GI Special:

thomasfbarton@earthlink.net

1.10.06

Print it out: color best.  Pass it on.

 

GI SPECIAL 4A3:

 

 

mumia2000.org

 

 

Prisoners Against The War: 3

 

In the week leading up to the Martin Luther King, Jr. national holiday, GI Special will lead with statements written by members of Prisoners Against The War.

 

Organized by Stanley Howard and five other imprisoned members of the Military Project at Illinois’ Statesville Prison, Prisoners Against The War breaks new ground.

 

There has been no organization like this in recent American history.  That may be an understatement, since no record of a similar organization has been found at any point in American history.

 

Prisoners Against The War hopes to inspire other prisoners, both in civilian and military prisons, to organize their own chapters, and spread the movement nation-wide. 

 

They report many prisoners have relatives serving in the armed forces.  Other prisoners are Vietnam Veterans.  To the extent allowed by prison regulations, they circulate GI Special and Traveling Soldier.  They will see these issues of GI Special, and provide support to family members on the outside resisting the war.

 

A variety of social critics have argued that the prisons and armed forces of a given society express most nakedly the underlying class nature of the society.

 

An organization bringing together civilian and military prisoners can open a new window on that reality, not least by destroying the myth spread by politicians and other servants of the rich and homicidal that prisoners are mere things without humanity or redeeming social value. 

 

For how to contact Prisoners Against The War, see information below.  T

 

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

 

“Who’s The Real Terrorist?”

 

 

Corey Moore, Prisoners Against The War

K75523

P.O. Box 112

Joliet, IL 60434

 

President George W. Bush doesn’t care about America!

 

He cares even less about Black and poor people!

 

He’s never been poor so he cannot relate to us nor does he care to.

 

And as evidence of how deep this attitude runs in the Bush blood, his mother, Barbara Bush recently made very insulting comments about the Hurricane Katrina victims that were evacuated to the Astro Dome.  She said that these people were underprivileged anyway so this is working out fine for them.

 

This is the attitude of the woman that raised this man. 

 

Are we suppose to trust the judgment of someone who thinks this way about any group of people, let alone the fact that the people she was referring to are Americans?  Her own people?  People who had just suffered a devastating tragedy and hadn’t done anything wrong?

 

Now, you’re probably thinking that I shouldn’t judge him for what his mommy says but I’m going somewhere with this.

 

President Bush was asked how he felt about the comment his mommy made, and instead of asking her to apologize for it or at the very least apologize for it himself, he made an excuse for her.  So in his very weak mind she was justified.  This is not the behavior of a true leader of a country as great as our.  This is the man we’re suppose to trust?!

 

This war is wrong for many reasons but the main issue for me is one of trust.

 

Our President is a liar.

 

It’ll probably be 20 years or more before we find out “officially” what this war was really about.

 

It was suppose to be a war on terrorism and a hunt for Bin Laden, yet we’ve spent most of our time in Iraq chasing Saddam and the oil of the Iraqi people.

 

You hardly ever hear Bin Laden’s name anymore, and that’s not to say I‘m completely convinced that Bin Laden was really behind everything this administration originally said.

 

But I guess what’s really important is that we captured Saddam and got rid of all those “weapons of mass destruction” he had.

 

My mistake, we never found any, and I must be having trouble separating the lies from the truth.

 

I’m sorry.

 

It is my belief that the Bush administration played on the fear and anger of the American people in order to do what was best for his family and their rich friends.

 

And only because of that we have men and women over there losing their lives, and not to mention the many innocent Arab/Muslim people that have also suffered tremendous loss and devastation because of this administration.

 

Who’s the real terrorist?

 

Respectfully

Corey Moore

 

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

 

Contacting Prisoners Against The War:

 

Prisoners who wish to communicate with Prisoners Against The War may write to:

Prisoners Against The War or PAW or Martin Smith, at:

PO Box 121

Champaign, IL 61824

 

NOTE WELL:  ILLINOIS PRISON REGULATIONS FORBID INMATES FROM RECEIVING ANY MAIL FROM ANY OTHER PRISONERS ANYWHERE. 

 

Martin Smith is not allowed to forward your letter to the prison.  He is allowed to summarize the contents in his own letters. 

 

If your prison also has rules forbidding mail from another prisoner to be sent to you, the reply will also be summarized by Martin Smith, and sent to you. 

 

Persons not in prison at this time may write directly to Prisoners Against The War.  NOTE WELL:  Nothing whatever may be enclosed in your mail other than your written or typed letter:  no money or other objects may be sent.

