posted on August 9, 2003 12:34:02 PM new
Like i said before, the soldiers and thier families are going to figure it out what this president did, was lie for greed, and oil, and not for terrorism, watch what's going to happen in the next little while, because the war mongers who like this war, are scared and desperate, and scared and desperate people do scary and desperate actions.
Military Families, Veterans Demand End to Occupation of Iraq, Immediate Return of All U.S. Troops to Home Duty Stations
8/7/03 3:53:00 PM
News Advisory:
Galvanized to action by George W. Bush's inane and reckless "Bring 'em on" challenge to armed Iraqi's resisting occupation, Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace and other organizations based in the military community will launch Bring Them Home Now, a campaign aimed at ending the U.S. occupation of Iraq and returning troops to their home bases at a press conference on August 13 in Washington, D.C.
U.S. military casualties from the occupation of Iraq have been more than twice the number most Americans have been led to believe because of an extraordinarily high number of accidents, suicides and other non-combat deaths in the ranks that have gone largely unreported in the media. The other underreported cost of the war for US soldiers is the number of American wounded-827, officially, since Operation Iraqi Freedom began. (Unofficial figures are in the thousands.) About half have been injured since Bush's triumphant claim on board the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln at the beginning of May that major combat was over.
The mission of the Bring them Home Now campaign is to unite the voices of military families, veterans, and GIs themselves to demanding: an end to the occupation of Iraq and other misguided military adventures and an immediate return of all US troops to their home duty stations. On August 13 in Washington, D.C., Veterans and Military Families will raise concerns about current conditions in Iraq that their loved ones and other troops are facing such as the lack of planning and support troops are receiving, as well as questions about the justifications used to send troops to Iraq in the first place.
WHO:
-- Military Families and Veterans (See list of speakers below)
WHAT:
-- Press Conference to launch the Bring Them Home Now Campaign
WHEN:
-- Wednesday August 13, 2003 10 a.m.
WHERE:
-- National Press Club, West Room (529 14th Street NW Washington, D.C.)
Speakers Include:
Moderators: Nancy Lessin and Charley Richardson, co-founders, Military Families Speak Out, an organization of families opposed to the U.S. invasion and now occupation of Iraq who all have loved ones in the military. Their son Joe is a Marine who was deployed in August 2002 and who returned from Iraq on Memorial Day 2003.
Susan Schuman, from Shelburne Falls, Massachusetts, is the mother of Justin C. Schuman, a sergeant in the Massachusetts National Guard. Justin was deployed to Iraq from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on March 29, 2003, and is stationed in Samarra, north of Baghdad.
Michael T. McPhearson, a native of Fayetteville, North Carolina was a field artillery officer of the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division during Desert Shield/Desert Storm. His military career includes 6 years of reserve service and 5 years active duty service. Now living in Bloomfield, N.J. and a member of Veterans For Peace, Michael works as an activist and facilitator to help bring about social and economic justice. He is the father of an eighteen-year-old son who is planning to join the Army in September.
Fernando Suarez del Solar, of Escondido, Calif., is the father of Marine Lance Cpl Jesus Suarez, one of the first U.S. servicemen killed in Iraq (March 27, 2003). Suarez is seeking the truth behind why his son and others were sent to their deaths in Iraq.
Stan Goff, of Raleigh, N.C., began a military carrier in the U.S. Army in 1970 and retired as a Special Forces Master Sergeant in 1996. He served in Ranger, Airborne and Special Forces counter-terrorist units, in eight conflict areas. He has become an astute commentator on military matters and an outspoken critic of the U.S. occupation of Iraq. His son Jessie serves in the U.S. Army and has just been deployed to Iraq.
Other military family members and veterans will be present and available for questions.
Bring Them Home Now -- http://www.bringthemhomenow.org.
posted on August 9, 2003 12:52:29 PM new
I am still waiting for some orginial opinons, as dadofstickboy has pointed out... nothing but cut and paste... oh well.
posted on August 9, 2003 01:21:03 PM new
And as I said, of course it is cut-and-paste. Just so people like you can't claim ignorance because the link didn't work. You can only claim ignorance.....
I didn't see any form of rebuttal in your statement so you must believe the statement to be accurate? The Bush People haven't had a rebuttal, link or even a bit of truth in a long while.
posted on August 9, 2003 01:38:04 PM new
Why do families of servicemen get an opinion?
The service people voluntarily signed up to be in the military.
The job of the military is not to pay for your education. It's not their to fill in a blank on your resume. The job of the military is to protect US interests. This usually means making war. Or peace, depending on how you want to word it, but you know what I mean.
Therefore, being over there IS THEIR JOB.
If they sign up for a couple of years and they spend EVERY SINGLE DAY of their time in a war zone, then who would have grounds for complaint? These people knew (or should have known) what they were getting into when they signed up.
This is no different than the servicemen who refused to go to war on moral grounds a few months back. What did they think they were signing up for????
-------------------
Replay Media
Games of all kinds!
posted on August 9, 2003 01:57:59 PM newAnd as I said, of course it is cut-and-paste. Just so people like you can't claim ignorance because the link didn't work. You can only claim ignorance.....
WOW:
An original quote/unquote!
And it don't make a Dam* bit of sense!
Guess you better stick to cut & paste.
At least when other people put words in your mouth,they're understandable!
posted on August 9, 2003 02:44:03 PM new
I guess some of them had silly ideas they were going to be defenders instead of mercenaries.
You probably could ecpect better performance out of people who don't bring all sorts of silly baggage like patriotism to work. Just hire cold blooded killers who know why they are there.
posted on August 10, 2003 03:00:32 PM new
Father of dead soldier claims Army coverup
By Mark Benjamin
Investigations Editor
Published 8/7/2003 6:13 PM
View printer-friendly version
WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 (UPI) -- The father of a soldier who died of pneumonia this spring said Thursday the Army has excluded her death from its investigation of deadly pneumonia because it wants to cover up vaccine side effects.
"The government is covering this up and it is a dog-gone shame," said Moses Lacy, whose daughter, Army Spc. Rachael Lacy, died April 4 at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., after getting pneumonia.
