Winter Soldier - Video's

From The Real News Network

Winter Soldier: Adam Kokesh
Kokesh: On rules of engagement



Winter Soldier: Steve Mortillo
Mortillo: War distorts soldiers' humanity



Winter Soldiers: Clifton Hicks and Steven Casey
Hicks and Casey: Indiscriminate killings in Iraq

Winter Soldier 2008 - News Reports

And so from the spectre of the summer soldier who shrinks from the hard truths and his country's crises, comes the Winter Soldier who will not look away.

As September 11th happened this country went into shock quickly reverting to a want for revenge and retaliation. Quickly ridding ourselves of the apathy of what had already been occurring for years, Criminal Terrorism, here but mostly abroad, targetting U.S. Interests, Civilians, and Allies. We went after an obscure group, and it's leader, known as al Qaeda, as well as those harbering the Taliban, in Afganistan, we're still there, and not doing what we promised once we rid that country of the Taliban, Re-Building to help that country come back from years of Warring much of it Supplied, the Afgan/Soviet Conflict, by us. It's leader bin Laden still roams, al Qaeda has grown more World Wide than before, Why? because those that gain Wealth and Power from War saw their chance to replace the long running, so called, Cold War, Perpetual War, Long Running and Extremely Profitable. So they sent our military to invade an Innocent Country, Iraq, to take done a once Allie, who we installed, welcomed, supported, for years paid, and supplied with the needed military ordinance, and more, to sustain his dictatorship over it's people. We carry and Support, in our stable, a number of Dictators, we always have, reason many Hate Us!



Joplin Independent


Speaking out against war

A soldier has one paramount concern: coming back alive. But what happens when he or she does return but with a conscience wracked by guilt?

As one soldier said, he didn't want violence to conquer him and that he was at Winter Soldier 2008 as a way to deal with it.

where rules of engagement were changed to suit the need for retaliation by soldiers, some psychologically challenged by having to serve on a third tour of duty and, of course the overriding concern: to bring each other home alive.

And "Wave the flag. Let someone else fight your battles" was a message to the American people who've supported the war.

Visit War Comes Home to Replay previous testimony and opening statements and to listen to todays testimony. Someone asked about Transcripts yesterday, as they have hearing problems, Transcripts are now up at this site as well.

Visit IVAW - Iraq Veterans Against The War to Watch, online, and get further information. Should warn, this site was on Overload yesterday so you couldn't reach it.

We gave to the innocent of Iraq a Thousand 9/11's starting with 'Shock and Awe', not planes flying out of the sky's, but bombs dropped from planes, rockets from bases and ships, and thousands in a Military of the move of Invasion, Tons of Ordinance of WMD's and Destruct we did, five years later We're Still There as a Hated Occupation Force trying to Dictate to the people of Iraq how they should live and the Political Ideology we want to force on them as well as Religious Ideology!

Speaking of Religion, we went from Revenge towards an Obscure Group of partly Religious Fanatisism to Condemning and Waging War on a Whole Religious Ideology, Islam, and all that believe and follow that religion that most don't understand nor want to.

The People of Iraq are Living Their 9/11, 24/7, now for Five Long Years!

And some can't understand why they have growing Rage and Hatred seeking Revenge and Retaliation, those that can't understand that others are no differant than us seek some sort of Victory, something they can't define but desperately want, as the Numbers Of Killed and Maimed continuely rise, on all sides, with the Innocent Suffering The Most, they always do!


AlterNet


Who Supports the Troops?

If I were a far better writer, I might -- might -- be able to convey the intensity of these Winter Soldier hearings.

On the way in were a few dozen right-wing protesters organized by the "Gathering of Eagles" -- a spin-off from the "Vietnam Vets for Truth" started during the 2004 campaign to go after Kerry. I've seen them at antiwar protests, and what struck me was that their messages were unchanged -- 'support the troops.' The concept that those giving testimony inside were the troops -- several with chests weighed down with decorations and metals -- was the definition of cognitive dissonance.

I have a question for "Gathering of Eagles", and the other groups using political ideology to define, as a matter of fact Thousands of us Veterans wonder the same thing, "if you "Support The Troops" why is it that you carry Nothing on your Sites, nor in your Rethoric, about the Rage you should be feeling about All the reports, finally coming forward, as to the Care of these Same Troops when they Return or are Re-Deployed or Discharged?"!!!

Visit War Comes Home to Replay previous testimony and opening statements and to listen to todays testimony. Someone asked about Transcripts yesterday, as they have hearing problems, Transcripts are now up at this site as well.

Visit IVAW - Iraq Veterans Against The War to Watch, online, and get further information. Should warn, this site was on Overload yesterday so you couldn't reach it.




Uruknet.info, Italy

"We Reacted Out of Fear, and With Total Destruction"

"We were driving in Baghdad one day and found a dead body on the side of the road," Viges said. "We pulled over to secure the area and my friends jumped off and started taking pictures with it, smiling. They asked me if I wanted to join them and I said no, but not because it was unethical, but because it wasn't my kill. Because you shouldn't take trophies with those you didn't kill. I wasn't upset this man was dead, but just that they shouldn't be taking credit for something they didn't do. But that's war."

"We're disrupting the lives of our veterans with this occupation, not only the lives of Iraqis. If a foreign occupying force came here to the U.S., do you not think that every person that has a shotgun would not come out of the hills and fight for their right for self-determination?"

“Five Years Too Many”

Visit War Comes Home to Replay previous testimony and opening statements and to listen to todays testimony. Someone asked about Transcripts yesterday, as they have hearing problems, Transcripts are now up at this site as well.

Visit IVAW - Iraq Veterans Against The War to Watch, online, and get further information. Should warn, this site was on Overload yesterday so you couldn't reach it.


Watertown Daily Times

Former 10th corporal speaks out against war
Event in Maryland attracts dozens who participated in U.S. mission in Iraq

Philip Aliff isn't afraid to admit he was in the Army for the money. But even that — his salary, a $7,000 signing bonus and money for college — wasn't worth what he learned in Iraq.

Mr. Aliff, who was with the 10th Mountain Division's 1st Brigade Combat Team from Fort Drum, said the situation was far more violent than the rebuilding effort commanders advertised or were prepared to handle.
The result, he said, were contradictory messages for Iraqi civilians as U.S. forces arrested scores of fighting-age men on flimsy suspicion of wrongdoing, only to let them go a few days later.
"We'd hand kids soccer balls," said Mr. Aliff, whose duties included daily combat patrols in Abu Ghraib City and, later, the more violent area near Fallujah in 2005. "They'd see us on the one hand giving them things, and on the other hand arresting their families."

