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

April 28, 2005 National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 152

The Bush Regime Soldier-Killers Busily At Work Again:
Refuse To Supply Lifesaving Bandages

Kenney, whose Jacob’s Light Foundation has been mailing care packages to soldiers since the 2003 death of her son, Spc. Jacob Fletcher, said she has collected about $5,000 in donations to purchase the clotting pads.

“I sit up wondering if they had the coagulants, would they have been able to save him?” she said.

“They told me they did all they could. And now I don’t believe them.”

June 8, 2006 BY MARTIN C. EVANS, Newsday Staff Writer [Excerpts]

Nine months after an Army order that all combat soldiers would get lifesaving clotting bandages to curb bleeding deaths, some troops in Iraq are still calling home, asking friends and family to supply them.

Despite Army assurances that there are plenty of the bandages to go around, soldiers have written to say they haven’t found their way to all of those on the front lines.

One platoon leader stationed in the Sunni Triangle west of Baghdad asked his college alumni association to send the bandages, saying his unit has never had access to them during his two tours there.

“We have no supplies of coagulating bandages and agents to stop arterial bleeding,” the soldier wrote in an e-mail about a week ago.

“My unit does not have the budget to procure such supplies for our front-line soldiers,” wrote the soldier, a second lieutenant who asked not to be identified for fear of retaliation. “Bleeding out is the leading cause of death for our soldiers.”

Another soldier, Spc. Maghen Philbrook of Northport, Maine, said Wednesday, “I didn’t have one in September and I didn’t have one six weeks ago.”

“I never saw them over there,” said Philbrook, who returned home in April after serving 15 months in Iraq with the Maine Army National Guard’s 152nd Maintenance Co.

A Bay Shore woman whose soldier son bled to death in Iraq three years ago has taken up the cause, sending 410 clot-promoting bandage kits to the second lieutenant after hearing of his need for supplies.

“If I can prevent one … knock at the door of a military family, I will do all I can to prevent them from living though the heartbreak I have had to live through,” Dorine Kenney said.

About half of those who die on the battlefield bleed to death within minutes, before they can be transported to a medical facility, Army Surgeon General Kevin Kiley said last September in ordering that the bandages be supplied to all Army combat troops.

He also specified that combat medics should carry five of the bandages and that “combat lifesavers” — soldiers who receive more extensive first aid training — should carry three.

At the time, his staff estimated that less than 10 percent of Army personnel had the bandages, according to Army Medical Command spokesman Jaime Cavazos.

U.S. Marines, on the other hand, made a similar, less expensive clotting product, the QuikClot ACS, standard issue more than a year earlier, in June 2004.

An Army spokeswoman, Betsy Weiner, Wednesday said the service has adequate supplies of the coagulant bandage, which were ordered in large supply after Kiley’s mandate.

“I cannot tell you that every soldier over there has one, but they are available to every soldier through the medical supply chain,” Weiner said. “It is not a question of finances. We have more than enough.”

But Army National Guard medic Sgt. Gregory Papadatos, of the Army National Guard’s 69th Infantry, said a soldier contacted him from Iraq six weeks ago to ask for coagulant.

Papadatos, of Astoria, who served in Iraq with the 69th until September, said he planned to send some of the coagulant he brought home with him.

New stuff doesn’t go to the line medics first,” Papadatos said. “It tends to stay at the medical clinics or aid stations and get hoarded. It’s going to be quicker for him to get it from me than from his own supply chain.”

A spokesman for Portland, Ore.-based HemCon, which supplies the bandages under Kiley’s order, acknowledged that his company’s early struggles to boost production may have contributed to shortages.

[S]ome Army units on their own have acquired another type of coagulant made by a rival company.

Kenney, whose Jacob’s Light Foundation has been mailing care packages to soldiers since the 2003 death of her son, Spc. Jacob Fletcher, said she has collected about $5,000 in donations to purchase the clotting pads.

“I sit up wondering if they had the coagulants, would they have been able to save him?” she said.

“They told me they did all they could. And now I don’t believe them.”

COMMENT: T

The company that got the contract admits production problems. But there was another company that made the same kind of bandage. Did they get any orders from the Bush regime? Of course not. Desperate troops tried to use their own money to buy from that company, which had plenty of bandages in stock.

Rumsfeld and the rest of his Pentagon scum killed the troops who bled to death for lack of these bandages are surely as if they personally put a weapon to their heads and blew their brains out on the floor. They are traitors, guilty of the premeditated murder.

There is no enemy in Iraq. There never was any enemy in Iraq. The common enemy of Iraqis and U.S. troops, killing them both, is the collection of rats running the government in Washington DC for their own private profit, and that of their corrupt greedy Empire loving campaign contributors.

Payback is overdue, and payback will come. The DC predators have no clue that the fuse has already been lit. The troops will have their say, and when that day of cleansing comes, they will be loyal to their oath to defend the liberties of Americans, and bring down the enemies domestic who betray us all. T

What do you think? Comments from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Send to contact@militaryproject.org. Name, I.D., withheld on request. Replies confidential.

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

Beatrice Soldier Dies In Iraq

6.12.06 KOTA

BEATRICE, Neb. A Beatrice soldier has died in Iraq. That word this morning from the father of Private First Class Ben Slaven.

