Good morning, Baghdad!
Dave Rabbit was a renegade pirate DJ in Vietnam who railed against LBJ to the sound of Jimi Hendrix. Now the garrulous Texan granddad is packing up his old persona, minus the psychedelics, and heading to Iraq.
By Christian Parenti
Sep. 23, 2006 | It was another quiet evening in the suburban Sunbelt -- Dallas to be exact, February 2006 -- and a short, puckish, middle-aged and middle-class father of four named Dave Rabbit was helping his youngest son, a senior in high school, do homework on the Vietnam War. Although Dave had spent most of his adult life managing a family-owned business that designed and manufactured custom T-shirts and caps, he knew about Vietnam, having served three tours there with the Air Force from 1968 to 1971. But that was 35 years ago and now almost a universe away. The decades since the war had been consumed by the simple pleasures and routine trials of being married, raising children, maintaining a summer house on the Gulf Coast and now watching two grandkids grow up.
His son's homework assignment involved the subject of music and the war, so Dave started Googling "rock 'n' roll" and "radio" and "Vietnam War." Then a very strange thing happened. The all-American dad ran into his former incarnation as wild young renegade. Dave Rabbit, the 57-year-old regular guy, stumbled upon Dave Rabbit the drug-addled, smack-talking, 22-year-old Air Force sergeant who was responsible for one of the strangest stunts in broadcast history. It all went down in 1971, when Dave manned a pirate radio show from the back room of a brothel. He blasted Jimi Hendrix and Steppenwolf, portrayed LBJ as a pervert, talked constantly about smoking pot and having sex with Vietnamese hookers.
Then another strange thing happened. After coming across the old recording of his Vietnam radio show on the Internet, Dave discovered that it had been copied and passed around for decades, first as an 8-track, then a cassette, then as an MP3. Dave Rabbit was a underground cult hero.
The discovery was a revelation for the loquacious Texan granddad, and in a fit of inspiration and perhaps crazy bravado, Dave has decided to resurrect his renegade persona, create a new radio show, and broadcast from a stealth location in Iraq. On Tuesday the reborn pirate DJ flies to the Middle East.
"The show is for the front-line troops searching those houses, putting their lives on the line," Dave says. "We're going to slam the terrorists and those knuckleheads, the idiots with bombs strapped to them. But most of all we want the show to be tremendously funny." Worried about security, Dave prefers not to publicize his real name. He asks to be known only as "Dave Rabbit," the moniker he adopted in Vietnam in homage to the legendary L.A. rock DJ Jimmy Rabbit.
The context of Dave's Vietnam radio show speaks volumes about it. In 1965, Armed Forces Radio, known as American Forces Vietnam Network, experienced a brief shot of iconoclasm in the DJ voice of Adrian Cronauer, later the subject of the Robin Williams movie, "Good Morning, Vietnam." But by 1970, when Dave was on his third tour, Cronauer was long gone. As the lights went down over Vietnam each night, and Charlie crept closer to the wire, the official armed forces radio network was back to playing Dionne Warwick, Glen Campbell and the lobotomized optimism of the official news.
At the time, the U.S. military effort in Vietnam was lost but not yet over. The young American draftees and enlistees were still slogging through menacing jungles, burning down suspected Viet Cong villages, killing or being killed, and coming home horribly maimed. At congressional hearings in Washington, a grim-faced former swift boat lieutenant named John Kerry summed up the mood in one rhetorical question: "How do you ask someone to be the last man to die for a lie?"
Out in the field, some U.S. military units suffered a total collapse of discipline; drug abuse, sabotage, "combat refusals" and "fragging," the murder of officers by their own men, were rampant. The Green Machine -- the mighty U.S. military -- was stalled out in the paddy mud, with no clear way out of Vietnam other than ragged-ass retreat. It was amid this squalid meltdown, and because of it, that Dave launched his show, the sound of psychedelic chaos and youthful fury.
The first show aired at 8 o'clock on New Year's Eve, 1971. Called Radio First Termer, the show was broadcast from a homemade studio that Dave and his friends had constructed in a Saigon whorehouse. They bribed the madam with goods from Air Force supply, like silverware and radios, to keep the room a secret. Dave's friends included "Pete," the engineer, and a female news personality, "Nugyen," who was actually a highly placed administrator in the American Forces Vietnam Network -- the U.S. military's official English-language television and radio network. "She helped, you know, 'monitor' when the heat was getting to be too much," says Dave.
The nightly three-hour show is haunting, heady stuff. One show starts with the languid, dreamy notes of a sitar, over which the sultry voice of Nugyen announces, "The following program is in living color and has been rated X by the Vietnam academy of maggots. The purpose of this program is to bring vital news, information and hard acid rock to the first termers and non-re-enlistees in the Republic of Vietnam. Radio First Termer operates under no Air Force regulations or manuals. In the event of a vice squad raid this program will automatically self-destruct."
Radio First Termer is a mix of skits, jokes, news updates about possible vice raids, and a lot of rock 'n' roll. It has a play list full of now forgotten psychedelic bands like Blood Rock, Cactus and Sugarloaf, along with those we remember, like Hendrix, the Who and Led Zeppelin. Much of show's humor is right out of the locker room. Early on, Dave intones, "Here's the Rabbit philosophy: Pussy is the breakfast of champions." That's one of the more classy asides.
But the show can also be subversive, as when Dave reads "another quickie from the latrine walls around the Republic of Vietnam" over the eerie intro to the mournful Vanilla Fudge cover of "You Keep Me Hanging On." "This joker writes, 'Eighteen days until I can go home to picket and protest this fucking waste of human lives that lifers and the government call a war.'" In another passage, after playing a recording of a sputtering, furious officer, allegedly describing his hatred of Radio First Termer, Dave responds, "Fuck you, sir." He continues: "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Can you believe that's what the base commander thinks of me and my nasty ways. You notice how I emphasized the word 'sir'? The guy's got an inferiority complex."
To stay on the air, which meant overriding the military's own programming, Dave depended on the aid of about a dozen sympathetic technicians at key relay stations of the American Forces Vietnam Network, as well as like-minded friends in the military police. "What are they gonna do," asks Nugyen in one skit, "Send you to Vietnam?" Dave, defiant and mocking, his voice distorted into a crazed frogfish rasp, responds: "Ha ha! Fooled ya, sister -- they already did!"
