GI Special:

thomasfbarton@earthlink.net

6.22.08

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GI SPECIAL 6F13:

 

 

 

 

“Soldiers Are Fed Up”

“People Are Coming Out In Larger Numbers And Speaking Out Against The War, Standing Up For What They Believe In”

“I Think The Times Are Telling Us A Lot Right Now”

 

June 18, 2008 Mateo Rebecchi, treasurer of the Seattle IVAW, interviewed by Kate Johnson, a member of the Northwest Winter Soldier Coalition.  Socialist Worker [Excerpts]

 

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

 

KJ: AFTER THE recent national Winter Soldier event in Washington, D.C., why did you feel it was important to organize a regional Winter Soldier here in the Northwest?

 

COMING OUT of D.C., we felt that it was such a positive event to see so many veterans together in one spot, sharing their stories. The way it came across was just really powerful. We thought it was important to get the word out here in the Northwest, because not too many people knew about what was going on in D.C. It was a closed-off event. It wasn't really open to the public.

 

So what we wanted to do with our Winter Soldier was change it so that people from this area could experience what we experienced--not just the organizations and activists that were invited here, but all the veterans and the citizens of the Northwest, too.

 

KJ:  WHAT DO you think is the next step for IVAW locally?

 

LOCALLY, WE'VE discussed starting a coffeehouse.

 

I think the biggest thing right now is to continue to build this GI movement, especially the GI resistance aspect.

 

I think that's where we see ourselves having the most impact moving forward in the future.

 

And continuing to establish ourselves so that we can help veterans not only in ending this war, but also with whatever else they may need when it comes to health care or a safe haven for resisters.

 

We need to be building IVAW and reaching out to our brothers and sisters who've been failed by the military or who just want to see a change.

 

KJ:  WHAT WILL it take to see a full-scale revolt inside the U.S. military like we saw during the Vietnam War?

 

I THINK it's starting already.

 

All the military studies show that the longer the war goes on, the more tours the soldiers are forced to do, the more resisters there are, the more people who go AWOL, the more people will get fed up, and the more the antiwar movement will grow.

 

It takes things to get really bad, and I think we're seeing that right now with the number of AWOLs skyrocketing.

 

People are coming out in larger numbers and speaking out against the war, standing up for what they believe in.

 

I definitely think that's what it's going to take.

 

We've been there for almost six years already, and people are getting sick of it.

 

I think the times are telling us a lot right now.

 

Soldiers are fed up.

 

Getting people aware of what is going on is very important, because many people don't even know what IVAW is or how to get involved.

 

Also, opening up more centers like the coffeehouse in close proximity to the base and giving active-duty soldiers an alternative route of thought--letting them know that there are veterans out there that are against this war who are speaking out.

 

If we can tap into that and be near them on the base, it would be easier for them to switch over to our side.

 

I think that's what it's going to take.

 

 

 

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

 

 

Ohio Soldier Killed Near Hillah

June 21, 2008: Spc. Jason Cox, 21, from Elyria, Ohio, died Monday from injuries he suffered when the IED exploded southeast of Hillah, Iraq.  (AP Photo/Department of Defense)

 

U.S. Soldier Killed In Diyala;

Five Wounded

 

June 20, 2008 Multi National Corps Iraq Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory RELEASE No. 20080620-07

 

TIKRIT, Iraq – One Soldier was killed and five wounded in three roadside bomb attacks on Coalition force patrols in Diyala province June 20.

 

Moultrie Soldier Dies From Burns Suffered In March

 

June 11, 2008 John Oxford, Moultrie Observer

 

MOULTRIE — Sgt. Steve McCoy was remembered Wednesday at the hospital where he was being treated, and plans are being made for Moultrie to have a chance to remember him too.

 

McCoy’s brother-in-law, Gadston Moore, said a memorial service was held Wednesday at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, for McCoy, who died Tuesday.  He had been treated for burns at the medical center since being injured March 23 in a roadside bomb attack in southern Baghdad that killed four other U.S. soldiers.

 

Funeral services for McCoy are being planned in Warrenton, Ga., where his parents live, Moore said.  The family is also planning to hold a memorial service in Moultrie for him though a date, time and location have not yet been set.

 

McCoy’s wife, Tabitha; their twin children, son Landen and daughter Ryley; and her parents, Steve and Becky Moore, and family live in Moultrie.  His parents, Sam and Pam McCoy, live in Warren County but are previously of Norman Park.

