GI SPECIAL 4C25

[Thank to Phil G, who sent this in.]

“Utter Debacle”
“Their Lies Are Coming Home To Roost Now, And It’s Gonna Fall Apart”
Command Sgt. Major (Ret’d) Has Some Words For Bush

[Thanks to Phil G, who sent this in.]

And (I’m saying this as) a man who has been involved in the most pointed of our activities. I know it, and all of my mates know it. You don’t do it. It’s an act of cowardice. I hear apologists for torture say, “Well, they do it to us.” Which is a ludicrous argument. … The Saddam Husseins of the world are not our teachers. Christ almighty, we wrote a Constitution saying what’s legal and what we believed in. Now we’re going to throw it away.

3/26/2006 By David Kronke, TV Critic, Daily News

Eric Haney, a retired command sergeant major of the U.S. Army, was a founding member of Delta Force, the military’s elite covert counter-terrorist unit.

He culled his experiences for “Inside Delta Force” (Delta; $14), a memoir rich with harrowing stories, though in an interview, Haney declines with a shrug to estimate the number of times he was almost killed. (Perhaps the most high-profile incident that almost claimed his life was the 1980 failed rescue of the hostages in Iran.)

Today, he’s doing nothing nearly as dangerous: He serves as an executive producer and technical adviser for “The Unit,” CBS’ new hit drama based on his book, developed by playwright David Mamet. Even up against “American Idol,” “The Unit” shows muscle, drawing 18 million viewers in its first two airings.

Since he has devoted his life to protecting his country in some of the world’s most dangerous hot spots, you might assume Haney is sympathetic to the Bush administration’s current plight in Iraq (the laudatory cover blurb on his book comes from none other than Fox’s News’ Bill O’Reilly).

But he’s also someone with close ties to the Pentagon, so he’s privy to information denied the rest of us.

We recently spoke to Haney, an amiable, soft-spoken Southern gentleman, on the set of “The Unit.”

****************************************************

Q: What’s your assessment of the war in Iraq?

A: Utter debacle.

But it had to be from the very first.

The reasons were wrong. The reasons of this administration for taking this nation to war were not what they stated. (Army Gen.) Tommy Franks was brow-beaten and … pursued warfare that he knew strategically was wrong in the long term.

That’s why he retired immediately afterward.

His own staff could tell him what was going to happen afterward.

We have fomented civil war in Iraq. We have probably fomented internecine war in the Muslim world between the Shias and the Sunnis, and I think Bush may well have started the third world war, all for their own personal policies.

Q: What is the cost to our country?

A: For the first thing, our credibility is utterly zero. So we destroyed whatever credibility we had. … And I say “we,” because the American public went along with this. They voted for a second Bush administration out of fear, so fear is what they’re going to have from now on.

Our military is completely consumed, so were there a real threat – thankfully, there is no real threat to the U.S. in the world, but were there one, we couldn’t confront it.

Right now, that may not be a bad thing, because that keeps Bush from trying something with Iran or with Venezuela.

The harm that has been done is irreparable.

There are more than 2,000 American kids that have been killed.

Tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis have been killed, which no one in the U.S. really cares about those people, do they?

I never hear anybody lament that fact.

It has been a horror, and this administration has worked overtime to divert the American public’s attention from it.

Their lies are coming home to roost now, and it’s gonna fall apart.

But somebody’s gonna have to clear up the aftermath and the harm that it’s done just to what America stands for. It may be two or three generations in repairing.

Q: What do you make of the torture debate? Cheney …

A: (Interrupting) That’s Cheney’s pursuit.

The only reason anyone tortures is because they like to do it. It’s about vengeance, it’s about revenge, or it’s about cover-up. You don’t gain intelligence that way. Everyone in the world knows that. It’s worse than small-minded, and look what it does.

I’ve argued this on Bill O’Reilly and other Fox News shows.

I ask, who would you want to pay to be a torturer? Do you want someone that the American public pays to torture? He’s an employee of yours.

It’s worse than ridiculous. It’s criminal; it’s utterly criminal.

This administration has been masters of diverting attention away from real issues and debating the silly.

Debating what constitutes torture: Mistreatment of helpless people in your power is torture, period.

Q: As someone who repeatedly put your life on the line, did some of the most hair-raising things to protect your country, and to see your country behave this way, that must be …

A: It’s pretty galling.

But ultimately I believe in the good and the decency of the American people, and they’re starting to see what’s happening and the lies that have been told.

We’re seeing this current house of cards start to flutter away.

The American people come around. They always do.

Do you have a friend or relative in the service? Forward this E-MAIL along, or send us the address if you wish and we’ll send it regularly. Whether in Iraq or stuck on a base in the USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut off from access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the war, at home and inside the armed services. Send requests to address up top.

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

Bunkie Soldier Remembered

March 18, 2006 By Jim Leggett, thetowntalk.com

FORT POLK: A Bunkie soldier was remembered Friday as an “outstanding NCO” by two teary-eyed comrades before being sent off with salutes from a chapel full of soldiers.