"My service in the military has been the greatest honor in my life," said Luis Montalvan, who left the Army as a captain with 17 years of experience and said he suffers post-traumatic stress syndrome. He wore his Army medals at a press conference Thursday, ahead of the event.

One of the many lessons Not Learned from Vietnam, Winning Hearts and Minds, no matter how much Good might be done It's Quickly wiped off the slate of Good Feelings and Intentions when there are Killings and Maimings, Homes Destroyed, and Occupation Dictates!

Visit War Comes Home to Replay previous testimony and opening statements and to listen to todays testimony. Someone asked about Transcripts yesterday, as they have hearing problems, Transcripts are now up at this site as well.

Visit IVAW - Iraq Veterans Against The War to Watch, online, and get further information. Should warn, this site was on Overload yesterday so you couldn't reach it.


The Daily Star, Oneonta

Listen to our soldiers speak-In LTE March 15th

Politicians have constantly changed the rationale for our being there, and media images avoid tough realities of what that war is actually like.

"This is a moment when veterans won't let anyone else speak for us. We hear from the pundits, we hear from the politicians, ... (but) ... We're the ones who can bring out the cruelties and dehumanization in U.S. foreign policy."

Visit War Comes Home to Replay previous testimony and opening statements and to listen to todays testimony. Someone asked about Transcripts yesterday, as they have hearing problems, Transcripts are now up at this site as well.

Visit IVAW - Iraq Veterans Against The War to Watch, online, and get further information. Should warn, this site was on Overload yesterday so you couldn't reach it.


Washington Post

War Stories Echo an Earlier Winter

Grim-faced and sorrowful, former soldiers and Marines sat before an audience of several hundred yesterday in Silver Spring and shared their recollections of their service in Iraq.

The stories spilled out, sometimes haltingly, sometimes in a rush: soldiers firing indiscriminately on Iraqi vehicles, an apartment building filled with Iraqi families devastated by an American gunship. Some descriptions were agonized, some vague; others offered specific dates and locations. All were recorded and streamed live to the Web.

For some of the veterans speaking yesterday, the experience was catharsis.

Visit War Comes Home to Replay previous testimony and opening statements and to listen to todays testimony. Someone asked about Transcripts yesterday, as they have hearing problems, Transcripts are now up at this site as well.

Visit IVAW - Iraq Veterans Against The War to Watch, online, and get further information. Should warn, this site was on Overload yesterday so you couldn't reach it.


Video - Iraq Veterans Speak Out On Both Sides of War

"I'm sorry for the hate and destruction I've inflicted upon innocent people," Turner said. "Until people hear about what is happening in this war, it will continue."

Part of the original, and now the present, Winter Soldier, is to voice the understanding, to those Invaded, of what has happened and how one now realizes what they have forced on others, the Death, the Destruction, and the Degradation and seek forgiveness!

After the first 'Winter Soldier', and once the conflict in Vietnam ended and it was safe to reenter the country, long before their government was recognized by the U.S., many Vietnam Veterans traveled to and started working with the Vietnamesse to help Right the Wrong, they Still Do!

Visit War Comes Home to Replay previous testimony and opening statements and to listen to todays testimony. Someone asked about Transcripts yesterday, as they have hearing problems, Transcripts are now up at this site as well.
Visit IVAW - Iraq Veterans Against The War to Watch, online, and get further information. Should warn, this site was on Overload yesterday so you couldn't reach it.


Stars and Stripes

Veterans groups offer different views of conflict

A pair of veterans groups on opposite sides of the country this week are offering drastically different views of the war in Iraq and the future of U.S. troops there.

In Washington on Thursday, Iraq Veterans Against the War launched its four-day Winter Soldier event, which organizers promise will show evidence of systemic war crimes, war profiteering and mismanaged strategy that has cost troops’ lives.

In San Diego on Friday, Vets for Freedom launched a month- long, 22-city tour to highlight stories of heroism from Iraq, and to encourage communities to continue their support of the mission overseas.

To 'Vets for Freedom', read above on 'Winning Hearts and Minds', and same Question as asked to 'Gathering of Eagles'!

Visit War Comes Home to Replay previous testimony and opening statements and to listen to todays testimony. Someone asked about Transcripts yesterday, as they have hearing problems, Transcripts are now up at this site as well.
Visit IVAW - Iraq Veterans Against The War to Watch, online, and get further information. Should warn, this site was on Overload yesterday so you couldn't reach it.

Winter Soldier - With Video's

Thomas Paine
These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country; but he that stands it now, deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like hell, is not easily conquered; yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph. What we obtain too cheap, we esteem too lightly: it is dearness only that gives every thing its value.
—Published on 23 December 1776

Hundreds of veterans and active-duty soldiers of the Iraq and Afghanistan
wars are gathered in Washington DC, from yesterday 3-13-08, to sunday 3-16-08, for the Winter Soldier hearings. The soldiers plan
to give eyewitness accounts of the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Organized by Iraq Veterans Against the War, the gathering is modeled after
the 1971 Winter Solider hearings organized by the Vietnam Veterans Against
the War.

The soldiers plan to give eyewitness accounts of the occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

That is what 'Winter Soldier' is all about, Eyewitness Account to War, especially Wars of Choice!

It's about testimony of the policies of conflict, and war, under orders from the civilian and military leadership, as perceived by the individual recipients of those orders, the Military Personal!

For those not paying attention, and according to a recent survey 72% of you aren't really concerned with the Conflicts in Iraq and Afganistan in your busy lives, you can visit War comes Home and listen to the individual testimonies of those you sent into the Invasions and Occupations, especially Iraq, and Start Paying Attention!

They are posting up the testimonies right after they happen. So when you visit the link you'll see the most recent, or next, at the top. Click on the page numbers, at the bottom, to follow each individual testimony, from the opening statements back to today. The ones that have been loaded onto the site you'll find a player under each, you can click on these to listen to that individuals testimony.

Some of those who testitfied yesterday, 3-13-08, and are testifying today, 3-14-08:

Iraq Veterans Against the War's Kelly Dougherty's Opening Statement at Winter Soldier 2008
The Executive Director of Iraq Veterans Against the War, Kelly Dougherty, gives the opening remarks at Winter Soldier 2008. She speaks about how Iraq Veterans Against the War has grown from a small organization in 2004 to a larger force with more than 800 members -- 200 of whom are in attendance this weekend in Washington, DC.

