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

Veteran’s Day Night

From: Dennis Serdel
To: GI Special
Sent: October 18, 2006
Subject: Veteran’s Day Night

By Dennis Serdel, Vietnam 1967-68 (one tour) Light Infantry, Americal Div. 11th Brigade, purple heart, Veterans For Peace, Vietnam Veterans Against The War, United Auto Workers GM Retiree, in Perry, Michigan

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

Veteran’s Day Night

Art’s Division suffered extremely heavy casualties in Vietnam.
On Veteran’s Day night, Art felt the ghosts in the room with him,
sometimes he would see a face of smoke
and a shadow with no legs,
just dried black blood and white bones.
Art would try to wipe the dead tears
from the soldier’s eyes
but then Art would begin to cry uncontrollably.
A doctor he once had told Art
he was emotionally disturbed.
Then another ghost appeared like green jungle mist,
his helmet and M-60 machine-gun lay at his boots,
a hole in his forehead had dripped black blood
and dried upon his face.
Art arose from his chair but walked like a drunk,
when he stopped and looked at the floor
it was Wall to Wall black body bags
and he was walking on the dead.
Part of Art died too in Vietnam,
he tried to care about nothing
because you don’t hurt that way.
But another ghost appeared with sad eyes
and Art began to cry again.
Art heard the thumping of mortar rounds
and then the explosions
and he raised his head to the black sky
and cried, “Kill me!”
He heard the pin being pulled on a hand grenade,
the “carpet bombing” by B-52's.
When he fell to the floor in exhaustion,
a white hazed Korean war soldier sat on the floor,
his back against the wall, frozen in time
with his black blood throat cut.
A WWII soldier stood in front of Art,
his head blown off leaving his black blood neck.
Art felt someone behind him
and when he turned around
there were two Iraq soldiers with dried
black blood faces blown off by IED’s.
A member of Veterans For Peace
had heard about Art from another
in the Veteran’s Day Parade.
He knocked on Art’s dark door that night
and when Art opened the door in fear,
the VFP looked at his condition and said,
“You can not live this way anymore.
Come with me my brother
and join us to abolish war forever.”
Art reached out and touched his hand
and it was warm and he walked through
that door and felt some sort of peace
stir inside him for the first time
since coming back from the man made war.

Do you have a friend or relative in the service? Forward GI Special 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 or write to: The Military Project, Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

Fighting Kills 11 U.S. Troops;
Bush Says Drive On

October 18, 2006 By Steven R. Hurst, Associated Press

BAGHDAD, Iraq: Eleven more U.S. troops were slain in combat, the military said Wednesday, putting October on track to be the deadliest month for U.S. forces since the siege of Fallujah nearly two years ago.

With Iraq becoming an increasing issue in the Nov. 7 midterm elections in the United States, the White House spokesman was asked if the rising toll would cause Bush to alter course.

“No, his strategy is to win,” spokesman Tony Snow said.

Four Baghdad Soldiers Killed By IED

18 October 2006 Multi National Corps Iraq Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory RELEASE No. 20061018-02

BAGHDAD: Four Multi-National Division Baghdad Soldiers were killed at approximately 6:50 a.m. Oct. 17 when the vehicle they were riding in was struck by an improvised-explosive device west of Baghdad.

Three Task Force Lightning Soldiers Die, One Wounded In Diyala Province

18 October 2006 Multi National Corps Iraq Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory RELEASE No. 20061018-01

TIKRIT, Iraq: Three Task Force Lightning Soldiers assigned to 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, were killed and one was wounded Oct. 17 as a result of enemy action while conducting operations in Diyala Province.

Texas Soldier Dies Of 9.26 Wounds

U.S., Army Pfc. Thomas J. Hewett, 22, of Temple, Texas died Oct. 13, 2006 at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, from injuries sustained when a bomb exploded near his vehicle on Sept. 26 in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP Photo/Family photo via the Temple Daily Telegram)

Baghdad Soldier Killed By Small-Arms Fire

18 October 2006 Multi National Corps Iraq Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory RELEASE No. 20061018-04

BAGHDAD: A Multi-National Division – Baghdad Soldier died at approximately 9:30 a.m. Tuesday when terrorists attacked his patrol with small-arms fire in northern Baghdad.

Another Baghdad Soldier Killed By Small-Arms Fire

18 October 2006 Multi National Corps Iraq Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory RELEASE No. 20061018-07

BAGHDAD: A Multi-National Division Baghdad Soldier died at approximately 12:33 p.m. today after terrorists attacked his patrol with small-arms fire south of Baghdad.