Bruce Slaven said his 22-year-old son was killed when the Humvee he was riding in struck an improvised explosive device in the city of Kirkuk. Ben’s mother is Judy Huenink.

Bruce Slaven said he didn’t know when his son was killed. He said the family was notified Friday.

Ben Slaven was a member of the National Guard for a year and five months. He was deployed in the middle of March.

He is the fourth Nebraska soldier to die in the last week. Three died in Iraq and another in training in Colorado.

Clarks Marine Killed In Iraq

June 12, 2006 By ABIGAIL ROSE ANSON, Telegram Correspondent, Columbus Telegram

CLARKS: From a local hero on the basketball court to a national hero in the U.S. Marines, Brent Zoucha will be remembered with pride by everyone whose lives he touched.

The 19-year-old soldier from Clarks was killed last week in Iraq when the Humvee he was riding in exploded after hitting a land mine. His mother, Rita Zoucha, learned of her son’s death on Friday.

Brent’s brother, Dyrek, who was serving in the same unit in Iraq, was not hurt in the explosion. Dyrek is on his way back to Clarks, as is Brent’s body, which is being flown here from Iraq, via Dover, Del. Funeral and memorial services are pending.

After graduating from High Plains Community High School in 2005, Brent left Clarks one year ago today to follow in his brother’s footsteps in the Marines. He left for Iraq in February and was recently promoted to lance corporal.

Throughout high school Brent was a local hero because of his success as an athlete, excelling in basketball and track. At 6 feet 4 inches tall, Brent led the High Plains basketball team to a 17-5 record his senior year when he averaged 13.6 points per game and 10.7 rebounds. He was selected to play in the Columbus Telegram/Central Community College All-Star basketball game in 2005.

He was also an accomplished track and field star. He helped High Plains to a third place showing in Class D in 2005 by taking second in both the high jump and the 400 meter relay. In 2004, he tied for third in the high jump and was second in the 400 meter relay.

In addition to his love for basketball and track, he also enjoyed fishing and hunting.

“Brent was my best friend, and this hurts more than anyone could imagine,” said Levi Lindburg, from Polk. “I try to remember the good times. He loved joking around and having a good time.”

Brent’s oldest brother, Dominic, also wanted to enlist in the Marines but couldn’t because of a shoulder injury he received in high school football. He also had a sister, Sherri, a brother-in-law, Jerod, and a nephew, Beau.

“He Noticed Attackers Becoming More And More Strategic”
“They Adapted To Us And Then We Had To Adapt To Them,” Said Joshua

6/12/06 KLTV

An insurgent attack in Iraq nearly claimed the life of an East Texas soldier. U.S. Army Specialist Joshua Cason suffered second and third degree burns to a fourth of his body after insurgents bombed the armored vehicle he was in. After spending several weeks in the hospital, Joshua is back home in Edom on a 30-day leave.

“We were hit by an improvised explosive device. It was an IFP, one of the newest things they were using,” he said.

Joshua’s unit come under attack on April 20th. “I was burned 27 percent of my body, both arms, my stomach, both sides and my right knee and my back. I didn’t want to die there, so I tried to calm myself down and get out as quick as I could.”

Four of Cason’s comrades were also injured. One of them later died. Josh’s family says seeing his condition was the hardest experience they’ve gone through. “When we went in to see him, we’d have to have gloves on. We’ve have to have aprons on. It would literally be 110 degrees in there and he’d been nearly freezing. They had heat lamps on him,” said Joshua’s father, Mark Cason.

“It’s been one of the most difficult things that I’ve ever had to go through in my life and even being a nurse it was really, really difficult that you love, that you’re taking care of,” said Joshua’s stepmother, Audrey Cason.

Cason had been serving in Iraq since December. He says during his time there, he noticed attackers becoming more and more strategic. “They adapted to us and then we had to adapt to them,” said Joshua.

Cason says the death of terrorist leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi by a U.S. airstrike, will not weaken the insurgency. “There’s always going to be the next guy to take his place,” said Joshua. But, he says, there will also be soldiers willing to stand up and fight.

Joshua is going to need physical therapy for a year. He’ll serve the remainder of his army contract in San Antonio. After that, Joshua plans to go to school.

R.I. Grad Injured In Iraq Explosion

June 12, 2006 By John Marx, Moline Dispatch

Army Lt. Andrew Rockwell, a 2000 graduate of Rock Island High School wounded by an explosion in Iraq, was listed Monday in stable condition in Germany awaiting transfer today back to the states for additional medical treatment.

Lt. Rockwell, a West Point graduate and member of the 4th Infantry out of Fort Carson, Colo., suffered multiple injuries Friday when a roadside improvised explosive device (IED) detonated, damaging the 15-foot long military Humvee in which he was riding.

The blast occurred near Bakuba, about 37 miles northeast of Baghdad.

The lieutenant’s father, David Rockwell of Rock Island, said his son suffered burns on his face and hands, a broken nose, and lacerations about his body. Shrapnel struck both of his son’s legs, Mr. Rockwell said, and he has no feeling in the lower portion of his left leg.

