Friday!!!! At last. :D Weekend, weekend, why you fly by so damn quick? :D
Okay Iraq Veterans Against the War is holding their Winter Soldiers Investigation and it runs through Sunday afternoon. You can stream online (and I just did) or you can listen to any variety of outlets. My boss wanted to know which one was the best choice and C.I. passed on KPFA because of all the outlets streaming it is the most used to high traffic and has the bandwidth that will prevent any drop out or non-stop buffering. So my boss listened today and made sure that we all got thirty minutes in his office with him to listen. He's a cool guy and didn't try to make up some work or call it anyone's break. (He's my buddy Tony's dad and our dads are best friends since elementary school, they grew up on the same street together.) He streamed KPFA all day and I think we're all going to be talking about. I'm blogging about it, of course, but I think people went home tonight and talked about it. He told us when we got there that was happening and how this was "history and you're going to want to know about it" and had us all pick our times. He said tonight (he's part of the Iraq study group we have every Friday) that when they broke for lunch, he finally got some work done.
C.I., Ava and Kat were there and they came out here for the Iraq study group tonight. They talked about what it was like being there and the guy I'm writing about had some crazed guy screaming at him that had to be escorted out by security.
If you try to stream tomorrow use various links (see snapshot at the end) if you have trouble somewhere. IVAW has this up: "We are experiencing an extremely high level of traffic on the IVAW website because of interest in Winter Soldier. If you have trouble accessing the main website, please try back later." I'm not surprised because they had SO MANY trying to listen last night to the opening that you couldn't even get in on the stream if you weren't there real early. I grabbed the second thirty minutes of the start. And they've got that up at IVAW so you can watch it. It's a thing by itself on the main page:
Rules of Engagement Part 1
This panel covers the killing and injuring of innocent civilians and unarmed combatants, as well as the destruction of the property, infrastructure and natural resources of Iraq and Afghanistan. Speakers: Adam Kokesh, James Morriss, Jason Hurd, Clifton Hicks, Steve Mortillo, Jose Vasquez, Michael Leduc, Jesse Hamilton, Hart Viges
And you can watch that with no streaming problems. I'm also using C.I.'s notes but I'm not just going to type up C.I.'s notes. (Which is really a transcription.)
Clifton Hicks is who I'm going to focus on. He was a witness with Steve Casey. [It's "Steve Casey" and not "Steve Mortillo" as I typed. I was talking to C.I. about what I wrote and C.I. goes, "Mike, that wasn't Mortillo." Apologies to both Steves.] He talked about how things quickly became free-fire zones meaning you can shoot at anything. And how there were incidents where civilians died "and we never got a body count" out of it and how they once ran over a civilian in a Humvee (the Humvee ahead of them actually ran it over) and neither group wanted to stop, they were tired. The staff sergeant didn't want to stay up and do the paperwork. "They just wanted to go home and go to sleep."
Clifton Hicks: These are not bad people, these are not criminals, these are not monsters. These are people like any of us but they're put in a horrible situation and they respond horribly and when you're around that much death running over some guy as he's standing in the road is not a big deal. What's a big deal is getting stuck and getting separated from your con[voy] for another two hours.
"We made sure that if we ever saw anybody dead, we just kept going," he explained because it was just too much of a hassle.
He talked about how one time they heard gunfire and rushed to the scene but were "too late" because the battle was over and how you go days with nothing and then BAM "eight seconds of violence" and that's how it is in Iraq from his experience. So they were joining the US soldiers who'd been firing and they'd been driving in their Humvee (the group they joined) when someone started firing on them from a ditch on the left side of the road. On the right side, he explained, you had housing for disabled Iraqi soldiers. But the first group (the ones fired upon), just started firing in both directions. In one house, they found "an entire extended Iraqi family and they were celebrating a wedding. And for those of us who've been in Iraq or at least in Baghdad you know that any excuse they have is a good excuse to get on the roof and shoot their guns in the air. It's a celebatory thing -- celebatory fire being mistaken for hostile fire and this is a text book case of that. Ol' Grandpa or whoever was on the roof cutting loose with his rifle cause he was so happy that his daughter was getting married. Meanwhile the 82nd patrol in his front yard gets ambushed from across the road and they return fire in both directions. And just to be brief on this, they hit three people inside the wedding part. One of them was an adult male who was slightly wounded. Another, a young girl maybe ten, was slightly wounded. But what really got me was there was another girl who was maybe six or seven and she was dead."
The group doing the shooting drove on because the area wasn't their assigned area to protect. The area was assigned to Hicks and company. So they radioed in for what to do and they were told to just leave. He talks about how they just left without even an apology and how it says something about how much value is placed on Iraqi civilians lives by the command.
He talks about "these things happen people always say that's war." This happens every day little girls getting killed by soldiers every day not because they want to but because it just happens.
He talked about how it was hard to offer the testimony "but what's also difficult is that right after this happened, we never talked about this again. We just drove away.nd we went back [to our post] -- we didn't even tell the other guys at the post about this. This was just something that . . . we just shovled it back into our minds and we thought, 'Well these things happen.' And we didn't think about it too much and it was just lost, it was just forgotten and the war, the occupation I should say, dragged on."
Now that's when someone becomes so deranged they start yelling at him.
I didn't hear anymore until after work when I went to campus and was listening online in the library. Ended up cutting class to keep listening.
I could talk some more about others but the agreement we worked out Thursday night was that everybody would just grab one testimony because that way nobody would be thinking, "This is already covered. Great. ##@@!!!!" And all sites are covering this (except Third, they post on Sunday and they'll cover Saturday's hearings). Ma said she wanted Adam Kokesh last night and that's because she thinks (I agree, so does C.I.) people get a little too touchy-feely about his humor sometimes. So she wanted to be sure that if he cracked a joke that had some saying, "How could he!" she was there to say, "It was a joke, people." :D
We were supposed to leave a message with community members Martha, Shirley, Eli or Heather or else pass it on via voice mail on C.I.'s phone when we knew who we wanted. I called Eli to tell him my choice was Clifton Hicks this morning. I know Elaine's going with Jason Hurd because we were talking about that tonight. When I was reading the snapshot, I didn't question what C.I. was covering. I thought C.I. was providing a basic overview and assumed veterans health was being hit on hard because that's an issue C.I. hits hard on (online and in person -- Kat says C.I. yelled at a friend in Congress Thursday -- last night's "I Hate The War" was severely edited before it went up because C.I. had originally shared that story -- it had to do with someone coming to a hearing on the disabled and not being able to hear due to hearing problems, this was a veteran from the Iraq War, and how there should have been someone signing and it was apparently a big to-do because C.I. takes that issue very seriously -- as we all should -- and C.I. was just chewing this Congress guy out). (I thought all public meetings had to offer someone signing? Does Congress not have to follow that rule? Or did they ask at the start and no one needed it then so -- even though they broke over and over -- they didn't ask again? I don't know but I thought all public meetings had to offer someone signing. We have a guy who signs at our Iraq study group and that's not 'required' because we're not 'a public meeting' but we had a woman at one meeting who came with her sister and she was deaf and C.I. found out and ended up signing for her. Now she comes every week and there's a guy who had an uncle who was deaf so he signs for her and because of that we've got another hearing disabled person who just started coming. So it is important. And good for C.I. for letting someone have it on this issue.)
But anyway, that's a big issue with C.I. and veterans healthcare is a big issue too and something C.I.'s been screaming for (and I support it) as an editorial for about four weeks now at Third. So it's a good, strong overview of the hearings in the snapshot and when I read it, I just thought, C.I.'s really hitting on the healthcare because that's C.I.'s interest. But now I'm wondering if we all chose stuff from the first panel? If so, I feel really bad about that. I chose Clifton Hicks because I got to hear him at work. I've now watched the panel online at IVAW and I could've chosen anyone who spoke but I'm thinking we may all have thought, "Oh, this is about the killing so this is the important thing." I hope that's not the case. Then again, since everyone knows C.I.'s interest in the topic they might have figured they should grab something else or they might have only been able to hear one segment today.
This is "Two More Top Pennsylvania Leaders Endorse Hillary Clinton For President:"
Pittsburgh Mayor; Allegheny County Chief Executive Join Clinton Today to Announce Support
PITTSBURGH, PA - Today, Hillary Clinton received the endorsements of two more prominent Pennsylvania leaders, Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.
"I am honored to have these two incredible Pennsylvania leaders in my corner," said Senator Clinton. "Their leadership and efforts to revitalize Pittsburgh and Allegheny County are commendable. The people of this state need a plan they can count on, results that can rely on, and a champion they can depend on. I will be that President for them."
Dan Onorato grew up on Pittsburgh's North Side, was elected to Pittsburgh City Council in 1991, and re-elected in 1995. In 1999, he successfully ran for Allegheny County Controller and spent four years being a watchdog against wasteful spending and fraud.
"For too long this country has been adrift without the leadership or the vision we need to put us back on track," observed Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato. "Hillary Clinton has the experience and the determination to clean up the mess in Washington and deliver results. For Allegheny County and for Pennsylvania, we need her in the White House. I am proud to support her and I'll do whatever it takes to make Hillary Clinton the next President."
Luke Ravenstahl, 28, was elected Mayor of Pittsburgh in November 2007, during a special election held to determine who would serve out the remaining two-year term of the late Mayor Bob O'Connor. The Pittsburgh native, who had served on City Council since 2003, holds the distinction of being the youngest mayor of any major U.S. city.
"As President, Hillary Clinton will be the steward our economy desperately needs and the Commander in Chief we know we can trust," said Mayor Ravenstahl. "I am looking forward to partnering with Hillary when she is president to grow the Pittsburgh economy and create new, good jobs for our residents. I know the she understands the needs of people like us and I know she'll fight for us in Washington."
More endorsements for Hillary! Eat it, Bambi. :D And everyone at work and on campus was talking about Rev. Jeremiah Wright. This isn't a minor topic. Bye-bye Bambi.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Friday, March 14, 2008. Chaos and violence continues, IVAW continues their Winter Soldiers Investigation, the Pentagon thought they were keeping a report offline, John McCain makes plans with a travel buddy, and more.
Starting with war resisters. Judith Scherr (Berkeley Daily Planet) reports the Berkeley's City Council was set to adopt the measure of sending Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper a letter in support of war resisters; however, Council member Gordon Wozniak demanded a full discussion (in what was a big whiney move on Wozniak's part). The discussion took place Wednesday night. Kriss Worthington and Max Anderson recommended the letter to Harper, Diane Finley (Minister of Citizenship and Immigration) and Stephane Dion (Liberal Party leader). The [PDF format warning] text of the recommendation notes the request would be "that the government of Canada establish provisions to provide sanctuary for U.S. military service members who are living in Canada to resist fighting in the Iraq War." [PDF format warning] The proposal notes:
Throughout the Vietnam War era, Canada provided a place of refuge for United States citizens seeking to resist the war. Because of Canada's rich tradition of being a refuge from militarism, approximately 200 U.S. military service people have moved to Canada to resist fighting in the Iraq War.
However, it has become more difficult to immigrate to Canada and these war resisters are seeking refugee status in accord with United Nations guidelins. Unfortunately, their requests for refugee status have been rejected by the Canadian Refugee Board. Several resisters have appealed the Refugee Board decisions to the Supreme Court of Canada. While a court decision is pending these resisters are vulnerable to deportation back to the United States where they may face years of incarceration or even worst penalties.
In November the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Today, Canada's Parliament remaining the best hope for safe harbor war resisters have, you can make your voice heard by the Canadian parliament which has the ability to pass legislation to grant war resisters the right to remain in Canada. Three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use. That is the sort of thing that should receive attention but instead it's ignored.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum. Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
Iraq Veterans Against the War Winter Soldiers Investigation which began last night and continues through Sunday and the hearings will be broadcast at the Iraq Veterans Against the War home page an on KPFA with Aimee Allison (co-host of the station's The Morning Show and co-author with David Solnit of Army Of None) and Aaron Glantz hosting and the KPFA live stream will also be available at Glantz' War Comes Home as well as on KPFK, WBAI and at the Pacifica Radio homepage which notes its live coverage will be from (EST times) 10 in the morning to seven at night on Friday, nine in the morning until seven at night on Saturday and ten in the morning until four in the afternoon on Sunday that should apply to all Pacifica stations that are broadcasting the hearings. Viewing options and meet ups can be found at Iraq Veterans Against the War. (Dish Network is airing it on satellite TV -- today and Saturday). Today's testimonies will cover rules of engagment, healthcare, contractors and war profiteering and the aims of the wars (Iraq and Afghanistan). Tomorrow will kick off with discussions on gender and sexuality, racism and the 'other' to dehumanize the enemy and various costs of the illegal war. Sunday will cover how the US military is breaking under the strain of the wars and GI resistance. (Click here for a schedule.)
The IVAW website was overwhelmed with visitors today so, should you have trouble streaming, remember the other streaming alternatives. The first panel was moderated by Jose Vasquez who explained the rules which included that after someone testified, they would then have a decomposing support session and should not be approached by the press or anyone else until that was taken care of. In addition, unlike the VA, they have set up support groups and systems to ensure that all witnesses offering testimony had support for the next few days. The basic pattern was that each veteran would give their name, explain when they served (in either Iraq or Afghanistan) and then share their testimony. Some non-veterans testified as well on areas of corruption and war profiteering.
There were many strong highlights. This is not an exhaustive list. Other community sites will be posting (Trina's called dibs on Adam Kokesh) and we'll be covering this at The Third Estate Sunday Review (Sunday's hearings will be covered in Monday's snapshot). Hart Viges spoke of his time serving in Iraq and how he would go on round-ups and think the guilty and innocent were sorted quickly. Only later did he find out that "people being detained are being detained for years -- their parents don't even know where they are." Jason Washburn discussed how you could shoot an Iraqi civilian and get away with it -- by his third tour he noticed that they were unofficially (wink-nod) allowed by the command to have shovels and "if we accidentally did kill a civilian we could just drop a shovel" which would indicate -- under the US military command's screwed up understanding -- that the person shot must have been digging a hole to plant a roadside bomb, in which case, the killing was a-okay. John Michael Turner began his testimony by tossing his dog tags to the audience (IVAW members were in the front rows, so they caught them and can return to them to him if he wants them back) declaring, "F.U. I don't work for you no more." He spoke of the damage done in Iraq and spoke so clearly that the damage the illegal war had done to him was audible. He declared, "I am sorry for the hate and destruction that I have inflicted on innocent people" and noted that "until people hear the truth about what is going on in this war, people will continue to die." That really is the point of the hearings and various witnesses made it very clear that they were not attacking those they had served with, that this was not about finger-pointing at US service members, this was about the policies in place and the orders being given by higher ups through the chain of command.
The healthcare issue was addressed as well. Eli Wright spoke of how "military healthcare doesn't get enough attention" and advised service members struggling to get the medical care they have been promised, "Don't keep it quiet and, unfortunately, in many cases you can't rely on your command" to do the job for you. He noted how difficult it could be, while you serving, to speak out for your healthcare needs but that it's often the only way to receive treatment. In Monday's snapshot, we will note the veteran by name but I didn't know him and if we wait to find out who he was the snapshot will never go up. A veteran discussed how he was told repeatedly about the benefits he would have. How it would apply to his family. Reality was the military provided nothing. (His last name may have been Peterson.) He was serving in Iraq and his wife began to miscarry. She phoned and was told that she was probably miscarrying. Could she get an ambulance? Did she have $1500? The wife ended up hunting down a friend to take her to the facitilities. They arrived at 4:00 pm. She was miscarrying but they closed at 4:30 and couldn't see her. The woman was miscarrying and the US military was refusing treatment. They wouldn't even request an ambulance. Her friend drove her over 20 miles to another facility where she miscarried. Eric Estenzo spoke of injuring his back in Iraq and getting wonderful care -- while enlisted. As soon as he was discharged, he found a different life. He suffered from PTSD, he had trouble readjusting which made keeping a civilian job very difficult. He felt on top of the world, with $17,000 in cash, and quickly found himself homeless though he didn't realize it then and was, in fact, "house surfing" before he realized what was happening. He was in Hollywood, attempting to stay with a friend, and saw some people giving out food to the homeless. He was hungry and thought it would be fine to grab some food. Eating it, he realized he was homeless. It took a support network of other veterans and his own courage and strength to fight the VA system and demand the care he needed.
Corruption and war profiteering was another panel. KBR was the focus of Kelly Dougherty's testimony. She discussed how she and others serving in Iraq assigned to protect convoys were repeatedly put at risk when a KBR vehicle broke down, how they were told it was an asset to be protected even if that meant killing someone and then they would be told to forget it, to destroy the vehicle and move out. Iraqis desperate for fuel or the contents of the truck were not a concern and, if pressed, the US military command would instruct service members that distributing something in the trucks (before destroying them) could cause a riot. All of which goes to Doughtery's statement of Iraqis, "I'm looking at people I can't even look in the eye." Moving to Kuwait after serving in Iraq and while waiting to be sent back homes, service members were living in a KBR tent city. Doughtery explained, "When we were leaving . . . we were put in these tent cities. Our tents were completely covered with mold on the inside." The tents had bunk beds and not cots so service members were not allowed to (as some wanted) sleep outside the tents to avoid what appeared to be Black Mold. Instead, they suffered from respitory infections. Dougherty noted "this living condition where we couldn't even be in the place were we were supposed to live without getting sick." KBR made a big profit of the illegal war. KBR provided the troops with tents that made them sick. Where's the audit on that? Non-veteran Antonia Juhasz spoke about the realities that some (including some in the peace movement) forget, "the very extensive pre-planning." [Me: Because of that really bad 'documentary' (No End In Sight) some have yet again forgotten reality and claim that there should have been planning or better planning. What's taking place in Iraq was planned.] Juhasz went over how this was planned in depth, how Paul Bremer continued to the plan with his Bremer laws and how the Iraqi people are the ones suffering and there is no 'win' to be found. The only answer is for foreign troops to leave Iraq and allow "Iraqis to sort it out." Juhasz has documented this at length in her writing (including her book The BU$H Agenda).
Veteran Adrienne Kinne, speaking on healthcare, offered this reality, "The best preventative healthcare for our soldiers in uniform is to not use them to fight illegal wars." The hearings continue Saturday and Sunday. [Again, that is not everyone who poke and today and early tomorrow you will find more at the community sites -- Rebecca's Sex and Politics and Screeds and Attitude; Cedric's Cedric's Big Mix; Kat's Kat's Korner; Betty's Thomas Friedman is a Great Man; Mike's Mikey Likes It!; Elaine's Like Maria Said Paz;Wally's The Daily Jot; Trina's Trina's Kitchen; Ruth's Ruth's Report; and Marcia's SICKOFITRADLZ.]
At McClatchy Newspapers' Inside Iraq, an Iraqi correspondent expresses disgust with the ongoing lying and shares, "I will tell a story of a friend who is in Sweden who had the residency card by a lie he had made. He is a Shiite but he claimed that he is a Sunni and the Mahdi army threatened him and his family to levae the Shiite neighborhood he used to live giving him hours otherwise the whole family would be killed. As a result of this lie, this man had got a warning from his wife to get divorce if he doesn't tell the Swedish authorities the whole truth that he is a Shiite Iraqi who left Iraq to live his life as it is a disaster to live there for all Iraqis whether he is a Sunni or a Shiite."
