8A THE WICHITA EAGLE „ SATURDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2008 WWW.KANSAS.

COM/NEWS

AROUND
THE WORLD
Study finds
vaccination
rates inflated
WASHINGTON — Many of
the world’s poorest countries
have for decades routinely
exaggerated the number of chil-
dren being immunized against
disease, apparently driven by
political pressure and, more
recently, financial incentives.
That is the finding of a huge
analysis that has provoked heat-
Vatican reiterates bioethics rules
BY LAURIE GOODSTEIN
AND ELISABETTA POVOLEDO
New York Times News Service
The Vatican issued its most
authoritative and sweeping
document on bioethical issues
in more than 20 years on
Friday, taking into account
recent developments in
biomedical technology and
reinforcing the church’s
opposition to in vitro fertiliza-
tion, human cloning, genetic
testing on embryos before
implantation, and embryonic
stem cell research.
The Vatican says these
techniques violate the princi-
ples that every human life —
even an embryo — is sacred,
and that babies should be
conceived only through
intercourse by a married cou-
ple.
The 32-page instruction,
titled “Dignitas Personae,”
or “The Dignity of the
Person,” was issued by the
Congregation for the Doctrine
of the Faith, the Vatican’s doc-
trinal office, and carries the
approval and the authority of
Pope Benedict XVI.
Under discussion for six
years, it is a moral response
to bioethical questions that
have been raised in the
21 years since the congrega-
tion last issued instructions.
It bans the morning-after
pill, the intrauterine device,
and the pill RU-486, saying
these can result in what
amount to abortions.
The Vatican document reit-
erates that the church is
opposed to research on stem
cells derived from embryos.
But it does not oppose
research on stem cells derived
from adults; blood from
umbilical cords; or fetuses
“who have died of natural
causes.”
The document does not
prohibit the use of vaccines
developed using “cell lines
of illicit origin” if children’s
health is at stake. But it
says that “everyone has
the duty” to inform health
care providers of personal
objections to such vaccines.
The church also objects to
freezing embryos, arguing
that doing so exposes them
to potential damage and
manipulation, and raises the
problem of what to do with
frozen embryos that are not
implanted. There are at least
400,000 of these in the United
States alone.

U.S. troops
Illinois in turmoil
ed discussion even before its
publication today in the Lancet,
a European medical journal.
Since 1986, progress in child-
hood immunization in the
developing world has been only
half that officially reported by
trade candy
governments in the developing
for toy guns
as scandal boils
world. Not only are year-to-
year improvements overstated,
but the total percentage of chil-
dren immunized is far lower
than publicly acknowledged,
the study found.
Gov. Rod Blagojevich around Iraq
Associated Press
Estonia to vote by
mobile phone in 2011 Bills go unpaid MAHMOUDIYA, Iraq — Two boys
approached a U.S. soldier, pulled out a
TALLINN, Estonia — pistol and handed it over. They
Parliament has approved a law
making Estonia the first coun-
try to allow voting by mobile
as officials got a smile and some candy in return.
The gun was plastic, and the
boys were following a local Iraqi
phone.
Lawmakers approved a mea-
sure Thursday allowing citi-
take steps to military order to surrender all toy
weapons — an effort to prevent chil-
dren from being mistaken for insur-
zens to vote by mobile phone
in the next parliamentary elec-
tions in 2011.
The mobile-voting system,
impeach governor gents.
With more children on the streets
now that violence is down, American
soldiers have a new mission in this for-
which has already been tested, BY DEANNA BELLANDI mer “triangle of death” city south of
requires that voters obtain free, AND CHRISTOPHER WILLS Baghdad: clearing all toy guns from the
authorized chips for their Associated Press bustling shopping area as they search
phones, said Raul Kaidro, for suspected insurgents and weapons