 

Letters to:

Stanley Howard

Reg. # N-71620

PO Box 112

Joliet, Illinois 60434

 

[Thanks to Ron R for sending in.]

 

 

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

 

 

Soldier Who Died In Iraq Sought Change:

Evansville Man Quit Pizza Job For Army

 

January 3, 2006 Associated Press

 

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — An Indiana soldier killed in Iraq joined the Army because he wanted to take his life in a new direction, his mother said.

 

Pvt. Jonathan R. Pfender, who was based at Fort Campbell, Ky., had thought about joining the military since seventh grade, said his mother, Peggy Jo Hammond.

 

Last spring, he quit his job at Pizza Hut and joined the Army. Pfender, 22, believed he had gotten "lazy" and wanted to do more with his life, Hammond said Sunday.

 

"I asked him about the National Guard or Reserves, and he said, 'I'm going all out,'" she said.  "'I'm going in the Army.  I want to go to Iraq.'"

 

Pfender, of Evansville, was killed by an improvised explosive device during a patrol Friday in Bayji, Iraq, the Army said. Pfender was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division. He was the 52nd military service member from Indiana to die in the war.

 

Alaskans Killed In Iraq Helicopter Crash

Wreckage of a U.S. Black Hawk helicopter lies on the ground near a U.S. armoured vehicle after it crashed in Tal Afar January 9, 2006.  REUTERS/Namir Noor-Eldeen

 

January 9, 2006 (AP) & KTUU

 

The helicopter that crashed Saturday near the Iraqi town of Tal Afar, killing all 12 people on board, was an Alaska Army National Guard helicopter, according to Gov. Frank Murkowski’s office.

 

Four crewmembers of 1st Battalion, 207th Aviation Regiment, Alaska Army National Guard, stationed at Fort Richardson, are among the dead. 

 

North Towanda Soldier Injured:

“He Volunteers For Missions So Younger Guys With Little Kids Can Stay Back”

 

01/08/2006 By Aaron Cahall, Daily and Sunday Review

 

A North Towanda man was injured in a roadside attack in Iraq New Year's Day, his family said.

 

Pennsylvania Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Kenneth Welch, 46, of North Towanda sustained injuries including several lost teeth, bruises, and a possible concussion when a vehicle he was riding in during a mission was involved in a roadside shooting and bombing Sunday, Jan. 1, according to his wife, Tammy Welch, and brother William Welch.

 

Welch was deployed in November with the Pennsylvania Army National Guard's HHC 1-110th Infantry company, based in Wellsboro, according to Tammy Welch. She said he is scheduled for leave time in March, and to return home this summer.

 

Tammy Welch said she spoke to her husband via Web cam on Jan. 1 after the attack, and said her husband's injuries would not remove him from duty. 

 

The couple have a son, Ken Jr., 18.

 

Welch has served in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard for about 15 years, according to his wife, and recently re-enlisted for another six years. Previously, she said, he served in the Marines for several years following high school, and has been employed with Osram Sylvania in North Towanda for 28 years.

 

Tammy Welch said her husband has been volunteering to take missions for younger soldiers, including some with other service branches.  He was on a mission when the attack occurred, she said.

 

"He's been doing a lot of maneuvers with the Navy and Marine guys," she said. "He volunteers for missions so younger guys with little kids can stay back.  He's one of the older guys, but he enjoys it."

 

Militants Launch Sixth Attack On British Occupation Troops In Basra

 

Jan 8 (KUNA)

 

Unknown militants launched missiles early on Sunday on a British military post in Basra, southern Iraq.

 

A spokesman for the British forces told reporters that the militants fired the missiles at the Shatt Al-Arab Hotel, which was being used by British and Multi-National Forces as a base, but that no loss of life was sustained.

 

This is the sixth attack against military bases in Basra during the past few days.

 

“It’s The Safest Neighborhood In All Of Mosul” Sgt. Says:

“The Neighborhood Is A Suspected Home To Insurgents”

 

January 09, 2006 By Margaret Friedenauer, MOSUL, Iraq (AP)

 

Al Ahmil is in a poor section of Mosul with lots of mud, trash and animals in the streets. But Sgt. 1st Class Michael Steffey said it’s also quiet.

 

“It’s the safest neighborhood in all of Mosul.  I’d take my kids down there. In fact, I do take my kids down there everyday,” he said motioning to the soldiers of his platoon lingering around their Stryker vehicle.