Lacy said his daughter "was a healthy young woman" but got ill within days of getting anthrax and smallpox vaccinations on March 2 in preparation for deployment to the Persian Gulf. She was too ill to ever be deployed.
The Army said 100 soldiers have gotten pneumonia in Iraq and southwestern Asia, two of those have died and another 13 have had to be put on respirators.
"The common denominator is smallpox and anthrax vaccinations," Moses Lacy said in a telephone interview from his home in Lynwood, Ill. "These young people have given their lives to the military and they are getting a raw deal. The Department of Defense is closing their eyes."
The Army did not mention vaccines on Tuesday when it held a press conference on the pneumonia investigation. Officials said the pneumonia does not appear to be contagious, and are close to ruling out biological or chemical warfare, SARS and Legionnaire's disease.
Col. Robert DeFraites of the Army Surgeon General's office said at the press conference that the Pentagon launched the investigation because of the severity of the pneumonia. "Are we seeing more cases in general than we might expect? Despite the harsh environment, the answer is no ... But again, we are still concerned about these severe ones."
DeFraites told UPI on Wednesday that the Pentagon would look into whether vaccines, among other factors, might have triggered the pneumonia cases. "Among all of the possible causes or contributing factors, we are looking at the immunizations that the soldiers received as well," DeFraites said. "It is premature to say that there is any relationship at all."
The Army said it is excluding Lacy's death from its investigation because Lacy never made it to Iraq or southwestern Asia where it says the cases are clustered. "She was never deployed to Iraq," Army Surgeon General spokeswoman Virginia Stephanakis told UPI Thursday. She said the military is participating in an investigation of Lacy's death separate from the pneumonia investigation. "It is a whole different issue."
Moses Lacy disagreed.
"She should be on that list (of deaths to investigate) because my daughter's first symptoms were pneumonia," Lacy said. "It happened immediately" after the vaccines, Moses said. "You don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure it out. If I were a medical official it would be the first thing I would look into."
Steve Robinson, executive director of the National Gulf War Resource Center, told UPI, "We should include in this study any illnesses or deaths that appear to be pneumonia-related that occurred in theater or out of theater."
Dr. Eric Pfeifer, the Minnesota coroner who performed Lacy's autopsy, told the Army Times that the smallpox and anthrax vaccines "may have" contributed to Lacy's death. "It's just very suspicious in my mind...that she's healthy, gets the vaccinations and then dies a couple weeks later." He listed "post-vaccine" problems on the death certificate.
Other members of the armed forces not in the Pentagon investigation say the anthrax vaccine has made them very sick with pneumonia-like symptoms. Michael Girard, a Senior Airman at Patrick Air Force Base in Cocoa Beach, Fla., got his second anthrax shot on March 4. He developed flu-like symptoms - runny nose and a "heavy chest" - starting March 6 and by March 12 developed a rash on his left arm where he had gotten the shot.
"Then basically it started attacking my body, section by section," Girard said. He said he has since suffered bouts of vomiting up blood, pain in his feet that made them turn blue, chest pain, constipation, pain in his legs, headaches, stomach aches and extremely high blood pressure. In one weekend he went to the emergency room four times. He says he suffers from insomnia and fatigue.
At one point, he developed a horrible cough. "They did do a chest X-ray because they thought it might be pneumonia. A nurse told me that it was, but a doctor came in and said that it was not."
Girard said Air Force doctors first suspected the anthrax vaccine caused his problems, but since have backed away from that diagnosis. "Everything that has been associated with this ever since I got sick has been like a coverup," Girard said. He said he "was perfectly 100 percent healthy" before getting the vaccine. "I was in the gym for an hour to two hours per day. I was running. I was energetic."
He said he was not scheduled to deploy anywhere.
In its pneumonia investigation, the Army is looking into the July 12 death of Army Spc. Joshua M. Neusche, 20, of Montreal, Mo. The Pentagon has described his death as "other causes." The Army is also looking at the June 17 death of Army Sgt. Michael L. Tosto, 24, of Apex, N.C. His death is listed as "illness."
Stephanakis said she was unfamiliar with the June 26 death in Kuwait of another soldier, Army Spc. Cory A. Hubbell, 20, of Urbana, Ill. His death is listed by the Pentagon under "breathing difficulties." Hubbell's mother, Connie Bickers, of Urbana, Ill., told the Champaign News-Gazette that the Army had not told her how her apparently healthy son died. "I wish I had answers, but I don't know if I'm ever going to get them," Bickers told the paper.
On Thursday, the Pentagon announced the death of Sgt. David L. Loyd, 44, of Jackson, Tenn. The announcement said Lloyd died on Aug. 5 when he "was on a mission when he experienced severe chest pains. The soldier was sent to the Kuwait hospital where he was pronounced dead."
A co-author of a government-sponsored study of possible side effects from the anthrax vaccine told UPI that the Army should look at whether that vaccine is behind the cluster of pneumonia cases. That study last year found the vaccine was the "possible or probable" cause of pneumonia in two soldiers.
"As physicians, I would think they would be looking at all possible causes. I would think vaccines would be part of that," said Dr. John L. Sever of George Washington University Medical School, who was one of six authors of the study.
Last year's anthrax vaccine study, printed in the May 2002 issue of Pharmacoepidemiology and Drug Safety, found that the vaccine was the "possible or probable" cause of pneumonia among two soldiers, according to Sever. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services convened the group, called the Anthrax Vaccine Expert Committee, which studied 602 reports of possible reactions to the vaccine among nearly 400,000 troops who received it, Sever said.
In addition to identifying pneumonia and flu-like symptoms among troops who received the vaccine, the group also looked at four other cases of potentially serious reactions, including severe back pain and two soldiers who had sudden difficulty breathing in a possible allergic reaction to the vaccine.
Sever described the two cases of pneumonia as "wheezing and difficulty breathing going into a pneumonia-like picture."
To conduct the study, the Anthrax Vaccine Expert Committee examined reports from the U.S. military to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; they are anecdotal reports and do not necessarily show a cause-and-effect relationship.
Moses Lacy said he believes the real story is about vaccine side effects. "Unless somebody breaks this story wide open, we are going to have a lot more deaths. I am afraid we are going to lose a lot because of this vaccine."