Staff Sgt. Bryan A. Lewis, 32, who was killed in Iraq on Monday, was remembered in memorial services attended by a standing-room-only crowd in the post’s main chapel. Before each soldier and civilian paraded up to salute a display showing a beret, boots, rifle, helmet, and a Bronze Star and Purple Heart, both awarded posthumously, a rifle salute and taps were rendered.

Before taps was played, a roll call was taken. Some fellow sergeants barked out their presence before Lewis’ name was called. When he didn’t answer after the third call, the bugler began to play.

Lewis’ wife, Fabersha, his parents, Deloris and Donald, and his sisters, Shellie, Shalyn and Shawn, were at the service but said they didn’t want to talk to reporters.

LOCAL SOLDIER IS KILLED

GONZALEZ

March 21, 2006 By CYNTHIA R. FAGEN, New York Post

March 21, 2006: A 22-year-old New Yorker who had phoned his parents from Iraq to tell them he planned to re-enlist was killed five days later in a mortar attack in Tikrit, authorities said.

Word of the death of Army Spc. Carlos Gonzalez of Orange County, came on the third anniversary of the start of the war.

The Middletown native, who was married and the father of a 22-month-old girl, died March 16 when a rocket blew up his bus as it headed back to a base in Tikrit.

“When we spoke to him, he said was going to re-enlist. I think that says a lot when someone was over there,” said his mother, Anna, choking back tears.

“We were very proud that he was re-enlisting,” she said. “I didn’t know that was going to be the last time I spoke to him.

“But he’s home now. We went to Dover airport and brought his body home.”

Gonzalez, a communications specialist, “spent four years in the ROTC when he was in high school,” his mom said. “He wanted to make the Army his career. It was his life.”

AL ANBAR SOLDIER DIES DUE TO CARDIAC ARREST

3.27.06 HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND NEWS
Release Number: 06-03-02C

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq: A Soldier assigned to 2/28 Brigade Combat Team died due to cardiac arrest in Al Anbar Province Saturday.

Iraqi Interior Minister Calls U.S. Military Commanders Liars And Murderers:
Baghdad’s Governor Breaks Relations With Occupation Command Over Mosque Massacre

Men view a blood-stained floor at the Mustafa mosque following a massacre of Iraqis by Occupation troops in Baghdad March 27, 2006. (Ali Jasim/Reuters)

3.27.06 CNN & MARIAM FAM, Associated Press & (Reuters) & Nancy A. Youssef, Knight Ridder & Aljazeera & Le Figaro with AFP

Iraq’s security minister, a Shi’ite political ally of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, accused U.S. and Iraqi troops on Monday of killing 37 unarmed people in an attack on a mosque complex a day earlier.

“At evening prayers, American soldiers accompanied by Iraqi troops raided the Mustafa mosque and killed 37 people,” Abd al-Karim al-Enzi, minister of state for national security, said.

“They were all unarmed. Nobody fired a single shot at them (the troops). They went in, tied up the people and shot them all. They did not leave any wounded behind,” he told Reuters.

Iraqi police and sources in al-Sadr’s office said the U.S. military was battling the militia.

Police said 20 members of the Mehdi Army, the militia of radical Shiite Muslim cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, were killed. Sources from al-Sadr’s Baghdad office — which is inside the mosque — also said militia members died in the raid.

For his part, the Governor of Baghdad announced his intention of suspending all cooperation with American forces until an independent investigation is opened to determine what really happened.

“We have decided today to cease all political and logistical cooperation with American forces,” declared Hussein al Tahan, adding that the United States embassy and the Iraqi Defense Ministry should be associated with the investigation, but not the American military.

Iraqi television showed a room containing bloodied corpses with identification tags that read Dawa Islamic Party, the Shiite party of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari.

Details of a joint U.S.-Iraqi Special Operations attack in northeast Baghdad late Sunday continued to filter out, with Iraqi officials angrily disputing a U.S. account of what happened.

Iraqi Interior Minister Bayan Jabr said the Mustafa mosque was attacked with worshippers killed, while a U.S. statement said the operation focused on “a compound of several buildings and that “no mosques were entered or damaged during this operation.”

Mr. Jabr angrily denounced the operation and rejected the U.S. account.

“Entering the Mustafa Shiite mosque and killing worshippers was unjustified and a horrible violation from my point of view,” Jabr said on the Al-Arabiya TV news network. “Innocent people inside the mosque offering prayer at sunset were killed.”

March 27, 2006: Iraqis call for death to America as they parade the coffins of victims of a US raid on a Mosque in Baghdad. (AP photo/Mohammed Hato).

Qassim Saleh, 36, a merchant, said he was walking in the area when he saw U.S. forces approaching the mosque. He said he heard extensive gunfire, and that U.S. forces were “shooting at the mosque and at anyone on the street.”

Sadrists charged that members of the Iraqi Army accompanied the Americans, but a ministry of defense official denied that.

Iraqi television showed pictures of corpses on Sunday night inside what it called the Mustafa mosque.

Many of the dead were elderly and said to be members of prominent political parties.

One mourner said: “No one is protecting us. If it wasn’t for the al-Mahdi Army, we would be slaughtered in our homes.”

