Index on US Troops
by Sarah Meyer
Index Research
UPDATED 29 AUGUST 2007
1. According to Rumsfeld
2. Warning Signs
3. The ‘Surge’
4. Blowback
5. Walter Reed Disaster
6. Scrambling
7. One Day in Iraq
8. Surge II
9. Nero Fiddles
10. What, Exactly, Are We Here For?
11. Future Deaths
12. References
V.P. Cheney says people who don't like the war in Iraq do not support the troops. It is, rather, the U.S. government that does not support the trooops. These selected articles focus on the plight of the US troops. The troops are sandwiched between the President Bush’s imperial fantasies and crocodile tears,control by the US Vice President, a rampantly ambitious Pentagon, corporate greed and a Congress that fails to understand the terrifying disaster in Iraq. And lies. The only support the U.S. Government gives to U.S. Troops is to get them off torture and murder charges. The overall picture is of contempt by the US government towards the US troops, towards the American people - and, by extension, to the world.
1. According to Rumsfeld
US to reduce troop numbers in Iraq
23.12.05. ABC. Mr Rumsfeld said the reduction would take place by spring next year, taking the numbers of soldiers to the below the 138,000 that were in Iraq prior to the country's elections last week.
US in quiet U -turn on Iraq troop numbers
28.07.06. Luce / Daniel, FT.com. "The US administration has quietly reversed its goal from whittling down troop numbers in Iraq before the mid-term congressional elections in November. A Pentagon spokesman on Friday confirmed that US troop levels in Iraq rose to 132,000 during the past week – the highest since late May – from 127,000 at the start of the week. ... The rise will prompt fears that the US is becoming increasingly bogged down in an unwinnable conflict."
2. Warning Signs
Military Personnel Wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan
20.12.04. Memory Hole.
A Soldier Speaks
04.08.05. C. De Leon, Alternet. Iraq combat veteran talks about his motivations for joining the army, the horrors of war and the anguish of returning home.
War Without End
04.06. J. Ryan, San Francisco Gate. More than 16,000 U.S. soldiers have been wounded. Each injury ripples through lives with its own pattern and force. And as two soldiers and their families are discovering, the war will be with them forever.
CNN Reports Progress in Iraq: 100 attacks per day on US troops, Double 2004, Triple 2003
06.11.05. Save the USA.
Pentagon: U.S. death toll in Iraq reaches 2,500
15.06.06. NBC.
A Broken, De-Humanized Military in Iraq
30.09.06. Dahr Jamail. “Another report released last weekend from the Veterans Health Administration found that over one third of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans seeking medical treatment are reporting symptoms of stress or other metal disorders. This is a tenfold increase in the last 18 months alone.”
The US Occupation of Iraq: Casualties Not Counted
05.10.06. Dahr Jamail, Truth Out. “Civilian contractors in Iraq, though they are paid handsomely for their time there, are easily lost in a legal no-man's-land if tragedy strikes.” The story of Tim Eysselinck’s suicide.
Posttraumatic Stress Disorder and Depression in Battle-Injured Soldiers
10.06. Report, American Journal of Psychiatry.
and see accompanying story: PTSD Can Take Months to Strike Wounded Iraq and Afghanistan Vets (06.10.06. Forbes)
VA Takes Nine Months to Locate Data on Disability Claims by Veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars
10.10.06. National Security Archive. “Report Indicates that 1 in 4 Veterans of the Global War on Terrorism Claim Disabilities. … newly released data suggests official estimates dramatically understate the future cost of the current Iraq and Afghanistan Wars. If the current trend continues, then VA could receive as many as 400,000 disability claims from the 1.6 million deployed active duty and reserve service members in the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT).”
• Compensation and Pension Benefit Activity Among Veterans Deployed to the Global War on Terrorism (PDF document)
See VBA Report 20.07.06.
Montana Guardsmen bring home hidden wounds
16.10.06. E. Newhouse, Great Falls Tribune. "Every one of my guys (patients) except one from the 163rd witnessed IEDs (improvised explosive devices)," said Keli Remus of Chinook Winds Counseling in Great Falls. "All were shot at or have shot others," he said. "All had at least heard of rapes." Meanwhile, “Television images of Americans fighting — and dying — in Iraq are traumatizing Vietnam veterans all over again. See other stories from Montana Great Falls Tribune Newspaper.
Vet Centers see escalating demand for help as troops return
18.10.06. D. Goldstein, McClatchey.
Troops With Stress Disorders Being Redeployed
19.10.06. CBS. The cases of Bryce Syverson and Jason Gunn. Video.
Mind games, part 1: The things they carry
24.10.06. N. Goldstein, Raw Story. PART I, The things they carry: Mental health disorders among returning troops
(And in the UK ... )
One dead, four lives ruined: the true cost of war in Iraq (05.11.06. A. MacMillan, Scotsman) ‘In a tragic and moving illustration of the deep crisis facing Britain's armed services, a Scotland on Sunday investigation has found that four of the six soldiers who bore the coffin of a colleague shot dead in Iraq are either quitting in disgust or are on long-term sick leave and likely to quit.’
Iraq Study Group Report: the Way Forward – A New Approach To 06.12.06. |
About Face: Soldiers Call for Iraq Withdrawal
18.12.06. M. Cooper, Nation / ICH. For the first time since Vietnam, an organized, robust movement of active-duty US military personnel has publicly surfaced to oppose a war in which they are serving. Those involved plan to petition Congress to withdraw American troops from Iraq.
US soldiers' suicide rate in Iraq doubles in 2005
19.12.06. Reuters/NBC. Twenty-two U.S. soldiers in Iraq took their own lives in 2005, a rate of 19.9 per 100,000 soldiers. In 2004, the rate was 10.5 per 100,000 and in 2003, the year of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the figure was 18.8 per 100,000. The figures cover U.S. Army soldiers only. They do not include members of other U.S. military services in Iraq such as the Marine Corps.
Repeat Iraq Tours Raise Risk of PTSD, Army Finds
20.12.06. Washington Post. U.S. soldiers serving repeated Iraq deployments are 50 percent more likely than those with one tour to suffer from acute combat stress, raising their risk of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the Army's first survey exploring how today's multiple war-zone rotations affect soldiers' mental health.
Iraq Vets Falling Through Health-Care Cracks
20.12.06. Forbes
Experts: Iraq vets wrongly diagnosed
24.12.06. Austin American Statesman.fairuse. Soldiers suffering from the stress of combat in Iraq are being misdiagnosed by military doctors as having a personality disorder, lawyers and psychologists say, which allows them to be quickly and honorably discharged but stigmatizes them with a label that is hard to dislodge and can hurt them financially.
Soldiers and Imperial Presidents
03.01.06. Charles Sullivan, ICH. The vast majority of those who serve in the United States military probably do so with the best of intentions and with honor. The belief that they are defending their country from foreign attackers and doing their patriotic duty as citizens is persistently reinforced. Military service is one of America’s sacred cows; it is something that is rarely questioned and is surrounded by an invisible aura of nobility. No one, especially those who serve, wants to think of their time in the military as anything less than honorable and worthy of glorification.
But the trouble with sacred cows is that they tend to preclude critical examination and often escape the scrutiny of rational thinking and moral judgments. … Anyone considering military service should deliberate upon the promises proffered by recruiters with extreme skepticism. Recruiters are trained to exalt war as the highest expression of patriotism and love of country; when, in fact, it is often the most debasing expression of our humanity that makes a shallow mockery of real service to god and country. The war resister and the conscientious objector may be the true patriot. … Marketing militarism and war to society at large is no different than selling potato chips laced with trans-fats or carcinogenic chemicals
Iraq Vets Come Home Physically, Mentally Butchered
04.01.07. Aaron Glantz, anti-war. According to documents obtained by the National Security Archive at George Washington University, 25 percent of veterans of the "global war on terror" have filed disability compensation and pension benefit claims with the Veterans Benefits Administration. … According to the military newspaper Stars and Stripes, service members with "a psychiatric disorder in remission, or whose residual symptoms do not impair duty performance" may be considered for duty downrange. It lists post-traumatic stress disorder as a "treatable" problem.
Terrified Soldiers Terrifying People
09.01.07. D. Jamail, anti-war.com. "Dr. Dyni said disturbed soldiers were behind the worst atrocities. "Most murders committed by US soldiers resulted from the soldiers' fears."
About Face: Soldiers Call for Iraq Withdrawal
18.12.06. M. Cooper, The nation / ICH.
Iraq Vets Falling Through Health-Care Cracks
20.12.06. Forbes.
Poll: US Troops lose confidence in Bush
02.01.07. Washington Times.
3. The ‘Surge’
"Surge: (OED) A high rolling swell of water, esp. on the sea; a large, heavy or violent wave … “
Rattled America will find it can't spin itself out of this one
05.01.07. Bob Ellis, The Age. GEORGE Bush will be hard put persuading three, four or five thousand American soldiers, marines and reservists who have already been there to go back to Iraq this year, to face 4 million Sunnis displeased by the Saddam hanging. Hard put too to persuade Nuri al-Maliki to stay in office, and stay alive, till they get there.
Presidents Address to the Nation
10.01.07. The New Way Forward in Iraq. Speech given on Troop Surge on national television. “America will change our strategy to help the Iraqis carry out their campaign to put down sectarian violence and bring security to the people of Baghdad. This will require increasing American force levels. So I've committed more than 20,000 additional American troops to Iraq.”
Pentagon Abandonning Its Limit on Total Active-Duty Time Required of Guard and Reserve
12.01.07. AP / ABC.
US Forces Order of Battle
Global Security (no date) Initial war plans for Iraq had an initial American invasion force of about 130,000 soldiers and Marines, which would drop quickly to as few as 30,000 to 50,000 by the end of 2003. … As of 01 March 2006 there were 133,000 US troops in Iraq, down from about 160,000 in December 2005. … By June 2006 the US had 14 combat brigades in Iraq, and a total of 127,000 troops. … According to a 25 June 2006 report in the New York Times, a draft plan calls for significant reductions in the American military presence in Iraq by the end of 2007. … There were about 152,000 US troops in Iraq as of early October 2005. As of mid-November 2006, there were approximately 152,000 US troops deployed to Iraq. … On January 11, 2007, the Department of Defense announced, as part of President Bush's new strategy for Iraq, the following force adjustments which would result building the capacity available to commanders to 20 brigade or regimental combat teams.
At Fort Benning, a Quiet Response to a Presidential Visit
11.01.07. AP/Washington Post. 'To ensure that there would be no discordant notes here, Maj. Gen. Walter Wojdakowski, the base commander, prohibited the 300 soldiers who had lunch with the president from talking with reporters.’
What the surge means
12.01.07. Boston Globe. Interview with (retired) Brig Gen. K. Ryan
Video.
Sacrifice. Keith Oberman. The “new” Bush policy of ‘sacrifice,’ is the work of neo-conservatives Jack Keane and Frederic W. Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute – another Israeli lobby. An American senator called the plan “Alice in Wonderland,” according to an article by Paul Craig Roberts in Counterpunch.
Symbolically, Baghdad plunges into darkness (10.01.07. Ali al-Mawsawi, Azzaman, uruk) “There is no electricity in Baghdad and the city of nearly 6 million people spends its nights in total darkness. … Nearly four years after the U.S. invasion, the country still has less electricity than under the former leader Saddam Hussein who was executed last month. It is not only Baghdad that is plunged into darkness. The national grid is so rickety that no province in the country now enjoys non-interrupted supplies.”
4. Blowback
Iraq war vets take their opposition to escalation to the airwaves
Wavy.com.