Radio First Termer lasted 21 days and 63 broadcast hours. "We were at the top of shit list of the Air Force base commander in Saigon, who was dying to shut us down," Dave says. Nevertheless, he planned to continue broadcasting until he learned that his friends in the military police and radio network were also in danger of being disciplined or court-martialed. To protect his buddies, Dave called it quits. He and the crew were so scared of jail that they destroyed all their archives.
As it turned out, an unknown listener had taped and saved one of the Radio First Termer shows. As the years rolled on, the surviving show was copied and recopied, building a considerable following. After Vietnam, Dave experienced one brief close encounter between Mr. Rabbit past and Mr. Rabbit present.
"In 1982, I met a guy at a party in Dallas," says Dave, his Texas accent having thickened a bit since the homogenizing influences of his stint in the Air Force. "He was in the service over in Europe, and we were talking and Vietnam came up, and he says, Did you ever hear of Dave Rabbit? And I said, Well, yeah, I am Dave Rabbit. He asks me to do some of the gags. I did some of the ones I remember, like, 'The sanitation department asks that you don't throw toothpicks in the toilet -- crabs can pole vault!' and I did the Captain Ivan Pansy voice."
The soldier told Dave that tapes of his one surviving Radio First Termer show were still circulating in Europe and were popular at military parties. Later the guy gave Dave a copy of the show. But before long, one of Dave's daughters taped over the program by mistake. "I put in the tape one day and there this teeny-bopper music instead of Radio First Termer," he says. "So I put out ads in the paper and on a billboard. I tried every way to find the guy who'd given me the show, but nothing came of it and I just pretty much forgot about it."
One of Radio First Termer's biggest fans, a 37-year-old lawyer in North Carolina named Will Snyder, had discovered the show in high school through a friend. Once the Internet was able to host audio files, he put digital recordings of the show on the Web. "I think the show captures a sensibility of an important time in history," Snyder says. "With the Web site, I was mostly looking for other recordings, to see if there was more than one remaining show."
Snyder found many fans but no other recordings. "A guy wrote to me saying that he knew of a therapist who had used Radio First Termer to treat posttraumatic stress disorder with some of his Vietnam Veteran patients," he says.
Over the years, weird rumors circulated about who Dave Rabbit was and how Radio First Termer came to be. One theory postulated that Dave Rabbit was really Art Bell, talk radio's king of conspiracy theory and the supernatural.
Bizarrely, Dave didn't know about any of this. After Vietnam, he slowly lost touch with his two collaborators, gave up dreams of a broadcast career, laid off the psychedelics, and buckled down. The news that he had a cult following came as a shock. "I just couldn't believe it. I mean I was just going along with my life, and totally unbeknownst to me there was this parallel universe," he says with exuberance. "Finding those recordings was like a dream come true."
By chance, David Zeiger's documentary, "Sir, No Sir!" -- which celebrates GI antiwar resistance and rebellion in Vietnam -- came out around the same time that Dave stumbled on his underground fan base. Zeiger had used a few sections of audio from the one surviving Radio First Termer show and is adding an interview with Dave as an extra on the DVD issue of the documentary this winter.
Since Dave "came out of the rabbit hole," as he puts it, he has started doing occasional podcasts. So far they have included remixed versions of his old show, interviews with Zeiger and Tim Goodrich of Iraq Veterans Against the War, and one or two rather garrulous and rambling descriptions of vacations with the family. For the most part, they are full weirdness and ribald humor about Preparation H, life in prison, Osama bin Laden, and bizarre rants about things like "goddamned fucking bullshit duty-free shops" that sell booze to tourists knowing that it will be confiscated by security.
His podcasts have been downloaded hundreds of time in various countries, including, Dave says, Lebanon, Libya and China. In countries less than friendly with America, he says, he is paranoid that those offended by his broadcasts might come looking for him, another reason he doesn't want to divulge his real name. On the Web, Dave hangs out on a conspiracy theory Web site called Above Top Secret, where discussants touch on issues ranging from 9/11 to the mysteries of friendly-fire deaths in combat. He is also part of a strange podcasting scene at Podomatic, where online DJs tend to ventilate about subjects from Jesus Christ to penis size to the possibility of a viral outbreak at Area 51.
In heading to Baghdad with press credentials, Dave will be stepping up his radio game to a whole new level. The show will be broadcast live in Iraq, and once Dave is home, it will be podcast worldwide. To pull this off successfully will be an amazing feat, as Baghdad is now in the grips of civil war and a tidal wave of criminal violence.
The new show will involve Dave and two new collaborators. Their identities are also being kept "top secret," but Dave says one of them is "a well-known broadcast personality." The crew will also bring a professional photographer and rely on armed security. They'll stay and operate from a "non-military location," which likely means one of the two fortified hotel complexes where journalists stay.
In the lead-up to the show, Dave is remaining cagey about details, yet describes the new show as a mix of skits and music. Featured personalities will be, of course, Dave Rabbit, his new sidekick Charlie Cooper and a sultry Iraqi woman (she's not really Iraqi) named Nadira.
"We're gonna do some sexist off-color type stuff," says Dave. The crew will also have a studio gofer named Omar bin Fucking. Some of the original Radio First Termer characters will reappear, like Captain Ivan Pansy. "And of course, we'll have the 'base commander,' because that guy is the same wherever you go," says Dave with a chuckle.
There will be messages from the latrine walls around Iraq and some drug humor, but not as much as in the original show. "In Nam, it was a major part of the culture," Dave says. "But we've learned a lot about drugs since the '60s and it's not all pretty. So we not going as heavy on that type of humor."
And what about antiwar politics? "They'll be there, but in a subliminal sense," says Dave, who calls himself apolitical. "I never vote." But get him started about the politics of war and he's soon livid. "How many jobs could you make, or people could you feed, with all that money being used to stir up a civil war in Iraq? The only thing we do by staying there is get more American soldiers killed. It's insanity. I'm really scared about where it's all headed. Nothing is going to stop the fighting. Just like in Vietnam, you can't defeat an enemy that doesn't know the word 'defeat.'"
