Iraq A “Disaster”
“Are The Troops On The Ground To Blame?”
CWO Says No!

Many decent Americans — active-duty military, veterans, military retirees, military families, civilians, young people, old people — are against this illegal and immoral war and military occupation of Iraq.

Letters To The Editor
Army Times
7.10.06

Retired Brig. Gen. Robert L. Decker’s Back Talk column (”Disgruntled generals’ ‘whining’ is self-serving,” May 29) was nothing but a collection of pejorative words and phrases.

He did not respond to any of the criticisms the generals made.

The charges Decker made may or may not be true, but they are certainly irrelevant. The ad hominem argument carries little weight in legitimate debate.

Ask yourself, has the Bush administration policy in Iraq gone well? No, it has been a disaster.

Are the troops on the ground to blame? No.

Who, then, is responsible for the failures? Those leaders who got us into this mess, that’s who. Isn’t accepting responsibility one of the basic principles of leadership?

Decker’s character assassination was not limited to the generals he listed; he included anyone who opposes this imperialist adventure in Iraq.

Many decent Americans — active-duty military, veterans, military retirees, military families, civilians, young people, old people — are against this illegal and immoral war and military occupation of Iraq.

Legitimate dissent has a long and honorable history in our country. We who engage in it are neither unpatriotic, nor anti-American, nor unsupportive of the troops. Those who seek to squelch dissent by saying otherwise flirt with fascism.

Chief Warrant Officer 3 William Hairston (ret.)
Sulligent, Ala.

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

MNB I SOLDIER DIES IN NON-COMBAT RELATED INCIDENT

7/9/2006 HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND NEWS RELEASE Number: 06-07-09C

BAGHDAD: A Multi National Division Baghdad Soldier died in a non-combat related incident at approximately 2:15 a.m. this morning.

Valley Soldier Killed

July 9, 2006 Reported By Anabel Marquez, KGBT

The War In Iraq has claimed the life of another Valley soldier. A family in Mission is now mourning the loss of Army Staff Sg. Omar Demetrio Flores Flores.

They said they received the notice of his passing shortly after noon on Saturday.

His older brother Jorge Flores — who’s also a serviceman— said the entire family is still in shock.

“It’s hard,” he said Saturday, standing outside of his parents’ home. “We’ve cried a lot, but we have to be strong. There’s a Spanish saying: ‘Misiones Hacemos no se si volveremos.’”

Translated it means “we take on a mission – but I’m not sure if we’ll be back.”

That’s what Omar Flores told his wife and kids when he was on leave just a few weeks ago, visiting his family in the Valley.

He was serving his second tour in Iraq.

Now his mother in law, Maria Flores, can’t believe her daughter is a widow.

“It’s hard, but there’s nothing that can be done,” she said Saturday, as dozens of friends and family members arrived to offer their condolences.

Inside the family’s home, various army recognition plaques and newspaper articles that Lopez received, decorate a wall.

Relatives said he was a very ambitious and hard working soldier, always striving to offer his family the best – a family that’s now uniting to get through these tough times.

“His little girl asked me, ‘now that my dad’s in heaven, are you going to take care of me?’ and I said, ‘yeah mija, I’m going to make sure you have your quinceanera’,” Jorge Lopez said, with tears rolling down his eyes. “We’re sad.”

While the family is waiting to hear the details of how Staff Sgt. Omar Flores died, the military is releasing some details.

Flores was among three Americans killed in the attack in the Anbar province of Iraq.

The three were assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, which has some attached Army units, and died in fighting in the western province of Anbar, the U.S. military said.

They were the first U.S. fatalities reported in Iraq since Tuesday, raising the number of U.S. personnel killed this month to eight. The average of one death a day is down sharply from a rate of more than two a day in recent months.

More than 2,500 Americans have died in Iraq since the war began. Nearly two dozen of those deaths have been of young men with ties to the Valley.

Soldier Remembered;
Spc. Jeremy Jones Killed

6.29.06 WOWT

Army Specialist Jeremy Jones, a 25-year-old from Omaha, has been killed in Iraq; the latest casualty of a roadside bomb.

The explosion happened south of Baghdad.

Jones had been in Iraq since November with the 1st Battalion of the 67th Armor Regiment based out of Fort Hood, Texas.

He graduated from Millard West High School in 1999. That’s where he met his wife, Jenny.

Jeremy’s parents, Scott and Diane Jones, came to grips with the news Wednesday.

Scott said he was, “just numb,” and he wished the tragic news were just a dream.

Diane said their pain serves as a reminder for people to “hold on to every moment,” with loved ones, “because you don’t know how long you will have.” Diane says her son was proud of what he was doing.

The family was also proud of him and they cherish the last time he was home on leave. He was reunited with his wife and son A. J. and he held his daughter Mackenzie for the first time.

Jeremy’s family remembers him as a good father, a loving husband and a true family man.

Scott Jones says his son was, “just a fantastic person,” and he says a father, “couldn’t ask for a better son.”

Jeremy’s high school prinicpal, Dr. Rick Kolowski, says Jeremy loved his family and always had a positive attitude. Dr. Kolowski says, “We think highly of him. It’s a loss for his family and for the school to lose someone like this.”

Funeral services for Army Spc. Jeremy Jones are pending.

Car Bomb Wounds 4 US Troops In Ramadi Convoy

Jul. 9, 2006 By ASSOCIATED PRESS

A car bomb struck a convoy in Ramadi on Sunday, wounding four American troops, the military said. The explosion occurred near the convoy as it was headed to the government center.