AN APPEAL FOR REDRESS
1341 Active Duty, Reserve, and Guard personnel have now signed the appeal! Many active duty, reserve, and guard service members are concerned about the war in Iraq and support the withdrawal of U.S. troops. The Appeal for Redress provides a way in which individual service members can appeal to their Congressional Representative and US Senators to urge an end to the U.S. military occupation. The first Appeal signatures messages will be were delivered to members of Congress on January 16, to coincide with at the time of the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in January 2007. The wording of the Appeal for Redress is short and simple. It is patriotic and respectful in tone. As a patriotic American proud to serve the nation in uniform, I respectfully urge my political leaders in Congress to support the prompt withdrawal of all American military forces and bases from Iraq . Staying in Iraq will not work and is not worth the price. It is time for U.S. troops to come home.
Iraq vets' suicide rate soars. Video and Report. (15.01.07. Channel 4 news report)
Johnny Got His Gun
15.01.07. William Blum, Counterpunch. A report on how US govn. uses soldiers as Death Fodder.
The True Face Of This Administration Fully Revealed
16.01.07. Daily Kos. in the middle of the NYT article headed "Pressure Builds Over Plan for Troop Increase" is the following report … The article quoted a comment by a senior administration official that was outrageous. So appalling was it, and so revealing about the mindset behind the White House political tactics, that I cannot imagine in any other democracy that the person who made this statement would not immediately be told to resign from his non-elected high office of influence.
Bush Vs. War Powers Act
17.01.07. C. Nelson, Oh My News. ‘War Powers Act .. is very precise in the conditions it sets out for military deployments. Section 5 (b) puts a time limit of no longer than 90 days for the use of United States Armed Forces in a foreign nation without a declaration of war or a joint resolution of Congress otherwise authorizing the use of force.
"On the question as to who has ultimate say so, Section 5(c) of the War Power Resolution makes this crystal clear, stating, "Notwithstanding subsection (b), at any time that United States Armed Forces are engaged in hostilities outside the territory of the United States, its possessions and territories without a declaration of war or specific statutory authorization, such forces shall be removed by the President if the Congress so directs by concurrent resolution." In other words, Congress can mandate the removal of troops at anytime, if there has not been a formal declaration of war. The required formal resolution to allow the use of Armed Forces to into Iraq was Public Law 107-243, passed by the 107th Congress on Oct. 16, 2002. The resolution accused Iraq of harboring people responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. Congress also concluded that "Iraq's continuing weapons of mass destruction programs threatened vital United States interests and international peace and security," and declared Iraq to be in "material and unacceptable breach of its international obligations" and urged the President “to take appropriate action, in accordance with the Constitution and relevant laws of the United States, to bring Iraq into compliance with its international obligations."
In short, the authorization of force was based on the Weapons of Mass destruction theory, which was proven to be a lie based on old intelligence and Iraqi defectors. …
Once the justification for the Iraq resolution was found to be inaccurate and unsubstantiated, a new resolution for the immediate removal of our troops should have been issued by Congress, and a congressional hearing and investigation for gross misconduct and even possible criminal charges against Rumsfeld, Powell, Cheney and Bush himself should have been started.
The framers of the Constitution made clear that the United States Congress has the ultimate say so, and the War Powers Act merely reinforces that authority."
A Grim Milestone: 500 Amputees
18.01.07. Time.com. The giant transport planes unload their sad cargo at Andrews Air Force Base near Washington, the first stop home for the most seriously injured Americans of the Iraq war. Arriving virtually every Tuesday, Friday and Sunday nights for the past four years, the parade of wounded warriors may be one of the most predictable events in an otherwise unruly conflict.
Sick, Literally, of Fighting in Iraq
Aaron Glanz. ‘I don't know what happened to him in Iraq, but he came home very distressed," Tileston told Inter Press Service (IPS) from her home in Stanford, Kentucky. Tileston said her son had scars on the back of his head that he refused to talk about. When he was supposed to return to nearby Fort Campbell on Jan. 31 for a second tour in Iraq, he disappeared.’
Iraq Vets Come Home Physically, Mentally Butchered
Aaron Glanz. “New guidelines released by the Pentagon released last month allow commanders to redeploy soldiers suffering from traumatic stress disorders. According to the military newspaper Stars and Stripes, servicemembers with "a psychiatric disorder in remission, or whose residual symptoms do not impair duty performance" may be considered for duty downrange. It lists post-traumatic stress disorder as a "treatable" problem.
Tomgram: Adam Hochschild, Over the Top in Iraq
21.01.07. Hochschild, Tomgram. The longer the war in Iraq goes on, and the more American troops are planted by Big Pushes in a highly combustible part of the world, the more we will continue to stoke a widespread humiliation and anger whose consequences are already guaranteed to haunt us for decades to come.
The first batch of US troops to Baghdad arrives
22.01.07. KBC
Soldiers Against Iraq Desert To Canada
25.01.07. CBS News
Head of Iraqi army: U.S. troops will be able to withdraw by 2008
26.01.07. IHT. ‘MOST” Troops, he said.
‘Warriors Walk’ out of room
26.01.07. ASP / Army Times.
Unstable Gulf war veteran killed family
30.01.07. M. Wainwright, Guardian. UK horror.
Young Marine Dies of PTSD – and neglect
31.01.07. Bob Geiger, Alternet. ‘He died of wounds received during his seven-month tour of duty in Iraq, wounds different from the ones that earned Schulze two purple hearts. This young man died of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, of wounds to the soul and not the flesh. He died because the government that was there to send him far away to fight in 2004 wasn't there for him when he got home.’ Sere also comments.
Judge: Doctor Can't Treat Terrorists
31.01.07. AP / Guardian. Dr. Rafiq Abdus Sabir, an Ivy League-educated doctor, had argued it was unconstitutional to prosecute a doctor for providing medical services.
He was arrested in May 2005 at his home in Boca Raton, Fla., accused in a plot to assist terrorist organizations along with a New York jazz musician, a Brooklyn bookstore owner and a former Washington, D.C., cabdriver.
SENATOR ASKS VA TO EXPLAIN MARINE SUICIDE
01.02.07. Air Force Times.
Care for U.S. veterans could cost $662 bln: study
02.02.07. Reuters / Boston.com. Medical costs for U.S. veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan could range from $350 billion to $662 billion over the next 40 years, as soldiers survive injuries that would have killed them in past conflicts, according to a Harvard University study.
Cost of troop surge already higher
01.02.07. McClatctchy. President Bush's dispatch of 21,500 more troops to Iraq will cost as much as $10 billion this year, triple the administration's price tag, the Congressional Budget Office said Thursday. A CBO report requested by three House committee chairmen said the Bush administration's estimated cost of $3.2 billion doesn't take into account a complement of 15,000 to 28,000 support troops and other personnel, which it said will boost the cost significantly. … The troop increase will cost an extra $7 billion to $10 billion this year alone, with the price tag reaching $49 billion if the added forces remain in Iraq for two years, according to the CBO analysis.
Army division orders departing soldiers to stay put
01.02.07. Savannah now.
US troops will stay in Iraq, and the war will get worse
01.02.07. Harriman, Guardian. Bush and Baker agree that the country is much too important to American interests (oil?) to be left to its own devices
Surge could actually total 50,000
02.02.07. Army Times.
More IRR marines face involuntary call up
02.02.07. Marine Corps Times.
US Reconfigures the way casualty totals are given
02.02.07. DENISE GRADY, NY Times.
Soldiers in Iraq view troop surge as a lost cause
03.02.07. T. LASSSETER, MCCLATCHY/Common Dreams.
Bush: Military Commitment In Iraq Not Open-Ended
03.02.07. CBS.
Troops return to painful wait for needed help
05.02.07. Weaver / McGovern, ICH Blog. The California Nurses Association reported that in the first quarter of 2006, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs "treated 20,638 Iraq veterans for post-traumatic stress disorder, and they have a backlog of 400,000 cases." A returning soldier has to wait an average of 165 days for a VA decision on initial disability benefits, and an appeal can take up to three years.
Cost of troop buildup not in budget
06.02.07. Peter Spiegel, LA Times.
Why I fled George Bush's war
07.02.07. J. Key, Macleans. What happened to make a patriotic, gung-ho soldier desert the U.S. army, and turn against the war in Iraq. EXCLUSIVE EXCERPT
Told to wait, a Marine dies
11.02.07. Boston.Globe. VA care in spotlight
VA comes up short for Iraq vets
11.02.07. McClatchy / Seattle Times. The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) is facing a wave of returning veterans such as Bowman who are struggling with memories of a war where it's hard to distinguish innocent civilians from enemy fighters and where the threat of suicide attacks and roadside bombs haunts the most routine mission. Since 2001, about 1.4 million Americans have served in Iraq, Afghanistan or other locations in the war on terror.
The VA counts post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, as the most prevalent mental-health malady to emerge from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The story itemises the failures of the Dept of Vet Affairs in helping returning soldiers
Waivers to Army recruits with criminal backgrounds double from 2003 to 2006
13.02.07. Raw Story / Global Research. ‘In Wednesday's New York Times, Lizette Alvarez notes that "the number of waivers the military granted to Army recruits with criminal backgrounds has nearly doubled in the past three years, jumping to more than 8,000 in 2006 from about 4,900 in 2003, Department of Defense records show."
U.S. to pay long-term price of war wounds Estimate pegs costs at $350 billion
14.02.07. Dogen Hannah, MEDIANEWS STAFF.
41% Percent of Your (US) 2006 Taxes Go to War
15.02.07. Friends Committee on National Legislation
US Ill-Equipped to Deal With Wave of Troubled Vets
15.02.07. Aaron Glantz.
The Forgotten Families
16.02.07. D. St. George, Washington Post. Grandparents Raising Slain Soldiers' Children Are Denied A Government Benefit Intended to Sustain the Bereaved.
Pentagon Red Tape Keeps Medical Records From Doctors of the Wounded
16.02.07. Washington Post. Department of Veterans Affairs doctors are furious over a recent decision by the Pentagon to block their access to medical information needed to treat severely injured troops arriving at VA hospitals from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The VA physicians handle troops with serious brain injuries and other major health problems. They, rely on digital medical records that track the care given wounded troops from the moment of their arrival at a field hospital through their evacuation to the United States.
US Army to send unit to Iraq 3 months early
16.02.07. alertnet. Iraq Troop Boost Erodes Readiness, General Says.
Iraq Troop Boost Erodes Readiness, General Says
16.02.07. A. Scott Tyson, Washington Post. 'Outgoing Army Chief of Staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker said yesterday that the increase of 17,500 Army combat troops in Iraq represents only the "tip of the iceberg" and will potentially require thousands of additional support troops and trainers, as well as equipment - further eroding the Army's readiness to respond to other world contingencies.
Wounded and Waiting
17.02.07. K. Kennedy, Marine Times. A slow medical evaluation leaves many injured troops in limbo.
Long Iraq Tours Can Make Home a Trying Front
23.02.07. L. Alvarez, New York Times.
Battle Worn
25.02.07. P. Span, Washington Post. After he was injured in Iraq, Richard Twohig found himself fighting an unexpected foe: the U.S. Army.