 

The family was very appreciative of the community for all of their support during this difficult time.  “Steve died doing what he wanted to do,” Gadston Moore said. “He was proud to be a soldier and proud to serve his country.”  McCoy’s older brother, Eric, is also serving in Iraq, Moore said.

 

McCoy was a 2003 graduate of Colquitt County High School and was a member of the Junior ROTC Program.  He was serving his second tour in Iraq with Alpha Company, 4th Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division based at Ft. Stewart in Hinesville when he was injured.

 

Lt. Col. Paul Nagy, director of the Colquitt County High School Junior ROTC program, said he remembered McCoy as a really good student and a really good kid. He served as a platoon guide in ROTC, winning two or three drill meets as platoon guide, and he was a member of the marksmanship team.  Nagy said he could tell McCoy wanted to be a soldier.  “He was one of the best students I’ve ever had,” Nagy said.

 

MRAP Targeted In Baghdad

A U.S. mine-resistant armored vehicle after an explosion in Azamiyah in north Baghdad June 19, 2008.  (AP Photo/Khalid Mohammed)

 

NEW GENERAL ORDER NO. 1:

PACK UP

GO HOME

US soldiers during a break south of Baghdad May 12. (AFP/Mauricio Lima)

 

 

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

 

 

Four Foreign Occupation Troops Killed Near Kandahar, Two Wounded;

Nationality Not Announced

 

Jun 21 Associated Press

 

A roadside bomb hit a coalition convoy west of the main southern city of Kandahar, killing four troops and wounding two others, one seriously.

 

Coalition spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Fanning said insurgents opened fire on the stricken vehicles and that three Afghans soldiers also were hurt.  He declined to release the nationality of the troops, who were involved in training Afghan security forces.

 

Two Foreign Occupation Soldiers Killed In Helmand;

Nationality Not Announced

 

June 20 (Reuters)

 

On Thursday, two soldiers from the U.S.-led force were killed in a clash in Helmand.

 

Foreign Occupation Soldier Killed By Foot Bomber In Helmand;

Nationality Not Announced

 

June 20 (Reuters)

 

A bomber on foot attacked a foreign military convoy in southern Afghanistan on Friday killing one soldier, an Afghan interpreter and five civilians, police and the U.S. military said.  The attack was in Helmand, to the west of Kandahar province.

 

A U.S.-led coalition force operating in Afghanistan said one of its soldiers and an Afghan interpreter were killed.

 

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Mohammad Yousuf, claimed responsibility for the blast.

 

Polish Soldier Killed By Dila IED;

Four More Wounded

 

Jun 21 Agora SA

 

Polish soldier was killed in Afghanistan and the next four suffer injuries when their car explosion explosive cargo.

 

The wounded were flown helicopter to a military hospital.  Their life is not threatened by the danger.

 

Polish patrol team of militancy "Charlie" went from a Wazi Kwa Jechali soldiers to fire U.S. base Kushmond mountains - the way regarded as being relatively safe (second road, called by the soldiers Wiper move as a general rule, only escorts, mostly because there are mines podkładane bombing).

 

But Kushmond near where Polish patrol had to stop, it was necessary to exit from the mountains into the valley and cross the river. This place is located, surrounded by hills, near Nangar-Khel village, where almost one year ago, Poles ostrzeliwując village with mortar killed eight civilians.

 

There, one of hummerów entered the explosive cargo.

 

He died, sitting on the right side of the vehicle driver's captain - while the entire patrol Ppor.  Robert Marczewski from 6 battalion desantowo-szturmowego from Gliwice.

 

Rannych has four rangers from the same unit who jechali the same hummerem. The U.S. rescue helicopter took them first to a hospital in Orgun, then to Bagram. But the army ensures that survive.

 

They are already in a hospital in Bagram base, I saw them - ensures Major Jacek Poplawski, spokesman for the Polish Kontyngentu Military commanders in Afghanistan. - There are wounded, but only abrasions and fractures. All are przytomni.

 

Fortunately, the Hummer is not lit.

 

But the investigation continues, as there has been an explosion in the Polish vehicle.

 

Wojskowi even suspect that the Taliban used a new type of cargo.

 

This ballistic, whose head is a copper plate, which is under the influence of forces explosion hits in armor and - as saying the soldiers - there is no such that wytrzymałby to blow.