At the same time, the all-American dad's politics have clearly mellowed since his days in the Saigon brothel, railing against LBJ and Nixon to the sound of the Doors. Now his thoughts are focused on his fellow soldiers, as young as he was in Vietnam. "If I can help them, comfort them just a little, bring home a little bit closer, that's all I aim for," Dave says.
Goooooooooood Morning Iraq
Dave recently sent out an E-Mail announcement with what his show carried for Memorial day weekend 2007, the jist of the E:
Well, after 3 weeks of pre-production and a marathon Memorial Day Week-End interview process, a 5 Show, 14 Artist of 
To The Fallen Records and record producers Sean & Sidney is complete and up on the site.
This has really been a labor of love... because it is about THE TROOPS. It is their words, their thoughts, their music as inspired from the war that they participated in. Hear their personal stories of loss of friends, the inspiration for their music, how they recorded their songs and their personal views about the war. Some of their comments may shock you, some may make you cry. This is not some fluff and, as Sidney and Sean say "It is NOT about politics, It's about THE MUSIC!" That pretty much sums it up.
Although, before I got into this project, I was not really an avid fan of Hip Hop..... after listening to these soldiers songs, feeling the emotions that they went through and have expressed in their music.... there is no other genre in the world that could have done it better.
I think you will enjoy this series of shows.
If you would like to rebroadcast these on your own sites or shows, you are welcome to. This is about promoting the artists and letting the world hear their music.
Dave
Dave Rabbit PodOMatic.com
"You DON'T Have To Support A War To SUPPORT THE TROOPS!
No need for much personal commentary, let The Soldiers speak for themselves in words and song.
Dave Rabbit's To The Fallen Showcase Show 1 Of 5
May 27, 2007
The Rabbit Zone
Featuring The Interviews Of Producers
Sean Gilfillan & Sidney DeMello
And Showcasing The Musical Talents Of
Dirty Boi Vets, Logic & J. DiMarco
Guest Announcer: Charlie Cooper – Radio First Termer Iraq
Click on the title and scroll down the page and hit the 'Play' button to listen in to the show. Or if you would like to download and listen you can do so by Clicking Here.
Dave Rabbit's To The Fallen Showcase Show 2 Of 5
May 28, 2007
The Rabbit Zone
Featuring The Interviews Of Producers
Sean Gilfillan & Sidney DeMello
And Showcasing The Musical Talents Of
Soldier Hard, MC Mafia & Bank-Roll
Guest Announcer: Nadirah – Radio First Termer Iraq
Click on the title and scroll down the page and hit the 'Play' button to listen in to the show. Or if you would like to download and listen you can do so by Clicking Here.
Dave Rabbit's To The Fallen Showcase Show 3 Of 5
May 28, 2007
The Rabbit Zone
Featuring The Interviews Of Producers
Sean Gilfillan & Sidney DeMello
And Showcasing The Musical Talents Of
G.R.E., Talisman & Keise Twerkha
Guest Announcer: Col. Jack Mehoff – Radio First Termer Iraq
Click on the title and scroll down the page and hit the 'Play' button to listen in to the show. Or if you would like to download and listen you can do so by Clicking Here.
Dave Rabbit's To The Fallen Showcase Show 4 Of 5
May 28, 2007
The Rabbit Zone
Featuring The Interviews Of Producers
Sean Gilfillan & Sidney DeMello
And Showcasing The Musical Talents Of
Lexcano, The Lifers & Malakai
Guest Announcer: Derek – Radio First Termer Iraq
Click on the title and scroll down the page and hit the 'Play' button to listen in to the show. Or if you would like to download and listen you can do so by Clicking Here.
Dave Rabbit's To The Fallen Showcase Show 5 Of 5
May 28, 2007
The Rabbit Zone
Featuring The Interviews Of Producers
Sean Gilfillan & Sidney DeMello
And Showcasing The Musical Talents Of
FOX-1 And Syx Synce
Guest Announcer: Corey & Jay And Springer
Click on the title and scroll down the page and hit the 'Play' button to listen in to the show. Or if you would like to download and listen you can do so by Clicking Here.
Once again visit To The Fallen Records.
And no I don't have anything to do with 'To The Fallen Records', frankly just heard about them and the artists with Dave's E, nor with Dave Rabbit and his Dave Rabbit PodOMatic.com show, except to say I was in Vietnam when 'The Rabbit' did his short lived, but very popular, underground radio show out of a whorehouse in Saigon.
In Unprecedented Prosecution Former Marine Fights to Protect Free Speech Rights of Vets
Thursday, 31 May 2007
Former Marine Sergeant Adam Kokesh is embroiled in a conflict that could have major implications for the free speech rights of veterans especially recent Vets who are in the Individual Ready Reserve. Kokesh is facing an administrative hearing for his anti-war activities but recognizing the high stakes the military has offered a plea bargain. In response, Kokesh rejected the offer saying it risks the “free speech rights” of vets and “allow you to silence the voices of those whose experiences are most relevant in the most pressing debate before the nation.” Below this release is his letter to Captain Sibert and Brigadier General Moore, who is the convening authority for the hearing.
Adam Kokesh was deployed to Fallujah and received an honorable discharge last November. Since then, he has become active with the national organization, Iraq Veterans Against the War. After participating in Operation First Casualty, a demonstration at which he wore parts of his utility uniform, he received a warning from Major Whyte, an active duty Marine Corps Major who had been assigned to investigate the incident. After replying with a strongly worded email, the Marine Corps decided to prosecute him and separate him from the IRR with an Other Than Honorable Discharge. He could have ignored the letter of notification, but instead chose to exercise his right to challenge the decision in a hearing.
The implications of this hearing may be far reaching, as the prosecution of a member of the inactive reserves under these circumstances is unprecedented. At stake is the right of freedom of speech for the hundreds of thousands of members of the Inactive Ready Reserve, as well as the nation’s right to get the unbiased truth out of Iraq. Last week, the prosecuting attorney, Captain Sibert, offered Kokesh a general discharge. To accept this would be to allow the Marines to say that members of the IRR do not have freedom of speech, so naturally, he declined.