Baghdad Soldier Killed By IED

18 October 2006 Multi National Corps Iraq Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory RELEASE No. 20061018-05

BAGHDAD: A Multi-National Division Baghdad Soldier was killed at approximately 1:10 p.m. Oct. 17 when the vehicle he was riding in was struck by an improvised-explosive device north of Baghdad.

Marine Killed In Western Iraq

18 October 2006 Multi National Corps Iraq Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory RELEASE No. 20061018-03

CAMP FALLUJAH, Iraq: One Marine assigned to Regimental Combat Team 7 died Oct. 17 from wounds sustained due to enemy action while operating in Al Anbar Province.

Vancouver Soldier Killed In Iraq

October 18, 2006 By DAVID KROUGH, kgw.com Staff

VANCOUVER, Wash.: Vancouver soldier Ron Paulson died in Iraq, the Army said Wednesday.

The Army Reserve office in Vancouver said Paulson was with a civil affairs unit.

Marine From Falls Succumbs To Wounds

October 13, 2006 Akron Beacon Journal

Marine Sgt. Justin Walsh, a 2001 graduate of Cuyahoga Falls High School, has died of injuries suffered in Iraq while defusing a roadside bomb.

The 24-year-old, red-haired Marine, serving his third tour in Iraq, was wounded Oct. 4 and died Wednesday at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., his father, Jim Walsh, said.

Sgt. Walsh was an explosive ordnance disposal technician who defused roadside bombs and mines, his father said.

He was wounded when an improvised explosive device exploded while he was defusing another roadside bomb.

He was treated in Iraq and Germany before being transferred to Maryland, where he died about 3 a.m. Wednesday, said his father, who lives in Mantua in Portage County.

He is also the son of Terri Walsh of North Benton and has a brother, James Walsh II, and sister, Heather Marie Walsh.

Cuyahoga Falls Mayor Don Robart said the city received confirmation of the Marine’s death Thursday and lowered flags at City Hall to half-staff.

Cuyahoga Falls High School posted a memorial to Walsh on its Web site. In high school, Walsh played football and wrestled. He belonged to the Student Council, Latin Club, National Honor Society and Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Walsh is the fifth serviceman with ties to Cuyahoga Falls to die in Iraq, Robart said.

The loss of so many sons, brothers and fathers of Cuyahoga Falls ‘takes a toll,’ Robart said.

Walsh’s father said his son was proud to be a Marine. ‘He loved his country’ and loved working with explosive ordnance, his father said.

The father, a Vietnam era Army veteran who served with the 82nd Airborne, praised the medical team that worked with his son. ‘The medical staff did a wonderful job,’ he said. ‘At least he died in this country.’

Walsh was with the 2nd Marine Division and was involved in the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

His brother, James, 26, of Stow, said his brother, in working with an explosive ordnance disposal unit, ‘felt if he could save some Marines’ lives by doing it, he would do it.’

He said Justin ‘took his job very seriously, but as far as life went, he enjoyed life. He lived in the moment. He never knew how long he would be here because of the occupation he had.’

He also said his brother ‘touched so many people’s lives’ in his 24 years.

Falls High School Principal Nick Valentine said Walsh’s death hits home ‘because we send so many kids off to the armed services now, and all of us realize the odds of this happening are getting greater not lesser.’

Walsh’s death, he said, ‘makes you reflect and understand a little bit better that the impact of the war is on all of us.’

Greg Roth, a social studies teacher at Falls High who was Walsh’s Advanced Placement U.S. History teacher, said Justin had talked about going into the Marines from the time he was a freshman.

He said Walsh had a great sense of humor but a serious side as well. ‘He seemed to know what was important and what wasn’t,’ Roth said. ‘You’re talking about a fantastic young man — and I would have told you that two months ago, as well.’

Don Ross, now an assistant superintendent in Stow, was Walsh’s head football coach for four years at Falls High. He called Walsh ‘extremely hard-working.’ He said Walsh, an offensive and defensive lineman, ‘wasn’t your biggest lineman’ but he made up for the lack of size, ‘with hustle. He always had a tremendous attitude and always had a smile on his face. He was a great kid.’

Ross said as a football coach, ‘you don’t remember all your players, but he was one of those players that you always remember.’

Brian Yelling, 40, a medical equipment technician from Cuyahoga Falls, had known Walsh for only a year, but said he ‘had every opportunity to do other things in his life, and he chose to do this. There aren’t many kids who want to be a bomb specialist, especially with the Marines.’

Even as he and his family are preparing for the funeral of his son, Jim Walsh said Americans should not just think of those who have died in the war but remember that thousands are being wounded as well.