Barry Romo of VVAW's Opening Remarks at Winter Soldier 2008
Barry Romo of Vietnam Veterans Against the War's emotional opening remarks on the 1971 Winter Soldier gathering Detroit Michigan and what it means of this weekend's gathering.

Hart Viges
Testimony from the March 14, 2008 Rules of Engagement, Part One Panel. Hart Viges joined the Army after September 11th 2001 and was shipped out to Iraq from Febuary 2003 until January 2004. He says that while he was stationed in Iraq he "saw the beauty of the land and the people." When he returned to the US, he filed for Concientious Objector and recieved my Honorable Discharge. Now he works with the GI RIGHTS HOTLINE and goes into High Schools to talk to kids on a weekly basis. He lives in Austin, Texas.

Jesse Hamilton
Testimony from the March 14, 2008 Rules of Engagement, Part One Panel. Former US Army Staff Sergeant Jesse Hamilton has received the Bronze Star and the Army Commendation Medal. His grandfather was a sergeant in World War I, his great-great-grandfather served in the Civil War and his great-great-great grandfather served in the war of 1812. He lives in New Jersey.

Adam Kokesh: Testimonial and Bio
Testimony from the March 14, 2008 Rules of Engagement, Part One Panel. Former Marine Corps Sergeant Adam Kokesh served in a Civil Affairs Group in Iraq’s Western Anbar Province from February to September 2004. Since his return from Iraq, Kokesh has become a leading activist with Iraq Veterans Against the War. He was arrested for disrupting General Patreaus’ testimony before Congress last September.

Jason Hurd: Testimonial and Bio
Testimony from the March 14, 2008 Rules of Engagement, Part One Panel.

Eric Estenzo: Testimonial and Bio
From the March 14, 2008 "Crisis in Veteran's Healthcare" panel. Eric Estenzo is a Marine Corps Reservist who served in the initial invasion of Iraq. He hurt his back in Iraq and when he returned home in the US he ended up in line for food at a shelter for homeless veterans. He's also an artist.

Adrienne Kinne: Testimonial and Bio
From the March 14, 2008 "Crisis in Veteran's Healthcare" panel. Adrienne Kinne served in the US Army and Army Reserves from 1994 through 2004 as an Arabic linguist in military intelligence. She was activated in the Reserves for two years following the events of 9/11 and served stateside in direct support of operations in Iraq and Afghanistan as a voice interceptor. She now works in the Department of Veterans Affairs as a health science specialist (psychology) and as the New England Regional Coordinator for Iraq Veterans Against the War. She lives in Vermont.

Kevin Lucey: Testimonial and Bio
From the March 14, 2008 "Crisis in Veteran's Healthcare" panel. Joyce and Kevin Lucey are the parents of Corporal Jeffrey Lucey, who
killed himself on June 22nd, 2003 after returning from a tour in Iraq.
Joyce and Kevin Lucey are currently suing the Department of Veterans
affairs arguing the VA was negligent in caring for their son. A VA
Inspector General’s Report notes VA officials turned Jeffrey Lucey a
few days before he took his own life.

Euegene Martin: Testimonial and Bio
From the March 14, 2008 "Crisis in Veteran's Healthcare" panel. Euegene Martin is a labor organizer with the American Federation of Government Employees.

Kelly Dougherty: Testimonial and Bio
Kelly Doughrety is Executive Director of Iraq Veterans Against the War. An eight-year veteran of the Colorado Nat. Guard, she served as both a medic and in the military police. She was deployed both to the Balkans and to Iraq.

Winter Soldier - Testimony About Military Contractors
The testimony today has been so riviting that I just pulled away to write to you. There are people listening from London, Japan, germany, Italy, France, Costa Rica, and Canada as well as all over the US. We've received emails from all over the country. If your local Pacifica affliliate isn't carrying the coverage, you can stream the broadcast all weekend at warcomeshome.org or kpfa.org. I've received many emails that the mainstream press has ignored this. If you come across an interesting news article or tv report, post it here.
By the way, we're posting audio from those testifying and some background about the people. You can listen to this later - it's archived and available as soon as we can post it.

Captain Luis Montalvan: Testimonial and Bio
Former US Army Captain Luis Montalvan served two tours in Iraq. Before joining the officer corps in 2003, Montalván spent over a decade as a communications specialist, military policeman and infantryman in the enlisted ranks, having joined the U.S. Army on his 17th birthday in 1990. He personally witnessed the September 11th attacks in New York. He currently lives in Brooklyn.

Antonia Juhasz: Testimonial and Bio
Antonia Juhasz is a Tarbell Fellow, Oil Change International and a
Visiting Scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies. She is author of
The Bush Agenda: Invading the World, One Economy at a Time

Jeremy Scahill: Testimonial and Bio
Jeremy Scahill is an American investigative journalist. He serves as a correspondent for the U.S. radio and TV program Democracy Now! He is a Puffin Foundation Writing Fellow at The Nation Institute, and a frequent contributor to The Nation magazine.

Vincent Emanuele: Testimonial and Bio
Vincent Emanuele served in the Marine Corps in Iraq in the Spring of 2003 and again in the winter of 2004-2005. He turned against the war because of the poor condition of the military equipment used by American soldiers in the war-zone.

Rules of Engagement, when an occupying military starts making up their own it creates the tragic deaths and maimings of the innocent, in an Insurgent/Guerilla War the Support of the Populace is the only reason it can continue, the more tragic events to the innocent the more Support to their fellow citizens trying to rid their country of the invaders and occupiers!

Visit War Comes Home to listen to these testimonies, and find much more.

After the first Winter Soldier Testimony of 1971 those who gave testimony were condemned as were those who organized it and especially the spokesperson for VVAW and the 'Winter Soldiers', and still are today.

Those who were actually Veterans and Veterans of Vietnam knew full well what happened during that Conflict. The DoD and Administration, of that time, choose not to investigate fully the testimonies, nor did anyone who were with those soldiers come forward to dispute their testimonies. Yet there are some who would rather Re-Write the History than Admit that Vietnam was an Atrocity of major proportions and an ugly destructive stain on our History, that still exists in this Nation.

The Country, as one, stated we would learn the lessons of and not Repeat, We Are Now Repeating and this 'War On Terrorism', going through Afganistan and especially Iraq, are going to be much worse than Vietnam, for the Hatreds we made will Haught this Nation for Decades!

