‘America’s Defense Meltdown’

Check it out.   I am saving to read later when I have more time; you might want to take a look and read it - very up to the minute.

at CDI - Center for Defense Information; newly released to and for President-Elect Barack Obama’s consideration.

         "America's Defense Meltdown"?  (pdf)

What’s in "America's Defense Meltdown" is a new anthology that gives President-elect Obama and Congress direction and will guide the United States back onto the path of an effective defense at a cost a nation in recession can afford.
Author(s): Winslow Wheeler

I haven't watched this video yet either at GRIT TV with Laura Flanders website  - it is where I found the info.

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My ‘morning reads’ are disturbing this morning

Michael Ware, CNN Correspondent, six years in Iraq.  At HuffPo the title is 'Michael Ware's Tortured World; I Am Not the Same F---g Person'...which links to the original article at Men's Journal titled ‘CNN's Prisoner of War'.

Michael Ware speaks to what he has witnessed and experienced.  He speaks to dehumanizing aspect of war, the war in Iraq in truth being now the war in Iran and was since beginning when U.S. troops crossed the Kuwait border, he speaks of  how Obama can bring the troops home and it may be at the expense of mortgaging our foreign policy in the Middle East. 

Read it for yourselves;  a few of excerpts;

"It's my firm belief that we need to constantly jar the sensitivities of the people back home," he says. "War is a jarring experience. Your kids are living it out, and you've inflicted it upon 20-odd million Iraqis. And when your brothers and sons and mates from the football team come home, and they ain't quite the same, you have an obligation to sit for three and a half minutes and share something of what it's like to be there."

It's an obligation now owed to Michael Ware, too.

excerpt from Men's Journal titled ' CNN's Prisoner of War'.

This freedom has helped Ware stay a year in front of conventional wisdom. In 2003, while others were covering the conquest of Baghdad, he talked with Iraqi policemen and soldiers, the men who would become the insurgency. Then in 2004, when Donald Rumsfeld was dismissing these insurgents as "dead-enders," Ware was reporting on their strength after seeing their training camps firsthand. Two years later, Ware was branding the conflict in Iraq a civil war while the Bush administration boasted about the results of Iraq's democratic elections. This year his obsession has been the extent of Iran's influence over the Iraqi government.

"From the moment the first American tanks crossed the Kuwait border, America was in a proxy war with Iran," Ware says. "The Iranians knew it, but it took the U.S. four years to figure it out. Now the Iraqi government is comprised almost entirely of factions created in Iran, supported by Iran, or with ties to the Iranian government — as many as 23 members of the Iraqi parliament are former members of Iran's Revolutionary Guard."

excerpt from Men's Journal titled ' CNN's Prisoner of War'.

As uncomfortable as he is with the idea of his leaving Iraq, if Ware were setting policy, American forces would be in Iraq for a very, very long time. He shudders at the idea of massive American troop withdrawals. Horrific genocide, he predicts; worse than Bosnia. "John McCain said, 'The war's going so well, so why stop now?' I say it's going so badly that we have to pay the price to prevent what's to come."

"The successes in bringing down the violence are undeniable, yet America hasn't been looking at the price to deliver these successes. Obama can bring American kids home tomorrow, but are you willing to mortgage your foreign policy future in that region? Are you willing to walk away from a stronger Iran that is gaining leverage to be a nuclear power? Are you willing to accept your diminished influence in the Middle East? As long as the American public is willing to ante up, then you can bring them home."

excerpt from Men's Journal titled ' CNN's Prisoner of War'.

"Then, for the next 20 minutes," Ware remembers, "all of us just stood around and watched this guy's life slowly ebb away in painful, heaving sobs for air, rendering him absolutely no assistance or aid. If that had been an American soldier, he would have been medevacked out and in 20 minutes would've landed on an operating table. Once an enemy combatant comes into your custody, you're obliged by the Geneva Conventions to render that wounded prisoner all aid. Even I — with my rudimentary medical training, I don't think his life could've been saved — but even I could've eased his passing.
"Instead a towel was laid over his face, making his breathing much more labored and painful, the taunts continued, and we just sat around and watched him die.