Iraq’s ruling Shi’ite Islamist Alliance bloc demanded on Monday that U.S. forces return control of security to the Iraqi government after what it called “cold-blooded” killings by troops of unarmed people in a mosque.

“The Alliance calls for a rapid restoration of (control of) security matters to the Iraqi government,” Jawad al-Maliki, a senior Alliance spokesman and ally of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, told a news conference.

“American forces and Iraqi Special Forces committed an odious crime when they attacked the Al-Mustapha Mosque in the Ur neighborhood,” the Shiite bloc asserts in a communiquŽ.

“It’s an organized crime with serious political and security implications. It aims to incite a civil war,” the Shiites insist.

“To kill such a great number of the faithful of the family of the Prophet after handcuffing and torturing them is indefensible. It’s an attack on the dignity of Iraqis that strips away any credibility from the slogans of freedom, democracy and pluralism flaunted by the American administration,” the communiquŽ concludes.

TROOP NEWS

Soldiers “Really Part Of The Majority Of Americans Now Very Cynical Toward This War”

Mar 27, 2006 MARGARET WARNER, NewsHour [Excerpts]

MARGARET WARNER: I’d like to ask you all, finally, about how you and many veterans that you all stay in touch with — whether active duty, whether involved against the war, how they feel about the fact that American support, public support for the war is waning?

And I’ll begin with you, Sergeant Dougherty.

KELLY DOUGHERTY: Well, I just got back from a march from Mobile, Alabama, to New Orleans with hurricane survivors and veterans to call attention to the Iraq war and the effects that it’s having on our own communities here in the United States.

And we had a large number of Iraq veterans against the war, plus veterans from other conflicts, the most that we’ve had together in one place.

And I think we’re all hopeful that, because of the turning viewpoints — not only among the American public, but among soldiers in Iraq, 72 percent of which who were polled said that they think there should be a complete withdrawal within the next year — that this will help speed the end of this conflict, because already we have over 2,300 U.S. soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqis who have been killed because of our involvement in Iraq.

So to me, it’s heartening, but polls don’t necessarily turn into tangible conclusions and actions.

[Army Captain Jeremy Broussard served with an artillery unit in Iraq.]

JEREMY BROUSSARD: Historically, support for any conflict is at its highest point the first day of the war. It only goes down, without any deviation. We’re now in our fourth year of the war. And by a majority, there is public opposition to the war, you know, not support.

My concern, in when I talk to people, their concern is that…

MARGARET WARNER: You’re talking about other veterans?

JEREMY BROUSSARD: Other veterans.

They say sort of what I said, is that, you know, we’ve been told one rationale in ‘03. The first people there, the first wave were there for weapons of mass destruction.

People who are now in their second and third, you know, possibly this year in their fourth tour, are being told that they’re there to prevent a civil war and to maintain democracy. So what’s happening is you’re getting people who get very cynical, very jaded.

And I think, as opposed to really being an exception, they’re really part of the majority of Americans who now see as being very cynical toward this war.

Veterans-Survivors March
Mobile To New Orleans:
Beauty Defined In Epic Action:
“The Marchers And Locals Alike Came Together In The Realization That We Must Stand Together Against A Common Enemy, An Enemy Not Of Color, But Of Class”

3-20-2006 by Ward Reilly, Veterans For Peace

Dave Cline of VVAW and VFP called me, and a few others, back in December, and asked what I/we thought about organizing a march along the (Katrina-affected) Gulf Coast, to commemorate the third anniversary of the war in Iraq, in the mold, no pun intended, of the civil rights marches of the 60`s.

We had been tossing around different ideas about what action to take for the third anniversary of the Iraq disaster, ever since we had marched together in Washington back in September of 2005, and it was time to make a decision, so we did.

Iraq Veterans Against The War
Photographed by Shirley H. Young, Veterans For Peace at the wreckage of a miniature golf course in Mississippi, March 16, 2006

The “Veterans-Survivors March…Mobile to New Orleans” was born. We were “Walkin’ To New Orleans!”

Stan Goff took the bull by the horns, and started putting together a team to organize this huge undertaking, and in January we got down to business. Goff, a retired Special Forces Master Sergeant, and member of VVAW, VFP, and MFSO, put together a budget and supply list, and we got to work organizing this incredible adventure.

We set up a website, and started a series of conference calls, formed committees and a task force. The team involved is too large to list, but they know who they are, and what we accomplished together. In the end, EVERY participant was what made it work.

Veterans For Peace of Mobile, Alabama, led by veteran Paul Robinson, put out the “official” call to march, and the work began. We knew that we were already late in organizing an adventure of this scope, but we were determined that it was a great idea, that being to try and tie the war in Iraq, and its staggering cost, to the virtual abandonment of the Gulf Coast and the city of New Orleans.

If the Bush administration had trillions of dollars to destroy and “re-build” Iraq, why wasn’t that same administration doing anything-and-everything possible to help the (destroyed) cities in our own country?

As we had put on the event t-shirts, “Every bomb dropped on Iraq, explodes along the Gulf Coast.” This was a play on Dr. Martin Luther King’s words during the Viet Nam War, when he said that “every bomb dropped on Hanoi, explodes in Harlem”.