 

Part of the reason for the safety might be because, ironically, the neighborhood is a suspected home to insurgents, Steffey said.

 

“They’re not going to do anything in their backyard,” Steffey said.

 

Steffey asked one man if he was ready for the U.S. troops to leave and if the man thinks civil war will break out when they do.

 

The man said, yes, he wants the U.S. to leave but he doesn’t think the insurgency will take over or civil war will break out.  He said he thinks the country is moving toward a greater acceptance and peace between the different clashing ethnic groups.

 

“Good,” Steffey said. “If more people think like him, I’ll go home soon.”

 

Notes From A Lost War:

Morale?  What Morale?

“They Think Its Mission In Iraq Is Unrealistic”

 

 

JANUARY 8, 2006 By Thanassis Cambanis The Boston Globe

 

KIRKUK, Iraq Captain John McLaughlin's company of U.S. combat veterans has returned to Iraq.  

 

His paratroopers have brought far fewer illusions this time around, exchanging unalloyed enthusiasm for the war in Iraq in the spring of 2003 for a mix of professionalism, resignation and cynicism.

 

 

Most profess no love for Iraq or its people.

 

The surrounding city is still a deadly place - less lethal than Falluja, but more so than the Shiite south.

 

On this tour, 26 soldiers from the 101st had been killed by mid-December.

 

After the 2003 invasion, U.S. troops had clear marching orders: Catch Saddam and his lieutenants and stabilize Iraq. During the first few months, criminal gangs posed the greatest law-and-order challenge, not insurgents.

 

Some returning soldiers said that while they once believed they could quickly train the Iraqi police to replace U.S. troops, they have now set their sights much lower, hoping perhaps to set a decent example for police officers and soldiers they train but do not entirely trust.

 

"Regardless of whether this is the great march of democracy or protecting the shores of America, whether I bought into that or not, it doesn't matter," McLaughlin said.  "My obligation as a soldier, as an officer, as a leader is to do the mission to the best of my ability.  That's the only saving grace out of the whole thing."  [And if that’s the best the Captain can do, you know what the enlisted troops are thinking about the whole miserable goat fuck.]

 

During a four-day visit to the base, soldiers and their commanders said they see the Iraq mission as less ambitious, less achievable and more stressful than they did almost three years ago.

 

The soldiers still work at battle rhythm, always on call and with no days off.  And while still dangerous, their daily routine involves patrolling between the Kirkuk police stations and army bases, investigating assassinations and bomb attacks against Iraqis and, often, investigating the very Iraqi security forces they are trying to train.

 

Everywhere he looks, McLaughlin sees ambiguity.  As he and his troops see it, most Iraqis do not like the Americans and tolerate their presence only when U.S. interests coincide with their own.  [Which, for the resistance, is never.]

 

The top priority is no longer to kill insurgents and search neighborhoods. Now, U.S. troops are supposed to pour their energy into training Iraqi forces to do that job.

 

In a war without any benchmarks coming up, First Sergeant Jason Larson said, commanders have to constantly refine their message to soldiers, billing small turning points like the improvement of an Iraqi battalion as major victories. "For us, the challenge will be to keep everyone focused," Larson said.

 

THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NO COMPREHENSIBLE REASON TO BE IN THIS EXTREMELY HIGH RISK LOCATION AT THIS TIME, EXCEPT THAT A CROOKED POLITICIAN WHO LIVES IN THE WHITE HOUSE WANTS YOU THERE, SO HE WILL LOOK GOOD.

That is not a good enough reason.

U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Kevin Van Arsdale, left, of Brick, New Jersey and Cpl. Richard Guadalupe of Union City, New Jersey, at the back of their Amphibious Assault Vehicle in Saadah, Iraq, eight miles from Syria, Thursday, Dec. 1, 2005.  (AP Photo/Jacob Silberberg)

 

 

TROOP NEWS

 

 

Letter From Camp Arifian Says:

“We Are Witnessing The Beginning Of The End Of The Bush Administration”

 

[Thanks to D, who sent this in.]

 

Letters To The Editor

January 8, 2006

Stars and Stripes

 

From:

Gabriel Rodriguez

Camp Arifjan, Kuwait

 

If the release of “The Constitution in Crisis: The Downing Street Minutes and Deception, Manipulation, Torture, Retribution, and Coverups in the Iraq War” by Congressman John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., does not seem dangerously similar to the release of the “Pentagon Papers” by whistle-blower Daniel Ellsberg in 1971, which contributed to the ending of the Vietnam War and the eventual downfall of President Nixon, I don’t know what else can be so close to the truth finally coming out.