 

Resistance Action

 

June 17 (Xinhua) & by Nasrat Shoaib (AFP) & 6.18 (CNN) & 06/19/08 AFP & Jun 21 By STEPHEN GRAHAM, Associated Press Writer

 

Some 200 Taliban fighters raided police checkpoints in Tanai district Monday night.

 

Three security guards hired by a road construction company were killed when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb in Spin Boldak district late Tuesday, Kandahar provincial police chief Sayed Aqa Saqib said.

 

The two Afghan soldiers were killed in a gun battle with three Taliban fighters in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province, the defense ministry said.

 

In the Arghandab district of Kandahar province two Afghan soldiers, three ISAF civilian workers and NATO television cameraman Jamie Kidston, from New South Wales, were wounded.

 

A roadside bomb hit a vehicle carrying Afghan army troops in the Sori district of Zabul province, killing two and wounding three others, provincial police official Faridullah Khan said.

 

 

 

TROOP NEWS

 

 

“This War Won’t Be Stopped By The Politicians, But Only By Us, Building The New GI Movement”

 

 

 

06/12/2008 by Martin Smith, Iraq Veterans Against The War [www.ivaw.org/]

 

Branch of service: United States Marine Corps (USMC)

Unit: 1st Radio Bn, B Co

Rank: Sgt.

Home: Champaign, Illinois

Served in: Presidio of Monterey Defense Institute; Goodfellow Air Force Base, San Angelo, TX; Kaneohe Bay, MCBH

 

On March 29, 2008, a chilly Saturday afternoon in downtown Indianapolis, a small group of anti-warriors gathered who were just as scruffy in their appearance as they were dedicated to their cause.

 

Fourteen Iraq Veterans Against the War members from three different chapters in the Great Lakes Region gathered at a small protest that was held at an odd, behemoth tower that pierced the sky and stood in sharp contrast to our message.

 

We staked our own claim to “ Monument Circle ,” a phallic structure rising almost 300 ft. and decorated with mammoth-size replicas of white, battle-torn soldiers and sailors, but we carried an opposing demand from the one captured in limestone to our aft.

 

We stood in lock-step formation, proudly carrying our IVAW banner, as messengers against an immoral war and in stark contrast to the memorialized victors of steadfast patriotism, frozen in time and place at the obelisk’s base.

 

This second annual event titled, “Five Years Too Long,” was sponsored by Indiana students and local peace activists and was held just days after the 4,000th US troop had died in Iraq.  Vince Emanuele, Derek Giffin, and Erin Constantine spoke to the crowd calling on them to join the Winter Soldier Movement and the new war that we were prepared to fight as foot soldiers for peace.

 

As Vince so aptly put it, “This war won’t be stopped by the politicians, but only by us, building the new GI Movement.”

 

While this small protest, and others like it, will never end the war by themselves, the event should be judged not by the war’s trajectory but rather for how it served as a path to strengthen the GI Movement.

 

It was a potent reminder of the power of protest.  Our large turnout of members brought us together in a collective show of solidarity.  Older members mentored newer ones and welcomed them aboard.

 

We garnered media coverage, with journalists glued to our individual stories like politicians on the gravy-train of corporate giveaways and graft.

 

And rather than being someone else’s “window-dressing,” we stole the show with a full frontal display backed up and supported by the local peace movement.

 

Activists and community members not only supported our cause but also donated generously to our various chapters when we passed the hat.

 

But even more, we made contact and networked with new allies, activists, and leaders who are now part of the Winter Soldier Movement.  

 

Even at a small protest in the middle of Midwestern cornfields, it is possible to do the essential base-building that can rebuild a grassroots, bottom-up movement—the kind of social movement that can not only end the war, but one that may also set roots which will allow future generations to build monuments of a different kind, ones that celebrate humanity and peace rather than war.

 

 

 

Pants Pissing Panic At The Pentagon;

Army Running Out Of Physically Fit Combat Troops To Die In Iraq:

Another Badly Wounded Soldier Ordered Back And Slammed With Stop-Loss;

“His Son Is Just One Of Many, Earl Haun Said, And It's Time Somebody Called The Army On It”

 

 

06/20/08 By Tom Philpott, Hanford Sentinel

 

One day last August, while manning the .50-caliber gun atop his a Humvee on a dirt road in northern Iraq, Army Spc. Daniel "Joey" Haun suddenly lost consciousness.