‘A lot of them don’t have arms or legs,’ he said. ‘We shouldn’t forget those who have been wounded.’

And, he said, Americans must remember that a war is still under way.

‘This is a war,’ he said. ‘People die in war.’

He said the family is making plans for calling hours and a funeral next week at Shoemaker funeral home on Front Street in Cuyahoga Falls, followed by burial later at Arlington National Cemetery.

Prattville Soldier Is Killed In Iraq

October 18. 2006 The Associated Press

Family and friends are mourning the death of an Alabama soldier from Prattville. Army officials report that 19-year-old Private Stephen Bicknell, a member of the 82nd Airborne Division, was killed Sunday in Iraq when the Humvee he was driving was struck by an improvised explosive device.

Bicknell was a 2005 graduate of Prattville High School and a standout football player for the Lions. He is survived by his wife, Miranda Barrett Bicknell, who is five months pregnant.

Funeral arrangements have not been announced yet. Bicknell had been in the Army about six months.

He is the second soldier from Prattville to die in Iraq in the past four months. Army Sgt. Carlos Pernell was killed June sixth in a mortar attack in Baghdad.

First Promoted, Then Mourned

Army Sgt. Brandon S. Asbury, 21, who grew up in Tazewell, Va., died in Baghdad on Saturday. (Family Photo)

October 12, 2006 By Nick Miroff, Washington Post Staff Writer

Brandon S. Asbury called his father from Iraq on Friday with good news: He’d been promoted to sergeant. Asbury had been in the Army for only 24 months, but the other sergeants on the board were very impressed.

“I told him I was very proud of him,” said his father, Walter Asbury, a sergeant in the Virginia National Guard. “I said he’d probably reach a higher rank than I do.”

But Asbury, 21, was killed the next day. According to a Department of Defense announcement, Asbury died in Baghdad after his unit — the 4th Support Battalion, 1st Brigade, 4th Infantry Division — came under small-arms fire. Family members said he was struck in the head by sniper fire while setting up a roadside checkpoint.

Asbury grew up in Tazewell, Va., in the Blue Ridge Mountains 130 miles west of Roanoke. At Tazewell High School, he played drums in the marching band and was elected grand marshal, or homecoming king, his senior year. He went straight into basic training after graduation, said his father, who is a 20-year veteran of the Virginia Guard.

Last December, a few months after he completed training at Fort Hood, Tex., the younger Asbury was sent to Iraq’s Anbar Province, the country’s most dangerous. “I was worried about him,” said his father, who had spent 13 months in Iraq, ending last year. “I was in Mosul, and we took a lot of mortars and small-arms fire, but it wasn’t as bad as where he went. He was in the worst part of Iraq.”

Asbury said that his son “was a model person who never did anything halfway” and that he enjoyed his missions in Iraq, however risky. “He was a loving person,” Asbury said. “I never heard a cruel word out of his mouth.”

Family members remembered Brandon Asbury as a joker with a knack for physical comedy, “like Jerry Lewis,” his older sister said.

“He’d make you laugh so hard that you cried,” said the sister, Kelly Perdue. “You’d bust your sides laughing at him.”

One costume of Asbury’s featured plastic teeth, a mullet wig and a trucker’s cap that read “Gooder than Snuff,” and Asbury would use the phrase to lighten even the dreariest situation. When Army cooks would ask him if he liked the chow, Asbury would answer, “Gooder than snuff,” Perdue said.

“He was one of the funniest people I’ve ever met in my life,” said Jason Perdue, his brother-in-law, with whom he enjoyed camping, hunting and fishing. Asbury also loved NASCAR and the Green Bay Packers, Perdue said.

War, and the combat deaths of fellow soldiers from his unit, didn’t dampen his humor, “even when he called from Iraq, even in the worst situations,” Perdue remembered. “We were so worried, but he’d say, ‘I’ll be fine, just take care of everybody at home.’ “

His mother, Diane Alberts, spent yesterday preparing for the drive from her home in North Carolina to Texas for a memorial service. Asbury’s wife, Sherri, and her three children live near Fort Hood, where Asbury’s unit was based.

“He always tried to make everybody happy,” Alberts said. “He wanted to do everything for everybody and make their lives easier.”

U.S. Patrol Attacked In Ghadeer;
Casualties Not Announced

Oct 18 (VOI)

A U.S. vehicle patrol was attacked on Wednesday with an explosive charge blast in central Baghdad, an Iraqi police source said.