 

We are witnessing the beginning of the end of the Bush administration.

 

The latest news of the president authorizing the spying on Americans not only being limited to people with known links to al-Qaida, and in recent weeks more and more members of his own party standing up against him on key Republican issues and demanding hearings into the potentially illegal surveillance program make it hard to believe that this president will finish his term in office.

 

If we can impeach a president (Bill Clinton) over a personal relationship that he lied about, compare that to what President Bush has admitted to doing to the American people.

 

The world is watching!

 

Let’s not forget the ongoing investigation into the CIA leak of a covert agent.  The investigations of Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay don’t help the Republicans’ hold of power, either, with the 2006 midterm elections right around the corner.

 

“The Constitution In Crisis” packs a huge punch toward the Bush administration and their ideological reasons for war in Iraq.

 

Read it and draw your own conclusions.

 

HOW MANY MORE FOR BUSH’S WAR?

Members of 3rd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment leave on a seven-month deployment to al-Anbar province at Camp Pendleton, California.  (AFP/Getty Images/David McNew)

 

A Fate Better Than Death:

Spread The Word;

Army Will “Expel” IRR Troops Who Refuse Iraq Duty

 

[Thanks to PB, JM and D, who sent this in.]

 

1/9/2006 By ROBERT BURNS, The Associated Press

 

The Army took initial steps Monday to expel dozens of reservists who failed to report for active duty, in effect warning hundreds of others that they too could be penalized if they don't heed orders to return to active service.

 

The proceedings mark a turning point in the Army's struggle to deploy thousands of soldiers from the Individual Ready Reserve, a rarely mobilized group of reservists, to war zones in which some have resisted serving.

 

These are soldiers who had previously served on active duty but not completed their eight-year service obligation.

 

Many have requested a delay in returning to service, have asked to be exempted or have ignored their orders.

 

So far, mobilization orders have been issued for more than 5,700 IRR soldiers since mid-2004.

 

The Army announced that about 80 soldiers will face review panels, known as separation boards, although the number may grow.  If the panels conclude they intentionally did not obey a mobilization order, they would face one of three levels of discharge from the service: honorable, general or other-than-honorable.

 

They do not face criminal charges.

 

As of Dec. 11, the latest date for which the Army had figures, 3,954 IRR soldiers had reported for duty.  In addition, more than 1,600 had been excused from duty and 463 had been sent orders but not yet reported.

 

Of those 463, the Army has been unable to locate 383.  The other 80 are the ones who now face discharge.

 

 

In its announcement Monday, the Army said that in addition to those who have openly refused to report for duty, those who do not respond to repeated communications from the Army may face discharge proceedings.

 

Last November the Army started a new policy that ended the practice of involuntary callups of officers in the IRR.

 

The policy change affects 15,000 officers who completed their eight-year military service obligation but chose to stay in the IRR.  These officers can now avoid being forced to serve on active duty, but only if they resign their commission. Previously, an officer could not resign once ordered to active duty.

 

In recent years, most in the IRR had come to assume they would never be called up.  But the strains of simultaneous conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have forced the Army to mobilize IRR to fill certain vacancies.

 

Cindy Sheehan Says Take It To The Streets

 

January 8, 2006 DON THOMPSON, Associated Press Writer

 

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Activist Cindy Sheehan told supporters at a peace forum Saturday that troops would get out of Iraq if millions of U.S. citizens took the simple step that she did outside President Bush's vacation home last summer.

 

"These people, they're not going to change unless they see us out in the streets," she said at the forum that organizers said was among dozens of town hall-style events held across the nation.

 

Join The Los Angeles Veterans For Peace Anti-War Contingent In The Kingdom Day Parade

 

When: 11 AM, Monday, January 16th, 2006

 

Where: Western Ave & Martin Luther King Blvd.

 

VFP-LA has purchased a place in the parade and will be marching with 10 (or more) mock flag draped coffins. We want the largest possible anti-war contingent so we are asking you to join us. Wear an anti-war T-shirt, bring your signs or help carry a coffin.

 

A very important part of Dr. King’s legacy was his very vocal opposition to the Vietnam War. Today the war is in Iraq but the issues remain the same.  Dr. King had a dream of peace on Earth.  Help us make that dream a reality. Spread the word! Join us!