"And for some bizarre reason, it was just me and this platoon of soldiers, and I was able to see the dispassion of these kids in the way they just watched his life slip away. I was filming and worrying about the best composition of the shot, and I realized that I too was watching just as dispassionately. There's no blame to be laid here. That guy was a legitimate target who was rightfully shot in the head. But it made me realize, just once more, that this kind of dehumanization is what happens when we send our children to war."

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A few things - Iraq; the mission changes yet again; false counting of decrease violence in Iraq

From another blogger Minstrel Boy who seems to share the focus theme specific to Iraq war.


U.S. excludes bombs in touting drop in Iraq violence "WASHINGTON — U.S. officials who say there has been a dramatic drop in sectarian violence in Iraq since President Bush began sending more American troops into Baghdad aren't counting one of the main killers of Iraqi civilians."

Car bombs and other explosive devices have killed thousands of Iraqis in the past three years, but the administration doesn't include them in the casualty counts it has been citing as evidence that the surge of additional U.S. forces is beginning to defuse tensions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

Air Force Pinched by Iraq Ground War "WASHINGTON — The Air Force's top general expressed frustration on Tuesday with the reassignment of troops under his command to ground jobs for which they were not trained, ranging from guarding prisoners to driving trucks and typing."

Gen. Michael Moseley, the Air Force chief of staff, said that over 20,000 airmen have been assigned worldwide into roles outside their specialties.



ePluribus Media Community This Is Your Brain On Iraq: "Paul Thurman was not supposed to be deployed. His brain had been damaged before he even left Ft. Bragg; a training accident in which a log was dropped on his head. Brain scans showed evidence of lesions. Yet, inexplicably, he was sent to Iraq.

There he sustained a second head trauma; another training accident. An IED simulator went off three feet from his head."

His company sent him to Landstuhl Army Regional Medical Center in Germany, where the doctors, he said, told him he shouldn't have been deployed to Iraq. They forwarded him on to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, where he said he spent "eight hours with the USO ladies eating cookies" before being packed off to Fort Carson. He said he was not examined while at Walter Reed.

Training Iraqi troops no longer driving force in U.S. policy: "WASHINGTON - Military planners have abandoned the idea that standing up Iraqi troops will enable American soldiers to start coming home soon and now believe that U.S. troops will have to defeat the insurgents and secure control of troubled provinces. "

Training Iraqi troops, which had been the cornerstone of the Bush administration's Iraq policy since 2005, has dropped in priority, officials in Baghdad and Washington said.

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I heard the news today -- Iraq

Voices from the Military Families on Iraq

A Letter from a Military Wife My husband has been in the military for four years. He joined for reasons probably very similar to the rest of the people he serves with. We were young, newly married, with a baby on the way. Every time he thought he was going to get a decent job, it ended up being a dead end.

From the wife of an Army Captain: I love my country very much. I love my husband very much. I would not have a problem with my husband being deployed if the premise of the war was just and honorable.

From the mother of an Army Sargent: As one of the small number of Americans who have actually made a great sacrifice for Bush's Iraq war, I write today...

From the mother of a veteran: My son spent a year in Iraq watching his friends get blown to pieces. My son came home. So far more than 3000 of our brave soldiers won't be coming home. Why are our children dying in Iraq?

From the parents of a soldier: The problem isn't a lack of funding to support the troops, as some in Washington want the American public to believe, rather it is a basic disregard for the lives and well being of our loved ones.

From the mother of two soldiers: Every family, with a loved one in Iraq, knows the true meaning of "support the troops". I doubt anyone, who hasn't had to say goodbye, can say they "support the troops" with the same measure of dedication and commitment.

From the Parents of a Marine Reservist: This Government abandoned many of our loved ones not just once by this war of choice but then again by not caring enough to prepare, to demand and to fund the very best healthcare system for those who have answered this country's call to arms and have sacrificed so much.