We kicked around a few different names for the march, and a few different logos, and in the end, we decided on the “Veterans-Survivors March”, with the theme of “Walkin’ To New Orleans”, a Fats Dominos song of the same title. “Fats” lost everything to Hurricane Katrina, and he lived in the infamous “Lower 9th Ward” of New Orleans.

We decided to start the 130 mile march on Tuesday, March 14th, and to end the march in New Orleans on March 19th, the third anniversary of our nation’s invasion of Iraq, a country that did absolutely NOTHING to the USA. And we marched…and we bussed…and we marched some more.

Our message was simple enough…”Let’s stop the war, and rebuild our own nation, NOW.” We chose for a march logo a picture done by Perry O’Brien of IVAW, that of a combat soldier and a civilian woman, walking side-by-side into the sunset.

We also decided that it was imperative for “Iraq Veterans Against the War” to lead and speak as representatives for this action, and LEAD AND SPEAK they did!

Press coverage locally was outstanding, with front-page photos and articles in EVERY city we marched through, from Mobiles’ “Press Register”, to “The Mississippi Press” and finally in the “Times Picayune” of New Orleans.

We were on local TV, and on many live radio shows around the country, such as in Colorado, where KVNF Public Radio did live broadcasts. If there was one disappointment, it was in our (failed) national press in covering the march, but the good news was that we got killer international press, with “Aljazeera” covering us for the last three days, and BBC, CNN, and a Japanese press agent were with us, also.

In other words, the people of Iraq and the rest of the world got to see U.S. veterans of the Iraq and Afghan Wars, speaking the TRUTH about those wars, a major coupe for us. There were also at least 5 documentary film crews with us.

IVAW took the lead each and every day, proudly carrying theirs, and the marches’, banners.

They led with grace, and they led with the TRUTH.

They also did a fabulous job of sharing their experiences, with their own brand of intense poetry and music. That so many of their members came from around the country is tribute to their commitment, and their beauty on stage, and in being interviewed, was “icing on the cake.” At least 25 IVAW members made the trip.

The Iraq and Afghanistan War veterans did a superb job of speaking, and an even better job of performing. One after another, they went on stage and shined during the “Veterans Art Collective”, which took place on Saturday night, the 18th, at the Viet Namese village in New Orleans East, where we camped the last night. The Art Collective was organized by IVAWs own Michael Cuzzort, a Louisiana native who lives near New Orleans. It would be a disservice to say that any act was better than any other, because they were truly ALL inspired.

It is still hard for me to understand how they can rap out multi-paragraphed lyrics, with deep emotion, without even a lyrics sheet, or how they can articulate so much meaning and their heart-felt words, straight from memory.

Some of the participants in the “Veterans Art Collective” were Josh Dawson, who emceed and performed. Joe Hatcher and Garrett Reppenhagen did several (Iraq War based) poems, Dave Cline jammed with Ward Reilly, Josh Dawson, and Ethan Crowell. Billy Mitchell, a Nam-era vet, and co-founder of “Gold Star Families For Peace”, read a poem about his son, who was KIA the same day as Casey Sheehan, whose mother Cindy also joined us for a portion of the march. Charlie Anderson played a fine song.

Fernando Braga did a poem about Katrina, and Stephen Potts did his (now infamous) speech, comparing holding-farts-in to not speaking out. (How’s that for COMPLETE coverage?)

Dave Cline then took the stage once more for an incredible song about “touching The Wall”…I must add that there were late-night drum sessions that went into the wee hours of the morning, each and every night, and that it was incredibly gratifying to see all those young vets having fun and realizing that there IS some semblance left of the nation they were supposed to be fighting for.

They were “home” for the first time since they went away to impose Bush’s war-crime-policies on the Iraqi and Afghani people.

The other good news about the march is that we made contact, REAL contact, with the black and Viet Namese communities that Bush and Cheney’s “class warfare” have most affected.

Truthfully, the issues down here along the gulf-coast are issues of gentrification and the stealing of the land of the poorest of our citizens, and NEVER BEFORE have so many white Americans gone into the homes and communities of the black citizens in the deep south.

We shared their music, their churches, and their food, as they fed us, laughed with us, cried with us, and loaned us their land to rest our weary heads (and feet).

Day after day we took care of each other and loved one another, and we started something that will spread like wildfire.

The locals had the chance to mingle with people that LOVED and RESPECTED them as true equals, and the marchers and locals alike came together in the realization that we must stand together against a common enemy, an enemy not of color, but of class.

Yes, we did it…and the hardest part of the trip was saying goodbye to all of those that formed this incredible family, our TRIBE of peace-makers, on this fabulous journey, from Mobile to New Orleans.

Until we meet again, March On, and PEACE OUT.

Iraq Veterans Against The War
Photographed by Shirley H. Young, Veterans For Peace at the wreckage of a miniature golf course in Mississippi, March 16, 2006

Military Recruits Are Pulled Largely From The Nation’s Working Class

[Thanks to Phil G, who sent this in.]

03/26/06 CYNTHIA TUCKER, ajc.com [Excerpt]

Military recruits are pulled largely from the nation’s working class – from those whose prospects are less than stellar, from high school graduates who know they have little chance of affording college tuition, from young parents whose civilian jobs don’t come with health insurance.