Mr. Rockwell said his son was airlifted to a military hospital in Germany and was scheduled to transfer today to the Fort Sam Houston military medical facility in San Antonio, Texas. The largest health-care training center in the world, “Fort Sam” trains Army medical department officers and enlisted personnel.

“The concern right now is the left leg where nerves were cut, resulting in no feeling or movement in the leg below the knee,” Mr. Rockwell said of his son, a 2004 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in New York.

“But Andrew wants everyone not to worry about him, because he’ll get through it. He wants everyone to remain upbeat,” he said.

Mr. Rockwell said he and his wife, Teresa, will fly to San Antonio to see their son. “All we want is to get to him,” Mr. Rockwell said. “Seeing Andrew is all that matters.”

Mr. Rockwell said his son, who has been deployed in Iraq for six months, was scheduled to come home in two weeks for a 30-day furlough.

“That makes it harder,” Mr. Rockwell said. “But Andrew’s attitude helps.”

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

British Soldier Killed;
Two Seriously Wounded

Jun 12 2006 ITC

A British soldier has been killed and two others seriously injured during a fight with suspected Taleban forces in Afghanistan.

The injured soldiers were taken to a military medical site for treatment at Camp Bastion in the province of Helmand. More than 3,300 British soldiers are serving in the country.

A Ministry of Defence spokeswoman said: “A mobile patrol was engaged in a fire-fight against suspected Taleban forces. Sadly, as a result of this engagement one UK soldier was killed and two others were seriously injured.”

Two Canadian Soldiers Wounded

June 12, 2006 Matthew Fisher, CanWest News Service

PANJWAYEE, Afghanistan

Two Canadian soldiers suffered non-life threatening wounds Monday in an offensive against Taliban fighters.

The battle involved a firefight of several hours and some smaller exchanges of fire as two companies of Canadian infantry conducted a sweep through villages where the Taliban have been massing.

“It’s been a good day. We didn’t lose anybody,” Lieut.-Col. Ian Hope said. [Next time, let him be one of the wounded and see if he thinks it’s a “good day” then.]

The Canadians took fire from a group of Taliban sheltering behind metre-thick walls in a bunker.

TROOP NEWS

“Clarence Needs This Therapy Because Of What Happened One Fall Day Southwest Of Baghdad”

May 24, 2006 Ben Roberts, WALB

Albany: South Georgia was awash with yellow ribbons and red, white, and blue flags as hundreds of National Guard troops convoyed home after a year in Iraq and thousands of cheering friends and relatives and total strangers welcomed those heroes home.

A week after those emotional homecomings, a lone soldier gingerly got off a plane, returning to Albany for the first time in a year. Staff Sgt. Clarence Eady’s homecoming was met with much less fanfare but no less love.

Clarence can’t do anything quickly anymore. Everything is a chore. Something as simple as getting out of a car and taking a few steps takes patience and care. “Just getting around from place to place is the hardest part,” he said.

Three days a week now this soldier shuffles past the entrance to Albany’s Army recruiting office, gets in his chair, and wheels next door for physical therapy. “It’s coming along good. I feel good about it,” Clarence said optimistically.

He’s home for only 30-days, on leave from Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington where he has undergone intensive physical therapy for more than eight months. As he strained to lift his right leg strapped with weights, Clarence said “seem like every time I get used to a certain weight, they go up.”

Clarence needs this therapy because of what happened one fall day southwest of Baghdad.

“When I was in Iraq, I was a team leader for a recovery team,” he said. He recovered broken down or blown up heavy equipment. Normally, his team would just tow a disabled vehicle back to camp, but last September 17th, that wouldn’t work. “All the tires and stuff was blown out, so we couldn’t just hook it up and drag it back. We had to load it up on a low boy.”

That took a while, and it gave insurgents enough time to set up a roadside bomb on the only road out of the village, a bomb that exploded right next to the armored personnel carrier Clarence was driving. “I said to myself I’ve got to get out this vehicle,” he recalled. “So somehow or another I was able to hoist myself out of that vehicle. I remember the guys dragging me back behind that vehicle, and from that point I don’t remember much more.”

Back home in Albany that night, Kay, Clarence’s wife of 20-years, got a call from the Army that every military family dreads. “I was really just in shock. I was scared. Actually, I was thankful when I found out he was alive,” she said.

Doctors amputated Clarence’s left leg below the knee, and yet he says “I call this my good leg.” That’s because the explosion burned and mangled his right leg. He’s had more surgeries than he can remember. “I can’t count them all. At least a half a dozen or more.” And he must wear a cylindrical metal contraption called a fixator around his leg for nine months. “It’s to hold the bones in place because there was multiple fractures in the bones,” Clarence explained.

Despite all that . . . the life-changing injury, the surgeries, and the seemingly endless rehab . . . you won’t hear Clarence complain. “If that’s what it takes to save my leg then that’s what I got to do,” he said cheerfully.

He’s had that positive attitude since the first time he called home right after he was wounded. “He says honey I’m doing fine don’t worry about me I’m doing eat, so his spirits were always good from the very beginning,” Kay recalled. And his family has been there every painful step of the way, making multiple trips to Washington. “I love him so much that I’m always there for him no matter what. He knows that, and he’s there for me no matter what,” Kay said.