“An explosive charge planted in a main road in Ghadeer neighborhood, central Baghdad, went off at a U.S. vehicle patrol,” the source who declined to be named told the independent news agency Voices of Iraq (VOI).

The explosion set fire to two civilians cars and the U.S. forces cordoned off the area. The source did not report any casualties

FATAL PLACE TO BE:
BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW

10.4.06: US officer briefs his troops before a patrol in east Baghdad. (AFP/File/Dave Clark)

British Mercenary Killed In Baghdad

18 October 2006 BBC

A 26-year-old security guard from Rhondda in south Wales has been killed by a roadside bomb in Iraq.

Former Army commando Christopher Butcher from Tylorstown, died while protecting passengers in a convoy of vehicles in Baghdad.

Mr Butcher was in the lead vehicle when the bomb exploded, killing him and a passenger.

Mr Butcher was carrying out duties for Aegis Defence Services, a private security firm, when he was killed on 11 October.

U.S. Mercenary Injured In Iraq

10/18/2006

There is new information on the former White River Sheriff injured in Iraq.

Tate Mallory has been upgraded to critical-stable, he told his brother over the phone. Mallory was working with the military because of his law-enforcement background to help train Iraqi police officers.

Family members say a grenade explosion hit him in the chest and stomach.

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Civilians Slaughtered By Two Occupation Airstrikes:
“The Purpose Of The Operation Was To Detain People”
[Women, Kids “Detained” In Small Pieces]

October 18, 2006 AFP & By Noor Khan, Associated Press

Eight Afghan civilians have been killed and nine wounded in a late-night NATO airstrike targeting militants in a village in southern Afghanistan.

The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force in Kabul confirmed that the attack in the Zhari area of Kandahar province late Tuesday was believed to have killed civilians, but could not say how many.

“Eight civilians have died and nine others were injured in that attack in Zhari,” Kandahar governor Asadullah Khalid told a press conference.

The dead included women and children, Khalid said, adding that the strike had targeted three compounds in the district which is just west of the main city in the south, Kandahar.

ISAF said the purpose of the Tuesday operation was to detain people involved in recent bomb blasts in Panjwayi which was the focus of last month’s offensive, called Medusa.

Also on Wednesday, a rocket hit a house during a nighttime clash between suspected Taliban insurgents and NATO and Afghan security forces in Helmand province’s Grishk district, 135 miles west of Kandahar city, police said.

A resident said 13 villagers, including women and children, died.

Abdul Rehman, a resident in the village contacted by phone, said a rocket fired from an aircraft hit a home, killing 13 people inside.

Rehman said that relatives of the dead told him all those inside the dried mud house — five women, five children, three men — were killed, including the house’s owner, Nabi Khel.

He said the bodies had been retrieved from the ruins of the five-room house. He said police were at the house and were only allowing relatives of the dead access to it.

About 100 families live in Tajikai, a farming village in Helmand’s Grishk district.

Assorted Resistance Action

16 Oct 2006 (IRIN) & Oct 17 By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer & October 18, 2006 Radio Free Europe

Suspected Taliban militants destroyed an oil tanker transporting fuel for NATO-led peacekeepers and killed its driver in southern Kandahar province’s Spin Boldak district, said Gen. Abdul Raziq, a border police official.

Earlier this month, local education ministry officials in southern Afghanistan told IRIN that some 330 mixed schools had been closed in the provinces of Kandahar, Zabul, and Helmand alone, due to fear of attacks and threats from Taliban militants.

Militants attacked a convoy in the Kamdesh area of Nuristan near the Pakistani border, destroying one vehicle.

Batting 1.000:
British General Says Imperial Idiots In DC Fucked Up Afghanistan Too

10.18.06 Washington Times

British Gen. David Richards, commander of allied forces in Afghanistan, said his U.S. predecessors moved too quickly from the 2001 invasion to a “peacetime approach” that let the Taliban regroup and state a counter-offensive this year in southern provinces.

TROOP NEWS

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

The burial service for Sgt. Mario Nelson at Long Island National Cemetery in Farmingdale, N.Y. Oct. 14, 2006 . Nelson, 26, a National Guardsman who worked in search and recovery efforts at the World Trade Center site after the Sept. 11th attacks was killed in Iraq on Sunday Oct. 1, 2006. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)

Slovakia To Pull Troops From Iraq In February

18 Oct 2006 By Ibon Villelabeitia, Reuters

BRATISLAVA: The Slovak government agreed on Wednesday to pull its soldiers from Iraq in February, joining several other European Union nations that have withdrawn troops from the country following a government change.

Slovakia was a staunch supporter of the U.S.-led military campaign in Iraq under the centre-right government of Prime Minister Mikulas Dzurinda.