FUTILE EXERCISE:
BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW!

U.S. military personnel inspect the scene after a roadside bomb killed the local chief of intelligence, Maj. Gen. Mussa Hatam, along with two of his guards, in the northern city of Kirkuk in Iraq June 24, 2006. (AP Photo/Karim Yahya Ahmed)

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Canadian Soldier Killed

JULY 9, 2006 CCNMatthews

A Canadian soldier was killed today during an engagement with Taliban insurgents approximately 25 kilometres west of Kandahar. The incident occurred at approximately 8:30 a.m. Kandahar time (12:00 a.m. EDT).

Killed was Corporal Anthony Joseph Boneca who was serving with Task Force Afghanistan as part of the 1st Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry (1 PPCLI) Battle Group. Cpl. Boneca was a member of the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment, which is based in Thunder Bay, Ontario; his next-of-kin have been notified.

Cpl. Boneca was evacuated by helicopter to the coalition medical facility at Kandahar Airfield where he was pronounced dead.

The repatriation of Cpl. Boneca’s remains is now being planned.

Cpl. Boneca’s unit was operating in Zjarey district as part of Operation Zahar, which means “Sword” in Pashto.

“British Troops Are Entitled To Feel That There Are Hostile Forces On Every Side”
“Every Time The British Come To Afghanistan, They Have Been Defeated Very Badly, And Very Few Escaped With Their Lives”

[Thanks to Z who sent this in. He writes: Damn, you’d think the British government would have learned something since the 19th century! Solidarity, Z]

“It is as bad as we have ever seen it,” a Western security source told The Independent on Sunday. “The Taliban has a sophistication and co-ordination that has not been there before. They are often staying and fighting, rather than breaking contact, as used to happen.

09 July 2006 By Thomas Coghlan in Musa Qala, Helmand and Justin Huggler, Independent News and Media Limited

In Musa Qala, on the front line of the Taliban insurgency against British troops in southern Afghanistan, a pick-up truck packed with heavily armed men roared up the main street. They were just 50 yards from the local district governor’s house, a building pitted by bullet and rocket-propelled-grenade strikes, where British commanders were meeting tribal elders.

The gunmen in the pick-up were wearing black robes and large black or white turbans, common tribal dress in Helmand – but also the uniform of the Taliban. Who were they? A terrified local shopkeeper replied: “They could be the governor’s militia, or they could be Taliban. We can’t tell the difference. But you should leave right now.”

One week before, hundreds of Taliban fighters had spent eight hours rampaging through the town, and shot up the governor’s house.

The movement is everywhere in Helmand, a dusty nightmare of a place lashed by scorching winds in summer, when temperatures hit 50C.

One British soldier told how his unit had come under intense fire from the Afghan police, who are supposed to be their allies. “They fired and manoeuvred straight past our vehicle,” said the soldier, from the Parachute Regiment Pathfinder Unit. “They could clearly see that we weren’t the Taliban, but they still kept firing, and we have intelligence that they had Taliban fighters with them.” The gun battle lasted two hours, and the British had to abandon a vehicle.

British troops are now so dubious about the Afghan police in the town of Gereshk that they are given no advance warning of joint patrols, for fear they will tip off the Taliban.

Half the translators hired by the British at Camp Bastion, their main base in Helmand, have left in fear of their lives.

Nor does the Afghan National Army inspire much more confidence. When the first unit was dispatched south to work with British troops, a quarter disappeared in transit from their training camp in Kabul.

Their fears may be understandable: some weeks ago the severed heads of two Afghan soldiers were left outside a Canadian base in neighbouring Kandahar, with their severed penises in their mouths.

British troops in Helmand are entitled to feel that there are hostile forces on every side. Pro-Taliban music cassettes are openly on sale, and are highly popular. The songs include lyrics such as “The deserts are stained red with the blood of martyrs” and “Hey Mullah Omar, we will kill your enemies, and we are your Taliban.”

“It is as bad as we have ever seen it,” a Western security source told The Independent on Sunday. “The Taliban has a sophistication and co-ordination that has not been there before. They are often staying and fighting, rather than breaking contact, as used to happen.

“Sometimes their tactics are almost suicidal. They will stand on the roofs of houses and shoot at helicopter gunships.

They have a lot of ammunition and a lot more man-portable heavy weaponry – mortars, RPGs, heavy machine guns.”

The Taliban claim to have “completely occupied” several districts in the south. “Helmand is a haven for us,” Mohammed Hanif, a Taliban spokesman, boasted by telephone yesterday.

“Every time the British come to Afghanistan, they have been defeated very badly, and very few escaped with their lives.”

The Taliban, he said, had a centre to recruit suicide bombers in Helmand. “They are coming from all over Afghanistan, and they number 1,500 so far,” he claimed.

Take Your Pick

July 10, 2006 By Gordon Lubold, Army Times staff writer

However, sentiment is split over Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is seen by some as a giant and others as an increasingly ineffective leader, in part because he is unable to govern outside Kabul, the capital.

TROOP NEWS
UGLY
CALENDAR YEAR 2005 REPORT: SEXUAL OFFENSES
INVOLVING MEMBERS OF THE ARMED FORCES

Sexual Assault Prevention and Response program, Department of Defense

A New Witch Hunt
VA Scum Shit On Fallen Soldier And His Widow:
“If We Can’t Live Up To Religious Freedom At Home, We Have No Business Asking Soldiers To Die For Religious Freedom Abroad”

Meanwhile, however, VA should act immediately to honor Roberta Stewart’s request and fill in the blank space reserved for Sgt. Stewart. After all, if we can’t live up to religious freedom at home, we have no business asking soldiers to die for religious freedom abroad.