IG Report
IG finds 87 problems with medical retirement
26.02.07. Army Times.
Critics: Army holding down disability ratings
27.02.07. Army Times.
Report: Mental health system overwhelmed
27.02.07. Army Times. 40% of Army, Navy psych jobs vacant.
In Iraq, a head wound isn't always a trip home
27.02.07. MSNBC. Military personnel with brain injuries pressured to return quickly to duty
How the war on terror made the world a more terrifying place
28.02.07. Sengupta / Cockburn, Independent / ICH. 'An authoritative US study of terrorist attacks after the invasion in 2003 contradicts the repeated denials of George Bush and Tony Blair that the war is not to blame for an upsurge in fundamentalist violence worldwide. The research is said to be the first to attempt to measure the "Iraq effect" on global terrorism. It found that the number killed in jihadist attacks around the world has risen dramatically since the Iraq war began in March 2003.'
5. Walter Reed Disaster
Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility
18.02.07. D. Priest / A. Hull, Washington Post.
This Is No Way to Treat a Wounded Warrior
24.02.07. A. McFeeters, Boston Herald / Truth Out. Walter Reed Hospital's flaws are indefensible. A day at Walter Reed Army Medical Center is an eye-opener - about our soldiers, our government generally and the Bush administration. . I visited the renowned hospital after The , ashington Post exposed serious problems at the center, where as many as one-fourth of our injured soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan are treated.
Administrative Issues Cited at Walter Reed
25.02.07. S. Vogel, Washington Post. Report From Long-Running Army Probe Notes Problems; Official Orders Fixes.
A Firsthand Report on the Wounds of War
27.02.07. H. Kurtz, Washington Post. Bob Woodruff Indicts Military For Its Response to Veteran.
Walter Reed patients told to keep quiet
28.02.07. Army Times/democratic underground
Military press Crackdown Extends Further Than Walter Reed
28.02.07. Editor and Publisher.
Supporting the Troops: "Shut Up and Suffer"
28.02.07. Chris Floyd, uruknet. 'Because some soldiers were ballsy enough to tell the press about the callous way the Bush gang treats the cannon fodder it sends off to die, kill, maim and be maimed in a useless, pointless, illegal, corrupt, immoral, murderous, mismanaged war, now all the soldiers in Walter Reed Army Medical Center’s Medical Hold Unit are being subjected to a punishment regimen – and banished to an area where they will be inaccessible to the press.'
Troops Defy Orders To Shut Up
28.02.07. Thomas Barton, GI Special 5B28.
Top officials knew of neglect at Walter Reed
01.03.07. MSNBC. Complaints about medical center were voiced for years.
Army denies patients face daily inspections
01.03.07. Army Times/Democratic Underground
Notes on our 'family and friends' wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
01.03.07. Kentucky Courier Journal. Hundreds of soldiers maimed in Iraq and Afghanistan are experiencing average stays of 10 months at Walter Reed, but some have been there for as long as two years. They're all struggling to recover from brain injuries, organ damage, missing limbs and post-traumatic stress.
US army hospital chief removed from post
02.03.07. New Zealand Herald. r General George Weightman, head of the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre in Washington DC, was informed that Army leaders had lost confidence "in his abilities to address needed solutions for soldier outpatient care," an Army statement said.
ARMY CASUALTY PROGRAM
02.03.07. Secrecy News. The somber duties associated with official reporting of U.S. Army casualties, including notification of survivors, are spelled out in exhaustive detail in a new Army regulation. See Army Casualty Program,"Army Regulation AR 600-8-1 (February 28, 2007)
VIDEO COMPILATION Fox News Devoted 12 Times More Coverage To Anna Nicole Than Walter Reed..
Switch to private maintenance company may have left Walter Reed Army Medical Center understaffed
11.03.07. Washington Post /amny. The scandal over dilapidated housing for outpatients at Walter Reed Army Medical Center has focused attention on the decision to replace Army employees who maintained the hospital with a contractor connected to the Bush administration and to a Halliburton subsidiary. ... Some Democratic lawmakers have questioned hiring IAP Worldwide Services, which won a $120-million contract last year to maintain and operate Walter Reed facilities.
VA ordering review of 1,400 clinics after Walter Reed controversy
12.03.07. H. Yen, AP . boston com. 'Meanwhile, a new Army inspector general's report released Monday blamed poor training and conflicting policies among the Army and the Veterans Affairs and Defense departments for problems in how injured soldiers are evaluated for their return to military service or retirement.'
Photo Eric Gray
Seargant F. Fields and Staff Sgt. B. Alexander at Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas (01.03.07)
Seargant F. Fields and Staff Sgt. B. Alexander at Brooke Army Medical Center, San Antonio, Texas (01.03.07)
And in the UK?
Scandal of treatment for wounded Iraq veterans
11.03.07. N. Temko / M. Townsend, 11.03.07. Observer. · Soldiers 'denied proper hospital care' · Letters reveal anguish of families See also: The fresh agonies of our returning soldiers (Observer 11.03.07). Following, there was anger of the maimed Iraq heroes forced to pay for medical care
UPDATE:
3rd Official Out in Walter Reed Scandal
13.03.07. NBC. Army surgeon general Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, who is under fire in the controversy over care of wounded soldiers at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, will resign.
UPDATE
Where Walter Reed Looks Pretty Good
13.03.07. Tom Paine. But I’d like to point out that there are thousands of casualties of the Iraq War who would be grateful to be in Building 18 and receiving even second-rate medical care. Those are Iraqi civilians—the collateral damage of a vengeful, brainless military venture. These are people who didn’t volunteer to invade another country, and who have had no way to avoid the consequences of war. . While 90 percent of American battlefield casualties are being saved by a combination of organization and the very best trauma equipment and training, local Iraqis have no such advantage. Iraqi civilians are not in constant contact with helicopter-borne medical teams, field hospitals and a chain of treatment, airlifts and follow-up care.
6. Scrambling The Surge
Mercenaries to fill Iraq troop gap
24.02.07. B. Brady, Scotsman.
Rice Says Bush Won't Abide By Legislation To Limit Iraq War
25.02.07. kotv.
Two Army Units Will Forgo Desert Training
27.02.07. R. Burns, AP / Truth Out. 'Rushed by President Bush's decision to reinforce Baghdad with thousands more U.S. troops, two Army combat brigades are skipping their usual session at the Army's premier training range in California and instead are making final preparations at their home bases.
Military chiefs give US six months to win Iraq war
28.02.07. S. Tisdall, The Guardian. Violence expected to rise after UK withdrawal · Troop numbers too low · Coalition is 'disintegrating'
Snow: Troops 'rushed' to Iraq due to Bush 'surge' can get their desert training 'in theater'
28.02.07. Ron Brynaert, Raw Story. Earlier today, AP military writer Robert Burns reported that "[r]ushed by President Bush's decision to reinforce Baghdad with thousands more U.S. troops, two Army combat brigades are skipping their usual session at the Army's premier training range in California and instead are making final preparations at their home bases."
U.S. builds Baghdad garrisons to fight violence
05.03.07. Reuters / Sign On San Diego. Petraeus brainstorm. Troops are being moved from ‘sprawling bases’ (sic) to small outposts. More than a dozen have opened. ( Brill. And all that money given to Halliburton, KBR, Parsons ad nauseum for ZILCH?). Barry Lando picks up on this irony in his article, Total Withdrawal, Who Are You Kidding?
7. One Day in Iraq: March 6 2007
Attacks kill 112 Shi'ite pilgrims in Iraq 06.03.07. Habib al Zubaidi, Reuters Factbox: Security developments in Iraq, March 6 06.03.07. Another 73 killed as U.S. occupation grinds on: total of 25 bodies were found shot dead on Monday in different districts of Baghdad, police said. Mosul: Car bombs killing 5, wounding 18. … the story goes mercilessly on … Fear for Iraq crackdown as 12 U.S. soldiers die 06.03.07. Daily Mail. Afghan children die as US drops one-tonne bombs 06.03.07. J. Huggler, Independent. Nine civilians, including four children, were killed in Afghanistan when US planes dropped two 2,000lb bombs on their mud home. Their deaths came after at least eight civilians were killed by US Marines a day earlier. It has been a disastrous two days for the Americans in Afghanistan. Marines trying to get to safety after being ambushed by a suicide bomber sprayed gunfire wildly across one of the busiest roads in the country, killing passers-by. 9 GIs Killed By Roadside Bombs In Iraq 06.03.07. CBS. Elsewhere: 30 Bodies Found Around Baghdad; 38 Dead In Book Market Blast; Dozens Of Shiite Pilgrims Bush says gradual progress in Iraq despite violence 06.03.07. R. Cowen, Reuters/Washington Post. |
8. ‘Surge’ II?
'Surge' needs up to 7,000 more troops
02.03.07. USA Today/ICH.
Shortages Threaten Guard's Capability
02.03.07. A.S. Tyson, Washington Post. 88 Percent of Units Rated 'Not Ready'
The Last Hot-Button Issue for the Bush Administration
06.03.07. Tom Engelhardt. Hostages to Policy.Tom Engelhardt writes: ‘According to a congressional staffer quoted in human-rights lawyer Scott Horton's No Comment newsletter, "This is Hurricane Katrina all over again. Grossly incompetent management and sweetheart contracts given to contractors with tight GOP connections. There will be enough blame to go around, but the core of the problem is increasingly clear: it's political appointees near the center of power in the Pentagon who have spun the system for partisan and personal benefit. But they'll make a brigade of soldiers and officers walk the plank to try to throw us off the scent."
Vermont: 36 towns call for impeachment probe of president
06.03.07. Vermont Guardian.
Pentagon will likely shift funds to pay for more troops
06.03.07. McClatchy / antiwar.com
When a Leader Missteps, a World Can Go Astray
06.03.07. Michiko Kakytani, NY Times / ICH. Mr. Brzezinski’s verdict on the current president’s record — “catastrophic,” he calls it — is nothing short of devastating. And his overall assessment of America’s current plight is worrying as well: - Fifteen years after its coronation as global leader, America is becoming a fearful and lonely democracy in a politically antagonistic world.”
Pentagon raises estimate of troops for Iraq
07.03.07. Reuters/smh.
At least 110 pilgrims die in suicide attacks as US admits extra 7,000 troops may go to Iraq
07.03.07. I. Black, Guardian. · Army says more soldiers needed for Baghdad surge · Latest assault echoes attack on Samarra shrine
Paul Craig Roberts asks: How Much More Harm Can Bush Do? (07.03.07, anti-war.com)
Buildup in Iraq Needed Into ’08, U.S. General Says
08.03.07. D. Cloud, NY Times / antiwar.com
Beyond Quagmire
09.03.07. T. Dickenson, Rolling Stone / ICH. A panel of experts convened by Rolling Stone agree that the war in Iraq is lost. The only question now is: How bad will the coming explosion be? "The war in Iraq isn't over yet, but -- surge or no surge -- the United States has already lost. That's the grim consensus of a panel of experts assembled by Rolling Stone to assess the future of Iraq. "Even if we had a million men to go in, it's too late now," says retired four-star Gen. Tony McPeak, who served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War. "Humpty Dumpty can't be put back together again."
Bush sends new Iraq budget request to US Congress
10.03.07. Reuters / Washington Post. It will cost about $3 billion to send extra U.S. troops to Iraq in support of the 21,500 already being deployed under President George W. Bush's reworked war strategy, the White House said on Saturday.
Pentagon Struggles to Find Fresh Troops
10.03.07. L. Baldor, AP . Huffington Post.
Bush: 8,200 More Troops Needed for Wars
11.03.07. D. Riechmann, AP /Guardian. President Bush asked Congress on Saturday for $3.2 billion to pay for 8,200 more U.S. troops needed in Afghanistan and Iraq on top of the 21,500-troop buildup he announced in January
Video
09.02.07. Channel 4 - News - On patrol with the 'surge'
The Army is ordering injured troops to go to Iraq
11.03.07. M. Benjamin, Salon.com. At Fort Benning, soldiers who were classified as medically unfit to fight are now being sent to war. Is this an isolated event or ia trend?
