immoral war against people who did nothing to deserve our aggression. My oath of office is to protect and defend America’s laws and its people. By refusing unlawful orders for an illegal war, I fulfill that oath today.”
U.S. Army First Lt. Ehren Watada
Lt. Ehren Watada refused to ship out with his unit.
Published on Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Opponents of Iraq War Rally around Lt. Watada
by Alex Fryer
Lt. Ehren Watada couldn't be called a media figure, but the Hawaii-born officer who refused to deploy with his Fort Lewis unit on Thursday has done his bit to court the press.
Part of the public exposure is designed to protect Watada from potentially harsh military justice. But Watada also has become the latest public face for a peace movement that has produced few leaders able to marshal public opinion, even though polls show the majority of Americans believe the Iraq war was a costly mistake.
Just as Cindy Sheehan, whose soldier son was killed in 2004, captured public attention last year with her vigil outside President Bush's Texas ranch, calls and e-mails have spiked in recent weeks to groups such as Veterans for Peace in St. Louis.
"When you have a person like Lt. Watada or Cindy Sheehan, I think that's more real," said executive director Michael McPhearson, whose son serves in Iraq. "And Americans react to sincere people expressing themselves."SNIP-Rest Can Be Found At Title Link
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Another Example Of The Shameful Apathy Towards Those Who Serve, By This Country!!!
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"Foolish men imagine that because judgment for an evil thing is delayed, there
is no justice...Judgment for an evil thing is many times delayed...but it is
sure as life, it is sure as death.": Thomas Caryle
Published on Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Military Fails Some Widows Over Benefits
by Lizette Alvarez
As Holly Wren coped with her 6-month-old son and the sorrow of losing her husband in Iraq last November, she assumed that the military's sense of structure and order would apply in death as it had in life.
Instead she encountered numerous hurdles in trying to collect survivor benefits. She received only half the amount owed her for housing because her husband, one of the highest ranking soldiers to die in Iraq, was listed as single, childless and living in Florida — wrong on every count. Lt. Col. Thomas Wren was married, with five children, and living in Northern Virginia.
She waited months for her husband's retirement money and more than two weeks for his death benefit, meant to arrive within days. And then Mrs. Wren went to court to become her son's legal guardian because no one had told her husband that a minor cannot be a beneficiary. "You are a number, and your husband is a number" said Mrs. Wren, who ultimately asked her congressman for help. "They need to understand that we are more than that."
For military widows, many of them young, stay-at-home mothers, the shock of losing a husband is often followed by the confounding task of untangling a collection of benefits from assorted bureaucracies.SNIP-Rest Can Be Found At Title Link
"I swore never to be silent whenever human beings endure suffering and
humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never
the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented." : Elie
Weisel
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And Another Example Of Shame
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Study shows military care gap
The military is referring barely m ore than 20 percent of soldiers returning from Iraq and afghnaistan who have shown signs of post-traumatic stress disorder for further evaluation, according to a report from congressional investigators. The report, from the Government Accountability Office, concluded that unless the Pentagon makes changes, it cannot “reasonably assure” returning service members are receiving the care they need.
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And How RIGHT He Is
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Murtha Says US Poses Top Threat to World Peace
American presence in Iraq is more dangerous to world peace than nuclear threats from North Korea or Iran, Congressman John Murtha, D-Pa., said to an audience of more than 200 in North Miami Saturday afternoon.
William Fisher | Crocodile Tears
"If you're into black humor, you might find it amusing that two of the countries with some of the world's worst human rights records are making international propaganda hay out of America's performance in prisoner abuse and civil liberties," writes William Fisher.
GI SPECIAL 4F23: Military Families Have Had Enough.pdf
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