Letter from a Marine mom: The war that was launched on a lie for no good purpose was conducted with arrogance and funded on the cheap. It has wreaked havoc on the lives, homes, health, and livelihoods of the Iraqi people.

From a gold star mother: My son showed leadership, courage, and a sense of duty no matter the cost by the many letters from his fellow soldiers. These character traits seem to be in short supply on Capital Hill.

From the sister of an Army Medic: I and my family face the daunting task of dealing, on a daily basis, with the worry and fear that we feel as my brother serves in Iraq. He is John Evans, an excellent flight medic with the National Guard, flying in Blackhawk helicopters.

From an Army wife: I sit here tonight watching my husband pack his things. He's getting ready to fly back to Iraq in the morning.

From the sister of an Army soldier: As I type this letter, my brother, a U.S. Army Tank Commander, fights for his life in Ballad, Iraq. I feel guilty when I laugh at something my children have done, or when it's a beautiful day outside.

I am the mother of a Soldier who is now fighting in a war that I and the majority of voters disapprove of. As long as the President has one dime of taxpayer money, he will keep US troops in harms way in Iraq.

From the co-founders of MFSO: We are breaking the code of silence that has historically kept our voices from the public. We are speaking out in support of our loved ones and the loved ones of others by calling for an end to the war in Iraq.

My name is Bonnie McCoy Ernst and i am an army wife. My husband, David Ernst, is currently serving his first tour in Iraq. This recent exetension, as you could imagine, has hit too close to home. David will not be coming home as planned. As I write, I feel the emotion beginning to hit me.

Recommended Viewing

America At a Crossroad-Part 1( A MUST SEE SERIES)

PBS-America At A Crossroad-Please click here to watch the series I am posting this entry today because this is something you should all go and read/watch. It will give you a better understanding of what our American Soldiers are facing on a daily basis being deployed to Iraq to fight for a country that doesn't want us there and are killing our troops on a daily basis. Below is a detailed description of what the show consists of and information about each show aired. America at a Crossroads is a major public television event premiering on PBS in April 2007 that explores the ...

Bill Moyers on Why the Press Bought the Iraq War

The media took the Bush administration's Iraq claims at face value, but it didn't have to. Bill Moyers Journal: "Buying the War" will broadcast on PBS on Wednesday, April 25, 2007 at 9:00 p.m.
(check local listings - www.pbs.org/moyers).

The marketing of the war in Iraq by the administration has been much examined, but a critical question remains: How and why did the press buy it? The new Bill Moyers Journal documentary from PBS explores these very questions.

Bill Moyers and his team piece together the reporting that shows how the media were complicit in shaping the "public mind" toward the war, and ask what's happened to the press's role as skeptical "watchdog" over government power. This segment features the work of some intrepid journalists who didn't take the government's word at face value, including the team of reporters at Knight Ridder news service whose reporting turned up evidence at odds with the official view of reality.

Sundance channel airing two great dvds - one we know about = 'Ground Truth' and if you haven't yet seen 'Sir! No Sir!' then I'd like to recommend it - highly.

http://www.sundancechannel.com/schedule/

On Monday May 7th 2007...there will be an historic night of GI resistance on national television as the Sundance Channel presents the U.S. broadcast premiere of both.


Sir! No Sir!
Monday, May 7
The Sundance Channel
9 pm Eastern
8 pm Central
7 pm Mountain
6 pm Pacific



The Ground Truth
Monday, May 7
The Sundance Channel
10:30 pm Eastern
9:30 pm Central
8:30 pm Mountain
7:30 pm Pacific

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

This is a wonderful chance for millions of people to see these films that, together, link the tremendous movement of American soldiers against the Vietnam war with the growing opposition
among soldiers to the Iraq war today.

Voices from U.S. Labor on Iraq

Despite Baghdad "Security" Plan: increase in assasinations of Iraqis academics

Vermont Senate: Impeach the President

Dems reluctant to oppose Iraq funding

US has lost war in Iraq, says top Democrat

America's dismal debate brings little hope of peace in Iraq

US presses Iraqis on reconciliation plans

RECONSTRUCTION ROADBLOCKS: New Rebuilding Plan in Iraq Ignites Debate About Tactics

Young People and the War in Iraq

IRAN: NEITHER U.S. AGGRESSION NOR THEOCRATIC REPRESSION

Iran and Beyond: Shi'ite vs. Sunni?