Bush asks Congress for even more Iraq troops
12.03.07. E. MacAskill, Guardian. President George Bush has asked Congress for an extra 8,000 troops for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, on top of the 21,500 reinforcements announced two months ago.
Netanyahu: Attack on Iran 'last resort'
12.03.07. Jerusalem Post. At an AIPAC speech, Cheney said that failure in Iraq would endanger Israel. .. Cheney warned of "chaos and mounting danger," as well as a strengthened Iran and emboldened terrorists - in the case of an early American withdrawal from Iraq.
Fallback strategy for Iraq: Train locals, draw down forces
12.03.07. Barnes / Spiegal, LA Times. From legitgov newsletter : 'If the current 'surge' fails, planners suggest relying on 'advisors' [death squads] as the U.S. did in El Salvador in the 1980s. By Julian E. Barnes and Peter Spiegel 12 Mar 2007 American military planners have begun plotting a fallback strategy for Iraq in case the current troop buildup fails or is derailed by Congress. Such a strategy is based in part on the U.S. experience in El Salvador in the 1980s [...], according to military officials and Pentagon consultants who spoke on condition of anonymity when discussing future plans. Years after, the U.S. role in El Salvador remains controversial. Some academics have argued that the U.S. military turned a blind eye to government-backed death squads, or even aided them.' Now see Time magazine story, The Pentagon may put Special-Forces-led assassination or kidnapping teams in Iraq and researched articles on such 'teams' at The BRussels Tribunal
In Iraq, American military finds it has an alcohol problem
12.03.07. IHT. 'Strictly forbidden by the American military in Iraq and Afghanistan, alcohol has been involved in a number of crimes committed by soldiers there. Alcohol- and drug-related charges were involved in more than a third of all army criminal prosecutions of soldiers in the two war zones — 240 of the 665 cases resulting in convictions, according to records obtained by The New York Times through a Freedom of Information Act request. Seventy-three of those 240 cases involved some of the most serious crimes committed there, including murder, rape, armed robbery and assault, records of convictions show.' (What about the cases in which there were NO convictions / standard par for course?)
A Quarter of US War Vets Diagnosed With Mental Disorder: Study
12.03.07. Agence France / Truth Out. Has Anyone Done a Study on the Mental Disorder in the White House and US government - and perhaps On The Hill as well?
UPDATE
The changing complexion of troop 'surge' in Iraq
14.03.07. CS Monitor. Since Bush's move to send 21,500 troops, he and the military want more. Is it too much strain on US forces? In the military, they call it "mission creep." It's a way of describing how a mission expands, typically in small, barely discernible steps. And before anyone knows it, the operation looks much different.
9. Nero Fiddles
Bush Suffers First Iraq Defeat in Congress
17.02.07. J. Lobe, anti-war. 'In a significant defeat for President George W. Bush, the House of Representatives Friday voted 246 to 182 to "disapprove" his plan to add an estimated 30,000 U.S. troops to the 140,000 marines and soldiers already deployed in Iraq. Seventeen Republicans voted with the majority Democrats to approve the nonbinding resolution.
Baghdad on the Potomac?
20.02.07. Townhall. 'Both houses of Congress have now gone on record opposing Bush's dispatch of 21,500 more troops to Iraq. Yet neither house is willing to end U.S. involvement by cutting off funding for the war.'
Contempt (Oxford English Dictionary): ‘The action of despising; the mential action in which a thing is of little account, or as vile and worthless; dishonour, disgrace. Object of contempt: disobedience or open disrespect to the authority or lawful commands of the sovereign, the priviledges of (the) legislative body; and especially action of any kind that interferes with the proper administration of justice by the various courts of law.
Does Cheney ‘Validate’ al-Qaeda?
01.03.07. Consortium. Vice President Dick Cheney says he stands by his accusation that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s plan for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq would “validate the al-Qaeda strategy.” And he apparently thinks he got the better of this latest war of words. Cheney has another undemocratic rant whilst speaking at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Here is an example of US/Cheney 'take' on patriotism: "Anyone can say they support the troops and we should take them at their word, but the proof will come when it's time to provide the money."
Waxman to Force Walter Reed Ex-Chief to Talk About problems
02.03.07. Rood / Schechter, ABC/LEGITGOV. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Henry Waxman, D-Calif., wants to ask Maj. Gen. George W. Weightman about a contract to manage the medical center awarded to a company that had documented troubles fulfilling a government contract to deliver ice to victims of Hurricane Katrina. According to a letter from Waxman to Weightman posted today on the committee's Web site, the chairman believes the Walter Reed contract may have pushed dozens of health care workers to leave jobs at the troubled medical center, which he says in turn threatened the quality of care for hundreds of military personnel receiving treatment there. In the letter, Waxman charged that the Army used an unusual process to award a five-year, $120 million contract to manage the center to a company owned by a former executive of Halliburton.
Democrats Alter Plan To Restrict Iraq War
06.03.07. J. Weisman, Washington Post / ICH. Senior House Democrats, seeking to placate members of their party from Republican-leaning districts, are pushing a plan that would place restrictions on President Bush's ability to wage the war in Iraq but would allow him to waive them if he publicly justifies his position.
Democrats demand troops out of Iraq by 2008
08.03.07. MacAskill / Borger, Guardian. · Bold new strategy would veto war funding · Bush faces dilemma over withdrawal timetable
Iraq: Pulled Out Or Pushed Out
09.03.07. R. Dreyfuss, Tome Paine. Two parliaments, half a world away from each other, struggled with calls to end the war in Iraq yesterday. In Washington, Democrats in the U.S. Congress ended weeks of squabbling to settle on the outlines of a legislative plan to end the war no later than August, 2008, and perhaps sooner. Meanwhile, in Baghdad, a new constellation of political parties is beginning to take shape in the Iraqi parliament, united around the idea of asking U.S. forces to leave Iraq as soon as possible. Tremendous obstacles stand in the way of pro-peace forces both in Congress and in Iraq’s parliament, but if I had to guess, I’d bet that the Iraqis will ask the United States to get out of Iraq long before Congress can force the issue.
Pelosi Cautions Bush Not to Veto an Iraq Bill
11.03.07. C. Hulse, NY Times.
10. What, Exactly, Are We Dying For?
Further Contempt?Life Distilled
"The Defense Department made the photos public with few dates or locations and little context, making it unclear whether the individuals in any of the hundreds of pictures died in Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere. The faces of soldiers accompanying the coffins were blacked out."
Return of the Fallen
28.04.05. National Security Archive. PENTAGON RELEASES HUNDREDS MORE WAR CASUALTY HOMECOMING IMAGES. FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT FORCES OPENING OF 360 NEW PHOTOS
What, Exactly, Are We Dying For?
26.10.06. Ronn Cantu, IVAW. ‘I think it was after my first firefight in Iraq, I've forgotten the exact time and date but it was after midnight one day in April 2004, that I first asked myself, “What, exactly, did we almost die for?” It seemed to me at the time that there was never a plan. What was our mission exactly? What was our goal? What, exactly, were we there to accomplish? Why were soldiers dying?’
Pentagon alters how wounded are calculated
02.02.07. D. Grady, NY Times/ICH. Statistics on a Pentagon Web site have been reorganized in a way that lowers the published totals of American nonfatal casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan.
An Open Letter to America's Soldiers from the Ranks The Looming Shadow of Nuremberg
07.02.07. TONY SWINDELL, Counterpunch. Crimes Listed by the Nuremberg Standard of 1947: a war of aggression, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for its accomplishment; murder or ill-treatment of civilian populations in occupied territory; murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war; plunder of public or private property; wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity; c! rimes against humanity such as murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war. Abu Ghraib, Haditha, Fallujah, the rape of Lebanon, the concentration camps in the West Bank and Gaza, clandestine prisons, the Iraq embargo of the 1990s, Halliburton, and Black Water. There are more, but these will suffice to compare against the Nuremberg Standard. It will not be a difficult task. For example, start with Halliburton and the plunder of public (American taxpayers') property.
Pentagon Lies with Stats
10.02.07. Boston Herald, Editorial. Archive. 'The Pentagon is playing a shameful numbers game and this week in Washington Sens. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) and Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) blew the whistle on it. . One set of “official” numbers for troops wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq lists the figure at about 23,000. But the actual number of those injured in those two theaters of operation is more than double that - around 53,000.' For NY Times Abstract, see here
Number of US troops killed in Iraq breaks record
11.02.07. The Int. News. ‘More US troops were killed in combat in Iraq over the past four months, at least 334 through Jan 31, than in any comparable stretch since the war began, according to an Associated Press analysis of casualty records. Not since the bloody battle for Fallujah in 2004 has the death toll spiked so high. It is not possible to fully track the trend in bomb-caused deaths by month. The US military considers such information secret because it is considered potentially useful to the insurgents and their backers.… Now, under a new approach announced by Bush on Jan 10, US troops will be paired up with Iraqi brigades in each of nine districts across Baghdad, rather than operating mainly from large US bases.’ some further interesting details given.
U.S. deaths in Afghanistan, region
21.02.07. AP / Boston. As of Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007, at least 305 members of the U.S. military have died in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan as a result of the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, according to the Defense Department. TheDefense Department last updated its figures Thursday, Feb. 22, 2007. . Of those, the military reports 193 were killed by hostile action.
Unacceptable death toll in Iraq, say Americans
28.02.07. Angus Reid. 77% of respondents believe the number of U.S. military casualties and Iraqi civilian casualties has been unacceptable.
US commanders admit: we face a Vietnam-style collapse
01.03.07. Simon Tisdall, Guardian/uruk.net. Elite officers in Iraq fear low morale, lack of troops and loss of political will.
The Mother of an Iraq War Vet Responds
01.03.07. T. Richards, Counterpunch. Demoralizing the troops.
Those were the words that inspired me to challenge Orin Hatch (R-UT) in the Senate hearing a few weeks ago. Those were the words that echoed so loudly in my mind I couldn't, no, I wouldn't stay silent.
Operation Iraq Freedom US Casualty Status (02.03.07)
Malaise from Iraq spreads
03.03.07. FT.
From Serving in Iraq To Living on the Streets
05.03.07. C. Davenport, Washington Post. Homeless Vet Numbers Expected to Grow.
How Many More Americans Must Die?
06.03.07. D. Thompson, Capitol Hill Blue/ VAIW. Nine more U.S. soldiers died in Iraq today: Nine too many in a war that should never have been launched by a President who lied with the approval of a Congress that failed to do its due diligence because both Democrats and Republicans abandoned their oath to the Constitution of the United States.
REPORT: 72 Percent Of Army Brigades Have Served Multiple Tours of Duty
07.03.07. Think Progress.
Not Found
"The requested URL /4 n/US Military Deaths in Iraq at 3,168 Soldiers Killed Directly, But 3,968 When Adding Pentagon Contractors.htm was not found on this server."
Number of US troops killed in Iraq breaks record
09.03.07. The Int. News. ‘More US troops were killed in combat in Iraq over the past four months, at least 334 through Jan 31, than in any comparable stretch since the war began, according to an Associated Press analysis of casualty records. Not since the bloody battle for Fallujah in 2004 has the death toll spiked so high. It is not possible to fully track the trend in bomb-caused deaths by month. The US military considers such information secret because it is considered potentially useful to the insurgents and their backers.… Now, under a new approach announced by Bush on Jan 10, US troops will be paired up with Iraqi brigades in each of nine districts across Baghdad, rather than operating mainly from large US bases.’ some further interesting details given.
