Rugar Old Army Pistol 1860 Original

Iris's Suicide Note

That night, Iris and Brett followed their routine and went to sleep around midnight. "But I woke up at 2 a.m. and she was pacing the hallway," Brett said. "Iris wanted to talk, and I said, 'You should go to bed, it's 2 in the morning.' She went back to bed. Then she got back up again. I said, 'You need to go to bed.' So she went back to bed and I watched her until she fell asleep."
Waking at 5 a.m., Brett saw Iris was gone. So was her car. He went to her desk in her upstairs office and found a note next to the computer. He immediately called the police.

Ultimately, three notes were found, all dated Monday, Nov. 8, 2004. The first was short, titled "Statement of Iris Chang." It read: "I promise to get up and get out of the house every morning. I will stop by to visit my parents then go for a long walk. I will follow the doctor's orders for medications. I promise not to hurt myself. I promise not to visit Web sites that talk about suicide."

Then she wrote a suicide note -- addressed to her parents, Brett and her brother -- followed by a lengthy revision. The first draft said: "When you believe you have a future, you think in terms of generations and years. When you do not, you live not just by the day -- but by the minute. It is far better that you remember me as I was -- in my heyday as a best-selling author -- than the wild-eyed wreck who returned from Louisville . . . . Each breath is becoming difficult for me to take -- the anxiety can be compared to drowning in an open sea. I know that my actions will transfer some of this pain to others, indeed those who love me the most. Please forgive me. Forgive me because I cannot forgive myself."

In the final version, she added: "There are aspects of my experience in Louisville that I will never understand. Deep down I suspect that you may have more answers about this than I do. I can never shake my belief that I was being recruited, and later persecuted, by forces more powerful than I could have imagined. Whether it was the CIA or some other organization I will never know. As long as I am alive, these forces will never stop hounding me. . .

"Days before I left for Louisville I had a deep foreboding about my safety. I sensed suddenly threats to my own life: an eerie feeling that I was being followed in the streets, the white van parked outside my house, damaged mail arriving at my P.O. Box. I believe my detention at Norton Hospital was the government's attempt to discredit me.

"I had considered running away, but I will never be able to escape from myself and my thoughts. I am doing this because I am too weak to withstand the years of pain and agony ahead."

After Iris Chang's Oldsmobile was found off Highway 17 on Tuesday morning, Nov. 9, the California Highway Patrol was called to the scene. The Highway Patrol then called the Santa Clara Sheriff's homicide unit and detective Sgt. Dean Baker, a 33-year veteran, took over the investigation.

"There is an aspect of paranoia in the majority of suicides," Baker said. "A lot of people -- depending on how disturbed they are -- feel that people are plotting against them." And often, he added, "people think they've wronged everybody and can't possibly do anything to make up for what they think they've done wrong. Generally, there's an apology."

After studying the final results of the Santa Clara Country medical examiner's report, Baker closed his investigation March 1, 2005. The coroner's report, dated Dec. 23, 2004, stated: "Based on the medical investigator's report and the autopsy findings, Iris Chang, a 36-year-old Asian female, died from a self-inflicted intra-oral gunshot wound."
(Excerpted from San Francisco Chronicle Sunday, April 17, 2005)

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I am truly sorry that this tragedy happened and I feel a deep sympathy towards the victim’s family. As a believer of Zen Buddhism, I wish that Iris Chan rest in peace. Forget the politics that surrounded her death and may the life of her family go beyond this sad tragedy.

Iseheijiro : Spokesman for Nippon Falcons League

November 22, 2007 The Kitty Hawk Carrier Strike Group and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force finished the largest joint exersise in the Western Pacific. The high sea training lasted for seven days and the Kitty Hawk and the American ships headed to Hong Kong for a Thanksgiving dinner with their families who had flown from America. (click to enlarge)


China’s Thanksgiving Snub

Wall Street Journal
Monday, November 26, 2007

The military relationship between China and the U.S. isn’t always smooth sailing. But last week’s stormy waters came as a surprise. On Wednesday evening, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs denied permission for the USS Kitty Hawk and its carrier battle group to make a four-day port call to Hong Kong for the Thanksgiving holiday. The 8,000service –men aboard the ships-and the 290 families of crew members who had flown to Hong Kong to meet them-were left with their Thanks giving plans in tatters.

The Kitty Hawks visit had been well known for months, but Beijing didn’t officially respond to the U.S. request for permission to dock until Wednesday evening-at which point the ships had been waiting outside Chinese waters for a day. After getting the red light, the convoy began to head back to Japan. The ships were already more than 300 miles away when Beijing reversed its decision Thursday afternoon-too far to make it back in time for Thanksgiving dinner.

Beijing’s reasons for its rejection and reversal remain opaque, like most Chinese government decisions. The snub may have been retaliation for the Pentagon’s recent approval of a $940 million upgrade to Taiwan’s Patriot antimissile shield. Or for the president Bush’s meeting this month with the Dali Lama, the exiled religious leader of Tibet. The Chinese had offered no explanation.

The only message that stands out loud and clear is that China is not a reliable military partner. Beijing’s diplomacy is also not as sophisticated as it seems. Surely the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has better ways to send messages to the U.S. than by stealing family dinners from American seamen.

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We the Japanese would like to send our sincere sympathy to the crew of the USS Kitty Hawk and their families. You have been treated in a hostile and insensitive manner by the Chinese government. As your ally and friend we welcome your servicemen to Japan for a Thanksgiving feast with us.

Nobuyoshi Ozaki - Spokesman for Nippon Falcons League