Meanwhile Erica Goode (New York Times) reports on the death of Iraqi journalist Qassim Abdul-Hussein al-Iqabi who was 35-years old and working for The Citizen before he was shot dead yesterday while en route to work in Baghdad. The Committee to Protect Journalists' Joel Simon states, "We offer our deepest condolences to Qassim Abdul Hussein al-Iqabi's family and colleagues. His death serves as a stark reminder of the dangers journalists face daily in Iraq and of the urgent need for their protection as they work to bring the news of the conflict to the world." Cameron W. Barr (Washington Post) notes the journalist had been "walking in Baghdad's largely Shiite Karrada neighborhood" when he was shot dead.
Yesterday, Archibishop Paulos Faraj Rahho's corpse was found in Mosul. On He was leaving the Catholic Church in Mosul when he, his driver and two others were stopped on February 29th, while leaving the Catholic Church in Mosul with three other people, he was kidnapped (the other three people were shot dead. Today he was buried in Mosul and Ned Parker (Los Angeles Times) describes the scene: "Hundreds gathered at the church in the village of Kramleis on the plains of northern Nineveh province to memorialize the most senior Christian clergyman targeted by armed groups in Iraq since the U.S.-led invasion five years ago" and quotes Cardinal Emmanuel III Delly explaining to the mourners, "I ask the people of the church to be steadfast and patient. He became a martyr because of his great faith, and his love for his service." Parker notes the ransom the kidnappers had requested at one point was at least one-million dollars. Ryan Lenz (AP) also describes the funeral, "Carrying flowers and olive branches, mourners wept and wailed as they carried a wooden coffin holding the body of one of Iraq's most senior Chaldean Catholic clerics for a proper burial in northern Iraq on Friday. Leading the procession down the streets of a village outside Mosul was a church official who held a wooden cross with Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho's picture." Borzou Daragahi (LA Times) explains, "Chaldeans are part of the Catholic Church. Chaldean parishes around the world grieved the loss of Rahho."
Turning to the US. Senator Crazy's campaign slogan is "VOTE INSANE! VOTE JOHN MCCAIN!" and Alex Spillius (Telegraph of London) reports John Mccain has declared that Iraq must be a "success" (no chance) and quotes him declaring, "One of the debates of this election will be if the American people want a candidate who wants to get out [of Iraq] as quickly as possible. If we do that then al-Qa'eda wins, we have chaos and genocide throughout the region and they will follow us home. That's been my position -- forever." Forever? If true, that would mean he's been wrong "forever." Jesse A. Hamilton (Hartford Courant) reports that Senator Crazy will team up with The Senator With No Part for a joint-visit to Iraq -- in other words, back off girls and boys, Joe Lieberman's got him all next week.
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
Bombings?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded a garbage truck driver today and 2 car bombings in Nineveh that claimed the lives of 3 Iraqi soldiers and leaving ten more people wounded. Reuters notes a motorcylce bombing in Kut that claimed 1 life and left six more wounded.
Shootings?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports an ongoing armed clash in Rabi'a district. Reuters notes that yesterday Iraqi police shot at a car in Samarra and killed a 15-year-old female while a police officer was shot dead in Najaf on Thursday.
Corpses?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 2 corpses were discovered in Baghdad today.
On Sunday, the death toll for US soldiers since the start of the illegal war stood at 3975. Currently, the toll stands at 3987 -- thirteen away from the 4,000 mark. As noted earlier this week, PEW Research Center revealed, "Public awareness of the number of American military fatalities in Iraq has declined sharply since last August. Today, just 28% of audlts are able to say that approximately 4,000 Americans have died in the Iraq war. . . . In August 2007, 54% correctly identified the fatality level at that time (about 3,5000 deaths). In previous polls going back to the spring of 2004, about, half of respondents could correctly estimate the number of U.S. fatalities around the time of the survey." As Antonia Juhasz noted in her testimony at Winter Soldiers Investigation today, Iraq War coverage has fallen off the radar. The Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) noted in December that, "Through June [2007], more than half of all stories [for 2007] were about violent incidents, but that number fell to roughly one third in September and October." November 28's snapshot discussed the Project for Excellence in Journalism's [PDF format warning] "Journalists in Iraq: A survey of reporters on the front lines" and we noted, "In other findings, 62 percent say that their 'editors back home' have lost interest in reports of day-to-day violence (no kidding) and the only significant increases have been in reports on contractors (79%) and 'U.S. military strategy' (67%)." It was and is a big point. It was a big point before you could see the impact -- the survey was conducted in August and September. Knowing that the "number fell to roughly one third in September and October" from the December study and noting that during that time period, American correspondents in Iraq were stating that their "editors back home" have lost interest in reports of day-to-day violence, let's not pretend the message was sent out clearly to journalists in Iraq that the brass didn't want to know about violence. Of course this was when David Petraeus was attempting to sell another wave of Operation Happy Talk -- but that's just a coincidence, right?
General Petraeus returns to Congress next month. Cameron W. Barr (Washington Post) reports that "Petraues, who is preparing to testify to Congress next month on the Iraq war, said in an interview that 'no one' in the U.S. and Iraqi governments 'feels that there has been sufficient progress by any means in the area of national reconciliation' or in the provision of basic public services." He apparently is attempting to soften up the media for more rah-rah coverage next month. He shouldn't worry so hard. A10 is where the New York Times runs "Study Finds No Qaeda-Hussein Tie" in today's paper. The four-tiny paragraphs are in stark contrast to the paper's repeatedly pushing the false link in the lead up to the illegal war. (And, since some 'voices' are too stupid or too chicken, let's note Judith Miller wasn't the first in the 'news' section to make that false link. Chris Hedges wrote the first article making that link and it ran on the front page in October of 2001.) At the start of the work week, Warren P. Strobel (McClatchy Newspapers) reported on a "Pentagon-sponsored study, scheduled for release later this week" that reviewed "more than 600,000 Iraqi documents" and "found no evidence that Saddam Hussein's regime had any operational links with Osama bin Laden's al Qaida terrorist network." On Thursday, Strobel reported that things had changed: "Rather than posting the report online and making officials available to discuss it, as had been planned, the U.S. Joint Forces Command said it would mail copies of the document to reporters -- if they asked for it. The report won't be posted on the Internet." Well, not posted online by the government anyway. Click on "Saddam and Terrorism Pentagon Report Online" to read the report the government thought they could downplay.
Final section, independent journalist David Bacon (he can honestly be called that) offers "Black and Brown Together" in the new issue of The American Prospect:
In big U.S. cities African Americans and immigrants, especially Latinos, often are divided by fears that any gain in jobs or political clout by one group can only come at the expense of the other. In Mississippi, African American political leaders and immigrant organizers favor a different calculation: Blacks plus immigrants plus unions equals power.
Since 2000, all three have cooperated in organizing one of the country's most active immigrants' rights coalitions, the MIRA. "You will always find folks reluctant to get involved, who say, it's not part of our mission, that immigrangs are taking our jobs," [Jim] Evans says. "But we all have the same rights and justice cause."
Evans, whose boombing basso profundo comes straight out of the pulpit, remembers his father riding shotgun for Medgar Evers, the NAACP leader slain by racists in 1963. He believes organizing immigrants is a direct continuation of Mississippi Freedom Summer and the Poor People's March on Washington. "To get to peace and freedom," Evans says, "you must come through the door of truth and justice."
PBS Roundup Bill Moyers Journal Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue on their documentary Body of War. NOW on PBS will feature Mark Klein being interviewed about illegal wiretapping and Wynona Ward on stopping domestic violence. Washington Week will feature Martha Raddatz and Todd S. Purdum on the gas bag panel. All can air as early as Friday night but local stations may carry them at various times -- especially with some PBS stations being in pledge drive mode. All programs can be streamed online. Moyers will have full transcript up this evening after the program airs. Washington Week posts their transcripts on Mondays -- so both of those programs are accesible to all. (Washington Week will be added to the links for that reason as soon as I find the time to add it.)
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Friday, March 14, 2008
Thursday, March 13, 2008
Rev. Jeremiah Wright damsn the United States
Thursday! One more day until the weekend. Can't hardly wait. IVAW's hearing is going on as I type but I can't listen. The stream must be overloaded. I get a few words, then silence. Then a couple of minutes later, I get a few more words. Tomorrow there will be more listening choices so it shouldn't be a problem but I guess everyone's trying to listen right now.
So to update you, Bambi Obama spent another day whining about 'race' when all he's done is inject race into the campaign. Poor Bambi, he's ticked off a lot of people by implying Geraldine Ferraro is a racist and now it turns out his preacher might be seen by a lot of people as a racist but probably as a hater of American by many more.
From the New York Times:
The Democratic candidates spent much of the week trying to tamp down controversy provoked by their supporters. Earlier in the week, it was Geraldine Ferraro, whose racially charged remarks were denounced Wednesday night by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton after Mrs. Ferraro announced she was resigning from her honorary position on Mrs. Clinton’s campaign finance committee.
On Thursday the attention shifted to the camp of Senator Barack Obama, after a report was shown on "Good Morning America" on ABC, with clips of sermons by Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
Susan UnPC has more and this is from the Good Morning America report:
Sen. Barack Obama’s pastor says blacks should not sing “God Bless America” but “God damn America.”
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s pastor for the last 20 years at the Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago’s south side, has a long history of what even Obama’s campaign aides concede is “inflammatory rhetoric,” including the assertion that the United States brought on the 9/11 attacks with its own “terrorism.”
In a campaign appearance earlier this month, Sen. Obama said, “I don’t think my church is actually particularly controversial.” He said Rev. Wright “is like an old uncle who says things I don’t always agree with,” telling a Jewish group that everyone has someone like that in their family.
Rev. Wright married Obama and his wife Michelle, baptized their two daughters and is credited by Obama for the title of his book, “The Audacity of Hope.”
An ABC News review of dozens of Rev. Wright’s sermons, offered for sale by the church, found repeated denunciations of the U.S. based on what he described as his reading of the Gospels and the treatment of black Americans.
“The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, God damn America, that’s in the Bible for killing innocent people,” he said in a 2003 sermon. “God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.”
Sorry, I don't think you can go to a church that says G-- d--- America as part of their message and run for president. Maybe I'm missing something as a Catholic but that's pretty offensive. And if you sit there and you listen to it, you're endorsing it, you're accepting it. Barack Obama should not be running for the presidency of a country he apparently loathes. But now I get why Michelle Obama said last month that for the first time in her life she was proud of her country. Apparently she's been spouting G-- d--- America each morning when the sun came up.
I don't want to hear crap from him about how he doesn't 'necessarily agree with everything' his now former preacher said (the man retired a little while ago). He went to that church, he gave it money, he sat in the pew and he soaked this crap up.
How is the idiot Katrina vanden Heuvel going to keep pushing her man now? Remember after 9-11 when she was wrapping herself in the flag and talking about patriotism?
Guess she'll have to choose now or, more likely, pretend it never happened. It does reflect on Obama. He should have walked out and found another church. If he wants to be president, that is. If he didn't want to be president, he can do whatever the hell he wants. But I don't want anyone in the White House -- man or woman -- who's going around saying G-- d---- America. I don't mind criticism and there's plenty to be dished out.
But people need to get -- and the likes of Katrina won't because they don't believe in God -- that when a preacher uses "damn" or "damnation," he knows what he's saying. It's not just words. He was damning the United States of America. And Barack Obama was perfectly okay with that. Fine, that's who Bambi is. But he's not fit to be president. This is disgusting, I'm sorry. I don't go around flaunting my religion or anything and I'm not some big flag waver, but I am Catholic and I am American and I am so offended by this garbage.
Barack Obama needs to apologize to all Americans for this. That won't make him worthy of being in the White House, but it's what he needs to do. This is offensive.
And think about 9-11 for a second. He is damning America. As a preacher, he is damning America. Do you get that? He's calling for attacks and strife and horror on this country. That would be offensive before 9-11 but it's even more so now.
And Bambi was okay with it. Bambi was okay with being a member of that church, Bambi was okay with having his children baptized in that church, Bambi was okay with giving money to that church.
That's disgusting.
Again, I don't expect the aetheists of Panhandle Media to get it. I don't expect Matt Rothschild and all the other non-believers to get it. But this isn't just "speech," this is a preacher damning a country. It's not acceptable for a presidential candidate to be a part of a church like that.
I've been on the phone with Kat off and on all night. She e-mailed me this from HillaryClinton.com, "Hillary Clinton Accepts ABC’s Invitation to Debate Sen. Obama in the Keystone State:"
The Clinton campaign today announced that Hillary has accepted an invitation to participate in a primetime debate hosted by ABC. The debate will be held in Philadelphia, PA in advance of the April 22nd Pennsylvania primary. The debate will be broadcast statewide and nationally.
Hillary is prepared to show she has real solutions for the problems facing residents of the Keystone State.
Hillary is the only candidate with a plan to end the housing crisis and help people keep their homes. Hillary's plan takes bold action to stem the tide of foreclosures with a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures and a five year freeze on interest rates for subprime mortgages.
Hillary is also the only candidate with a health care plan that covers every American. Her plan allows for maximum flexibility while making sure health care costs are affordable for working families.
Hillary hears the voices of Americans concerned about their future and is focused on providing solutions to the problems they face.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Thursday, March 13, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, the Archbishop is discovered dead, Congress gets the run-around on veterans healthcare, IVAW kicks off their investigation tonight, and more.
Starting with war resistance. March 17, 2007 -- as the 4th anniversary of the illegal war was days away -- the War Resisters Support Campaign's Michelle Robidoux spoke outside the US Embassy in Canada. Snowshoe Documentary Films captured the Toronto speech.
Michelle Robidoux: Good afternoon, sisters and brothers. I think people in this city who have been out on the streets marching against war over the past few years are familiar with the war resisters who have come up to Canada. I want to introduce some of them to you today. Jeremy Hinzman, Nga Nguyen and Liam, their son, who were the first to come up here -- first US soldier to refusing to fight in Iraq, to seek refuge in Canada and since Jermey arrived in January 2004. We have seen an influx of people from every branch of the US military -- from the marines, the navy, the US army, national guardsman. And I want to introduce other resisters you may not have met yet Phil MacDowell and Jamine Aponte. They arrived here in October and are making their life here in Toronto and Steve Yoczik who arrived in December from Florida We have also some Vietnam resisters up here. Tom Riley and Lee Zaslofsky who is the cooridnator of the War Resisters Support Campaign, who have been the backbone, the Vietnam resisters, the people who came up 35 years ago opposing another illegal and immoral war. We are at a crucial point in the battle to win asylum for war resisters because this isn't just a legal battle. We learned a lesson when we marched in our tens of thousands before the beginning of the invasion and occupation of Iraq we actually achieved something that many of us thought might not be possible the Canadian government made a decision in the teeth of the opposition on the streets to not send Canadian troops to Iraq and now we need to use that political pressure to make sure that we follow through.
That was a year ago. Since then war resisters in Canada have been dealt a serious set-back when the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Today, Canada's Parliament remaining the best hope for safe harbor war resisters have, you can make your voice heard by the Canadian parliament which has the ability to pass legislation to grant war resisters the right to remain in Canada. Three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use. That is the sort of thing that should receive attention but instead it's ignored.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum. Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
Meanwhile IVAW has a DC action this month:In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth. Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan. Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers. In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & AfghanistanMarch 13th through 16th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation. Dee Knight (Workers World) notes, "IVAW wants as many people as possible to attend the event. It is planning to provide live broadcasting of the sessions for those who cannot hear the testimony firsthand. 'We have been inspired by the tremendous support the movement has shown us,' IVAW says. 'We believe the success of Winter Soldier will ultimately depend on the support of our allies and the hard work of our members'." IVAW's co-chair Adam Kokesh will, of course, be participating and he explains why at his site, "But out of a strong sense of duty, some of us are trying to put our experiences to use for a good cause. Some of us couldn't live with ourselves if weren't doing everything we could to bring our brothers and sisters home as soon as possible. The environment may be unking, but that is why I will be testifying to shooting at civilians as a result of changing Rules of Engagement, abuse of detainees, and desecration of Iraqi bodies. It won't be easy but it must be done. Some of the stories are things that are difficult to admit that I was a part of, but if one more veteran realizes that they are not alone because of my testimony it will be worth it." The hearings will be broadcast throughout at the Iraq Veterans Against the War home page an on KPFA March 14th and 16th with Aimee Allison (co-host of the station's The Morning Show and co-author with David Solnit of Army Of None) and Aaron Glantz hosting and the KPFA live stream will also be available at Glantz' War Comes Home.
Mark Benjamin (Salon) writes today, "It is unclear whether Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan will gain wider attention from the media and the public, but its organizers say that today's technology could make a difference. 'The modern soldier carries a digital camera almost as a sidearm,' explained O'Brien. The group says that potentially explosive photos and video from Iraq displayed at this Winter Soldier investigation will help 'expose the human consequences of failed policy' in the war zones. The searing images from Abu Ghraib, of course came to light because soldiers working inside the prison made use of their personal digital cameras." Norman Solomon's IPA has put out a news release on the action and quotes Adam Kokesh declaring, "There are too many veterans returning from futile occupations with heads full of lies and hearts full of sorrow. Minds full of bad memories and bodies full of shrapnel. Fists full of anger and families full of confusion. It's not a strong place from which to make yourself politically relevant. But out of a strong sense of duty, some of us are trying to put our experiences to use for a good cause. Some of us couldn't live with ourselves if we weren't doing everything we could to bring our brothers and sisters home as soon as possible."
The action starts this evening (7:00 to 9:00 pm EST) and will stream at IVAW online and the hearings will close Sunday afternoon. Kelly Dougherty explained in a press release last month, "We've heard from the politicians, we've heard from the generals, we've heard from the media -- not it's our turn. It's not going to be easy to hear what we have to say. It's not going to be easy for us to tell it. But we believe that the only way this war is going to end is if the American people truly understand what we have done in their name."
Staying with veterans, this morning the US House Committee on Veterans' Affairs' subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing entitled "Care of Seriously Wounded After In-Patient Care" attempting to address what happens to the wounded veterans after their immediate wounds are treated. US House Rep Harry Mitchell is the chair of the committee and he explained in his opening remarks, "We are here today to hear from veterans, their families, and the Department of Veterans Affairs about the long-term care of our most severely wounded Afghanistan and Iraq veterans. We know that DoD and VA provide the excellent inpatient healthcare for these warriors. But many of the most seriously injured require extensive outpatient care, some of them for life. Their families need care and assistance as well. Unfortunately, once these veterans leave the hospital, the care they receive does not seem to be on par with what they received directly following their injury. I think we can do better." US House Rep Nick Lampson introduced Casey Owens and noted, "Care for veterans such as Edward Wade and Casey Owens was by trial and error, as there was no system of care in place for these new types of injuries -- both external and internal. Casey expressed to me his worry that there are still issues with care for polytrauma patients today. And I was most impress with his concern for those who will come after them and his hope that they will not come to Congress with the same exact issues, complications, and frustrations as we are hearing today."
Among those testifying were Casey Owens who served in Iraq (Marine Corporal) and was wounded while serving his second tour of duty. Both of his legs were amputated. Ted (Edward) Wade lost his arm from a roadside bombing while serving in Iraq (Army Sgt.) and his wife Sarah Wade testified to the subcommittee. Sarah was advised by 'experts' at Walter Reed Army Medical that her husband would be a 'vegetable' (which he is not) and the couple had to fight the military just for him to obtain the medical care he was owed.
