"I have no enemy but you. You are the occupier," Mr Sadr's statement said.
Gates sending a subtle message:
"Those who are prepared to work within the political process in Iraq, and peacefully, are not enemies of the United States," Mr Gates said.
"[Mr Sadr] has a large following. And I think it's important that he become a part of the process if he isn't already."
And Sadr isn't having any of it:
But Mr Sadr asked: "Which political process do you want to involve me in when you are occupying my land?"
He said he would continue resisting the US presence in a "way that we consider suitable".
He urged the Iraqi government to "rid the land of the occupier" but said his followers should not "raise your weapons against Iraqis as long as they don't help the occupier".
Winning Hearts and Minds, the Mantra of Counter Insurgency, and it's First Failure!!!!
Returning Home Is No Easy Solution for Displaced Iraqis
Assessments by Iraq's Ministry for Displacement and Migration (MoDM) and IOM of Iraqis having returned to their original homes from internal displacement or asylum abroad reveal that return has not brought them relief from the humanitarian crisis they suffered during their displacement.
Priority needs among the 5,200 people assessed by IOM monitors out of nearly 78,200 returnees identified so far across the country are food, fuel, non-food items and access to health care and medications.
In the first of IOM reports focusing exclusively on the monitoring and needs assessment of returnees, nearly two-thirds of identified returns were to Baghdad with March 2007 as the peak month for returning.
Almost half of these returnees said they only had an intermittent access to government food rations which were largely insufficient to meet their needs.
For those returning to Baghdad, lack of access to health care was the worst of any region at 70 per cent with the national average still high at 56 per cent. Shortage of health facilities and medications and a lack of finances were the main reasons cited.
Although the vast majority of returnees had returned to their original house (84 per cent), many properties had sustained significant damage and lost or stolen belongings including furniture, highlighting a significant need for property assistance.
In Baghdad, where most property disputes occur over occupied houses, the resettlement of returnees is currently being handled on an ad hoc basis by various authorities. Any future large scale returns would necessitate setting up a comprehensive policy and mechanism in order to avoid renewed tensions.
Although identified returns so far constitute less than one per cent of the total displaced Iraqi population (an estimated five million internally displaced people and refugees), monitors had observed an increase in returns in March prior to the recent violence in Basra, Baghdad and elsewhere that outstripped the capacity of the MoDM and local authorities to identify all locations. Therefore, real figures for returns are likely to be higher.
"The situation for those returning is grim and isn't necessarily an improvement from when they were displaced. Many returnees are unemployed while only a fraction have received any form of humanitarian assistance other than some food rations," said Rafiq Tschannen, IOM's Chief of Mission for Iraq.
"Although efforts are being made to help returnees really get back on their feet, intensifying these efforts is major challenge for all the humanitarian agencies as well as the Iraqi government. IOM is working closely with the MoDM to ensure assistance reaches a much greater number of returnees and our reports on the monitoring and assessment needs of returnees will go a long way to making sure we all get the right kind of help to those who need it."
BOBBY MULLER, Veterans for America: Very little, if at all. Understand the qualifiers in the statement. There will be nothing provided in the form of relief for all of the troops that are currently deployed. He's talking about only those that deploy after August 1st.
And of the majority of those that are targeted for deployment through the year, the overwhelming majority are National Guard units, not regular Army units. They already are limited to 12-month tours.
So the president's statement is, to be kind, misleading, but, to be more honest, basically a political ploy to deflect the pressure that you heard from Colin Powell, General Cody, General Casey, across the board.
The senior military leadership, particularly in the Army, has been confronting the president, saying, "We cannot sustain the levels of deployments." The price that's being paid by the troops is unconscionable.
Mental impact of multiple tours
BOBBY MULLER: You have to understand, one of the defining criteria of this war that people have got to pay attention to is multiple deployments. All of the regular Army units that are scheduled for deployment after the president's deadline of August 1st have already been there. We're talking about people serving multiple tours.
Same thing with National Guard units. Even with the National Guard that historically have never been deployed like this, multiple deployments.
And what we're finding, if you look at the Department of Defense's own reports that, every time you redeploy a soldier, there's a 60 percent increase in the likelihood of psychological damage, those kinds of wounds. It's a devastating toll.
We have frontline troops that are basically severely damaged. And if you can willingly, consciously redeploy them, as the mental health task force at the Department of Defense itself said last year, we are knowingly compounding injuries to those who've already served because of these redeployment practices.
