March 12, 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
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 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.’
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
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.
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
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)
 Photo Eric Gray
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).
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?)
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
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.
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.
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
|