Casey Owens: While some of the problems I have encountered have been resolved, many have not. The learning curve of VA's system is steep and its bureaucratic maze is hard to understand. It has been thirty years since the last major war and what lessons has the VA learned since then? Did no one expect another war or learn anything from Viet Nam? What have the educated and highly paid personnel who have been appointed to correct the system been focusing their attention on? While the system continues to be broken, where is all the government funding going that is supposed to be fixing the system and what are they doing with? A tremendous problem that I have encountered is the double standard of the VA and the Department of Defense's claims and rating for veterans. It took me three to five months of agonizing appointments and addendums to finalize my Medical Board, which was performed by competent and qualified military and civilian personnel. After I had completed my medical boards, I thought I was finished with that process only to find out I was not. When I enrolled in the VA, it took almost another year and a half to finalize those claims. It is actions like that make veterans avoid the VA. My qualms is not that the VA does not have nough programs in place to benefit veterans or the adequacy of it, rather, it is the bureaucracy and red tape that are the problems. While many problems have been addressed, it is time for SOLUTIONS.
Sarah Wade followed Casey Owens.
Sarah Wade: As an above elbow amputee with a severe TBI [traumatic brain Injury], Ted was one of the first major explosive blast "polytrauma" cases from Operation Iraqi Freedom, Walter Reed Army Medical Center or the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) had to rehabilitate. Much of his treatement was by trial and error, as there was no model system of care for a patient like Ted, and there still is no long-term model today. His situation was an enormous challegne, as Walter Reed was only able to rehabilitate an amputee, not a TBI, the VA was able to nominally treat a TBI, but not an above elbow amputee, and neither were staffed to provide appropriate bheavioral health care for a patient with a severe TBI. Because Ted could not access the necessary services, where and and when he needed them, he suffered a signficant setback in 2005, that put him in the hospital for two weeks, and would take a year to rebound from. Ted has made a remarkable recovery by any standard, because we have strayed from standardized treatment, and developed a patient-centered path. I had to educate myself about, and coordinate, additional outside care. Often, access to the necessary services required intervention from the highest levels of government, or for us to personally finance them ourselves. But despite our best efforts, Ted is still unable to easily receive comprehensive care for all of his major health issues, due to shortcomings in the current system, and because of the time his needs demand of me, I have been unable to return to regular work or school. We have been blessed to have family, with the means to see us through these difficult times, and help with the expenses. I was fortunate to have the education, of growing up in Washington, D.C. and learning about the workings of the various Federal agencies. Our situation is not typical though.
Wounded War Project's Meredith Beck addressed the issue of how active duty and retired veterans have different benefits, noting "an active duty patient can be seen at a VA Polytrauma Center to treat his Traumatic Brain Injury. However, while at the VA facility, the servicemember, due to his duty status, cannot enoy VA benefits such as Vocational Rehabilitation or Independent Living Services that can he helpful in his recovery. Alternately, as mentioned previously and unbeknownst to most families, a medically retired servicemember cannot use his/her TRICARE benefits to access private care as TRICARE does not cover cognitive therapy once retired." Using Sgt. Eric Edmundson's story as an exmpale (he suffers from "a severe brain injury in Iraq"), Beck explained the need for more research on veterans (Eric Edmundson is making progress that many did not believe would be possible) . She advocate for the VA to "initiate a pilot program partnering with local universities to provide such a care/respite initiative for those with brain injury" and to have graduate students be matched with veterans in their own communities "so than an individualized program can be developed." Beck made the case for compensating the primary caregiver noting pointing out that often "the spouse or parent" of a wounded veteran "is forced to leave his/her job to provide the necessary care for their loved one, leaving the entire family to suffer from an adverse economic situation. In these cases the VA relies on the family member to assist in the servicemember's care, but has been denied financial compensation."
The administration provided Madhulika Agarwal (Chief Patient Care Services Officer of the Veterans Health Administration in the government's VA), Lucille Beck (Rehabiliation Services) and Kristin Day (Veterans Health Administration) and Argawal mainly wanted to throw out a lot of words that really meant nothing. Wow! Another phone line set up! can the administration do anything besides set up these phone lines? Online! They've set up some online stuff. Harry Mitchell may have shocked the adminstration by pointing out that there are "people who don't access the website, people who can't access the website." The questioning of the the government provided witnesses was best done by Reps Mitchell and Shelley Berkley.
At the end of Sarah Wade's testimony, she referenced a young mother who was caught in the maze of attempting to get her husband the care he needed and having no resources. The marriage ended, it was all just too much. Mitchell noted this example and stated that the need for "total care." He also seemed to grasp the urgency of addressing this problem -- putting him far ahead of many members of Congress as well as the trio testifying on behalf of the administration who had a lot of plans of someday improvements causing Mitchell to point out, "These people are living right now . . . It's great to have long term vision but they need help right now." He spoke of the need to "have a trust in government" and what sort of impression was being created by those struggling in the current system of veterans healthcare. "It's not just soldiers," he reminded, "they are recruiting families, not just the soldiers" and the families are part of the total care.
Mitchell: There was an office, the Office of Seamless Transition. . . . It was supposed to be a point of contact. . . . This office was disbanded almost immediately after it was created and yet we continue to talk about a seamless transition from DoD to VA. Do you know why this office was disbanded?
Agarwal: Sir, we do have seamless transition in our office --
Mitchell: So it exists still?
Dr. Madhulikia Agarwal, sent by the administration to testify, had no idea. In fact, she rarely was able to answer any question. She could mouth words but rarely did they address what she had been asked. For example, problems were repeatedly pointed out, things not being done, things being done slowly. When these various details were pointed out, repeatedly there was no answer. Rep Shelley Berkley asked, "Doctor, why . . . just now is a comprehensive list of seriously injured veterans being developed? Isn't this something that should have been done all along, that the department should have been tracking?" Agarwal maintained that it was been tracked "and there's a list." Follow this exchange:
Berkeley: When did the list start to be created?
Agarwal: In fact, very soon. We have . . . [blah, blah, blah]
Berkley: Let me make sure I understand what you say because I don't think you understood me question: How long ago did you start the list?
Madhulikia: I have to take that back and get back to you. I don't know when we started the list.
Berkley: In the last year? In the last two years?
Agarwal didn't know and tossed the question to Kristin Day who believes it was "approximately 2005" but Day apparently had trouble following as well because the list she was referring to was not a systematic list to keep track of the wounded (and types of wounds). "So it's a refund list is what I think I am hearing you say," commented Berkley.
The three witnesses sent by the administration appeared to require a fourth because none of them knew anything. Berkley moved on to the issue of foster homes and how "we have unfortunately found that many times when we have volunteers that their attention isn't always what we'd hope they would be. What kind of screening procedure do you have or plan on having? What kind of background cehcks will you be doing on these volunteers?" The answer was a hem and a haw topped of with a huge portion of disappointment leading Berkley to state, "I want to make sure I fully understand . . . Doctor, if you don't do criminal checks, that's criminal."
The point appeared lost on Dr. Madhulika Agarwal.
Turning to Iraq. Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho is dead. He was leaving the Catholic Church in Mosul when he, his driver and two others were stopped on February 29th and the Archbishop was kidnapped while the three others were shot dead. Throughout the kidnapping, Pope Benedict XVI has issued mutliple appeals for the Archbishop to be released. The kidnappers had requested a ransom and then increased the amount they were asking for. After that contact appeared to break off. Reuters reports that the Archbishop's corpse was discovered in Mosul today "half-buried in an empty lot" and "Police said it was not clear whether Rahho, 65, had been killed or died of other causes. He appeared to have been dead a week and had no bullet wounds, police at the morgue in Mosul said. He was dressed in black trousers and a blue shirt." AP reports, "After two weeks of prayers and searching, officials at the archbishop's church received a phone call from the kidnappers on Wednesday, informing them that he had died and where he was buried, Monsignor Shlemon Warduni, the auxillary bishop of Baghdad, told The Associated Press." Spero News notes, "In a letter to the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, His Beatitude Emmanuel III Delly, Cardinal [Francis] George called today's killing 'callous' and one which 'demonstrates the particularly harsh realities faced by Christians in Iraq and the lack of security faced by all Iraqis'." Chaldean.org notes, "The Chaldean community around the world stand numb and in disbelief as news of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul is dead. Outcry from world leaders swayed no influences as fanatical terrorists proved once more that no women, children, medical providers, and now spiritual leaders are safe from their killing spree." They also note that the ransom requests led to requests by the Church to speak to the the Archbishop and that's what led to their being informed he was dead and "had been dead for at least five days before his body was found this morning by some members of the Church, following information provided by the kidnappers themselves." Frances Harrison (BBC) notes, "Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho is thought to be the highest-ranking Chaldean Catholic clergyman to be killed in the violence in Iraq." March 11th, US House Rep Jeff Fortenberry raised the kidnapping of the Archbishop in an open hearing (by two subcommittees, click here).
Staying with the topic of kidnappings, Hannah Allam (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, "U.S. authorities in Baghdad have received five severed fingers belonging to four Americans and an Austrian who were taken hostage more than a year ago in Iraq, U.S. officials said ednesday.The FBI is investigating the grisly development, and the families of the five kidnapped contractors have been notified, American officials said on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the case publicly." She lists the five as Jonathon Cote, Joshua Munns, Paul Johnson Reuben, Bert Nussbaumer and Ronald J. Withrow. McClatchy Newspapers reports today that the mother of the last man listed (Ronald J. Withrow) was only informed her son had been kidnapped January 2, 2008 despite the fact that her son was kidnapped January 5, 2007. (The FBI was the agency that informed her finally.)
Meanwhile Erica Goode (New York Times) reports that "American soldiers accidentally shot and killed a young Iraqi girl in Diyala Province on Wednesday, and three soldiers were killed in a rocket attack in the southeast, as a wave of deadly violence continued." CBS and AP quote US Major Brad Leighton stating that the victim looked to be "around 10 years old." This follows the US attack on a bus of mourners. 9 is the death toll in yesterday's snapshot, but Goode reports it was actually 16 and quotes bus passenger Qasim Salih Jaber say very clearly was an attack but the US military continues to deny involvement. Joshuas Partlow and Saad Sarhan (Washington Post) also note bus driver Zeki Abdul Qader in their report: "They shot me with small arms from the beginning of the bus to the end, the whole side, then they shot this rocket."
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
Bombings?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad car bombing that climed 9 lives and left forty-eight wounded. Ned Parker and Tracy Wilkinson (Los Angeles Times) report the dead now numbers 18 (they cite Iraqi sources). Steve Lannen (McClatchy Newspapers) notes, "The explosion occurred on al Khayam Street in Bab al Sharji neighborhood, not far from a bridge leading to the GreenZone." Also Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad bombing that wounded five peiple, a Baghdad car bombing, a Kirkuk bombing claimed 3 lives and left seven wounded, car bombing outside of Kirkuk claimed 1 life and left ten people wounded and a bombing outside of Kirkuk left three Iraqi forces wounded.
Shootings?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 3 members of the "Awakening" council members were shot dead in Salahuddin Province, while 1 police officer 2 more "Awakening" council members were shot dead in Tikrit. Reuters reports Qassim Abdul-Hussein ("head of the circulation department for al-Muwatin nespaper) was shot dead in Baghdad.
Kidnappings?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports four members of "Support Forces of Baiji" were kidnapped "between Baiji and Tikrit at dawn today" and Mwaffaq Raheem Kereem was kidnapped outside Kirkuk.
Corpses?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 3 corpses discovered in Baghdad and 1 corpse discovered outside Erbil.
AP reports:
Only 28% of the public knows that nearly 4,000 Americans have died in the Iraq war, and attention to the conflict has gradually diminished, a survey by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found. In the poll released Wednesday, around a third said about 3,000 U.S. troops have died and about one in 10 said 2,000.
Take a tour of broadcast and print independent media and see if you can't figure out why that is? Meanwhile NOW on PBS asks what the biggest threat to democracy is and you can post your answer here.
kats korner
the common ills
mikey likes it
iraq
dee knight
iraq veterans against the war
aimeee allisondavid solnit
aaron glantz
kpfa
erica goodethe new york timeshannah allammcclatchy newspapersthe washington postjoshua partlow
now on pbs
So to update you, Bambi Obama spent another day whining about 'race' when all he's done is inject race into the campaign. Poor Bambi, he's ticked off a lot of people by implying Geraldine Ferraro is a racist and now it turns out his preacher might be seen by a lot of people as a racist but probably as a hater of American by many more.
From the New York Times:
The Democratic candidates spent much of the week trying to tamp down controversy provoked by their supporters. Earlier in the week, it was Geraldine Ferraro, whose racially charged remarks were denounced Wednesday night by Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton after Mrs. Ferraro announced she was resigning from her honorary position on Mrs. Clinton’s campaign finance committee.
On Thursday the attention shifted to the camp of Senator Barack Obama, after a report was shown on "Good Morning America" on ABC, with clips of sermons by Rev. Jeremiah Wright Jr., senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.
Susan UnPC has more and this is from the Good Morning America report:
Sen. Barack Obama’s pastor says blacks should not sing “God Bless America” but “God damn America.”
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama’s pastor for the last 20 years at the Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago’s south side, has a long history of what even Obama’s campaign aides concede is “inflammatory rhetoric,” including the assertion that the United States brought on the 9/11 attacks with its own “terrorism.”
In a campaign appearance earlier this month, Sen. Obama said, “I don’t think my church is actually particularly controversial.” He said Rev. Wright “is like an old uncle who says things I don’t always agree with,” telling a Jewish group that everyone has someone like that in their family.
Rev. Wright married Obama and his wife Michelle, baptized their two daughters and is credited by Obama for the title of his book, “The Audacity of Hope.”
An ABC News review of dozens of Rev. Wright’s sermons, offered for sale by the church, found repeated denunciations of the U.S. based on what he described as his reading of the Gospels and the treatment of black Americans.
“The government gives them the drugs, builds bigger prisons, passes a three-strike law and then wants us to sing ‘God Bless America.’ No, no, no, God damn America, that’s in the Bible for killing innocent people,” he said in a 2003 sermon. “God damn America for treating our citizens as less than human. God damn America for as long as she acts like she is God and she is supreme.”
Sorry, I don't think you can go to a church that says G-- d--- America as part of their message and run for president. Maybe I'm missing something as a Catholic but that's pretty offensive. And if you sit there and you listen to it, you're endorsing it, you're accepting it. Barack Obama should not be running for the presidency of a country he apparently loathes. But now I get why Michelle Obama said last month that for the first time in her life she was proud of her country. Apparently she's been spouting G-- d--- America each morning when the sun came up.
I don't want to hear crap from him about how he doesn't 'necessarily agree with everything' his now former preacher said (the man retired a little while ago). He went to that church, he gave it money, he sat in the pew and he soaked this crap up.
How is the idiot Katrina vanden Heuvel going to keep pushing her man now? Remember after 9-11 when she was wrapping herself in the flag and talking about patriotism?
Guess she'll have to choose now or, more likely, pretend it never happened. It does reflect on Obama. He should have walked out and found another church. If he wants to be president, that is. If he didn't want to be president, he can do whatever the hell he wants. But I don't want anyone in the White House -- man or woman -- who's going around saying G-- d---- America. I don't mind criticism and there's plenty to be dished out.
But people need to get -- and the likes of Katrina won't because they don't believe in God -- that when a preacher uses "damn" or "damnation," he knows what he's saying. It's not just words. He was damning the United States of America. And Barack Obama was perfectly okay with that. Fine, that's who Bambi is. But he's not fit to be president. This is disgusting, I'm sorry. I don't go around flaunting my religion or anything and I'm not some big flag waver, but I am Catholic and I am American and I am so offended by this garbage.
Barack Obama needs to apologize to all Americans for this. That won't make him worthy of being in the White House, but it's what he needs to do. This is offensive.
And think about 9-11 for a second. He is damning America. As a preacher, he is damning America. Do you get that? He's calling for attacks and strife and horror on this country. That would be offensive before 9-11 but it's even more so now.
And Bambi was okay with it. Bambi was okay with being a member of that church, Bambi was okay with having his children baptized in that church, Bambi was okay with giving money to that church.
That's disgusting.
Again, I don't expect the aetheists of Panhandle Media to get it. I don't expect Matt Rothschild and all the other non-believers to get it. But this isn't just "speech," this is a preacher damning a country. It's not acceptable for a presidential candidate to be a part of a church like that.
I've been on the phone with Kat off and on all night. She e-mailed me this from HillaryClinton.com, "Hillary Clinton Accepts ABC’s Invitation to Debate Sen. Obama in the Keystone State:"
The Clinton campaign today announced that Hillary has accepted an invitation to participate in a primetime debate hosted by ABC. The debate will be held in Philadelphia, PA in advance of the April 22nd Pennsylvania primary. The debate will be broadcast statewide and nationally.
Hillary is prepared to show she has real solutions for the problems facing residents of the Keystone State.
Hillary is the only candidate with a plan to end the housing crisis and help people keep their homes. Hillary's plan takes bold action to stem the tide of foreclosures with a 90-day moratorium on foreclosures and a five year freeze on interest rates for subprime mortgages.
Hillary is also the only candidate with a health care plan that covers every American. Her plan allows for maximum flexibility while making sure health care costs are affordable for working families.
Hillary hears the voices of Americans concerned about their future and is focused on providing solutions to the problems they face.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot:"
Thursday, March 13, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, the Archbishop is discovered dead, Congress gets the run-around on veterans healthcare, IVAW kicks off their investigation tonight, and more.
Starting with war resistance. March 17, 2007 -- as the 4th anniversary of the illegal war was days away -- the War Resisters Support Campaign's Michelle Robidoux spoke outside the US Embassy in Canada. Snowshoe Documentary Films captured the Toronto speech.
Michelle Robidoux: Good afternoon, sisters and brothers. I think people in this city who have been out on the streets marching against war over the past few years are familiar with the war resisters who have come up to Canada. I want to introduce some of them to you today. Jeremy Hinzman, Nga Nguyen and Liam, their son, who were the first to come up here -- first US soldier to refusing to fight in Iraq, to seek refuge in Canada and since Jermey arrived in January 2004. We have seen an influx of people from every branch of the US military -- from the marines, the navy, the US army, national guardsman. And I want to introduce other resisters you may not have met yet Phil MacDowell and Jamine Aponte. They arrived here in October and are making their life here in Toronto and Steve Yoczik who arrived in December from Florida We have also some Vietnam resisters up here. Tom Riley and Lee Zaslofsky who is the cooridnator of the War Resisters Support Campaign, who have been the backbone, the Vietnam resisters, the people who came up 35 years ago opposing another illegal and immoral war. We are at a crucial point in the battle to win asylum for war resisters because this isn't just a legal battle. We learned a lesson when we marched in our tens of thousands before the beginning of the invasion and occupation of Iraq we actually achieved something that many of us thought might not be possible the Canadian government made a decision in the teeth of the opposition on the streets to not send Canadian troops to Iraq and now we need to use that political pressure to make sure that we follow through.