As Was Just Spoken, "The Problem Is The Occupation!!!"

Wars of Choice are an Atrocity

**********

Catherine Fenton: Winter Soldiers

On August 25, 2004, Carlos Arredondo's son, Alexander, would die there.

And so from the spectre of the summer soldier who shrinks from the hard truths and his country's crises, comes the Winter Soldier who will not look away.

**********

Winter Soldier Testimonials

"They are monsters and devils wearing human clothes,"

They Didn't Hate Us Before!

Just One Of Tens of Thousands, NOW!!

Um Saad, a middle-aged woman living in the Sunni district of Khadra in west Baghdad, blames the Americans for the death of her husband and two of her sons and threatens revenge.

We Invaded
Based on Lies and Cherrypicked Intelligence!

We Occupy

One of the reason given, Saddam was Evil and he Tortured, he was all ours for years! We installed him, we welcomed him, we supported him, and We All Know Now, We Torture, just like Saddam, even in his old prisons!

"One day I will put on an explosive belt under my clothes and then blow myself up among the Americans. I will get revenge against them for my husband and sons and I will go to paradise."

As long as We Stay we are Responsible

Everything that happens within a Country we destroyed, and Occupy, driven Millions from their homes, killed and maimed untold numbers of Innocent Human Beings, We Are Responsible!

Not just the military we sent, But this Entire Nation!

The misery of people like Um Saad is the cumulative result of years of war. Dressed in dark robes, sitting in the bare sitting room of her modest house in al-Khadra, this 49-year-old woman tells how her family was slowly destroyed.

Bereaved Iraqi mother vows revenge on US

As you Don't Think about what we've done, the Conflict in Iraq, along with the rest of of the 72% that don't care about the Military personal Killed, 3,987 you probably won't care about the Hatreds we've created on a people that most certainly didn't do a Damn Thing to deserve these past Five Years we've given them!!

Still think there might be waves and waves of Flowers for us, for our Victory, Think Again

Place yourself, especially your Children, in place of the Iraqi's, How Would You Feel and What Would You Do!!

Mission Accomplished

The Responsibility

Now, is for All the Deaths and Destruction!!

The Responsibility, long into the Future, is to Finance the Rebuilding of what We've Destroyed, Lives and a Country!!

What This Country Has Brought On Itself!

An Update to my post from last night, I also expect a Video report following a local TV Stations nightly news from the area, with the family press conferance.

Body identified as former Marine Hall
(Last updated: March 12, 2008 11:14 AM)

The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office has notified Eric Hall’s family this morning that the remains found in a culvert Sunday was the former Marine.

A detective from the agency notified the family at 10 a.m. and relayed the cause of death has not been determined.

Becky Hall, Eric’s mother, plans a press conference at noon.

The family scheduled a military memorial service at noon Thursday at the Faith Lutheran Church, 4005 Palm Drive, Punta Gorda.

I certainly hope this Country is out of it's collective Denial, about Vietnam, and it's Apathy as to this World we live in, much of it created by our past policies and now the present, for the Future is Here!

What is happening now, as to these Conflicts Of Choice, the Choice to invade Iraq, based on Lies and cherrypicked intelligence, and to walk away from Afganistan, once again, not fullfilling our promises, once again, not only as to bin Laden but putting the resources necessary to help this country that has long suffered the ravages of invasion and occupation, which after helping the Afgan's, bin Laden included, in the Soviet Invasion we up and walked away from the promises made than!

No one knows what may be coming from the rise of Hatreds we have created, the tens of thousands of Iraqi's killed and maimed, the country destroyed, the torturing of others {and don't tell me we've only done it three times, That's BullShit!}, the Millions Displaced........................................................................................!!

But we also better be prepared, and Pay the Cost of, as well as have an Understanding, of what we have created in some who we've sent into another 'Hell On Earth', for all of them they have been changed for life, for some they will live the present over and over!

The following is no excuse but it is one of many tragic incidents that have already occurred with more to follow. How do I know, and I'm not the only one, because we've been living with the results of another conflict from not long ago and some of us know the reasons why, we're a part of the 'Focus Groups', little georgie!

Mom of Auburn Slaying Suspect Apologizes
The mother of the man charged with killing an Auburn University student said her son was an Iraq war veteran who was changed after his service, and offered an apology to the freshman's family.

Catherine Williams, the mother of suspect Courtney Lockhart, made the apology to Lauren Burk's family in an interview with Columbus, Ga., television station WTVM.

Over at Police One we find part one, of a three part report Titled: Exclusive: Cops back from the war: What problems do they pose? By Chuck Remsberg, Senior PoliceOne Contributor

Thousands of American law enforcement officers have been called to military service in Iraq and Afghanistan, and authorities are increasingly focusing attention on how well some of those can reintegrate into domestic policing once they return home.

He adds a few instances of recent report:

• In Texas, an officer recently back from reservist deployment to Iraq, opened fire on a suspect who was running through a crowded shopping center. The rounds narrowly missed the officer’s partner and one lodged in a van occupied by two children. “Everyone believes he should not have fired,” the officer’s attorney told USA Today. “His assessment of the threat level was wrong. He was assessing as if he was back in the military, not [as] a police officer.”

• In Georgia, an officer who’d served in Iraq with the National Guard was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to voluntary manslaughter. He was part of a misdirected drug raid in which an elderly woman was killed. His lawyer says he was undergoing treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder, a condition afflicting a significant percentage of returning vets.

• In Nevada, a trooper who’d been in Iraq as an Army Guardsman, pleaded guilty to felony reckless driving and was sentenced to 2 to 12 years. According to the New York Times, he was driving 118 mph when he slammed into another car, killing four people and critically injuring another.

Adding the obvious, at least for some:

No one claims that all—or even a majority—of post-deployment veterans are menaces to society once they pin a badge back on and resume patrol duties. But by the same token, says Dr. Stephen Curran, a Maryland psychologist who counsels officers, “You can’t just put people back in [law enforcement] jobs, give them their guns and expect that things are going to be fine. Getting back into the flow of things is a challenge.”

A Symposium was put together where more than 200 police and mental health professionals representing 73 federal, state, county and city agencies in seven states attended.

Drawing on the panel’s presentations, Part 1 of this exclusive series examines the roots of post-deployment adjustment problems. Part 2 will explore the challenges these present to officers, their families and their departments when they come home. In part 3, we’ll look at measures knowledgeable observers believe are necessary to assure a successful transition back to the streets.