He lost power in a June election and the new leftist administration of Prime Minister Robert Fico has long opposed Slovakia’s presence in Iraq.

Fico campaigned hard in the election on a pledge to bring troops home as soon as possible.

Slovakia has 110 army engineers and security personnel in Iraq.

“Slovak soldiers can start packing their stuff, because they have to be home in February 2007,” Fico told journalists after a regular government meeting. “With this, the government is fulfilling its promise.”

Fico had originally pledged to withdraw the soldiers immediately after he took power, but subsequently allowed the engineers to serve one more six-month term.

Slovakia will leave 11 personnel in Iraq, mainly serving as instructors in a NATO training mission.

Rumsfeld Calling Up Marine Reserves For Second Deployment To Bush’s Imperial Slaughterhouse

[Thanks to Pham Binh, Traveling Soldier, who sent this in.]

October 18, 2006 By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has approved an unannounced Marine Corps plan to recall to active duty and send back to Iraq at least some Marine Reserve combat battalions that have already served one tour there, officials said Wednesday.

This would be the first time that reserve combat battalions – units of several hundred troops each – would be sent to Iraq for a second tour, although other types of reserve units and many active-duty units have done multiple tours.

The return of Marine Reserve combat battalions to Iraq would begin in 2008, according to a senior Marine officer who discussed the subject on condition that he not be identified because no official announcement has been made. Thus, the first picked to go back probably would be remobilized next year in order to train for the mission.

Rumsfeld on Tuesday verbally approved to the plan, which was put forward by Gen. Michael Hagee, the Marine commandant, according to Lt. Col. Scott Fazekas, a Marine Corps spokesman. Fazekas said that Gen. Peter Pace, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, approved the plan in September.

The Marines have decided to take this unexpected step in order to alleviate a problem that both the Marines and the Army are wrestling with as the Iraq war rages on unabated: wear-and-tear on the active-duty troops, who are getting far less time at home to recuperate and retrain than military leaders would like.

Those short respites between combat tours are not only a morale issue but also an obstacle to providing soldiers and Marines with sufficiently varied training and adequate time to attend professional development schools.

To increase the amount of time between deployments, the Marines have decided to make more use of their reserve combat battalions, of which there are nine. The main restriction the Marine Corps faces is a 24-month limit on the amount of time a reservist can be mobilized, so those who were on active duty for more than 12 months the first time will not be remobilized, since the planned mobilizations would be for 12 months, Fazekas said.

He said officials would examine which battalion is best prepared for a second combat tour, based on the number of Marine reserves in its ranks who are still eligible for mobilization, the condition of the unit’s equipment, the state of its training and other factors.

The Marines have 24 active-duty combat battalions. At any given time, nine of them are in Iraq.

Worthless But “Passionate” Sack Of Shit General Pace Goes All Out To Kiss Ass

10.16.06 Christian Science Monitor

Gen. Peter Pace offered a passionate argument for the U.S. military’s mission in Iraq, stressed the nation’s capacity to handle a threat from North Korea, and defended his performance as America’s top military officer.

Assholes Kept Innocent Man Locked Up 4 Years At Guantanamo

10.18.06 New York Times

Germany said it found no proof that a Turkish-German man held for four years at Guantanamo had ties to a terrorist group. Murat Kurnaz was released in August and returned to his home in Bremen.

Wow!
All Heart!!

10.18.06 Los Angeles Times

Victor Aguirre arrested last month on suspicion of deserting from the Marine Corps in 1966 has been given an other-than-honorable discharge and released. [Fair is fair. That gives us 40 years to arrest the murderous idiots who brought on the Iraq war.]

IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP

Get The Message?
“They Simply Hate These Troops”

An Iraqi displays the victory sign next to a burning British military SUV in Basra. (AFP/Essam Al-Sudani)

[Thanks to David Honish, Veterans, who sent this in.]

Oct 13 (Reuters)

Iraq government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said U.S. and British troops were still needed.

In Basra locals told Reuters they agreed it was time for them to go. “In the last three years, people started to look at these troops in a different way. They simply hate these troops,” said teacher Fatima Ahmed, 35.

Iraq PM Orders US Occupation Command To Release Anti-Occupation Political Leader

Supporters of Moqtada al-Sadr march during a demonstration in Baghdad October 18, 2006 demanding the release of an aide arrested without charges or arrest warrant by U.S. forces on Tuesday. REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani (IRAQ)

2006/10/18 BBC NEWS & (Reuters)

Iraqi prime minister Nouri Maliki has ordered the release of a senior figure in the organisation headed by Moqtada Sadr.