That was a year ago. Since then war resisters in Canada have been dealt a serious set-back when the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Today, Canada's Parliament remaining the best hope for safe harbor war resisters have, you can make your voice heard by the Canadian parliament which has the ability to pass legislation to grant war resisters the right to remain in Canada. Three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use. That is the sort of thing that should receive attention but instead it's ignored.
There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum. Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
Meanwhile IVAW has a DC action this month:In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth. Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan. Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers. In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & AfghanistanMarch 13th through 16th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation. Dee Knight (Workers World) notes, "IVAW wants as many people as possible to attend the event. It is planning to provide live broadcasting of the sessions for those who cannot hear the testimony firsthand. 'We have been inspired by the tremendous support the movement has shown us,' IVAW says. 'We believe the success of Winter Soldier will ultimately depend on the support of our allies and the hard work of our members'." IVAW's co-chair Adam Kokesh will, of course, be participating and he explains why at his site, "But out of a strong sense of duty, some of us are trying to put our experiences to use for a good cause. Some of us couldn't live with ourselves if weren't doing everything we could to bring our brothers and sisters home as soon as possible. The environment may be unking, but that is why I will be testifying to shooting at civilians as a result of changing Rules of Engagement, abuse of detainees, and desecration of Iraqi bodies. It won't be easy but it must be done. Some of the stories are things that are difficult to admit that I was a part of, but if one more veteran realizes that they are not alone because of my testimony it will be worth it." The hearings will be broadcast throughout at the Iraq Veterans Against the War home page an on KPFA March 14th and 16th with Aimee Allison (co-host of the station's The Morning Show and co-author with David Solnit of Army Of None) and Aaron Glantz hosting and the KPFA live stream will also be available at Glantz' War Comes Home.
Mark Benjamin (Salon) writes today, "It is unclear whether Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan will gain wider attention from the media and the public, but its organizers say that today's technology could make a difference. 'The modern soldier carries a digital camera almost as a sidearm,' explained O'Brien. The group says that potentially explosive photos and video from Iraq displayed at this Winter Soldier investigation will help 'expose the human consequences of failed policy' in the war zones. The searing images from Abu Ghraib, of course came to light because soldiers working inside the prison made use of their personal digital cameras." Norman Solomon's IPA has put out a news release on the action and quotes Adam Kokesh declaring, "There are too many veterans returning from futile occupations with heads full of lies and hearts full of sorrow. Minds full of bad memories and bodies full of shrapnel. Fists full of anger and families full of confusion. It's not a strong place from which to make yourself politically relevant. But out of a strong sense of duty, some of us are trying to put our experiences to use for a good cause. Some of us couldn't live with ourselves if we weren't doing everything we could to bring our brothers and sisters home as soon as possible."
The action starts this evening (7:00 to 9:00 pm EST) and will stream at IVAW online and the hearings will close Sunday afternoon. Kelly Dougherty explained in a press release last month, "We've heard from the politicians, we've heard from the generals, we've heard from the media -- not it's our turn. It's not going to be easy to hear what we have to say. It's not going to be easy for us to tell it. But we believe that the only way this war is going to end is if the American people truly understand what we have done in their name."
Staying with veterans, this morning the US House Committee on Veterans' Affairs' subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations held a hearing entitled "Care of Seriously Wounded After In-Patient Care" attempting to address what happens to the wounded veterans after their immediate wounds are treated. US House Rep Harry Mitchell is the chair of the committee and he explained in his opening remarks, "We are here today to hear from veterans, their families, and the Department of Veterans Affairs about the long-term care of our most severely wounded Afghanistan and Iraq veterans. We know that DoD and VA provide the excellent inpatient healthcare for these warriors. But many of the most seriously injured require extensive outpatient care, some of them for life. Their families need care and assistance as well. Unfortunately, once these veterans leave the hospital, the care they receive does not seem to be on par with what they received directly following their injury. I think we can do better." US House Rep Nick Lampson introduced Casey Owens and noted, "Care for veterans such as Edward Wade and Casey Owens was by trial and error, as there was no system of care in place for these new types of injuries -- both external and internal. Casey expressed to me his worry that there are still issues with care for polytrauma patients today. And I was most impress with his concern for those who will come after them and his hope that they will not come to Congress with the same exact issues, complications, and frustrations as we are hearing today."
Among those testifying were Casey Owens who served in Iraq (Marine Corporal) and was wounded while serving his second tour of duty. Both of his legs were amputated. Ted (Edward) Wade lost his arm from a roadside bombing while serving in Iraq (Army Sgt.) and his wife Sarah Wade testified to the subcommittee. Sarah was advised by 'experts' at Walter Reed Army Medical that her husband would be a 'vegetable' (which he is not) and the couple had to fight the military just for him to obtain the medical care he was owed.
Casey Owens: While some of the problems I have encountered have been resolved, many have not. The learning curve of VA's system is steep and its bureaucratic maze is hard to understand. It has been thirty years since the last major war and what lessons has the VA learned since then? Did no one expect another war or learn anything from Viet Nam? What have the educated and highly paid personnel who have been appointed to correct the system been focusing their attention on? While the system continues to be broken, where is all the government funding going that is supposed to be fixing the system and what are they doing with? A tremendous problem that I have encountered is the double standard of the VA and the Department of Defense's claims and rating for veterans. It took me three to five months of agonizing appointments and addendums to finalize my Medical Board, which was performed by competent and qualified military and civilian personnel. After I had completed my medical boards, I thought I was finished with that process only to find out I was not. When I enrolled in the VA, it took almost another year and a half to finalize those claims. It is actions like that make veterans avoid the VA. My qualms is not that the VA does not have nough programs in place to benefit veterans or the adequacy of it, rather, it is the bureaucracy and red tape that are the problems. While many problems have been addressed, it is time for SOLUTIONS.
Sarah Wade followed Casey Owens.
Sarah Wade: As an above elbow amputee with a severe TBI [traumatic brain Injury], Ted was one of the first major explosive blast "polytrauma" cases from Operation Iraqi Freedom, Walter Reed Army Medical Center or the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) had to rehabilitate. Much of his treatement was by trial and error, as there was no model system of care for a patient like Ted, and there still is no long-term model today. His situation was an enormous challegne, as Walter Reed was only able to rehabilitate an amputee, not a TBI, the VA was able to nominally treat a TBI, but not an above elbow amputee, and neither were staffed to provide appropriate bheavioral health care for a patient with a severe TBI. Because Ted could not access the necessary services, where and and when he needed them, he suffered a signficant setback in 2005, that put him in the hospital for two weeks, and would take a year to rebound from. Ted has made a remarkable recovery by any standard, because we have strayed from standardized treatment, and developed a patient-centered path. I had to educate myself about, and coordinate, additional outside care. Often, access to the necessary services required intervention from the highest levels of government, or for us to personally finance them ourselves. But despite our best efforts, Ted is still unable to easily receive comprehensive care for all of his major health issues, due to shortcomings in the current system, and because of the time his needs demand of me, I have been unable to return to regular work or school. We have been blessed to have family, with the means to see us through these difficult times, and help with the expenses. I was fortunate to have the education, of growing up in Washington, D.C. and learning about the workings of the various Federal agencies. Our situation is not typical though.
Wounded War Project's Meredith Beck addressed the issue of how active duty and retired veterans have different benefits, noting "an active duty patient can be seen at a VA Polytrauma Center to treat his Traumatic Brain Injury. However, while at the VA facility, the servicemember, due to his duty status, cannot enoy VA benefits such as Vocational Rehabilitation or Independent Living Services that can he helpful in his recovery. Alternately, as mentioned previously and unbeknownst to most families, a medically retired servicemember cannot use his/her TRICARE benefits to access private care as TRICARE does not cover cognitive therapy once retired." Using Sgt. Eric Edmundson's story as an exmpale (he suffers from "a severe brain injury in Iraq"), Beck explained the need for more research on veterans (Eric Edmundson is making progress that many did not believe would be possible) . She advocate for the VA to "initiate a pilot program partnering with local universities to provide such a care/respite initiative for those with brain injury" and to have graduate students be matched with veterans in their own communities "so than an individualized program can be developed." Beck made the case for compensating the primary caregiver noting pointing out that often "the spouse or parent" of a wounded veteran "is forced to leave his/her job to provide the necessary care for their loved one, leaving the entire family to suffer from an adverse economic situation. In these cases the VA relies on the family member to assist in the servicemember's care, but has been denied financial compensation."
The administration provided Madhulika Agarwal (Chief Patient Care Services Officer of the Veterans Health Administration in the government's VA), Lucille Beck (Rehabiliation Services) and Kristin Day (Veterans Health Administration) and Argawal mainly wanted to throw out a lot of words that really meant nothing. Wow! Another phone line set up! can the administration do anything besides set up these phone lines? Online! They've set up some online stuff. Harry Mitchell may have shocked the adminstration by pointing out that there are "people who don't access the website, people who can't access the website." The questioning of the the government provided witnesses was best done by Reps Mitchell and Shelley Berkley.
At the end of Sarah Wade's testimony, she referenced a young mother who was caught in the maze of attempting to get her husband the care he needed and having no resources. The marriage ended, it was all just too much. Mitchell noted this example and stated that the need for "total care." He also seemed to grasp the urgency of addressing this problem -- putting him far ahead of many members of Congress as well as the trio testifying on behalf of the administration who had a lot of plans of someday improvements causing Mitchell to point out, "These people are living right now . . . It's great to have long term vision but they need help right now." He spoke of the need to "have a trust in government" and what sort of impression was being created by those struggling in the current system of veterans healthcare. "It's not just soldiers," he reminded, "they are recruiting families, not just the soldiers" and the families are part of the total care.
Mitchell: There was an office, the Office of Seamless Transition. . . . It was supposed to be a point of contact. . . . This office was disbanded almost immediately after it was created and yet we continue to talk about a seamless transition from DoD to VA. Do you know why this office was disbanded?
Agarwal: Sir, we do have seamless transition in our office --
Mitchell: So it exists still?
Dr. Madhulikia Agarwal, sent by the administration to testify, had no idea. In fact, she rarely was able to answer any question. She could mouth words but rarely did they address what she had been asked. For example, problems were repeatedly pointed out, things not being done, things being done slowly. When these various details were pointed out, repeatedly there was no answer. Rep Shelley Berkley asked, "Doctor, why . . . just now is a comprehensive list of seriously injured veterans being developed? Isn't this something that should have been done all along, that the department should have been tracking?" Agarwal maintained that it was been tracked "and there's a list." Follow this exchange:
Berkeley: When did the list start to be created?
Agarwal: In fact, very soon. We have . . . [blah, blah, blah]
Berkley: Let me make sure I understand what you say because I don't think you understood me question: How long ago did you start the list?
Madhulikia: I have to take that back and get back to you. I don't know when we started the list.
Berkley: In the last year? In the last two years?
Agarwal didn't know and tossed the question to Kristin Day who believes it was "approximately 2005" but Day apparently had trouble following as well because the list she was referring to was not a systematic list to keep track of the wounded (and types of wounds). "So it's a refund list is what I think I am hearing you say," commented Berkley.
The three witnesses sent by the administration appeared to require a fourth because none of them knew anything. Berkley moved on to the issue of foster homes and how "we have unfortunately found that many times when we have volunteers that their attention isn't always what we'd hope they would be. What kind of screening procedure do you have or plan on having? What kind of background cehcks will you be doing on these volunteers?" The answer was a hem and a haw topped of with a huge portion of disappointment leading Berkley to state, "I want to make sure I fully understand . . . Doctor, if you don't do criminal checks, that's criminal."
The point appeared lost on Dr. Madhulika Agarwal.
Turning to Iraq. Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho is dead. He was leaving the Catholic Church in Mosul when he, his driver and two others were stopped on February 29th and the Archbishop was kidnapped while the three others were shot dead. Throughout the kidnapping, Pope Benedict XVI has issued mutliple appeals for the Archbishop to be released. The kidnappers had requested a ransom and then increased the amount they were asking for. After that contact appeared to break off. Reuters reports that the Archbishop's corpse was discovered in Mosul today "half-buried in an empty lot" and "Police said it was not clear whether Rahho, 65, had been killed or died of other causes. He appeared to have been dead a week and had no bullet wounds, police at the morgue in Mosul said. He was dressed in black trousers and a blue shirt." AP reports, "After two weeks of prayers and searching, officials at the archbishop's church received a phone call from the kidnappers on Wednesday, informing them that he had died and where he was buried, Monsignor Shlemon Warduni, the auxillary bishop of Baghdad, told The Associated Press." Spero News notes, "In a letter to the Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans, His Beatitude Emmanuel III Delly, Cardinal [Francis] George called today's killing 'callous' and one which 'demonstrates the particularly harsh realities faced by Christians in Iraq and the lack of security faced by all Iraqis'." Chaldean.org notes, "The Chaldean community around the world stand numb and in disbelief as news of Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul is dead. Outcry from world leaders swayed no influences as fanatical terrorists proved once more that no women, children, medical providers, and now spiritual leaders are safe from their killing spree." They also note that the ransom requests led to requests by the Church to speak to the the Archbishop and that's what led to their being informed he was dead and "had been dead for at least five days before his body was found this morning by some members of the Church, following information provided by the kidnappers themselves." Frances Harrison (BBC) notes, "Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho is thought to be the highest-ranking Chaldean Catholic clergyman to be killed in the violence in Iraq." March 11th, US House Rep Jeff Fortenberry raised the kidnapping of the Archbishop in an open hearing (by two subcommittees, click here).
Staying with the topic of kidnappings, Hannah Allam (McClatchy Newspapers) reports, "U.S. authorities in Baghdad have received five severed fingers belonging to four Americans and an Austrian who were taken hostage more than a year ago in Iraq, U.S. officials said ednesday.The FBI is investigating the grisly development, and the families of the five kidnapped contractors have been notified, American officials said on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to discuss the case publicly." She lists the five as Jonathon Cote, Joshua Munns, Paul Johnson Reuben, Bert Nussbaumer and Ronald J. Withrow. McClatchy Newspapers reports today that the mother of the last man listed (Ronald J. Withrow) was only informed her son had been kidnapped January 2, 2008 despite the fact that her son was kidnapped January 5, 2007. (The FBI was the agency that informed her finally.)
Meanwhile Erica Goode (New York Times) reports that "American soldiers accidentally shot and killed a young Iraqi girl in Diyala Province on Wednesday, and three soldiers were killed in a rocket attack in the southeast, as a wave of deadly violence continued." CBS and AP quote US Major Brad Leighton stating that the victim looked to be "around 10 years old." This follows the US attack on a bus of mourners. 9 is the death toll in yesterday's snapshot, but Goode reports it was actually 16 and quotes bus passenger Qasim Salih Jaber say very clearly was an attack but the US military continues to deny involvement. Joshuas Partlow and Saad Sarhan (Washington Post) also note bus driver Zeki Abdul Qader in their report: "They shot me with small arms from the beginning of the bus to the end, the whole side, then they shot this rocket."
Turning to some of today's reported violence . . .
Bombings?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad car bombing that climed 9 lives and left forty-eight wounded. Ned Parker and Tracy Wilkinson (Los Angeles Times) report the dead now numbers 18 (they cite Iraqi sources). Steve Lannen (McClatchy Newspapers) notes, "The explosion occurred on al Khayam Street in Bab al Sharji neighborhood, not far from a bridge leading to the GreenZone." Also Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad bombing that wounded five peiple, a Baghdad car bombing, a Kirkuk bombing claimed 3 lives and left seven wounded, car bombing outside of Kirkuk claimed 1 life and left ten people wounded and a bombing outside of Kirkuk left three Iraqi forces wounded.
Shootings?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 3 members of the "Awakening" council members were shot dead in Salahuddin Province, while 1 police officer 2 more "Awakening" council members were shot dead in Tikrit. Reuters reports Qassim Abdul-Hussein ("head of the circulation department for al-Muwatin nespaper) was shot dead in Baghdad.
Kidnappings?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports four members of "Support Forces of Baiji" were kidnapped "between Baiji and Tikrit at dawn today" and Mwaffaq Raheem Kereem was kidnapped outside Kirkuk.
Corpses?
Sahar Issa (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 3 corpses discovered in Baghdad and 1 corpse discovered outside Erbil.
AP reports:
Only 28% of the public knows that nearly 4,000 Americans have died in the Iraq war, and attention to the conflict has gradually diminished, a survey by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center found. In the poll released Wednesday, around a third said about 3,000 U.S. troops have died and about one in 10 said 2,000.
Take a tour of broadcast and print independent media and see if you can't figure out why that is? Meanwhile NOW on PBS asks what the biggest threat to democracy is and you can post your answer here.
kats korner
the common ills
mikey likes it
iraq
dee knight
iraq veterans against the war
aimeee allisondavid solnit
aaron glantz
kpfa
erica goodethe new york timeshannah allammcclatchy newspapersthe washington postjoshua partlow
now on pbs
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
John Carlson, Susan UnPC, death of Bambi
Hump day, hump day. Good news and bad news at the start. Obama throws another person under the bus: Geraldine Ferraro. That's the bad, here's the good: Super delegate Ferraro is a fighter and you can be sure this fight now goes to the super delegates. I called C.I. as soon as I saw the news and was told, "Yeah, victory for Hillary now." And that really is true. This may or may not help with Penn's primary but it hurts Obama with the super delegates as he's now lashed out at one of their own. This is from the New York Times' blog:
After a two-day firestorm, Geraldine Ferraro has quit Senator Hillary Clinton's finance committee, saying that Senator Barack Obama’s campaign was twisting her words to make her appear racist and that this was hurting Mrs. Clinton.
"I am stepping down from your finance committee so I can speak for myself and you can continue to speak for yourself about what is at stake in this campaign," Ms. Ferraro wrote in a letter to Mrs. Clinton. "The Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you. I won't let that happen."
[. . .]
While critics, including Mr. Obama, pounced on her, a defiant Ms. Ferraro defended her remarks, saying they were accurate and not racist. She has said that she herself benefited from being a woman because otherwise, she would not have been the vice presidential nominee in 1984.
But by mid-afternoon, she resigned from her membership on the finance committee.There was no immediate comment from the Clinton campaign, but officials said that Ms. Ferraro had decided to leave on her own. She clearly wants to continue to speak out and press her point, telling NBC News after her resignation: "This is the last time the Obama campaign is going to be able to play this kind of race card. They should apologize to me for calling me a racist."
They should apologize to her but they won't and that just makes it all fester. This isn't about you and me voters, this is about the super delegates and Obama is cooking his own goose. You do not want to piss off any super delegate but especially not one with such long ties to the Democratic Party. You better believe she's getting calls of, "I cannot believe what they did to you!" I'm sure Bambi's getting those calls too . . . from friends and flunkies. From super delegates? Nope.
When I played football in school, if you dissed any of us, you dissed the whole team. Neither Hillary or Barack will reach the magic number of delegates. So the super delegates will have to come in. It's like he gave a speech that had the chess club cheering but he was supposed to be trying to win over the football team. Instead, he's alienated them and since his campaign has played the race card repeatedly, the calls aren't just, "Geraldine, I can't believe they did that to you!" they are also, "Geraldine, I can't believe they did that to you! But look at who else they did that too! They did it to Bill Clinton and . . ."
Samantha Power is an academic. Ferraro is part of the Democratic Party, it's a big difference. Bambi shot himself in the foot. What an idiot.
