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Title: Vibrant life ends in war zone -- Former UO exchange student Linda Norgrove, kidnapped by militants, died in a failed rescue attempt
Source:
Register Guard
URL Source: http://registerguard.com/csp/cms/si ... ie-lucile-afghanistan-dean.csp
Published: Oct 12, 2010
Author: Saul Hubbard
Post Date: 2010-10-12 15:49:17 by Ferret Mike
Keywords: None
Views: 16328
Comments: 72
When Dean and Lucile McKenzie of Eugene think back on Linda Norgrove, they remember a young woman who wanted to try everything. There was the time that Norgrove, then an exchange student from Scotland enrolled at the University of Oregon, saw climbers ascending the basalt columns at Skinner Butte Park. “I want to do that,” she said instantly. Or the time she saw a Eugene street performer juggling bowling pins. “I’ve got to give that to try,” she said. Finally, they recall the time that Norgrove set her heart on cycling across the United States with a friend. The McKenzies weren’t sure that two young women should be cycling across the country on their own. Norgrove and her friend did it anyway. “She was always doing something,” Lucile McKenzie said Monday. “Sometimes the things she wanted to do made your hair stand on end, but that was just the way she was.” In recent years, the things Norgrove wanted to do was to help the people of Afghanistan, where she had worked off and on as an aid worker since 2005. Militants abducted Norgrove and three Afghan colleagues on Sept. 26 as they drove in two unarmored cars through Kunar province, which borders Pakistan. The Afghan captives were freed last week, but the Taliban-aligned Islamic militants held Norgrove, 36, at a compound in eastern Afghanistan’s mountains. On Friday, Norgrove was killed in a failed rescue attempt led by the U.S. military. After consulting with British officials, the U.S. military ordered the rescue mission after concluding that Norgrove was in danger of being spirited into Pakistan and turned over to even more recalcitrant insurgents. On Monday, reports surfaced that Norgrove may have been killed by friendly fire — an American grenade — and not by an insurgent’s explosive device as initially reported. The U.S. Army has begun a high-level investigation into her death. The McKenzies first learned of Norgrove’s death, along with most of the world, over the weekend. “I don’t think either of us has even recovered from the news yet,” Lucile McKenzie said Monday. “It doesn’t seem real. She was so alive and vibrant, it’s hard to imagine her dead. We’re just devastated.” If it’s true that Norgrove was killed by friendly fire, “it definitely makes me mad,” McKenzie said. “You have to wonder about the (necessity of a) rescue mission,” Dean McKenzie added. “The kidnappers aren’t dumb. They weren’t going to kill their most famous abductee.” Norgrove was only 19 when she came to Eugene to study biology at the UO in the fall of 1993. Although she lived in the university dorms, the McKenzies acted as her host family — as they have done with many international students over the years — and helped her to adjust to life in Oregon. “We’d see her about two or three times a month,” Dean McKenzie said. “She’d come over for dinner or we’d take a day trip together.” The McKenzies still have photographs of themselves and Norgrove visiting the ghost town of Jawbone Flats and skiing at Willamette Pass. She was always a friendly, charming girl, they say, and they stayed close to her in the years after she left Oregon. In 1999, they met up with Norgrove in London during a trip to Europe. They also remained in frequent correspondence with Norgrove and read about a life path that took her to Peru, Uganda, Laos and Afghanistan. Norgrove’s letters to the McKenzies are full of life and verve. In one, she describes participating in the Maralal International Camel Derby in Kenya, a 10-kilometer camel race. “Riding at a run on a camel is just like doing rising trot on a horse,” she wrote. In the same letter, she describes bringing Legos to a school and the children’s joyful reaction. “My only concern that I have is that they might be so treasured that they’ll be set aside on display and no one be allowed to play with them,” she wrote. Her letters are dotted with excited exclamation marks, and she seemed always to have more to say than space on the paper. Although she wasn’t impractical or foolhardy, Norgrove never seemed fearful despite the inherent risks of her lifestyle, Lucile McKenzie said. She remembers Norgrove getting mugged and having her backpack stolen in Africa, but as she recalls it, Norgrove was more upset about the research notes she lost than scared by the incident. The most recent letter the McKenzies received from Norgrove is dated Nov. 12, 2007, and was sent from Kabul. It is far less cheerful in tone than the others. Toward the end of the letter, she explained that she was glad she was taking Afghan language classes. “It is very nice to be able to have basic conversation with women although it really saddens me to see the lives they lead confined to their houses and with less than minimal freedom. Changes are really occurring too slowly for them,” she wrote. Lucile McKenzie said she thinks Norgrove would have stayed in Afghanistan as long as she could because she liked the country and loved its people. “She loved Afghanistan so much and wanted to make it a better country,” Lucile McKenzie said. “I think if she had had her choice of places to die, she probably would have chosen Afghanistan.” McClatchy-Tribune news service contributed to this report.
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 52.
#13. To: Ferret Mike (#0)
She had no business being there. Had she just got married and had children everything would have been better.
She was following her heart and doing what she wanted to do. Not every woman is wed and bed material. Just as many men aren't.
Most are. Sorry, but I'm correct, her life would have been happier had she not thought she was a man.
I don't see many things a man can do and does do a woman can't do. Women aren't just here to breed. They are human beings who should be allowed and encouraged to follow their dreams and hearts anywhere they take them.
Not saying,"They can't", asking is it wise? I say no. If a man can do the job, send him. His life is worth less than a woman's in the long-run.
I disagree. My Mom was the youngest woman to ever get a private pilot ticket in 1952 at age 16 in Connecticut. She had heavy opposition to her quest; a couple guys told her flat out women just didn't have the temperament or skill potential to fly. But she was a great pilot. She flew with me much of the time after I soloed until I got my private pilot ticket too. My Dad was her instructor, which is where I came along, sorta unplanned. My Dad also was a Naval aviator in the Pacific Theater in WW II. ;) I say let a woman do as she feels she can. I even support them doing combat missions.
