Tag: iraq

The Marines known as "America's Battalion" were sent to Afghanistan last year as part of a contingent of 21,000 additional forces President Obama deployed in the administration's strategy to counter the Taliban insurgency. NPR followed the 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment over the months of their deployment. They have since returned home and are settling into post-combat life.

Mikey Weinstein of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation is demanding prompt removing of the Bible codes on rifle scopes used by the American armed forces...

RighteousJews.org by Daniel McGowan, Professor Emeritus, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Director, Deir Yassin Remembered "The website for RighteousJews.org was begun in 2003 as a way...

Toxic Chemicals CONUS As most are aware, seen on TV, in the newspapers, and from veteran sites across the country, TCE/PCE is a major issue. TCE...

REAL TERRORISTS ARE RARE AND USUALLY EASILY CAUGHT ALWAYS ASK: "WHO GAINS FROM THIS? By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor Every time there is a terrorist attack,...

FROM WAR CORRESPONDENTS TO EMBEDDED REPORTERS TO PAID PUNDITS TO RODEO CLOWNS WARTIME JOURNALISM ENTERS AN ABYSS By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor The best known and...

THE "SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP" REDEFINED AS CLEARLY ANTI-AMERICAN WHY ARE SOME "PATRIOTIC GROUPS" SOFT ON AMERICAN VALUES? By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor Are some of America's...

The megacontractor’s been making millions from mechanics who put in as little as 43 minutes a month. And as more GIs come home, the...

The small city of Canal Fulton, Ohio, rolled out the “red carpet” and flag waving crowds swelled along the streets in anticipation.  May 17,...

Anti-Semitism: Zionism’s indispensable alibi By  Maidhc Ó Cathail for VT Although Zionism typically represents itself as the solution to anti-Semitism, the truth is less flattering. In...

Nearly 3,000 Individuals Have Responded to the CalVet Survey To Help Prioritize Services to California’s Veterans Sacramento – Nearly 3,000 individuals have responded to the...

* From: A warrior poet - Los Angeles Times * Brian Turner's 'Here, Bullet' is a soldier's view, in verse, of the war in Iraq. Brian...

DR ALAN SABROSKY, FORMER DIRECTOR OF STUDIES AT THE US ARMY WAR COLLEGE "ISRAEL DID IT" By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor Meet Dr. Alan Sabrosky, a...

TIME FOR THOSE WHO KNOW BETTER TO AIR SOME REALITY By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor Jews in America are being played, some at least. ...

THE "SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP" IS DEAD LEARN SOME OF THE "WHY" BEING KEPT FROM YOU By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor Vice President Joe Biden, Secretary of State...

THE ABOMINATION OF "FAITH BASED " WARFARE By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor The "war on terror" has been like no other.  America has kidnapped and...

A not-so-trivial quiz By Maidhc O'Cathail for the Islam Times Maidhc Ó Cathail presents a detailed 20 question quiz with answers at the end. This quiz...

THE MYTH OF POOR BERNIE KERIK AND THE 9/11 COVER-UP By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor One of the strangest things seen in America in recent...

Report By Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses Task Force Nearly Complete. The lead item in George W. Reilly's "Veterans Journal" column for the Providence (RI) Journal (3/8) notes, "Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki announced on Feb. 27 that the department's Gulf War Veterans' Illnesses Task Force has nearly completed a comprehensive report that will redefine how VA addresses the needs of ill veterans who deployed during the Gulf War in 1990 and 1991." Reilly adds, "Task Force chairman John Gingrich, VA's chief of staff and a retired Army officer who served during the Gulf War, said, 'Reaching out to Gulf War veterans is not only essential to our transformation of VA, for many of us it is also personal.'"

The cancellation of Bill Moyers journal is another stake in the heart of American journalism. The Nation pays tribute to the journalist who "refuses to treat Americans as imbeciles." Justine Sharrock at Mother Jones takes aim and fires at the Oathkeepers, the militant wing of the Tea Party and Rachel Maddow publicly dismantles Lynn Cheney over commentary on the "values" of defense attorneys in her 'Al Qaeda 7' Attack Ad. Those stories and more in today's picks.

Iraqis have begun voting in their second full parliamentary elections since the 2003 US-led invasion against a backdrop of deadly attacks. Around 19 million voters will cast their ballots at 47,000 polling stations across the country Agence France Presse Iraqis have begun voting in their second full parliamentary elections since the 2003 US-led invasion against a backdrop of deadly attacks.

Irked by Hollywood's portrayals of the Iraq and Afghan conflicts -- don't get them started on 'The Hurt Locker' -- five veterans will offer their cinematic perspectives.

IS AMERICA THE VICTIM OF A WAR FROM WITHIN? By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor One day you read about a break-in at a Senator's office,...

Are international robber barons like Goldman Sachs ripping off the poorest and most desperate nations with the aid of the very institutions created to help them? William Pfaff examines at Truthdig. You remember KBR the former Halliburton subsidiary alleged to have overcharged, and defrauded the US government was accused of the electrocution of soldiers who thought they were turning on the shower, not the voltage? They've been awarded another giant contract in appreciation of their efforts; from Raw Story. Those and other stories in today's picks.