It's past time for the Democratic Party to send a message to Bambi that crying "racism!" everytime you don't like what someone says isn't going to cut it. It won't cut it in a general election and you better believe the Republicans are paying attention. You better believe that John McCain's campaign is not going to get all weak-kneeed if they go up against Bambi. If he got the nomination (now very unlikely) and he pulled that crap with McCain, McCain would just have to say, "You say that every time someone criticizes you." And people would be nodding along.
Bambi likes to shoot hoops but doesn't seem to like pick-up games and that has me wondering what kind of team his prep-school in Hawaii had? I'm guessing either no team spirit or else Bambi didn't catch on because anyone who's played sports would grasp that you don't go after a super delegate when YOU NEED the super delegates.
But his entire campaign is in disarray. This is "MEMO: Keystone Test: Obama Losing Ground:"
To: Interested Parties
From: Clinton Campaign
Date: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Re: Keystone Test: Obama Losing Ground
The path to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue goes through Pennsylvania so if Barack Obama can’t win there, how will he win the general election?
After setbacks in Ohio and Texas, Barack Obama needs to demonstrate that he can win the state of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is the last state with more than 15 electoral votes on the primary calendar and Barack Obama has lost six of the seven other largest states so far - every state except his home state of Illinois.
Pennsylvania is of particular importance, along with Ohio, Florida and Michigan, because it is dominated by the swing voters who are critical to a Democratic victory in November. No Democrat has won the presidency without winning Pennsylvania since 1948. And no candidate has won the Democratic nomination without winning Pennsylvania since 1972.
But the Obama campaign has just announced that it is turning its attention away from Pennsylvania.
This is not a strategy that can beat John McCain in November.
In the last two weeks, Barack Obama has lost ground among men, women, Democrats, independents and Republicans - all of which point to a candidacy past its prime.
For example, just a few weeks ago, Barack Obama won 68% of men in Virginia, 67% in Wisconsin and 62% in Maryland. He won 60% of Virginia women and 55% of Maryland women. He won 62% of independents in Maryland, 64% in Wisconsin and 69% in Virginia. Obama won 59% of Democrats in Maryland, 53% in Wisconsin and 62% in Virginia. And among Republicans, Obama won 72% in both Virginia and Wisconsin.
But now Obama’s support has dropped among all these groups.
In Mississippi, he won only 25% of Republicans and barely half of independents. In Ohio, he won only 48% of men, 41% of women and 42% of Democrats. In Texas, he won only 49% of independents and 46% of Democrats. And in Rhode Island, Obama won just 33% of women and 37% of Democrats.
Why are so many voters turning away from Barack Obama in state after state?
In the last few weeks, questions have arisen about Obama’s readiness to be president. In Virginia, 56% of Democratic primary voters said Obama was most qualified to be commander-in-chief. That number fell to 37% in Ohio, 35% in Rhode Island and 39% in Texas.
So the late deciders - those making up their minds in the last days before the election - have been shifting to Hillary Clinton. Among those who made their decision in the last three days, Obama won 55% in Virginia and 53% in Wisconsin, but only 43% in Mississippi, 40% in Ohio, 39% in Texas and 37% in Rhode Island.
If Barack Obama cannot reverse his downward spiral with a big win in Pennsylvania, he cannot possibly be competitive against John McCain in November.
Poor Bambi. He's fading. Grab the vapors. For him and his cult. They really are the most uneducated adults in the world and John Carlson points out that they pause when asked about Bambi's record and then finally say "Change!" They've been programmed well but the cult's not taking beyond the fringe circle of White elites. They are the ones who drove this and they are the ones responsible for turning a centrist DLC-er into a 'progressive' and 'anti-war'. They've lied through their teeth for so long that you can't even trust them when the issue isn't Bambi. They've just trashed their names in Panhandle Media. John Carlson tackles the realities for Bambi:
Obama's losses in both Texas and Ohio underscore why time is not on his side. These were the first primaries that didn't follow on the heels of another with another contest immediately following. Instead voters were able to sit back for three full weeks, listen to the debates, watch how the candidates and their spouses talked to different audiences in different parts of the state, hear their advertising and take their time digesting this information and discussing it with others at home, work and the barber shop.
When they did that, Obama began to fade. Like a hit record that's been on the charts for a while, they still smile when it plays but they're getting used to hearing it. In Ohio, a must-win state for the Democrats in November, people began to tire of it. Isn't there a "B" side?
Most Americans like Obama but they don't know him, and liking and trusting aren't quite the same thing. A TV spot asking whom voters would rather have picking up the phone at the White House during an overseas crisis at 3 a.m. simply asked what any reasonable voter would consider before pulling the lever in November. That's hardly a low blow or an act of "desperation" by the Clinton people. (If the McCain campaign is smart, it'll rerun that ad in the fall, with McCain picking up the line.)
And Michelle Obama didn't help with her comment about finally, in her 40s, "being proud of my country for the first time," and suggesting to a young audience in a working-class Ohio town that they should sidestep "corporate America" and instead seek out more rewarding, lower-paying jobs in teaching and social work. Whom did she think she was talking to, the senior class at Vassar?
And Brady e-mailed me this from SusanUnPC's "Hitting Back:"
File this under "I was for it before I was against it": Obama's Michigan chair says, "[A] mail-in caucus 'is clearly the wrong path'. 'We don’t like it one bit. It disenfranchises people who need to participate and there are many questions with regard to security'. Hunter said the Obama campaign will accept nothing but a 50-50 split of Michigan delegates between Clinton and Obama. …" Big Tent Democrat observes:
I guess the Obama MI Co-Chair does not agree with Obama's previously held positive view on mail in voting, agreeing instead with Obama's newly minted distaste for mail in voting. Oh and a 50-50 split is the ONLY thing Obama will accept in Michigan. Hope we are clear now on how Obama feels about the will of the people of Florida and Michigan.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" and there's ton in it. As an Irish-American I will say thank you to C.I. for covering Hillary's work in Ireland. I will also note that no one online covers Congress like C.I. Seriously. Folding Star used to cover the Senate at A Winding Road (FS folded up due to the abusive e-mails) and I always enjoyed FS talking about the votes and who voted for what. But (and C.I. would gripe at me if I said it face-to-face but saying it here means C.I. will just act like it never happened :D) what C.I.'s doing is reporting. I'm pushing for a thing at Third this weekend about how the New York Times covered a hearing in today's paper that C.I. covered in yesterday's snapshot. They missed all the important stuff and wrote it like they didn't even catch the hearing, just the prepared remarks of one speaker. Guess the paper of record doesn't have the money to send reporters to cover hearings. :D Okay, here's today's snapshot:
Wednesday, March 12, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces more deaths while denying reports of others, veterans healthcare is sometimes a Congressional concern and sometimes not, Matty Rothschild finger-points but could he explain where his magazine's African-American columnists are?, and more.
Starting with war resistance. Kenneth Theisen (OpEdNews) writes, "We need to oppose the recruitment of men and women into the military. We need to support resisters within the military who have realized what they are doing and now choose to resist the role of the U.S. military. This includes people such as Lt. Ehren Watada who refused to deploy to Iraq. Watada stated, 'Never did I imagine my president would lie to go to war, condone torture, spy on Americans . . ." He was the first officer to refuse to go to Iraq and he was court-martialed. Another resister is Camilo Mejia. In 2004 Sergeant Mejia was sentenced to one year in prison when he was court-martialed for refusing to assist the military in Iraq. Mejia said, 'I am only a regular person that got tired of being afraid to follow his own conscience. For far too long I allowed others to direct my actions even when I knew that they were wrong . . .' [. . .] James Circello, who joined the Army after September 11 2001, and was sent to Iraq in March 2003 described his experience there: 'We were told that we were giving these people Democracy. Unfortunately what I saw would best be described as martial law, or what we called "The Old West". Soldiers joked that "anything goes", which was true and still is . . . I never forgot what I did while in Iraq and what I saw happening: other kids turning into animals. Some as young as 17, brutalizing, bullying and humiliating individuals sometimes old enough to be their grandparents, and sometimes young enough to be their children. And it wasn't just the men on the receiving end, suffering through illegal and tiresome searches of their homes and vehicles, simply for being brown skinned, but the same methods were applied to women and children as well. No one was innocenct.' James Circello reached a point where he could no longer be part of this killing machine."
With just three examples, Theisen finds the common bond: courage. Each war resister has a unique story but what they share is the courage to say no more, no mas, enough. Some resistance includes self-checking out and moving to Canada. You can help US war resisters in that country -- help online as well. They were dealt a serious set-back when the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Today, Canada's Parliament remaining the best hope for safe harbor war resisters have, you can make your voice heard by the Canadian parliament which has the ability to pass legislation to grant war resisters the right to remain in Canada. Three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use. That is the sort of thing that should receive attention but instead it's ignored. There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum. Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
Meanwhile IVAW has a DC action this month:In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth. Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan. Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers. In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & AfghanistanMarch 13th through 16th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation. Dee Knight (Workers World) notes, "IVAW wants as many people as possible to attend the event. It is planning to provide live broadcasting of the sessions for those who cannot hear the testimony firsthand. 'We have been inspired by the tremendous support the movement has shown us,' IVAW says. 'We believe the success of Winter Soldier will ultimately depend on the support of our allies and the hard work of our members'." IVAW's co-chair Adam Kokesh will, of course, be participating and he explains why at his site, "But out of a strong sense of duty, some of us are trying to put our experiences to use for a good cause. Some of us couldn't live with ourselves if weren't doing everything we could to bring our brothers and sisters home as soon as possible. The environment may be unking, but that is why I will be testifying to shooting at civilians as a result of changing Rules of Engagement, abuse of detainees, and desecration of Iraqi bodies. It won't be easy but it must be done. Some of the stories are things that are difficult to admit that I was a part of, but if one more veteran realizes that they are not alone because of my testimony it will be worth it." The hearings will be broadcast throughout at the Iraq Veterans Against the War home page an on KPFA March 14th and 16th with Aimee Allison (co-host of the station's The Morning Show and co-author with David Solnit of Army Of None) and Aaron Glantz hosting and the KPFA live stream will also be available at Glantz' War Comes Home.
Staying on the topic of veterans, Barbara Barrett (McClatchy Newspapers) reports on the Senate Committe on Veterans Affairs hearing yesterday and the reaction to Jackie McMichael's testimony quoting Senator Patty Murray declaring, "It's so overwhelming to listen to you. This is a reminder that we're still not where we need to be" and Senator Richard Burr declaring, "My assessment is the VA doesn't see the human face behind the patients they're treating." Jackie McMichael's opening statements can be found here and she discusses how her husband Michael was Lt. Michael McMichael, National Guard from 2003 to the start of 2005: "He walked off the plane. He smiled. He was a little skinny, but otherwise healthy looking. He looked happy. After the euphoria of Mike being home began to wear off, the changes in him were noticeable and dramatic." She discussed her husband's difficulty sleeping through the night, his requiring a cane to walk due to injuries from a bombing in Iraq, his migraines, hallucinations, poor memory and "hand and body tremors." He has PTSD and is unable to manage money and has difficulty with employment. From her opening statements:
None of these events happened to Mike alone. They happened to me, to my 6 year old son, my 4 year old son, Mike's mom and to my parents and my brothers. We were left to watch as Mike self destructed not knowing what to do to help him or ourselves. We had no clue what was wrong with him and he was, at time, completely uninterested in finding out himself. He said over and over again, "I know guys who lost limbs and they are OK."
[. . .]
There is a great need for "Whole Family" Education and resources. Educating the Vets on the importance of a Collaborative Rehabilitaion is critical. I believe many Vets see their transition as their issue alone. Mike was very resistant to me talking to his Doctors or telling me anything about what he was working on. This is understandable as I am very aware of HIPAA regulations and confidentiality. But I was losing my husband and I was seeing things I knew they could not have been aware of. I called his doctors and told them "You don't have to say anything about Mike, just listen to me. This is what I am seeing at home." All I wanted was to know what to look for, what to expect, what to do, how to help. [. . .]
I would have benefitted from earlier awareness of resources for both active duty and citizen soldier families. (Being the wife of a National Guard officer, I was not immersed in the military culture and at times was, again, lost). The Raleigh Vet Center's "8 Habits of Highly Effective Marriages" and couples counseling resources are examples of invaluable offerings we have gladly taken advantage of, but I want more. Education on PTSD, TBI, legal issues, coping skills, transitioning the family back to a 2 or single parent household, setting boundaries, relationship counseling, personal counseling and navigating the benefits labyrinth (on top of all the emotional and psychological concerns we have to deal with, the financial impact is a crushing blow. I can not express this enough). These are just a few topics with sustainable benefits to the Vet and the family. I'd like to see this information advertised. It may already exist, but how do families find out about them? Often the Vet must initiate first contact.
I'd like to see doors open to families even though their Vet may not be ready to cope emotionally with their injuries yet. This may require a re-education of our medical community on how to do this effectively without jeopardizing the regulations they must follow while still meeting the needs of the Veteran. I'd like to see the VA leverage the relationship and love we have for our wounded warriors to help us all heal and teach us how to be a family again.
Robert Verbeke spoke about his son Daniel Verbeke who was wounded December 5, 2005 in the Iraq War and how he did not receive the treatment he needed and all the struggles for the basics including after-care as well as modifications needed for the family home due to Daniel's condition:
My experiences with the treatment at the Richmond VAMC can be characterized as not good - not good at all. For the most part, the people who treated Dan were nice and caring people. What I learned immediately after leaving there, however, was they didn't know what they didn't know. That is, their skills, capabilities, resources, staffing, treatments, therapies and therapy techniques all fell extremely short of what we immediately experienced at the Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital. The Richmond VAMC was not accomplished in coma emergence and severe TBI and did not have the cutting-edge experience with a case as severe as Dan's.
The VA therapists and physicians had little or no experience with patients of the condition of Dan. The level of therapy and the techniques cannot be compared to the therapy Dan received while at the Bryn Mawr Rehab. The Bryn Mawr Rehab therapists are much higher skilled; they focused on stimulation constantly while performing therapy. The techniques in each of the disciplines of Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapy are far more advanced. Although the Speech and Physical Therapists at Richmond tried, they just did not have the expertise and they were very lacking in the techniques and resources that Dan received immediately upon transfer to Bryn Mawr Rehab. The Richmond Occupational Therapist is another story. Recovery from a TBI is about therapy and stimulation. While this therapist treated Dan she very rarely spoke to him, I continually witnessed sessions that would last longer than 45 minutes where she would not say more than a few words to him. When I commented on this, the VA reaction was to shift Dan's therapy sessions to a time when I could not be present. They didn't fix the problem -- they ignored it! I escalated the issue to the attending physician and but were no changes.
After we returned to Pennsylvania I learned that while at Richmond VAMC, Dan was mis-diagnosed on a medical condition that resulted in receiving medications that masked a very serious condition. He was ignored while in significant pain with the explanation that it was 'tone'. He was unable to get blood work done over a weekend to properly treat him following a seizure and we were told they could not have the results analyzed over the weekend as people were "off'". Private care hospitals across this country perform these routine tests 24x7 and within minutes. He had an open wound that penetrated all the way to the bone on his right foot the entire time at Richmond (4-5mo) where the condition worsened and was only treated by a nurse. Immediately after being placed in private care, he was treated by a doctor specializing in wound care and under his treatment the wound closed in one month. Dan was in pain the entire time at Richmond.
There was a report on the Sunday evening news (most likely CBS but it may have been local news and not national) about rah-rah, look what private healthcare can do for veterans! It was a load of crap. Robert Verbeke details the problems he had with the system getting care for his son. There are many wounded who do not have someone to advocate for them the way Daniel Verbeke did. That's why the answer isn't 'out-source the care!' The answer is training and workshops and futher training for those staffing the VA hospitals. Otherwise, you'll have some like Daniel Verbeke who will benefit because there is someone fighting for them but you'll have others left alone (the way the VA's 'answer' was to put Daniel in a psych ward where he'd be locked away -- that was the 'assisted-living' care they were going to provide him for the rest of his life).
Daniel Verbeke wasn't off on some pleasure cruise of choice. He was sent into an illegal war by the US government and there are many other men and women who have been sent to Iraq by the government and any injuries are injuries the US government needs to provide care for, the government more than owes the returning that.
Today the US House Armed Services Committee's Military Personnel Subcommittee met. Kind-of, sort-of. Many members didn't show for this hearing allegedly on "the Future of the Miliary Healthcare System." The subcommittee broke repeatedly for votes and the whole thing can be seen as an embarrassment and an insult.
Chief among them, the only medical doctor present as a witness, S. Ward Casscells (Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs) who is too damn old and too damn out of touch for his post as he demonstrated repeatedly but most famously when being asked about the future for veterans who are "medical retirees" by House Rep Niki Tsongas and replying with a condescending don't-worry-about-it response that included referring to those wounded for life as "lost sheep." It was a lousy speech attempting to pass for an aswer and Tsongas then moved on to researcher Ron Goetzel who proved that shame was all around by insisting that his interests really aren't about the military's wounded (including, apparently, the veteran Tsongas spoke of who required a cane to walk), what really, really interest him is the health damange in the military done by smoking, drinking, excessive eating, "the silent burden on the military that's not as apparent as someone who's injured in battle." If you didn't find both men's remarks insulting, you weren't paying attention.
Rep Nancy Boyda zoomed in on pharmacies and wondered why the US military was pushing online prescriptions? Boyda referred to the rural areas in her home state (Kansas) and the best answer she was given was that it was cheaper to have a big warehouse where medicines are pulled down and shipped off. The question she never asked but should have was what about the pharmicists interaction with the veteran? In a rural area especially there may not be a VA hospital and the pharmicist (who is trained) is one face-to-face resource. When that's removed and all that's left is ONE MORE toll free phone number, who's really being helped? It's an area Boyda should have gone to but didn't. In fairness to her, time was brief. But not so brief that Rep Walter Jones couldn't gas bag and waste everyone's time. For example, there may be a point to this: "When you have to borrow money from governments to keep your doors open it won't last long." No, it may not. But what does the US borrowing money from other governments have to do with veterans' care?
Jones went on to kvetch about US monies (aid) being sent to Switzerland in 2005. "Why are we sending money to a country with a surplus when we have a deficit?" he wanted to know. And it might be a question worth pursuing but is the subcommittee on military care really the place for his remarks? Then he tried to shift the blame for the problem stating, "But we're in the minority" meaning Republicans in the House and "can't do anything about it, maybe my colleagues can." Walter Jones, Republicans were in control of the House of Represenatives in 2005 and in 2006. The November 2006 elections meant that in January 2007 the 110th Congress would have a Democratically controlled House. Aid sent to Switzerland in 2005 -- if a problem -- was clearly a Republican problem because that was the party in control. Having never addressed the topic, Jones wrapped up by declaring, "Thanks for letting me preach for about five minutes." No one commented but, then, the only response to that is, "That was only five minutes? It felt sooooo much longer."
It was time for yet another break and this may have been when chair Susan Davis asked the witnesses to wait again and promised that, after they bot back, if there was a need to break again, they'd wouldn't ask them to stick around. But, please do stick around -- Davis stated -- and if you need help with a phone call or something, ask the staffers.