The subtitles of this report are WAR ZONE REALITIES. and CASUALTIES OF THE MIND.

You should go over and read the report, it isn't that long and touches on a number of points you should start understanding better, not only as those who serve in Law Enforcement but as to many of the Returning Veterans, serving Multiple Tours thus Mutiple Years in Combat Theaters!

I, or anyone, could add so many reports of Tragic incidents that have occurred, in these last Five Years, past to recent, and I'm afraid for Many Years To Come!

Some may have already seen this report from our State Department China's human rights rating upgraded by U.S. State Dept.
It takes the country off the list of worst human rights offenders but still notes serious concerns.

Once upon a time others paid attention to these reports, even those who knew we weren't as perfect as we believe we are.

Want to know what the rest of the World, most of which were Solidly Behind Us after 9/11, and felt our pain, many already having lived through their own tragedies of Criminal Terrorism or a better phrase long running Guerilla War on a Global Stage for many years, they will Laugh, not a Funny Laugh, but a Laugh of Sad Knowledge of our now Very Public Hypocrisy, not only as to 'Human Rights' but Total Disregard of the Human Life of Others as long as We Get What We Want and Need in our Arrogance and Materialistic Lives!!

Ever wonder the Why of No American POW's in either raging conflict, hint: They Knew What We Were Doing Long Before We Got The News!

What we practice opens wide what others can and will do, with impunity, to our Soldiers and Civilians wherever they may be!

We can No Longer Condemn others, nor seek sympathy from allies or the marginal, we have joined the ranks of the once Condemned!

Better start the realization Now, your children, your granchildren, and if you live long enough, your great granchildren will want answers as to the World We Have Left Them!!

One Reality will be able to start for you Tomorrow, visit Iraq Veterans Against The War - Winter Soldier to find out where you can View or Listen to the Testimony of Iraq and Afganistan Veterans

Untill than you may want to listen to this:

For Former Combatants, A Plan for Peace

Fresh Air from WHYY, March 10, 2008 · Bassam Aramin and Zohar Shapira, the co-founders of Combatants for Peace, talk about their mission to end the cycle of violence in Israel and Palestine by bringing together individuals who previously fought against each other.

A former member of the Palestinian Fatah movement, Aramin began a seven-year sentence in an Israeli prison at age 17. He now works as a clerk at the Palestinian National Archives.

Shapira served as combatant and commander in an elite unit of the Israeli army for 15 years. He now is a teacher in a Waldorf school in Israel.

Currently around 450 Palestinians and Israelis are members of the group.

You can Listen with this Link

In the above one of the Combatants For Peace talks about his 10yr old Daughters Death.

You can listen to a previous 31/2 min. NPR report, from January 22, 2007, on that tragedy with this link.

Both bring up the NRP Player.

A few, I'm sure, will understand why I've added these to the above, a Few!!

Combatants For Peace

I did two Posts on this group of Israelli and Palestinian Ex-Combatants shortly after they were formed and a Veterans For Peace member was invited to Israel to meet with them.

You can read those posts Here and Here

The YouTube Video's don't play no more in these posts, but you can find same at their site, link in the posts.

IGTNT: Missing Marine Found {Updated 2 - Video Link}

I'm not one of the IGTNT Posters, that do such a Great Honor for those who have lost their lives to this Countries Failed Policies. And I doubt they'll mind me using the initials for I bring Sad News!

Back on Febuary 21st I posted an Alert about a missing Marine, Eric Hall {that link takes you to my site}.

I started that off with this:

Missing Marine makes phone call

'CHARLOTTE COUNTY: The family of missing Marine Eric Hall says the young man made a phone call to a friend in Jeffersonville, Indiana early Wednesday morning.


Hall has been missing for nearly three weeks. His family says he was wounded in Iraq and is suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.'

There is a video report at the News Channel 2 site as well

Another report about Eric explains more of possibly why he disappeared.

I've been following this since hoping that Eric would be found.

There was a reported second phone call to the same girl in Indiana which at first raised the Hopes of the Family and Friends and those of us following the story, but Phone call turns out to be prank, not from missing Marine

On the 28th this article appeared

Hall is considered 100 percent disabled, Becky Hall said, and has had several surgeries to repair his leg. He now walks with a limp. He also had some psychological treatment through the Veterans Administration, but decided not to continue it.

On March first another report came in

Family turns to homeless for help in search for missing Jeffersonville Marine The mother and father of missing ex-Marine Eric Hall are now reaching out to the homeless community for help in locating their son, who disappeared in Florida about a month ago.

With this update about that second phone call

Earlier this month, a female friend of the family received two phone calls, initially thought to be from Eric Hall. Hopes were dashed when one of the calls was traced back to Louisville and found to be a hoax — perpetuated by someone with whom the family friend used to be involved, said Kevin Hall.

A Sick Basturd Playing With Peoples Lives and Probably Not one Iota Feeling of Remorse, reminds me of a certain in charge person!!

The first phone call, to my knowledge, hasn't been traced to Eric or this hoaxer.

Than there was nothing, Till Yesterday:

Missing Marine search volunteer finds remains

The Charlotte County Sheriff's Office says a volunteer who has been helping the family of Missing Marine Eric Hall found human remains in a drainage pipe Sunday.
The volunteer decided to investigate a strong odor coming from the pipe off of Sulstone in a wooded area.
Deputies excavated the remains and it's unclear if it's a man or a woman.

The above has a video report as well.

Here is another that came in, which also has a Video, in this one they talk to the 'Nam Veteran who found the body.

A veteran who had been helping the family of Eric Hall search for the Marine was looking in the area and smelled a foul odor. The odor was coming from a drain sitting in a small culvert.

Some people suspect Hall climbed through this small opening of a drainage pipe. The person climbed a considerable distance though the pipe. Talking to WINK News, Charlotte County Sheriff's Office Lt. Ricky Hobbs said, "We had to excavate the pipe about ten feet under ground and then actually open the pipe up."

Some people, including Kalena, believe Hall was suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, and may have thought he was running from Iraqi soldiers.

Than today I had this report

Vet crawled 50 yards through pipe to find remains

Charles Shaughnessy had been inside the drainage ditch twice, but something felt different this time.

This time, Shaughnessy would crawl 50 yards through rotten sediment and bugs to discover decomposed human remains.

"My heart goes out to that family," said Shaughnessy, a decorated Vietnam veteran who specialized in tunnel searches during the war.