 

His vehicle had struck a buried bomb, an "improvised explosive device."  Haun was ejected, his vehicle flipped over.

 

On impact with the ground, Haun's left hand was driven up toward his forearm, crushing his wrist.  The surgeon who rebuilt the wrist, using a metal plate and screws, told Haun last year that his infantry days were over.

 

The blast also blew out Haun's right ear drum, which required surgery to partially restore his hearing. That surgeon warned him to avoid sustained exposure to any loud noises or risk having to wear a hearing aid.

 

As to head injuries, a neurologist diagnosed the 24-year-old with post concussive syndrome and mild traumatic brain injury, the likely cause of his daily headaches since the attack.

 

Finally, a psychologist urged Haun to get counseling for his post-traumatic stress symptoms or they could devolve into Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, a more debilitating condition.  So while recuperating in a wounded warrior unit at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, Haun regularly saw a psychologist.  He takes the drug Tramadol for his migraine headaches and Elavil, an anti-depressant, to ease his stress.

 

Adding to Haun's stress is this surprising news: he's returning to Iraq.

 

Though Haun expected to be separated or retired on disability, Army doctors have cleared him for transfer back to his infantry unit, Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 27th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade of the 25th Infantry Division.

 

Rather than appearing before a medical evaluation board, Haun will rejoin 3rd Brigade which is to redeploy this fall to Iraq after only a year back home.

 

Also, because Haun's 39-month enlistment doesn't end until January, Haun will have to stay in Iraq under a "stop loss" order.  His active service time will be involuntarily extended by at least nine months.

 

Haun doesn't sound angry or bitter describing his predicament.

 

But he doesn't understanding why the Army wants to keep him. He tells anyone who asks that he would prefer to leave service in January. Yet when he was told of his transfer back to the 2-27, Haun asked that he not be restricted to "pushing paper" in Iraq with the company's headquarters element.  So his first sergeant agreed he could return to his platoon, Haun said.

 

How will he perform there?  Haun isn't sure.  "I can't do push ups because I can't bend my hand that way.  I can't climb rope. I can't do pull ups.  I don't have any strength in my hand," Haun said. 

 

"I can't really carry anything that's heavy with my left hand because there's always the possibility of popping some screw loose."

 

His father, Earl Haun of Crestview, Fla., suggested there's a screw loose already -- with any Army policy that allows redeployment of soldiers obviously not fit for duty.

 

His son is just one of many, Earl Haun said, and it's time somebody called the Army on it.

 

A Government Accountability Office report in May cited inconsistencies in Defense Department instructions on pre-deployment health assessments.

 

"During our site visits to three installations," said the GAO, "we found that health care providers were unaware that a medical record review was required, and medical records were not always reviewed by providers conducting the pre-deployment health assessment."

 

Earl Haun said something sure is wrong.

 

"He got blown out of a Humvee about 25 feet in the air, his commander told me. He crushed his arm. He's only got 30 or 40 percent use of it.  

 

“And his first surgeon told him he was done," said Earl, an Air Force veteran who repaired aircraft during the Vietnam era.

 

"Now, all of a sudden, some new surgeon comes in, says 'Hey, you're deployable again.' ... That's kind of stupid. They're sending a kid back over there who's half a man," at least half an infantryman, Earl said.

 

Joey Haun doesn't blame his company's leaders for his pending redeployment. They didn't expect he'd be cleared for duty.  The last doctor who saw him, Haun said, "understands I can't do push ups and climb rope and stuff.  But other than that he said I was deployable."

 

Rep. Jeff Miller (R-Fla.), Earl Haun's congressman, has asked the Army to review the decision to return Haun to full duty, given his disabilities.  

 

Miller said he understand that Haun can't pass the Army's Physical Fitness Test.

 

"I am extremely concerned that this wounded warrior is mentally and physically unable to deploy," Miller wrote, adding that Haun's physical limitations and post-traumatic stress could even put other soldiers at risk.

 

Haun said he doesn't regret enlisting to fight in Iraq.  But most Americans, he said, don't understand how hard assignments there can be.

 

Haun was involved in another IED attack three weeks before he was injured.  His platoon experienced at least 10 to 15 IED attacks plus other assaults from insurgents using rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.  Haun said he lost one very close friend. Another buddy was wounded severely in the attack that disabled Haun.

