Dishonesty at the Times

Michelle Malkin unearths another example of the creeping dishonesty of the New York Times. Tim Blair posts an excellent open letter to the Times public editor Byron Calame addressing this incident:

The paper quotes from a letter written by Cpl Starr to his girlfriend, found after his death by Starr’s father. The erstwhile paper of record states:
"Sifting through Corporal Starr’s laptop computer after his death, his father found a letter to be delivered to the marine’s girlfriend. 'I kind of predicted this,' Corporal Starr wrote of his own death. 'A third time just seemed like I’m pushing my chances.'"
Perfectly in keeping, may I say, with the defeatist, elegiac, Vietnam-like attitude of the entire piece.
I'm sorry to say that the Times reporter dishonestly deleted the rest of the letter. Thanks to the brave corporal's family, who forwarded the remainder of the letter to Michelle Malkin, we actually know what Corporal Starr really thought, not what the Times would like to use him to stand for.
Here's what the rest of the letter says.
He wrote: "Obviously if you are reading this then I have died in Iraq. I kind of predicted this, that is why I’m writing this in November. A third time just seemed like I'm pushing my chances. I don't regret going, everybody dies but few get to do it for something as important as freedom. It may seem confusing why we are in Iraq, it's not to me. I'm here helping these people, so that they can live the way we live. Not have to worry about tyrants or vicious dictators. To do what they want with their lives. To me that is why I died. Others have died for my freedom, now this is my mark."

These people who courageously stand up for our freedoms deserve and have my undying respect and admiration. Shame on the Times.