The hearing will be held on June 4, at the Marine Corps Mobilization Command in Kansas City, MO. Kokesh requested the hearing be held closer to Washington, DC, his current residence and a much more convenient location for the witnesses to the event in question, which happened in Washington, but was denied. He has the right to call witnesses, but has to provide for their transportation.
Adam Kokesh is represented by Mike Lebowitz and Eric Seitz. Mike Lebowitz is a combat veteran of Iraq, having been deployed in 2005-2006 as a paratrooper in the Pathfinder Company of the 101st Airborne Division. Lebowitz currently serves part-time as a JAG officer in the National Guard. He also is an attorney at the Washington, DC-based intellectual property law firm of Greenberg & Lieberman. Mike practices media law, First Amendment and military expression. He previously worked as a journalist and consultant in places such as East Africa and the Middle East. Ph: 202-625-7000, Fx: 202-625-7001, cell: 571-251-1490. Eric Seitz is an attorney engaged in private practice in Honolulu, Hawaii emphasizing civil rights, criminal defense, and military law. Mr. Seitz graduated from Oberlin College in 1966 and received his law degree from Boalt Hall (University of California at Berkeley) in 1969. Among the thousands of military cases in which he has participated Mr. Seitz represented Navy FN Patrick Chenoweth who was acquitted in a general court-martial of sabotage in time of war, Marine Cpl. Jeff Paterson who was the first service member to refuse to deploy during the first Gulf War, and most recently Army 1st Lt. Ehren Watada who refused to deploy to Iraq.
# # #
Dear Captain Sibert and Brigadier General Moore,
As an esteemed US Attorney and a General, you both must have a sense of the potential significance of my separation hearing. The prosecution of a member of the inactive reserve under these circumstances is unprecedented. As citizens, we all have a right to freedom of speech. In the Marines, we often joke that you signed away that freedom, and I understand the necessity for certain restrictions while on active duty. But those who have risked their lives to defend the rights of all Americans have a special claim to those rights when they have completed their service. Is the Marine Corps attempting to strip away those rights from the hundreds of thousands in the inactive reserves?
Maybe that’s not the case. Perhaps I am being singled out because I have become a vocal opponent of the war. Maybe Brigadier General Darrell L. Moore just got upset when he saw a picture of a Marine in the paper disagreeing with him. Maybe that’s when he decided to order Colonel Steve Brown, Deputy Commander of the Mobilization Command to recommend that I be separated with an Other Than Honorable Discharge. Maybe he thought that I would be intimidated by the long letter, the official letterhead, and the threats in official Marine Corps terminology. Maybe he thought that I would just ignore it, and let the Marines “paper-f***” me behind my back. Maybe I would shut up for a while. But let me tell you, you messed with the wrong veteran.
While there may be some purpose of this prosecution in order to maintain the, “good order and discipline” of the inactive reserve, it is clear by its prejudice that it is intended to silence the voices of dissent. Thousands of taxpayers’ dollars are being spent on this case. I love the Marine Corps, and to see it abused for political ends makes me sick. You should all be ashamed to call yourselves Marines.
I joined the Marines out of patriotism. I said that when I enlisted in 1999, before it was cool, and even wrote it as my reason on the form I filled out at the Military Entrance Processing Station. As Thomas Jefferson said, “Dissent is the highest form of patriotism.” Now that I am out of the Marines, I am continuing my patriotic duty by speaking out. It is Marines like you, Brigadier General Moore, and Colonel Brown, who are preventing the American public from hearing the truth about Iraq by intimidating those who would disagree with you from speaking out. If the policies that you support are so righteous, why are you afraid of the truth?
If I accept this “plea bargain,” I would have to allow you to punish me for speaking my mind, allow you to say that it is somehow less than honorable for thousands of IRR Marines to exercise their freedom of speech, allow you to silence the voices of those whose experiences are most relevant in the most pressing debate before the nation, and allow you to say that Thomas Jefferson was wrong. If this is your intent, I would ask to please, kindly, go f*** yourself. I will not allow it.
Semper Fi,
Adam Kokesh, PFC
Proud F***ing Civilian
# # #
Below is the Associated Press article on the case.
# # #
US Marine veteran who wore uniform at war protest rally faces hearing
An Iraq war veteran who was photographed wearing his uniform at a war protest rally will have his discharge status evaluated — and possibly changed — by a military panel.
Marine Cpl. Adam Kokesh and other veterans marked the fourth anniversary of the war in Iraq in April by wearing their uniforms — with military insignia removed — and roaming around the United States capital on a mock patrol.
After Kokesh was identified in a photo cutline in The Washington Post, a superior officer sent him a letter saying he might have violated a rule prohibiting troops from wearing uniforms without authorization.
Kokesh, a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War, responded with an obscenity. A military panel will meet with him Monday to decide whether his response and uniform violation are enough to change his status from honorably discharged to "other than honorable."
"This is clearly a case of selective prosecution and intimidation of veterans who speak out against the war," Kokesh said. "To suggest that while as a veteran you don't have freedom of speech is absurd."
Kokesh said he was not representing the military at the protest in Washington, and he made that clear by removing his name tag and other military insignia from his uniform.
His attorney, Mike Lebowitz, contends that Kokesh technically is a civilian unless recalled to active duty and had the right to be disrespectful in his response to the officer. He called the proceedings against Kokesh highly unusual and noted the military usually seeks to change a veteran's discharge status only if a crime has been committed.
Kokesh is part of the Individual Ready Reserve, a segment of the reserves that consists mainly of those who have left active duty but still have time remaining on their eight-year military obligations.
Lebowitz, said Kokesh's IRR status ends June 18. He said at least three other veterans have been investigated because of their involvement at demonstrations.
Kokesh said he had reservations about Iraq even before the United States invaded, but wanted to go there to help rebuild schools and mosques after Saddam Hussein's regime was toppled. He even learned Arabic.
He said he grew disillusioned with the war during his first tour, and now believes there is no way for the country to achieve the rule of law with a foreign military imposing martial law.
He was supposed to go to Iraq a second time, but was demoted from sergeant to corporal and not allowed to return after he brought back a pistol after his first tour in 2004.