A tunnel rat, one of the most dangerous 'Nam jobs, who never forgot nor feared!

Hall had a flashback Feb. 3, according to relatives. He left his aunt's Deep Creek home and has not been seen since.

Shaughnessy suspects Hall got spooked and ran into the field near the drainage pipe. He probably smoked a cigarette and tried to regain his composure, Shaughnessy said.

But when Hall flicked the cigarette, he accidentally started a brush fire. The Florida Division of Forestry confirmed the small blaze occurred Feb. 3.
Panicked, Shaughnessy said, Hall likely crawled into the pipe and kept backing up to avoid the smoke.

Shaughnessy believes the situation could have been avoided had Hall received counseling.

"He was going through hell and he wasn't getting any help," Shaughnessy said.

Than just a short time ago:

Family identifies body of missing Iraq vet

The family of Eric Hall, the 24-year old Iraq war veteran who went missing last month, has stopped searching for him and is ready to take their son home.

Becky Hall, Eric Hall’s mother, said she is certain the body found deep within a culvert Sunday at the end of Partin Drive and Highlands Road in Charlotte County was her son’s.

The family is still waiting for the medical examiner's confirmation, but is going ahead with plans for a memorial on Thursday.

The Hall family will hold a press conference at noon on Wednesday to allow members of the press to ask questions of the family.

On Thursday at 12 p.m., a memorial for Hall will be held at Faith Lutheran Church in Punta Gorda. The memorial will be open to the public.

REST IN PEACE Eric, you Braved Conflict Theaters only to come home and be Consumed as the Nightmares From that Engulfed You and took you from your Loving Family and Friends, Your Battle Is Over, RIP!!!




UpDate:
Body identified as former Marine Hall
(Last updated: March 12, 2008 11:14 AM)

The Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office has notified Eric Hall’s family this morning that the remains found in a culvert Sunday was the former Marine.

A detective from the agency notified the family at 10 a.m. and relayed the cause of death has not been determined.

Becky Hall, Eric’s mother, plans a press conference at noon.

The family scheduled a military memorial service at noon Thursday at the Faith Lutheran Church, 4005 Palm Drive, Punta Gorda.

Update 2: Video of Family Press Conferance

Veterans To Commemorate Detroit Winter Soldier Hearings

Members of Veterans For Peace and the Vietnam Veterans Against the
War will commemorate the 1971 Winter Soldier hearings on Saturday,
March 15th at 2pm at the original hearing site, 2921 West Grand
Boulevard in Detroit. The Detroit commemoration is being held at the
same time Iraq veterans are holding their own Winter Soldier hearings
in Washington, DC.

The "Winter Soldier Investigation" was a gathering sponsored by the
Vietnam Veterans Against the War intended to
publicize war crimes and atrocities by the United States Armed Forces
and their allies in the Vietnam War. The VVAW challenged the morality
and conduct of the war by showing the direct relationship between
military policies and war crimes in Vietnam. The three-day gathering
of 109 veterans and 16 civilians took place in Detroit from January
31-February 2, 1971. Discharged servicemen from each branch of
military service, as well as civilian contractors, medical personnel
and academics, all gave testimony about war crimes they had committed
or witnessed during the years of 1963-1970.

On Thursday March 13 to Sunday March 16, 2008, the Iraq Veterans
Against the War will hold their own Winter
Soldier hearings. The event will feature testimony from U.S. veterans
who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan, giving an accurate account
of what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground. The
four-day event will bring together veterans from across the country
to testify about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan - and
present video and photographic evidence. In addition, there will be
panels of scholars, veterans, journalists, and other specialists to
give context to the testimony. These panels will cover everything
from the history of the GI resistance movement to the fight for
veterans' health benefits and support.

The original Winter Soldier hearings were held at the Howard
Johnson's New Center, which was torn down in the late 1990's. The
commemoration event in Detroit on March 15th will be at the site of
the Howard Johnson's hotel, on the corner of West Grand Boulevard and
3rd Street, which is now a parking lot. The event will consist of
veterans reading the names of the first 100 soldiers killed in both
the Vietnam and present Iraq war, along with statements by veterans
about the parallels between Iraq and Vietnam. The public is invited.

The event is being sponsored by Veterans For Peace – Michigan.

Brain Injury Prevalent In Army

Brain Injury Prevalent In Army

CBS Link The Army estimates up to 20 percent of soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from TBI, traumatic brain injury. Mark Strassmann reports

Hearing Loss Now A Military Epidemic
Roadside Bombs Send Troops Home From Combat With An Alarming Rate Of Hearing Damage

Lead Up To Winter Soldier II - SOLDIER'S STORIES

On Sunday, 3-9-08, a fundraiser was held at the First Congregational Church of Long Beach for Iraq veterans eager to talk about the war they saw; a war rife with death, anger, courage and lies. The fundraisers intent was to help defray the costs needed to send the same vets to speak in Washington D.C. at Winter Soldier II, to be held from Thursday March 13 to Sunday March 16, prior to that The District Weekly of Long Beach asked several of them to tell them their stories.

Below you will find some snips about each and what they had to say, with the link above taking you to the rest.

“IT’S BEYOND ME” | SPECIALIST WENDY BARRANCO, COMBAT MEDIC | ARMY

Wendy Barranco was 19 when she served as an anesthesia technician at a Tikrit field hospital—from October 2005 to July 2006. She was just out of high school, like so many of her patients, including the first one she saw die.
Now she is 22, a full-time student and anti-war activist
Barranco still sounds young, with the sleepy voice of a teenager. She’s deferential, too—true to her military training—and wonderfully patient as she spells out every acronym and explains every bit of army shorthand. Her poise falters occasionally: When describing three badly burned Iraqis, she suddenly stops speaking, pausing for a full 12 seconds to steady herself. And certain aspects of the military experience are so ludicrous as to absolutely require the strongest of obscenities.
There are also moments of emotional disconnect: She talks about a “guy” with a chronically infected leg, but it soon becomes clear that she is speaking of a child who may be as young as eight.
With all of this in mind, I thank her for her time and willingness to engage in a conversation that must be very difficult—either because the stories are so gruesome and terrible, or because frequent retellings have rendered the subject so tiresome that she feels as if she’s going to go out of her mind if she has to go over it one more time. “Both,” she says.