Carol Shea-Porter had the strongest section when the committee resumed. She wanted to know "how much of our costs are we shiftin on to other tax payers" when veterans have to leave the veterans health care system and/or the state. She explained about a veteran from her home state, New Hampshire, who had to travel out of state for treatment which meant finding childcare, meant her husband needing to travel with her, "everything involved is too much to ask, I think, for someone who has cancer." Which brings us back to the point about solutions. The veterans system needs to be upgraded. The answer isn't outsourcing, it's not counting on individual veterans to have a support system (family or friends) who will fight for treatement. The system is out of date and all doctors, nurses and therapists working in it need further training. Not because they're not smart or not trained but because there are 'state of the art' injuries among the wounded returning and advances going on in private medical care need to be part of the training and knowledge base within the veterans healthcare system. The system is being allowed to rot and it was never up-to-date to begin with. If it's not taken care of now, it most likely will not be for some time to come.
The House Appropriations Committee's "Hearing on Dept. of State FY 2009 Budget Request" heard from US Secretary of State Condi Rice today and it's worth noting for two reasons: 1) House Rep Barbara Lee and 2) CODEPINK. March 6th, when the Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte testifed before a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, Lee pressed Negroponte on the issue of presidential signing statements (and the issue of permanent military bases in Iraq). Today she used her very brief time again explore presidential powers, asking Rice if she agreed with Satterfield that 2001 and 2002 Congressional votes (war on 'terror' and the Iraq vote) were to be seen as "an open-ended agreement" by the White House. Rice replied, "The president believes that he has the authority" to . . .? Pretty much everything if you carried Rice's 'logic' out. No one should bother but it needs to be noted that she's replaced her catch-phrase of "No one could have guessed" with a new one "Didn't hold it in my head. I'm sorry." After the hearing, Rice spoke with Lee and Rep Frank Wolf, among others, while CODEPINK chanted, "War Criminal!" and "Take her to the Hauge!" While they sang: "Lies, lies, lies, lies, It's all a bundle of lies. Lies, lies, lies, lies . . ." While they shouted, "Blood is on your hands, Condi! The blood is on your hands!" While they asked, "How do you sleep at night?" The shouted question actually got a big smile from Condi. Maybe she was thinking, "Okay, this one I know! Let me answer it, let me answer it!" As she began leaving, the shouts were "Don't fund war!" and "The blood is on her hands!"
Today more so than usual. But first, Ahmed Rasheed (Reuters) reports 9 women and 1 child were buried today in Najaf although, according to the US military, they must not be dead because the US military claims "no one died" from the US military attack on a bus -- Rasheed reports "Ghaida Mustafa Jassim, 4, was wrapped in a white piece of cloth and put in the same casket as her grandmother Amerca Sadoun, 65."
In some of today's reported violence . . .
Bombings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded five people, a Baghdad mortar attack that wounded three people, a Diyala Province mortar attack that wounded four people and an Abu Saida bombing that wounded two people. Reuters notes roadside bombings outside Samarra claimed the lives of 3 truck drivers.
Shootings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports an armed clash in Bazaiz Buhrz claimed the life of 1 "ten year girl . . . [who] was in a farm with her aunt when a bullet killed her" and a police officer shot dead in Salahuddin Province "by a guard of Baiji mayor based on tribal revenge." Reuters notes 2 people shot dead in Basra.
Corpses?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 4 corpses discovered in Baghdad, 1 in an orchard outside Baquba, 1 corpse discovered "between Kanan - Balad Ruz" and 2 corpses (husband and wife) brought to the Baquba morgue
Today the US military announced: "A U.S. Soldier was killed from injuries sustained from an improvised explosive device during a combat patrol near Ad Diwaniyah March 11. Additionally, two U.S. Soldiers were wounded in the explosion and transported to a Coalition forces medical facility for further evaluation and treatment." And they announced: "Three U.S. Soldiers were killed during an indirect fire attack southwest of Nasiriyah March 12. Two U.S. Soldiers were also wounded in this attack, along with one civilian." 3987 is the current number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war -- 13 away from the 4,000 mark.
Turning to US politics. "He makes pundits feel good about America -- particularly their own overwhelmingly white slice of elite America -- and his politics are moderate enough to avoid the type of crude caricature that other candidates might receive," explained Peter Hart (Extra!) of the press love for US Senator Barack Obama exactly one year ago. We'll come back to that article but continue with the topic. Katharine Q. Seelye and Julie Bosman (New York Times) report on Geraldine Ferraro's remarks to The Daily Breeze, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman of any color, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." Let's go back to Peter Hart's article where Hart cites many examples including:
*An October 27, 2006 Washington Post column by conservative Charles Krauthammer that states, "Like many Americans, I long to see an African-American ascend to the presidency. It would be an event of profound significance, a great milestone . . ."
* Conservative Roger Simon appearing on Meet The Press February 11, 2007 and declaring, "If America actually nominates him and then votes for him for president and elects him, this will be a sign that we are a good and decent country that has healed its racial wounds."
* A January 18, 2007 editorial in the Washington Post: "The excitement about Mr. Obama speaks in part to Americans' desire to believe, whether true or not, that this country has come to a point when it can rise above its ugly history of racism; and in part to the desire to believe that, if it could just overcome the divisions that foul modern politics, the nation could get unstuck on many fronts."
* February 20, 2006 article in Time magazine: "Unlike Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, Obama is part of a new generation of black leaders who insist on being seen as more than representatives of their race."
*Chris Matthews delcaring January 21, 2007 of "a black candidate . . . I can't think of a better one [than Obama]. No history of Jim Crow, no history of anger, no history of slavery. All the bad stuff in our history ain't there with this guy."
* Hart notes that Black Agenda Report's Glen Ford commented on the mania on FAIR's CounterSpin in November of 2006, "He has given white people a kind of satisfaction -- that race no longer matters in America, and all the sins of the past can be washed away through the act of loving this man."
Ferraro's comments: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman of any color, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." Ferraro is commenting on the same thing Hart commented on (Hart's article is entitled "Obamamania"). The mania and the craze allowed for the build up we live with today. The press was writing their glossy profiles, as Hart notes, and not dealing with issues. That has continued to this day. The media got on board because he made them feel good about themselves. (Read Hart's article.) He did that because, as Kat noted last night, he promised 'post'-racial America -- his being elected would mean no more racial discrimination in America! Or, at least, that it could be ignored by ones who have spent the last decades ignoring it. And of course there are those on the White left like Dave Lindorff who wants to insist that Barack should be supported because he is, quote, "a black candidate who has risked jail by doing drugs". It's hard to imagine that Dave Lindorff would make a similar argument in favor of Robert Downey Jr. should Downey seek the presidency.
Ferraro's statement was noting the obvious and she wasn't the first to note it. Seelye and Bosman quote Ferraro on the psuedo-outrage the Obama campaign is trying to create, "Every time that campaign is upset about something, they call it racist. I will not be discriminated against because I'm white. If they think they're going to shut up Geraldine Ferraro with that kind of stuff, they don't know me." The Obama campaign has repeatedly played the race card and, no, it will not work on Ferraro. As Kat noted last night, the Bambi campaign was screaming for Gerry's head. It's not working out that way and for the reasons that Kat outlined. The Bambi campaign has already painted Bill Clinton (a super delegate) as racist and last night they thought they'd do the same with Ferraro. But Bambi needs the super delegates (as does Hillary Clinton) and there's been a slow growing disgust over what the campaign did to Bill Clinton. Last week Melissa Harris-Lacewell (who is part of the campaign though she rarely discloses that fact) went on The Charlie Rose Show to declare that there would be a Black-out on election day in November if Obama was not given the nomination. That didn't play well either.
The Bambi campaign's been very good about manufacturing outrage and, certainly, their astro-turf campaigns were once successful. (It is now five members of Congress whose staff have confirmed the 'spontaneous' outpouring of pressure did not originate from the member's district or the senator's state.) But they've gone to the well a little too often on the race card and it's not going to help them with super delegates -- in fact, the attempt to call Ferarro one has backfired on the campaign.
Hacks like Amy Goodman can dig around to 1984 for Ferraro today but, while we're mentioning Peter Hart's article, let's note this (and remember this ran in the 2007 March/April issue of Extra!): "A rare critical profile of Obama by Harper's Magazine's Ken Silverstein (11/06) noted his ties to various corporate -affiliated fundraisers, his opposition to calls for a withdrawal timetable from Iraq and his support for Joe Lieberman over Democratic Senate candidate Ned Lamont. Such assessments of Obama's record are rare, with even left-leaning commentators seemingly willing to dismiss any aspects of Obama's record that conflict with his progressive reputation." They were rare when Hart wrote, they remain rare today. But let's note Silverstein's November 2006 article, "After Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha called for withdrawal from Iraq last fall, Obama rejected such a move in a speech before the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, saying the United States needed 'to manage our exit in a responsible way -- with the hope of leaving a stable foundation for the future.' . . . Obama continues to reject any specific timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, even as public opposition to the war grows and as the military rationale for staying becomes less and less apparent." Now Goody-Hack Amy could have connected Silverstein's article with Samantha Power's revelation last week that Barack Obama's combat "troops withdrawn in 16 months of taking office" pledge wasn't really a pledge, a promise or anything binding. But Goody skipped out on that, now didn't she? Smut Merchant Matthew Rothschild could have written about that non-pledge but why bother when he can jerk off while expressing his hatred of Hillary yet again. Keep reaching in there, Matty, you're bound to find that tiny stump sooner or later.
Glen Ford, Bruce Dixon and Margaret Kimberly have addressed race seriously throughout the campaign. Matthew Rothschild? Not at all. In fact, you could easily call Matthew Rothschild a RACIST based on his actions. As CEO and editor of The Progressive, Rothschild is in charge of the magazine. Who does he chose to share that real estate with? An African-American can stop by with an article every now and then (not to often) but the regular columnists? Where's the African-American with a regular column? No where to be found. Molly Ivins (a regular columnist for the magazine) passed away in January 2007. Rothschil announces in this month's issue of The Progressive that he's just added not one but two new columnists. And who does he share the 'neighborhood' with? Two White men (Dave Zirin and Jim Hightower). Matty really wants Bambi in the White House, he just doesn't want to share his own real estate with African-Americans. The magazine has no African-American columnist. Matty adds two this month and they're both White (and male). He probably is bothered that Ferraro dared to mention race -- it makes it that much harder for people like himself to pretend how 'good' and 'wonderful' and 'noble' they are by occassionally printing an African-American freelance writer while REFUSING to put an African-American writer on staff. Maybe Matty frets that to do so would lower the property value of The Progressive?
If he gave a damn, he could have long ago added African-American voices but he's never done that and he's just added two new columnists -- both White males. In the voting booth, he may touch the button for Obama but that's about all he'll ever do apparently. Obama wipes away a lot of guilt for White 'liberals' as well as for White conservatives. I believe that's one of the points Ferraro was getting at. No wonder Matty Rothschild had a meltdown online. Again, he has the power to do more than vote, he has the power to hire or fire and maybe it's past time someone examine The Progressive's hiring practices under Rothschild? Since Zirin covers sports and since Andrea Lewis was already doing that for the magazine's syndicated efforts, maybe when he blogs again he can explain why Lewis -- who has put in her time and then some as a 'guest' -- wasn't invited into the club? (Andrea Lewis is African-American for any who don't know.)
Yesterday in Harrisburg, Hillary Clinton noted how many of the pretty words turned up to be empty, vacant promises and, specifically, the Iraq non-pledge by Obama: "Senator Obama promises to withdraw from Iraq within 16 months. But his top foreign policy adviser said he's not really going to rely on that plan. I guess that plan is just words, too." Though Matthew Rothschild and his ilk ignore the revelation about Barack's non-plan, not everyone's playing along. Last night, Mike noted Derrick Z. Jackson, Sasha Issenberg and Jack Kelly had written of the non-binding pledge that Samantha Power said doesn't exist if Obama makes it into the White House. As Jackson (Boston Globe) explained it, "In a BBC interview last week, Power, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Harvard University global affairs professor, said Obama's plan to remove combat troops from Iraq in his first 16 months was a 'best-case scenario.' She said Obama 'can't make a commitment, in whatever month we're in now, in March of 2008, about what circumstances are going to be like in January of 2009 . . . He will of course, not rely upon some plan that he's crafted as a presidential candidate or as a US senator. He will rely upon a plan, an operational plan that he pulls together in consultation with people who are on the ground to whom he doesn't have daily access now'."
Turning to another "I" country (because Irish and Irish-American community members are e-mailing on this topic), Ireland. Hillary Clinton will participate in the Irish American Presidential Forum and has stated, "I'm excited to participate in this important forum. I have worked on issues important to the Irish-American community for many years and look forward to discussing my plans as President. I want to thank John Dearie and the other organizers of this event for the invitation and enoucrage Senator Obama and Senator McCain to accept it as well. By doing so, voters will have an opportunity to examine our records and compare our plans to continue moving the peace process in Northern Ireland forward." Yesterday, the Hillary Clinton campaign noted:
And now today, Senator Obama is at it again, sending a false attack memo from his campaign making claims that are contradicted by the facts. Still reeling from its losses in Ohio and Texas, the Obama campaign has come out swinging, taking aim at Senator Clinton's considerable foreign policy experience with false claims and baseless attacks. After last week's defeats, the Obama campaign faced a choice: try to convince voters that Senator Obama is ready to take the 3am phone call in a positive way or try to tear down Senator Clinton's accomplishments. Considering that his foreign policy advisor, Susan Rice, cited Senator Obama's "legislation on ethics reform" when asked this morning about his foreign policy experience, it is clear that the Obama campaign is unable to make a positive case for its candidate's experience. They have chosen to attack and today's memo continues the pattern of statements contradicted by the facts. Given the credibility gap his campaign has developed over the last few weeks, these latest attacks today should not be believed. There is a reason that thirty former Generals and Admirals have endorsed Senator Clinton -- they know she is prepared to lead this nation as Commander in Chief with strength and experience on day one. Here are the facts about Hillary's experience.Northern Ireland: The Obama campaign claims George Mitchell, the person in charge of the investigation, supports their view that Hillary's claims about Northern Ireland are exaggerated. John Hume, who won the Nobel Prize for Peace for his work on Northern Ireland: ["]I can state from firsthand experience that she played a positive role for over a decade in helping to bring peace to Northern Ireland... Anyone criticizing her foreign policy involvement should look at her very active and positive approach to Northern Ireland and speak with the people of Northern Ireland who have the highest regard for her and are very grateful for her very active support for our peace process.["] George Mitchell, who is cited in the Obama memo as an authoritative source, told Katie Couric last night that Hillary played "a helpful and supportive role" in Northern Ireland that ended up making "a difference in the process." He described what Hillary has said about her role as "accurate." More on Hillary's work in Northern Ireland HERE.
Or you can read "veteran Irish journalist" Nuala O'Faolain (Women's Media Center): "What Hillary did to transform matters was turn up. She turned up. She turned up with hope and energy to a city which, when I moved there in 1998, was leaving one murdered Catholic a week just on my street, merely to keep the level of intimidation going. A city where women were almost all tribally opposed to each other. A city where there were very few meetings and if they were women's meetings they were jeered at or ignored. She came at least four times with President Clinton -- and twice on her own. It may sound small to people now that what she came for was a woman's conference on one occasion and a lecture on another, that she knew people's names and histories and took note of them -- and was no doubt sometimes lied to and misled and laughed at by women as well as men (outsiders often strike skeptical locals as simpleminded). But she kept turning up anyway. It was not small what she did. Not small at all. When the old guys obediently trot out their criticisms of what she did in Belfast, ask yourself: Who else did what she did? Who else gave what she did? Who else gave at all?"
Tomorrow (Thursday), March 13th, John R. MacArthur (Harper's publisher) will be taking part in an event at the Melville House (145 Plymouth St., Brooklyn, NY -- "Mass transit: take the F train to York Street) with Andre Schiffrin (A Political Education) and Michael Massing (Now They Tell Us: The American Press and Iraq). MacArther wrote Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda In the Gulf War.
the common ills
mikey likes it
iraq
ehren watada
dee knight
iraq veterans against the war
aimeee allisondavid solnit
aaron glantz
kpfa
mcclatchy newspapers
peter hart
mikey likes it
kats kornerthe new york times
john r. macarthur
After a two-day firestorm, Geraldine Ferraro has quit Senator Hillary Clinton's finance committee, saying that Senator Barack Obama’s campaign was twisting her words to make her appear racist and that this was hurting Mrs. Clinton.
"I am stepping down from your finance committee so I can speak for myself and you can continue to speak for yourself about what is at stake in this campaign," Ms. Ferraro wrote in a letter to Mrs. Clinton. "The Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you. I won't let that happen."
[. . .]
While critics, including Mr. Obama, pounced on her, a defiant Ms. Ferraro defended her remarks, saying they were accurate and not racist. She has said that she herself benefited from being a woman because otherwise, she would not have been the vice presidential nominee in 1984.
But by mid-afternoon, she resigned from her membership on the finance committee.There was no immediate comment from the Clinton campaign, but officials said that Ms. Ferraro had decided to leave on her own. She clearly wants to continue to speak out and press her point, telling NBC News after her resignation: "This is the last time the Obama campaign is going to be able to play this kind of race card. They should apologize to me for calling me a racist."
They should apologize to her but they won't and that just makes it all fester. This isn't about you and me voters, this is about the super delegates and Obama is cooking his own goose. You do not want to piss off any super delegate but especially not one with such long ties to the Democratic Party. You better believe she's getting calls of, "I cannot believe what they did to you!" I'm sure Bambi's getting those calls too . . . from friends and flunkies. From super delegates? Nope.
When I played football in school, if you dissed any of us, you dissed the whole team. Neither Hillary or Barack will reach the magic number of delegates. So the super delegates will have to come in. It's like he gave a speech that had the chess club cheering but he was supposed to be trying to win over the football team. Instead, he's alienated them and since his campaign has played the race card repeatedly, the calls aren't just, "Geraldine, I can't believe they did that to you!" they are also, "Geraldine, I can't believe they did that to you! But look at who else they did that too! They did it to Bill Clinton and . . ."
Samantha Power is an academic. Ferraro is part of the Democratic Party, it's a big difference. Bambi shot himself in the foot. What an idiot.
It's past time for the Democratic Party to send a message to Bambi that crying "racism!" everytime you don't like what someone says isn't going to cut it. It won't cut it in a general election and you better believe the Republicans are paying attention. You better believe that John McCain's campaign is not going to get all weak-kneeed if they go up against Bambi. If he got the nomination (now very unlikely) and he pulled that crap with McCain, McCain would just have to say, "You say that every time someone criticizes you." And people would be nodding along.
Bambi likes to shoot hoops but doesn't seem to like pick-up games and that has me wondering what kind of team his prep-school in Hawaii had? I'm guessing either no team spirit or else Bambi didn't catch on because anyone who's played sports would grasp that you don't go after a super delegate when YOU NEED the super delegates.
But his entire campaign is in disarray. This is "MEMO: Keystone Test: Obama Losing Ground:"
To: Interested Parties
From: Clinton Campaign
Date: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Re: Keystone Test: Obama Losing Ground
The path to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue goes through Pennsylvania so if Barack Obama can’t win there, how will he win the general election?
After setbacks in Ohio and Texas, Barack Obama needs to demonstrate that he can win the state of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania is the last state with more than 15 electoral votes on the primary calendar and Barack Obama has lost six of the seven other largest states so far - every state except his home state of Illinois.