Now that her Dad is home, 18-year old Amber is glad to have more of a chance to help him recover. “Whatever I can do to help, I’m happy to do,” Amber said. A milestone for Amber and her twin brother Ashley is what brought their father home. “I had promised to them that if at all possible I would work towards getting here for their graduation,” Clarence said. And despite obstacles most of us can’t imagine, Staff Sgt. Clarence Eady completed that mission and kept that promise.

“Is that her right there?” has asked sitting in his wheelchair inside the Albany Civic Center last Saturday as Amber and her Westover High School classmates marched in to the strains of “Pomp and Circumstance.” He couldn’t stand with the rest of the parents, but his heart was filled with just as much pride and maybe more thankfulness that he was here to see this. “That’s one moment I don’t want to miss,” he said.

This husband and father who came so close to death on a battlefield so far away will be around for many more priceless moments. “My wife and my kids they keep me going. They’re very supportive, and I don’t know what I’d do without them. They’ve really been there for me, and I thank them and love them for it.”

And they’ll continue to face every challenge together. Kay said, “whatever comes, we just take it. One step, one step at a time.” One determined step at a time from a soldier, home from war, and still fighting.

U.S. Soldiers Say Bush Is A Coward And Domestic Enemy

3.25.06 Socialist Worker (Canada)

Vancouver

In Vancouver, some 5,000 people joined the march and rally against the war.

The crowds braved winds and cold to listen to Kyle Snyder, a US war resister who explained his reasons for refusing to return to Iraq.

His speech centered on the question of cowardice, and he asked who are the real cowards, the many soldiers who refuse to terrorize Iraqi families, or the president, generals and recruiting officers who send them there?

[In Toronto] US war resister Patrick Hart said, “I signed up to get money for college. Some say that people desert because they have no courage. I tell you that it takes a lot more courage to walk away from a war than to participate in a war.

“The people of Iraq were a civilized people long before the creation of the United States of America. What the people of Iraq want is to see the USA go away.

“My enemy is not foreign. My enemy is domestic. His name is George W Bush.”

TRAITOR
SOLDIER-KILLER
DOMESTIC ENEMY
UNFIT FOR COMMAND

REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

“It Was A War Within A War”
“Men Refused To Fight, They Went AWOL, They Went To Prison, They Assassinated Their Leaders”

May 12, 2006 by Robert Roten, Film Critic, Laramie Movie Scope index

“Sir! No Sir!” is a remarkable documentary which argues the war in Vietnam ground to a halt because many U.S. soldiers simply stopped fighting.

Like Winter Soldier, this film puts a spotlight on the vast difference in the way the war was viewed by those for and against it. These two viewpoints played out famously during the 2004 presidential campaign when a group called the Swift Boat Veterans of Vietnam, a very pro-war group, attacked the service record of Democratic candidate John Kerry, who famously opposed the war after serving in Vietnam. Pro-war veterans believe that the anti-war movement, of which Kerry was a member, sabotaged the war effort and led to the loss of the war. This made the deaths of American veterans a sacrifice in vain.

Anti-war veterans believe the rationale for going to war was wrong and that the American deaths were in vain regardless of the war’s outcome. By ending the war early, anti-war activists believe, they saved lives.

It is apparent from the viciousness of the debate in 2004 that the two sides of this debate will never agree.

History has made its judgement on the wisdom of the Vietnam War. History has yet to decide on the wisdom of the Iraq war, but already it is obvious it has a lot of similarities to Vietnam. This film jumps right into this debate, fully on the side of the anti-war movement.

While other documentaries have explored various aspects of the anti-war movement, this is the first one that concentrates mainly on the anti-war movement within the military itself.

The film makes the argument that a significant portion of both ground troops and servicemen in the U.S. Navy opposed the war to such an extent that they brought the war effort to a standstill.

The anti-warriors even affected the gathering of military intelligence, according to the film. Men refused to fight, they went AWOL, they went to prison, they assassinated their leaders. It was a war within a war.

Attacks upon officers, known as “fragging” were well known by the public, but the film indicates these types of incidents were far more widespread than was acknowledged by the military at the time.

The movie also details an extensive anti-war underground press within the military. Although such publications were outlawed by the military, they thrived anyway. Certain establishments near military bases where soldiers and anti-war activists mingled are also detailed in the movie. Despite the fact that the establishments were made off-limits to soldiers, they were said to be popular nonetheless.

One of the more controversial figures of the war, Jane Fonda, is interviewed at some length in the film. Fonda, an anti-war activist and movie star, is a person whose image has been defined almost entirely by the pro-Vietnam War faction. Called “Hanoi Jane” and branded a traitor by pro-war veterans, the image of Fonda in this film is quite different.

Period footage shows Fonda putting on USO-type stage shows for U.S. troops. She was not allowed to perform on military bases, of course, because of her anti-war skits, but she did perform for large numbers of U.S. troops away from military bases. She performed in these shows all over the world. This was a side of Fonda’s anti-war activities I had not heard of before. These shows were similar in style to the kinds of shows that the non-controversial Bob Hope did during the war.