Conference Committee Agrees on Iraq War Supplemental Funding

Ex-Halliburton unit accused of war profiteering

3 Suspects Talk After Iraqi Soldiers Do Dirty Work

Training Iraqi troops no longer driving force in U.S. policy

Record of Iraq War Lies to Air This Wednesday, April 25, on PBS

Resolution on Renewal of US Labor Against the War Affiliation and Update of Anti-War Position

The Occupation is Not the Solution, It is the Problem

Four years since the looting of the National Museum

Gates vows US will persevere with Baghdad crackdown

Wednesday: 312 Iraqis, 1 GI Killed; 302 Iraqis Wounded

"They can kill somebody's body, but they can't kill love."

Divide and rule - America's plan for Baghdad

Feingold Introduces Bill To End U.S. Military Involvement In Iraq

Iraqis Finally Unite ­Against the U.S.

Military Families Across U.S. Responding To the Extension of Army War-Zone Stints

Army Cost-Cutting in Budget Standoff May Actually Add to Costs

U.N.: $80 Million Overpaid to Victims of Iraq's Invasion of Kuwait

UN warns of Iraqi refugee crisis

Iraq may hold twice as much oil

Dems Divided over Webb's Proposal Requiring Approval for Attacking Iran

Majority Expect U.S. Will `Lose' War In Iraq

Iraq's Education System Is On the Verge of Collapse

Troop Mobilizations

National Guard (In Federal Status) And Reserve Mobilized As Of April 25, 2007

News Releases are official statements of the Department of Defense.

My Note:All U.S. Army troops to have Extended Deployments. Can you say 'Stop Loss'? Can you say 'Back Door Draft'? Can you say 'Involuntary Military'?

Three Months Tacked Onto All Army Combat Deployments

From VOA: The U.S. Defense Department announced Wednesday that most of the U.S. army troops now in Iraq and Afghanistan and other parts of the Middle East and East Africa will have their assignments extended from 12 months to 15 months, and that the longer tours of duty will apply to soldiers who deploy to the region for the foreseeable future. VOA's Al Pessin reports from the Pentagon the move



Memorials

More soldiers from Fort Lewis killed in Iraq; Memorials at Fort Lewis, Washington state

Memorials

By Ken Swarner on Fort Lewis

FORT LEWIS, Wash. (I Corps Release) -- A memorial ceremony for Cpl. Michael Mathew
Rojas and Cpl. Wade James Oglesby will be held Tuesday, April 24 at 2:30
p.m. in the Main Post Chapel, where they will be remembered by family,
friends, Soldiers and the Fort Lewis community.

Memorial

By Ken Swarner on Fort Lewis

FORT LEWIS, Wash.(I Corps release) -- A memorial ceremony for Sgt. Larry R. Bowman
will be held Thursday, April 19 at 2:30 p.m. in the Main Post Chapel.

More Memorials

9 Fort Bragg Families Told of 82nd Airborne paratroopers deaths in Iraq

Officials at Fort Bragg, N.C., met Tuesday with the families of paratroopers killed a day earlier in Iraq. A truck bomb claimed the lives of nine members of the Army's elite 82nd Airborne Division, based at Fort Bragg.

