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Memorials for 4 Americans killed in Afghanistan

Micheal Spann
Micheal Spann's body was escorted by an honor guard to his grave at Arlington National Cemetery.  


WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Four Americans killed in the war in Afghanistan were honored Monday in ceremonies outside Washington and in Kentucky.

CIA officer Micheal Spann was buried Monday afternoon at Arlington National Cemetery. Spann, a 32-year-old former Marine captain, was killed in a revolt by Taliban prisoners at Mazar-e Sharif last month.

"It is not enough simply to dream of a better, safer world," CIA Director George Tenet said at the graveside service. "He understood that it has to be built with passion and dedication, in the face of obstacles and in the face of evil."

Spann was questioning Taliban prisoners, including a 20-year-old American Muslim convert now in U.S. military custody, when the uprising began. A Marine guard brought Spann's casket to the grave site at Arlington National Cemetery.

"Those who took him from us will be neither deeply mourned nor long remembered," Tenet said. "But Mike Spann will before forever part of the treasured legacy of free peoples everywhere, as we each owe him an immense, unpayable debt of honor and gratitude."

Earlier, three Green Beret sergeants killed by a stray American bomb near Kandahar were honored in a memorial ceremony at a Kentucky military base.

Master Sgt. Jefferson Donald Davis, 39; Sgt. 1st Class Daniel Petithory, 32; and Staff Sgt. Brian Cody Prosser, 28, died Wednesday when a 2,000-pound satellite-guided bomb missed its target north of Kandahar. All were members of the Army's 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group, based at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

In a eulogy at Monday morning's service, Lt. Col. Frank Hudson said the men's service in Afghanistan lived up to the Green Berets' motto, "de oppresso liber" -- to free the oppressed.

"With the death of Don, Dan and Cody, it's as if parts of our very own body were violently torn from their rightful place," he said. "That emptiness causes us great pain. As with all wounds, this wound will take time to heal."



 
 
 
 



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