“HOW WOULD I BE ABLE TO LOOK MYSELF IN THE MIRROR?” | SGT. JASON LEMIEUX | MARINES

“I got to Marine Corps boot camp in Parris Island, South Carolina, on Sept. 10, 2001. Boot camp is a media blackout so we didn’t realize the gravity of what was going on. The drill instructor told us the country had just been attacked by terrorists. But for all we knew he could have been exaggerating to scare us into submission.
“My first deployment was to Kuwait on Jan. 21, 2003, in preparation for the invasion. I was part of a huge boot drop. That’s not official terminology—boot drop—but it’s what they call dropping fresh infantry school graduates straight into combat. Our boot drop comprised 50 percent of the manpower of the unit we were joining. Normally they wouldn’t put so many fresh, inexperienced soldiers together in combat, but that’s the way they’re doing it in this war. I invaded Iraq on March 21, 2003, and went all the way to Baghdad. Most of the units we were supposed to attack fled when they found out we were coming. After the invasion we moved down to Karbala, the safest city in the country at the time. We supported the local businesses with our money, and were welcomed for our ability to maintain order. I came home in September.
“My second deployment was to Husaybah, from February to September of 2004. It was a meat grinder, incredibly violent, a whole different world than the Iraq I had left five months before.

“I SWORE TO THE HOLY FAMILY” | SPEC. EDGAR CUEVAS | ARMY

Edgar Cuevas hated the Iraq war long before he landed in Tikrit where, 24 hours into his first Iraq assignment, he watched medics haul in two soldiers injured in a roadside bombing.
“From the beginning of the war, I was like, ‘Why are we even invading?’ There was no connection between Iraq and 9/11,” Cuevas says.
He grew up in Burbank, joining the Army out of high school, in January 2001.“At that time I didn’t think we’d be in a war, so I thought it was good timing,” he says.
The Army sent Specialist Cuevas to Schweinfurt, with tours in the Balkans—“police actions,” he calls them. “Both the Serbs and Albanians were really happy we were there,” he says. “We helped them and they helped us. Nothing there made me say, ‘I don’t like this, I want to get out.’”
Then, in Nov. 2003, just 12 days from the end of his service, the Army hit Cuevas and thousands of other military men and women with a stop-loss order.
“If you remember the election of 2004, John Kerry was talking about the ‘backdoor draft.’

“WE DON’T GO ANYWHERE” | SGT. JABBAR MAGRUDER | ARMY NATIONAL GUARD

“I joined the Army National Guard in 2000. I was a high school kid who wanted to learn a trade while serving my country. The day of September 11, I called my National Guard unit and asked them, ‘Are we going to get involved, are we going to go anywhere?’ And they told me, ‘We’re the National Guard. We don’t go anywhere.’

Visit The District Weekly to Read the Rest of the interviews.

The Sunday Times Magazine, March 1, 2008 The veterans are not against the military and seek not to indict it – instead they seek to shine a light on the bigger picture: that the Abu Ghraib prison regime and the Haditha massacre of innocent Iraqis are not isolated incidents perpetrated by “bad seeds” as the military suggests, but evidence of an endemic problem. They will say they were tasked to do terrible things and point the finger up the chain of command, which ignores, diminishes or covers up routine abuse and atrocities.
Some see it as their responsibility to speak out – like Jason Washburn, a US marine who did three tours in Iraq; Logan Laituri, a US Army forward observer in Iraq; and Perry O’Brien, an army medic deployed to Afghanistan in 2003. They believe that, as veterans, they are the most credible sources of information. They say they were put in immoral and often illegal positions. They will speak about what they saw, and what they were asked to do.
Read the article from the London Sunday Times

Winter Soldiers march to Valley Forge
Dozens of members of IVAW participated in a 25-mile march in Philadelphia from March 1-2, starting at the Constitution Center and ending at Valley Forge. In spirit, Valley Forge is the first Winter Soldier event. "230 years ago, a group of soldiers gathered at Valley Forge to stand up against oppression on behalf of their people. And we aim to do the same here today," said Steve Mortillo, president of the Philadelphia chapter of IVAW and former Calvary Scout in Iraq.
Read the Philadelphia Daily News' coverage of the Valley Forge March

Iraq Veterans Against The War-Winter Soldier

Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan will feature testimony from U.S. veterans who served in those occupations, giving an accurate account of what is really happening day in and day out, on the ground.

The four-day event will bring together veterans from across the country to testify about their experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan - and present video and photographic evidence. In addition, there will be panels of scholars, veterans, journalists, and other specialists to give context to the testimony. These panels will cover everything from the history of the GI resistance movement to the fight for veterans' health benefits and support.

When: Thursday March 13 to Sunday March 16

For those interested in watching or organizing around the proceedings at Winter Soldier, there will be a number of ways to watch and listen to the event.

**Live television broadcast via satellite tv, accessible through Dish Network as well as public access stations that choose to carry our broadcast - Friday and Saturday only

**Live video stream on the web - Thursday through Sunday { no site url given, as yet, on this video stream }

**Live radio broadcast via KPFA in Berkley California and other Pacifica member stations - Friday through Sunday

**Live audio stream via KPFA's website - Friday through Sunday

Please return to the IVAW website for specific details in the coming weeks.

You can find out more at the IVAW - Winter Soldier - Site, on the left you will find links to the needed information, as well as some embedded links in page text.

Winter Soldier Preview

Women and War

Yesterday, March 8th, was International Women's Day.

To often when reporting on War the women involved, from those living in the invaded conflict countries to those who are serving in greater numbers and rolls, combat included, are not mentioned enough.

Nor is it brought up enough of the effects of Conflicts on these women involved.

The other day NPR's The World had a report on about the women serving in Iraq and Afganistan.

Mental health issues for female vets

The World's Katy Clark reports on the challenges faced by female veterans after they return from Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of them face mental health issues, but little is known about how they are coping.
You can listen to this report which can be played in the Windows Media Player.

One of many books on PTSD and as the title states also covering studies of combat PTSD on women.

Haunted by Combat: Understanding PTSD in War Veterans Including Women, Reservists, and Those Coming Back from Iraq

A snippet of part of one review of book above:

"The men and women who follow orders to be sent thousands of miles from home, to fight wars in the most dangerous corners of the globe, are the very best America has to offer. They've seen destruction and chaos few others can imagine. And too many return home to their families struggling to make sense of their combat experiences and their personal lives. This book tells their stories in their own words and explores treatment options that will enable our nation to fulfill its promise to support our veterans." - Lynn Woolsey, Member of Congress 6th District, California

I did a little searching and quickly found some interesting reads on women and war.