July 10, 2006 By Charles C. Haynes, Army Times. The writer is senior scholar at the Freedom Forum’s First Amendment Center.

The current flap involving Wiccans in the military is a conflict that should never have happened. But years of foot-dragging by the Department of Veterans Affairs have turned an easy case into a major controversy complete with charges of discrimination and threats of lawsuits.

All VA needs to do is announce that the pentacle — a five-pointed star that symbolizes the Wiccan faith — has been added to the list of 38 “emblems of belief” approved for placement on government headstones and memorials. No big deal, end of story.

Instead, VA keeps saying that it is “reviewing the process” — and will make a decision at some indeterminate time in the future.

Roberta Stewart has been hearing this bureaucratic mumbo jumbo for the past eight months. She just wants to honor her husband, Patrick, a soldier in the Nevada National Guard killed in combat last September in Afghanistan. Sgt. Stewart, who was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, among other honors, was a Wiccan.

But Stewart’s request to have a pentacle engraved on her husband’s memorial plaque has been repeatedly denied pending review of the VA policy. His space on the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial wall remains blank.

Eventually, VA will have no choice but to allow the pentacle. Nevada politicians from both parties, as well as advocacy groups from the left and right, are demanding the change.

Then there is the small matter of the First Amendment: It’s clearly unconstitutional for the government to deny the Wiccan symbol while permitting symbols of many other religions.

If approval of the pentacle is inevitable, why is VA taking so long to make a decision?

For Roberta Stewart, it has been a long and frustrating eight months. But other Wiccans have been pushing for VA recognition of the pentacle for more than nine years. (According to the Defense Department, some 1,900 active-duty service members identify themselves as Wiccans.)

At first blush, the years of VA stonewalling doesn’t make sense. A glance at the 38 approved emblems suggests that any religion can make the list. In addition to all of the world’s major faiths, a number of obscure sects are represented, such as Eckankar, a New Age group that espouses out-of-body travel. Atheists have a symbol, too. If VA is applying some kind of religious test to keep out the Wiccans, it’s hard to fathom what it might be.

Before last fall, VA blamed the rules. Applicants had to provide documentation from a central authority certifying a symbol as representative of that religion. Because Wiccans have no recognized head or hierarchy, their applications were rejected. Rules are rules.

Bipartisan outrage over Sgt. Stewart’s case inspired a new set of rules. Now, applicants are required to provide historic background and documentation of use to get a symbol approved. Roberta Stewart has filled out all of the forms. But she’s still waiting.

So what’s the problem? VA isn’t talking. But the delay may have to do with the fact that Roberta Stewart went public. Putting atheists on the list when no one is paying attention is one thing, but announcing recognition of the Wiccan pentacle in the glare of the media spotlight is another.

Few people have even heard of Eckankar, but almost everyone has an opinion about Wiccans. Unfortunately, most of what people think they know about Wicca is false. Wicca is a nature-based religion centered on a belief that the divine permeates all life. Wiccans have nothing to do with black magic or satanic worship, but try explaining that to a misinformed public.

VA is probably remembering the last time Wiccans in the military made headlines. About six years ago, news reports of Wiccan ceremonies at Fort Hood, Texas, and other bases provoked some conservative Christian groups to call on Christians not to enlist or re-enlist in the Army.

Under the First Amendment, the Army had no choice then, just as VA has no choice now, but to accommodate Wiccans in the same way it accommodates other religious groups. But any “acceptance” of witches — who have long been demonized in Christian history — is certain to stir up trouble for the military.

It’s also possible that VA lawyers are beginning to realize that any guidelines for government-sanctioned “emblems of belief,” however carefully crafted, are unworkable. In a nation where people are free to choose in matters of faith, the government should stop trying to figure out which symbols are “acceptable” and instead allow each family to choose whatever symbol best represents their convictions.

In other words, cut through all of the bureaucratic red tape and jettison the “emblems of belief” list entirely.

Meanwhile, however, VA should act immediately to honor Roberta Stewart’s request and fill in the blank space reserved for Sgt. Stewart.

After all, if we can’t live up to religious freedom at home, we have no business asking soldiers to die for religious freedom abroad.

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

An honor guard carries the body of United States Army Sgt. Terry M. Lisk, who was killed in Iraq, to a hearse after his funeral in Lemont, Illinois, July 8, 2006. REUTERS/John Gress (UNITED STATES)

Soldier’s Death Blamed On Punishment

A builder working on a nearby accommodation block at the barracks said he saw a group of soldiers “sweltering” during a midday exercise. The builder, who did not want to be named, said: “The weather was absolutely boiling… but these guys were wearing the full kit; trousers, boots, heavy duty jackets, hard hats and carrying heavy packs as well as weapons. They had full military combat gear on and they looked boiling hot.”

[Thanks to Mark S, who sent this in.]

05 July 2006 By Kim Sengupta and Charlotte Reeve, Independent News & media (UK)

Police are investigating the chain of events that led to a soldier’s death after he was forced to do strenuous exercises in extreme heat as a punishment for spraying guests at an officers’ mess with a fire extinguisher.

Pte Gavin Williams, aged 22, from Hengoed, Mid Glamorgan, was undertaking a disciplinary exercise alone at Lucknow Barracks at Tidworth, Wiltshire, when he collapsed and died on Monday. He is said to have been drinking after England’s World Cup match before his “prank” at the barracks.