Master Sgt. Ron Spencer confirmed the claims against Kokesh, but he said he could provide few details.
If his discharge status is changed, Kokesh said he could lose some health benefits and be forced to repay about $10,800 (€8,047) he received to obtain his undergraduate degree on the GI Bill.
He said he holds no ill will toward the Marines.
"I love the Marine Corps," he said. "I always have loved the Marine Corps, and that is why I'm particularly offended to see it being used for political ends."
Originally published at IHT.com
Is 'Funding' Really For Troops?
What Happened To Funding and Oversite For Military/Veteran Care In Previous Congresses?
A Tribute to Cindy Sheehan
Camillo “Mac” Bica
They wage preemptive war based on lies and deception against a sovereign nation.
We who advocate peace say such wars are illegal and immoral.
And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.
They chose not to serve or had “other priorities” when their Country called,
and now cavalierly send our children to kill and to die in their war for oil and empire.
We who advocate peace say that if the cause is so important and the threat so grave,
our chickenhawk leaders and their privileged children should be the first to go.
And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.
They send our military into harm’s way unnecessarily, in adequate numbers, with inferior body and vehicle armor, and expose them to harmful levels of depleted uranium.
We who advocate peace say our troops are not cannon fodder and that such leadership is incompetent and indifferent to the needs of our military.
And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.
They deny a pay raise for our troops, cut the budget of the Veterans Administration, offer substandard physical and psychological treatment for our returning wounded and veterans.
We who advocate peace say providing for the needs of our wounded and our veterans are a moral and legal obligation and should be our first priority.
And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.
They refuse to meet and to comfort the families of our fallen heroes, denigrate the memory, sacrifice, and dignity of our soldiers killed in battle by fabricating fantasies of their death and suffering to bolster patriotic support for their unpopular war.
We who advocate peace say that exploiting the deaths of our soldiers and the grief and suffering of their families is unconscionable and depraved.
And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.
They torture detainees in Abu Graib, Guantanamo and “black sites” – secret prisons around the world -- and deny “prisoners” even the most basic right of Habeas Corpus.
We who advocate peace say that such acts increase the risk that our troops will be ill-treated and tortured should they be captured, and violate the United States Constitution and International law.
And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.
They exploit the fear of the American people post 9/11, violate their rights to privacy, misrepresented and now ignore the health effects suffered by First Responders and workers following the attacks on the World Trade Center.
We who advocate peace say such exploitation of a vulnerable citizenry, blatant disregard for their basic human rights, and indifference to the well-being of our First Responders and workers is “Un-American” and a violation of basic human decency.
And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.
They award no bid contracts to favored corporations for personal benefit and to garner support for their corrupt agenda fleecing America of billions of dollars and, in many cases, placing the lives of our citizens (military and civilian) in danger.
We who advocate peace say such war profiteering is an outrage and must be investigated and prosecuted.
And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.
They sat idle as the city of New Orleans and thousands of its inhabitants died while giving further unaccounted for billions of dollars to corporate criminals to salvage what remains for wealthy developers.
We who advocate peace say such indifference to human pain and suffering is criminal and unconscionable.
And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.
They give tax cuts to the wealthy, tax incentives to the profit hungry oil industry that repeatedly enjoy record profits, ignore global warming and the environment, and cut aid to students and to health care.
We who advocate peace say that fattening the corporate coffers and benefiting the affluent at the expense of the poor is anathema and a defilement of American values.
And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.
They waste billions of tax dollars on their illegal and immoral war, mortgaging our country to foreign interests and investors.
We who advocate peace say such “selling of America” is fiscal suicide and threatens the future survival of our beloved nation.
And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.
They disclosed the identity of Valerie Plame, a CIA operative, to “punish” her husband for reporting the Niger uranium-production allegations to be untrue, jeopardizing Plames’ life, the lives of many other operatives she may have worked with in the past, and the CIA’s Counterterrorism operation..
We who advocate peace say that knowingly disclosing the name of an undercover agent is treason and illegal under the Intelligence Identities Protection Act.
And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.
On Memorial Day, they stage Air shows, weapons displays and celebrate the technology of war
all intended to entice other young men and women to die in war.
We who advocate peace say that Memorial Day is not for celebration, or show, or deceptive recruitment, but for grieving and remembering the brave Americans already sacrificed, some unnecessarily, on the field of battle.
And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.
We who advocate peace understand and share Cindy Sheehan’s frustration and dismay with the arrogance, ineptitude, and criminality of the current Administration, the moral and political cowardice of members of Congress, and the lack of outrage, apathy, and indifference of the American people. We thank Cindy for her courage, dedication, personal sacrifice, and commitment to world peace and social justice during a time of profound grief and suffering. We wish her health, personal peace, and happiness. God speed, Cindy Sheehan.
And they say we are unpatriotic, treasonous, and unsupportive of the troops.
First
* Cindy Sheehan, From Grieving Mother to Antiwar Leader *
Peace activist Cindy Sheehan has announced she is stepping back from her
role as a leading campaigner against the Iraq war. We take a look back at
how she helped galvanize the antiwar movement over the past two-and-a-half
years following the death of her son Casey in Iraq.
Listen/Watch/Read
* "We Will Retool...and Come at it from a Different Direction" - Cindy
Sheehan Says She Will Return After Stepping Back as Antiwar Leader *
Cindy Sheehan has been the face of the US antiwar movement for the past two
years. In August 2005, she set up Camp Casey outside President Bush's
Crawford estate in memory of her son Casey, who was killed in Iraq. Now
Cindy says she is stepping back from her role as a leading campaigner
against the Iraq war. In this Democracy Now! special, Cindy Sheehan joins us
for the hour to talk about her decision.
Listen/Watch/Read
And a Letter to Cindy
A Letter To Cindy Sheehan: Darkness Comes Just Before Dawn
By Danny Schechter.
It was sad to read Cindy Sheehan’s letter of “resignation” from the peace movement because she offered so much of herself—despite all the personal pain she suffered from the loss of her son, the breakup of her family, and all the vicious and insensitive attacks on her politics and personhood.