Iraq: The Hidden Cost of The War
09.03.07. New Statesman / ICHblog. America won't simply be paying with its dead. The Pentagon is trying to silence economists who predict that several decades of care for the wounded will amount to an unbelievable $2.5 trillion.
Lift the Curtain
10.03.07. B. Herbert, NYTimes / ICH. Neglect, incompetence, indifference, lies. Why in the world is anyone surprised that the Bush administration has not been taking good care of wounded and disabled American troops?
Volunteer Soldiers Devastated by iraq Weren't 'Asking For It'
10.03.07. S. Bannerman, Alternet. "They volunteered, didn't they?" is a common sneering response to the stories about National Guardsmen whose lives were destroyed by Iraq -- the truth is that going to war is not what they signed up for.
How the US is Courting Disaster in Iraq
10.03.07. P. Bidwai, Khalee Taimes. THE United States’ political-military failure in Iraq will have terrible consequences for the entire world. And the US seems to be failing-badly. . While its occupation forces continue their anti-insurgent offensive, Prime Minister Nuri Al Maliki’s government appears shaky. Its collapse will signify the US’s greatest political failure in Iraq. This could happen if Al Maliki yields to US pressure to end his dependence on Shia cleric Moqtada Al Sadr. . The recent raid by coalition troops on the interior Ministry’s intelligence headquarters has further embarrassed the embattled Prime Minister. Their "security sweep" in Baghdad and Anbar province has had extremely limited success.
41% Percent of Your 2006 Taxes Go to War
11. Future Deaths: Radiation & DU
DU Death Toll Tops 11,000
29.10.06. James Tucker, American Free Press. Nationwide Media Blackout Keeps U.S. Public Ignorant About This Important Story. The death toll from the highly toxic weapons component known as depleted uranium (DU) has reached 11,000 soldiers.
Depleted Uranium Haunts Kosovo and Iraq
05.11.06. Scott Peterson, Global Research.
Is Depleted Uranium the suspect behind Military Suicides?
19.11.06. G. Mitchell, uruknet. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) has become an epidemic amongst soldiers/sailors serving and veterans who have returned from the war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. The reasons are being depicted as purely psychological, but this seems to be very misleading.
Army made video warning about dangers of depleted uranium but never showed it to troops
06.02.07. David Edwards, Raw Story.
IRAQ WAR LIES AND MENDACIOUS JOURNALISTS
(UNSIGNED, 14.02.07. Free Market News. Here is an ignorant and irresponsible article by the 'right-wing' press.
Depleted Uranium: Pernicious Killer Keeps on Killing
19.02.07. Craig Etchison, Truth Out. Discusses The Questions; What is DU and why is it a problem; Assessing the effects of DU; International Condemnation; Why Ignore the Evidence?. Following are 2 paragraphs from The Conclusions: 'I suspect the military-industrial complex will stonewall admitting the effects of DU for as long as possible to avoid accepting responsibility, not to mention liability, for their reckless actions. When John Hanchette, a founding editor of USA Today tried to publish stories about DU, he received a phone call from the Pentagon asking him to desist. He was later replaced at USA Today. The World Health Organization's chief expert on radiation and health had his report on DU suppressed. Dr. Asaf Durakovic, then a colonel in the U.S. Army, was asked to lie about the risks of DU to humans. So the stonewalling will continue, even as cancers rage among our soldiers and Iraqi civilians, even as our soldiers die, or commit suicide to escape the horrific pain, even as birth defects proliferate across Iraq and among our veterans.
But what of that? DU is a moneymaker for corporations like ATK. And turning DU into munitions helps the government solve a big problem-what to do with mountains of DU it must store and, by law, keep out of the environment. What better solution than giving it free to the munitions makers, who then sell the munitions back to Uncle Sam at a handsome profit? Everyone wins.
Nuclear Test Facility Avoids Penalties for Radiation Exposure
28.02.07. Daily Nexus.
See letter by Dai Williams in Camp Falcon: What Really Happened?
VIDEO POISON DUST. Poison DUst tells the story of young soldiers who thought they came home safely from the war, but didn't. Of a veteran's young daughter whose birth defect is strikingly similar to birth defects suffered by many Iraqi children. … Is there a cover-up?
Livermore may lead labs in building new H-bomb
02.03.07. Inside Bay Area. First new 'replacement warhead' in 20 years to be announced today. See also article by Ralph Vartabebian
Feds Tried to Cut Aid
10.03.07. Rocky Mountain News / ICH. Federal officials secretly schemed to limit payouts for sick and dying nuclear weapons workers, including thousands from the Rocky Flats plant outside Denver, newly released documents show.
MEANWHILE
VIDEO. We Have Been Abandoned by Our Own Country. "Bureaucracy has committed murder here in the greater New Orleans area, and bureaucracy has to stand trial before Congress now. " ICH: ‘ You have to watch this video to understand, how little regard our government has for the welfare of its own citizens.’
Pack and pray. That's what they told us.'
Katrina victims evacuate FEMA park
05 Mar 2007. Time. legitgov writes: Dozens of families evacuated from a FEMA trailer park that had been plagued by sewage leaks and power outages [as in Iraq] were in temporary homes Monday, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency said it had requested work permits to dismantle the site this week. Allsee Tobias lost his New Orleans home in Katrina's flooding and then was told to leave his Hammond trailer over the weekend. He and about 20 relatives, including 10 children, lived in four trailers, and were anxious about being split up. "Pack and pray. That's what they told us," he said. [ Lori writes: Katrina victims can 'pack and pray' while Bush's private contractors at the U.S. Embassy in Iraq can enjoy, at a budget of $923M per year, 'an ornate former Saddam Hussein palace with soaring ceilings and its own espresso bar.'
Ark. gov. 'frustrated' with tornado response
06.03.07. USA Today / legitgov. Beebe told reporters he did not understand why a federal declaration had not been made for Dumas, where a tornado wiped out dozens of homes and businesses last month.
World in Crisis; Candidates in Denial
06.03.07. S. Landau. Monkey Politics. Bush (is) spending $600 billion to prosecute his Iraq War, exceeding the amount spent on the Vietnam War. Bush says it (the prosecution of the Iraq War) is for security. He excludes national health from security, however. His proposed budget would slash almost $80 billion from Medicare and Medicaid over five years. Obviously, the long-range value of Middle East adventures outweighs health care for America's grandparents and its 50 million poor.
12. References
Aaron Glanz, How America Lost Iraq, Tarcher (Reprint), March 2006
The Deserter's Tale
Audio, ICH. US Soldier Joshua Key has told Tony Jones about his new book, which concludes that American soldiers were behaving like terrorists in the Iraq war, as a result of their training.
IRAQ WAR LIES AND MENDACIOUS JOURNALISTS
UNSIGNED, Free Market News, 14.02.07. An irresponsible and uneducated article by a person who should have had the courage to print their name.
Iraq veteran groups in the US
See left column.
PHOTOS AND ARTICLES
Armed Forces and Hadji Girl
UNSPEAKABLE GRIEF AND HORROR
VIDEOS / FILMS
How GI Resistance Altered the Course of History
03.04.06. P. Rockwell, In Motion Magazine. "Sir, No Sir," A timely film, premiers week of 4/3/2006.
Video Sir No Sir!
Video.
No Bravery. (4 min.)
Video Service members rally against the war in Iraq
15.01.07. McMicchale, Navy Times / Truth out. . Appeal for Redress.
Videos show Iraq war through troops' eyes.
20.02.06. L. Pulkkinen. Videos / urls for: may God have mercy on our soul; Kauder's video that he made for his fallen squad mate; G. Algozzini videos; iron pony express; Others. Good story.!!!
Video.
US_Soldiers_Run_an_Iraqi_Off_the_Road. It would probably be nice to check on the guy that you just caused to roll his truck. To see if he's, you know, dead or something.
Video. Support our Troops? Michael Parenti.
Video. On patrol with the ‘surge’ in Baghdad. Channel 4 News (09.02.07)
Video Women soldiers have died of dehydration to avoid late night trips to toilet. (10.03.05, Amy Goodman.
Video. The Deserter's Tale US Soldier Joshua Key has told Tony Jones about his new book, which concludes that American soldiers were behaving like terrorists in the Iraq war, as a result of their training.
Video.The Century of the Self. Part II, The Engineering of Consent
Video. Can you spell Impeachment?
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This article can also be read at brusselstribunal.org/.
The url to Index on US Troops is: http://indexresearch.blogspot.com/2007/03/index-on-us-troops.html or you can use http://tinyurl.com/23j8ea
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UPDATES
REPORTS
Mental Health Advisory Team Report.
25.05.07. Global Security.
article about report - excerpts
One-Third of Troops in Iraq Support Torture, Majority Condone Mistreating Innocent Civilians(24.05.07. Winslow Wheeler, AlterNet). A recent study shows startling findings about the widespread abuse of Iraqi civilians by U.S. troops.
* "Only 47 percent of soldiers and only 38 percent of Marines agreed that noncombatants should be treated with dignity and respect."
* "Well over a third of soldiers and Marines reported torture should be allowed, whether to save the life of a fellow soldier or Marine … or to obtain important information about insurgents…."
* 28 percent of soldiers and 30 percent of Marines reported they had cursed and/or insulted Iraqi noncombatants in their presence.
* 9 percent and 12 percent, respectively, reported damaging or destroying Iraqi property "when it was not necessary."
* 4 percent and 7 percent, respectively, reported hitting or kicking a noncombatant "when it was not necessary.
* The study also reports that only 55 percent of soldiers and just 40 percent of Marines would report a unit member injuring or killing "an innocent noncombatant," and just 43 percent and 30 percent, respectively, would report a unit member destroying or damaging private property.
At 180 a day, January attacks on coalition hit highest level.
28.02.07. Stars and Stripes. Read also Tomgram: Anthony Arnove on the Anniversary from Hell (18.03.07)..
Military Medical Care: Questions and Answers.
06.03.07. CRS REPORT.
Mental Health Advisory Team Report.
25.05.07. Global Security.
ARTICLES
.S. buildup in Iraq approaches 30,000
17.03.07. David Morgan and Andrew Grey, Scotsman.
From Shock & Awe to the 'surge' without end
19.03.07. Independent. Four years ago this Tuesday, George Bush began his ill-fated Iraq campaign. Today's news that the US is sending an extra battalion to Baghdad will push troop levels to 160,000 - 10,000 more than at the time of the invasion
EXCLUSIVE: Major New Problems At Walter Reed
18.03.07. WUSA. Burst steam pipes near electrical cables, rats, mold, and holes in floors and walls -- all of that extends far beyond the well-publicized problems at the notorious Building 18. Photos, Video.
Army contract to privatize maintenance at Walter Reed Medical Center was delayed more than three years
03.07. Hemscot. ... amid bureaucratic bickering and legal squabbles that led to staff shortages and a hospital in disarray just as the number of severely wounded soldiers from Iraq and Afghanistan was rising rapidly.
Military Is Ill-Prepared For Other Conflicts
19.03.07. A.S. Tyson, Washington Post. 'More troubling, the officials say, is that it will take years for the Army and Marine Corps to recover from what some officials privately have called a "death spiral," in which the ever more rapid pace of war-zone rotations has consumed 40 percent of their total gear, wearied troops and left no time to train to fight anything other than the insurgencies now at hand.'