In addition to attacking the myth of Hanoi Jane, the movie also attacks another myth, that of the anti-war protester spitting on a Vietnam veteran returning home from the war.

According to this film, the whole story was an urban myth. It never happened.

Just how widespread was the anti-war movement within the military during Vietnam? How decisive was it in ending the war? We may never know the answers to these questions, but this movie sheds new light on this unusual phenomenon.

It is sure to reheat the 40-year-old controversy between the two intractable sides of the Vietnam War. This film rates a B.

Sir! No Sir!:
At A Theatre Near You!
To find it: www.sirnosir.com/

REALLY BAD IDEA:
NO MISSION;
HOPELESS WAR:
BRING HIM HOME NOW

5.31.06 A US soldier secures the site where a car bomb exploded in the northern city of Mosul. (AFP/Mujahed Mohammed)

“No More. It Has To Stop,” She Said

June 12, 2006 TheBostonChannel.com [Excerpt]

The soldiers’ families gathered at Framingham Town Hall to say goodbye Monday.

Jeremy and Christopher Fontaine are shipping out together. Their mother, Debbie Beyron, said it’s hard to say goodbye.

“I think President (George W.) Bush needs to do something. That’s what he needs to do and save these young Americans. And their families; what about their families?

“Their young wives, their children and us?

“No more. It has to stop,” she said.

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.

Pentagon Assholes Fuck Over Troops On Payday And Then Blame The Troops For It!

Incredibly, military officials blame troops who “might not have been aware of the benefit,” or “may not have filed the required eligibility form.” To suggest that service members are to blame in any way for this situation is simply ludicrous.

June 05, 2006 Editorial, Army Times

In an era of online banking, electronic bill-paying, ATMs and debit cards, it seems utterly inconceivable that the military can’t pay its troops on time.

Yet that continues to happen, according to a new Government Accountability Office report.

One particular problem is family separation allowance, the monthly $250 payment for troops deployed away from their families for more than 30 days. The stipend is supposed to cover extra expenses, such as child care costs, that result when one parent is absent.

In January 2005, for example, the GAO found that almost 6,000 of 71,000 eligible service members did not begin receiving their family separation allowance in a timely manner after deploying. That’s 8.5 percent.

Although this report did not specify the average length of the delays, previous studies on pay problems for deployed troops highlighted payment delays of six months or more.

Incredibly, military officials blame troops who “might not have been aware of the benefit,” or “may not have filed the required eligibility form.”

To suggest that service members are to blame in any way for this situation is simply ludicrous. The fact is, military personnel and finance offices are botching the paperwork and failing to get it into the pay system quickly enough.

When a unit is tapped for deployment, it’s no secret which service members are going. Figuring out and lining up the pay matters for every deploying member before they depart should be part of the pre-deployment preparations every unit goes through.

Extra family-related expenses do not wait six months to begin after a member deploys. They start right away.

The family separation allowance should, too.

“We Clean Our Weapons For Two Hours A Day And Then We’re Asked If We Want Any Psychological Help”

[Thanks to D, who sent this in.]

June 12th, 2006 AMY GOODMAN, Democracy Now [Excerpt]

AMY GOODMAN: I just bumped into a soldier who just returned from Kabul, from Afghanistan, and they go to decompress at Fort Polk.

And I asked, “how do they decompress?”

And he said, twitching very nervously as he spoke, “we clean our weapons for two hours a day and then we’re brought into a room and asked if we want any psychological help.”

“Is it in a room in front of everyone else?”

And he said, “yeah, you can raise your hand.”

I said “How many people raised their hand?”

He said “two people raised their hand.”

Urgent Call To Action On New York Depleted Uranium Bills

12 Jun 2006 UFPJ NY Alerts

Legislation requiring the state to monitor the health of National Guard service members who have been exposed to depleted uranium(DU) has been reported out of committee in both houses of the state legislature.

Now the Assembly bill must be released by the Ways & Means Committee, and the Senate and Assembly leadership must let the bills come up for a vote before the legislature recesses on or about June 23rd.

If passed, these bills would provide vital support for veterans who are suffering the harmful effects of DU. As part of Peace Zone, NYC, we are committed to real support for veterans who are more commonly forgotten once they return home.

Your help is urgently needed to pass these bills.

CONTACT Assemblyman Herman “Denny” Farrell, Chairman, Ways & Means Committee, to urge him to make sure that A-9116B is not overlooked among the thousands of bills waiting to go to the Assembly floor before the legislature adjourns in two weeks. 518-455-5491 or farrelh@assembly.state.ny.us

CONTACT Speaker Sheldon Silver’s office to say that you support the swift passage of A-9116B, the Assembly version of the bill. 518-455-3791 or speaker@assembly.state.ny.us

CONTACT Senator Joseph Bruno to express your support for S-6964, the Senate version of the bill: 518- 455-3191 or bruno@senate.state.ny.us

You can also contact your own legislators and urge them to support the bills. assembly.state.ny.us/mem/, www.senate.state.ny.us/sdlookup.nsf/Public_search?OpenForm

The bills have been endorsed by the American Legion, and the New York State AFL-CIO, as well as Veterans For Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Vietnam Veterans Against the War, and Military Families Speak Out.

For more information contact Veterans For Peace at 212-726-0557.