 

Please circulate this email and print and circulate the this flyer

 

For more info call: (323)934-3451 or (323) 219-6507

LOS ANGELES

 

 

 

Two Military Analysts Found Clinically Insane

 

1.9.06 Gordon Cucullu and Paul Vallely, Washington Times

 

Two military analysts and contributing authors to the newly released "War Footing" write that, to emerge victorious in Iraq, "America can't yank the rug out, as we did to our Vietnamese allies, but must implement a deliberate, calculated force adjustment of the kind that marked our successful disengagement from other historic battlefields.

 

“This is the recipe for victory, and the approach now ongoing in Afghanistan demonstrates and reinforces its validity."  [Either insane, or stupid liars.  Surely by now even assholes like these two must know the death rate for U.S. troops in Afghanistan is higher than it is in Iraq.  Wow, that really demonstrates some “validity,” doesn’t it?]

 

Hugh Thompson:

A Hero Remembered:

“He Went Back To Colburn And Andreotta And Told Them If The Americans Fired, To Shoot Them”

 

[Thanks to NB and Anna Bradley, who sent this in.]

 

1.8.05 Truthout [Excerpt]

 

Editor's Note: This past week, former Army Helicopter Pilot Hugh Thompson died at the age of 62. 

 

Thompson's heroic decision to intervene during the course of the US massacre at My Lai made him an important figure in American history.  ma/TO

 

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

 

 

20 August 2001 By Nell Boyce, The Associated Press

 

Skimming over the Vietnamese village of My Lai in a helicopter with a bubble-shaped windshield, 24-year-old Hugh Thompson had a superb view of the ground below. But what the Army pilot saw didn't make any sense: piles of Vietnamese bodies and dead water buffalo.

 

He and his two younger crew mates, Lawrence Colburn and Glenn Andreotta, were flying low over the hamlet on March 16, 1968, trying to draw fire so that two gunships flying above could locate and destroy the enemy.  On this morning, no one was shooting at them.  And yet they saw bodies everywhere, and the wounded civilians they had earlier marked for medical aid were now all dead.

 

As the helicopter hovered a few feet over a paddy field, the team watched a group of Americans approach a wounded young woman lying on the ground.  A captain nudged her with his foot, then shot her.  The men in the helicopter recoiled in horror, shouting, "You son of a bitch!"

 

Thompson couldn't believe it.  His suspicions and fear began to grow as they flew over the eastern side of the village and saw dozens of bodies piled in an irrigation ditch. Soldiers were standing nearby, taking a cigarette break.  Thompson racked his brains for an explanation.  Maybe the civilians had fled to the ditch for cover?  Maybe they'd been accidentally killed and the soldiers had made a mass grave?  The Army warrant officer just couldn't wrap his mind around the truth of My Lai.

 

Before My Lai, Americans always saw their boys in uniform as heroes.  Their troops had brought war criminals, the Nazis, to justice.  So when the massacre of some 500 unarmed Vietnamese civilians by U.S. soldiers became public a year and a half later, it shook the country to its core.  Many Americans found it so unbelievable they perversely hailed Lt. William Calley, the officer who ordered his men to shoot civilians, as an unjustly accused hero.

 

But My Lai did produce true heroes, says William Eckhardt, who served as chief prosecutor for the My Lai courts-martial. "When you have evil, sometimes, in the midst of it, you will have incredible, selfless good.  And that's Hugh Thompson."

 

On that historic morning, Thompson set his helicopter down near the irrigation ditch full of bodies.  He asked a sergeant if the soldiers could help the civilians, some of whom were still moving.  The sergeant suggested putting them out of their misery.  Stunned, Thompson turned to Lieutenant Calley, who told him to mind his own business. Thompson reluctantly got back in his helicopter and began to lift off.  Just then Andreotta yelled, "My God, they're firing into the ditch!"

 

Thompson finally faced the truth.  He and his crew flew around for a few minutes, outraged, wondering what to do.  Then they saw several elderly adults and children running for a shelter, chased by Americans.

 

"We thought they had about 30 seconds before they'd die," recalls Colburn. 

 

Thompson landed his chopper between the troops and the shelter, then jumped out and confronted the lieutenant in charge of the chase.  He asked for assistance in escorting the civilians out of the bunker; the lieutenant said he'd get them out with a hand grenade.

 

Furious, Thompson announced he was taking the civilians out.

 

He went back to Colburn and Andreotta and told them if the Americans fired, to shoot them.  "Glenn and I were staring at each other, dumbfounded," says Colburn.  He says he never pointed his gun at an American soldier, but he might have fired if they had first. The ground soldiers waited and watched.