“He has been released at the request of the government of Iraq,” Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver, a spokesman for the U.S. military, told Reuters.

Garver said Saedi had been detained in security operations U.S. forces are conducting in Baghdad.

He would not say if Saedi, who heads Sadr’s office in the Baghdad neighbourhood of Shula, had been detained on suspicion of any particular crime.

“At this point we are not making more comments,” he said.

“The two governments have been discussing the issue.”

The man, Sheikh Mazin Saedi, had been detained by American troops in the Iraqi capital Baghdad on Tuesday.

Protesters marched in Baghdad on Wednesday calling for his release, the Associated Press reported.

The United States military declined to identify individuals it had recently detained.

But it said it had captured “the alleged leader of a murder and kidnapping cell” in east Baghdad.

The announcement of Mr Saedi’s release came shortly after Mr Maliki held talks in the city of Najaf with Moqtada Sadr and the most senior Shia cleric in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Mr Sadr’s office said the detained man was a local leader of his political organisation.

Asked about the arrest of Saedi and his later release by the Americans, Maliki was vague in his answers.

“We are trying to find political solutions for all crises and that will terminate all detentions and all tension so that things go back to normal,” he told a news conference, standing with Sadr.

Assorted Resistance Action

Oct 18 AP & (VOI) &

A roadside bomb killed a provincial police intelligence chief in southern Iraq early Wednesday, police said.

The bomb planted on the main highway between the cities of Amarah and Basra killed Ali Qassim al-Tamimi, head of intelligence for the Maysan provincial police force, along with four bodyguards, Maysan police Capt. Hussein Karim said.

On the outskirts of Baghdad, two fuel trucks were attacked and burned.

Guerrillas shot dead on Wednesday morning the police captain Imad Abbas in Baladiyat neighborhood, east of Baghdad and shot dead an Iraqi police officer in eastern Baghdad

A policeman was killed on Wednesday when a bomber detonated an explosives-rigged-car Wednesday 10:00 am (Baghdad local time) targeting the Higher Education ministry building downtown.

The explosion slightly damaged the building and set fire to two civilian cars parked nearby, the source added.

Police found the body of a police officer shot dead in an area between Kerbala and Hilla, 100 km (62 miles) south of Baghdad, police said.

A roadside bomb killed an Iraqi soldier and wounded two others on Tuesday in Baghdad’s western Yarmouk district, an Interior Ministry source said.

Gunmen shot dead a policeman as he was leaving his house in the town of Suwayra, 40 km (25 miles) south of Baghdad.

Gunmen killed a policeman in Falluja, 50 km (35 miles) west of Baghdad.

Three Iraqi soldiers were killed and three others were wounded in a roadside bomb planted on the Kirkuk-Riyadh road south-west of Kirkuk.

An Iraqi police source in Kirkuk told KUNA three soldiers were killed and three others were wounded when their patrol was struck by an improvised-explosive device south-west of Kirkuk.

IF YOU DON’T LIKE THE RESISTANCE
END THE OCCUPATION

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

“Hundreds Or Thousands Of Soldiers Lost Confidence In Their Leaders”

Dave Blakeslee, Pomoxian [Excerpts]

Last night I went to see a documentary titled “Sir No Sir!”

It’s a new film that’s making the rounds in art houses and alternative cinemas across the country, telling the story of how resistance from active-duty soldiers in the Vietnam War had a profound impact on changing US policy and eventually bringing the conflict to an end.

It’s a pretty amazing collection of footage, featuring both original sources from the 60's and 70's along with interviews from more recent years of some of those same men and women who we see protesting and sometimes going to the brig for their active resistance to their superior officers.

Some interesting points that stick with me that I hadn’t really grasped until watching the film: Just how wide-spread insubordination apparently became in the peak years of the Vietnam War, when hundreds or thousands of soldiers lost confidence in their leaders and seriously questioned the morality and effectiveness of what they were being ordered to do.

In the Cambodia invasions that Nixon ordered, there were entire units of soldiers who basically refused to follow orders, flat out.

There were some major uprisings of imprisoned troops, over half a million cases of “desertion” reported by the Armed Forces throughout the war and a widespread “underground newspaper” phenomenon where soldiers developed their own alternative press to get their insights and experiences to people both inside and outside of the military.

The film also had a little sidebar on the “urban legend” (my word, not theirs) of Vietnam soldiers getting spit on and called “baby killers” when they returned to the States. A researcher looked into how this story apparently planted itself in the popular consciousness years after the war had ended, reinforced by movies like “Rambo” and “Hamburger Hill” who had an agenda of “re-legitimizing” US policy in Vietnam during the 80's and in subsequent years.