'Bring us home': GIs flood US with war-weary emails
An unprecedented internet campaign waged on the frontline
and in the US is exposing the real risks for troops in Iraq.
Paul Harris and Jonathan Franklin report on rising fears that
the conflict is now a desert Vietnam
Sunday August 10, 2003
The Observer
Susan Schuman is angry. Her GI son is serving in the Iraqi town
of Samarra, at the heart of the 'Sunni triangle', where American
troops are killed with grim regularity.
Breaking the traditional silence of military families during time of
war, Schuman knows what she wants - and who she blames
for the danger to her son, Justin. 'I want them to bring our troops
home. I am appalled at Bush's policies. He has got us into a terrible
mess,' she said.
Schuman may just be the tip of an iceberg. She lives in
Shelburne Falls, a small town in Massachusetts, and says
all her neighbours support her view. 'I don't know anyone
around here who disagrees with me,' she said.
Schuman's views are part of a growing unease back
home at the rising casualty rate in Iraq, a concern
coupled with deep anger at President George W.
Bush's plans to cut army benefits for many soldiers.
Criticism is also coming directly from soldiers risking
their lives under the guns of Saddam Hussein's
fighters, and they are using a weapon not available
to troops in previous wars: the internet.
Through emails and chatrooms a picture is emerging
of day-to-day gripes, coupled with ferocious criticism
of the way the war has been handled. They paint a
vivid picture of US army life that is a world away from
the sanitised official version.
In a message posted on a website last week, one soldier
was brutally frank. 'Somewhere down the line, we became
an occupation force in [Iraqi] eyes. We don't feel like heroes
any more,' said Private Isaac Kindblade of the
671st Engineer Company.
Kindblade said morale was poor, and he attacked
the leadership back home. 'The rules of engagement
are crippling. We are outnumbered. We are exhausted.
We are in over our heads. The President says, "Bring 'em on."
The generals say we don't need more troops.
Well, they're not over here,' he wrote.
One of the main outlets for the soldiers' complaints
has been a website run by outspoken former soldier
David Hackworth, who was the army's youngest colonel
in the Vietnam war and one of its most decorated warriors.
He receives almost 500 emails a day, many of them from
soldiers serving in Iraq. They have sounded off about
everything from bad treatment at the hands of their officers
to fears that their equipment is faulty.
The army-issue gas mask 'leaks under the chin.
This same mask was used during Desert Storm,
which accounts for part of the health problems
of the vets who fought there. My unit has again
deployed to the Gulf with this loser,' ranted one
army doctor.
Some veterans have begun to form organisations
to campaign to bring the soldiers home and highlight
their difficult conditions. Erik Gustafson, a veteran of the 1991
Gulf war, has founded Veterans For Common Sense
'There is an anger boiling under the surface now,
and I, as a veteran, have a duty to speak because
I am no longer subject to military discipline,' he said.
A recent email from Iraq passed to Gustafson,
signed by 'the Soldiers of the 2nd Brigade of the
3rd Infantry Division', said simply: 'Our men and
women deserve to see their loved ones again and
deserve to come home. Thank you for your attention.'
Another source of anger is government plans to
reverse recent increases in 'imminent danger' pay and
a family separation allowance. These moves have
provoked several furious editorials in the Army
Times, the normally conservative military newspaper.
The paper said the planned cuts made 'the Bush
administration seem mean-spirited and hypocritical'.
Tobias Naegele, its editor-in-chief, said his senior
staff agonised over the decision to attack the
government, but the response to the editorials
from ordinary soldiers was overwhelmingly positive.
A further critical editorial is planned for this week.
'We don't think lightly of criticising our
Commander-in-Chief,' Naegele said 'The army has
had a rough couple of years with this administration.'
Mainstream veterans' groups too are angry about cuts
being proposed at a time when politicians have heaped
praise on the army's performance in Afghanistan and Iraq
and want to launch a recruitment drive.
Veterans plan protests to highlight the issue. 'We are going
to show them that veterans are people who know how to
vote,' said Steven Robinson, a veteran and executive director
of the National Gulf War Resource Centre, one of the websites
where veterans' issues are raised.
Susan Schuman too is planning a protest. This week she plans
to join members of a new group, Military Families Speak Out,
who will travel to Washington to make their case for their sons,
daughters, husbands and wives, to be brought home from Iraq.
With soldiers dying there almost daily, comparisons have already
been drawn with the Vietnam war and the birth of the protest
movements there that divided America in the Sixties and Seventies.
Political scientists, however, think the war will have to get much
worse before anything similar happens over Iraq. 'To put it crudely,
I think the country can accept this current level of casualties,'
said Professor Richard Stoll, of Rice University in Houston, Texas.
That is little comfort to Schuman, who says she just wants to see
her son, Justin, return alive from a war she believes is unjust.
'It is a quagmire and it is not going to be easy to get out,' she said.
'That's where the parallel with Vietnam is.'
posted on August 11, 2003 07:07:30 AM new
It’s time for the truth about Iraq war
MARY BARNES
Sunday, August 10, 2003
Prior to the preemptive attack on Iraq on March 19, a large group of York citizens gathered with U.S. Rep. Todd Platts at his office to express concern about the Bush Administration’s war rhetoric and planning. We were told by Mr. Platts that he had been shown secret data that convinced him Saddam Hussein was an imminent threat to us. That we were not privy to the data ultimately defeated the discussion.
As of this writing, it is 85 days since “hostilities ceased” on May 1. It is 233 days since weapons inspections began in Iraq in November 2002, and not one ounce of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons has been found. Nor has any credible proof of an al-Qaida connection been confirmed.
Yet I read Mr. Platts’ recent statement that unseating Saddam Hussein was ultimately worth it and that “the overwhelming majority of that country is better off and much happier to be better off.”
Meanwhile, a U.S. soldier a day dies gruesomely. As one observer in Iraq noted, they are “sitting ducks for the rage and frustration and vengeance that is coming out” (and Mr. Bush worsens it by taunting, “bring them on!”) Those soldiers still stationed there are being told they cannot come home; their families continue to live in fear and exhaustion. A sign on a U.S. military vehicle in Iraq says “One weekend a month my ass!” Scandals about misrepresentations of intelligence prior to the war are now leaking out. Discoveries of chicanery by Vice President Dick Cheney’s non-governmental Office of Special Plans with its trumping the State Department and the CIA are coming to light.