 

Thompson coaxed the Vietnamese out of the shelter with hand gestures.  They followed, wary.  Thompson looked at his three-man helicopter and realized he had nowhere to put them. "There was no thinking about it," he says now.  "It was just something that had to be done, and it had to be done fast."  He got on the radio and begged the gunships to land and fly the four adults and five children to safety, which they did within minutes.

 

Before returning to base, the helicopter crew saw something moving in the irrigation ditch: a child, about 4 years old. Andreotta waded through bloody cadavers to pull him out.  Thompson, who had a son, was overcome by emotion. He immediately flew the child to a nearby hospital.

 

Thompson wasted no time telling his superiors what had happened.  "They said I was screaming quite loud.  I was mad.  I threatened never to fly again," Thompson remembers.  "I didn't want to be a part of that.  It wasn't war."  An investigation followed, but it was cursory at best.

 

A month later, Andreotta died in combat.

 

Thompson was shot down and returned home to teach helicopter piloting.

 

Colburn served his tour of duty and left the military.

 

The two figured those involved in the killing had been court-martialed.  In fact, nothing had happened.  But rumors of the massacre persisted.  One soldier who heard of the atrocities, Ron Ridenhour, vowed to make them public.  In the spring of 1969, he sent letters to government officials, which led to a real investigation and sickening revelations: murdered babies and old men, raped and mutilated women, in a village where U.S. soldiers mistakenly expected to find lots of Viet Cong.

 

Gradually the furor died down.  Colburn and Thompson lived in relative anonymity until a 1989 television documentary on My Lai reclaimed them as forgotten heroes.

 

David Egan, a Clemson University professor who had served in a French village where Nazis killed scores of innocents in World War II, was amazed by the story. He campaigned to have Thompson and his team awarded the coveted Soldier's Medal.

 

It wasn't until March 6, 1998, after internal debate among Pentagon officials (who feared an award would reopen old wounds) and outside pressure from reporters, that Thompson and Colburn finally received medals in a ceremony at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

 

But both say a far more gratifying reward was a trip back to My Lai this March to dedicate a school and a "peace park."  It was then they finally met a young man named Do Hoa, who they believe was the boy they rescued from that death-filled ditch.

 

"Being reunited with the boy was just...I can't even describe it," says Colburn. And Thompson, also overwhelmed, doesn't even try.

 

Piece Of Shit Who Attacked Gay Soldier Goes Unprosecuted By Pieces Of Shit In Command

 

January 09, 2006 By Kelly Kennedy, Army Times staff writer

 

A Fort Huachuca, Ariz., soldier who contends he was assaulted in October by a fellow soldier because he is gay was discharged at his own request, The Arizona Daily Star reported.

 

Pfc. Kyle Lawson’s case became a cause célèbre in gay publications because the Army did not prosecute the soldier who punched him in the face at an off-base party on Oct. 29.

 

Civilian police booked the soldier on felony aggravated assault charges, calling the punch that broke Lawson’s nose “unprovoked.”

 

But the Army requested the case be turned over to it and then declined to prosecute, instead choosing administrative action.

 

Lawson said Jan. 5 that he was torn at the decision to leave the Army just four months out of boot camp.

 

“It’s bittersweet,” Lawson said.

 

“On one hand, it will be better for me because I can be who I am. But I’m going to miss it a lot. I really loved it.”

 

[Opens up some interesting possibilities.  “Yeah, I went after the Colonel with a tire iron and really fucked him up, but you know, he made a pass at me.  You don’t prosecute for that, right?”]

 

Hundreds Of Veterans Prepare To Confront Gay Hating Bigots At Soldiers’ Funeral

 

January 09, 2006 Associated Press

 

EVANSVILLE, Ind. — Police and county officials urged veterans to avoid confrontations with anti-gay protesters who plan to picket at the funeral Tuesday of an Indiana soldier killed in Iraq.

 

Hundreds of area veterans have said they will try to shield Pvt. Jonathan R. Pfender’s family from members of the Westboro Baptist Church in Topeka, Kan., the Evansville Courier & Press reported.

 

Church founder the Rev. Fred Phelps contends that American soldiers are being killed in Iraq as vengeance from God for protecting a country that harbors gays.  

 

Church members have protested at scores of military funerals, and the church informed Evansville police Saturday it would protest at Pfender’s services Tuesday at The Centre.

