tagged w/ War in Iraq
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The new issue of Time magazine has an interesting article about antidepressant usage by the U.S. troops. This is an excerpt from the article:
"For the first time in history, a sizable and growing number of U.S. combat troops are taking daily doses of antidepressants to calm nerves strained by repeated and lengthy tours in Iraq and Afghanistan. The medicines are intended not only to help troops keep their cool but also to enable the already strapped Army to preserve its most precious resource: soldiers on the front lines. Data contained in the Army's fifth Mental Health Advisory Team report indicate that, according to an anonymous survey of U.S. troops taken last fall, about 12% of combat troops in Iraq and 17% of those in Afghanistan are taking prescription antidepressants or sleeping pills to help them cope. Escalating violence in Afghanistan and the more isolated mission have driven troops to rely more on medication there than in Iraq, military officials say."
"At a Pentagon that keeps statistics on just about everything, there is no central clearinghouse for this kind of data, and the Army hasn't consistently asked about prescription-drug use, which makes it difficult to track. Given the traditional stigma associated with soldiers seeking mental help, the survey, released in March, probably underestimates antidepressant use. But if the Army numbers reflect those of other services — the Army has by far the most troops deployed to the war zones — about 20,000 troops in Afghanistan and Iraq were on such medications last fall. The Army estimates that authorized drug use splits roughly fifty-fifty between troops taking antidepressants — largely the class of drugs that includes Prozac and Zoloft — and those taking prescription sleeping pills like Ambien."
"In some ways, the prescriptions may seem unremarkable. Generals, history shows, have plied their troops with medicinal palliatives at least since George Washington ordered rum rations at Valley Forge. During World War II, the Nazis fueled their blitzkrieg into France and Poland with the help of an amphetamine known as Pervitin. The U.S. Army also used amphetamines during the Vietnam War."
The new issue of Time magazine has an interesting article about antidepressant usage... more
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The Bush administration misused intelligence to build a case for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Senate Intelligence Committee said in a report issued Thursday.
The White House exploited its ability to declassify intelligence selectively to bolster its case for war, the committee chairman, Sen. John D. Rockefeller IV, D-West Virginia, said in the report. Senior officials disclosed and discussed sensitive intelligence reports that supported the administration's policy objectives and kept out of public discourse information that did not, he said.
The report also found that the administration misled the American people about contacts between Saddam Hussein and al Qaeda.
"Policymakers' statements did not accurately convey the intelligence assessments" about contacts between the then-Iraqi leader and Osama bin Laden's group, "and left the impression that the contacts led to substantive Iraqi cooperation or support of al Qaeda," the report said.
The report also took the administration to task for its predictions about the aftermath of the invasion, including Vice President Dick Cheney's assertion that U.S. troops would be greeted as liberators.
The Bush administration misused intelligence to build a case for the U.S.-led invasion... more
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A US military jury has acquitted a marine of charges that he helped cover up the killing of 24 unarmed Iraqi civilians in Haditha in 2005.
Lt Andrew Grayson had been charged with obstruction of justice and making false statements - charges he denied. He had been accused of instructing a sergeant to delete digital photographs of the incident.
Four marines and four officers were initially charged in the case, but the case against five of them was dropped. The marines were charged with murder and the officers with failing to investigate the deaths. The trial is being held at Camp Pendleton, a military base in California. Lt Grayson was the first to be tried.
The killings occurred after a roadside bomb in Haditha on 19 November 2005 left one marine dead and injured two others. The US military at first reported that the Iraqis had been killed by that explosion, or in a subsequent gunfight with insurgents.
But Iraqi witnesses said the US troops shot dead five unarmed men when they approached the scene of the bombing in a car. The troops were then accused going to nearby houses and killing 19 other civilians.
There was no full US investigation into what happened until January 2006, when video footage emerged of the aftermath, filmed by a local human rights activist.