Wounded Soldiers - Broken VA Medical Care Services

Eight Thousand Soldiers with Traumatic Brain Injuries

Iraq war brain trauma victims turn to private care

Opinion: Proactive Community Needed to Help Troops Reconnect, Reintegrate

From the Spring Grove [MN] Herald: I am watching the growing furor over the shortcomings in the Veterans Administration system and the fallout from Walter Reed Army Hospital with growing alarm. I am concerned that we are going to fix the crisis and forget the problem. The problem is how to help warriors, and their families, successfully reintegrate back into our communities, and their homes

Family 'Respectfully Disagrees' With VA Report on Son's Suicide

From the Associated Press: [Iraq vet Jonathan] Schulze had made at least 40 visits to the VA hospital in Minneapolis, where doctors diagnosed him with post-traumatic stress disorder, the report said. But it said mental health workers at the St. Cloud hospital told investigators Schulze never mentioned suicide to them, and they would have taken it seriously if he had. “The report and story has

U.S. News & World Report: More Evidence That Military Downgrading Disability Ratings

The evidence keeps piling up: U.S. military appears to have dispensed low disability ratings to wounded service members with serious injuries and thus avoided paying them full military disabled retirement benefits. While most recent attention has been paid to substandard conditions and outpatient care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the first stop for many wounded soldiers stateside

Lead Ft. Lewis Army Lawyer: Military Stacks Deck Against PTSD, TBI-injured Troops

Lots of articles, for good reason, coming out on the topic exploring the issue of troops not getting a fair shake when going through their disability claims processing; I recently was asked to contribute some background material on an upcoming piece for the Tacoma News-Tribune. This latest piece, from Military Times, also concerns troops at Washington state's Fort Lewis: The Army disability

Army made video warning about dangers of depleted uranium but never showed it to troops

David Edwards Published: Tuesday February 6, 2007

A special investigation on the effects of depleted uranium reveals the Army made a tape warning of the effects of depleted uranium which was never shown to troops despite the fact the Pentagon knew the agent to be potentially deadly, CNN reports Tuesday.

Depleted uranium -- or DU -- was used in the Gulf War as a projectile that could penetrate tank armor. A group of soldiers are suing the US government because they are sick from exposure; despite the unshown video, the Army denies that depleted uranium represents a serious health risk.

CNN reporter Greg Hunter explains. The soldiers "report similar ailments. Painful urination, headaches and joint pain. They say Army doctors blame their symptoms on post traumatic stress. We showed them a tape the Army made in 1995, a tape the Army never distributed. It warned of potential D.U. hazards. The army's expert on D.U. training concedes some information contained on the tape is true. For instance, radioactive particles can be harmful."

A doctor who once investigated DU for the Army now believes that the health risks are serious.

"In the 1990s this doctor studied D.U. health effects for the U.S. military," Hunter says. "Now a private researcher, he says his own test of these veterans showed abnormally high levels of D.U. this their urine and that those levels pose a serious health threat."

"One doctor... calls it, quote, 'a radiological sewer,'" Hunter adds. "The Army adamantly denies that."



Depleted Uranium: Poisoning Our Planet

Depleted Uranium used in weaponry of U.S. troops - NOT depleted, in fact, radioactive and causes radiation poisoning illnesses. Veteran Activist Dennis Kyne speaks at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon. Link to article and video.

Troop Resistance

Army Raises 2006 Desertion Figure by 1,000

From the Pasadena Weekly: [T]he US Army has revised its count of active duty soldiers who have deserted the military, raising that figure by almost 1,000 for fiscal year 2006 alone. Until the new figures were released on March 23, it had been widely reported that the number of deserters and soldiers absent without leave, or AWOL, had been decreasing since the start of the Iraq War except for a

Politically Speaking

Kucinich introduces impeachment resolution against Cheney

Raw Story reports that late today Dennis Kucinich submitted House Resolution 333 which sets out three "deeply researched" charges against Vice President Dick Cheney. The articles of impeachment and supporting documents are on Kucinich's site. Here's the transcript of his press conference in a Washington Post article.

House Set to Vote on Compromise War-Funds Bill

Gen. David Petraeus visits Capitol Hill Wednesday as the House of Representatives prepares to vote on a measure that will directly affect his mission in Iraq. The bill would both fund the war and set a timetable for U.S. withdrawal.

Bush Repeats Threat to Veto Iraq Spending Bill

Speaking at the White House, President Bush repeats his threat to veto an Iraq war spending bill that includes a timetable for the withdrawal of United States troops from Iraq. Congressional Democrats agreed Monday to a bill that would require troops to begin leaving Iraq on Oct. 1.

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