I could feel her frustration and exasperation with Democrats who patronized her only to end up supporting the war in the end. I share her anger at elements of the “peace movement,” which is really a movement in pieces, often marching in lockstep with Congressional Democrats and only paying lip service to the grassroots constituencies and the many who have given and suffered so much to oppose this bloodbath in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Cindy inspired the following she built because she was a genuine convert to activism, an articulate mainstream person who put her body on the line and spoke truth to power with an unmistakable sincerity.
Her honestly and energy contrasted sharply with the agenda-driven caution of those on the Hill and the many organizations that think politics is about raising money online to fund political commercials in the mainstream media or occasionally take symbolic stands.
It was not surprising that she would burn up in anger and burn out in energy.
In some ways, she reminded me of another “indigenous” leader in another movement years back who I was blessed to know: Mrs. Fannie Lou Hamer of Ruleville, Mississippi, a share cropper turned civil rights activists who gave the movement its soul and who ended up, years later, alone, unknown and unappreciated.
Like Cindy, Fanny Lou gave her movement its authenticity and its voice. She is remembered, in part, for saying, “I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
Cindy got sick and tired too, of all the cowardly deal-making and betrayals. She wrote bitterly to Congress and then about herself:
“How can you even go to sleep at night or look at yourselves in a mirror? How do you put behind you the screaming mothers on both sides of the conflict? How does the agony you have created escape you? It will never escape me… I can’t run far enough or hide well enough to get away from it.
By the end of September, we will be about 80 troops short of another bloody milestone: 4000, and MoveOn.org will hold nationwide candlelight vigils and you all will be busy passing legislation that will snuff the lights out of thousands more human beings.”
Personally, I know how she feels. When I made the film, WMD (Weapons of Mass Deception), challenging the media role in the war, many anti-war groups paid lip service to its message and then did little or nothing to promote it. Perhaps that’s why some activists call MoveOn.org “WalkOn.org” when it comes to the issues of media deception or for that matter any issues that also hold Democrats and corporate media institutions accountable.
It is so much easier and emotionally self-righteous to attack easier targets like the Republicans and Bush White House.
Lets face it, the media has not really changed and nor have many Democrats. They believe in convenient truths and don’t recognize the importance of demanding media integrity. Don’t forget that most of the media coverage was hostile to Democrats setting a timeline and many pundits pressured them to relent in the name of pragmatism, patriotism, or getting the pork they wanted for their own districts.
I don’t think Cindy has really resigned from politics. But she is upset and has a right to be. She has lost so much and is also apparently in debt—something this director of the film In Debt We Trust can relate to.
Sometimes I wish I could resign from the media reform movement that I helped organize because it has been so hard for us to get support for MediaChannel.org, our fabulous media and democracy online network now in its 7th year. We will have to close our doors in a month unless we can find the funding to keep our modest operation alive.
Unfortunately, our movement, like many others, has a hard time working together and prefers pricey conferences, “events” and behind the scenes lobbying to mass outreach, education and organizing. Again, it’s predictable to bash Fox News rather than focus on all the biased coverage across the spectrum.
We need help to keep going, even as some of our original backers suffer “funder fatigue,” turning away from supporting long term movement-building work and independent journalism in favor of celebrity-oriented events that get their names in the paper.
Cindy, please don’t leave us—understand that frustration, factionalism, fatalism and infighting is part of the process of dissent and often makes working for peace or media change an ordeal.
You need a long-term perspective and a willingness to fight like a warrior.
Your son Casey perished in one war, please don’t allow yourself to perish in this one. Understand that it is a war, and in wars, you don’t win every battle. The goal has to be—and I say this with love and respect—to live to fight another day. It’s always dark just before the dawn.
The following is a report from the Army Times on Sarin and Gulf War Syndrom
After all this time, from Gulf War I, maybe the thousands that have been suffering, some dying, and children born with deformities, may Finally have some answers and Maybe, just Maybe a Nation that will come to their Aid! {I don't hold my breath on my last statement, as a 'Nam Vet my brothers Still aren't getting the Help they Deserve, from this Nation as to Agent Orange and the other defoliant's used than}.
And lets not even go Near PTSD, or should we, while we have Two Theaters of Operations and Extened tours adding to Multiple tours!
But this is about Sarin and Gulf War I.
Study: Sarin at root of Gulf War syndrome
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Tuesday May 29, 2007
As benefits administrators, officials and politicians argue the worthiness of studies on Gulf War syndrome, researchers say they have no doubts that they’ve found the root of the problem.
Sarin gas.
And they have advice for as many as 300,000 troops exposed to small doses of sarin in 1991: Don’t use bug spray, don’t smoke and don’t drink alcohol.
Makes ones eyes open abit wider, read on:
Research released in early May showed that 13 soldiers exposed to small amounts of sarin gas in the 1991 Gulf War had 5 percent less white brain matter — connective tissue — than soldiers who had not been exposed. A complementary report showed that 140 soldiers who were exposed had the fine motor skills of someone 20 years older — what researchers called a “direct correlation” to exposure.
And what exposed them to the Sarin, why Friendly Fire, their own destructive orders given without thought:
Her study was noteworthy because it was funded by the Veterans Affairs and Defense departments, and used Pentagon data to triangulate the locations of troops who were in the path of a huge sarin plume unleashed when U.S. forces destroyed an Iraqi chemical weapons dump in Khamisiyah in March 1991. The study also used new technology to look at troops’ brains.
I've cut some till this:
She called the study’s findings “overwhelming,” but noted that the VA’s response, once again, was merely: “We’re going to study this.
And some more cutting till this:
The debate over this issue goes back 16 years to when U.S. forces blew up the chemical munitions dump in Khamsiyah and released a plume of sarin gas to which thousands of U.S. troops were exposed — something the Pentagon denied until 1997.
Why that should not surprise anyone who has served say since Korea and many even in WWII, i.e. Atomic Vets!
the Pentagon knew that as many as 300,000 service members had breathed in small doses of the toxic fumes.
“That’s why, in the last few years, you’ve seen all the sarin, depleted uranium and pyridostigmine bromide research,” Sullivan said. “It’s a bittersweet victory because people waited so long.”
