Iraq A “Disaster”

“Are The Troops On The Ground To Blame?”

CWO Says No!

Letters To The Editor

Army Times

7.10.06

Retired Brig. Gen. Robert L. Decker’s Back Talk column (“Disgruntled generals’ ‘whining’ is self-serving,” May 29) was nothing but a collection of pejorative words and phrases.

He did not respond to any of the criticisms the generals made.

The charges Decker made may or may not be true, but they are certainly irrelevant.  The ad hominem argument carries little weight in legitimate debate.

Ask yourself, has the Bush administration policy in Iraq gone well?  No, it has been a disaster.

Are the troops on the ground to blame?  No.

Who, then, is responsible for the failures?  Those leaders who got us into this mess, that’s who.  Isn’t accepting responsibility one of the basic principles of leadership?

Decker’s character assassination was not limited to the generals he listed; he included anyone who opposes this imperialist adventure in Iraq.

Many decent Americans — active-duty military, veterans, military retirees, military families, civilians, young people, old people — are against this illegal and immoral war and military occupation of Iraq.

Legitimate dissent has a long and honorable history in our country.  We who engage in it are neither unpatriotic, nor anti-American, nor unsupportive of the troops.  Those who seek to squelch dissent by saying otherwise flirt with fascism.

Chief Warrant Officer 3 William Hairston (ret.)

Sulligent, Ala.

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

MNB I SOLDIER DIES IN NON-COMBAT RELATED INCIDENT

7/9/2006 HEADQUARTERS UNITED STATES CENTRAL COMMAND NEWS RELEASE Number: 06-07-09C

BAGHDAD:  A Multi National Division Baghdad Soldier died in a non-combat related incident at approximately 2:15 a.m. this morning.

Valley Soldier Killed

July 9, 2006 Reported By Anabel Marquez, KGBT

The War In Iraq has claimed the life of another Valley soldier. A family in Mission is now mourning the loss of Army Staff Sg. Omar Demetrio Flores Flores.

They said they received the notice of his passing shortly after noon on Saturday.

His older brother Jorge Flores -- who's also a serviceman-- said the entire family is still in shock.

"It's hard," he said Saturday, standing outside of his parents' home.  "We've cried a lot, but we have to be strong.  There's a Spanish saying: 'Misiones Hacemos no se si volveremos.'"

Translated it means "we take on a mission - but I'm not sure if we'll be back."

That's what Omar Flores told his wife and kids when he was on leave just a few weeks ago, visiting his family in the Valley.

He was serving his second tour in Iraq.

Now his mother in law, Maria Flores, can't believe her daughter is a widow.

"It's hard, but there's nothing that can be done," she said Saturday, as dozens of friends and family members arrived to offer their condolences.

Inside the family's home, various army recognition plaques and newspaper articles that Lopez received, decorate a wall.

Relatives said he was a very ambitious and hard working soldier, always striving to offer his family the best - a family that's now uniting to get through these tough times.

"His little girl asked me, 'now that my dad's in heaven, are you going to take care of me?' and I said, 'yeah mija, I'm going to make sure you have your quinceanera'," Jorge Lopez said, with tears rolling down his eyes. "We're sad."

While the family is waiting to hear the details of how Staff Sgt. Omar Flores died, the military is releasing some details.

Flores was among three Americans killed in the attack in the Anbar province of Iraq.

The three were assigned to the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, which has some attached Army units, and died in fighting in the western province of Anbar, the U.S. military said.

They were the first U.S. fatalities reported in Iraq since Tuesday, raising the number of U.S. personnel killed this month to eight. The average of one death a day is down sharply from a rate of more than two a day in recent months.

More than 2,500 Americans have died in Iraq since the war began. Nearly two dozen of those deaths have been of young men with ties to the Valley.

Soldier Remembered;

Spc. Jeremy Jones Killed

6.29.06 WOWT

Army Specialist Jeremy Jones, a 25-year-old from Omaha, has been killed in Iraq; the latest casualty of a roadside bomb. 

The explosion happened south of Baghdad.

Jones had been in Iraq since November with the 1st Battalion of the 67th Armor Regiment based out of Fort Hood, Texas.

He graduated from Millard West High School in 1999.  That's where he met his wife, Jenny.

Jeremy's parents, Scott and Diane Jones, came to grips with the news Wednesday.

Scott said he was, "just numb," and he wished the tragic news were just a dream.

