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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Reflecting on this day of milestone marker 3,000 US military deaths in Iraq - Who else has seen Vietnam Wall Memorial in DC

Who else has seen the actual Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC? I have, in DC, and the replica Vietnam Wall at the state capitol in Olympia, and the traveling Vietnam memorial replica wall - total of three times over the course of my 55 years. I know everyone who sees the wall is overcome by the sheer numbers of names engraved into the black walls. I know my experience of visiting the Vietnam Wall in DC was a visceral experience and personal experience for me....a vigil I dreaded to undertake, for it was the first time in my lifetime that I would see the actual real Wall.

My own history back to that era was firmly in a container with the lid tightly secured and tucked away in the cobwebs in my mental attic. Popular opinion back in that era was not favorable to returning Vietnam veterans or their families. It was safer for us as a family then to quickly put it away, leave it behind and try to move on....

You've heard that expression recently, I'm sure -- get over it and move on. That was one heard repetitiously after the last Presidential election. And yet, were it so simple to get over it and move on, would we be in another situation in Iraq not unlike the situation of Vietnam? I pull the container from my attic, brush off the cobwebs, loosen the lid and let the history wash over me.

I cannot be silent this time, I cannot let young wives and children endure what I endured in silence so long ago. I have something to say this time and I do, and it resonates with many, I know, I can tell by their reactions and actions. Others have something to say and it resonates with many, and eventually it will resonate strongly enough that the outcry of no more cannot be missed. But not yet, not this year, perhaps next year.

The Vietnam Wall Memorial in Washington D.C.

One walks by the first wall which is not so tall and one begins to take in the engraved names. You then walk to the next wall and the next and the walls grow increasingly higher with more engraved names filling out the growing spaces on the increasingly higher walls. By the time you are feeling hopelessly overcome and overwhelmed, you look down the length of the wall to see how much further you will have to walk and how many more walls and engraved names you will have to see before you have completed the walk. As the heighth of the walls reach peak height, the walls then begin decrease in size again until you have reached the last wall and the 'end of the Vietnam conflict' and can now exit the memorial walk of the walls.

That walk registered with me hard as I made that walk, holding my vigil candle, September 2005 in Washington DC. As I walked the walls, I remember thinking at that time, what will the Iraq memorial look like when it is built and how many names will have to be honored in that memorial. I remember reflecting back to when I was young and my then husband was drafted and sent to Vietnam.

I was a young military wife, pregnant with our first child, in my first 'real job', marking time anxiously, hoping he would come home alive to participate in the life of our first child - or even wounded and alive, but please, not dead, not killed in action. I felt empathy wash over me as I contemplated the young wives and children of the young men and women deployed in combat today in Iraq and Afghanistan. I could feel so strongly their youth and the acuteness of loss...how will the new memorial begin to encompass the magnitude of the loss is what was reeling in my mind. It is so much more than numbers.

What I didn't notice until reading David's story was that indeed the Vietnam Wall Memorial is designed to reflect back your own reflection. It occurs to me how appropriate that symbology was then in Vietnam war era and now in Iraq/Afghanistan era....we are each and every one of us complicit somehow and deep reflection is encumbant on each of us as we memorialize today at this milestone marker that as of today 3,000 U.S. troops have been killed - we go into the new year with that number as a marker. It is all we have because no other symbology is permitted at this by this Administration.

We have no way to acknowledge, reflect, mourn, honor except for what the civilian community provides in the way of vigils to try to grasp the overwhelming loss, to try to honor what has already been lost, to try to scream attention that the future memorial to honor the war dead in this era already has too many names...

But then today is the day before a new year, and traditional celebrations tonight ought to be a bit muted to reflect that today is also the day our country has reached another milestone in Iraq. Perhaps when the fireworks are shooting off from the Space Needle in Seattle after an evening of drink, merry-making and celebrating, some will remember to remember that for 3,000 families it is not a celebration. Rather it marks that our country will move into another new year the same way we did last year - with our military still in Iraq, adding more names to the future memorial that will mark this time.

Let us reflect and be reminded it is our own reflection we see in the Vietnam memorial - and we see our reflection because we are the living, mourning the dead. Perhaps it will strengthen resolve in each of us who reflect today that with a new year we must act to do something different so that we are not re writing this memorial next new year's eve.

"In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies but the silence of our friends." Martin Luther King Jr.

by Lietta Ruger on Sun Dec 31, 2006 at 01:13:38 PM PST

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U.S. military deaths in Iraq reach 3,000 - washingtonpost.com

U.S. military deaths in Iraq reach 3,000

Reuters
Sunday, December 31, 2006; 2:46 PM

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq has reached 3,000 since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, an authoritative Web site tracking war deaths said on Sunday.

The milestone comes as President George W. Bush weighs options, including more troops, for the deteriorating situation in Iraq, where daily violence plagues Baghdad and much of the country and has killed tens of thousands of Iraqis.

The Web site, www.icasualties.org, listed the death of Spec. Dustin R. Donica, 22, on December 28 as previously unreported, and said that 3,000 U.S. military personnel had now died.

A U.S. military spokesman in Iraq could not immediately confirm that Donica's death had not previously been reported. No soldiers were reported killed by small arms fire on December 28 but the death of an unidentified soldier in a bomb attack north of the capital was announced.

© 2006 Reuters

U.S. military deaths in Iraq reach 3,000 - washingtonpost.com

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Memorial Weekend - Honor After The Fall photo essay from Time

This article is from Time magazine... well done... not politicized either which makes it even better. Please continue to surround our Military members and their families with our love, thoughts and prayers. It is they that make the sacrifices .... Before you count your blessings.......please remember to thank our past, present and future military members for making those blessings possible in the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.

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