Army Revises Upward Number of Desertions in ’06
23.03.07. NY Times/legitgov. A total of 3,196 active-duty soldiers deserted the Army last year, or 853 more than previously reported, according to revised figures from the Army. The new calculations by the Army, which had about 500,000 active-duty troops at the end of 2006, significantly alter the annual desertion totals since the 2000 fiscal year.
Buried Alive
23.03.07. Karen Kwiatkowski, Lew Rockwell.com. 'Screwed up, screwed over, and just plain screwed. The brutality of this language sadly fails to approximate what is happening to our soldiers and Marines in Iraq, and afterwards.'
Rape fears lead women soldiers to suicide, death
25.03.07. Vermont Guardian. U.S. female soldiers in Iraq were assaulted or raped by male soldiers in the women's latrines, and an alarming number committed suicide, Col. Janis Karpinski reportedly testified before an international human rights commission of inquiry last month.
More Veterans Calling The Streets Home
25.03.07. CBS,. An Estimated 200,000 U.S. War Veterans Are Homeless
No thanks
26.03.07. J. Feffer, Foreign Policy in Focus. 'The U.S. public wants out of Iraq. The Iraqis themselves want the occupation to be over. What's a poor U.S. soldier to do? As the Iraq War drags into its fifth year, the U.S. army finds itself in an untenable situation. Whatever welcome the Iraqis extended to the troops has worn exceedingly thin. Roadside bombs have largely replaced the thanks once offered for deposing Saddam.'
Army deployed seriously injured troops
26.03.07. M. Benjamin, Salon.com. 'Soldiers on crutches and canes were sent to a main desert camp used for Iraq training. Military experts say the Army was pumping up manpower statistics to show a brigade was battle ready.'
Going AWOL vs, going to Iraq
26.03.07. M. Wiwltenburg, Alternet.
Once Were Soldiers: More Bush Abuse for Cannon Fodder
27.03.07. Chris Floyd, uruknet. It is truly remarkable. The Bush gang and its media bootlickers have elevated "support for troops" into, quite literally, a religious dogma, which they invoke at every turn to choke off debate and dissent about the war. Yet I doubt that there has ever been a presidential administration that has abused and neglected its soldiers as egregiously – and deliberately – as the Bush Regime has done.
Marines recalling 1,800 Reservists
27.03.07. NBC.
Unraveling The Political-Military Paradox
28.03.07. Jim Kirwan, Rense.com. Excellent overview of what has and is happening. Including the following on troops: "The Second Indication that something is dangerously amiss ˇ are the numbers in the surge. The original demand was for 21,000. That number has since been added to, twice; and now it looks more like 40,000 total. There was never any attempt to comply with the wishes of the electorate or the congress, because the Decider acted immediately upon the announcement of his stated decision ˇ as though no approval was required, from either the people or the congress: This, despite the fact that the public, the congress, and the world had all registered strong disapproval for his plans from the moment he announced them. If The Decider is determined to 'act as a president and not a Dictator-he has a direct obligation to respond to obvious opposition, with something besides contempt!?
Morale of Troops is a Concern
29.03.07. Shortnews.com.
APRIL 2007
World News">Troops sent back to Iraq after short break
03.04.07. NBC. Stretched Army making large units return without a year at home
Some of Bush's Premonitions for Underfunded Troops Already Occurring
03.04.07. US News. 'Regardless of the budget fight, deployment extensions are becoming common: On Monday, for instance, the Pentagon announced a 45-day deployment extension for about 1,000 soldiers who are part of the Hawaii-based 25th Infantry Division Headquarters and the 25th Special Troops Battalion (including the 25th Infantry Division Band). Also, the Pentagon announced that the 4th Infantry Division headquarters, based in Fort Hood, Texas, will redeploy to Iraq 81 days ahead of schedule--and after less than seven months at home.
Soldier in New Friendly Fire Case Did Not Get Full Training
04.04.07. Greg Mitchell, Editor and Publisher. One of the soldier's died just hours after arriving in Iraq -- and was one of those troops rushed to the country in the "surge" who did not receive full training. ..The Army said it is investigating the deaths of Pvt. Matthew Zeimer, 18, of Glendive, Mont., and Spc. Alan E. McPeek, 20, of Tucson, Ariz., who were killed in Ramadi, in western Iraq on Feb. 2. The families of the soldiers at first were told they were killed by enemy fire.
We've Been Surging For Years
06.04.07. Don Monkerud, Tom Paine. The number of U.S. forces involved in Iraq are at least twice the number as those quoted in the media. The administration uses a number of deceptions, definitional illusions and euphuisms—including counting only "combat forces" and "military personnel"—to drastically undercount the invasion force. ... Manipulated figures and private military contractors provide the Bush Administration with political cover to escape public scrutiny and keep injuries, deaths and secret operations out of the public eye. A more accurate and honest view of participation in the Iraqi occupation by the government could give Americans more reason to oppose the waste of lives and resources on this ill-conceived, poorly planned, and disastrous venture.
Civilian Court Sides with Conscientious Objector
06.04.07. Aaron Glantz, Interpress Service.
A Shock Wave of Brain Injuries
08.04.07. R. Glasser, Washington Post/Truthout. About 1,800 US troops are now suffering from traumatic brain injuries (TBIs) caused by penetrating wounds. But neurologists worry that hundreds of thousands more - at least 30 percent of the troops who've engaged in active combat for four months or longer in Iraq and Afghanistan - are at risk of potentially disabling neurological disorders from the blast waves of IEDs and mortars, all without suffering a scratch. For the first time, the US military is treating more head injuries than chest or abdominal wounds, and it is ill-equipped to do so.
U.S. Army prosecutions of desertion rise sharply
08.04.07. IHT.
Tourist Photograph from Iraq
09.04.07. Aaron Hughes, Foreign Policy in Focus.
Pentagon Considers Extended Tours for All Soldiers
10.04.07. ABC. New Plan Would Accommodate Bush Troop Surge. ABC News has learned that the Pentagon is considering extending the tours of duty for every active duty soldier in Iraq and Afghanistan. Under the proposal, deployments for active duty soldiers would be extended from the current 12 months to 15 months.
Medical crews airlifted 850 wounded in March
10.04.07. Air Force Times. Air Force planes and medical crews airlifted more than 850 wounded and injured servicemen out of war zones during March, according to the Air Force. In February, the Air Force flew out 767 patients.
Military spending soars to keep troops in the service
11.04.07. Battlecreek enquirer. The struggle to entice Army soldiers and Marines to stay in the military, after four years of war in Iraq, has ballooned into a $1 billion campaign, with bonuses soaring nearly sixfold since 2003
CNN: Dramatic increase in Army desertions
15.04.07. David Edwards /Josh Catone, Raw Story.
Soldier forced to leave dying mother for war
19.04.07. AP / Ledger-enquirer/anti-war.com. Commander denies Alabama man's request for extension on two-week leave.
Mental Health Worsens as Deployments Lengthen
26.04.07. Army Times / anti-war.com.
MAY 2007
Another 3,700 American occupation troops arrives in Baghdad
02.05.07. VOA. A statement Wednesday says the new brigade will help Iraqi security forces clear, control and retain key areas of Baghdad in order to reduce violence.
From Serving in Iraq To Living on the Streets
05.05.07. C. Davenport, Washington Post. Homeless Vet Numbers Expected to Grow. A moving story about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which can affect any soldier in either Iraq or Afghanistan.
Bring ‘Em Home, Bring ‘Em Home
14.05.07. S. ZUNES, FPIF. I first heard it while driving home from work on a college FM station. It was a song I had forgotten about but had known, with slightly different opening lyrics, in my childhood:
If you love this land of the free
Bring 'em home, bring 'em home
Bring them back from overseas
Bring 'em home, bring 'em home
VIDEO : Bruce Springstein, Bring em home.
'More troops' call as Iraq murders soar
14.05.07. Peter Beaumont,The Observer/uruknet. 234 bodies dumped in Baghdad in only 11 days. ‘The US military surge in Iraq, designed to turn around the course of the war, appears to be failing as senior US officers admit they need yet more troops and new figures show a sharp increase in the victims of death squads in Baghdad.’
America's Child Soldier Problem
15.05.07. In these Times / ICH. Thousands of America's children, however, are not so lucky. Almost 600,000 of America's 1 million active and reserve soldiers enlisted as teens. The military lures these physiologically immature kids with a PR machine that would make Joe Camel proud.
Nerve Gas May Have Harmed Troops, Scientists Say
16.05.07. I. Urbina, NY Times / Fair use. Scientists working with the Defense Department have found evidence that a low-level exposure to sarin nerve gas — the kind experienced by more than 100,000 American troops in the Persian Gulf war of 1991 — could have caused lasting brain deficits in former service members.
This is a poem that was in
GI Special 5E11
“A Word Is Worth A Thousand Pictures"
[Thanks to Alberto Jaccoma, Vietnam Veteran, The Military Project, who sent this in and to Mark Shapiro for the graphic.]
April 27 2007 by Cpl Cloy Richards, USMC, Bellaciao.org
6 Marines
3 standing tall and proud in the foreground
3 crouching in the foreground
6 Marines posing in Fallujah, supposedly the "Graveyard of Americans"
6 young, strong men with battle hardened countenances
6 marines in great health posing with rifles, deep in enemy territory
How brave they look, how American
They can go to any country in the world, kick ass and take pictures to show the folks back home what their tax dollars are paying for
That picture of my buddies and I, is forever in my mind, yet slightly changed
Private Perez was killed by a car bomber at a vehicle check point
There’s only 5 Marines in the picture now
Sergeant Silva lost the use of his left leg after a rocket attack and now is addicted to painkillers and booze
There’s only 4 Marines in the picture now
Lance Corporal Dubois joined the Marines to help conquer his heroin addiction
After 3 years clean and sober, he came home from Iraq a broken man
and turned back to heroin
He overdosed two months after we got back
There’s only 3 Marines in the picture now
Corporal Allen’s stress and emotional problems got the better of him
and he started beating his wife and children
2 years after Iraq he’s in prison, without a family
There’s only 2 Marines in the picture now
Private First Class Anderson got dishonorably discharged
for drug use 5 months after we came home
Rather than turn to his family for help, he wanders the streets
of southern California begging for money, food, work
There’s one Marine left in the picture now, and it’s me.
Am I still alive?
I might be physically breathing, but I’m dying inside
For Some Vets, No Way Out of the War Zone
25.05.07. A. Glanz, Truth Out. The widow of an Afghanistan War veteran discusses her husband's Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, which was magnified by his anticipation of deployment to Iraq and led to his death as a result of excessive police force.
White House Said to Debate ’08 Cut in Iraq Troops by 50%
26.05.07. Sanger, Cloud, NY Times. “Concepts” are being developed. Lol!
White House plays down report of Iraq troop cut
26.05.07. Alertnet.
I Lost my Son to a Conflict I oppose. We Were Both Doing Our Duty
27.05.07. Andrew J. Bacevich , The Washington Post/ICH. Parents who lose children, whether through accident or illness, inevitably wonder what they could have done to prevent their loss. When my son was killed in Iraq earlier this month at age 27, I found myself pondering my responsibility for his death.
With allies in enemy ranks, GIs in Iraq are no longer true believers
27.05.07. NY Times/anti-war.com. The pivotal moment came, he says, this past February when soldiers killed a man setting a roadside bomb. When they searched the bomber's body, they found identification showing him to be a sergeant in the Iraqi Army.
"I thought, 'What are we doing here? Why are we still here?'
