’m in a position to help them heal, if only just a bit, from their enormous hurt.

Sometimes I’m embraced. And sometimes I am thanked. And sometimes I walk away from it all wondering how, in the face of such enormous despair, these people have room in their hearts to welcome me into their lives in these ways.

It’s humbling. And heartwarming. And I right now I would like nothing more than to be able to give it all back to give Patrick and Kimble just one more day together with their incredible families.

Tough talk about the battle between "good" and  "evil" states didn't do much to convince Iran to cooperate with the international community. Go figure.

Now, there's increasing evidence that soft power is getting things done that hard threats couldn't.

Iranian negotiators have agreed deal to ship most of their nation's nuclear fuel to Russia for processing — an arrangement that would prevent the possibility that Iran could make a nuclear weapon.

If finalized, it would be a big win for the Obama administration in the Middle East and a strong vindication of Obama's emphasis on engaging America's enemies through diplomacy.

As Bahman Baktiari, the director of the University of Utah's Middle East Center, told me last week:  "I think the Obama administration has been very open and forthcoming in terms of its interest in unconditional dialogue with Iran. This has been a major change. Now, the Iranians have to come forward and reward Obama with some changes in policy."

Wednesday's agreement appears to be a part* of that reward — although Obama is known to have his eye on an even bigger peace prize.

No, not the Nobel. He's already got one of those.

But in a hastily arranged speech in the Whitehouse Rose Garden, a few hours after the surprise announcement from the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Obama pledged "an unwavering commitment that finally realizes the rights of all Israelis and Palestinians to live in peace and security in nations of their own."

And Baktiari believes normalization of relations with Iran — which supports Hamas and its efforts to destroy the Israeli state — is a big step in the right direction.

"The whole issue of peace in the Middle East is tied to U.S.-Iran relations," he said.

And if Obama is successful on that front, he may have cause to believe that no problem in the Middle East is too big to be solved.

* There's still a long way to go before Washington and Tehran are sitting around a campfire singing Kum-bah-yah.