Enlisted men and women tend to come from households earning between $32,000 and $33,500, according to a 1999 Defense Department study. (The median American income is $43,300.)

YOUR DEAD SON IS AWOL

[Thanks to NB who sent this in. He writes: Please publish this – it shows how the official mind works in my country.]

26 March 2006 By Lesley Roberts, The Sunday Mail (UK)

Greig’s life was shattered as pals died around him in Iraq. Now his parents want to know why the Army has listed him as AWOL months after his death, and why it refuses to give them his medals.

PRIVATE Greig McBride’s name does not appear on the list of fallen Iraqi war heroes.

The Black Watch squaddie is not counted in the running tally of 103 British troops who have lost their lives since the invasion three years ago.

Greig wasn’t shot by a sniper or blown apart by a bomber – but to his heartbroken parents Helen and Diarmuid, he is another victim of the conflict.

Tormented by the death of his best friend in Iraq, the 26-year-old soldier threw himself off the Forth Road Bridge.

Incredibly, the Army have listed him as AWOL because his body has not been found. They refuse to hand over his possessions and medals to his devastated parents – because, officially, Greig is still “missing”. And they will not release his records to shed light on his final days.

Greig served with the Black Watch for seven years. He saw fellow soldiers killed and mutilated during a month-long stint in Iraq’s ‘triangle of death’.

His pal – Private Kevin McHale, 27 – was the first of five Black Watch squaddies to die during that period.

Greig never came to terms with what went on there. Now he’s a forgotten statistic, with no hero’s funeral or regimental plaudits.

“He has been let down by the army,” said Diarmuid, 48, a despatch worker.

“I tried to get him to talk but we never found out what he saw in Iraq. He didn’t sleep and picked fights. He was withdrawn. We could see he was in trouble so why didn’t the Army?”

Greig, from Inverkeithing, Fife, was part of the 850-strong Black Watch deployment to Iraq in June 2004.

It was the regiment’s second tour of duty to the Gulf and included an assignment to Camp Dogwood, the US base near Baghdad, to tackle insurgents in Falluja.

Soldiers came under constant attacks from rockets and suicide bombers.

“We were waiting for news all the time. It was terrible,” said Diarmuid.

Five Black Watch men were killed during the turbulent attachment.

Private Paul Lowe, 19, Sergeant Stuart Gray, 31, and Private Scott McArdle, 22, all from Fife, died when a suicide bomber drove a car at them.

Private Pita Tukutukuwaqa, 27, of Fiji, was killed by a roadside bomb.

But the first to lose his life was Greig’s pal, Private Kevin McHale from Lochgelly, Fife. He was driving across a bridge when it collapsed.

“They met after they joined up,” said Helen, 48, an electronics worker.

“When they were on leave, Kevin drove Greig’s car more than he did. They were great mates. When Greig got leave, he went to see Kevin’s parents.”

Greig told his father about another incident. He was travelling through insurgents’ territory when the Warrior vehicle directly in front was bombed.

His friend from Fife, Private Russell Gibson, 24, suffered terrible injuries, including a broken back and pelvis.

“Greig knew guys in the Warrior were badly injured but they were told not to go out and help,” said Diarmuid.

Greig, who was a talented boxer, had a history of depression. When the Black Watch was deployed to Iraq in 2003, he was unable to go as he was in a military hospital in Germany.

“While he was here on leave, the doctor signed him off duties for three months,” said Helen. “We assume he was being treated for depression when he went to Germany but the Army won’t let us see his records.”

The tour of duty ended in December 2004 and his parents were relieved their son was coming home. But Greig had changed.” He was drinking a lot but things were going through his head,” said Diarmuid.

Greig returned to barracks in Wiltshire but in October 2005, the McBrides had to break devastating news to him – Helen had cancer.

Greig was home on leave when his mum went into hospital. The day after her operation – December 16 – was to be the last anyone saw him.

Without telling anyone, Greig drove to the hospital in the early hours asking to see his mum. He told staff he was being followed by someone with a gun.

His car was later found near the north end of the Forth Road Bridge.

“He phoned at 10.30am to say he was at the hospital,” said Diarmuid.

“At 11.33am, a camera on the bridge filmed him falling into the water. We didn’t find out until 4pm.

“I kept saying, ‘He’s an Army boy, why can’t the Army help us look for him?’ They say it’s a civilian matter because Greig was on leave.”

Greig jumped exactly a year after his return from Iraq. His parents feel he was left to deal with the mental burden that overwhelmed him.

“It might have been easier for us if he had been killed in Iraq,” says Helen. “We would have had his body and could have had a funeral.”

Greig was their youngest son. His older brothers – despatch worker Garry, 29, and roads worker, Scott, 28 – don’t talk about his death.

“He was my bairn,” said Diarmuid. “Every day I drive across that bridge to get to work. I hate it.

“Greig went to Iraq and did his duty. But the Army didn’t do their duty by him and offer him help.”

Government figures reveal 1,333 personnel returned from Iraq with mental health problems.

Charles Plumridge, of the Gulf Veterans and Families Association, said: “Today’s terrorism is putting our young men and women under a different type of psychological pressure.”