Dissent spreads through U.S. military ranks
27.05.07. John Catalinotto, Workers World/uruknet. Growing anger over the U.S. war in Iraq and growing understanding that the occupation is a complete failure are spreading through all ranks of the U.S. military. This dissidence shows itself in different ways among the rank-and-file troops and among the lifers and officers. But from an increase of angry letters to anti-war publications like GI Special to an increase of courts-martial, the signs of resistance are growing.
May Is Worst Month for US Troops in Iraq Since 2004
29.05.07. anti-war.com
Donald C. Hudson Jr. | A Soldier in Iraq Asks in Despair: Why Are We Here?
29.05.07. Clarkesville, Tennessee online / Truth out. After seeing his roommate fatally wounded in a roadside bombing, an Army private wonders why the lives of good men are being lost when the Iraqis pose no threat to us and don't want us there.
Anger and angst are the enemy now
30.05.07. M. Drummond, Charlottte.com. Up to 300,000 may have post=traumatic stress disorder
Words from the front-lines
Travelling Soldier. “I’d like to punch him [Rumsfeld] in the gut. He treats us like we’re not human. He acts like he’s not destroying families.” – NCO, 4-24 Infantry Battalion, 172nd Stryker Brigade, Baghdad, Iraq.
If The Shoe Fits...
31.05.07. Memo From: SPC Freeman, Milo; US Army, Iraq, ICH. To: Senate Democrats, Republicans, and "American Idol" viewers across the nation. 1. You. Punk. Ass. Pantywaisted. *itches. WARNING : This article contains adult language
Marine Reservist-Protesters Face Discipline
31.05.07. Washiington Post / Turthout. Going on a mock patrol can get you in real trouble with the United States Marine Corps. In a case that raises questions about free speech, the Marines have launched investigations of three inactive reservists for wearing their uniforms during anti-war protests and allegedly making statements characterized as "disrespectful" or "disloyal."
A soldier in Iraq asks in despair: Why are we here?
01.06.07. Clarkesville TN / ICH. Donald C. Hudson Jr. After watching his roommate fatally wounded in a roadside bombing, an Army private wonders why the lives of good men are being lost when the Iraqis pose no threat to us and don’t want us there.
U.S. Marines move to discharge protesting Iraq vet
05.06.07. Reuters. A U.S. military disciplinary panel on Monday recommended that a decorated combat Marine be involuntarily discharged after he joined an anti-war demonstration and spoke out against the Iraq war.
Reading The Pictures: Have We Just Seen The Last Combat Injury In Iraq?
06.06.07. Michael Shaw, Huffington Post.
A Rough Road From Boot Camp to College
06.06.07. Aaron Glantz. The federal government reports that only 3 percent of veterans who entered four-year programmes in 1995 had graduated by 2001, compared to 30 percent of students nationwide. That despite the fact that many young people join the military specifically to get money for college.
Finding Therapists Proves Hard for Troops
Kimberly Hefling, AP / TRUTHOUT. Tricare issues can prevent service members, families from getting treatment.
US signals permanent stay in Iraq
12.06.07. CS Monitor. This spring's debate over a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq may have implied that the US presence there is likely to wind down soon, but recent comments from both the administration and military officials suggest a different scenario.
Homeless Vets Struggle After Returning From Iraq
12.06.07. Aaron Glantz.
The Silence Of The Bombs
12.06.07. Norman Solomon, Tom Paine. Meanwhile, the Iraqis killed by Americans don’t become much of an issue in the realms of U.S. media and politics. News coverage provides the latest tallies of Iraqis who die from “sectarian violence” and “terrorist attacks,” but the reportage rarely discusses how the U.S. occupation has been an ascending catalyst for that carnage. It’s even more rare for the coverage to focus on the magnitude of Iraqi deaths that are direct results of American firepower.
Post-traumatic Iraq syndrome
12.06.07. Christopher J. Fettweis, LA Times. The war is lost. Americans should begin to deal with what that means.
A Failure to Protect our Troops
14.06.07. NY Times editorial.
The War Inside
17.06.07. D. Priest, A. Hull, Washington Post. Troops are returning from the battlefield with psychological wounds, but the mental-health system that serves them makes healing difficult.
|chris Hedges: A Culture of Atrocity
18.06.07. psychoanalysts oppose war.
More Troops, More Trouble
18.06.07. A. Bacevich, LA Times, Fair Use. 'The Democrats vying to succeed George W. Bush think so. Presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama all promise, if elected, to expand our land forces. Clinton has declared it "past time to increase the end-strength of the Army and Marines." Edwards calls for a "substantial increase." Obama offers hard numbers: His program specifies the addition of 92,000 soldiers. ... The underlying problem is that the basic orientation of U.S. policy since 9/11 has been flat wrong. Bush's conception of waging an open-ended global "war" to eliminate terrorism has failed, disastrously and irredeemably. Simply trying harder — no matter how many more soldiers we recruit and no matter how many more Muslim countries we invade and "liberate" — will not reverse that failure. More meddling will evoke more hatred.'
Troops' 1 month break blocked
19.06.07. USA Today. U.S. commanders in Iraq are rejecting a recommendation by Army mental health experts that troops receive a one-month break for every three months in a combat zone, despite unprecedented levels of continuous fighting and worsening risks of mental stress.
Iraq Ambush Caps Bloodiest Months for US
29.06.07. Robert H. Reid, AP / Truthout. A huge bomb explosion followed by a hail of gunfire and grenades killed five U.S. soldiers, the military said Friday. The attack climaxed the deadliest three-month period for the Americans since the war began. ... Those deaths brought to 99 the number of U.S. troops killed this month, according to an Associated Press count. The toll for the past three months - 329 - made it the deadliest quarter for U.S. troops in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion. That surpasses the 316 soldiers killed during November 2004 to January 2005.
JULY 2007
The Mind of the Returning Iraq War Veteran
They Don't Come Back the Same
03.07.07. Helen Redmond, Counterpunch / ICH. One hears it all the time from soldiers who fight in wars: "You don't come back the same." It's a simple truism with enormous consequences for the men and women who are on their way back to the United States from Afghanistan and Iraq. Many thousands of soldiers will be forever changed from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
Iraq Comes Home: Soldiers Share the Devastating Tales of War
04.07.07. Texas Observer / Alternet. Three veterans ... share the nightmare experiences that war has brought into their lives.
Pentagon Understates War Casualties, Says Veterans Group
05.07.07. political affairs.
The Other War: Iraq Vets Bear Witness
10.07.07. Chris Hedges and Laila al-Arian, The Nation/uruknet. 'Over the past several months The Nation has interviewed fifty combat veterans of the Iraq War from around the United States in an effort to investigate the effects of the four-year-old occupation on average Iraqi civilians. These combat veterans, some of whom bear deep emotional and physical scars, and many of whom have come to oppose the occupation, gave vivid, on-the-record accounts. They described a brutal side of the war rarely seen on television screens or chronicled in newspaper accounts.'
Senate Republicans stop more leave for troops
11.07.07. Washington Post.
Congressional Authority To Limit U.S. Military Operations in Iraq
11.07.07. CRS Report (updated).
Tomgram: Dahr Jamail, Iraq Reporter Schizophrenic in Disneyland
12.07.07. Dahr Jamail, Tom Dispatch. Iraq on My Mind: Thousands of Stories to Tell -- And No One to Listen
'A Dead Iraqi Is Just Another Dead Iraqi... You Know, So What?'
12.07.07. L. Doyle, The Independent / ICH. Interviews with US veterans show for the first time the pattern of brutality in Iraq
Iraq: Summary of U.S. Casualties
12.07.07. CRS Report (updated)
US House votes for troop pullout
13.07.07. BBC.
Almost 12% of U.S. Army recruits required waivers for criminal records
13.07.07. Boston Globe / IHT.
Midwest Towns Sour on War as Their Tolls Mount
14.07.07. Peter Slevin, Washington Post / Truthout.
... suppport the troops? ...
Pentagon balked at pleas from officers in field for safer vehicles
17.07.07. USA Today.
Pentagon Extends Iraq Tours for 2,200 Marines
19.07.07. Reuters. The Pentagon has extended the combat tours of 2,200 Marines in Iraq for 30 days, keeping the troops on the ground to help stabilize Anbar province, a Marine Corps spokesman said on Thursday.
The Death Mask of War
June-July 2007, Chris Hedges, Adbusters/anti-war.com: 'All troops, when they occupy and battle insurgent forces, as in Iraq, or Gaza or Vietnam, are placed in “atrocity producing situations.” In this environment, surrounded by a hostile population, simple acts such as going to a store to buy a can of Coke means you can be killed. This constant fear and stress pushes troops to view everyone around them as the enemy. This hostility is compounded when the enemy, as in Iraq, is elusive, shadowy and hard to find. The rage soldiers feel after a roadside bomb explodes, killing or maiming their comrades, is one that is easily directed over time to innocent civilians who are seen to support the insurgents. It is a short psychological leap, but a massive moral leap. It is a leap from killing – the shooting of someone who has the capacity to do you harm – to murder – the deadly assault against someone who cannot harm you. The war in Iraq is now primarily about murder. There is very little killing.'
U.S. SEEN IN IRAQ UNTIL AT LEAST '09
24.07.07. NY Times (abstract).
Iraq war veterans sue US government
24.07.07. news.com. HUNDREDS of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans have filed a class-action lawsuit against the US government for providing them with deficient medical and financial support.
U.S. Troops and Iraqi Civilians
25.07.07. Inst. for Public Accuracy. Last week, McClatchy newspapers reported that, according to the U.S. military's own statistics, "U.S. soldiers have killed or wounded 429 Iraqi civilians at checkpoints or near patrols and convoys during the past year. ... The statistics don't include instances of American soldiers killing civilians during raids, arrests or in the midst of battle with armed groups, and it remains unclear how the U.S. military tracks such information."
The Death Mask Of War
28.07.07, Chris Hedges, Adbusters / ICH. American Marines and soldiers have become socialized to atrocity.
Big U.S. presence in Iraq until mid-2009: commander
30.07.07. Reuters/uruknet.
Pentagon Announces Iraq Troop Rotations
31.07.07. AP| / TO. The Associated Press reports: "Nearly 20,000 US troops based in the United States will begin departing for Iraq in December as part of the regular rotation of combat forces there, the Defense Department announced Tuesday. These Army and Marine Corps units are not related to the buildup of American troops announced by President Bush in January, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said."
AUGUST 2007
Soldier sentenced to 110 years for Iraq murders
04.08.07. Reuters. A U.S. soldier convicted by a military court in the gang rape and murder of a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and the killing of her family was sentenced to 110 years in prison on Saturday, the Army said. Pvt. Jesse Spielman, 22, received a dishonorable discharge after being found guilty of four counts of murder, rape, conspiracy to commit rape and housebreaking with the intent to commit rape by a military court at Ft. Campbell, Kentucky.
The Mamma Mia Anti-War Movement
05.08.07. G. Zamparini, Cat's Blog. - I do not support our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan
- I consider those troops mass murderers - Nobody forced them to go there and kill, rape, torture innocent people nothing had done to them or their countries - If they are old enough to rape, torture and kill, if they are aware of what they are doing there, then they are surely old enough to refuse to keep doing it
Heroism and the language of fascism
06.08.07. R. Brooks, LA Times /ICH. Civil service is commendable, but worshiping soldiers and police for doing their duty has gotten out of control.
Veterans' Rare Cancers Raise Fears of Toxic Battlefields
06.08.07. R. B. STUART, NY Sun / legitgov.org. In the wake of an Iraqi official last month blaming America's use of depleted uranium munitions in its 2003 "Shock and Awe" campaign for a surge in cancer there, the Defense Department is facing an October deadline for providing a comprehensive report to Congress on the health effects of such weapons.