Diane said their pain serves as a reminder for people to "hold on to every moment," with loved ones, "because you don't know how long you will have."  Diane says her son was proud of what he was doing.

The family was also proud of him and they cherish the last time he was home on leave. He was reunited with his wife and son A. J. and he held his daughter Mackenzie for the first time.

Jeremy's family remembers him as a good father, a loving husband and a true family man.

Scott Jones says his son was, "just a fantastic person," and he says a father, "couldn't ask for a better son."

Jeremy's high school prinicpal, Dr. Rick Kolowski, says Jeremy loved his family and always had a positive attitude.  Dr. Kolowski says, "We think highly of him. It's a loss for his family and for the school to lose someone like this."

Funeral services for Army Spc. Jeremy Jones are pending.

Car Bomb Wounds 4 US Troops In Ramadi Convoy

Jul. 9, 2006 By ASSOCIATED PRESS

A car bomb struck a convoy in Ramadi on Sunday, wounding four American troops, the military said.  The explosion occurred near the convoy as it was headed to the government center.

FUTILE EXERCISE:

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW!

U.S. military personnel inspect the scene after a roadside bomb killed the local chief of intelligence, Maj. Gen. Mussa Hatam, along with two of his guards, in the northern city of Kirkuk in Iraq June 24, 2006.  (AP Photo/Karim Yahya Ahmed)

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Canadian Soldier Killed

JULY 9, 2006 CCNMatthews

A Canadian soldier was killed today during an engagement with Taliban insurgents approximately 25 kilometres west of Kandahar. The incident occurred at approximately 8:30 a.m. Kandahar time (12:00 a.m. EDT).

Killed was Corporal Anthony Joseph Boneca who was serving with Task Force Afghanistan as part of the 1st Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry (1 PPCLI) Battle Group. Cpl. Boneca was a member of the Lake Superior Scottish Regiment, which is based in Thunder Bay, Ontario; his next-of-kin have been notified.

Cpl. Boneca was evacuated by helicopter to the coalition medical facility at Kandahar Airfield where he was pronounced dead.

The repatriation of Cpl. Boneca's remains is now being planned.

Cpl. Boneca's unit was operating in Zjarey district as part of Operation Zahar, which means "Sword" in Pashto.

“British Troops Are Entitled To Feel That There Are Hostile Forces On Every Side”

“Every Time The British Come To Afghanistan, They Have Been Defeated Very Badly, And Very Few Escaped With Their Lives”

[Thanks to Z who sent this in.  He writes: Damn, you'd think the British government would have learned something since the 19th century!  Solidarity, Z]

09 July 2006 By Thomas Coghlan in Musa Qala, Helmand and Justin Huggler, Independent News and Media Limited

In Musa Qala, on the front line of the Taliban insurgency against British troops in southern Afghanistan, a pick-up truck packed with heavily armed men roared up the main street.  They were just 50 yards from the local district governor's house, a building pitted by bullet and rocket-propelled-grenade strikes, where British commanders were meeting tribal elders.

The gunmen in the pick-up were wearing black robes and large black or white turbans, common tribal dress in Helmand - but also the uniform of the Taliban.  Who were they? A terrified local shopkeeper replied: "They could be the governor's militia, or they could be Taliban.  We can't tell the difference.  But you should leave right now."

One week before, hundreds of Taliban fighters had spent eight hours rampaging through the town, and shot up the governor's house.  

The movement is everywhere in Helmand, a dusty nightmare of a place lashed by scorching winds in summer, when temperatures hit 50C.

One British soldier told how his unit had come under intense fire from the Afghan police, who are supposed to be their allies.  "They fired and manoeuvred straight past our vehicle," said the soldier, from the Parachute Regiment Pathfinder Unit.  "They could clearly see that we weren't the Taliban, but they still kept firing, and we have intelligence that they had Taliban fighters with them."  The gun battle lasted two hours, and the British had to abandon a vehicle.

British troops are now so dubious about the Afghan police in the town of Gereshk that they are given no advance warning of joint patrols, for fear they will tip off the Taliban.

Half the translators hired by the British at Camp Bastion, their main base in Helmand, have left in fear of their lives.

Nor does the Afghan National Army inspire much more confidence.  When the first unit was dispatched south to work with British troops, a quarter disappeared in transit from their training camp in Kabul.  