Golomb said she found a link between symptoms of Gulf War veterans and their exposure to sarin, pyridostigmine bromide (PB) and bug repellent, all of which overstimulate muscles by inhibiting acetylcholinesterase, a chemical that signals muscles to stop moving. The tongue, being a big muscle, eventually cuts off a person’s ability to breathe if it is overstimulated.
It goes on about 'bug repellent' and pyridostigmine bromide.
Than we come to this, another case of 'Friendly Fire' or more to the point Self Inflicting.
Yet according to the Pentagon, about 250,000 troops were given PB during the Gulf War.
Read the rest of this report at above link.
A list of units exposed to sarin in the 1991 Gulf War can be found at
Distinct Army & Air Force Units in Khamisiyah 2000 Hazard Area March 10-13, 1991
Updated: November 21, 2000
Note: Asterisks (*) behind a unit name indicates Air Force personnel were co-located with the Army unit. There were no U.S. Navy and Marine Corps (USMC) units located within the hazard area.
Component Key: Active = Active Army Units
ARNG = Army National Guard
USAR = U.S. Army Reserve
Status Key: Both = Unit in 1997 and 2000 Hazard Area
2000 = Added in 2000
The list of Units is by State at the site, as I'm in North Carolina I'll post those up, but others just click on link and scroll to your states units in which you might have served or known someone who did.
North Carolina
Active Company B, 50th Signal Battalion Both
Active 129th Adjutant General Company - Postal Both
Active Company A, 313th Military Intelligence Battalion Both
Active Company C, 313th Military Intelligence Battalion Both
Active 21st Chemical Company Both
Active Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 82nd Airborne Division * Both
Active 82nd Military Police Company Airborne Division Both
Active Company A, 82nd Signal Battalion Both
Active Company B, 82nd Signal Battalion Both
Active Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 82nd Signal Battalion Airborne Both
Active Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division (504th PIR) Both
Active Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 2d Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division (325th AIR) Both
Active Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 3d Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division (505th PIR) Both
Active Headquarters & Headquarters Battery, 82nd Division Artillery Both
Active Company A, 307th Engineer Battalion Both
Active Company C, 307th Engineer Battalion Both
Active Company C, 307th Medical Battalion Both
Active Battery A, 1st Battalion, 319th Field Artillery Both
Active Battery B, 1st Battalion, 319th Field Artillery 2000
Active Battery C, 1st Battalion, 319th Field Artillery 2000
Active Headquarters, Headquarters & Service Battery, 1st Battalion, 319th Field Artillery 2000
Active Company A, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company B, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company C, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company D, 1st Battalion, 504th Infantry Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company A, 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company B, 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company C, 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company D, 2nd Battalion, 504th Infantry Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company A, 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company B, 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company C, 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company D, 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 1st Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company A, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
North Carolina (Continued)
Active Company B, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company C, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company D, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company A, 3rd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company B, 3rd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company C, 3rd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company D, 3rd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company B, 782nd Combat Support Battalion Both
Active Company C, 782nd Combat Support Battalion Both
Active Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 18th Airborne Corps * Both
Active Battery A, 2nd Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Both
Active Battery B, 2nd Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Both
Active Battery C, 2nd Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Both
Active Headquarters & Headquarters Battery, 2nd Battalion, 52nd Air Defense Artillery Both
Active 100th Engineer Company 2000
Active 107th Finance Services Unit Both
Active 5th Medical Hospital MASH Both
Active 32nd Medical - MEDSOM Both
Active 714th Medical Detachment 2000
Active 257th Medical Detachment - Dental Both
Active Company C, 519th Military Intelligence Battalion EW Both
Active 18th Finance Group - Airborne Both
Active 546th Transportation Company Both
Active 9th Psychological Operations Battalion Both
Active 82nd Airborne Division Band Both
Active 10th Military Police Detachment 2000
Active Company A, 528th Special Forces Battalion Both
Active Company B, 528th Special Forces Battalion Both
Active Company C, 528th Special Forces Battalion Both
Active Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 528th Special Forces Battalion Both
Active 330th Transportation Center, Movement Control, COSCOM Both
Active 514th Signal Company Both
Active 36th Medical Company Both
Active 259th Combat Support Company Both
Active Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 46th Combat Support Both
North Carolina (Continued)
Active Company C, 426th Signal Battalion Both
Active 188th Ordnance Company Both
Active 945th Medical Detachment 2000
Active 6th Psychological Operations Battalion 2000
Active 16th Military Police Brigade Both
Active Company A , 37th Engineer Battalion Both
Active Company B, 37th Engineer Battalion Both
Active Company C, 37th Engineer Battalion Both
Active Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 37th Engineer Battalion Both
Active Company A, 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces ODA 572 2000
Active Company B, 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces ODA 585 2000
Active Company C, 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces ODA 593 2000
Active Company D, 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces ODB 590 2000
Active Headquarters, 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces C Detachment 2000
Active Battery A, 3rd Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Both
Active Battery B, 3rd Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Both
Active Battery C, 3rd Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Both
Active Headquarters & Headquarters Battery, 3rd Battalion, 4th Air Defense Artillery Both
Active Company B, 3rd Battalion, 73rd Armored Both
Active Company B, 407th Combat Support Battalion Both
Active Company C, 407th Combat Support Battalion Both
Active Company A, 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company B, 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company C, 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Company D, 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment Both
Active 94th Psychological Operations Company 2000
Active Company C, 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces ODB 330 2000
Active Company C, 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces ODA 331 2000
Active Company C, 1st Battalion, 3rd Special Forces ODA 333 2000
Active Company A, 112th Signal Battalion 2000
Active Company B, 112th Signal Battalion 2000
Active Headquarters & Headquarters Detachment, 112th Signal Battalion 2000
ARNG 121st Transportation Detachment Both
USAR 385th Transportation Detachment 2000
USAR 227th Transportation Company 2000
USAR 431st Quartermaster Detachment Both
USAR Headquarters & Headquarters Company, 171st Combat Support Both
Just Remember....
If you were paying attention, much of this was already suspected, and not just as 'Gulf War Syndrom' in Military Troops.
A number of NGO's were working in Iraq, on a number of causes during the Sanctions, most Important were the Health Care NGO's.