Excellent background information can be found in Elaine Klein’s Letter in the May 22 Legislative Gazette www.legislativegazette.com/back_issues/May2206.pdf

IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP

Iraqis March To Honor Their Fallen:
[Those Who Fought The U.S. Occupation]

Iraqis carry mock coffins with pictures of members of the Mehdi Army fighters who died fighting the U.S. forces in 2004, during the remembrance ceremony in Baghdad’s Sadr City, June 12, 2006. REUTERS/Kareem Raheem (IRAQ)

“Al-Sadr Has Repeatedly Demanded An End To The Occupation”
“He Led Two Uprisings Against The U.S. In 2004"

“We are indebted to the people who have raised their voices against the occupation of our country, whether they are British, Americans, Russians or from anywhere across the globe,”

2.25.06 Socialist Worker (Canada)

The people of Basra and Baghdad will be joining next month’s global protest against the US and British occupation of Iraq.

From British occupied Basra, Faraj Rabat Mizbhan of the independent Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions is urging trade unionists, peace activists and opponents of the occupation to demonstrate in their tens of thousands across the world on 18 March.

“We are indebted to the people who have raised their voices against the occupation of our country, whether they are British, Americans, Russians or from anywhere across the globe,” he told Socialist Worker (UK) from Basra.

“By opposing this war, and opposing this occupation you are standing by the Iraqis who have to endure the terror of occupation. “You are standing up for our right to independence, our freedom from the thieves who have descended on our country.

“People in Britain will have seen the film of British soldiers savagely beating the four lads in Ammara. “This is the reality of the occupation. Carry this image in your minds when you demonstrate. This is what we are struggling against.”

The Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions represents thousands of oil workers across the country. The Union has campaigned against the privatization of Iraqi industry.

Demonstrations called in Baghdad and Basra on Friday March 17 are backed by the Al-Sadr Movement, the Iraqi Federation of Oil Unions and the Iraqi National Foundation Conference.

Muqtada al-Sadr has repeatedly demanded an end to the occupation.

He led two uprisings against the US in 2004.

His party has the largest number of MPs in the Iraqi parliament.

MORE:

“Do Not Get Tired Of Demonstrating And Protesting”
“We Have To Continue Fighting”
Foreign Affairs Spokesperson For Al-Sadr Sends Condolences To Military Families

3.25.06 Socialist Worker (Canada)

One highlight of the rally [against the war in London] was the appearance of Sheik Zagani, foreign affairs spokesperson for Moqtada al Sadr, the radical Iraqi political leader and Shia cleric.

He spoke of his happiness to see so many British people demonstrating against the occupation of Iraq.

And he made a special point of acknowledging the presence of Military Families Against the War on the platform.

“I send condolences in the name of most Iraqi people to the families of soldiers who have lost their lives in this unjust war,” he said.

“Iraqi people have no hatred against British people. This war is harming both people.

“Do not get tired of demonstrating and protesting. We are the voice of humanity and we have to continue fighting.”

“The Resistance Remains As Resilient As Ever”

10 June 2006 Issue By A.K. Gupta, The Indypendent [Excerpt]

The fact that in just weeks ago the Pentagon announced that it was sending more troops to Iraq (to the resistance hotbed of Ramadi) indicates that the war is long since lost.

If the U.S. is increasing its presence after three years of increasingly destructive warfare, more than $10 billion spent on barely operational Iraqi security forces, perhaps 200,000 Iraq civilian deaths and 2,700 foreign troops, then why would one man’s death change anything?

Even though the mainstream media has lost interest in reporting it, U.S. deaths are averaging close to 60 a month this year, essentially the same rate as the last two years.

In other words, despite the fact that the Pentagon has used almost every weapon and tactic in its arsenal, the resistance remains as resilient as ever.

IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE RESISTANCE
END THE OCCUPATION

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

We Ignore Ishikawa And Kuroshima And We Get Viet Nam;
We Ignore Viet Nam And We Get Iraq

From: J
To: GI Special
Sent: June 12, 2006
Subject: Re: GI Special 4F9 Haditha & My Lai

The reprint from Vietnam GI ‘My Lai, “C” Company the Goat?’ really connected the present sorry situation in Iraq with the same sorry situation in Viet Nam thirty-six years ago.

All of a sudden the stuff you’ve been running on ‘Sir, No Sir!’ and the narratives of Ishikawa and Kuroshima snapped together to tell the same sorry story.

And you are 100% correct to tie in the US/Israeli occupation of Palestine as well.

We ignore Ishikawa and Kuroshima and we get Viet Nam.

We ignore Viet Nam and we get Iraq.

And if we don’t put an end to the channel of funds from the US Treasury to the far-right wing in Israel which enables them to continue to prosecute their policy of expropriation and expulsion in Palestine at absolutely no cost to themselves… we’ll set the whole world on fire this time.

“That’s A Shit Deal”

From: the timekeeper
To: GI Special
Sent: June 12, 2006
Subject: Tattoos Issue

Regarding the question you have asked people to mail in and comment upon, “Should Soldiers be Allowed to Have Tattoos?” I say this as a human non-military sort:

I’ve thought it over, and I’m pretty sure that most civilians don’t give a hoot what soldiers (OR mayors, construction workers, mine-workers, CIA, or oil-well drillers) have on their skin, under it, or over it.