Their fears may be understandable: some weeks ago the severed heads of two Afghan soldiers were left outside a Canadian base in neighbouring Kandahar, with their severed penises in their mouths.

British troops in Helmand are entitled to feel that there are hostile forces on every side. Pro-Taliban music cassettes are openly on sale, and are highly popular. The songs include lyrics such as "The deserts are stained red with the blood of martyrs" and "Hey Mullah Omar, we will kill your enemies, and we are your Taliban."

"It is as bad as we have ever seen it," a Western security source told The Independent on Sunday.  "The Taliban has a sophistication and co-ordination that has not been there before.  They are often staying and fighting, rather than breaking contact, as used to happen.

"Sometimes their tactics are almost suicidal. They will stand on the roofs of houses and shoot at helicopter gunships.  

They have a lot of ammunition and a lot more man-portable heavy weaponry - mortars, RPGs, heavy machine guns."

The Taliban claim to have "completely occupied" several districts in the south.  "Helmand is a haven for us," Mohammed Hanif, a Taliban spokesman, boasted by telephone yesterday.  

"Every time the British come to Afghanistan, they have been defeated very badly, and very few escaped with their lives."

The Taliban, he said, had a centre to recruit suicide bombers in Helmand. "They are coming from all over Afghanistan, and they number 1,500 so far," he claimed.

Take Your Pick

July 10, 2006 By Gordon Lubold, Army Times staff writer

However, sentiment is split over Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is seen by some as a giant and others as an increasingly ineffective leader, in part because he is unable to govern outside Kabul, the capital.

TROOP NEWS

A New Witch Hunt

VA Scum Shit On Fallen Soldier And His Widow:

“If We Can’t Live Up To Religious Freedom At Home, We Have No Business Asking Soldiers To Die For Religious Freedom Abroad”

July 10, 2006 By Charles C. Haynes, Army Times.  The writer is senior scholar at the Freedom Forum’s First Amendment Center.

The current flap involving Wiccans in the military is a conflict that should never have happened.  But years of foot-dragging by the Department of Veterans Affairs have turned an easy case into a major controversy complete with charges of discrimination and threats of lawsuits.

All VA needs to do is announce that the pentacle — a five-pointed star that symbolizes the Wiccan faith — has been added to the list of 38 “emblems of belief” approved for placement on government headstones and memorials.  No big deal, end of story.

Instead, VA keeps saying that it is “reviewing the process” — and will make a decision at some indeterminate time in the future.

Roberta Stewart has been hearing this bureaucratic mumbo jumbo for the past eight months.  She just wants to honor her husband, Patrick, a soldier in the Nevada National Guard killed in combat last September in Afghanistan.  Sgt. Stewart, who was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart, among other honors, was a Wiccan.

But Stewart’s request to have a pentacle engraved on her husband’s memorial plaque has been repeatedly denied pending review of the VA policy.  His space on the Northern Nevada Veterans Memorial wall remains blank.

Eventually, VA will have no choice but to allow the pentacle.  Nevada politicians from both parties, as well as advocacy groups from the left and right, are demanding the change.

Then there is the small matter of the First Amendment: It’s clearly unconstitutional for the government to deny the Wiccan symbol while permitting symbols of many other religions.

If approval of the pentacle is inevitable, why is VA taking so long to make a decision?

For Roberta Stewart, it has been a long and frustrating eight months.  But other Wiccans have been pushing for VA recognition of the pentacle for more than nine years. (According to the Defense Department, some 1,900 active-duty service members identify themselves as Wiccans.)

At first blush, the years of VA stonewalling doesn’t make sense.  A glance at the 38 approved emblems suggests that any religion can make the list.  In addition to all of the world’s major faiths, a number of obscure sects are represented, such as Eckankar, a New Age group that espouses out-of-body travel.  Atheists have a symbol, too.  If VA is applying some kind of religious test to keep out the Wiccans, it’s hard to fathom what it might be.

Before last fall, VA blamed the rules.  Applicants had to provide documentation from a central authority certifying a symbol as representative of that religion.  Because Wiccans have no recognized head or hierarchy, their applications were rejected.  Rules are rules.

Bipartisan outrage over Sgt. Stewart’s case inspired a new set of rules.  Now, applicants are required to provide historic background and documentation of use to get a symbol approved.  Roberta Stewart has filled out all of the forms.  But she’s still waiting.