Detectives are attempting to find out who ordered the punishment of the soldier, who is said to have had a number of other complaints made against him. Five serving members from his regiment, the 2nd Battalion Royal Welsh, have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and are being questioned by Wiltshire Police.

Four of the men being held ? aged 44, 35, 31 and 28 ? are believed to be non-commissioned officers. The fifth man, 29, was arrested yesterday on suspicion of manslaughter. The Ministry of Defence refused to confirm or deny that he was an officer.

The soldier collapsed just after midday on Monday and was taken to Salisbury Hospital, where he died.

Ambulance crews were called to the scene and a spokeswoman for Wiltshire Ambulance Trust said that Pte Williams appeared “hot and agitated.”

After the incident with the fire extinguisher, in which those drenched were mainly civilians attending a reception, he was allegedly made to do an exercise routine in temperatures of up to 33C.

Detectives from Wiltshire Police are expected to take the lead rather than the Royal Military Police. Although the Wiltshire force has technical jurisdiction over the inquiry because the soldier died at Salisbury Hospital, the practice in the past would have been to hand the matter over to military police.

A builder working on a nearby accommodation block at the barracks said he saw a group of soldiers “sweltering” during a midday exercise.

The builder, who did not want to be named, said: “The weather was absolutely boiling… but these guys were wearing the full kit; trousers, boots, heavy duty jackets, hard hats and carrying heavy packs as well as weapons. They had full military combat gear on and they looked boiling hot.”

“Peace Campaigners Today Carried Out An Audacious Occupation At A Top Secret United States Navy Nuclear Command Bunker”

[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, who sent this in.]

7.4. 2006 Indymedia.org.uk

Peace campaigners today carried out an audacious occupation at a top secret United States Navy nuclear command bunker to protest against the continuing occupation of Iraq on July 4th – US Independence Day.

The protesters, from Berkshire and Buckinghamshire Citizens Inspection Agency (CIA), walked unchallenged through the grounds of the US Navy base at Daws Hill, near High Wycombe, and established ‘Camp Freedom’ – a peace camp inside the secure area surrounding the bunker. The Daws Hill base is responsible for providing command, control, communications, and computing (C4) support to US armed forces across the globe.

The campaigners have occupied the secure area inside the base in opposition to the continuing US-led occupation of Iraq and George Bush’s so-called “war on terror”. They set up camp yesterday evening (July 3rd).

One of the campaigners inside the base, Kate Holcombe, said: “People need to recognise who the real enemies of peace, freedom and democracy are. The United States has made its ambitions for global military and economic domination of our entire planet, and space, clear in its published ‘Joint Vision for 2020’. They need to be stopped from lying about their agenda and killing for corporate profit.”

Campaigner Peter Burt said: “George Bush’s so-called “war on terror” is, in fact, a war against the large part of the world’s population who oppose the way the USA uses its military and economic power to force its wishes on them.

“Many people in other parts of the world see the invasion of Iraq, the revenge bombing of Afghanistan, and the systematic human rights abuses for which the US military is responsible as acts of terrorism every bit as unforgivable as the September 11th and July 7th atrocities.

Australian Troops Bound For Iraq Combat Supplied With Useless Trash By War Profiteers:
They Have To Buy Their Own Gear

[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, who sent this in.]

July 06, 2006 Tony Keim and Ian McPhedran, News Limited

QUEENSLAND-based defence personnel continue to shell out their own money to supplement the basic equipment supplied to them, army supply companies revealed yesterday.

One Brisbane manufacturer said Australian Diggers were fitted out with equipment and gear manufactured by government contractors who submitted the lowest tender.

The manufacturer, who asked not be named, said that, as a consequence, soldiers were forced to buy quality equipment to use in training and on the battlefield.

It comes as a Defence Minister Brendan Nelson considers a report containing explosive examples of how Diggers have been let down by clothing and equipment suppliers and flawed purchasing methods.

It shows soldiers have been provided with second-rate gear because of high-level corruption, cheap offshore labour and delivery delays by dishonest contractors.

And it follows last month’s admissions by Australian Defence Force Materiel’s Stephen Gumley that troops were being sent on dangerous overseas missions with sub-standard clothing and equipment.

In January, The Courier-Mail reported Australian soldiers were being forced to buy their own combat gear because of sub-standard issued equipment.

Leaked RODUM (Reporting on Defective or Unsatisfactory Material) reports showed soldiers at the Townsville-based 1st Battalion, Royal Australian Regiment, buy their own combat vests and other equipment.

A Brisbane-based army equipment manufacturer said while some soldiers wanted to personalise the gear to stand out from fellow soldiers, many just wanted to make sure their gear would survive battle conditions.

“Only recently we had to make and fill and order and then fly to Townsville to drop off gear to (soldiers) going to Iraq that same day,” he said.

Australia’s Camping Quartermaster store manager John Dunne said many soldiers based at the Enogerra army barracks, on Brisbane’s northside, regularly bought items such as boots, packs, clothing, hats and other equipment.

He said while the army supplied soldiers with basic equipment, many diggers preferred to buy better quality equipment, including boots and packs.

Several senior officials have already been sacked or moved from the clothing and equipment section of the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO).

Others saw the writing on the wall and jumped to join companies they previously provided contracts to.

The main problem areas include webbing, packs, boots and wet weather gear.

Dr Nelson said he had been told by army chiefs that the gear provided to troops on deployment overseas was the best ever.