An official at the United States Embassy in Iraq has told federal prosecutors that he believes that State Department officials sought to block any serious investigation of the 2007 shooting episode in which Blackwater Worldwide security guards were accused of murdering 17 Iraqi civilians, according to court testimony made public on Tuesday.

"We polled many Whispers associates and sources, and they were quick to size up the top five Obama cabinet members." Fifth on the list, according to Bedard, "is Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, who has turned an agency that is at the bottom of lists in past administrations into an example of how to bring federal services to the troops, injured veterans, and even homeless vets. He's showing that the VA has a heart."

This summary briefing comes to us through the courtesy of Just Foreign Policy. Summary: U.S./Top News 1) Japan's Social Democratic Party, a junior partner in the ...

Now it's 10 months later and 2,500 soldiers are about to come home. At least 800 of them, likely more, don't have jobs. Many will face the grim necessity of losing their federal pay and needing to find work at a time when Oregon is afflicted with double-digit unemployment. Their incomes will fall off a cliff when they leave the federal pay system this spring.

Shinseki, Akaka Agree On Need To Reform VA Disability Claims System. In continuing coverage, the AP (3/2) reports Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki and US Sen. Daniel Akaka (D-HI) "have agreed that reforming the VA disability claims system must be a top priority." On Friday, Akaka "said...in a Washington news release that he's encouraged by the administration's commitment to add thousands of staff to process veterans' disability claims."

George Bush and Ahmad Chalabi Turn Iraq Over to Iran 5000 American Dead Betrayed By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor The word is finally out.  The American...

An angry U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) blasted contractor KBR today for its electrical work that has become infamous at U.S. military bases in...

Find out What's Inside Today's Local News for Veterans Shinseki To Attend Senate Budget Hearing Today. VA Preparing To Re-Examine Gulf War Vets' Disability...

SINCE the two recent NATO-led military strikes that accidentally killed dozens of Afghan civilians, I have been thinking a great deal about the psychic toll that killing takes on soldiers. In 2007, I was an Army lieutenant leading a group on a house-clearing mission in Baquba, Iraq, when I called in an artillery strike on a house. The strike destroyed the house and killed everyone inside. I thought we had struck enemy fighters, but I was wrong. A father, mother and their children had been huddled inside.

Dutch Prime Minister Balkenende said he expected Dutch troops to come home from Afghanistan before the end of the year, after efforts to keep them there longer caused the government to collapse, the New York Times reports. The war in Afghanistan has been increasingly unpopular among voters in in many parts of Europe, creating strains between governments trying to please the US and their own people.

In a political convention which, by most accounts, was heavily overstocked with nut cases, Glen Beck was apparently a standout at CPAC; Mike Madden at Salon has the story. Sunnis, Baathists and Baathists go Lightly, may boycott next month's Iraqi elections from Juan Cole at Informed Comment and John Yoo says that George Bush had the power and authority to eliminate entire villages if the mood struck him from Raw Story are among the stories in today's picks.

The bin Laden narrative aptly illustrates the extent to which our government institutions have used the big media and polluted the information environment. Rumor begets hearsay. Hearsay begets opinion. Opinion begets unconfirmed facts, unconfirmed facts beget disinformation begets propaganda begets intelligence, and intelligence begets nonexistent weapons of mass destruction.

Nearly 70% of the military weaponry sold on this war ridden planet is sold by its most warlike nation, that's right...us, A report on the pimping of the weapons of war from TomGram. We have the right but do we also have a duty to stand and criticize government when we know it to be commiting wrongful acts? Gary Kohls provides insight at Consortium News. Harry Shearer at Huffington Post tells us: "...the US Justice Department does not dispute that prisoners in American custody have been tortured. Case closed. Literally." These are a few of the stories in today's picks.

Shinseki: Workers Being Moved Back To New GI Bill Helpline.The AP (2/18, Hefling) reports, "Iraq and Afghanistan veterans with questions about the new Post-9/11 GI Bill will again be able to get help by phone five days a week starting Thursday." Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, who "made the announcement in an interview while traveling to a meeting with veterans" in West Virginia, "says that GI Bill helpline employees have been tapped since December to help process a backlog in education claims. With claims being processed more efficiently now, Shinseki says those workers are being moved back to the helpline."

    FROM THE PHONY "SURGE" IN IRAQ TO NON-EXISTENT PROJECTS     KILLING AROUND THE WORLD FOR FUN AND PROFIT By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor How do we tell...

HARLINGEN, Feb. 14 - Adriana Alvarez of San Benito was killed in action in Iraq this past week. She is the first female soldier from the Rio Grande Valley to suffer such a fate. Our heartfelt condolences go to the family.

NEARLY A DECADE LATER AND WE HAVE NOTHING WAS THE ENTIRE "WAR ON TERROR" A RUSE? By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor It is 2010 and we...

The act of killing is as fundamental to war as oxygen is to fire. Yet it is also the one thing many combat veterans avoid discussing when they return home, whether out of shame, guilt or a deep fear of being misunderstood. But a new study of Iraq war veterans by researchers in San Francisco suggests that more discussion of killing may help veterans cope with an array of mental health problems stemming from war.