 

During his short stay in Germany last year, and in treatment at Tripler Army Medical Center, Hawaii, Haun said he saw injuries far worse than his. The wounded have Haun thinking about a career in physical therapy when he does leave service. But their wounds and his also have made him more anxious now about returning to Iraq.

 

"The first time we deployed I was actually looking forward to it because that's what I joined for. I was going to go there and fight and serve my country ... I never believed something would happen to me or to any of my friends. I thought we were untouchable

 

“... Now there are so many more things I've seen.  Now I realize it can happen at the blink of an eye. So I'm a lot more nervous about going over again," Haun said.

 

 

IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP

 

 

GET THE MESSAGE?

Iraqi nationalists demonstrate against the U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that would continue the U.S. occupation of Iraq in Sadr City, Baghdad June 20, 2008.  (AP Photo/ Karim Kadim)

 

 

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“I Still Believe”

 

From: Dennis Serdel

To: GI Special

Sent: June 18, 2008

Subject: I Still Believe by Dennis

 

By Dennis Serdel, Vietnam 1967-68 (one tour) Light Infantry, Americal Div. 11th Brigade, purple heart, Veterans For Peace 50 Michigan, Vietnam Veterans Against The War, United Auto Workers GM Retiree, in Perry, Michigan

 

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

 

              I Still Believe

 

Jeff gets so mad at God

for allowing the world to be as it is

when another suicide bomb goes off

killing baby's to old men

he thinks you do not even exist

when a Humvee on the road blows up

like a cherry bomb in a tin can

he thinks their Allah is stronger

than his God and he thinks maybe

his God does not exist again

but then when Jeff is on the ground

in a city ambushed and he doesn't see

how he is going to make it

out of there alive as he turns

to his God and afterwards

when he is still alive he is so sorry

for doubting and not believing

then on bended knees in the sand

his head to no empty sky

Jeff begs for forgiveness and says

don't believe me God when

I am safe and I say I do not want

your love anymore

because he says I did nothing

when time stopped

and I was shooting and they were

shooting and the only blood

I have when it is over is

their blood my fellow Soldier's

blood on his desert uniform

enemy's blood on his boots

and when he goes home he knows

he did not do it alone

but he does not want to see

God and Allah fighting in any war

as he hears that Canada

will not return

Soldiers who go there

 

“Every Iraqi Is Considered A Potential Threat By The U.S. Military, So Every Iraqi Is A Potential Target--That Is The Logic Of Occupation That Leads Inevitably To Massacres And War Crimes”

 

June 10, 2008, Editorial, Socialist Worker [Excerpts]

 

IN NOVEMBER 2005, U.S. soldiers went on a three-hour shooting spree in Haditha, just west of Baghdad. They attacked a taxi and shot the passengers, including women and children, at point-blank range, and they swept through homes. By the end of the assault, 24 people were dead.

 

Nine-year-old Eman Waleed described the scene as the Marines came to her family's house.  "First, they went into my father's room, where he was reading the Koran," she told Time magazine, "and we heard shots." Then they entered the living room. "I watched them shoot my grandfather, first in the chest and then in the head," Eman said. "Then they killed my granny."

 

The adults tried to shield the children and were killed while doing so. "We were lying there, bleeding, and it hurt so much," said Eman. "Afterward, some Iraqi soldiers came. They carried us in their arms. I was crying, shouting, 'Why did you do this to our family?' And one Iraqi soldier tells me, 'We didn't do it. The Americans did.'"

 

Two-and-a-half years after this horror, Lt. Andrew Grayson became the sixth U.S. soldier cleared of any wrongdoing at Haditha; he was found not guilty of all charges last week by a military court. Not a single solider has pled guilty or been convicted on any charge related to the rampage.

 

Ultimately, the U.S. government's determination to control Iraq and its oil was the driving force behind the actions of the soldiers in Haditha. The command, inside and outside the military, should be held responsible.

 

Every Iraqi is considered a potential threat by the U.S. military, so every Iraqi is a potential target of U.S. attack--and thus, as long as U.S. troops are in Iraq, massacres like Haditha will continue to take place.

 

This is the logic of occupation.

 

As Chris Hedges wrote in Asia Times:

 

“The failure in Iraq is the same failure that bedeviled the French in Algeria; the United States in Vietnam; and the British, who for 800 years beat, imprisoned, transported, shot and hanged hundreds of thousands of Irish patriots.  Occupation, in each case, turned the occupiers into beasts and fed the insurrection.  “It created patterns where innocents, as in Iraq, were terrorized and killed.