Meanwhile, according to a representative of the International Occupation Watch Center, the living conditions in Baghdad are horrible. There is no money. Food is scarce. There is 65 percent unemployment. Some of the so-called re-builders our government has placed there have dubious if any qualifications. Eighty thousand police officers were summarily fired by us right off the bat despite the fact that they were not politically associated with the Hussein regime and they were the ones who knew the criminals.
People are living in chaos, many choosing not to leave their homes. Post-war Iraq planning was clearly inadequate prior to going to war. Some Iraqis are clearly not happier. Some believe we are intentionally imposing these wretched conditions upon them when they compare the relatively quick restoration of basics after the first Gulf War.
When I read Mr. Platts’ above-mentioned assertion I wondered if this is based on the same data collection service he quoted before. How can I trust that now? What happened to the original secret data he relied on? I challenge him and every other public leader that campaigned for this awful military action to spell out their claims with specific evidence.
What appears more likely is that American citizens, including congressional members like Todd Platts, have been manipulated and lied to, that crimes have been perpetrated and that attempts to cover them up are ongoing.
Right now we need the truth, not blind loyalty, not false pride, if we are to recover. Right now, we need an international force mandated by the U.N. to take over management of post-war Iraq and bring our remaining brave sons and daughters home. And we need a serious investigation into the actions that led to and have followed the Gulf War with punishment for any crimes committed.
posted on August 11, 2003 04:47:07 PM new
Support the troops:
Send them home
by Leon Fisher August 11, 2003
Once again our military forces are being used for the political and financial gain of a government whose interests are not those of the majority of Americans. Despite the "support the troops" rhetoric being thrown at us daily by the corporate-controlled media, members of our military are being killed and wounded almost every day in Iraq and Afghanistan.
While the chickenhawks in Washington call our men and women in uniform heroes, they are voting to cut back veterans benefits etc. All this while multi-billion dollar contracts go to companies like Kellog, Brown & Root, a subsidiary of Vice President Dick Cheney's company, Halliburton.
Let's not forget that the entire basis for this "war" is based on outright lies. No weapons of mass destruction have been found by UN inspection teams or by US military teams to date. Nor has any delivery systems been discovered to attack our country with as we were told by the President and other high ranking government officials. Nor has any evidence surfaced that Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was even remotely involved with Al Queda and 9/11. Then will someone tell us why our troops are there?
It is time some hard questions start being asked by our representatives in Congress and in the press. They should stop being the cowards that they've become and stand up like men and demand an end to this criminal enterprise in Afghanistan and Iraq!
Chrisotopher Dickey sees no mystery in the length of the U.S. military's stay: "We’re here forever. The simple fact about the New Iraq is that never in our lifetimes will it be able to defend itself from its neighbors. It will always be dependent on the United States to do that job."
posted on August 14, 2003 06:44:23 PM new
I'd rather take my chances (armed) in Iraq, than in (unarmed) in Washington, DC.
Washington, D.C., More Deadly Than Iraq
The Washington press corps has begun its daily drumbeat over U.S. casualties in Iraq, with reporters citing "body count" statistics as evidence that the Bush administration is "losing the peace."
And while even a single U.S. soldier's combat death is one too many, the truth is, more Americans are being killed daily in Washington, D.C., than in Baghdad.
Since President Bush told the nation on May 1 that major combat operations in Iraq had ended, 52 U.S. soldiers have been killed in hostilities, according to statistics complied by Reuters on Thursday.
In the same period of time, however, 66 Americans were attacked and killed on Washington, D.C.'s mean streets, a city with a total population of 600,000.
To be sure, with just 148,000 soldiers on the ground in Iraq, the per capita danger for our GIs is significantly higher. Still, there were a whopping 262 murders last year in the nation's capital, according to statistics compiled by SafeStreetsDC.com.
The press seems perfectly willing to tolerate D.C.'s daily body count without so much as a peep about the failure of local authorities to keep the peace in America's most dangerous city.
How on earth does that fact legitimize the deaths of troops in Iraq???
You may as well compare the number of Iraq deaths to the number of people who died of aids or cancer or heart attacks. Does such comparison serve to alleviate guilt???
posted on August 14, 2003 07:27:39 PM new"In the same period of time, however, 66 Americans were attacked and killed on Washington, D.C.'s mean streets, a city with a total population of 600,000."
BTW...Your source, NEWS MAX is wrong.
This year, as of August 14, 163 homicides have occurred in Washington D.C. not 66.
posted on August 14, 2003 09:17:23 PM newThe Washington press corps has begun its daily drumbeat over U.S. casualties in Iraq, with reporters citing "body count" statistics as evidence that the Bush administration is "losing the peace".
So true, TXPROUD. I've also read that more soldiers are killed in accidents, involving their regular duties, than have died in Iraq.
It's just the left's way of blowing things out of proportion. People see through that. Maybe they know of a war where no one was killed.
-------------
It's also my opinion that skylite might just want to read the link he provided an article from in his other 'mis-information thread'. There he can read the links where the soldiers are speaking to one another about the 'whiners' and what they should do.
No war is easy on our soldiers...they know that....they're trained for that.
posted on August 14, 2003 09:45:18 PM new
Fire the Losers before the Army Goes Down
By David H. Hackworth
The Army has a new boss, and the word is he’s a good man. Let’s hope so, because Gen. Peter Schoomaker is going to need all the strength he can muster to transform an institution whose top brass have become increasingly incompetent at their trade.
Recalling Schoomaker from the retirement ranks after three years in civvies says it all – that the Army has just about hit rock-bottom in the senior-leadership department. Of the dozens of active-duty three- and four-star candidates for the chief-of-staff job, few wanted to step up to the most prestigious and sought-after position in the Army, and those who were willing were unacceptable to the SecDef.
From the middle of the Korean War to now, I’ve watched the Army shift from fighting generals to mainly Perfumed Princes. We lost in Vietnam primarily because management types finally outnumbered warriors, and since then it’s only gotten worse due to the cancerous system that consistently promotes Hollywood-handsome careerists – who in turn pick equally corrupt clones as the next generation of generals.