Really? What did he fly? Was her carrier based? Look, why should we put our most precious resources in harms way though?
All human life is precious, in fact all life is. I refuse to consider one gender as more valuable' as many times it is an excuse to justify repression as protection. Something we all see the Muslims getting slam dunked on concerning their blaming of women as the perpetrators of male libido. Lt. Daniel Anthony McCarthy was carrier trained, but flew mainly from naval airfields. He started with the F6F Hellcat. And when he got out, he was flying the F8F Bearcat. He went on to first be an inspector at Pratt and Whitney, and died of a heart attack when he was a commercial pilot for Wyatt Oil of New Haven, CT.
Not "repression", but intelligent planning. I know women can be great pilots, CEOs, etc., but is it wise to put the originator of the next generation in harms way? Of course not. Why would you want to put our nation's future generation at risk?
Why assume it's only the woman who makes a child? Last time I looked, the blueprints used to construct a new human body for the essence of a new life to live in are provided by both man and woman. Just because they have the added chore of being the half of a couple who bears young, does not mean they should be treated as second class citizens relegated to the role of either being barefoot and pregnant, or the deliverer of a beer to her mate during a football game on TV.
Fuck Mike, are you crazy, or batshit crazy? You go to public school or something?
Actually, I went to private schools. Took three years of Latin ass well as French, read a book by Theodore Dreiser, An American Tragedy in 7th grade for an example of the material we covered in English; even wore neck ties, blazers with the school patch and went to Chapel every Thursday. Why? Does one only learn of Deoxyribonucleic acid and how two gametes (a sperm and an egg) can unite and become a fertilized, diploid egg cell and develop into a child if they go to a public school? Why is the fact I know this so upsetting to you? I dearly love women. But there are two genders in the human species, and both consist of individuals that are valuable and reproduce. Try a Midol, perhaps that will help.
Try a Midol, perhaps that will help. Son, THE "limiting" factor of population growth is the number of women, not men. Thus, women are more important than men to future generations. I'll give you sometime to think about it. And don't be an asshole. I treated you with respect, show some in kind.
Well kid, last time I looked, the human species was in no danger of not producing more then enough children so we'll have an reduction in kids around the world dying of hunger or disease any time soon. Even in the developed countries and the United States, there is no shortage of people. Oh I am more then aware of the fact we can generate the same number of people with less men, and the population would drop with less women. However, this is not the 1800s with a far smaller base population, higher child mortality, and far more elbow room for new population to surge into. Believe it or not, there is enough people to easily afford the luxury of allowing women equal rights and opportunities without destroying the human race as we know it. Women are more then sperm receptacles. And not even respect for homosexuality, or transgender people is going to empty the Earth of humans. Face it; you hate thinking of women as equals. How do you feel about abortion for rape victims? Do you feel a woman's life should be important if a pregnancy endangers it? Some Tea Fleas are on record as being against abortion for rape victims and really not happy campers about supporting it to save a woman's life. So these questions to you do have a basis for me to be curious about your views on them.
Agreed. See #31 above.
Calvin Coolidge would sure admire the verbal sparseness of your post. ;D Yeah, saw it, answered it, thanks for sharing.
Who? Now, if you only understood it. Oh well.
The 30th President of the United States. Once a woman told him she had bet a friend she could make him say three words, He answered, "You lose." "I have never been hurt by what I have not said." "If you don't say anything, you won't be called on to repeat it." Calvin Coolidge
#53. To: Ferret Mike (#52)
Really? I had no idea. These United States?
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#16. To: Nebuchadnezzar (#13)
#23. To: Ferret Mike (#16)
She was following her heart and doing what she wanted to do. Not every woman is wed and bed material. Just as many men aren't.
#26. To: Nebuchadnezzar (#23)
#33. To: Ferret Mike (#26)
I don't see many things a man can do and does do a woman can't do. Women aren't just here to breed. They are human beings who should be allowed and encouraged to follow their dreams and hearts anywhere they take them.
#34. To: Nebuchadnezzar (#33)
(Edited)
#40. To: Ferret Mike (#34)
My Dad was her instructor, which is where I came along, sorta unplanned. My Dad also was a Naval aviator in the Pacific Theater in WW II. ;)
#41. To: Nebuchadnezzar (#40)
#43. To: Ferret Mike (#41)
All human life is precious, in fact all life is. I refuse to consider one gender as more valuable' as many times it is an excuse to justify repression as protection.
#44. To: Nebuchadnezzar (#43)
"Of course not. Why would you want to put our nation's future generation at risk?"
#45. To: Ferret Mike (#44)
Why assume it's only the woman who makes a child? Last time I looked, the blueprints used to construct a new human body for the essence of a new life to live in are provided by both man and woman.
#46. To: Nebuchadnezzar (#45)
(Edited)
#47. To: Ferret Mike (#46)
Why is the fact I know this so upsetting to you? I dearly love women. But there are two genders in the human species, and both consist of individuals that are valuable and reproduce.
#48. To: Nebuchadnezzar (#47)
(Edited)
"Son, THE "limiting" factor of population growth is the number of women, not men."
#49. To: Ferret Mike (#48)
Women are more then sperm receptacles.
#50. To: Wood_Chopper (#49)
(Edited)
#51. To: Ferret Mike (#50)
Calvin Coolidge
Yeah, saw it, answered it, thanks for sharing.
#52. To: Wood_Chopper (#51)
(Edited)
Replies to Comment # 52. The 30th President of the United States.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 52.
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