 

“The campaign against a mostly invisible enemy, many veterans said, has given rise to a culture of terror and hatred among U.S. forces, many of whom, losing ground, have in effect declared war on all Iraqis.”

 

 

 

 

 

 

OCCUPATION REPORT

 

 

U.S. OCCUPATION RECRUITING DRIVE IN HIGH GEAR;

RECRUITING FOR THE ARMED RESISTANCE THAT IS

Foreign occupation soldiers from the U.S. take women and children prisoners, and force them at gunpoint to sit in the dirt outside their home while their personal belongings are searched during an armed home invasion in Mosul June 12, 2008.  REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz

 

[Fair is fair. 

 

[Let’s bring 150,000 Iraqi troops over here to the USA.  They can kill people at checkpoints, bust into their houses with force and violence, butcher their families, 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 charges 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?]

 

 

 

The Status Of Forces Agreement:

“Oil - And The Power To Control It”

“Now All Is Crystal Clear – The Two Objectives That Brought Hundreds Of Thousands Of Troops Half Across The Globe Have Become Crystal Clear”

 

June 21, 2008 By Sahar IIS, Inside Iraq

 

What ingenuity!  The timing is brilliant!

 

The American people are almost completely taken up with the presidential elections and the race to the White House.

 

The Iraqi people are so overwrought a lot of them don't even know what's going on – some just don't care any more, they are too taken up with the basic affair of staying alive, providing minimal sustenance for their families and too much grief.

 

And yet, at this "delicate" time everything is boiling down to the core of the objectives for which this war was waged – American long term interests in Iraq.

 

At this "delicate" time no-bid contracts are to be signed between the Iraqi Ministry of Oil and the self same companies that constituted the old Iraqi petroleum company that had a monopoly over Iraqi oil before nationalization in the early seventies, 1971 - 1972 -What a come back!

 

Now all is crystal clear – the two objectives that brought hundreds of thousands of troops half across the globe have become crystal clear.

 

Oil - and the power to control it.

 

And while our "sovereign democracy" shamelessly seeks to hide these facts from the people and present them with a fiat acompli, it seems that the American "democracy" is also shamelessly seeking to sneak the agreement through the least visible route so as to willfully disregard the will of the American people and cement its interests here – no matter the cost to human lives – no matter the cost in funds – no matter the loss of face because non of these matter to them as much.

 

The contracts are to be signed soon, before the Iraqi parliament even passes an Oil Law - and that will be that.

 

What remains to be seen is whether America is willing to sacrifice its men, women and money for these companies' interests to be "properly" looked after.

 

The Status of Forces Agreement.

 

And it remains to be seen whether Iraq has any say in this at all.

 

 

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

 

 

 

 

CLASS WAR REPORTS

 

 

In Memory Of Cyril Strezo

Illinois Man Victim Of Premeditated Murder By The Rats Of “UniCare”

“Not Only Did UniCare Take My Dad's Life, They Tried To Make Him Suffer Until The End”

UniCare managers meet to plan new and exciting ways to kill people

[Photo: www.wolfstad.com/]

 

June 17, 2008 Testimony by Jody Polka, public hearing on proposed legislation to create real universal health care in Illinois; Socialist Worker [Excerpts].

 

GOOD MORNING, my name is Jody Polka. I live in Frankfort, Illinois.

 

I am here today to tell you my family's story, and why we must make all of our elected officials know that we the people of Illinois urgently need change now.

 

Our story started a year ago yesterday. My dad, Cyril Strezo--a strong, active, young 58-year-old man who had always lived a healthy lifestyle, never smoking or drinking alcohol--was diagnosed with esophageal cancer.

 

We had consultations with his doctors. They all seemed confident that he could possibly beat it, but at the very least, control the cancer.

 

We were told that aggressive chemo with radiation would do the trick, followed by surgery and extra chemo, just for good measure.

 

We were all hopeful, most of all, my dad. We were all ready for my dad's fight.  He was gearing up for the chemo and radiation, and we were ready to by his side, night and day, for help and support.

 

Imagine our horror when we found out from his doctor that the private insurance company, UniCare, had stepped in and told the oncologist to find a different chemo--they wouldn't allow my dad to receive the aggressive chemo he so desperately needed.