 

Evansville police special operations Sgt. Chris Pugh said about 12 to 20 protesters, some with signs, were expected.  He said the group will be restricted to public sidewalks and protesters will not be allowed to enter The Centre, the funeral home or Sunset Memorial Park, where Pfender is to be buried.

 

Pugh urged veterans to use restraint. “I can understand why you’re going to be as mad as you’re going to be,” Pugh said. “But whatever they say, you’ve just got to let it go.”

 

[Bullshit.  The only thing scum like this understand is the application of sufficient physical force as to render them incapable of any such activity in the future.  Instead of protecting the filth, the cops should look away and let the veterans do the right thing.  Otherwise this shit goes on forever.]

 

War Profiteers Sued For Killing Three Special Forces Soldiers;

Legal Loophole May Let Them Off The Hook

 

January 09, 2006 By Curt Anderson, Associated Press

 

MIAMI:  On a cold January day almost two years ago, family members and friends of five Special Forces servicemen killed in an Air Force helicopter crash in Afghanistan gathered at Arlington National Cemetery for their burial, receiving folded American flags and honored by a military flyover and a seven-gun salute.

 

The servicemen were memorialized at the ceremony by a chaplain, Col. David E. Boyles, as “five brave young men who gave their lives not only for their country, but for friends and family, to keep them free.”

 

Now, the widows of three of the men are suing defense contractors for the wrongful deaths of their husbands in the 2003 crash, which the Air Force blamed on engine failure of the MH-53M Pave Low helicopter caused in part by failure of auxiliary fuel tanks to jettison.

 

According to an Air Force accident report, the Pave Low flight dubbed “Beatle 12” carrying 13 passengers and crew crashed Nov. 23, 2003, about five minutes after it lifted off from Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan.

 

A compressor problem caused one of the two engines on the Pave Low to stall, leaving it with one engine operating and far too much weight to carry in the thin mountain air. The pilots “attempted to jettison the auxiliary tanks without success” and then the other engine stalled while an emergency landing was being attempted, the Air Force concluded.

 

With all power lost, the helicopter fell from an altitude of about 200 feet onto an uneven river bank, rolled over and burst into flames.  Eight people somehow managed to survive, but four Air Force personnel and one Army officer were killed.

 

Their remains were difficult to identify and were buried together at Arlington under a single tombstone bearing all five names.

 

Widows Melissa Walters, Kara Kerwood and Yvette LaPointe-Plumhoff have filed lawsuits in federal court in Miami accusing the Pave Low’s maker, Sikorsky Aircraft Corp., and two fuel tank installation and maintenance companies of negligence that led to the crash.  

 

The Air Force accident report, which by law cannot be used as evidence in civil lawsuits, concluded that there was “insufficient written guidance” available to check on the status of the fuel tank jettison system.  [In case you didn’t know, that “law” is called “The Murdering War Profiteers Loophole Law,” and only cost a few suitcases full of cash passed out to the right people in Congress.]

 

The lawsuits contend that Sikorsky, Lear Siegler Services Inc. and Smiths Aerospace LLC never instructed maintenance personnel to perform necessary electrical tests to assure the tanks would drop in an emergency.

 

“The jettison system was indispensable to the ability of the MH-53M crew to avoid a crash by rapidly reducing the helicopter’s weight in the event one of the two engines failed during flight,” says one of the lawsuits.

 

 

IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP

 

 

Assorted Resistance Action:

Bombs Go Off 36 Yards From U.S. Ambassador

 

Jan 9 AFP News & Press Association Ltd & By SAMEER N. YACOUB, Associated Press Writer & Reuters

 

Two bombers disguised as police infiltrated the heavily fortified Interior Ministry compound in Baghdad and blew themselves up Monday during celebrations of National Police Day.

 

Twin bombers attacked Iraq's interior ministry, where ministers and the US ambassador were attending a parade to mark Police Day.  At least 29 people were killed and 25 wounded, mostly policemen, said Ala'a Abid Ali, an official at al-Kindi hospital.

 

As one of the bombers walked away from the checkpoint, Interior Ministry guards became suspicious because he appeared to be "too fat", police told Reuters.

 

They opened fire, shooting him in the back and hitting the bulky explosives belt he was wearing beneath his uniform, causing him to explode.  A second bomber detonated his explosives.

 

One bomber was wearing the uniform of an Iraqi police major and the other was dressed as a lieutenant colonel.  Both had passes that enabled them to get through checkpoints and into the compound.

 

The two bombers, with explosives strapped to their bodies, struck within three minutes of each other on Monday at the rear entrance to the ministry in Baghdad as a parade took place some 400 metres [that’s 36 yards!] away, security officials said.