A US military jury has acquitted a marine of charges that he helped cover up the... more
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A majority of the Iraqi parliament has written to Congress rejecting a long-term security deal with Washington if it is not linked to a requirement that U.S. forces leave, a U.S. lawmaker said on Wednesday.
Rep. William Delahunt, a Massachusetts Democrat and Iraq war opponent, released excerpts from a letter he was handed by Iraqi parliamentarians laying down conditions for the security pact that the Bush administration seeks with Iraq.
The proposed pact has become increasingly controversial in Iraq, where there have been protests against it. It has also drawn criticism from Democrats on the presidential election campaign trail in the United States, who say President George W. Bush is trying to dictate war policy after he leaves office.
The signatures represented just over half the membership of Iraq's parliament, said Delahunt, a House Foreign Affairs subcommittee chairman.
Two Iraqi lawmakers whose parties were listed as signatories testified to Delahunt's panel on Wednesday that U.S. troops should leave Iraq, and that talks on the long-term security pact should be postponed until after they are gone.
Khalaf Al-Ulayyan, founder of the National Dialogue Council, said bilateral talks on a long-term security deal should be shelved until American troops leave -- and until there is a new government in Washington.
A majority of the Iraqi parliament has written to Congress rejecting a long-term... more
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About 500 Australian combat troops pulled out of their base in southern Iraq on Sunday, fulfilling an election promise by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to bring the soldiers home this year.
Australia, a loyal U.S. ally, was one of the first countries to commit troops to the Iraq war. In addition to the combat troops, it also deployed aircraft and warships to the Gulf to protect Iraq's offshore oil platforms.
Since handing over security of Dhi Qar province to the Iraqis, the main role of the Australian battle group, numbering about 515 soldiers, has been to train and support Iraqi forces.
Rudd, who won elections last November, had promised to bring home frontline troops this year. Polls show 80 percent of Australians oppose the war.
Australia's top military commander, Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston, said in February that after the troops pulled out, Australia would leave behind two maritime surveillance aircraft and a warship helping patrol the oil platforms, as well as a small force of security and headquarters liaison troops.
About 500 Australian combat troops pulled out of their base in southern Iraq on... more
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Episode 2-Bush gets a stern talking to from Abe Lincoln & there's a surprise visit in the courtroom. COMMENT QUESTION: If you could ask Bush 1 question, what would it be? Tell us in "comments"! Thanks! Episode 2-Bush gets a stern talking to from Abe Lincoln & there's a surprise... more
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The United States will prod Sunni Arab states to offer more support to the Iraqi government at a conference in Sweden this week as a way of countering the growing influence of non-Arab Iran in Iraq.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki will chair the conference on Thursday, aimed at assessing progress in implementing a plan adopted at a meeting in Egypt last year to help Iraq rebuild after five years of war.
Analysts are watching for any contacts between Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and her Iranian counterpart, Manouchehr Mottaki, who will be attending the meeting, though U.S. officials say none are scheduled in Stockholm.The United States will prod Sunni Arab states to offer more support to the Iraqi... more
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WASHINGTON (Map, News) - A veterans group that opposes the war in Iraq has been blocked from marching in a Memorial Day parade in Washington after being told its plans, which once included a casket representing war dead, would be too political for the event.
Veterans for Peace was initially granted a spot in the May 26 parade that is scheduled to travel down Constitution Avenue, past landmarks that include the Washington Monument and the White House.
But the American Veterans Center, a nonprofit that organizes the parade, has pulled that approval, saying it does not allow the expression of political viewpoints.
Anthony Teolis, treasurer of the Washington-area chapter of Veterans for Peace, said that as veterans, the group should be able to take part in the parade. He said it was being singled out because of its anti-war views.
"We are a veterans groups like any other except we have the word peace in our name," Teolis said.
Jim Roberts, president of the Arlington, Va.-based American Veterans Center, said the group strives to keep political statements out of the parade. Last year, two groups that supported the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were turned down. The Veterans for Peace program was initially approved by a contractor handling parade planning, but it was revoked when the center saw its plans for the march.