The Black Watch said last night Greig had served “with distinction”.

The spokesman added: “Greig’s absence is deeply felt by all his colleagues.” He was unable to say how long it would take to return Greig’s possessions to his family.

Join Dr. Joseph Lowery and Rep. Cynthia McKinney at the

SOUTHERN REGIONAL MARCH
for PEACE IN IRAQ
and JUSTICE AT HOME

SATURDAY, APRIL 1, 2006
a date linking the 3rd anniversary of the war, March 20,
with the 38th anniversary of Dr. King’s death, April 4

ATLANTA, GEORGIA
Gather at the King Center, 450 Auburn Avenue, at noon
March step-off at1 pm; Piedmont Park Rally 2 – 4 pm

BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
A Just Peace in Iraq / Civil and Human Rights for All
People Before Profits
Drummers, Giant Puppets, Dancing Flowers for Peace!

Join thousands coming from across Georgia, from
Birmingham, Huntsville, Nashville, Memphis,
Tallahassee, Orlando, Gainesville,
Fayetteville, and Asheville!
For more information—groups coming from your
area/state, driving directions, etc.
www.georgiapeace.org
404-522-4500 AprilFirstMarch@yahoo.com

Friday, March 31
Join Amy Goodman and Dr. Joseph Lowery
for an Atlanta Tribute Fundraiser for
Damu Smith, founder, Black Voices for Peace
Hillside Chapel & Truth Center, Inc.
2450 Cascade Road, Atlanta GA 30311
6-7:30 pm Sponsor’s Reception & Book Signing
8-10 pm
THE TRIBUTE

Suggested minimum Donation $10 Children Free
When possible, print off and help distribute the two-sided leaflet available at www.georgiapeace.org – good graphics on the front and endorsers, speakers and the March 31 event with Amy Goodman on the back!

THIS IS HOW BUSH BRINGS THE TROOP HOME:
BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW, ALIVE

The casket of Lance Cpl. Evenor C. Herrera during his funeral at Sunset View Cemetery in Eagle, Colo. Aug. 19, 2005. Beneath the flag at center are from left to right, his grandmothers Alma Enamorado, Carmen Herrera, mother Blanca Stibbs and stepfather David Stibbs. Herrera, assigned to the 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, based at Camp Pendleton, Calif., died Aug. 10 from injuries he suffered when a bomb exploded during combat near Ar Ramadi in Iraq. (AP Photo/Peter M. Fredin)

IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP

Assorted Resistance Action

Mar 27, 2006 (Reuters)

On Monday afternoon, a rocket killed seven people and wounded 29 others when it struck a building in southeastern Baghdad, an emergency police official said. The building houses offices for the Dawa and Fadhila Shiite [translation: collaborator] parties, the official said.

Police said they found the body of a man who works as an Iraqi army supplier in the town of Yathrib, near Balad.

BAGHDAD: A policeman and three civilians were wounded when a roadside bomb hit a police patrol in the city’s south.

MOSUL: Five policemen were wounded when insurgents threw a grenade at their patrol in the northern city, police said.

Four people who work in the U.S. military base near Tikrit were wounded when guerrillas attacked them while they were heading to the base.

IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE RESISTANCE
END THE OCCUPATION

Joint U.S.-Iraq Base In Mosul Bombed
Many Casualties

An Iraqi police car is seen burning after it was hit in a roadside bomb in the northern city of Mosul. A bomber killed at least 40 people waiting outside an Iraqi army recruitment center. (AFP/Mujahed Mohammed)

Mar 27, 2006 (Reuters) & CNN

At least 40 people were killed and 30 wounded in a bomb blast inside a joint U.S.-Iraq base in Mosul on Monday, police said.

An Interior Ministry source said the explosion targeted Iraqi army recruits.

The attacker walked up to a line of recruits at Kisik Base between Tal Afar and Mosul, a base employee said.

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

“The Genuine Items Are Seldom Recognized In History”

Photo and caption from the I-R-A-Q (I Remember Another Quagmire) portfolio of Mike Hastie, US Army Medic, Vietnam 1970-71. (For more of his outstanding work, contact at: (hastiemike@earthlink.net) T)

From: Richard Hastie
To: GI Special
Sent: March 26, 2006

Protester being arrested at the White House on September 26, 2005. More than 300 peace activists were arrested for civil disobedience.

If Thomas Jefferson had been there, I’m sure he would also have been handcuffed.

The genuine items are seldom recognized in history

Mike Hastie
Vietnam Veteran

“Still, We Came To Oppose Him”
Reflections On The 3rd Anniversary In North Texas

He replied, “Well I want the TROOPS HOME NOW! My idea of ‘gun control’ is to control the big guns of the military, not the little guns of the citizens!”

From: David Honish, Veterans For Peace
To: GI Special
Sent: March 27, 2006
Subject: Reflections on the 3rd Anniversary in North TX

It was raining as I wrote this on Saturday night of the 18th. Raining hard, with occasional lightning flashes, and thunder rumbling like a distant artillery range.