US troop level in Iraq reaches record high
07.08.07. Reuters / ICH. The United States has more troops in Iraq now than at any previous time in the war, with around 162,000 members of the military in the country, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.
The surge: a special report by Patrick Cockburn
07.08.07. P. Cockburn, Independent / ICH. It was supposed to mark a decisive new phase in America's military campaign, but six months after George Bush sent in 20,000 extra troops, Iraq is more chaotic and dangerous than ever. In a special despatch, Patrick Cockburn reports on the bloody failure of 'the surge'
The US arsenal lost in Iraq
08.07.07. E. MacAskill, Guardian. · 110,000 AK-47s· 80,000 pistols· 135,000 bits of armour. he US has lost track of about 190,000 weapons issued to Iraqi security forces since the 2003 invasion, some of which will have ended up in the hands of [insurgents], according to an official report published in Washington. Among the missing items are AK-47 rifles, pistols, body armour and helmets.
Pentagon promotes militant Christianity to US troops in Iraq
08.08.07. Smirking Chimp. 'The Left Behind videogame is a real-time strategy game that makes players commanders of a virtual evangelical army in a post-apocalyptic landscape that looks strikingly like New York City after 9/11. With tanks, helicopters and a fearsome arsenal of automatic weapons at their disposal, Left Behind players wage a violent war against United Nations-like peacekeepers who, according to LaHaye's interpretation of Revelation, represent the armies of the Antichrist. Each time a Left Behind player kills a UN soldier, their virtual character exclaims, "Praise the Lord!" To win the game, players must kill or convert all the non-believers left behind after the rapture. They also have the option of reversing roles and commanding the forces of the Antichrist.' Watch video.
For further information about US christian evangelicals, read excellent book by Chris Hedges, American Fascists: The Christian Right and the War On America
The Uncounted Casualties of War
08.08.07. Amy Goodman, King Features syndicate / ICH. U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Lucey is not counted among the Iraq war dead. But he did die, when he came home. He committed suicide. His parents are suing the Department of Veterans Affairs and R. James Nicholson, the secretary of veterans affairs, for wrongful death, medical malpractice and other damages.
26 U.S. Troops Killed In 1 Week In Iraq
08.08.07. Netscape.
Administration Fights Dem Plan to Boost School Aid for Vets
09.08.07. ABC
Bush's war adviser says a return to the military draft is worth considering
10.08.07. IHT / ICH. even with all the paid - by US taxes- mercenaries in Iraq?
U.S. Pays Millions In Cost Overruns For Security in Iraq.
12.08.07. S. Fainaru, Washington Post. The U.S. military has paid $548 million over the past three years to two British security firms that protect the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on reconstruction projects, more than $200 million over the original budget, according to previously undisclosed data that show how the cost of private security in Iraq has mushroomed./ The two companies, Aegis Defence Services and Erinys Iraq, signed their original Defense Department contracts in May 2004. By July of this year, the contracts supported a private force that had grown to about 2,000 employees serving the Corps of Engineers. The force is about the size of three military battalions. ... The size of this force and its cost have never been documented. The Pentagon has said that about 20,000 security contractors operate in Iraq, although some estimates are considerably higher. ... Aegis and Erinys work side-by-side in Baghdad's Green Zone.
US prepares to plug hole left by British troops.
12.08.07. Sean Rayment and Philip Sherwell, Telegraph.
Homeless vets: a hidden crisis.
12.08.07. Darryl E. Owens, newspress/legitgov. As an infantry medic, Ryan Svolto patched up soldiers wounded in combat in Iraq. Now, he is trying to fix his own wounded life after a recent stint at a Daytona Beach, Fla., homeless shelter. Svolto, 24, is one of a growing number of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans who joined the ranks of the homeless after returning home. Experts say a system already buckling under one of the nation's largest homeless populations might collapse under the weight of a new wave of veterans, many saddled with mental-health issues and crippling brain injuries.
Bush to bolster Iraq troop surge as antiwar lobby gives ground.
13.008.07. Timesonline.
The real reason why fewer soldiers died this July.
13.08.07. R. Parry, alternet. Mindful of the political fallout from the rising American death toll in Iraq, the U.S. military has pulled back from aggressive tactics this summer.
Iraqi beating trial starts today.
13.08.07. timesdispsatch.
Military families live in dread, while the rest of America is busy shopping.
13.08.07. G. Younge, Guardian. With the army stretched by Iraq to the brink of restoring the draft, US politicians rely on the distraction of a tax cut
U.S. general says 15-month Army rotations in Iraq, Afghanistan, to continue into next summer.
14.08.07. AP-IHT.
Petraeus' report won't be Petraeus' report.
15.08.07. Daily Kos. Despite Bush's repeated statements that the report will reflect evaluations by Petraeus and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, administration officials said it would actually be written by the White House, with inputs from officials throughout the government.
US Army suicides at 26-year high: report.
16.08.07. theage. More than one-fourth did so while serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to a new military report. / The report, obtained by The Associated Press ahead of its scheduled release, found there were 99 confirmed suicides among active duty soldiers during 2006, up from 88 the previous year and the highest since the 102 suicides in 1991.
Short of Purple Hearts, Navy tells vet to buy own.
17.08.07. chron.com.
Personal Data for 35,000 Vets Stolen.
17.08.07. Military.com. Personal records including addresses and Social Security numbers of more than 35,000 veterans and their families were stolen this month from the offices of a POW support organization in Texas, officials announced Friday.
The War As We Saw It .
19.08.07. Buddhika Jayamaha, Wesley D. Smith, Jeremy Roebuck, Omar Mora, Edward Sandmeier, Yance T. Gray and Jeremy A. Murphy: NY Times / Truthout. In The New York Times, seven soldiers write: "Viewed from Iraq at the tail end of a 15-month deployment, the political debate in Washington is indeed surreal. Counterinsurgency is, by definition, a competition between insurgents and counterinsurgents for the control and support of a population. To believe that Americans, with an occupying force that long ago outlived its reluctant welcome, can win over a recalcitrant local population and win this counterinsurgency is far-fetched. As responsible infantrymen and noncommissioned officers with the 82nd Airborne Division soon heading back home, we are skeptical of recent press coverage portraying the conflict as increasingly manageable and feel it has neglected the mounting civil, political and social unrest we see every day."
U.S. foreign policy experts oppose Bush's surge.
20.08.07. Reuters. More than half of top U.S. foreign policy experts oppose President George W. Bush's troop increase as a strategy for stabilizing Baghdad, saying the plan has harmed U.S. national security, according to a new survey.
U.S. Army running out of troops.
20.08.07. (AP) pjstar. Sapped by nearly six years of war, the Army has nearly exhausted its fighting force and its options if the Bush administration decides to extend the Iraq buildup beyond next spring. [ well, the White House can always ask the taxpayer for money to pay the mercenaries ('security' companies?]
Mercenaries in Iraq Have Become U.S. Crutch .
20.08.07. W. Pincus, Washington Post / ICH. The expanded contractor use has evoked new attention to a 1995 criticism of the practice. According to the study, a Defense Department Commission on Roles and Missions found then that depending on contractors was detrimental and that it kept the Pentagon "from building and maintaining capacity needed for strategic or other important missions.
US military looks to reduce role in Iraq.
20.08.07. Yahoo.
Terrorism Index.
20.08.07. American Progress. World less safe.
Crazy for Feeling This Way: Catch-22 Redux.
20.08.07. Chris Floyd , Empire Burlesque - uruknet. The high incidence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among soldiers returning from Iraq is one of the many "inconvenient truths" of this war. Inconvenient largely because it is costly: The most effective and humane means of treating PTSD are time-intensive and long-term. The military, however, has changed the terms and given many thousands of enlisted men and women a new diagnosis: "personality disorder." (...) The Bushists l! aunch an illegal war to aggrandize the power and wealth of the rapacious elite they represent -- then they toss aside their soldiers (who didn't know they were signing up for a criminal enterprise) like so many broken toys they don't want to play with anymore...
Words Unspoken Are Rendered on War’s Faces .
22.08.07. NY Times. See images at Jan Bekman Gallery
Pentagon falling behind in delivering mine-proof vehicles to Iraq.
22.08.07. AFP. The Pentagon expects to deliver only 1,500 mine-proof armored vehicles to Iraq by the end of the year, less than half the number promised a month ago, a spokesman said.
Army Secretary rejects longer Iraq tours.
23.08.07. Burns / Baldour, AP – Guardian.
IRAQ WAR CUTS INTO AMMO SUPPLIES.
24.08.07. ITS ESTIMATED THAT ONE BILLION BULLETS A YEAR ARE USED BY U.S. TROOPS FOR TRAINING AND FIGHTING IN IRAQ AND AFGHANISTAN
http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/082507Y.shtml.
25.08.07. LA Times / Truthout. With tours extended, multiple deployments and new tactics that put them in bare posts in greater danger, they feel leaders are out of touch with reality. The Los Angeles Times reports on how extended tours of duty, constant danger and a lack of progress in Iraq are leaving US troops feeling increasingly frustrated and angry.
GIs' morale dips as Iraq war drags on.
25.08.07. LA Times / legitgov.org. GIs' morale dips as Iraq war drags on --With tours extended, multiple deployments and new tactics that put them in bare posts in greater danger, they feel leaders are out of touch with reality. As military and political leaders prepare to deliver a 'progress' report on the conflict to Congress next month, many soldiers are increasingly disdainful of the happy talk that they say commanders on the ground and White House officials are using in their discussions about the war. And they're becoming vocal about their frustration over longer deployments and a taxing mission that keeps many living in dangerous and uncomfortably austere conditions.
Call at National Guard Conference for US Withdrawal From Iraq Greeted With Standing Ovation.
25.08.07. AP – Truthout.
Active-duty US troops become outspoken critics of Iraq war.
29.08.06. B. Kmickerbocker, CSM. Their public critiques represent a shift in the military's culture.
VIDEOS
Video KILL EVERYBODY : American soldier exposes US policy in Iraq
Video. Who is destroying Iraqi Bridges?
VIDEO U.S Army Destroys a Mosque: 1 Min.
How the U.S. Helps Build A Resistance Movement In Iraq
Video / photos photos capture Iraq dangers Channel 4 news, 12 July 2007.
VideoU.S. Soldier Tell Of Rape and Suicide of 15 Year Old Iraqi Girl. Should only be watched by a mature audience. "Anyone with a rag on his head is fair game."
Video Last Letters Home
Dick Cheney '94: Invading Baghdad Would Create Quagmire
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Other Iraq articles on Index Research:
US Bases in Iraq. Part I: Baghdad
US/UK Bases in Iraq. Part II. The South: Falcon-al-Sarq, Tallil, Shaibah
Iraqs US/UK Permanent Bases: Intentional Obfuscation
Iraq: The Occupation is the Disease
Iraq: Assassination of Academics: The Jalili Report
Prisons and Torture in Iraq
Victims of Violence
Iraq: Security Companies and Training Camps
See also:
Totalitarianism and Obedience
13.02.07. Sarah Meyer, Index Research. Updated.
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Sarah Meyer is a researcher living in the UK
Tags: Index Research, US Troops, trauma, Walter Reed, Congress, Iraq, DU, news and politics,
Labels: Congress, DU, Index Research, Iraq, news and politics, US Troops; trauma, Walter Reed
posted by Sarah Meyer @ 3/12/2007 01:15:00 pm
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