So what’s the problem? VA isn’t talking.  But the delay may have to do with the fact that Roberta Stewart went public.  Putting atheists on the list when no one is paying attention is one thing, but announcing recognition of the Wiccan pentacle in the glare of the media spotlight is another.

Few people have even heard of Eckankar, but almost everyone has an opinion about Wiccans.  Unfortunately, most of what people think they know about Wicca is false. Wicca is a nature-based religion centered on a belief that the divine permeates all life. Wiccans have nothing to do with black magic or satanic worship, but try explaining that to a misinformed public.

VA is probably remembering the last time Wiccans in the military made headlines.  About six years ago, news reports of Wiccan ceremonies at Fort Hood, Texas, and other bases provoked some conservative Christian groups to call on Christians not to enlist or re-enlist in the Army.

Under the First Amendment, the Army had no choice then, just as VA has no choice now, but to accommodate Wiccans in the same way it accommodates other religious groups.  But any “acceptance” of witches — who have long been demonized in Christian history — is certain to stir up trouble for the military.

It’s also possible that VA lawyers are beginning to realize that any guidelines for government-sanctioned “emblems of belief,” however carefully crafted, are unworkable. In a nation where people are free to choose in matters of faith, the government should stop trying to figure out which symbols are “acceptable” and instead allow each family to choose whatever symbol best represents their convictions.

In other words, cut through all of the bureaucratic red tape and jettison the “emblems of belief” list entirely.

Meanwhile, however, VA should act immediately to honor Roberta Stewart’s request and fill in the blank space reserved for Sgt. Stewart.

After all, if we can’t live up to religious freedom at home, we have no business asking soldiers to die for religious freedom abroad.

THIS IS HOW BUSH BRINGS THE TROOPS HOME:

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW, ALIVE

An honor guard carries the body of United States Army Sgt. Terry M. Lisk, who was killed in Iraq, to a hearse after his funeral in Lemont, Illinois, July 8, 2006. REUTERS/John Gress (UNITED STATES)

Soldier’s Death Blamed On Punishment

[Thanks to Mark S, who sent this in.]

05 July 2006 By Kim Sengupta and Charlotte Reeve, Independent News & media (UK)

Police are investigating the chain of events that led to a soldier's death after he was forced to do strenuous exercises in extreme heat as a punishment for spraying guests at an officers' mess with a fire extinguisher.

Pte Gavin Williams, aged 22, from Hengoed, Mid Glamorgan, was undertaking a disciplinary exercise alone at Lucknow Barracks at Tidworth, Wiltshire, when he collapsed and died on Monday.  He is said to have been drinking after England's World Cup match before his "prank" at the barracks.

Detectives are attempting to find out who ordered the punishment of the soldier, who is said to have had a number of other complaints made against him.  Five serving members from his regiment, the 2nd Battalion Royal Welsh, have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter and are being questioned by Wiltshire Police.

Four of the men being held ­ aged 44, 35, 31 and 28 ­ are believed to be non-commissioned officers.  The fifth man, 29, was arrested yesterday on suspicion of manslaughter. The Ministry of Defence refused to confirm or deny that he was an officer.

The soldier collapsed just after midday on Monday and was taken to Salisbury Hospital, where he died.  

Ambulance crews were called to the scene and a spokeswoman for Wiltshire Ambulance Trust said that Pte Williams appeared "hot and agitated."  

After the incident with the fire extinguisher, in which those drenched were mainly civilians attending a reception, he was allegedly made to do an exercise routine in temperatures of up to 33C.

Detectives from Wiltshire Police are expected to take the lead rather than the Royal Military Police.  Although the Wiltshire force has technical jurisdiction over the inquiry because the soldier died at Salisbury Hospital, the practice in the past would have been to hand the matter over to military police.

A builder working on a nearby accommodation block at the barracks said he saw a group of soldiers "sweltering" during a midday exercise.  

The builder, who did not want to be named, said: "The weather was absolutely boiling... but these guys were wearing the full kit; trousers, boots, heavy duty jackets, hard hats and carrying heavy packs as well as weapons.  They had full military combat gear on and they looked boiling hot."

“Peace Campaigners Today Carried Out An Audacious Occupation At A Top Secret United States Navy Nuclear Command Bunker”

[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, who sent this in.]

7.4. 2006 Indymedia.org.uk

Peace campaigners today carried out an audacious occupation at a top secret United States Navy nuclear command bunker to protest