GI Special:

thomasfbarton@earthlink.net

7.11.06

Print it out: color best.  Pass it on.

 

GI SPECIAL 4G11:

 

THIS IS HOW BUSH BRINGS THE TROOPS HOME:

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW, ALIVE

April 28, 2005 National Security Archive Electronic Briefing Book No. 152

 

 

“Opposing This War IS Defending This Country”

“All I Wanted To See Was The Town Of Baiji Leveled”

“I Now Understand, Very Well, How War Crimes Happen”

 

From: Andrew Sapp [Excerpts]

To: GI Special

Sent: July 08, 2006

 

I'd like to thank you for GI Special.  I found it last year while I was still serving in Iraq, and it helped keep me sane.

 

I shared stories with a number of my buddies, and they went a long way in helping them try to make some sense out the insanity that is Iraq.

 

I joined IVAW while I was still there, and have been active ever since.

 

Opposing this war IS defending this country.

 

I'm sending an article by a reporter who covered a talk I gave a couple of days ago, in case you're interested.

 

Thanks again, and keep up the fight!

 

"In the beginning of change...the patriot is a scarce man, who is brave, hated, and scorned.  When his cause succeeds, the timid join him; for then it costs nothing to be a patriot." ~Mark Twain

 

REPLY:

 

It's an honor to have been of service to you, and your buddies.  It's you who have earned the thanks, for your service, and for speaking out, and telling people the truth.

 

Sitting in a chair putting together a newsletter is nothing compared to serving in Iraq, and deciding to take action against a wrong done to those who have served, both the living and the dead.

 

T

 

*********************************************

 

“This Is What We Have Done”

“We Will Carry This Burden Until We Are Old”

 

July 07, 2006 Eagle-Tribune, North Andover, MA

 

ANDOVER:

 

Andrew Sapp made up his mind last year while he was outside the Iraqi town of Baiji.

 

A staff sergeant with the Massachusetts Army National Guard, he had long opposed the war in Iraq, but not publicly.

 

Standing in a guard tower on Aug. 9, 2005, Sapp saw a flash in the sky.

 

"A moment later the ground shook.  It really shook," Sapp, who lives in Billerica, told a group of about 75 summer session students at Phillips Academy last night.

 

Two roadside bombs had exploded nearby, Sapp said.  The second, meant for a tank, hit an American Humvee.  The gunner on the vehicle was thrown 50 feet but survived.  Four others, members of the Pennsylvania National Guard, died.

 

"They had to pick pieces of them out of trees," Sapp told the high school-age students.

 

The stress of the memory was enough to drive feelings of intense anger through his mind and send Sapp into counseling.

 

"All I wanted to see was the town of Baiji leveled," he told the group. "I now understand, very well, how war crimes happen."

 

Sapp's story hushed the students as he told them about an organization he has joined, Iraq Veterans Against the War which was started in Boston. 

 

The speech and ensuing discussion was part of the first of a weekly series at Phillips Academy held in honor of the activism of W.E.B. DuBois.  Also speaking were Charley Richardson and Nancy Lessin of Jamaica Plain, a married couple who helped to found Military Families Speak Out in 2002.

 

Military Families Speak Out, which Lessin said includes more than 3,000 families, is calling for a complete, immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Iraq Veterans Against the War has the same goal.

 

Marine Joe Richardson, son of Richardson and Lessin, was in Iraq for several months leading up to and including the March 2003 invasion of the country.

 

The students were attentive to the speeches, especially when Sapp, an English teacher at Concord High School, spoke. 

 

After the presentations, students questioned the speakers on whether their organizations were making progress and if they would support the Iraq invasion if there had been a quick withdrawal.

 

When asked by the speakers who has relatives or friends in Iraq, only two hands in the crowd were raised. One belonged to Jon Christman, 17, a summer session student from Atlanta. Christman asked the group to acknowledge some positive aspects of the war.

 

"In the very least, we've thrown out a dictator who gassed his own people," Christman said.  After the event, he said friends of his family are in Iraq.  He also said he was uncertain if some of the statistics quoted by the speakers were accurate.

 

The presentation, though, involved more than statistics.

 

Sapp said there was a very real consequence to both the roadside bomb that killed four American soldiers and the war as a whole.  He described his struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder.

 

"I'm sleeping better now," he said, adding that in his mind "I don't hear as many explosions as I used to."

 

"You will live with this too," he told the students. "This is what we have done.  We will carry this burden until we are old."

 

www.ivaw.net

 

 

 

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

 

 

Ramadi IED Destroys Cougar:

Three Soldiers Dead

 

July 8, 2006 Julian E. Barnes and Borzou Daragahi, LATimes Staff Writers

 

Three U.S. soldiers scouring the treacherous roads of western Iraq for remote-controlled explosive devices were killed by a massive roadside bomb that destroyed their heavily protected vehicle, U.S. military officials said.

 

The three soldiers were part of the U.S. Army 1st Armored Division's Task Force Dagger, which sweeps major roads in Ramadi for bombs under the command of the U.S. Marines.