That doesn’t gel with the opinion of the diggers using the gear or Dr Gumley’s admission that he had “stuffed-up in clothing”.

He revealed that suppliers had falsified test results, used cheap Asian labour despite promises to buy Australian and had lied about delivery deadlines.

Acting opposition defence spokesman Arch Bevis accused Dr Nelson of arrogance over the issue.

“The minister must get his head out of the sand and improve the standard of gear for troops in dangerous military operations,” Mr Bevis said.

“The [British] Army Is 50% Short Of Recruitment Targets”
“In The Past People Have Been Prepared To Risk Their Lives If The Cause Was Just Or Patriotic. Iraq Is Neither Of Those”

[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, who sent this in.]

A recent government report revealed a recruiting crisis has left the armed forces with “serious manning short-falls” in 80 key operational areas.

The report by the Armed Forces Pay Review Body revealed some Army units were so over-stretched they “routinely breach” guidelines on the number of tours of duty considered healthy.

Jul 4 2006 Exclusive By David Higgerson, Daily Post Staff

THE armed forces have suffered a recruitment crisis on Merseyside and Cheshire since the allied invasion of Iraq, figures obtained by the Daily Post have revealed.

Figures secured under Freedom of Information legislation show that the number of people joining the Army has dropped by almost a third across the region.

Army chiefs last night admitted that during conflicts involving British troops, the number of recruits normally rises. But the exact opposite has happened this time with appeals on Army websites specifically asking for recruits from Liverpool and Manchester.

Politicians last night blamed the recruitment slump on the war in Iraq. British troops are also involved in increasingly bloody activity against the Taliban in Afghanistan.

Southport MP John Pugh said: “I think the fact that these recruitment figures are against all perceived wisdom of numbers increasing during conflict says a lot.

“It clearly shows that young men across Merseyside just do not want to commit themselves to a deeply unpopular war and risk their lives in order to fulfil policy objectives they don’t agree with.

“I think it is quite obviously the case that the situation in Iraq is as dangerous as ever, but in the past people have been prepared to risk their lives if the cause was just or patriotic. Iraq is neither of those.”

Mark Henzel, spokesman for the Merseyside Stop the War Coalition, said: “We have made a point of going to recruitment centres and TA bases to hand out leaflets to people.

“We think that once they know what will happen if they join, they’ll think twice. Would anyone want to be sent into a war without the proper equipment? That is what is happening. It is obviously a tactic which is working.”

Gerald Howarth, a Conservative defence spokesman, said: “The war in Iraq is unpopular and is undoubtedly having an adverse affect on mums because of all the publicity about roadside bombs and Warriors being set on fire.

A recent government report revealed a recruiting crisis has left the armed forces with “serious manning short-falls” in 80 key operational areas.

The report by the Armed Forces Pay Review Body revealed some Army units were so over-stretched they “routinely breach” guidelines on the number of tours of duty considered healthy.

The Army is 50% short of recruitment targets and the Navy 35% short.

IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP

Assorted Resistance Action

July 7 (Reuters) & Aljazeera & 7.8.06 (KUNA) & Reuters & 09 Jul 2006 Reuters & AFP

Four mortar rounds landed on the governorate building of Ramadi, killing one Iraqi army soldier and wounding two, police said.

An Iraqi officer was injured Saturday in a bomb explosion in western Kirkuk, northern Iraq. Police told Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) the officer was taken to hospital for treatment.

Guerrillas shot dead a translator for U.S. forces, in southern Baghdad’s Bayaa district.

Guerrillas killed three policemen on Saturday in Ramadi and a policeman as he headed to work in Kirkuk

An Iraqi army intelligence officer in the Shia holy city of Karbala was shot dead. Major Qahtan Adnan Abdul-Razzaq, an intelligence officer with the Iraqi army’s al-Hussein Brigade, was shot dead after his car was intercepted in the centre of Karbala, 80km south of Baghdad, said Salim al-Abadi, a health official.

Two policemen were also killed in gun attacks in eastern Baghdad and the northern city of Kirkuk Sunday, police said.

Two people were killed and four policemen wounded in clashes between police and fighters when the Salman Pak Shia mosque, southeast of Baghdad, came under attack, the US military said.

It said the National Police Headquarters located near the mosque was also attacked.

IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE RESISTANCE
END THE OCCUPATION

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

“War Resistance That Bubbled Up From Inside”
“Sir! No Sir! Chronicles Vietnam Opposition Among Armed Services”

Jun. 23, 2006 LAWRENCE TOPPMAN, Movie Critic, The Charlotte Observer

If you’re under 35 and not a history major, the Vietnam War may be a marginally relevant blur, as the Korean War was for my generation. But even if you watched TV reports of body bags and air strikes, even if you registered with the Selective Service and waited to see what number would turn up in the draft lottery (as I did), the documentary “Sir! No Sir!” may be news to you.

Good news, if you value free thought in all circumstances — even among the armed services and about the armed services. Bad news, if you still cherish the belief that most dissidents at the time were civilians who didn’t understand the military mind and purpose. But fresh news all the same, unless perhaps you saw active duty during that time.

Writer-director David Zeiger chronicles the resistance, organized and otherwise, among every branch of the service during the late 1960s and early 1970s.

Some protesters were drafted civilians: Dermatologist Howard Levy refused to train Green Beret medics, was court-martialed and served three years. Some were decorated veterans: Green Beret Donald Duncan left the military in 1966 after 15 months in Vietnam and wrote a Ramparts magazine article that helped kick off the GI antiwar movement.