Although Schoomaker told congressional leaders that he’s going to look hard at force structure, missions and manning levels, he said nothing about the rotten senior leadership in an Army still filled with great soldiers, sergeants and junior officers but sinking fast. Of course, he’s right that he must quickly streamline the Army and whip it into shape to fight the wars of the 21st century. But his No. 1 priority should be to get rid of several tons of loser senior leaders.
Schoomaker did tell the senators: “Leadership is dealing with change. You can’t manage change. You have to lead it.”
Words like that give me hope he’ll take a chain saw to the self-serving wood moldering in most top Army jobs, from brigade commander on up.
Except for space limitations, I could give hundreds of examples. But here are four beauts out of Iraq:
* The commanding general (CG) whose 32nd Air Defense Brigade Patriot missiles shot down a U.S. and a U.K. jet. Good shooting at the wrong targets. He was also the CG of Jessica Lynch's 507th Maintenance Company that took the wrong road in the desert and was eaten alive by guerrillas, sustaining more casualties than any other company-size Army unit in the war. The 507th wasn't well-trained in convoy procedures, self-defense or basic soldier skills like weapons care or use.
* The CG, 4th Infantry Division, who lives with his staff in an air-conditioned palace with running water. Many of his grunts live in boiling-hot tents without water or fans, getting the short end of the stick on chow, drinking water and even mail. When Vice President Dick Cheney's old outfit, Halliburton, built air-conditioned sleeping containers complete with built-in latrines for the troops, the CG put out the word that the literally cool pads were on the way. The troopers couldn’t wait. I’m still hearing about how those containers were then diverted to Division Headquarters – to be used as offices for the CG’s staff.
* The CG, 3rd Division – the unit that led the magnificent record-breaking attack into Iraq and grabbed Baghdad almost before Saddam realized it was there – who allowed the Pentagon to rotate certain brigade and battalion commanding officers home almost as soon as Iraq was seized while their troops continued to rot in the desert. Shades of Vietnam: Musical chairs for the brass while the troopers stay stuck in the sand.
* The Commanding Officer, 3rd Brigade, 101st Division, who was more worried about dental readiness and Association of the United States Army (AUSA) membership than training for Iraq. In Iraq, according to witnesses, he struck a sergeant at a checkpoint and then applied heavy pressure to make the crime go away. He wouldn’t allow other sergeants to go back to the States to retire until they joined AUSA. He also ordered soldiers to move unstable, unexploded ordnance, and when his soldiers complained, the colonel allegedly killed the investigation by manipulating a key witness.
My prescription for this sort of sickness is a good old-fashioned purge followed up with consistent, two-fisted, hands-on leadership from a new chief who never forgets that consistently good leadership from the top on down is the only sure-cure protocol for an ailing Army.
Hackworth.com is the address of David Hackworth's home page. Sign in for the free weekly Defending America column at his Web site. Send mail to P.O. Box 11179, Greenwich, CT 06831. His newest book is “Steel My Soldiers’ Hearts.”
posted on August 14, 2003 10:03:05 PM new
Veterans Against The Iraq War Sound Off
I am a Vietnam Veteran (65-66) and I live in New York City -- 2 miles north of the World Trade Center. I saw them go down. I lost friends. Our city has received next to nothing for 1st responders; meanwhile Turkey is going to get 20-30 billion dollars. We have lost 150,000 jobs since September 11(remember that) and our jobless rate is close to 10%. Bush promised New York over 20 billion dollars and as of this date we've received a little over 5 billion. And off we waft to war. I'm tired of the lying, the broken promises and manipulation. If any more people die in this or any city, their blood will be on the heads of Bush, Chenny, et al. This is insanity!
--David H. Rigg, US Army, 1964-67
Thirty years ago I raised my right hand and took the oath to defend my country. I was proud to do it. Today I feel nothing but shame in the direction this country is headed. I have three sons who will soon be of age to serve -- I would feel proud if they refused.
--Thomas M Myers, US Army, 1974-1978
Presently I am being forced into serving under the stop loss! I cannot and will not support this war. I have asked for a discharge, but have been informed my views are wrong. So much for the land of the free.
--Robert W. Brown, US Army, 8 Years Active, Currently Prisoner of Air National Guard
There are times when we must fight. This is not one of them.
--Joe Cordileone, USMC, 1966-1969
In western Oklahoma, sometimes radio stations are few. Last night, while traveling, I was listening to a religious station in which Chuck Colsen was justifying this war. It seems to be a religious thing to this President and his followers, which is quite scary. The fact that we are creating hatreds among Allies that could lead to wars of the future does not bother them. They are fighting evil. Oh where were they when we fought?
--Joe Jackson, USN, 1964-1967
My Grandfather was at Midway. My father a Brown Water Navy Medic. I was in the Gulf War. I am proud to be an American. NO OIL WAR IN IRAQ! BACK OFF NORTH KOREA!
--Brad Powell, USN, 1990-94
Currently I'm serving in the 479th Engr Btn, and I feel mortified that I must put my life on the line to support this unnecessary and un-American war.
--Eamon O'Boyle, US Army Reserve, 6 Years
Bush has wagged the dog.
--Wesley Lanham, USN, 1964-68
As a Vietnam-era veteran, a Baptist minister, the son of a member of the 1st Infantry Div. in WWII and the father of a career soldier, I vehemently protest this preemptive war against Iraq.
--Rev. Dr. Al Staggs, US Army, 1965-67
I am proud of my country and my time in the service. I am ashamed of the people running our government at this time.
--Ken Hofgesang, USAF & US Army, 13 Years
The emperor is preparing to send our legions to war while domestic issues continue to burn at home and the people are lulled into distraction with games at the coliseum. Must we continue to repeat history?