We really don’t think much about those things.

So go for it! Get all crazy inked up. Enjoy it while you’re alive, I say.

However, Citizens (and I speak for every single one in the Nation) do think it’s lame that the govt sends y’all to war and doesn’t care about your armor or benefits.

That’s a shit deal.

TK
East Coast

OCCUPATION REPORT

Why Iraqis Kill Occupation Troops

A man holds up the body of a small child killed by a U.S. raid near Baqouba, Iraq, June 12, 2006. (AP Photo)

June 9, 2006 Karen Button, Uruknet.info [Excerpt]

Aishya was staying in Haditha with the Al-Hadithi family at the end of May. In the morning 41-year old Hanan woke her, looking very sad. When Aishya asked what was wrong, Hanan told her she was extremely worried about her 18-month old boy, Hakam. He’d been having severe diarrhea and stomach pains.

Looking at the little boy, Aishya became worried too. Having seen many similar cases, she was concerned for the boy’s life. “There is no doctor in Haditha who can treat cases like this and I told Hanan and her husband they should bring the little boy to Baghdad. I invited them to come with me, but they were too afraid. I offered to go to Ramadi with them, but they were also too afraid.”

In the west of Iraq, where heavy US and Iraqi military operations have been underway for close for over a year, tens of thousands of Iraqis are homeless, either from fleeing or from having their homes reduced to rubble in air attacks. Resistance in the area has grown in response to the US-led attacks.

Finally, Hanan and her husband, Jawad, agreed to load Hakam into the car with Aishya and go to nearby Baghdadi. “But, the doctor was away,” says Aishya. This is often the case as doctors try to attend to outlying villages. “The little boy was getting worse, vomiting the whole way.

“We began driving to Hit, but on the way there was a roadblock by the Americans. They now have a new technique. They block the road and stay the same distance away as a car bomb would explode. But how do the people get through? I decided to walk that distance to them. With my hands up, I began waving. I was calling to the Americans to tell them who we are.

“Instead of coming to meet me, one of the soldiers used this sign of his hand across his neck, like he would kill me. The other one put his M16 on the side of his tank and pointed it at me. Then they began moving a humvee and a tank toward me, stopping to completely block the road.”

Jawad Al-Hadithi wanted to get out of the car to help Aishya, but would likely have been shot as males between the ages of 15 and 55 are automatically considered potential “insurgents.”

“Can you imagine? They said nothing. No one came to talk to me. They didn’t even come closer, except with their tanks. This is they way of treatment of the people.”

Earlier in the day, the small group was worried only for the life of the child. Now, trying to find a doctor, they were worried for lives of them all. Aishya says Hanan was begging her husband that they must all leave or be killed.

“I felt so powerless. Useless. Imagine you can’t do anything for the person who is the closest to you.

“I had put my hands on my head. I was speaking to them in English, but they don’t care. They didn’t give a shit. Maybe they think I am a suicide bomber. But this little boy is very sick.

“We had to turn back. We had not choice. We drove to another village and here, fortunately, we could find a doctor. It is extremely hot now. We are in the summer. But we had to stop at a bridge because it was blocked by a concrete wall. We carried the boy by our arms, but we got him to the doctor.

“Imagine you have a little boy in a similar situation and it is impossible to take your child to the doctor? What if your child might die because of this kind of treatment?

“This is the everyday story in Iraq. Every moment in Iraq is like this!”

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

Contractors Make “Tens Of Billions” On The Front Line

June 12, 2006 From Nic Robertson, CNN [Excerpts]

Private military contractors are earning billions of dollars in Iraq, much of it from U.S. taxpayers.

Business is booming for those willing to tackle one of the most dangerous jobs on Earth. Lucrative U.S. government contracts go to firms called on to provide security for projects and personnel, jobs that in previous conflicts have been done by the military.

A single contract awarded to Britain’s AEGIS Specialist Risk Management company by the Pentagon was worth $293 million, and while the government says it cannot provide a total amount for the contracts — many of which are secret — industry experts estimate Iraq’s security business costs tens of billions of dollars.

The market for private contractors is there thanks to an unprecedented “outsourcing” of conflict, according to Amy Clark, who led the Baghdad end of a small private security contractor.

“Where you’ve got a military where the assets and the personnel are strained, then private contractors have had to step in and fill the void,” she told CNN, agreeing to be interviewed if her company’s name was not revealed.

“Military doesn’t even like to go where we are going, and most of the companies that do this don’t want to go where we are going … and that’s why we’re going,” explained one of Clark’s men, nicknamed “Mr. GQ.”

His colleague, Gonzo, gives a graphic description of what their team faces: “If we get ambushed and cut off, then yes, we are going to fight back and push through. That’s what we get paid to do — protect the clients, protect the asset — that’s our job.

“It sounds crude, but basically our job is to be a bullet sponge.”

On one day recently, two roadside bombs went off simultaneously near one of Clark’s security trucks, and the convoy was then attacked with heavy small-arms fire from nearby rooftops.