No reports from the times when soldiers were coming back from their tours of duty could be found to verify the archetypal story of a girl wearing love beads spitting on a vet as he walked across the tarmac at the San Francisco airport.

The larger point behind all this is that some serious historic revisionism has been employed by the “hawks” to undo the damage that they felt was done to their ability to convince the American public that war is a necessary and preferable option when they want to employ that tool to advance their policy objectives.

Speaking of Iraq, after the showing, we got to listen to a Q & A session featuring a Vietnam vet (Marines) who edited one of those underground papers and an Iraq vet (National Guard) who served a year as a driver between Baghdad and Falluja.

It was fascinating to hear their reports, clarifying the similarities and differences between the two wars.

Even with clear improvements by the military command structure in managing the potential negative effects of unfiltered information, the Iraq vet reported that there is a wide range of thoughts and opinions among those serving in Iraq, which mainly cuts along generational lines.

Older personnel tend to be more earnest in their support for Bush’s policies, while younger troops tend to feel exploited and cynical, wanting to just complete their duties, get home safely and get on with their lives.

He described himself as coming from a very patriotic family, about as conservative a Republican guy as you could ever expect to meet in this area (and that’s very conservative folks!) who voted for Bush in 2000, but whose opinions on American foreign policy and the legitimacy of our involvement in Iraq changed drastically once he got over there and saw what was happening.

He was very unaffected in his delivery, just a guy speaking his conscience who was fairly “pestered” into speaking last night by one of his friends who helped to organize the showing of this film.

Overall, I found the comments of the two vets quite inspiring – it helps to reinvigorate my own thinking about what I can do to end the war and hopefully prevent us from getting into similar or worse fiascoes in the future.

I’m not sure when or if the movie will get broad distribution. It’s only showing in limited viewings as you can see on the website.

But the website does a good job of telling some of the story as well. I encourage you to spend a bit of time there if what I’ve said here captures your attention.

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

The Sir! No Sir! DVD is on sale now, exclusively at www.sirnosir.com.

Also available will be a Soundtrack CD (which includes the entire song from the FTA Show, “Soldier We Love You”), theatrical posters, tee shirts, and the DVD of “A Night of Ferocious Joy,” a film about the first hip-hop antiwar concert against the “War on Terror.”

Chief House Repub On National Security: “Hit The Road, Rummy—”

From: Don Bacon; smedleybutlersociety@msn.com
To: GI Special
Sent: October 13, 2006

—”go make your mistakes somewhere else.”

Congressman Christopher Shays (R-CT), Chairman of the Subcommittee on National Security, Emerging Threats and International Relations, this week provided observations and recommendations from his 14th oversight trip to Iraq to the Administration, Congressional colleagues and various foreign policy thought leaders, including the Iraq Study Group.

An extract from of Shays’ letter detailing his observations and recommendations:

Observation: The Department of Defense is locked in to defending a policy based on a number of serious mistakes. These mistakes have damaged the effort to achieve our goals in Iraq. Additionally, the Department has been reluctant to provide adequate statistics and readiness assessments for Iraqi Security Forces to Members of Congress and the Government Accountability Office.

Recommendation: Serious consideration should be given to bringing in a new team to lead the Department of Defense. (October 3, 2006, Congressman Shays’ website)

LIAR
TRAITOR
TROOP-KILLER
DOMESTIC ENEMY
UNFIT FOR COMMAND

Lo.redjupiter.com/images

What do you think? Comments from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Send to contact@militaryproject.org or write to: The Military Project, Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657. Name, I.D., withheld on request. Replies confidential.

OCCUPATION REPORT

U.S. Reporters Punished By Filth In Command For Telling The Truth;
They Reprimanded A Captain For Being Honest

[How do you known when a war is lost? When the assholes in command can’t stand reality. T]

October 15, 2006 AP

BAGHDAD: The number of embedded journalists reporting alongside U.S. troops in Iraq has dropped to its lowest level of the war even as the conflict heats up on the streets of Baghdad and in the U.S. political campaign.

Local commanders have final say on whether to accept an embed. Getting accepted by a commander into a hot spot like Ramadi, Haditha or Tal Afar can be difficult.

They are subject to being kicked out if the commander finds a story inappropriate, and there is no appeal.

After a story last year that painted an unflattering but accurate picture of violence and conditions in Fallujah, one Marine public affairs officer said he was not approving any more embeds to that city.