Pennsylvania is of particular importance, along with Ohio, Florida and Michigan, because it is dominated by the swing voters who are critical to a Democratic victory in November. No Democrat has won the presidency without winning Pennsylvania since 1948. And no candidate has won the Democratic nomination without winning Pennsylvania since 1972.
But the Obama campaign has just announced that it is turning its attention away from Pennsylvania.
This is not a strategy that can beat John McCain in November.
In the last two weeks, Barack Obama has lost ground among men, women, Democrats, independents and Republicans - all of which point to a candidacy past its prime.
For example, just a few weeks ago, Barack Obama won 68% of men in Virginia, 67% in Wisconsin and 62% in Maryland. He won 60% of Virginia women and 55% of Maryland women. He won 62% of independents in Maryland, 64% in Wisconsin and 69% in Virginia. Obama won 59% of Democrats in Maryland, 53% in Wisconsin and 62% in Virginia. And among Republicans, Obama won 72% in both Virginia and Wisconsin.
But now Obama’s support has dropped among all these groups.
In Mississippi, he won only 25% of Republicans and barely half of independents. In Ohio, he won only 48% of men, 41% of women and 42% of Democrats. In Texas, he won only 49% of independents and 46% of Democrats. And in Rhode Island, Obama won just 33% of women and 37% of Democrats.
Why are so many voters turning away from Barack Obama in state after state?
In the last few weeks, questions have arisen about Obama’s readiness to be president. In Virginia, 56% of Democratic primary voters said Obama was most qualified to be commander-in-chief. That number fell to 37% in Ohio, 35% in Rhode Island and 39% in Texas.
So the late deciders - those making up their minds in the last days before the election - have been shifting to Hillary Clinton. Among those who made their decision in the last three days, Obama won 55% in Virginia and 53% in Wisconsin, but only 43% in Mississippi, 40% in Ohio, 39% in Texas and 37% in Rhode Island.
If Barack Obama cannot reverse his downward spiral with a big win in Pennsylvania, he cannot possibly be competitive against John McCain in November.
Poor Bambi. He's fading. Grab the vapors. For him and his cult. They really are the most uneducated adults in the world and John Carlson points out that they pause when asked about Bambi's record and then finally say "Change!" They've been programmed well but the cult's not taking beyond the fringe circle of White elites. They are the ones who drove this and they are the ones responsible for turning a centrist DLC-er into a 'progressive' and 'anti-war'. They've lied through their teeth for so long that you can't even trust them when the issue isn't Bambi. They've just trashed their names in Panhandle Media. John Carlson tackles the realities for Bambi:
Obama's losses in both Texas and Ohio underscore why time is not on his side. These were the first primaries that didn't follow on the heels of another with another contest immediately following. Instead voters were able to sit back for three full weeks, listen to the debates, watch how the candidates and their spouses talked to different audiences in different parts of the state, hear their advertising and take their time digesting this information and discussing it with others at home, work and the barber shop.
When they did that, Obama began to fade. Like a hit record that's been on the charts for a while, they still smile when it plays but they're getting used to hearing it. In Ohio, a must-win state for the Democrats in November, people began to tire of it. Isn't there a "B" side?
Most Americans like Obama but they don't know him, and liking and trusting aren't quite the same thing. A TV spot asking whom voters would rather have picking up the phone at the White House during an overseas crisis at 3 a.m. simply asked what any reasonable voter would consider before pulling the lever in November. That's hardly a low blow or an act of "desperation" by the Clinton people. (If the McCain campaign is smart, it'll rerun that ad in the fall, with McCain picking up the line.)
And Michelle Obama didn't help with her comment about finally, in her 40s, "being proud of my country for the first time," and suggesting to a young audience in a working-class Ohio town that they should sidestep "corporate America" and instead seek out more rewarding, lower-paying jobs in teaching and social work. Whom did she think she was talking to, the senior class at Vassar?
And Brady e-mailed me this from SusanUnPC's "Hitting Back:"
File this under "I was for it before I was against it": Obama's Michigan chair says, "[A] mail-in caucus 'is clearly the wrong path'. 'We don’t like it one bit. It disenfranchises people who need to participate and there are many questions with regard to security'. Hunter said the Obama campaign will accept nothing but a 50-50 split of Michigan delegates between Clinton and Obama. …" Big Tent Democrat observes:
I guess the Obama MI Co-Chair does not agree with Obama's previously held positive view on mail in voting, agreeing instead with Obama's newly minted distaste for mail in voting. Oh and a 50-50 split is the ONLY thing Obama will accept in Michigan. Hope we are clear now on how Obama feels about the will of the people of Florida and Michigan.
Here's C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" and there's ton in it. As an Irish-American I will say thank you to C.I. for covering Hillary's work in Ireland. I will also note that no one online covers Congress like C.I. Seriously. Folding Star used to cover the Senate at A Winding Road (FS folded up due to the abusive e-mails) and I always enjoyed FS talking about the votes and who voted for what. But (and C.I. would gripe at me if I said it face-to-face but saying it here means C.I. will just act like it never happened :D) what C.I.'s doing is reporting. I'm pushing for a thing at Third this weekend about how the New York Times covered a hearing in today's paper that C.I. covered in yesterday's snapshot. They missed all the important stuff and wrote it like they didn't even catch the hearing, just the prepared remarks of one speaker. Guess the paper of record doesn't have the money to send reporters to cover hearings. :D Okay, here's today's snapshot:
Wednesday, March 12, 2008. Chaos and violence continue, the US military announces more deaths while denying reports of others, veterans healthcare is sometimes a Congressional concern and sometimes not, Matty Rothschild finger-points but could he explain where his magazine's African-American columnists are?, and more.
Starting with war resistance. Kenneth Theisen (OpEdNews) writes, "We need to oppose the recruitment of men and women into the military. We need to support resisters within the military who have realized what they are doing and now choose to resist the role of the U.S. military. This includes people such as Lt. Ehren Watada who refused to deploy to Iraq. Watada stated, 'Never did I imagine my president would lie to go to war, condone torture, spy on Americans . . ." He was the first officer to refuse to go to Iraq and he was court-martialed. Another resister is Camilo Mejia. In 2004 Sergeant Mejia was sentenced to one year in prison when he was court-martialed for refusing to assist the military in Iraq. Mejia said, 'I am only a regular person that got tired of being afraid to follow his own conscience. For far too long I allowed others to direct my actions even when I knew that they were wrong . . .' [. . .] James Circello, who joined the Army after September 11 2001, and was sent to Iraq in March 2003 described his experience there: 'We were told that we were giving these people Democracy. Unfortunately what I saw would best be described as martial law, or what we called "The Old West". Soldiers joked that "anything goes", which was true and still is . . . I never forgot what I did while in Iraq and what I saw happening: other kids turning into animals. Some as young as 17, brutalizing, bullying and humiliating individuals sometimes old enough to be their grandparents, and sometimes young enough to be their children. And it wasn't just the men on the receiving end, suffering through illegal and tiresome searches of their homes and vehicles, simply for being brown skinned, but the same methods were applied to women and children as well. No one was innocenct.' James Circello reached a point where he could no longer be part of this killing machine."
With just three examples, Theisen finds the common bond: courage. Each war resister has a unique story but what they share is the courage to say no more, no mas, enough. Some resistance includes self-checking out and moving to Canada. You can help US war resisters in that country -- help online as well. They were dealt a serious set-back when the Canadian Supreme Court refused to hear the appeals of Jeremy Hinzman and Brandon Hughey. Today, Canada's Parliament remaining the best hope for safe harbor war resisters have, you can make your voice heard by the Canadian parliament which has the ability to pass legislation to grant war resisters the right to remain in Canada. Three e-mails addresses to focus on are: Prime Minister Stephen Harper (pm@pm.gc.ca -- that's pm at gc.ca) who is with the Conservative party and these two Liberals, Stephane Dion (Dion.S@parl.gc.ca -- that's Dion.S at parl.gc.ca) who is the leader of the Liberal Party and Maurizio Bevilacqua (Bevilacqua.M@parl.gc.ca -- that's Bevilacqua.M at parl.gc.ca) who is the Liberal Party's Critic for Citizenship and Immigration. A few more can be found here at War Resisters Support Campaign. For those in the US, Courage to Resist has an online form that's very easy to use. That is the sort of thing that should receive attention but instead it's ignored. There is a growing movement of resistance within the US military which includes Matt Mishler, Josh Randall, Robby Keller, Justiniano Rodrigues, Chuck Wiley, James Stepp, Rodney Watson, Michael Espinal, Matthew Lowell, Derek Hess, Diedra Cobb, Brad McCall, Justin Cliburn, Timothy Richard, Robert Weiss, Phil McDowell, Steve Yoczik, Ross Spears, Peter Brown, Bethany "Skylar" James, Zamesha Dominique, Chrisopther Scott Magaoay, Jared Hood, James Burmeister, Eli Israel, Joshua Key, Ehren Watada, Terri Johnson, Clara Gomez, Luke Kamunen, Leif Kamunen, Leo Kamunen, Camilo Mejia, Kimberly Rivera, Dean Walcott, Linjamin Mull, Agustin Aguayo, Justin Colby, Marc Train, Abdullah Webster, Robert Zabala, Darrell Anderson, Kyle Snyder, Corey Glass, Jeremy Hinzman, Kevin Lee, Mark Wilkerson, Patrick Hart, Ricky Clousing, Ivan Brobeck, Aidan Delgado, Pablo Paredes, Carl Webb, Stephen Funk, Blake LeMoine, Clifton Hicks, David Sanders, Dan Felushko, Brandon Hughey, Clifford Cornell, Joshua Despain, Joshua Casteel, Katherine Jashinski, Dale Bartell, Chris Teske, Matt Lowell, Jimmy Massey, Chris Capps, Tim Richard, Hart Viges, Michael Blake, Christopher Mogwai, Christian Kjar, Kyle Huwer, Wilfredo Torres, Michael Sudbury, Ghanim Khalil, Vincent La Volpa, DeShawn Reed and Kevin Benderman. In total, at least fifty US war resisters in Canada have applied for asylum. Information on war resistance within the military can be found at The Objector, The G.I. Rights Hotline [(877) 447-4487], Iraq Veterans Against the War and the War Resisters Support Campaign. Courage to Resist offers information on all public war resisters. Tom Joad maintains a list of known war resisters. In addition, VETWOW is an organization that assists those suffering from MST (Military Sexual Trauma).
Meanwhile IVAW has a DC action this month:In 1971, over one hundred members of Vietnam Veterans Against the War gathered in Detroit to share their stories with America. Atrocities like the My Lai massacre had ignited popular opposition to the war, but political and military leaders insisted that such crimes were isolated exceptions. The members of VVAW knew differently.Over three days in January, these soldiers testified on the systematic brutality they had seen visited upon the people of Vietnam. They called it the Winter Soldier investigation, after Thomas Paine's famous admonishing of the "summer soldier" who shirks his duty during difficult times. In a time of war and lies, the veterans who gathered in Detroit knew it was their duty to tell the truth. Over thirty years later, we find ourselves faced with a new war. But the lies are the same. Once again, American troops are sinking into increasingly bloody occupations. Once again, war crimes in places like Haditha, Fallujah, and Abu Ghraib have turned the public against the war. Once again, politicians and generals are blaming "a few bad apples" instead of examining the military policies that have destroyed Iraq and Afghanistan. Once again, our country needs Winter Soldiers. In March of 2008, Iraq Veterans Against the War will gather in our nation's capital to break the silence and hold our leaders accountable for these wars. We hope you'll join us, because yours is a story that every American needs to hear.Click here to sign a statement of support for Winter Soldier: Iraq & AfghanistanMarch 13th through 16th are the dates for the Winter Soldier Iraq & Afghanistan Investigation. Dee Knight (Workers World) notes, "IVAW wants as many people as possible to attend the event. It is planning to provide live broadcasting of the sessions for those who cannot hear the testimony firsthand. 'We have been inspired by the tremendous support the movement has shown us,' IVAW says. 'We believe the success of Winter Soldier will ultimately depend on the support of our allies and the hard work of our members'." IVAW's co-chair Adam Kokesh will, of course, be participating and he explains why at his site, "But out of a strong sense of duty, some of us are trying to put our experiences to use for a good cause. Some of us couldn't live with ourselves if weren't doing everything we could to bring our brothers and sisters home as soon as possible. The environment may be unking, but that is why I will be testifying to shooting at civilians as a result of changing Rules of Engagement, abuse of detainees, and desecration of Iraqi bodies. It won't be easy but it must be done. Some of the stories are things that are difficult to admit that I was a part of, but if one more veteran realizes that they are not alone because of my testimony it will be worth it." The hearings will be broadcast throughout at the Iraq Veterans Against the War home page an on KPFA March 14th and 16th with Aimee Allison (co-host of the station's The Morning Show and co-author with David Solnit of Army Of None) and Aaron Glantz hosting and the KPFA live stream will also be available at Glantz' War Comes Home.
Staying on the topic of veterans, Barbara Barrett (McClatchy Newspapers) reports on the Senate Committe on Veterans Affairs hearing yesterday and the reaction to Jackie McMichael's testimony quoting Senator Patty Murray declaring, "It's so overwhelming to listen to you. This is a reminder that we're still not where we need to be" and Senator Richard Burr declaring, "My assessment is the VA doesn't see the human face behind the patients they're treating." Jackie McMichael's opening statements can be found here and she discusses how her husband Michael was Lt. Michael McMichael, National Guard from 2003 to the start of 2005: "He walked off the plane. He smiled. He was a little skinny, but otherwise healthy looking. He looked happy. After the euphoria of Mike being home began to wear off, the changes in him were noticeable and dramatic." She discussed her husband's difficulty sleeping through the night, his requiring a cane to walk due to injuries from a bombing in Iraq, his migraines, hallucinations, poor memory and "hand and body tremors." He has PTSD and is unable to manage money and has difficulty with employment. From her opening statements:
None of these events happened to Mike alone. They happened to me, to my 6 year old son, my 4 year old son, Mike's mom and to my parents and my brothers. We were left to watch as Mike self destructed not knowing what to do to help him or ourselves. We had no clue what was wrong with him and he was, at time, completely uninterested in finding out himself. He said over and over again, "I know guys who lost limbs and they are OK."
[. . .]
There is a great need for "Whole Family" Education and resources. Educating the Vets on the importance of a Collaborative Rehabilitaion is critical. I believe many Vets see their transition as their issue alone. Mike was very resistant to me talking to his Doctors or telling me anything about what he was working on. This is understandable as I am very aware of HIPAA regulations and confidentiality. But I was losing my husband and I was seeing things I knew they could not have been aware of. I called his doctors and told them "You don't have to say anything about Mike, just listen to me. This is what I am seeing at home." All I wanted was to know what to look for, what to expect, what to do, how to help. [. . .]
I would have benefitted from earlier awareness of resources for both active duty and citizen soldier families. (Being the wife of a National Guard officer, I was not immersed in the military culture and at times was, again, lost). The Raleigh Vet Center's "8 Habits of Highly Effective Marriages" and couples counseling resources are examples of invaluable offerings we have gladly taken advantage of, but I want more. Education on PTSD, TBI, legal issues, coping skills, transitioning the family back to a 2 or single parent household, setting boundaries, relationship counseling, personal counseling and navigating the benefits labyrinth (on top of all the emotional and psychological concerns we have to deal with, the financial impact is a crushing blow. I can not express this enough). These are just a few topics with sustainable benefits to the Vet and the family. I'd like to see this information advertised. It may already exist, but how do families find out about them? Often the Vet must initiate first contact.
I'd like to see doors open to families even though their Vet may not be ready to cope emotionally with their injuries yet. This may require a re-education of our medical community on how to do this effectively without jeopardizing the regulations they must follow while still meeting the needs of the Veteran. I'd like to see the VA leverage the relationship and love we have for our wounded warriors to help us all heal and teach us how to be a family again.
Robert Verbeke spoke about his son Daniel Verbeke who was wounded December 5, 2005 in the Iraq War and how he did not receive the treatment he needed and all the struggles for the basics including after-care as well as modifications needed for the family home due to Daniel's condition:
My experiences with the treatment at the Richmond VAMC can be characterized as not good - not good at all. For the most part, the people who treated Dan were nice and caring people. What I learned immediately after leaving there, however, was they didn't know what they didn't know. That is, their skills, capabilities, resources, staffing, treatments, therapies and therapy techniques all fell extremely short of what we immediately experienced at the Bryn Mawr Rehabilitation Hospital. The Richmond VAMC was not accomplished in coma emergence and severe TBI and did not have the cutting-edge experience with a case as severe as Dan's.
The VA therapists and physicians had little or no experience with patients of the condition of Dan. The level of therapy and the techniques cannot be compared to the therapy Dan received while at the Bryn Mawr Rehab. The Bryn Mawr Rehab therapists are much higher skilled; they focused on stimulation constantly while performing therapy. The techniques in each of the disciplines of Physical, Occupational and Speech Therapy are far more advanced. Although the Speech and Physical Therapists at Richmond tried, they just did not have the expertise and they were very lacking in the techniques and resources that Dan received immediately upon transfer to Bryn Mawr Rehab. The Richmond Occupational Therapist is another story. Recovery from a TBI is about therapy and stimulation. While this therapist treated Dan she very rarely spoke to him, I continually witnessed sessions that would last longer than 45 minutes where she would not say more than a few words to him. When I commented on this, the VA reaction was to shift Dan's therapy sessions to a time when I could not be present. They didn't fix the problem -- they ignored it! I escalated the issue to the attending physician and but were no changes.
After we returned to Pennsylvania I learned that while at Richmond VAMC, Dan was mis-diagnosed on a medical condition that resulted in receiving medications that masked a very serious condition. He was ignored while in significant pain with the explanation that it was 'tone'. He was unable to get blood work done over a weekend to properly treat him following a seizure and we were told they could not have the results analyzed over the weekend as people were "off'". Private care hospitals across this country perform these routine tests 24x7 and within minutes. He had an open wound that penetrated all the way to the bone on his right foot the entire time at Richmond (4-5mo) where the condition worsened and was only treated by a nurse. Immediately after being placed in private care, he was treated by a doctor specializing in wound care and under his treatment the wound closed in one month. Dan was in pain the entire time at Richmond.
There was a report on the Sunday evening news (most likely CBS but it may have been local news and not national) about rah-rah, look what private healthcare can do for veterans! It was a load of crap. Robert Verbeke details the problems he had with the system getting care for his son. There are many wounded who do not have someone to advocate for them the way Daniel Verbeke did. That's why the answer isn't 'out-source the care!' The answer is training and workshops and futher training for those staffing the VA hospitals. Otherwise, you'll have some like Daniel Verbeke who will benefit because there is someone fighting for them but you'll have others left alone (the way the VA's 'answer' was to put Daniel in a psych ward where he'd be locked away -- that was the 'assisted-living' care they were going to provide him for the rest of his life).
Daniel Verbeke wasn't off on some pleasure cruise of choice. He was sent into an illegal war by the US government and there are many other men and women who have been sent to Iraq by the government and any injuries are injuries the US government needs to provide care for, the government more than owes the returning that.
Today the US House Armed Services Committee's Military Personnel Subcommittee met. Kind-of, sort-of. Many members didn't show for this hearing allegedly on "the Future of the Miliary Healthcare System." The subcommittee broke repeatedly for votes and the whole thing can be seen as an embarrassment and an insult.