“The blood in the back seat of the truck, all the bone fragments and flesh pretty much told the tale — they got hit pretty bad,” Gonzo said.

That same night, three roadside bombs were detonated beside the same convoy. Two of Clark’s men were killed and five wounded.

Like most contractors, Gonzo is ex-military and has specific personal reasons for being in Iraq and facing the danger.

A veteran of the first Gulf War, he says he can earn in three months what it would take him a year to get in the United States.

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

Bullshit Then:
Bullshit Now

June 07, 2006 By Greg Mitchell, Editor of Editor and Publisher

As the press continues to debate what President Bush says, doesn’t say or should say about the deteriorating situation in Iraq, I’ll take this opportunity to simply roll out, as food for thought, the words of another president caught up in a difficult conflict not nearly in its final throes.

Here is a speech delivered by Lyndon B. Johnson on April 7, 1965, one year after the Gulf of Tonkin incident sparked the beginning of our true commitment of men and resources to Vietnam.

Few then thought the war would last for many years and that more than 55,000 Americans would die.

While the U.S. troop presence in Iraq is only about one-quarter of the top number ever in Vietnam, the same syndrome — things will surely turn around in another six months — seems very much the rule, both at the White House and at newspaper editorial pages.

The Johnson speech, delivered at Johns Hopkins University, and his first major speech on Vietnam, follows. Shortly after that, he significantly upped the number of U.S. troops sent to the war zone, by the end of that year there were about 200,000 Americans in Vietnam.

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

[Excerpts From Speech By President Lyndon B Johnson, April 7, 1965]

Tonight Americans and Asians are dying for a world where each people may choose its own path to change. This is the principle for which our ancestors fought in the valleys of Pennsylvania. It is the principle for which our sons fight tonight in the jungles of Viet-Nam.

Viet-Nam is far away from this quiet campus. We have no territory there, nor do we seek any.

Why must we take this painful road? Why must this nation hazard its ease, its interest, and its power for the sake of a people so far away?

We fight because we must fight if we are to live in a world where every country can shape its own destiny, and only in such a world will our own freedom be finally secure.

And it is a war of unparalleled brutality. Simple farmers are the targets of assassination and kidnapping. Women and children are strangled in the night because their men are loyal to the government. And helpless villagers are ravaged by sneak attacks. Large-scale raids are conducted on towns, and terror strikes in the heart of cities. [Yes, but in fairness, there were a lot of U.S. troops who did none of these things.]

Why are these realities our concern? Why are we in South Viet-Nam?

We are there because we have a promise to keep. Over many years, we have made a national pledge to help South Viet-Nam defend its independence. And I intend to keep that promise.

To dishonor that pledge, to abandon this small and brave nation to its enemies, and to the terror that must follow, would be an unforgivable wrong.

We are also there to strengthen world order. Around the globe from Berlin to Thailand are people whose well being rests in part on the belief that they can count on us if they are attacked.

To leave Viet-Nam to its fate would shake the confidence of all these people in the value of an American commitment and in the value of America’s word. The result would be increased unrest and instability, even wider war.

We are also there because there are great stakes in the balance.

Let no one think for a minute that retreat from Viet-Nam would bring an end to the conflict. The battle would be renewed in one country and then another.

The central lesson of our time is that the appetite of aggression is never satisfied.

To withdraw from one battlefield means only to prepare for the next. [Gee, he must have seen Bush and Iraq coming 40 years ago.]

We must say in Southeast Asia — as we did in Europe — in the words of the Bible: “Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further.”

Our objective is the independence of South Viet-Nam, and its freedom from attack. We want nothing for ourselves, only that the people of South Viet-Nam be allowed to guide their own country in their own way.

We will do everything necessary to reach that objective.

And we will do only what is absolutely necessary.

We do this in order to slow down aggression.

We do this to increase the confidence of the brave people of South Viet-Nam who have bravely borne this brutal battle for so many years with so many casualties.

We will not be defeated. We will not grow tired.

We will not withdraw, either openly or under the cloak of a meaningless agreement.

We hope that peace will come swiftly. But that is in the hands of others besides ourselves. And we must be prepared for a long continued conflict. It will require patience as well as bravery, the will to endure as well as the will to resist.

I wish it were possible to convince others with words of what we now find it necessary to say with guns and planes:

Armed hostility is futile. Our resources are equal to the challenge.

Because we fight for values and we fight for principles, rather than territory or colonies, our patience and our determination are unending.

[Right. That’s why the city formerly known as Saigon is now called Lyndon B. Johnson City.]

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
www.militaryproject.org/
The following have also posted issues; there may be others:

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/

GI Special distributes and posts to our website copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in an effort to advance understanding of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. We believe this constitutes a “fair use” of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law since it is being distributed without charge or profit for educational purposes to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for educational purposes, in accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107.  GI Special has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of these articles nor is GI Special endorsed or sponsored by the originators. This attributed work is provided a non-profit basis to facilitate understanding, research, education, and the advancement of human rights and social justice Go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml for more information. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond ‘fair use’, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. 

If printed out, this newsletter is your personal property and cannot legally be confiscated from you. “Possession of unauthorized material may not be prohibited.” DoD Directive 1325.6 Section 3.5.1.2