"We don't allow groups in the parade that are projecting an opinion. That goes for pro-mission as well as anti-war," Roberts said.
Finish at link:http://www.examiner.com/a-1400834~Veterans_peace_group_blocked_from_parade.htmlWASHINGTON (Map, News) - A veterans group that opposes the war in Iraq has been... more
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The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved an additional $165 billion to wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan for another year after lawmakers blocked proposed timetables for withdrawing American troops from Iraq.
By a vote of 70-26, the Senate passed the new war money the Pentagon says it urgently needs to avoid civilian layoffs and the interruption of soldiers' paychecks within months.
The House of Representatives still must weigh in on the legislation. Last week, it passed a drastically different bill that failed to provide any new money for the wars and would withdraw U.S. combat troops from Iraq by the end of 2009.
The House is likely to consider its next step in early June after lawmakers return from a week-long recess.
President George W. Bush, speaking to U.S. troops at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, repeated his opposition to Congress setting troop withdrawal schedules or other conditions on the Pentagon.
"The United States Congress needs to pass a responsible war funding bill that does not tie the hands of our commanders," Bush said.
Assuming lawmakers ultimately give Bush the war funds he has requested, Congress will have appropriated more than $800 billion for combat in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001. Most of the money has gone for the unpopular war in Iraq.
As the Senate was debating the new war money, a House panel was looking into allegations that the Defense Department had failed to properly account for $15 billion in expenditures in Iraq, much of that for payments to contractors.
Besides the war funding, the Senate also attached expensive expansions of U.S. unemployment benefits and help for war veterans who want to get a college education. Bush opposes those measures, as well as other domestic spending included by the Senate.
Credit: Reuters
Finish at link: http://www.reuters.com/article/vcCandidateFeed7/idUSN22512322The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved an additional $165 billion to wage war in Iraq... more
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"An audit of some $8bn paid to US and Iraqi contractors has found that almost every payment failed to comply with US laws aimed at preventing fraud.
In one instance, $11m was paid to a US company without any record of what goods or services were provided, the US defence department audit said.
US spending of another $1.8bn in seized Iraqi assets was also poorly handled.
The findings, covering the period from 2001 to 2006, will fuel anti-war Democrats' claims of mismanagement.
They accuse the Bush administration of relying too heavily on contractors to run the Iraq war and paying too little attention to problems of corruption and fraud.
The review by the defence department's inspector general estimates that the US Army made more than 180,000 commercial payments from bases in Iraq, Egypt and Kuwait from 2001 to 2006.
The $8bn spending of US taxpayers' money involved purchases of goods and services ranging from bottled water, mattresses and food to trucks and phones.
In some cases, contracts worth millions of dollars were paid for in cash with little or no documentation to show what was delivered"."An audit of some $8bn paid to US and Iraqi contractors has found that almost... more
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New alliances with Sunni militias have reduced attacks on American troops in Anbar and elsewhere in Iraq, but will this new strategy lead to lasting stability, or is it feeding a sectarian civil war and exacerbating a growing refugee crisis? Reporters David Enders and Rick Rowley take us inside Iraq for this report.
Produced by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting in association with Azimuth Media.
To learn more about this issue, visit www.pulitzercenter.org.New alliances with Sunni militias have reduced attacks on American troops in Anbar and... more
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Episode #1 of Tim Bartell's "Fun With War Crimes" titled "Helluva Job!". Who wants a medal of freedom???Episode #1 of Tim Bartell's "Fun With War Crimes" titled "Helluva... more
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The comedy web series that puts the Bush administration on trial for war crimes and dares to ask the ultimate question: "does this war make me look fat?"The comedy web series that puts the Bush administration on trial for war crimes and... more
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Yet another woman has come forward saying she was brutally raped in Iraq while working for the U.S. contractor Kellogg Brown Root (KBR).
Dawn Leamon, who has two sons on active duty, says she was raped earlier this year by a U.S. soldier and a KBR colleague.