--Robert C. Brubaker, US Army, 1989-93
I am a 23 year veteran of two branches of service, U.S. Army Reserves and U.S. Navy (Active Duty). Each day I served and wore my uniform with great pride. As a retiree I am obligated to stand up for what is morally and ethically right. I must now stand in support of the thousands of Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, and Airmen who must stand by and obey orders while disagreeing with our posture of war no matter the cost. Yet as I do so I must stand in opposition to an unjustified war on a nation that is of little threat to our great nation. Yes, Mr. Saddam Hussein is wrong, but that does not mean that we are right to wage a war on the thousands of innocent people. Nor is it right to subject our own troops and those of our allies to the dangers of war. To use an old adage, "Two wrongs do not make a right." To the Senators, Representatives, and to our President, while you must stand in support of our nation - America, remember to stand in support of peace and a peaceful resolution to this conflict. Do not subject our nation to an unjustified war.
--James R. McCollum, USN & US Army Reserves, 23 Years
I support our troops. I do NOT support the government that sent them. This needs to stop, NOW.
--James David Reyome, USMC 4 years
For the first time in my life, I attended two anti-War protests! I was in Vietnam during the Vietnam war protest. I felt compelled to protest this war because it is something that only George W. Bush and his friends want. When the world tells you you're wrong, you better listen!
--Michael Arrington, US Army 20 years
My son was just shipped to Kuwait as a member of a Marine weapons company. Please reconsider - it's not an embarrassment to back out of a war. I want him to return shortly and safely to school to help him prepare for a productive life rather than being a participant in a slaughter which will be a scar on his mind for life.
--John G. Peterson, USN 1951-55
I am a combat veteran who is against this war. I also believe the administration is lying and the soldiers going there will suffer the “unknown” gulf war syndrome, i.e. depleted uranium exposure, as we did agent orange in Viet Nam. The government will refuse to take care of the troops and therefore I am staunchly against this war. Especially because I don't believe anything they or the media says. I have never joined any anti-war group before but this I believe in. Thank you.
--Miguel Gutierrez, US Army 1970-81
Listen to the vets not the Chickenhawks.
--Philip Wooldridge, USAF & US Army Reserve, 1986-1992
Thomas Mann, Nobel Prize recipient: "War is only a cowardly escape (by politicians) from the problems of peace." Bush certainly fits the role of coward, and liar. "I went to war," he said during the 2000 election campaign. The truth: He was a military deserter from the very National Guard unit that kept him out of harm's way. He dishonors the millions throughout history who actually did serve when our country called.
--Dale W. Shimko, US Army 1969-71
Notice that those who say "we gotta go to war in Iraq" are not going anywhere -- nor are their children! It is our children who are now in harm's way; our loved ones and hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqi civilians. We believe the most supportive thing we can do for our son, who is 25 years old, in the Marines and in the Persian Gulf, is to do everything we can to stop this war from happening -- to keep yet another generation from being put in harm's way for the wrong reasons.
--Nancy Lessin and Charley Richardson, children of WWII veterans and parents of current Marine sergeant
I flew 65 missions in B25s against Rommel in the North African desert as a navigator, returned home and entered pilot training, returned to combat in B29s in the Pacific (Tinian Island) and flew the last 10 missions over Japan. As a navigator and a pilot, I went through the entire war without seeing a dead body -- as many of my comrades did. Those of you on the ground were not so isolated. However, in reviewing the photography of what our bombing of Japan did, and looking at the tragedy of Dresden, Berlin, London, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it has become clear to me that war has become completely immoral--witness the Shock and Awe plans to attack Iraq. Perhaps we veterans have remained too silent for too long. War is no longer an option for anyone in the world. Disarmament -- serious disarmament -- has got to take place, and we all need to push for it.
--Jack L. Cross, US Army Air Force 1942-46
One cannot "offensively" conduct an act of self-defense. The idea that Iraq (or its operatives) "may someday" attack the US cannot be called self defense any more than if one murders the guy next door and claims self defense because he "might someday" kill. Murder is simply murder. An attack on Iraq at this point indeed turns our President into a war criminal, and those that support him are accomplices to the crime. Remember that Germans who were against Hitler also suffered as a consequence of his actions. I gave 4 years of my life swearing to uphold the Constitution. In that Constitution only Congress can declare war. The President’s function is to carry out that order without further consideration. He may also act in self-defense. The attack on Iraq is
clearly illegal.
--Al Sledge, USAF 1965-69
I am so angry. It is all true about chicken hawks, lack of intelligence of the Commander in Chief, war for oil, war for vengeance, etc. What is beyond comprehension is that there are people who believe the trumped up justifications for Bush's war. And what is more disturbing is the acquiescence and even participation of news analysts, reporters, supposedly objective observers and reporters of events, in legitimizing this scam on the American people by the Bush administration. I, for one, will protest until they slap me in jail against the insanity of a foreign policy that describes as holy the right of a superpower to invade and conquer any nation it decides it has a right to invade and conquer.
--Sheila Jackson, USAF 1956-59
As the wife of a disable Viet Nam veteran, I plead with the President to please do everything possible to NOT go to war. We don't need innocent people, women, children, elderly to die for a reason I'm still not sure of. I personally think it's about oil. It's not worth the heartache or the destruction. We are a noble country, I want it to stay that way.
--Marcy O’Brien, USN 3 years
Isn't it interesting that no one in the current Bush administration but Colin Powell has ever been in combat? Most of these Chickenhawks have never been in the military. Once you unleash the dogs of war you never know who the dogs may bite.
--Stephen Heck, US Army 1971-73
United Nations inspections need more time and more inspectors. This is a grand opportunity for the US to show that we are capable of peaceful diplomacy and that we can be world leaders in moral and ethical global cooperation.
--David Rosen, USAF 1951-52
If we have to go to war with Iraq because of the possible threat of weapons of mass destruction, then why don't we go to North Korea where we know these weapons exist. I think there are hidden agendas concerning Iraq.
--Audra Paiva, daughter of veteran
If the administration wants this war so badly, let the senators and all the other members of our government send themselves and their children to be in the first wave to attack. They must believe in this war very much, so let them support it in this way.
--Venkadathu Alexander, USN 4 years
I am proud of my dad and what he has accomplished in the Army. I appreciate the sacrifices that the many people made to secure our freedom. I disagree with the government’s policy, not only on the war, but also on its treatment of Veterans. I believe that our government is making a mockery of our Veterans by pursuing its current policy. I won’t vote for Bush again, no matter what Tax Cuts he tries to bribe me with. A government of the people, for the people, by the Rich really should listen to what its people have to say.