This foolish destruction at the chemical munitions dump in Khamsiyah, with absolutely no thought of the consequences, unleased the Poisons into the air of That Country and Region, now once again ask the 9/11 question "Why Do They Hate Us?", answer: just one of Many, going back Decades, of the Stupidity of the U.S. Foreign Policies!!
Think any NGO's will be welcome back into country after the recent Debacle?
Please sign this petition to Cindy, in Honor of her son Casey and Her Show Of A True Mothers Love For Her Son, Lost In The 'War Of Choice' of Iraq!!
To: Everyone
Thank you Cindy for all you have done to bring peace & justice to this world!
When your son Casey was killed in the illegal Iraq War you took a strong stand to bring it to an end. You actually camped outside of Bush's house & jump started the whole movement. We organized Camp Casey's all across the country in support of your courageous action.
We support you in whatever decision you make regarding the "peace movement" but we want you to know we love you and appreciate everything you have done!
You have been a tremendous inspiration to everyone truly seeking a world of peace with justice.
You are a real American hero!
Sincerely,
Visit This Link To Add Your Signature
**********
On Wednesday, Cindy Sheehan will join us, Democracy Now, for an exclusive interview to talk
about her decision to step down from her role as a leading campaigner
against the Iraq war. She made the announcement in a letter
At Daily Kos released on
Memorial Day. Cindy set up Camp Casey outside President Bush's Crawford
estate in August 2005 in memory of her son Casey, who was killed in Iraq in
2004. If you have any suggested questions for Cindy, please email them to
Ask Cindy.
Memorial Day 2007
As of today, 5-27-07, there have been 3,730 coalition deaths -- 3,454 Americans in Iraq and 575 coalition deaths -- 386 Americans in Afganistan!Or This Player
Online Videos by Veoh.comThis 'Arlington Memorial' tribute was spearheaded by Summer Lipford, an Iredell County mother whose son, Army PFC Steven Sirko, died in 2005 while serving in Iraq. And was erected in Mac Anderson Park in Statesville NC, not far from where Steve was laid to rest at Statesville's Oakwood Cemetery.
U.S. Army Pfc. Steven Sirko
The photo's are of the many who helped, Stevens family members to friends to volunteers, from the assembly of the crosses, to the ‘Prayer and Peace’ Vigil on 5-26-07 which were also held on the 27th and Memorial Day the 28th 2007.
Summer Lipford
Laurie Sirko (L) comforts her mother Summer Lipford, next to a pair of military boots bearing the name of her son, U.S. Army Pfc. Steven Sirko, during the "Eyes Wide Open: The Human cost of War" exhibition on the National Mall, May 12, 2006, in Washington, D.C.
The tributes intent is a visual, of 'Honor', to those who have fallen, the sheer number already. To also bring to ones mind the families left behind and the many innocents of the countries of both theaters of operation! Those who are Truely Sacrificing!
Anyone interested in displaying the Arlington South crosses, can email organizers at Statesville Memorial
The first song is by Eric Lynn and called 'Just Like 1984'. You can visit Eric's Myspace Site to find out more about him and to hear some more of his songs.
The second song is by a new friend and veteran Tom Chelston called 'I Miss You'. You can find out more about Tom, who is a six year veteran of the USMC and USN as an infantry medic serving with the 1st Marine Division and 3rd Marine Division, at TomSongs. He has a number of other songs as well as video presentations at the site, and more.
A few News Reports and Articles about the Memorial:
‘Arlington Cemetery of the South’ in Statesville
Field of crosses honors fallen troops
'Arlington South' growing in Statesville
Mini-Arlington remembrances spring up in other cities
Mother of fallen soldier organizes peace vigil
Holiday displays to depict war dead
Deaths since last Memorial Day speak to shifting strategy, rising dangers
BAGHDAD - Americans have opened nearly 1,000 new graves to bury U.S. troops killed in Iraq since Memorial Day a year ago. The figure is telling — and expected to rise in coming months.
In the period from Memorial Day 2006 through Saturday, 980 soldiers and Marines died in Iraq, compared to 807 deaths in the previous year. And with the Baghdad security operation now 3½ months old, even President Bush has predicted a difficult summer for U.S. forces.
“It could be a bloody — it could be a very difficult August,” he said last week.
U.S. commander Gen. David Petraeus on Saturday acknowledged the increase in casualties as a result of the American surge in forces to regain control of Baghdad.
“We’re doing heavy fighting. This is a fight. There’s a war on out there,” he told reporters at al-Asad Airbase in western Iraq.
Michael O’Hanlon, a military analyst with the Brookings Institution and a consultant to the bipartisan Iraq Study Group, said the increased casualties were a result of the security operation.
Michael McConnell looks at one of more than 3,400 pairs of combat boots, one pair for every U.S. soldier killed in the Iraq war, displayed as part of the "Eyes Wide Open" anti-war exhibition in Chicago on Friday.
Danger at every turn
Thousands more American soldiers are patrolling the streets and living in isolated outposts across Baghdad, leaving them more vulnerable to attack. He also said the increase in raids on extremist Shiite militiamen had brought a wave of retaliatory attacks.
“We’re out there on the streets a lot more. There are more patrols going on every day, so we’re more open to attacks,” O’Hanlon said.
Stephen Biddle, a military expert at the Council on Foreign Relations and a member of a group that spent weeks in Iraq assessing the situation for Petraeus and U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker, agreed that more American deaths were likely.
Dan Dowling, a Vietnam war veteran, pauses while viewing a memorial made of military boots, a tribute to the nearly 3,500 servicemen killed in Iraq May 24, 2007 in Chicago, Illinois. The boots, one pair for each serviceman killed, are part of a traveling memorial created by American Friends Service Committee to draw attention to the wars human cost. The display of boots will remain in place in Chicago's Grant Park through the Memorial Day weekend.
May among the deadliest of months
“The biggest change in their (insurgent and militia) tactics is that they’ve changed to exploit the vulnerabilities we’ve opened ourselves up to. They see a new, small American base in their neighborhood, three blocks away, and they’re going to car bomb it,” said Biddle.
“We’re going to see a spike in the short term,” said Biddle. “But the likelihood is that in six months we’ll see a drop in casualties as these areas become more secure. The problem is, what about the rest of the country?”
