GI SPECIAL
4G12:
“The Recruiter Never Said That I
Wouldn’t Be Able To Look My Mom In The Eye When It Was Over”
Cody
Camacho of IVAW, Veterans Day 2005, Chicago
By Ken Nielsen, The Veteran,
Vietnam Veterans Against The War [Excerpt]
Ken Nielsen served in the US Army from 1991 to 1993
(4th Battalion, 9th Infantry, 1st Division). He is a member of the Chicago chapter of VVAW.
Veterans Day, November 11, 2005 saw the
dedication of the city's new Vietnam War memorial, located nearly underground,
steps away from one of the state's dirtiest rivers, and almost completely
hidden to anyone not taking a vomit-inducing boat tour. It's a nice memorial;
there's grass, and a new fountain.
But the whole thing has been treated just
like veterans in this country: kept out of sight and out of mind. Except, of
course, for the dedication. That was where the mayor got to show off his fellow
war supporters, busing in Veterans of Foreign Wars and American Legionnaires
from the suburbs to stock his event.
The first speaker was Cody Camacho, an Iraq
War veteran who served with the 41st Field Artillery and the 72nd MP Company at
the Abu Ghraib prison from March 2003 to March 2004.
After giving a firsthand confirmation of the
torture that occurred at Abu Ghraib, Cody described some of the problems he
faces after returning from the war. "You can't get back. The nightmares,
the shakes, the hollow feeling of a soul that's dry for what seems like no
reason at all.
“The recruiter never said
that I wouldn't be able to look my mom in the eye when it was over."
Cody called for support for returning
veterans and thanked veterans of previous wars for helping him and others
muster the courage it takes to oppose the war.
Another Iraq War veteran, Dave
Adams, who served with the 101st Airborne Division in 2003, spoke of an
incident in which his convoy ran down a small child in the streets of Al Khut
and was not able to stop to assist the child, due to their orders.
After having been told that his
mission was "to win the hearts and minds" of Iraqis, Dave struggled
to make sense of this incident, and it became one of the many contradictions he
witnessed in Iraq that helped shape his current feelings about the war.
Dave went on to issue a
challenge: "We have to go home and engage our neighbors, our family, our
friends. We have to call our
representatives and ask for change, demand change. Ask them what they're doing to stop this war
now."
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IRAQ WAR REPORTS
Carson GI, A Broncos
Fan, Dies In Iraq Attack
July 8, 2006 By Hector Gutierrez, Rocky
Mountain News
An Army sergeant based at Fort Carson was
killed in combat last week in Iraq, the Defense Department confirmed Thursday.
Sgt. James P. Muldoon, 23, was wounded June
29 while stationed at a control point during combat operations in Baqubah,
about 30 miles northeast of Baghdad, the Army said.
The sergeant, who was born in Denver, died
later from his wounds in the town of Balad, the Army said.
Though he moved around the country quite a
bit and settled in Bells, Texas, Muldoon took the Denver Broncos with him, his
widow, Ashlee Muldoon, said Thursday.
"He played football and track when he
was in high school, and he was a big football fan, a big Broncos fan," his
widow recalled from Bells, a small town near the Oklahoma border and about 70
miles northeast of Dallas. "He's
always liked them since he was little."
Muldoon became the 15th Fort
Carson soldier to die this year in Iraq, and 168th soldier lost from the
Mountain Post since the 2003 Iraqi invasion, the Army said.
Muldoon was originally assigned to Fort
Wainwright, Alaska, and transferred to Fort Carson in May 2005. In November, Muldoon and his unit were
deployed to Iraq.
"He wanted to serve his country,"
his wife said.
Muldoon was assigned to Fort Carson's 1st
Battalion, 68th Combined Arms Regiment and 3rd Heavy Brigade Combat Team - 4th
Infantry Division, the Army said.
In addition to his wife, Muldoon is survived
by his daughter, Pyper, who will turn 2 on July 14. He also is survived by his
parents, Jimmy and Jullie Criger.
"He was a joker, constantly, and he was
a fun guy, and loved his family," his widow said.
Notes From A Deadly Fiasco:
The Pitiful Pretenses Of A Hated, Dying Occupation
Rashid,
49, survives largely with - and only with - the protection of U.S.
Marines. They hold down the Government
Center where he works and escort him to and from work. They fly him around Anbar on a
helicopter. Most of the senior members
of the government refuse to come to work or to show their faces in public.
July 11, 2006 By Dexter Filkins The New York
Times [Excerpts]
Mamoon Sami Rashid is the governor with 29
lives.
That is the number of assassination attempts
he has counted since joining the Anbar provincial government in January 2005.
Rashid, 49, survives largely
with - and only with - the protection of U.S. Marines.