 

They were riding in a heavily armored Cougar, a vehicle designed to withstand unexpected roadside bombs and used in mine sweeping operations.

 

The Pentagon last year ordered 122 of the mine-sweeping Cougars worth a total of $87 million from Force Protection, Inc., the Ladson, S.C. firm that makes the vehicle and its spare parts.

 

The Cougars "feature armor-plated V-shaped bottoms designed to deflect the upward explosive power of roadside bombs," said the company's website.

 

But since the 1st Armored Division units moved into the area, some Marines say they believe insurgents have been placing larger roadside bombs to take out the Germany-based unit's fleet of armored tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles.

 

Detroit Lakes Area Soldier Killed

 

07/09/06 AP

 

A Detroit Lakes area soldier was killed in Iraq when a roadside bomb went off near the Humvee he was driving, relatives said Sunday.

 

Army Spec. Troy Carlin Linden, 22, of Rochert, was killed in Anbar province on Saturday, his siblings said.  He had been home on leave just six months earlier, when his family threw him a surprise welcome home party.

 

The family's farm home east of Detroit Lakes was decorated with flags and ribbons on Sunday as relatives and friends gathered together.  "When we see a flag, we think of Troy," said his brother, Ryan Linden.

 

Troy Linden was a 2002 graduate of Detroit Lakes High School. He enlisted in the Army in Billings, Mont., where he had moved after graduating, but his siblings described him as a Minnesotan through and through. They said he was a humble all-American who was proud to serve his country.

 

"I noticed a real change in my brother from the time he went to basic training and then overseas," Ryan Linden said. "For the first time I didn't see him as my little brother, I saw him as a man."

 

He said his brother, in his phone calls from Iraq, would try to ease their mother's mind by telling her he drove the last truck in the convoy, even when he didn't.

 

"It was hard to hear his voice over there because we could tell how sad he was because he wanted to be home, but we reassured him that we loved him and how proud we were of him," his brother said. 

 

His sister, Sarah Nelson, also expressed pride.  "I was proud of him the day he joined the service, and I was proud of him every step he took," she said.

 

Troy Linden's dog, Rusty, has been staying with the relatives.

 

"He was looking forward to having a dog and coming home and teaching him how to swim, play, taking him Jeeping with him and stuff," his sister said.

 

Funeral arrangements were pending, but his family said he will be buried in Detroit Lakes, tentatively late next week.

 

"He'll never be gone, he'll always be a part of us. He'll be with us forever," Nelson said.

 

Forty-one people with Minnesota ties have died in connection with the war in Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

REALLY BAD IDEA:

NO MISSION;

HOPELESS WAR:

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW

U.S. Marine Cpl. Brad Bruce, center, of LaPorte, Ind., Cpl. Tyler Warndorf, right, of Hebron, Ky., and a translator, study a map before a patrol, in Ramadi June 25, 2006. (AP Photo/Jacob Silberberg)

 

Three U.S. Troops Wounded In Qadamiya

 

10 July 2006 By Patrick Cockburn, The Independent UK

 

Iraqi troops, backed by US forces, attacked the Shia stronghold of Qadamiya, killing nine people, wounding 30 and arresting seven.

 

Three Americans and one Iraqi government soldier were wounded.

 

Bomb Strikes Convoy In Ramadi;

Four Wounded

 

July 10, 2006 Associated Press

 

The explosion occurred near the convoy as it was headed to the government center in the insurgent-ridden city, 70 miles west of Baghdad.  Four coalition forces were wounded, the military said in a statement.

 

 

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

 

 

Canadian Killed, Two More Wounded In Zharew

 

7.10.06 Boston Globe

 

In Kandahar province, fighting killed at least 15 militants and one Canadian.  Two other Canadian soldiers were wounded in the province's Zharew district, the scene of some of the fiercest fighting in an anti-Taliban offensive being waged across the south.

 

Most of the fighting occurred in fields and orchards where small bands of Taliban fighters took cover.

 

Three Foreign Occupation Troops Wounded In Uruzgan:

Nationality Not Announced

 

July 10, 2006 AEST

 

US and Afghan government forces attacked an insurgent stronghold in the southern province of Uruzgan,

 

One member of the Afghan security forces was killed and three members of the US-led coalition force were wounded in the attack on the compound, 10 kilometres north of the provincial capital, Tirin Kot, it said.

 

Apaches And Land Rovers Versus A Guy With A Detonator;

“They Fight Us Like They Fought The Russians:

Hit And Run”

 

 

[Thanks to JM, who sent this in.]

 

July 10, 2006 Declan Walsh in Camp Bastion, The Guardian, [Excerpts]

 

The British Apache attack helicopters have blunted numerous Taliban offensives and become a key battlefield weapon, according to commanders who are quickly forgetting earlier controversies over the £38m-per-plane cost and training delays.

 

And although the insurgents are little match for the Apaches - just one bullet has hit an Apache, passing harmlessly through the helicopter's rump - they find ways to dodge the helicopters.

