Another Soldier Known for Writings On War Dies in Iraq

By E&P Staff
Published: September 21, 2007 11:20 AM ET

NEW YORK Earlier this month, two of seven soldiers who had penned an Op-Ed for The New York Times that expressed skepticism about the war in Iraq were killed in a vehicle accident there.

Now another soldier whose writings on the war, but with a more pro-war view, were widely circulated has died in another non-combat related incident. He is Sgt. Edmund "Eddie" Jeffers.

He died on Wednesday in Taqqadum of injuries suffered from an unspecified accident that is under investigation, the Army said.

Jeffers, 23, was in the 2nd Infantry Division’s 1st Battalion, 9th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team. This was his second tour of duty in Iraq.He wrote an essay, "Hope Rides Alone," backing the war in February for the conservative Free Republic web site that gained wide notice.

He suggested that the American public was ungrateful. “America has lost its will to fight," he wrote. “It has lost its will to defend what is right and just in the world...Let’s stop all the political nonsense, let’s stop bickering, let’s stop all the bad news and let’s stand and fight! Isn’t that what America is about anyway?”

He also wrote: "I am stressed, I am scared, and I am paranoid...because death is everywhere. It waits for me, it calls to me from around street corners and windows, and it is always there. There are the demons that follow me, and tempt me into thoughts and actions that are not my own...but that are necessary for survival.

"I've made compromises with my humanity. And I am not alone in this."He added that the memory of soldiers' ultimate sacrifice "is tainted by the inconsiderate remarks on our nation's news outlets."

Jeffers' MySpace page carries a message from his wife, Stephanie, apparently written just after she learned he had died: “Baby . . . always know that I love you, that you will always be my heart, that you will always be my soul. I still can’t believe this, please tell me it’s not true my love.”

Last month she had written this message for his MySpace page: "I miss you and love you sweetheart! Come home already!"