Chief among them, the only medical doctor present as a witness, S. Ward Casscells (Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs) who is too damn old and too damn out of touch for his post as he demonstrated repeatedly but most famously when being asked about the future for veterans who are "medical retirees" by House Rep Niki Tsongas and replying with a condescending don't-worry-about-it response that included referring to those wounded for life as "lost sheep." It was a lousy speech attempting to pass for an aswer and Tsongas then moved on to researcher Ron Goetzel who proved that shame was all around by insisting that his interests really aren't about the military's wounded (including, apparently, the veteran Tsongas spoke of who required a cane to walk), what really, really interest him is the health damange in the military done by smoking, drinking, excessive eating, "the silent burden on the military that's not as apparent as someone who's injured in battle." If you didn't find both men's remarks insulting, you weren't paying attention.
Rep Nancy Boyda zoomed in on pharmacies and wondered why the US military was pushing online prescriptions? Boyda referred to the rural areas in her home state (Kansas) and the best answer she was given was that it was cheaper to have a big warehouse where medicines are pulled down and shipped off. The question she never asked but should have was what about the pharmicists interaction with the veteran? In a rural area especially there may not be a VA hospital and the pharmicist (who is trained) is one face-to-face resource. When that's removed and all that's left is ONE MORE toll free phone number, who's really being helped? It's an area Boyda should have gone to but didn't. In fairness to her, time was brief. But not so brief that Rep Walter Jones couldn't gas bag and waste everyone's time. For example, there may be a point to this: "When you have to borrow money from governments to keep your doors open it won't last long." No, it may not. But what does the US borrowing money from other governments have to do with veterans' care?
Jones went on to kvetch about US monies (aid) being sent to Switzerland in 2005. "Why are we sending money to a country with a surplus when we have a deficit?" he wanted to know. And it might be a question worth pursuing but is the subcommittee on military care really the place for his remarks? Then he tried to shift the blame for the problem stating, "But we're in the minority" meaning Republicans in the House and "can't do anything about it, maybe my colleagues can." Walter Jones, Republicans were in control of the House of Represenatives in 2005 and in 2006. The November 2006 elections meant that in January 2007 the 110th Congress would have a Democratically controlled House. Aid sent to Switzerland in 2005 -- if a problem -- was clearly a Republican problem because that was the party in control. Having never addressed the topic, Jones wrapped up by declaring, "Thanks for letting me preach for about five minutes." No one commented but, then, the only response to that is, "That was only five minutes? It felt sooooo much longer."
It was time for yet another break and this may have been when chair Susan Davis asked the witnesses to wait again and promised that, after they bot back, if there was a need to break again, they'd wouldn't ask them to stick around. But, please do stick around -- Davis stated -- and if you need help with a phone call or something, ask the staffers.
Carol Shea-Porter had the strongest section when the committee resumed. She wanted to know "how much of our costs are we shiftin on to other tax payers" when veterans have to leave the veterans health care system and/or the state. She explained about a veteran from her home state, New Hampshire, who had to travel out of state for treatment which meant finding childcare, meant her husband needing to travel with her, "everything involved is too much to ask, I think, for someone who has cancer." Which brings us back to the point about solutions. The veterans system needs to be upgraded. The answer isn't outsourcing, it's not counting on individual veterans to have a support system (family or friends) who will fight for treatement. The system is out of date and all doctors, nurses and therapists working in it need further training. Not because they're not smart or not trained but because there are 'state of the art' injuries among the wounded returning and advances going on in private medical care need to be part of the training and knowledge base within the veterans healthcare system. The system is being allowed to rot and it was never up-to-date to begin with. If it's not taken care of now, it most likely will not be for some time to come.
The House Appropriations Committee's "Hearing on Dept. of State FY 2009 Budget Request" heard from US Secretary of State Condi Rice today and it's worth noting for two reasons: 1) House Rep Barbara Lee and 2) CODEPINK. March 6th, when the Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte testifed before a subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee, Lee pressed Negroponte on the issue of presidential signing statements (and the issue of permanent military bases in Iraq). Today she used her very brief time again explore presidential powers, asking Rice if she agreed with Satterfield that 2001 and 2002 Congressional votes (war on 'terror' and the Iraq vote) were to be seen as "an open-ended agreement" by the White House. Rice replied, "The president believes that he has the authority" to . . .? Pretty much everything if you carried Rice's 'logic' out. No one should bother but it needs to be noted that she's replaced her catch-phrase of "No one could have guessed" with a new one "Didn't hold it in my head. I'm sorry." After the hearing, Rice spoke with Lee and Rep Frank Wolf, among others, while CODEPINK chanted, "War Criminal!" and "Take her to the Hauge!" While they sang: "Lies, lies, lies, lies, It's all a bundle of lies. Lies, lies, lies, lies . . ." While they shouted, "Blood is on your hands, Condi! The blood is on your hands!" While they asked, "How do you sleep at night?" The shouted question actually got a big smile from Condi. Maybe she was thinking, "Okay, this one I know! Let me answer it, let me answer it!" As she began leaving, the shouts were "Don't fund war!" and "The blood is on her hands!"
Today more so than usual. But first, Ahmed Rasheed (Reuters) reports 9 women and 1 child were buried today in Najaf although, according to the US military, they must not be dead because the US military claims "no one died" from the US military attack on a bus -- Rasheed reports "Ghaida Mustafa Jassim, 4, was wrapped in a white piece of cloth and put in the same casket as her grandmother Amerca Sadoun, 65."
In some of today's reported violence . . .
Bombings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing that wounded five people, a Baghdad mortar attack that wounded three people, a Diyala Province mortar attack that wounded four people and an Abu Saida bombing that wounded two people. Reuters notes roadside bombings outside Samarra claimed the lives of 3 truck drivers.
Shootings?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports an armed clash in Bazaiz Buhrz claimed the life of 1 "ten year girl . . . [who] was in a farm with her aunt when a bullet killed her" and a police officer shot dead in Salahuddin Province "by a guard of Baiji mayor based on tribal revenge." Reuters notes 2 people shot dead in Basra.
Corpses?
Hussein Kadhim (McClatchy Newspapers) reports 4 corpses discovered in Baghdad, 1 in an orchard outside Baquba, 1 corpse discovered "between Kanan - Balad Ruz" and 2 corpses (husband and wife) brought to the Baquba morgue
Today the US military announced: "A U.S. Soldier was killed from injuries sustained from an improvised explosive device during a combat patrol near Ad Diwaniyah March 11. Additionally, two U.S. Soldiers were wounded in the explosion and transported to a Coalition forces medical facility for further evaluation and treatment." And they announced: "Three U.S. Soldiers were killed during an indirect fire attack southwest of Nasiriyah March 12. Two U.S. Soldiers were also wounded in this attack, along with one civilian." 3987 is the current number of US service members killed in Iraq since the start of the illegal war -- 13 away from the 4,000 mark.
Turning to US politics. "He makes pundits feel good about America -- particularly their own overwhelmingly white slice of elite America -- and his politics are moderate enough to avoid the type of crude caricature that other candidates might receive," explained Peter Hart (Extra!) of the press love for US Senator Barack Obama exactly one year ago. We'll come back to that article but continue with the topic. Katharine Q. Seelye and Julie Bosman (New York Times) report on Geraldine Ferraro's remarks to The Daily Breeze, "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman of any color, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." Let's go back to Peter Hart's article where Hart cites many examples including:
*An October 27, 2006 Washington Post column by conservative Charles Krauthammer that states, "Like many Americans, I long to see an African-American ascend to the presidency. It would be an event of profound significance, a great milestone . . ."
* Conservative Roger Simon appearing on Meet The Press February 11, 2007 and declaring, "If America actually nominates him and then votes for him for president and elects him, this will be a sign that we are a good and decent country that has healed its racial wounds."
* A January 18, 2007 editorial in the Washington Post: "The excitement about Mr. Obama speaks in part to Americans' desire to believe, whether true or not, that this country has come to a point when it can rise above its ugly history of racism; and in part to the desire to believe that, if it could just overcome the divisions that foul modern politics, the nation could get unstuck on many fronts."
* February 20, 2006 article in Time magazine: "Unlike Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson, Obama is part of a new generation of black leaders who insist on being seen as more than representatives of their race."
*Chris Matthews delcaring January 21, 2007 of "a black candidate . . . I can't think of a better one [than Obama]. No history of Jim Crow, no history of anger, no history of slavery. All the bad stuff in our history ain't there with this guy."
* Hart notes that Black Agenda Report's Glen Ford commented on the mania on FAIR's CounterSpin in November of 2006, "He has given white people a kind of satisfaction -- that race no longer matters in America, and all the sins of the past can be washed away through the act of loving this man."
Ferraro's comments: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman of any color, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept." Ferraro is commenting on the same thing Hart commented on (Hart's article is entitled "Obamamania"). The mania and the craze allowed for the build up we live with today. The press was writing their glossy profiles, as Hart notes, and not dealing with issues. That has continued to this day. The media got on board because he made them feel good about themselves. (Read Hart's article.) He did that because, as Kat noted last night, he promised 'post'-racial America -- his being elected would mean no more racial discrimination in America! Or, at least, that it could be ignored by ones who have spent the last decades ignoring it. And of course there are those on the White left like Dave Lindorff who wants to insist that Barack should be supported because he is, quote, "a black candidate who has risked jail by doing drugs". It's hard to imagine that Dave Lindorff would make a similar argument in favor of Robert Downey Jr. should Downey seek the presidency.
Ferraro's statement was noting the obvious and she wasn't the first to note it. Seelye and Bosman quote Ferraro on the psuedo-outrage the Obama campaign is trying to create, "Every time that campaign is upset about something, they call it racist. I will not be discriminated against because I'm white. If they think they're going to shut up Geraldine Ferraro with that kind of stuff, they don't know me." The Obama campaign has repeatedly played the race card and, no, it will not work on Ferraro. As Kat noted last night, the Bambi campaign was screaming for Gerry's head. It's not working out that way and for the reasons that Kat outlined. The Bambi campaign has already painted Bill Clinton (a super delegate) as racist and last night they thought they'd do the same with Ferraro. But Bambi needs the super delegates (as does Hillary Clinton) and there's been a slow growing disgust over what the campaign did to Bill Clinton. Last week Melissa Harris-Lacewell (who is part of the campaign though she rarely discloses that fact) went on The Charlie Rose Show to declare that there would be a Black-out on election day in November if Obama was not given the nomination. That didn't play well either.
The Bambi campaign's been very good about manufacturing outrage and, certainly, their astro-turf campaigns were once successful. (It is now five members of Congress whose staff have confirmed the 'spontaneous' outpouring of pressure did not originate from the member's district or the senator's state.) But they've gone to the well a little too often on the race card and it's not going to help them with super delegates -- in fact, the attempt to call Ferarro one has backfired on the campaign.
Hacks like Amy Goodman can dig around to 1984 for Ferraro today but, while we're mentioning Peter Hart's article, let's note this (and remember this ran in the 2007 March/April issue of Extra!): "A rare critical profile of Obama by Harper's Magazine's Ken Silverstein (11/06) noted his ties to various corporate -affiliated fundraisers, his opposition to calls for a withdrawal timetable from Iraq and his support for Joe Lieberman over Democratic Senate candidate Ned Lamont. Such assessments of Obama's record are rare, with even left-leaning commentators seemingly willing to dismiss any aspects of Obama's record that conflict with his progressive reputation." They were rare when Hart wrote, they remain rare today. But let's note Silverstein's November 2006 article, "After Pennsylvania Congressman John Murtha called for withdrawal from Iraq last fall, Obama rejected such a move in a speech before the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, saying the United States needed 'to manage our exit in a responsible way -- with the hope of leaving a stable foundation for the future.' . . . Obama continues to reject any specific timetable for withdrawal from Iraq, even as public opposition to the war grows and as the military rationale for staying becomes less and less apparent." Now Goody-Hack Amy could have connected Silverstein's article with Samantha Power's revelation last week that Barack Obama's combat "troops withdrawn in 16 months of taking office" pledge wasn't really a pledge, a promise or anything binding. But Goody skipped out on that, now didn't she? Smut Merchant Matthew Rothschild could have written about that non-pledge but why bother when he can jerk off while expressing his hatred of Hillary yet again. Keep reaching in there, Matty, you're bound to find that tiny stump sooner or later.
Glen Ford, Bruce Dixon and Margaret Kimberly have addressed race seriously throughout the campaign. Matthew Rothschild? Not at all. In fact, you could easily call Matthew Rothschild a RACIST based on his actions. As CEO and editor of The Progressive, Rothschild is in charge of the magazine. Who does he chose to share that real estate with? An African-American can stop by with an article every now and then (not to often) but the regular columnists? Where's the African-American with a regular column? No where to be found. Molly Ivins (a regular columnist for the magazine) passed away in January 2007. Rothschil announces in this month's issue of The Progressive that he's just added not one but two new columnists. And who does he share the 'neighborhood' with? Two White men (Dave Zirin and Jim Hightower). Matty really wants Bambi in the White House, he just doesn't want to share his own real estate with African-Americans. The magazine has no African-American columnist. Matty adds two this month and they're both White (and male). He probably is bothered that Ferraro dared to mention race -- it makes it that much harder for people like himself to pretend how 'good' and 'wonderful' and 'noble' they are by occassionally printing an African-American freelance writer while REFUSING to put an African-American writer on staff. Maybe Matty frets that to do so would lower the property value of The Progressive?
If he gave a damn, he could have long ago added African-American voices but he's never done that and he's just added two new columnists -- both White males. In the voting booth, he may touch the button for Obama but that's about all he'll ever do apparently. Obama wipes away a lot of guilt for White 'liberals' as well as for White conservatives. I believe that's one of the points Ferraro was getting at. No wonder Matty Rothschild had a meltdown online. Again, he has the power to do more than vote, he has the power to hire or fire and maybe it's past time someone examine The Progressive's hiring practices under Rothschild? Since Zirin covers sports and since Andrea Lewis was already doing that for the magazine's syndicated efforts, maybe when he blogs again he can explain why Lewis -- who has put in her time and then some as a 'guest' -- wasn't invited into the club? (Andrea Lewis is African-American for any who don't know.)
Yesterday in Harrisburg, Hillary Clinton noted how many of the pretty words turned up to be empty, vacant promises and, specifically, the Iraq non-pledge by Obama: "Senator Obama promises to withdraw from Iraq within 16 months. But his top foreign policy adviser said he's not really going to rely on that plan. I guess that plan is just words, too." Though Matthew Rothschild and his ilk ignore the revelation about Barack's non-plan, not everyone's playing along. Last night, Mike noted Derrick Z. Jackson, Sasha Issenberg and Jack Kelly had written of the non-binding pledge that Samantha Power said doesn't exist if Obama makes it into the White House. As Jackson (Boston Globe) explained it, "In a BBC interview last week, Power, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author and Harvard University global affairs professor, said Obama's plan to remove combat troops from Iraq in his first 16 months was a 'best-case scenario.' She said Obama 'can't make a commitment, in whatever month we're in now, in March of 2008, about what circumstances are going to be like in January of 2009 . . . He will of course, not rely upon some plan that he's crafted as a presidential candidate or as a US senator. He will rely upon a plan, an operational plan that he pulls together in consultation with people who are on the ground to whom he doesn't have daily access now'."
Turning to another "I" country (because Irish and Irish-American community members are e-mailing on this topic), Ireland. Hillary Clinton will participate in the Irish American Presidential Forum and has stated, "I'm excited to participate in this important forum. I have worked on issues important to the Irish-American community for many years and look forward to discussing my plans as President. I want to thank John Dearie and the other organizers of this event for the invitation and enoucrage Senator Obama and Senator McCain to accept it as well. By doing so, voters will have an opportunity to examine our records and compare our plans to continue moving the peace process in Northern Ireland forward." Yesterday, the Hillary Clinton campaign noted:
And now today, Senator Obama is at it again, sending a false attack memo from his campaign making claims that are contradicted by the facts. Still reeling from its losses in Ohio and Texas, the Obama campaign has come out swinging, taking aim at Senator Clinton's considerable foreign policy experience with false claims and baseless attacks. After last week's defeats, the Obama campaign faced a choice: try to convince voters that Senator Obama is ready to take the 3am phone call in a positive way or try to tear down Senator Clinton's accomplishments. Considering that his foreign policy advisor, Susan Rice, cited Senator Obama's "legislation on ethics reform" when asked this morning about his foreign policy experience, it is clear that the Obama campaign is unable to make a positive case for its candidate's experience. They have chosen to attack and today's memo continues the pattern of statements contradicted by the facts. Given the credibility gap his campaign has developed over the last few weeks, these latest attacks today should not be believed. There is a reason that thirty former Generals and Admirals have endorsed Senator Clinton -- they know she is prepared to lead this nation as Commander in Chief with strength and experience on day one. Here are the facts about Hillary's experience.Northern Ireland: The Obama campaign claims George Mitchell, the person in charge of the investigation, supports their view that Hillary's claims about Northern Ireland are exaggerated. John Hume, who won the Nobel Prize for Peace for his work on Northern Ireland: ["]I can state from firsthand experience that she played a positive role for over a decade in helping to bring peace to Northern Ireland... Anyone criticizing her foreign policy involvement should look at her very active and positive approach to Northern Ireland and speak with the people of Northern Ireland who have the highest regard for her and are very grateful for her very active support for our peace process.["] George Mitchell, who is cited in the Obama memo as an authoritative source, told Katie Couric last night that Hillary played "a helpful and supportive role" in Northern Ireland that ended up making "a difference in the process." He described what Hillary has said about her role as "accurate." More on Hillary's work in Northern Ireland HERE.
Or you can read "veteran Irish journalist" Nuala O'Faolain (Women's Media Center): "What Hillary did to transform matters was turn up. She turned up. She turned up with hope and energy to a city which, when I moved there in 1998, was leaving one murdered Catholic a week just on my street, merely to keep the level of intimidation going. A city where women were almost all tribally opposed to each other. A city where there were very few meetings and if they were women's meetings they were jeered at or ignored. She came at least four times with President Clinton -- and twice on her own. It may sound small to people now that what she came for was a woman's conference on one occasion and a lecture on another, that she knew people's names and histories and took note of them -- and was no doubt sometimes lied to and misled and laughed at by women as well as men (outsiders often strike skeptical locals as simpleminded). But she kept turning up anyway. It was not small what she did. Not small at all. When the old guys obediently trot out their criticisms of what she did in Belfast, ask yourself: Who else did what she did? Who else gave what she did? Who else gave at all?"
Tomorrow (Thursday), March 13th, John R. MacArthur (Harper's publisher) will be taking part in an event at the Melville House (145 Plymouth St., Brooklyn, NY -- "Mass transit: take the F train to York Street) with Andre Schiffrin (A Political Education) and Michael Massing (Now They Tell Us: The American Press and Iraq). MacArther wrote Second Front: Censorship and Propaganda In the Gulf War.
the common ills
mikey likes it
iraq
ehren watada
dee knight
iraq veterans against the war
aimeee allisondavid solnit
aaron glantz
kpfa
mcclatchy newspapers
peter hart
mikey likes it
kats kornerthe new york times
john r. macarthur
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