It rained on and off from Friday thru Monday that weekend. When rain was forecast a week ahead of time, my suggestion that Peace Action Denton plan for a possible alternate rain date was ignored. The event went forward as planned, rain or no rain.

Weather limited turnout to about four dozen or so folks. Four dozen folks that stood in wind, rain, and rapidly dropping temps to hear local activists speak against the invasion of Iraq.

Local politicians were there also, to speak for themselves.

Imagine how determined the opposition to Bush policy across the nation must be when one of the most ultra conservative parts of a red state like Texas has folks willing to stand against Bush policy for two hours in rain and temps in the forties?

A couple of rain canopies were brought for shelter. Only partial shelter from the wind driven rain blowing sideways.

Still, we came to oppose him.

Myself and several others had to hold each of the metal support poles down against the wind to keep the rain canopies from blowing away. I admit to being nervous while holding a wet steel canopy support pole while lightning flashed.

Still, we came to oppose him.

When it was my turn to speak out, I leaned into the microphone, rather than touch it to adjust it. The sound equipment was wet with rain. I noticed when helping to set it up that the power cord had the third prong for the ground wire cut off it too. Fortunately, there were no accidental electrocutions that day.

Still, we came to oppose him.

The speakers were more strident than those last year. It is a reflection of the growing majority opposed to the war in Iraq.

Words like “impeachment” and “war criminal” were a common theme in many of the speeches.

After my speech, a young woman wearing a woodland camo BDU cap and a Code Pink button asked if I planned to speak at the Dallas Peace Center’s third anniversary event the next day?

I declined, and told her I was no fan of the Dallas Peace Center’s agenda that includes ‘gun control.’

I told her the Clinton / Reno Justice Department tried, and failed, to establish the legal precedent stating the Second Amendment meant only the police and military had a right to bear arms.

I asked her to imagine living under the Bush regime if such a precedent had been established?

We’d probably be living behind barbed wire in FEMA camps for dissidents now if it had?

She lamented that it was too bad that such differences could not be resolved.

I told her I would not support any alleged peace group that advocates repeal of any portion of The Bill Of Rights.

Later that night, too late, I thought that I could have given her a copy of my speech and encouraged her to read it in Dallas.

After all, it is about the message, not the messenger.

I met my precinct democratic candidate for county commissioner at the demonstration. I told him I was a Libertarian who regarded democans and republicrats as flip sides of the same coin.

I asked him just how dumb the democans could be to not learn from their mistakes?

I told him that if the democans were dumb enough to nominate yet another east coast lawyer with a gun control agenda, to expect another crushing defeat in the next presidential election.

He replied, “Well I want the TROOPS HOME NOW! My idea of ‘gun control’ is to control the big guns of the military, not the little guns of the citizens!”

ALL RIGHT! My kind of democrat. I know who has my vote for county commissioner.

What do you think? Comments from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Send to thomasfbarton@earthlink.net. Name, I.D., address withheld unless publication requested. Replies confidential.

OCCUPATION REPORT

2003: Sowing The Wind
2006: Reaping The Whirlwind

Former Iraqi Army soldiers shout anti-American slogans during a protest outside of the Republican Palace in Baghdad June 2, 2003.

Hundreds of former Iraqi soldiers protested outside the office compound of Iraq’s U.S. occupiers, demanding pay for all troops dismissed when the American civil administrator abolished the country’s military.

The protest was largely peaceful, though there were a few scuffles between demonstrators and American soldiers guarding the entrance to the compound. (AP Photo/Murad Sezer)

OCCUPATION ISN’T LIBERATION
BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!

Iraqi Army Troops Waited For American Support:
“It’s Too Dangerous For Us To Go In There Alone”

27 March 2006 By Jeffrey Gettleman, The New York Times

The most gruesome report of violence for the day came from officials in Baquba, who said Sunday evening that 30 men had been beheaded and dumped near a highway.

Interior Ministry officials said a driver had discovered the bodies heaped in a pile next to the highway that links Baghdad to Baquba, a volatile city northeast of Baghdad that has been racked by sectarian and insurgent violence.

Iraqi Army troops waited for American support before venturing into the insurgent-controlled area to retrieve them.

“It’s too dangerous for us to go in there alone,” said Tassin Tawfik, an Iraqi Army commander.

NEED SOME TRUTH? CHECK OUT TRAVELING SOLDIER
Telling the truth – about the occupation or the criminals running the government in Washington – is the first reason for Traveling Soldier. But we want to do more than tell the truth; we want to report on the resistance – whether it’s in the streets of Baghdad, New York, or inside the armed forces. Our goal is for Traveling Soldier to become the thread that ties working-class people inside the armed services together. We want this newsletter to be a weapon to help you organize resistance within the armed forces. If you like what you’ve read, we hope that you’ll join with us in building a network of active duty organizers. www.traveling-soldier.org/ And join with Iraq War vets in the call to end the occupation and bring our troops home now! (www.ivaw.net)

OCCUPATION PUERTO RICO

After Murder Of Radical Politician And Attack On Journalists:
“Protests Demanding The FBI’s Ouster Are Growing Not Just In Frequency But Also In Participation”

Mar. 27, 2006 BY FRANCES ROBLES, Miami Herald

SAN JUAN; Students masqueraded as rifle-toting federal agents, while others donned T-shirts with the face of a man they called Puerto Rico’s ``liberator.’’