Two women, one war

This story is about two young women who've never met. Christina Penrod, a Mahomet widow, and Stephanie James, a recent UI graduate and Army sergeant, have seen their lives stamped, shaped and unalterably changed by the events in a scorched part of the faraway Middle East called Iraq.

Women in war need greater safeguards

Rapes and other sexual crimes perpetrated against women in specific countries are a weapon of terror that prevent women - who are often left at home to mind children and tend to livestock - from being able to move freely within their own areas and thus get food, water and other necessities which their families depend upon.

Yet, this is just one example of the many ways that women bear the brunt of warfare - and are often the unaccounted for or hidden victims of conflict. Interviews conducted by the International Committee of the Red Cross with widows of the Iraqi wars and the Bosnian war, show the impact of the loss of missing husbands on the lives of their wives long after these wars have ended.

What about the families and lives destroyed by our present invasions and occupations:

Heroines - the daily life of Iraq's war widows
Written by: Iraqi women's organisations

Eighty-two percent of the 2.4 million people displaced inside Iraq are women and young children under the age of 12. Many mothers have lost their husbands in the sectarian violence that has torn the nation apart. But in the face of adversity, they are proving to be true heroines.

These stories, collected by women's organisations in Iraq ahead of International Women's Day on March 8, give a rare insight into how Iraqi widows are helping their families survive while retaining their dignity in times of extreme suffering.

"This phenomenon was hardly visible prior to 2003," says Suhair. "We women face a lot of danger in doing this. The fear of having your children's lives, your life taken away is constant... Your mind stops functioning when on your way to work you see a car near you and you fear it could explode."

We seem to be shocked and enraged when we hear about women who become human bombs, yet we are shown little, to nothing, about their past, especially their recent past, how many have lost loved ones, especially children, to the bombs and bullets of war, and so much more. We act like women shouldn't be considered as wanting to retaliate for what war has done to them and their lives, yet we have women serving and fighting!

Exhibit explores history of women in US military
Mementos of what life was once like for women serving in the military stared at Army National Guard Major Margaret Oglesby from the walls of the forward compartment of the second deck of the USS Massachusetts.

Bill to spotlight issues for female veterans

Since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began, Murray has spent many hearings questioning VA officials about female veterans with histories of sexual trauma, whether research has been done to determine their health needs and whether VA hospitals are so focused on men’s health issues that women get left behind.

Jaipur hosts novel summit on war and feminity

They claim that women's ideas, so often ignored, can actually move the world away from war and that feminine gifts, like tolerance and patience, can bring solutions that wars and weapons can never accomplish.

Just one of the many Pro-Peace womens groups, with a great Peace Symbol graphic:

Women Against War
Women Against War brings together Capital District women to work for peace through:
*Direct action
*Educational events on the costs of war and the possibilities of peace
*Outreach to area Muslims negatively impacted by US post 9/11 policies

Women and war

Section covering the specific dangers and suffering confronting women in wartime, whose plight could be improved if the rules of humanitarian law were fully respected. Access to the ICRC study Women facing war as well as related resource materials and links to other sites concerning women.

Countless women and girls all over the world suffer the trauma of war - as widows or orphans, perhaps displaced from their homes, sometimes detained. They are often separated from loved ones and become victims of violence and intimidation.

For the most part they are civilians caught in the crossfire, and show astonishing resourcefulness and resilience in coping with the disintegration of their families, the loss of their home and their belongings and the destruction of their lives.

Women can also be fighters, and as such are due the same respect as men if wounded or captured. They are also bound by the same rules prohibiting illegal acts against other fighters or civilians.

International humanitarian law, which grants general protection to all war victims, regardless of gender, provides extensive specific protection for women in war. If these rules were better observed, the suffering faced by women in war would be greatly reduced.

Women and the Missing: the burden of those left behind

On the occasion of International Women’s Day (8 March), Florence Tercier, ICRC’s women and war adviser, explains the immensely challenging plight of women whose male relatives have gone missing in war and what the ICRC is doing to support them.

Women all over the world face great hardship when their male relatives go missing in war. Can you describe some of the challenges they face?

Military and War: Women's Roles

Women's Military and War History: women who fought in the military officially and unofficially, women who served in support roles, plus how women's roles changed for women who stayed home.

Women bear the children of this world, they carry the seeds of and nurture than give birth to the children. What about those children of war, the ones that survive?

Iraqi Psychiatrist Ali: Iraq’s Future is Wounded

According to Ali, the whole of Iraqi society, but especially the children, bear psychological scars from witnessing violence and death every day: “Iraq needs psychological help, too.”

The situation of women and childre is worst: “There are many nightmares and a fear of going outside. This is a real fear. Many children do not go to school anymore because of it. Also, it is said that US soldiers are detaining 200-500 “child convicts.”

“Domestic violence has increased, as has the number of widows. Since the occupation, the number of premature births and miscarriages has doubled. The number of caesarean births has increased because people are scared of uncontrollable situations. Women are weighed down with life and the stress of daily life has increased.”

Recently a video surfaced showing the training of children of the insurgency. Many condemn the treatment, and condemn it should be, but I doubt most of these kids need any propaganda brainwashing to turn them into a warrior. We've stolen all semblance of childhood of these kids, they've been living in the hell on earth of war, they've lost loved ones and friends, the hatreds have been embedded already, they are seeking a release of the anger and hatred, and the longer they live as they are the greater the want for retaliation and extreme blowback against those that have destroyed their lives!

For few, Iraq war has changed everything

After 5 years, Iraq war has changed little for some people; for others it's changed everything
Laura Youngblood is just 29 years old, but she insists she will not remarry. Her life is her children, now ages 2 and 7. One day, she says, she'll be buried in the plot with her husband at Arlington National Cemetery.
"I tell people I'm a happily married woman," she says, crying.

In a country destroyed, what are we leaving those who survive this carnage, and what will the future bring for all of us!

Tragically Little Help for Sick and Wounded Civilians in Baghdad

She is 16 years old and slowly bleeding to death internally.
Her mother speaks about her daughter with desperately pleading eyes. "Her blood is sick," she says, standing in the doorway of the local clinic near the Dora market in Baghdad, talking about her daughter's infection that the clinic's rudimentary antibiotics won't defeat. Dr. Mohammad, who runs the facility, is certain of two things: that his patient doesn't have long to live and that there is very little he can do about it without the trained surgeons Jasim needs for an operation.

A country, though living under a brutal dictator, we helped install and supported, that was well educated and fairly prosperous!