--Shane Radford, son of veteran
This isn’t about weapons of mass destruction, it’s about oil. That drug-soaked, fascist frat-boy in the Oval Office wants us to pay the price of stealing Iraqi oil for his supporters . . . a price we will pay with higher taxes and American lives. They will get rich, we will all become accessories to murder for profit and some of us will become dead. Remember, any complacency on your part is the equivalent of complicity in this despicable business. Do something!
--William B. Cushman, USN 1961-64
Containment brought down the USSR, a vast empire of a super-power. It took time, and real leadership in both political parties, and wisdom, and patience, but it is a fact: containment brought down the USSR. Containment can bring down a tin-horn dictator in Iraq.
--Tim Lally, US Army 101st Abn Div 1962-65
My father served 13 years in the Army Air Corps and the Air Force. My son is a Marine EOD and I am quite proud of him. I support the US Armed Forces and believe that they are necessary to PROTECT America. I do not think they are at arms to further the interests of meglomaniacs, corporations and chickenhawks. This War is being waged for the ego of George Bush and his cronies and their plans to subjugate the world for their own profit. It is not about protecting America and it is against everything my Dad and my Son served for. I am sick with fear for the future of America when war is viewed as entertainment and when our fellow citizens do not see that war is going to destroy innocent people and maim even more. How can America be seen as any different than WW II Germany when it declares war based on the propaganda spewed by its self serving leaders? My son is on a ship headed to the Middle East and I'm sick about it. When he returned from the Gulf War he said then that that "campaign was a joke" and he was disillusioned by what he had witnessed. He serves in the Marines because he believes in defending his country from aggressors not as Smedley Butler put it "as a hired gun for corporate interests."
--Nick Roberts, son of WWII vet and father of Gulf War vet
I am a 77 year old former W.W. II U.S.M.C. machine gunner who spent 2 1/2 years in the Pacific jungles fighting Japanese SOLDIERS (not children, women and noncombatants like AWOL Bush does)to preserve America’s Constitutional liberties. It is refreshing to learn there are NOW more of you Americans, combat vets, who have known the tragedy of combat coming forward and telling dumbo Bush and his chicken hawk friends, who think war is a child's game or like it is viewed on T.V., that war is not the answer.
I have been writing and complaining to Bush and our elected representatives, both Democrat and Republican, ever since Bush went on his rampage for oil, money and power, at the expense of us grunts. Think about it, you war mongers--children, women, noncombatants killed, cities, homes, infrastructure destroyed. Are Iraqi children less precious than American kids? Please, if you are an American mom, try to place yourself in the place of an Iraqi mother. How would you feel knowing in minutes your home, husband and children would be incinerated by a bomb carrying depleted uranium.
I do understand how Bush can be so callous, because he is dumb and unfeeling, but it is mystifying to me how a woman, especially with children, cannot be painfully hurt for the Iraqi mothers. Finally, no country is a threat to America, so we should be a peaceful nation, and concentrate using our tax dollars on providing those social services needed by millions of American citizens instead of on war.
--Albert C. Mezzetti, USMC 9 years
I was witness to the lies and misinformation concerning the U.S. bombing in Laos. I watched Nixon lie night after night, on the evening news. I've read excerpts of the Pentagon Papers. Do the American people think that the U.S. government has really changed the policy on foreign affairs? We are a nation of well intended individuals being led into a direct conflict, with the entire free thinking world. Our weapons can’t win that one.
--Larry D. (Dan) Pruitt, USAF, 1967-1974
Parents of U.S. military personnel comfort a weeping Marie Fritz of Oakton during a news conference launching "Bring Them Home Now," a campaign aimed at bringing U.S. troops home from Iraq. Fritz's son is serving there. (Ray Lustig -- The Washington Post)
Thomas McMahon is rankled by suggestions that his opposition to the U.S. military presence in Iraq shows a lack of support for American troops.
"I don't know how much more support you can give the troops than your one and only son," said McMahon, a Herndon lawyer who fought in Vietnam with an Army infantry unit. His son, Collin, 26, a member of the Army's 75th Ranger Regiment, served in Iraq in the spring and may be sent again, he said.
McMahon, 58, was one of a dozen military family members and veterans who appeared yesterday at a news conference in Washington launching "Bring Them Home Now," a national campaign to return to their home bases the 150,000 U.S. troops serving in Iraq.
The war has claimed the lives of 267 U.S. service members in hostile and non-hostile operations, including 58 killed since President Bush declared major combat operations over May 1. The latest casualty was a U.S. soldier killed yesterday by a roadside bomb south of Tikrit.
A Washington Post poll published yesterday showed that 56 percent of Americans surveyed approve of the way Bush is handling Iraq, a decline from earlier this summer but roughly equal to figures a month ago.
However, organizers of the "Bring Them Home Now" campaign said that they have received thousands of e-mails of support, that military families are becoming less reticent to criticize the war, and that their support is growing every day. "Many of the e-mails that we have been receiving over the last several days start with, "I'm a Republican, I voted for Bush, I supported this war when it started," said Charley Richardson, co-founder of Military Families Speak Out, which initiated the campaign along with the group Veterans for Peace.
Campaign coordinators are scheduled to hold another news conference today at Fort Bragg, N.C., home to the 82nd Airborne Division and other units deployed to Iraq.
They were galvanized into action, according to the campaign's mission statement, by President Bush's "inane and reckless" response at a July news conference to Iraqi attacks on U.S. forces: "Bring 'em on."
"We want to talk about the three words of false bravado uttered by President Bush from a safe and secure location, surrounded by armed guards," said Nancy Lessin, co-founder of Military Families Speak Out. "George Bush said, 'Bring 'em on.' We say, 'Bring them home now.' "
Now is too late for another father at yesterday's event, Fernando Suarez del Solar, of Escondido, Calif. His son, Marine Lance Cpl. Jesus Suarez, was killed March 27 in Iraq.
"My question to Mr. Bush is, how many more of our sons do you need to bring our children home?" Suarez asked, standing near a placard bearing a photograph of his son in his dress uniform.