spokesman of the SK
Certification Center, which
issues personal ID cards in
Estonia.
Heavy rains pound
Italy; Tiber river rises
ROME — Rome declared a
state of emergency as the
swollen Tiber river threatened
to flood Friday and the death
toll from the heavy rains batter-
ing much of Italy rose to four.
The Civil Protection
Department said the Tiber had
risen about 16 feet in the past
two days and warned it might
burst its banks.
Officials evacuated Gypsy
camps along the Tiber’s banks
and boats broke loose from
their moorings in the surging
water. The smaller Aniene
river, which flows into the
Tiber, already overflowed,
forcing officials to close down
some streets in Rome and evac-
uate hundreds of people.
“It is as if there has been an
earthquake,” Rome Mayor
Gianni Alemanno told the daily
La Repubblica.
C
HICAGO — Illinois plunged
deeper into turmoil Friday
over disgraced Gov. Rod
Blagojevich as the attorney
general asked the state’s
highest court to strip the gov-
ernor of his powers, billions of dollars
in bills went unpaid and lawmakers
moved closer to impeaching the scan-
dal-plagued politician.
But Blagojevich showed no sign of
backing down. He took time to pray
with ministers at his home and
signed a bill that extends insurance
coverage for autistic kids, sending a
sign to his critics that he’s still in
charge.
In the midst of it all, the state head-
ed toward an extraordinary constitu-
tional showdown. Attorney General
Lisa Madigan asked the Supreme
Court to declare Blagojevich unfit to
serve, likening his corruption scandal
to a debilitating illness as she ramped
up pressure on the governor to
resign. The move seeks to hand
power over to the lieutenant gover-
nor.
“I recognize that this is an extraor-
dinary request, but these are extraor-
dinary circumstances,” Madigan said.
It is the first time in Illinois history
that such an action was taken. The
Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan filed a motion with the state
Supreme Court asking justices to strip Gov. Rod Blagojevich of his powers.
attorney general is applying a rule
that was intended to cover cases in
which a governor is incapacitated for
health reasons.
The attorney general asked the
court to strip the governor of his
duties until possible impeachment
proceedings and his criminal case run
their course. If he does not step down
and is not impeached or convicted,
Blagojevich could go to the court and
ask to be reinstated.
The scandal has also begun to
impede state business, Madigan said.
Illinois has billions of dollars in
unpaid bills, including payments to
Medicaid patients, hospitals, pharma-
cies, nursing homes and schools, and
the state has approved $1.4æbillion in
short-term borrowing to keep cash
flowing. But before the borrowing
Associated Press
takes effect, Madigan said she has to
certify that there is not any legal pro-
ceeding threatening the ability of the
governor to hold his office.
The state’s inability to pay the bills
has “a horrible ripple effect,”
Comptroller Dan Hynes said. He said
that pharmacies that count on state
reimbursements could shut down,
and suppliers could stop delivering
food to Illinois prisons or letting state
troopers buy gasoline. Businesses
waiting for the state to pay its bills
could lay off workers or simply go
bankrupt, Hynes said.
Blagojevich has rebuffed calls to
resign after prosecutors accused him
of a litany of corruption allegations,
including putting President-elect
Barack Obama’s Senate seat up for
sale.
caches.
The toy gun ban shows how jittery
the U.S. and Iraqi forces still are in a
country where the enemy doesn’t wear
a uniform.
The U.S. warned early this year of a
“disturbing trend” of al-Qaida in Iraq
recruiting and teaching young boys to
kidnap and kill.
From a distance, a soldier can’t tell
whether the weapon is real and has to
make a fast decision that could cost
someone his or her life.
Soldiers in the Mahmoudiya area
recently became alarmed when they
saw a boy pointing a gun that looked
very realistic. They went on alert and
held the child until it was determined
that the gun was a toy.
“This is one of the biggest issues that
we’re encountering right now,” said Lt.
Cameron Mays, 24, of Marion, Ky.
“Right now it’s a gray area. You’re talk-
ing about a prime situation where a
U.S. soldier has a split-second to make
a decision about whether there’s a dan-
ger.”
The order to ban toy guns in
Mahmoudiya and surrounding areas
was handed down by Staff Maj. Gen.
Ali Jassim al-Freiji, the commander of
the Iraqi army’s 17th Division, which
oversees the region.