She will tell her horrific story to members of Congress today at a hearing of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.
Leamon says that following her rape, she spoke with a woman at the KBR Employee Assistance Program. "She discouraged me from reporting, saying, 'You know what will happen if you do,'" Leamon said.
Leamon says KBR then assigned full-time security guards to her which gave her no privacy to talk about the incident, and her movements around camp were restricted, yet her attackers' movements were unrestricted.
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This is one brave woman.Yet another woman has come forward saying she was brutally raped in Iraq while working... more
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"65% of Americans want US troops out of Iraq at most within one year. 26% of those Americans support leaving “immediately,” 39% want U.S. troops home within one year, not contingent on conditions, and 31% want to stay until “the mission is complete. These numbers come from a Rasmussen poll released April 8, 2008.”"65% of Americans want US troops out of Iraq at most within one year. 26% of... more
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There has been a little change in military policy that allows husband-and-wife soldiers to live and sleep together in war zones.
The change occurred to boost morale, preserve marriages, and boost re-enlistment rates.
Of course this new policy is good for the military, it will make people want to stay in the military. Imagine how good it is for the soldiers, being with your significant other might relieve some of the stress and provide some comfort during crazy times - that's just my guess.
However: "Husbands and wives are still prohibited from public displays of affection, under the same strict regulations that govern unmarried men and women in uniform. Holding hands and kissing, whether on duty or in the chow hall, are against the rules."
Guess that makes sense, who likes PDA anyways :) There has been a little change in military policy that allows husband-and-wife... more
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Dallas, TX. 03/19/08. Almost 45 years after the assassination of President Kennedy, Ernest Brandt returns to the grassy knoll to protest the 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Brandt was 15 feet away from the motorcade when the first shot was fired. The turnout was small in Dallas, the future home of President George W. Bush and his library.Dallas, TX. 03/19/08. Almost 45 years after the assassination of President Kennedy,... more
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jimmyp
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4 years ago
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Whether you agree with these soldiers or not, their first-hand stories of tours of duty in Iraq bring home the chilling reality of the war and what it means to follow orders as a soldier. Audio and video of the testamony is available from yesterday and today's shows. It is bone chilling fact and without prejudice...Five years ago tonight, on March 19, 2003, the US launched the invasion of Iraq. Half a decade later, as the occupation continues with no end in sight, some of the most powerful voices against the war have been the men and women who have fought in it. For four days this past weekend, soldiers convened at the National Labor College in Silver Spring, Maryland for Winter Soldier, an eyewitness account of the war and occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan. We broadcast their voices. JImmyP's comment: Amy Goodman, considered to be a left-wing agitator by a few is considered by many to be one of the last true journalists in the US. My opion is the later...Bill O'Reilly can't handle her truth. If you like Current, you should be checking in at DemocracyNow.org on a daily basis to get more FACTS in an hour than the main stream delivers in a week. The show is an eye opener. Best - JimmyPWhether you agree with these soldiers or not, their first-hand stories of tours of... more
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jimmyp
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added this
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4 years ago
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This is just sickening...
"Two mentally retarded women strapped with remote-control explosives — and possibly used as unwitting suicide bombers — brought carnage Friday to two pet bazaars, killing at 91 people in the deadliest day since Washington flooded the capital with extra troops last spring.
The coordinated blasts — coming 20 minutes apart in different parts of the city — appeared to reinforce U.S. claims al-Qaida in Iraq may be increasingly desperate and running short of able-bodied men willing or available for such missions."This is just sickening...
"Two mentally retarded women strapped with... more
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In response to the low support for the current War in Iraq, it has become more difficult for military recruiters to meet their quotas. This 11 minute film takes a look at personal stories from recruiters and recruitees. This pod also reveals a provision in the No Child Left Behind Act which grants recruiters information on high school students in order to make them easier to recruit.In response to the low support for the current War in Iraq, it has become more... more
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