 

We continued on with a less effective chemo, rather than waste valuable time waiting. It didn't work. The chemo treatment didn't contain the cancer.

 

By October 2007, we learned the cancer had spread to my dad's liver.

 

The oncologist told us not to give up.

 

With the aggressive chemo, he could contain the cancer.

 

By now, UniCare had seen firsthand that when they stepped in and changed the doctor's treatment, it was detrimental.  My dad's oncologist scheduled the chemo right away.

 

The night before, the first treatment was to start, UniCare once again called the oncologist and again said they still would not allow my dad's chemo.

 

The official reason was that it was "experimental."

 

The doctor called me that night and gave me the news.

 

I was told that the oncologist had himself been on the phone with UniCare for hours, pleading to give my dad the medical treatment he needed.

 

He told me this was unbelievable, because even Medicare covers this chemo.

 

Somebody sitting at a desk, without any degrees in medicine, decided that night that my dad was to be denied common everyday treatments.

 

The minute I got off the phone with the oncologist, I went to the FDA Web site. The so-called "experimental" chemo had been FDA-approved in 1996.

 

This was not experimental; it was modern day, medically proven treatment.

 

I immediately appealed UniCare's denial in writing.  I checked every day on the status of my appeal, and each day, I was told, "There is no appeal scanned in our system yet."

 

This went on for weeks.

 

After two weeks, I was frantic. I felt that I had been backed into a corner, and UniCare was standing over me, dangling my dad's life.

 

I finally contacted every elected official I could vote for, and every news media outlet.

 

One of the local papers featured a front-page article.  That was when state Rep. Mary Flowers stepped in.

 

Between her help, the attorney general's office and the press applying pressure, UniCare finally allowed my dad's medicine.

 

It took a month.

 

A month that meant life or death. A month my dad could not waste.

 

The night before the chemo was to start, we had to call 911. We found out later in the evening that the cancer--which time after time could have been contained--had now spread to his brain.

 

This was in December. By February 2008, my dad needed hospice, and five days before Easter Sunday, UniCare came calling again.

 

This time, they decided that my dad should no longer be eligible for hospice.  As my dad lay dying, UniCare was still denying.

 

We lost my dad on Easter Sunday.

 

My dad was the most amazing father and grandfather. He was a man who built his life on family and helping others. He loved to be the man everyone went to whenever they needed anything.

 

He would see people down on their luck and, no questions asked, hand a perfect stranger $20. His life mattered.

 

My dad had the most contagious laugh. He was the life of the party, and his smile would make anything all better.

 

My dad will not be here to celebrate his 37th wedding anniversary with my mom. Dad won't be here to walk my little sister down the aisle or rock my little brother's baby to sleep.

 

He will not be here to cheer on my son as he makes a touchdown. He won't be here to attend Grandparent's Day at my daughter's school.

 

My dad, my hero, is not here for me to hug, and UniCare made sure of it.

 

My dad paid his $2,400 a month insurance premiums.

 

He held up his part of the deal.

 

UniCare decided a year ago that they would continue to cash that check but not insure my dad.

 

They dictated the treatment or lack of treatment my dad was going to have.

 

They knew that if they delayed and denied, my dad would wind up in hospice, because it was more cost-efficient.  Then when he did finally wind up at hospice, they denied that.

 

They tried to deny my dad from dying in peace and without pain. 

 

Not only did UniCare take my dad's life, they tried to make him suffer until the end.

 

My dad's fight lives on, in me and you.

 

Had my dad been eligible for Medicare, he would have received his treatments, and he would be here today.

 

We need to be aware that we already have a universal health care system in place and it works. It is called Medicare.

 

We usually don't realize just how much we need it until it's too late. 

 

We all deserve to be treated when we are sick. Private insurance forced my dad to receive substandard health care.

 

The only thing UniCare did was increase its profit margin.  They didn't insure my dad.

 

We need to contact our state representatives and state senators, and let it by known that we are not profits, we are people.

 

We all deserve medicine when we are sick--this is America, not a Third World country. We need to make sure our leaders pass HB 311 now, before any more lives are lost.

 

Thank you.

 

[If you have any thoughts you would wish to express to UniRats, here’s the toll free number: 1-800-977-8860, Mon - Fri, 5AM-9PM Pacific Standard Time.  Sat - Sun, 7AM - 4PM PST.  Please be patient if your call is not answered personally right way.  Killing the insured to increase profits comes first.]

 

 

 

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