Some were nonviolent noncombatants: Navy nurse Susan Schnall learned the government was dropping leaflets on the North Vietnamese urging them to defect, then dropped antiwar leaflets from a plane over military bases around San Francisco.

Zeiger fans flames of controversy by focusing on Jane Fonda, who performed in the traveling show “FTA” — officially, “Free The Army” — with Donald Sutherland and was famously photographed aboard an enemy tank in North Vietnam. (Actor Troy Garity, the son Fonda had with activist Tom Hayden, narrates the documentary.) Whatever you think of her politics, she comes across as articulate and convinced after almost 40 years that Vietnam was a terrible mistake.

Zeiger isn’t interested in the moral basis of the war. He concentrates on the amazingly widespread opposition to it in the service: underground newspapers, petitions to the government, off-base coffeehouses for dissenters, marches and public declarations.

The director doesn’t show the responses from people in power at the time, so we don’t know what effect this organized anger and disgust had on public policy. He does try to debunk myths: Veteran Jerry Lembcke, now a sociology professor, investigated the famous story that returning GIs were spat upon by antiwar protesters, but he couldn’t find a single documented instance.

P.S. A Marine named George Daniels is seen briefly but not quoted; he was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor for discussing the merits of the war with fellow Marines, then released from prison with back pay and an honorable discharge. He’s now Charlotte activist Ahmad Daniels.

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

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.

“Believe What They Do, Not What They Say”

Spring 2006 By Barry Romo, The Veteran, Vietnam Veterans Against The War [Excerpt] Barry Romo is a VVAW national coordinator and a member of the Chicago chapter.

On a similar note, remember Abu Ghraib? A nineteen-year-old woman; yes, a teenager; dog leash in hand, got blamed for torture. She came back to the good old USA pregnant, and is now in military prison.

Compare her fate with that of a chief warrant officer, an older male (probably a lifer).

He tortured to death an Iraqi prisoner of war. He got a letter of reprimand and no jail time, and he’s back at work as an interrogator.

Believe what they do, not what they say.

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.

2008 Might Be Too Late
Impeach ‘Em Now:
A Review Of “The Case For Impeachment” By Dave Lindorff And Barbara Olshansky

[Introductory note: Reuters news service June 28 carried the following headline: “Berkeley, Calif. Wants Vote On Bush Impeachment”]

From: Ron Jacobs
To: GI Special
Sent: July 01, 2006

A Review of The Case for Impeachment by Dave Lindorff and Barbara Olshansky (Thomas Dunne 2006)

If George Bush were to be impeached, would it make any difference? Whenever I receive emails or mass mailings that bring up the topic of Bush’s impeachment, that is the question I asked. So, it was with some curiosity that I began reading the book A Case for Impeachment, by Dave Lindorff and Barbara Olshansky (Thomas Dunne Books 2006). The process of impeachment has always interested me, at least when it comes to our nation’s presidents and, if any president deserved to face some kind of consequences for what he and his cronies have done to this country, George Bush is certainly first in line.

As the title clearly states, the authors of this text want to see Bush impeached. Do they believe it will happen? To be honest, they have much more faith in seeing an impeachment trial than I do.

In fact, Lindorff and Olshansky go on record declaring that if a Democratic majority is elected to the House of Representatives in the November 2006 elections, we will see an impeachment resolution introduced. I hope they are right on this (I would love to see Bush and Cheney slowly twisting in the wind, to borrow Richard Nixon’s phrase), but I have my doubts about the fortitude of the current crop of Democrats in power.

Either way, this book is written with the intention of stirring up the pot, so to speak. The authors want to see the impeachment process go beyond sign waving at antiwar demonstrations and emails in liberal lefties mailboxes. Indeed, they want the public’s growing desire for impeachment to go from the streets and hearths of this nation into a building where those sentiments can make a difference. Where they can result in impeachment and (one hopes) at least one conviction.

To this end, the bulk of the book proposes five articles of impeachment with supporting documents. The articles address the lies told by the Bush administration to lead the US into the war in Iraq; domestic spying and eavesdropping; a charge relating to the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame; the administration’s ignoring of warnings prior to the attacks of 9-11 and subsequent stonewalling and possible lying before Congress during investigations of the events of that day; his knowledge of torture and other war crimes; and abuses of power by his use of signing statements that essentially deny the applicability of any law to him.

It is important to remember that Bush needs to be convicted of only one charge.

The book begins with a discussion of impeachment—its history, origins, context and uses over time. Bill Clinton’s experience with the process is discussed, but Lindorff and Olshansky’s focus is more on the impeachments of Andrew Johnson and Richard Nixon. The primary message that comes through in this discussion is that impeachable offenses are not necessarily indictable offenses. However, given the nature of public officials’ responsibility to the people whom they serve, this is not an extraordinary expectation. Impeachable offenses are those that destroy the trust of the populace and violate the constitution.

Like every US president. George Bush took an oath at his inauguration. That oath speaks of a supreme being and the law. Most importantly, the person taking that oath swears to “preserve, protect and defend” the nations fundamental law— the constitution. The articles of impeachment presented here present a convincing argument that Mr. Bush did not uphold that oath. This in itself is the most impeachable offense of all.

Like many US residents, I am familiar with the abuses, lies and questionably legal actions of the Bush administration. To see them arranged as Articles of Impeachment in this text accompanied with arguments for such a trial only makes the magnitude of these charges frightfully clear. This is the greatest strength of this book. It makes it abundantly clear in a concise and coherent manner, that George Bush and his administration deserve to be impeached. In fact, the authors even suggest that the impeachment hearings might be better served if such hearing began with Mr. Cheney or another subordinate. In this way, argue the authors, facts might appear that would provide a clear avenue to Mr. Bush’s impeachment and conviction.