In another case, Associated Press correspondent Todd Pitman, who reported this year from Ramadi, said he was ordered by a colonel to pack his bags after writing about tricks that insurgents use.

“One of the colonel’s intelligence advisers advised him that I hadn’t given away anything the insurgents didn’t already know, so the colonel changed his mind and let me stay,” Pitman said.

Antonio Castaneda, who reported from 30 Marine and Army battalions over an 18-month assignment for the AP, had a similar experience. He wrote in April about families fleeing violence in Dora, a Baghdad neighborhood where Sunni-Shiite tension runs high.

“The day after the Dora story was printed, I was visited by a soldier who delivered the message that my coverage was disproportionately negative,” Castaneda said.

Castaneda’s requests for more embeds in the Baghdad area were ignored until a senior U.S. officer interceded.

On his next assignment, Castaneda quoted an Army captain as saying radical Shiite leader Muqtada al-Sadr appeared more popular than Iraqi authorities in one Shiite neighborhood.

He later learned that the captain had been reprimanded for the remark.

OCCUPATION PALESTINE/LEBANON

THERE IS A LIMIT!

From: Don Bacon; smedleybutlersociety@msn.com
To: GI Special
Sent: October 17, 2006
Subject: THERE IS A LIMIT!

Yesh Gvul (”There is a limit!”) (www.yeshgvul.org/index_e.asp) is an Israeli peace group campaigning against the occupation by backing soldiers who refuse duties of a repressive or aggressive nature.

The brutal role of the Israeli army in subjugating the Palestinian population places numerous servicemen in a grave moral and political dilemma, as they are required to enforce policies they deem illegal, immoral and ultimately harmful to Israeli interests.

The army hierarchy demands compliance, but many soldiers, whether conscripts or reservists, find that they cannot in good conscience obey the orders of their superiors.

“We, candidates for service and soldiers in the IDF, men and women, as responsible citizens, hereby declare that we will take no part in the continued oppression of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories, and we will not participate in policing actions or in guarding the settlements.”

Yesh Gvul arose in response to the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, as growing numbers of soldiers grasped that the campaign, with its bloodshed and havoc, was an act of naked and futile aggression in which they wanted no part.

168 servicemen were jailed, some repeatedly, for refusing to serve in the campaign: the actual number of refusals was far greater, but their rising numbers deterred the army from prosecuting most of the refuseniks. The first Palestinian intifada in 1987 likewise prompted further refusals, with close on 200 jailed, though the army again backed down from jailing many of the recalcitrant soldiers, indicating that refusals were significantly more numerous.

A notably high ratio of refuseniks are combat officers (ranking from sergeant to major) i.e. soldiers who have served with distinction.

Who’s in prison?

According to the website, eleven Israel Defense Forces soldiers have been jailed this year on charges including mostly refusal to serve in the occupied territories. Thirteen were imprisoned last year and twenty five in 2004, according to Yesh Gvul. Generally they serve less than a month in prison.

The site includes running updates on 18-year-olds who refuse to serve.

[To check out what life is like under a murderous military occupation by foreign terrorists, go to: www.rafahtoday.org The occupied nation is Palestine. The foreign terrorists call themselves “Israeli.”]

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

[Thanks to David Honish, Veteran, who sent this in.]

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

Bush Claims Entire Universe For U.S. Empire

10.18.06 Washington Post

President Bush signed a new National Space Policy that rejects future arms-control agreements that might limit U.S. flexibility in space and asserts a right to deny access to space to anyone “hostile to U.S. interests.”

SATAN

“ The marines that I have had wounded over the past five months have been attacked by a faceless enemy. But the enemy has got a face. He’s called Satan.” US Marine Colonel Gareth Brandl. (AFP Photo/Paul J. Richards)

Received:

Where To Find Casualty Reports

From: BW
To: GI Special
Sent: October 18, 2006
Subject: right on

I’m glad I found your site. Nothing like overwhelming proof to display the facts of what this costs men, women, their families and communities.

I’m still looking for a site that has the month to month death and injury numbers per month, the rate, and totals for each category.

American’s love big numbers and I can’t stand the fact they are hidden from people who deny this activity is murder.

Keep up the good work, Information consolidation is a vital key to make the impact of each person overwhelming.

REPLY:

Thanks for your encouragement. If you wish, GI Special can be sent directly to you as issued, by Word or PDF.

To get the information you’re looking for, the best source is icasualties.org/oif/ Thanks to JP for recommending it.

This source is well respected and often quoted in the major press. The tabs up top provide additional information, as do a number down through the front page.

Solidarity, T

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

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