 

"They fight us like they fought the Russians: hit and run," said J.

 

That association could signal another looming problem.

 

The use of extreme force has already dented efforts to win hearts and minds among Afghan villagers, many of whom are convinced the British have come to avenge the last colonial defeat in 1880.

 

Officers admit they are worried that the screaming warplanes and bloody battles could rouse memories of the Soviet occupation in the 1980s, which prompted thousands of southern villagers to take up arms. 

 

"There's a lot of suspicion," said Maj Williams. "There's a danger people will see us as the new Soviets. We're always looking for a softer image."

 

Whether military action combined with "hearts and minds" will succeed remains an open question. "The Taliban can afford to wait," said one western security official in southern Afghanistan. "They don't need a £38m aircraft to kill their enemies - just a few old weapons," he said.

 

"And it doesn't matter how many Apaches or armoured Land Rovers you have. That still won't stop a guy with a fuse and a detonator planting a bomb on the side of the road."

 

“Former Colonel Of 1st Battalion Accused The Government Of Lacking A Strategy For Afghanistan”

 

[Thanks to JM, who sent this in.]

 

July 10, 2006 Richard Norton-Taylor and Jeevan Vasagar, The Guardian [Excerpt]

 

Infantry from the Royal Irish Regiment will go to Afghanistan to reinforce severely stretched British forces battling Taliban militants, the defence secretary Des Browne is expected to announce today.

 

Tim Collins, former colonel of 1st Battalion, Royal Irish Regiment, yesterday accused the government of lacking a strategy for Afghanistan.

 

He told BBC TV's Sunday AM:  "We have a British government that has no idea of what it wants to do.  It's invited the Army to go to Iraq, to Afghanistan, and do stuff.  It would be a bit like giving your keys to builders and say go and do some stuff in my house."

 

 

TROOP NEWS

 

 

HELP!

THE FORT LEE PEACE GROUP IS BEING PRESSURED BY LOCAL POLICE

 

To: Veterans For Peace [VetPax]

Sent: July 09, 2006

Subject: HELP! THE FORT LEE PEACE GROUP IS BEING PRESSURED BY LOCAL POLICE/ A cry for help!

 

VFP, IVAW & VVAW members

 

If you can make it to this vigil to show support, I'm sure they would appreciate having veterans back them up.

 

Please pass this message on.

 

Ken Dalton

Veterans For Peace Chapter 21

 

From: Stephen Palmino

Sent: Sun, 9 Jul 2006

Subject: FW: HELP! THE FORT LEE PEACE GROUP IS BEING PRESSURED BY

LOCAL POLICE/ A cry for help!

 

Friends,

 

Please pass this word far and wide. We can not ignore the request for support. Try your best to be there next Thursday, please, even if it is just one day.

 

I will be there.  If one of us is pressured, we are all pressured.

 

Steve

 

*********************************************************

 

7/7/2006 Arya Jenkins

 

Hi Everyone:

 

On at least two occasions, on the 4th when a few of us paraded quietly and peacefully through a multitude of watchers who came to see fireworks in Fort Lee, and today, when the Fort Lee Peace Group had its standard vigil from 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm on the corner of Lemoine Avenue and Bruce Reynolds Blvd in Fort Lee, we had unpleasant and challenging interactions with police.

 

We need support from other vigilers because it appears as if we are being pressured to "go away."

 

Please join us and vigil with us for peace and for the right to be here.

 

On the first occasion, the 4th, I was pulled aside by two plainclothed detectives while stepping peacefully through a crowd carrying two signs for peace.  Officers Young and Tilton asked me for my age, name and ID.

 

I didn't have ID and they proceeded to ask me, "Then, how do we know you are who you say you are? You're not allowed to do what you're doing."

 

I told them I had informed Fort Lee police the previous day of our intentions to be present and vigil in a peaceful and unintrusive way during the fireworks.  I told them we had received an okay and were told that we just can't interfere with pedestrian traffic.

 

Furthermore, as I mentioned to the officers, a supervising officer at the end of the street on the occasion of the 4th, had told us it was okay to be standing at our corner with signs and to walk through the town, as long as we "don't interfere with pedestrian traffic."

 

Finally, I had to mention to the officers that I was with the media and name a couple of friends that they also know, to cool them down a little.

 

They definitely looked like they would have arrested me if I'd scratched my nose.

 

Finally, after a few minutes of repeating myself, I ended up by asking their names, shaking their hands and going on my merry way.

 

As I was leaving they warned me, "Remember if you interfere with traffic, you'll get arrested."

 

A side note --- On the fourth a policeman gruffly called out to me to explain what the PAZ meant on one of my signs. I had to explain that it means PEACE in Spanish. Perhaps words with a Z are too similar to anti-American words and symbols????

 

Yesterday, Thursday, I was not at the vigil as I had a religious holiday commitment, but I was informed by two members of the Fort Lee Peace Group that a police car came by and two officers claimed that passersby were complaining about vigilers shouting back.