Near the angry shouts and political placards stood Elma Beatriz Rosado with a calm explanation for it all: “I want the FBI out of Puerto Rico. The time has come for them to leave, now.”

Rosado’s husband — convicted bank robber, fugitive and pro-independence activist Filiberto Ojeda R’os — was killed in an FBI shootout in September.

In the months since, the FBI has catapulted onto the front pages here, accused of deliberately letting the founder of the radical Macheteros group bleed to death as well as stonewalling follow-up investigations.

Last month, federal agents executing search warrants on the homes of independentistas were captured on video pepper-spraying journalists covering the story, with seemingly little or no provocation, further fueling anti-FBI sentiment.

The Puerto Rico Department of Justice sued the FBI last week in federal court, saying the agency is obstructing local law enforcement investigations into the two incidents.

Puerto Rico’s Justice Secretary recently traveled to Washington to lobby Congress to pressure the FBI into releasing information about them.

“People are very offended with what the FBI did,” Puerto Rico Gov. An’bal Acevedo Vil‡ told The Miami Herald. “We have to recognize they have No. 1, made mistakes in those cases, and No. 2, they have not been open and communicative with the people of Puerto Rico to understand what happened” in both incidents.

Now protests demanding the FBI’s ouster are growing not just in frequency but also in participation. Thousands of Puerto Rican students, union activists, environmentalists and other sympathizers of liberal causes are joining the independentistas to rally against the FBI’s presence on the island.

When the international media convened at a San Juan baseball stadium for the World Baseball Classic earlier this month, they encountered demonstrators — some wearing shirts bearing Ojeda R’os’ face — stretched for a half mile across one of San Juan’s biggest avenues.

Some say the percolating distrust of the FBI and small but growing interest in ousting them could be the start of an important movement, like the one that eventually led the U.S. Navy to abandon its bombing range and other facilities on the nearby island of Vieques, east of Puerto Rico.

“I remember in 1979 when there were pickets against the U.S. Navy in Vieques, it was just us, the independentistas with our little picket signs,” said attorney Wilma Rever—n who is representing independence activists under investigation by the FBI. “It took 20 years, but eventually everyone united. The struggle against the FBI will be long-term.”

In one of the island’s most notorious scandals, the FBI was accused of helping cover up the killings of two independence activists shot by Puerto Rican police in 1978. After a Puerto Rican Senate investigation five years later, Justice Department lawyers returned to San Juan and convicted 10 local officers of perjury or obstruction of justice.

During a 2000 House appropriations subcommittee hearing, then FBI Director Louis J. Freeh acknowledged that the FBI for decades kept secret files on dozens of members of the independence party. Freeh called it “egregious illegal action, maybe criminal action, that occurred in the past.”

FBI Director Robert Mueller asked the Justice Department’s Inspector General’s office to investigate the shooting.

“The death penalty is illegal in Puerto Rico,” said HŽctor Pesquera, a doctor who heads the Hostos National Independence Movement. Pesquera, who attended Ojeda R’os’ autopsy, said he bled to death after being shot in the shoulder.

Pesquera and other independence party members believe the FBI has launched a renewed campaign to discredit them at a time Congress is considering two bills that would address the future political status of Puerto Rico.

“This offensive is trying to criminalize the independence movement and to scare the United States and Congress of the possibility of becoming a state,” he said. “They want to portray Puerto Rico as a place full of terrorists.”

On Feb. 10, the FBI executed six search warrants on independence movement leaders to prevent “a potential domestic terrorist attack” against “privately owned interests in Puerto Rico,” according to an FBI statement.

Activists and politicians scoffed at the statement, because the governor and law enforcement authorities have said they were unaware of any such threats.

Puerto Rican politicians were infuriated when FBI agents were captured that day on video, showering reporters and photographers with pepper spray as the agents executed search warrants on activists’ homes.

Puerto Rico’s justice secretary has said the FBI turned over weapons used on the Ojeda R’os raid, but has not made agents available for interviews. In the pepper spray incident, the FBI has refused to identify the agent in the video, he said.

OCCUPATION ISN’T LIBERATION
BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!

NEED SOME TRUTH? CHECK OUT TRAVELING SOLDIER

Telling the truth – about the occupation or the criminals running the government in Washington – is the first reason for Traveling Soldier. But we want to do more than tell the truth; we want to report on the resistance – whether it’s in the streets of Baghdad, New York, or inside the armed forces. Our goal is for Traveling Soldier to become the thread that ties working-class people inside the armed services together. We want this newsletter to be a weapon to help you organize resistance within the armed forces. If you like what you’ve read, we hope that you’ll join with us in building a network of active duty organizers. www.traveling-soldier.org/ And join with Iraq War vets in the call to end the occupation and bring our troops home now! www.ivaw.net

All GI Special issues achieved at website
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gi-special.iraq-news.de
www.notinourname.net/gi-special/
www.williambowles.info/gispecial
www.traprockpeace.org/gi_special/
www.albasrah.net/maqalat/english/gi-special.htm
www.uruknet.info/

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