 

The dead included a major responsible for ministry security.

 

A mortar shell was also fired, but it fell next door in the police academy, causing no damage.

 

Top officials, including Interior Minister Bayan Jabr Solah, Defence Minister Saadun al-Dulaimi and US ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, were watching the annual celebration.

 

A US embassy spokesman said he understood that Khalilzad was fine.

 

Ambulances rushed to the scene as police cordoned off the area, which had already been closed to traffic ahead of the ceremony.

 

An Iraqi judge responsible for investigating terrorist-related crimes was killed as he left for work in the northern city of Kirkuk, police said.

 

In Baghdad, guerrillas fired on three people working on Iraq's de-Baathification commission, killing one, police Capt Qassim Hussein said.

 

Guerrillas also killed an Iraqi intelligence officer in western Baghdad, Hussein said.

 

 

 

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

 

 

Protecting Marines Or Prosecuting Senior Citizens?

 

From: CitizenSoldier1@aol.com

Sent: January 09, 2006 4:40 PM

Subject: Protecting Marines or Prosecuting Senior Citizens?

 

On Saturday, January 7, the New York Times published a front page story discussing a secret Pentagon study which concluded that up to 80% of the 340 GIs who died from wounds of the upper torso could have survived had they been wearing state-of -the-art armored vests. 

 

According to the Times, the Marine Corps didn't order any of the upgraded vests until September 2005 when it finally ordered 28,800 sets for some of its troops.  The Times also reported that, as of December 2005, the Marines had distributed only 2,200 sets of these improved vests in Iraq.

 

The Times quotes the secret study as follows: "As many as 42% of the Marines casualties who died from isolated torso injuries could have been prevented with improved protection in the areas surrounding the plated areas of the vest." (A total of 526 Marines have been killed as of 1/7/06 in Iraq.

 

"It is tragic if young Marines are dying because their commanders didn't commit the funds to provide them with the best protective gear money can buy," commented Tod Ensign, Director, Citizen Soldier. 

 

"The money the Marines are spending to hunt down and prosecute 40 year AWOLs from the Vietnam war, like Cpl Jerry Texiero should instead be committed to providing better protection for our troops."

 

(More info: Tod Ensign, Citizen Soldier, (212) 679-2250

 

 

 

Center For Disease Control Issues Crisis Warning

 

January 09, 2006 From: David Honish, Veterans For Peace

Subject: Center For Disease Control Issues Crisis Warning

 

CDC Atlanta, GA  2000 Zulu Time  9JAN06:  URGENT CRISIS WARNING!

 

It is anticipated that later this month during the annual 'State of the Union' speech by President Bush that thousands of college students across the nation will engage in drinking games where the participants are required to chug a beer or down a shot every time the President lies and/or mispronounces a word during the televised speech. 

 

This has in the past resulted in a flood of patients to the nation's emergency rooms to be treated for acute ethanol poisoning. 

 

All emergency medical treatment facilities are warned in advance to have ample supplies of gastric lavage equipment on hand to deal with the anticipated rush of ethanol poisonings. 

 

Existing hospital facilities may be inadequate to treat the anticipated volume of patients if past speeches by President Bush are any indicator.  Consideration should be given to the opening of convention centers or other municipal facilities staffed with emergency medical personnel to meet the anticipated need. 

 

Recommended course of treatment should not only provide needed life support, but should also include reassurance to the patient that it is only three more years until the next president is inaugurated.  [If he lasts that long.]

 

 

OCCUPATION REPORT

 

 

SOWING THE WIND: 2003

REAPING THE WHIRLWIND: 2006

A U.S. Army soldier searches Iraqis at a check point on a highway in Baghdad May 30, 2003. (AP Photo/Ali Haider)

 

[Fair is fair.  Let’s bring 150,000 Iraqis over here to the USA.  They can kill people at checkpoints, bust into their houses with force and violence, overthrow the government, put a new one in office they like better and call it “sovereign” and “detain” anybody who doesn’t like it in some prison without any changes being filed against them, or any trial.]

 

[Those Iraqis are sure a bunch of backward primitives.  They actually resent this help, have the absurd notion that it’s bad their country is occupied by a foreign military dictatorship, and consider it their patriotic duty to fight and kill the soldiers sent to grab their country.  What a bunch of silly people.  How fortunate they are to live under a military dictatorship run by George Bush.  Why, how could anybody not love that?  You’d want that in your home town, right?]