ALEX Later, when someone at her dorm

From Page 1A
college graduate, a patriot who had
volunteered for combat “so that I
could really do something for my
country,” had been removed from
command.
In the months that followed, he
declined to say why, except that it had
something to do with questioning
superiors about sending 1st Platoon
on too many risky missions.
When Bland and Alex’s buddies left
Iraq in December, Bland struggled
with his marriage and his grief. He
said that in spite of thousands dead
and billions spent, Iraq was no safer
or more secure.
He still blamed himself for the
deaths of Alex Funcheon, Brian
Botello, Jay Martin and Murphy, the
Iraqi interpreter. He still dreamed
about blood.
In October 2008 he left the Army.
He drove from Fort Carson, Colo.,
toward Raleigh, N.C., where his par-
ents live.
But after a day of driving, Bland
stopped in Bel Aire, Kan. He’d met the
Funcheons a few months before,
when they came to Fort Carson and
met the survivors of 1st Platoon. Now
the Funcheons gave him a bed for the
night.
At his request, they took him to
Alex’s grave, in a cemetery north of
Wichita.
Bland is not religious. But he asked
for a few minutes alone. He stood
silent beside Sgt. Funcheon.
Later, after he reached Raleigh, he
admitted that something he had seen
at Alex’s grave bothered him.
On the gray granite tombstone, the
Army had carved:
ALEXANDER J FUNCHEON
SGT US ARMY
IRAQ
MAR 2 1986
APR 29 2007
But on the tombstone’s other side,
Bob had ordered more words:
Courtesy of the Funcheon family
Alex Funcheon at home on leave
one last time before he deployed
to Iraq.
CALVARY SCOUT
HE EARNED
HIS SPURS
Bland noted that the word was not
spelled “cavalry” as in mechanized
armored unit, but as “Calvary,” the
name of the place where Christ died.
Alex’s folks were religious.
Was this deliberate? Or a typo
carved in stone?
“Should I say anything to them?”
Bland wondered.
He decided not to.
„ „ „
Months earlier, on Sept. 11, 2007,
at Kansas State University, soldiers
walked onto campus to mark the sixth
anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
When freshman Gloria Funcheon saw
the camo fatigues, she got upset.
overheard her vent her feelings,
authorities were called, and Gloria
was taken to a hospital and asked
whether she felt suicidal. She did not
feel suicidal and had a Spanish test to
study for. Answering this question
infuriated her.
Bob smiled when he heard. “I feel
sorry for anyone trying to corral that
girl.”
Karen Funcheon cried in her bath-
room alone many times.
She says she has cried every day
since Alex died.
She makes quilts for families of
killed and wounded soldiers. She and
Bob, in spite of the pain it causes
them, counsel other soldiers’ grieving
families.
For a long time, Karen carried a
snapshot and showed it to friends. It
shows Alex’s broken body in his Class
A uniform lying in his casket.
The autopsy report, which the
Funcheons requested, showed that
the copper shrapnel shredded Alex’s
body from shoulders to knees. Death
was nearly instantaneous.
„ „ „
They all watched the long national
election cycle. So did Sen. Pat
Roberts, who has met many families
of Kansas soldiers killed in Iraq.
Roberts spoke with The Eagle
about the Funcheons in December
2007, when the primary elections
had
not yet resolved whether the
Democratic Party would nominate
Sen. Barack Obama or Sen. Hillary
Clinton.
Roberts, who personally liked his
two Senate colleagues, thought they
were wrong about the war.
Democrats, he said, “are content to
let the Bush-haters have their way
with him.”
If Democrats won the White House,
he said, “then they will have to take
charge, and they might be saying
something entirely different then.
“They will be the ones who will
inherit the wind. They know, because
they get the same briefings that I get,
how dangerous it would be for the
world if we just picked up stakes and
left.”
Bush himself, in an interview with
ABC News anchor Charles Gibson on
Dec. 1, spoke candidly about his
regrets over the war.
He said U.S. intelligence agencies’
incorrect claims that Iraq had
weapons of mass destruction were
the biggest disappointment of his
presidency.
He said he was “unprepared” for war
when he became president.
When asked whether he would have
gone to war had he known the intelli-
gence claims were wrong, he said “that
is a do-over that I can’t do.”
But once those American soldiers got
into Iraq, he said, he kept them there,
even after the intelligence proved false,
because “I listened to this voice: ‘I’m
not going to let your son die in vain.’æ”
„ „ „
From the moment he heard about
Alex’s death, Bob Funcheon wanted to
know whether his son died for noth-
ing.
In hundreds of prayers since then,
he’s told God he does not understand.
He still loves and trusts God; but he
can’t help but think that his troubled
son was robbed of life just after he’d
turned himself into a good person.
Bob and Karen counseled families;
they made friendships that would not
have been possible without the catalyst
of grief.
„ „ „
Gloria goes to Alex’s grave some-
times, on weekends home from K-
State.
Karen goes once a month.
Bob goes at least once a week, and
talks to his son.
Spelling “cavalry,” as “Calvary” on
the back of the tombstone was a sim-
ple spelling error, Bob said recently,
embarrassed. He said Alex would
have howled with laughter.
Bob talks to Alex a lot at his grave-
side. Sometimes in bitter tones.
“You dummy,” he told Alex one
day.
“I’ve met your Army buddies. All of
them.”
“They told me they looked up to
you, that they trusted you with their
lives. A scout platoon of some of the
Army’s best combat soldiers told me
they put you in the lead Humvee on
the most dangerous missions because
you were the best they had.
“I never got to meet that guy, Alex.
“I never got to meet him.
“And now I never will.”
„ „ „
The facts of Alex Funcheon’s death
are these:
When Alex joined the Army in 2004,
Bob Funcheon was not proud of his
son.
But after he died, having heard from
Alex’s fellow soldiers what kind of man
Alex had turned himself into, Bob
Funcheon and his wife sought a
meeting with the president of the United
States.
And they told the president they
wanted the war to amount to some-
thing, because they were proud of Alex.
They gave him Alex’s dog tags, and
showed him Alex’s photographs,
because they were proud of him.
They brought their daughter aboard
Air Force One, knowing she did not like
Bush or his policies or his war, and they
told her she could say anything she
wanted to him. And their daughter
grilled the president about his policies
and his plans. They watched her go
after him, and when they walked off
that plane, Bob said, they held their
heads high because of both their chil-
dren.
He wondered for a long time whether
Alex died for a purpose.
We may never know whether the Iraq
war was worth it, Bob said.
But he knows one thing came out of
his son’s death.
He learned, from the intensity of his
grief, that when someone dies, we must
do what Bob himself had told Sgt.
Medrano to do:
Keep on living. But don’t do it just for
yourself.
Do it for those you love.
Do it for your brothers.
Do it for Jay, and Brian. Do it for
Alex.