Like other speakers, Suarez accused Bush of lying to the American public about the threat Iraq posed, citing the U.S. failure to find weapons of mass destruction. "My son will not return, but I want those other children to return to our homes," Suarez said. "You're destroying the American people. I hope God will forgive you."
As he spoke, Marie Fritz of Oakton, whose son is serving in Iraq, broke into sobs.
In Crawford, Tex., yesterday, Bush expressed support for the troops and said he would meet with military families when he visits Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in California today. "You'll see me speak to Marines and their families, thanking them for their service to our country, reminding them that what's taking place in Iraq is essential to U.S. security," Bush told reporters.
Larry Syverson, 54, an environmental engineer from Richmond and one of the parents at yesterday's event at the National Press Club, has his own barometer showing declining support for the war. One of his sons, Branden, 31, is a tank commander with 4th Infantry Division, and a second son, Bryce, 25, is a gunner on a Bradley fighting vehicle with the 1st Armored Division.
Many times over the last few months, Syverson has spent his lunch hour in front of the federal courthouse in Richmond, holding a sign asking drivers to honk for peace.
"During the war, I got very few honks," Syverson said. Some drivers called him a communist, others yelled that he was unpatriotic. That has changed now, he said. "The higher the [death] toll goes, the more honks."
posted on August 15, 2003 08:52:40 AM new
Helen, so you agree that the GI's in IRAQ are safer that the citizens of DC!
What the atricle stated is that DURING THE TIME PERIOD THE TROOPS HAVE BEEN IN IRAQ 66 DC citizens were killed as opossed to the 52 GI's killed in IRAQ.
posted on August 15, 2003 08:59:26 AM new"Helen, so you agree that the GI's in IRAQ are safer that the citizens of DC!"
My point, TX is that the number of people killed in DC has no relevance to the number killed in Iraq. It does not in any way serve as justification or ease the horror of the deaths in Iraq.
You could say, for example, that GI's in Iraq are safer during that time period than citizens of DC suffering from AIDS.
Although both statements may be factual, they are not relevant.
posted on August 15, 2003 09:29:42 AM new
Helen I understand your point as you are totally anti war, but at times war IS & HAS BEEN necessary.
The topic of the post Helen is to bring the troops back home. Not as to the number of IRAQ's killed in the war.
My post is relivant as to the safety of the troops in a area of action as compaired to the relative SAFETY of citizens in DC.
In other words a GI IS SAFER IN in IRAQ that the average JOE living DC.
You know what they say: If God had been a Liberal, we wouldn't have had the Ten Commandments. We'd have had the Ten suggestions: Christopher Bigsby and Malcolm Bradbury
posted on August 15, 2003 09:58:00 AM new
Being a texan DUH! I know it will be hard for you to understand it but STATISICALLY it IS ALOT SAFER IN DC. I realize you only understand the concept of whole numbers(how many beers in a six-pack, bullets in a six-shooter, cylinders in a six-banger), but understand(I hope your texan DUH! brain can understand this) per capita the number is higher in Iraq. 55 out of 150,000 is many times higher than 66 out of a couple of MILLION. I know you may not have enough brain power to wrap around that being a texan DUH!, but try.
posted on August 15, 2003 10:03:13 AM newYou know what they say: If God had been a Liberal, we wouldn't have had the Ten Commandments. We'd have had the Ten suggestions: Christopher Bigsby and Malcolm Bradbury
You know what conservatives do, steal a quote and change the words to insult who we want. That quote has been around before you even existed. They have been even stealing the stupid saying of Dumbya Bush and attributing them to Clinton and Gore. How pathetic you people have become, can't even wait for the news to get old before reusing to lie....
Pathetic, really pathetic.....
[ edited by mlecher on Aug 15, 2003 10:05 AM ]
Even if I was in favor of this war and only ONE solider was killed in Iraq, it would not make any sense to point out that 5 homicides occurred at the same time in the Discrict of Columbia.
Rumsfeld said,
"You got to remember that if Washington, D.C., were the size of Baghdad, we would be having something like 215 murders a month. 'There's going to be violence in a big city.'
Rumsfeld made this clumsy gaffe in an effort to MINIMIZE the Death toll in Iraq. His remark was critized all across the country. D.C. Mayor, Anthony A. Williams called his comments, "unfortunate, unappreciated and ill-advised."
And I will add to that, illogical, irrelevant and CRUDE.
posted on August 15, 2003 10:49:26 AM new
Local Soldier E-mails From Iraq, Asking For Help
POSTED: 5:00 p.m. PDT August 14, 2003
Chris Legeros
KIRO 7 Eyewitness News
Sweltering heat, a shortage of good food and water, and constant danger. Those are the complaints we're hearing from a local soldier stationed in Iraq who now questions why American troops are still there.
Private First Class Mary Yahne doesn't often get access to a phone in Iraq. But sometimes she does get her hands on a computer, and she's been firing off e-mails to us and to her family in Bonney Lake.
There's pride in a sign outside Treva Yahne's home and patriotism reflected with flags. But the Bonney Lake mother has had a change of heart over the past few months.
"I was [for the war] at the beginning," she said. "I support the troops, but like I said, I don't support the war, if that's what they call it."
Her daughter, Private First Class Mary Yahne is in Iraq, somewhere, hauling cargo for the Fourth Infantry Division and struggling to stay alive.
"They need help, they need help badly," Treva said.
Like other troops, Mary is sweltering in 120-degree heat, with no air conditioning, eating packaged meals for months and drinking only two bottles of water a day.
She's written us here at KIRO 7 Eyewitness News saying, "the military expects us to be happy out here. I'm very happy serving my country, but not when the government fails to take care of you."
"We volunteered our lives to be out here and we get treated worse that people in prison."
Private Yahne also writes, "There is no real reason for us to be out here!!!!, We're protecting the oil is all, and as far as the supposed war ending, it hasn't. Not when everyday soldiers are still getting mines placed in front of convoys. Rocket propelled grenades thrown at us."
"She just wishes it was all over. Like I said, they want to come home," said Treva.
Private Yahne is also begging for some help, asking Northwesterners to send soldiers supplies they don't have like, shampoo, conditioner, body wash, deodorant, and snack foods that aren't perishable.