It is the process involved in impeachment that the authors place their trust. Any individual that remembers the series of hearings in 1973 and 1974 around the crimes of Richard Nixon should understand why this is so. The process of congressional hearings that impeachment entails rips apart the lies and deceptions; the duplicities and deceit; the coverups and crimes of the officials being investigated. Indeed, the high crimes and misdemeanors that the impeached official is charged with become apparent during this process. Let us hope that those in the Bush administration that this book charges with said offenses will face such a fate.

In 1973 and 1974, as the Nixon administration circled its wagons, there was a fear that the fragile freedoms and structures defined in the US constitution would become history unless Richard Nixon was removed from office. It is Lindorff and Olshansky’s contention that this is an even more likely—and frightening—possibility if George Bush is not impeached. Indeed, as I write this, the Supreme Court just overturned the White House’s decision to hold so-called military tribunals of the captives in Guantanamo Bay Prison. In response, the Congress is already looking for ways to void this decision and make such trials legal, despite their seeming unconstitutionality. This decision and an earlier one that allows non-citizens to be held without charges have already changed the intentional meaning of the Bill of Rights—from guaranteeing these rights to citizens only instead of to all persons, as written.

The complicity of the Congress and the courts proves that the attack on the Constitution is being waged from all three divisions of the US government. Impeaching Bush and Cheney would not end the assault, but it would strike a mighty blow.

Like the Hydra of Herculean legend, the beast of despotism has but one essential head and, when that head is destroyed, the Hydra will be, too. The White House is that essential head.

Impeachment will not solve the many problems besetting this too-comfortable nation, but it can begin the cure. For those who consider this to be a worthy project, Lindorff and Olshansky’s book is a necessary read.

Cindy Sheehan To Move Camp To National Mall
Washington, D.C., September 8 to 21
Camp Casey to Expand into Camp Democracy

From: Charles Jenks
To: GI Special
Sent: July 06, 2006 6:00 PM
Subject: Cindy Sheehan to Move Camp to National Mall

Cindy Sheehan and activists in the growing peace movement plan to establish Camp Casey in Crawford, Texas, again this August 16 to September 2. They then plan to move the camp to the National Mall in Washington, D.C., beginning September 8.

The camp on the Mall will carry the name Camp Democracy at Fort Fed Up, and details are available at www.campdemocracy.org.

Organizers intend the camp to bring together peace activists and activists for social justice, united in demanding a shift of public resources from war to the needs of people. Participants will lobby Congress to end all funding of the occupation of Iraq, and will demand that Congress hold the Bush Administration accountable for the falsehoods that launched the war and the abuses of power here at home that have accompanied it.

The Camp Democracy website describes the event as “a camp for peace, democracy, and the restoration of the rule of law focused not only on ending the war but also on righting injustices here at home and on holding accountable the Bush Administration and Congress.”

Imperial Democrats:
“A Little Band Of Plutocratic Leeches Living In The Swamps Of The District Of Columbia”

02 July 2006 By David Swanson, AfterDowningStreet.org [Excerpt]

King George is opposed by almost all Americans who identify themselves as democrats or Democrats. Only 9 percent of Democrats approve of his “handling the situation with Iraq,” according to a CBS poll. The so-called Republican Party, on the other hand, is split. 71 percent of Republicans approve of the king’s war, a number that is steadily declining.

So, I have to say it annoys me a teeny little bit when the military industrial media complex calls the Democratic Party split and makes that alleged split the focus of reporting.

What they mean is that a little band of plutocratic leeches living in the swamps of the District of Columbia displays different tendencies from the citizenry.

I fully expect, one day soon, to wake up to this headline: “Dems split on torturing grandmothers,” followed by words to this effect: “Republicans forced a deeply divided and uncertain Democratic Party onto the defensive this week, bringing to a vote their long-planned GT bill.

The Grandmother Torture Act of 2006 provides the President with the freedom he needs in handling the rising threat from seniors engaged in terrorist activities, said several Republican leaders. The defeat is expected to hurt the Democrats in November, Diebold executives reported.

OCCUPATION REPORT

“Over The Last 12 Months Or So We Killed About 1000 Iraqis At Blocking Positions And Checkpoints”
“About 60 We Could Demonstrate He Was An Insurgent”

From: JF
To: GI Special
Sent: July 08, 2006
Subject: 6%

Dear GI Special,

I came upon a link to this:

Training Marines How Not To Kill [by Brian Palmer, 07.07.2006 at HuffingtonPost.com]

“Over the last 12 months or so we killed about 1000 Iraqis at blocking positions and checkpoints,” the captain told the grunts. “About 60 — six zero — we could demonstrate that, yeah, he was a bad guy. He was an insurgent.

“Six zero out of about 1000.

“So all we’re doing — if we don’t communicate what we want them to do, all we’re doing is creating more enemies.”

That’s 16 innocents murdered for every 1 “insurgent”.

And the insurgents are the “good guys”.

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

Welcome To Liberated Iraq:
“Brutality And Corruption Are Rampant In Iraq’s Police Force”
[As They Stand Up, Run For Your Life]

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

July 9, 2006 By Solomon Moore, Los Angeles Times staff writer [Excerpt]

BAGHDAD: Brutality and corruption are rampant in Iraq’s police force, with abuses including the rape of female prisoners, the release of terrorism suspects in exchange for bribes, assassinations of police officers and participation in insurgent bombings, according to confidential Iraqi government documents detailing more than 400 police corruption investigations.

