Quick! Prez is coming, hide your dead!

18-year-old Andy Aviles was killed when a bomb hit his vehicle along the Tigris River. A short while later, a makeshift memorial was set up outside McDill Air Force Base in Tampa, which grew to become quite elaborate, including bricks, mortar, a homemade cross (see image left).

But then... As SpinDentist reports: "Andy Aviles' memory was respected pretty well until just before Valentine's Day and a scheduled visit to the Tampa arewa by George Bush."

According to local columnist Sue Carlton [emphasis mine]: "Untouched for years, the memorial disappeared days before President Bush was to roll into town. It was methodically removed, not smashed by random thugs. In these days of controversy over antiwar mom Cindy Sheehan, the timing is, at the least, suspect."

In the outrage, what shouldn't be forgotten is the pain of the individuals, from a Kathryn Bursch story: "

Norma Aviles, Marine's mother:

"It is Andy there. His picture... I used to come to clean his picture, wipe his face. And it used to bring memories of wiping his face when he was a little boy."

They came every week with flowers. But on Valentine's Day, their hearts were broken once again. The memorial was gone. Someone had swept the place clean. No picture, no flowers, no flag, and no respect.