They hold down the Government
Center where he works and escort him to and from work. They fly him around Anbar on a
helicopter. Most of the senior members
of the government refuse to come to work or to show their faces in public.
"It's been very, very difficult to get
people to come in here," said Colonel Frank Corte Jr. of the marines, a
reservist and Texas state legislator, and an adviser to Rashid.
"In May, we had a full
house - mayors, directors general, contractors - and then came the attack on
the governor and the beheading of his secretary. The message went out. Most of
them don't come in anymore."
Rashid's troubles go beyond Anbar. The Shiite-dominated government in Baghdad,
led by Nuri Kamal al-Maliki, has placed Rashid and Anbar so low on its list of
priorities that $75 million promised for 43 development projects has been hung
up for months. Rashid went to Baghdad recently to ask Maliki to send the
money. He is still waiting
A recent meeting of the
provincial government illuminated the depth of the challenges. Only 6 of 39 senior officials showed up - and
those largely because Rashid threatened to fire anyone who did not. When the meeting began, at the Government
Center, U.S. Marines far outnumbered the Iraqis in the room.
"I'm very glad to see your directors
general here today," said Corte, the U.S. adviser, referring to the six
Iraqi officials. "They are very brave men."
One of the first topics was the renovations
at several schools, which were being financed and supervised by marines. When
the marines reported that some work had stopped - on an elementary school in
Haditha, for instance - Rashid grew visibly distressed.
"Why aren't these schools
being rebuilt?" Rashid asked, looking at the Americans. "Somebody is threatening the contractors,"
a marine replied
Rashid shook his head. The
schools, he said, had to be ready when the new school year started in
September. "We need to put pressure
on the contractors," he said. "There
is a tremendous amount of fear and intimidation," the marine replied.
"We need to be able to say, 'Your family won't be killed, your workers
won't be killed.'"
Everyone resolved to better
protect the Iraqi contractors.
The next topic was even stickier.
The day before, about 10
billion Iraqi dinars, or $7 million, had disappeared from Al Rafidain Bank in
central Ramadi, next door to a U.S. command post.
Al Rafidain was the only
functioning bank in Anbar, and the $7 million represented most of the bank's
deposits. That amount of dinars would
have filled several large trunks, but no one admitted to seeing a thing.
As the meeting ended, a marine
warned of the dangers that loomed the moment anyone stepped outside.
"Sniper area - run!"
he shouted, and those leaving the meeting ran.
FUTILE
EXERCISE:
BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW!
U.S. Army soldiers climb into a
Paladin gun used to counter enemy mortar fire, in Ramadi June 24, 2006. In this capital of deadly Anbar province, the
conflict is nearly constant. Gunbattles in the streets are common and mortars
rain down on the bases every week. (AP
Photo/Jacob Silberberg)
THIS IS
HOW BUSH BRINGS THE TROOPS HOME:
BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW, ALIVE
The casket of Army Cpl. Jeremy Jones July 8,
2006, in Omaha, Neb. Jones, assigned to
the 1st Battalion, 67th Armored Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry
Division out of Fort Hood, Texas, was killed June 27 by an explosive in
Baghdad. (AP Photo/Dave Weaver)
AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS
Helicopter Trashed
July 11, 2006 By Times Online and agencies
In an overnight raid on a hide-out in
southern Afghanistan, the US military said today the US-led force destroyed a
weapons cache, although as they left the area a malfunctioning helicopter was
damaged "beyond repair" in an emergency landing and destroyed by a
coalition airstrike. No coalition or
Afghan forces were hurt.
The Occupation Government:
Heartless Thieves At Work
July 12, 2006 Paul McGeough, Chief Herald
Correspondent in Kabul [Excerpt]
In Qualala Pushta, one of Kabul's wealthier
suburbs, hundreds of girls are being schooled under canvas because housing
developers associated with Qayum Karzai, a brother of the President, had
commandeered the land on which their school was to be built, according to a
senior official in the Education Ministry.
Two others on a list of 20 schools urgently
needed to relieve appalling conditions for children and staff were on hold
because of the land-grabbing activities of associates of the Vice-President,
Abdul Karim Khalili, and Mohammad Yonus Qanooni, the Speaker of the National Assembly,
the official said.
When it was believed that the Manucheri
School at Qualala Pushta might be safeguarded from the march of new apartment
blocks on adjoining land, funds donated by the US-based United Methodist
Committee on Relief had been used for extensive renovations to a block of eight
classrooms. But denied the land on which to expand it now seemed that the
building might have to be abandoned.
The official said: "For now the students
are refugees, under canvas at a nearby school. We have objected, but these
developers have powerful backers in the Government."
More than $US4 million ($5.3 million) had
been allocated for the 20 schools, at which more than 60,000 children were
enrolled.
IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP
Resistance Attack In Al-Saidiah Destroys Police
Building;
At Least 15 Occupation Cops Dead
July 11 (KUNA)
A fighter in a car attacked on
Tuesday a building which belongs to Iraqi special police forces in Al-Saidiah
south of the capital.
Iraqi police source said the
attack caused heavy damages to the building and that rescue teams were still
trying to recover victims trapped underneath the rubble.
An Iraqi police source said
mortar shells targeting the police building caused havoc along with injuring
four of its soldiers minuets after the car exploded to level the building to
the ground.
It is still not clear how many
of the police special forces were killed, but first estimates suggest death
casualties to 15.
Assorted Resistance Action
07/11/06 Reuters & by Ammar Karim, AFP
& AP
In Iraq's northern Salaheddin
province a raging gunbattle between Iraqi troops and villagers left 10 soldiers
dead, a security source said.
A group of soldiers raided
Al-Salman village, 260 kilometers (160 miles) northwest of Baghdad early
Tuesday, but met stiff resistance from armed villagers, the source said, adding
that civilian casualties wee not known.
Clashes between Iraqi forces
and insurgents broke out near the northwestern city of Mosul. Brig. Khalaf al-Jubour said 10 policemen who
were part of an oil-protection force were killed in the fighting near Sharqat,
45 miles south of Mosul.
Police also said gunmen opened
fire on an Iraqi army convoy near Sharqat on Monday evening, killing nine
soldiers and wounding three.
Guerrillas captured an Iraqi consul who is
posted in Iran from his house in Baghdad on Tuesday, police and Interior
Ministry sources said.
Wissam Abdulla al-Awadi, Iraq’s consul
in the Iranian city of Kermanshah, was snatched in the predominantly Shiite
Ammil district in southwestern Baghdad by armed fighters in two cars. Abdulla al-Awadi was in Baghdad visiting his
family.
A parked car bomb followed by an attacker on
foot struck a restaurant frequented by police near the heavily guarded Green
Zone government compound, killing five people and wounding 10, as parliament
prepared to meet a few hundred yards away.
Militants killed an engineer with Iraq's
North Oil Co. and his driver in the early morning, police said.
A bomb planted under a fuel tanker exploded
between a market and a medical center in the southeastern Baghdad suburb of
Nahrawan, killing two people and wounding 18, Lt. Bilal Ali said. It sparked a
fire that was extinguished, Ali said.
Guerrillas in three cars attacked a Saudi
Arabian import/export company in the upscale Mansour neighborhood in western
Baghdad, killing five Iraqi employees before fleeing, Capt. Jamil Hussein said.
FORWARD OBSERVATIONS
BETWEEN THE OOH'S AND AHH'S
From: Dennis Serdel
To: GI Special
Sent: July 10, 2006
BETWEEN THE OOH'S AND AHH'S
By Dennis Serdel: VFP #50, VVAW, Vietnam
1967-68 (one tour) Purple Heart Americal Div. 11th Brigade, UAW GM retiree,
Perry, Michigan
The night was as black as
charlie's pajamas.
But flares were being sent up
into the Southern Cross
and tracer bullets were
crossing the sky
and twirling around like a
child's sparkler
on the 4th of July.
It was the 4th of July in
Vietnam 1968
and almost everybody was
celebrating,
smoking pot, drinking beer and
whiskey.
Every so often, there would be
a "mad minute"
where everybody flipped her on
automatic
and unloaded clips for a minute
or a little longer.
One bunker was going ape with
machine gun tracers,
"Who the hell is that
?"
asked one of our guys to his
buddies.
"It's Sarge," one
answered, "he's all messed up
on pot and whiskey."
Another answered in the dark,
"he's been just hooking
tracer rounds together
and just shooting tracer
rounds."
On the LZ that night, the
celebrating went on
until everybody was calling it
good,
except for Sarge with the
machinegun's
noise and tracer rounds.
Finally, someone said,
"Look, a couple of us
better go down there
and tell Sarge to quit.
Two walked down there
and after a while, Sarge
stopped.
A little girl was hugging her
daddy's leg
and looking up to the Starry
black sky.
Then a firework burst like a
star
and wiggly red travelled down
like an umbrella, then a blue
star burst
and a wiggly blue umbrella fell
and a white star boomed
with a big thumping boom
that shook the air
and all the children would go
"Ooh" and
"Aah."
Sarge stood in the crowd and
watched
as all the parents became
little children too
and began to "Ooh"
and "Aah"
and point with their fingers
while holding their little
ones.
Old Sarge wondered what day
charlie picked as their
Independence Day.
Then he realized he had been shooting
at God that 4th in Vietnam
under the Southern Cross
and feelings rose from the
heart of his chest
flowing up into the emotions in
his head,
his eye's watering up.
After all these years,
the war still bothered him
and he didn't know why.
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