Officers also have beaten prisoners to death, been involved in kidnapping rings, sold thousands of stolen and forged Iraqi passports and passed along vital information to insurgents, the Iraqi documents allege.

While U.S. Troops Die:
Iraqi Collaborator Thieves Pocket $4 Billion For Themselves

[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, who sent this in.]

09 Jul 2006 By Ross Colvin, Reuters

Corruption is rampant at “every level” of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government, with Iraqi graft inspectors calculating that at least $4 billion has been pilfered from state coffers, a top U.S. official said.

The Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction will report to the U.S. Congress this month that corruption remains “a very huge challenge to the government of Iraq”, Ginger Cruz, deputy inspector general at the oversight agency, told Reuters in an interview in Baghdad on Saturday.

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

Disgusting Rat On Ferndale, Michigan Police Force Steals Anti-War Sign,
Then Arrests Victim After Threatening To Commit Criminal Assault With A Taser

[Thanks to David Mcreynolds, who made this known July 08, 2006. He writes: The incident is outrageous – but the good news is that lots of people are honking their horns!!]

Date: July 5, 2006
Subject: troubling incident

Kim Redigan reports the following:

Since several individuals from member organizations of the DAPJN attend the Monday Ferndale vigils that have been held for almost four years.

I thought you would want to know about the outrageous behavior on the part of the Ferndale police this past Monday (July 3) that resulted in the arrest of one of our most committed vigilers. I am also passing this on to folks in the area who either know Vic or who need to know what is going on in a city that dubs itself a “city of peace.”

As many of you know, each Monday a group of people congregate on the corner of Woodward and Nine Mile bearing anti-war signs. A few of our signs read “Honk for Peace” and “Honk if You Want Bush Out”!

As this unjust travesty of a war has dragged on, the honks have become increasingly vociferous. Often, in fact, the Ferndale police contribute honks or signal us with a thumbs up.

Two weeks ago, however, vigilers were told by the Ferndale police that we could no longer invite folks to honk since it was too distracting.

Taking this mandate to heart, vigiler Vic Kittila altered his sign to read: “The Ferndale Cops Say Don’t Honk if You Want Bush out.” At Monday’s vigil, Vic held the sign throughout the vigil without incident. In fact, officers passing in Ferndale patrol cars this Monday offered the usual thumbs-up.

After the vigil, five of us packed up our signs and were heading for a nearby ice cream shop when the Ferndale police pulled up to the curb on Woodward, a few blocks south of Nine Mile.

The officer exited the car and demanded Vic’s sign that was tucked under his arm. When Vic said “No – it’s my sign,” the officer grabbed it and said that if he did not forfeit the sign he would taser Vic.

Finally, Vic let go of the sign and the officer arrested him.

When we asked what he was being arrested for, the officer replied, “Disturbing the peace” (reminding me of A.J. Muste’s line about disturbing the war).

When we asked why he was taking the sign, the officer told us to “shut up” before throwing the sign into his trunk and hauling Vic off to the station. After being arrested, the officer told Vic that he was ordered by his superior to confiscate the sign. Another officer told Vic to “give it up . . . the sixties are over.”

Vic was released only after his wife, Joanne, was able to post a bond of FIVE HUNDRED dollars and was released with only a bond receipt, no ticket or court summons (we were told that the person who handles paper work was off until Wednesday). The National Lawyers’ Guild had already been notified about the no honk directive and have been notified about this incident as well.

Those of us who were with Vic are dumbfounded by this assault on his first amendment rights.

Since when can the police confiscate personal property being carried by someone walking down the street?

[Answer: since a bunch of traitors took over the government and encouraged scum like these criminals in uniform to act like God. In addition to all the other reasons we need our troops home now, we need to them protect us from armed assholes like these and all the others so busy turning us towards a police state.

[Note also that other members of the same police department gave the demonstrators no trouble at all. This order appears to have come down from some piece of shit in command, assisted by ass kissing rats eager to do what he said.

[It would be wise for decent Americans to avoid Ferndale like the plague, either as visitors, or doing any business there of any kind, since no one’s life or property is safe when criminals run a police department and order unoffending citizens to give up their personal private property to a scumbag wearing a uniform, then be threatened with physical violence for verbally objecting, and finally to be arrested for doing nothing more than walking down the street. T]

Why didn’t they say anything during the vigil (too easily seen by passersbys?)?

Can the police threaten to taser an unarmed citizen in order to take his property?

Can one be arrested for having a sense of humor?

As of today, this is the story thus far. Vic is willing to have his story reported in the media. More to follow. Vigil this Monday as usual.

In Solidarity,
Kim Redigan
Dearborn Heights, MI 48127

And Now, For The Ferndale Obscenity Of The Year Award:

“The mission of the Ferndale Police Department is to, ‘Protect the rights of all persons … to be free from criminal attack, to be secure in their possessions, and to live in peace.’ www.ferndale-mi.com/Services/Police/Overview.htm

In case you wish to express a view of all this, here’s the number. No doubt the officer on duty would be delighted to hear from you, and receive your appreciation for helping civilians “be secure in their possessions” and “live in peace.”

Police Desk (248) 541-3650 OR
Michael P. Kitchen, Chief of Police
310 East Nine Mile Road
Ferndale, Michigan, 48220
248-541-3650

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

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. 

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