Debating stop-loss policy
BOBBY MULLER: I wound up being a very militant activist against the war in Vietnam. I was a Marine infantry officer. The week before I got shot, they asked me, "Would I extend my tour?" And I said, "Yes."
It's about the troops; it's about the people you serve with. It's about a sense of obligation and commitment, particularly if you have experience, to try and protect them.
We go to military bases. We are talking to these troops. They are being stop-lossed. They're being denied the ability to leave.
WASHINGTON—No lights at the end of the tunnel. No corners turned. Give Gen. David Petraeus points for using well-understood clichés to express the obvious: We are bogged down in Iraq, the general in charge there has now testified on Capitol Hill.
U.S. Foreign Policy: Raising the Hatred Levels and Numbers who than will seek Retaliation, than supplying them with the needed equipment to make the 'Criminal Terrorism' easier!
As the war continues, many U.S. soldiers face a third or even fourth tour of duty in Iraq. Katie Couric says that soldiers should be allowed to complete their service with dignity and return home.
The video this 32 year old non military service member of congress was also picked up by a few other sites as well, but no mainstream that I could find. I took Brandons posts, others probably did as well, and sent them to a number of people, I also sent, just the links, to McClatchy which also owns the Charlotte Observer.
Wether my send, or that coupled with others sending, or they found it themselves, McClatchy picked it up and printed, also in the Observer and their other papers I'm sure.
The Pentagon told a North Carolina lawmaker Tuesday that he couldn’t re-air a video he'd shot in Baghdad after accusations surfaced that he breached operational security in detailing enemy rocket attacks.
"The bottom line is that whoever launched that strike could take the information McHenry provided and use it to kill Americans in the Green Zone," wrote Brandon Friedman, vice chairman of VoteVets.org, a veterans advocacy group that has called for troop withdrawal and promoted veterans for political office. "This is why professionals operating in a combat zone are trained not to reveal any battle damage after an attack."
Now this youngster, a rubber stamper for administration policy, never in the military himself, but a chest thumper of his toughness on using others in the Failed Policies of the Continuing Occupation, has made statements deploring Exactly what he himself finally did!
Brandon has those links, and more, at the first two posts, as well as a great writeup on the media pickup in his post today.
This little 'chickenhawk' needs to be brought back to his home and strapped to his perch, not Sitting in the Halls Of Congress and Committing Treason Directly From A Combat Theater, wether ne knew it or not!!!
" Wars, conflict, it's all business. One murder makes a villain. Millions a hero. Numbers sanctify." -Charlie Chaplin
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is," - George W. Bush, Texas Gov., 1999
Above title comes from MoJo, short for Mother Jones, for those not in the know.
It covers this:
Washington Dispatch: We asked a dozen national security experts what Congress should ask the top military commander in Iraq at this week's hearings. Here's what they came up with.
There's a short introduction, before the panel asks their questions. In the intro we are reminded of what Petraeus gave as an answer the last time:
But when Republican Senator John Warner asked Petraeus if the Iraq War "makes America safer," the general replied, "I don't know, actually. I have not sat down and sorted [it] out in my own mind."
Ought to be real interesting what answer he gives this time!
From the invasion, and building these five, now plus, years, I could tell him We Are Not Safer! Reason we have now created more Hatreds and Enemies out of Tens Of Thousands of Iraqi's, and probably as many in the region, that Didn't Exist Before!!
I would also point out that there seems to be a Nationalist group that is beating him at his expertise, Counter Insurgency, and we saw that Explode these last couple of weeks and continue, as the Iraq Government? and the U.S. are still trying to quell that Nationalism, with the Iraqi Government? threatening to not allow this group, never minding all the others, to participate in the coming elections, Hell Of A Democracy We Gave Them!
The dozen National Security Experts participating in giving the questions are:
Andrew Bacevich, professor of history and international relations at Boston University
Larry Johnson, former CIA and State Department intelligence official
Wayne White, head of the State Department's Iraq intelligence team 2003 to 2005 and an adviser to the Iraq Study Group
Juan Cole, professor of history at University of Michigan
Sam Gardiner, retired Air Force colonel and expert on military strategy
A research professor at a military institute who asked not to be named
David Isenberg, military affairs analyst and adjunct scholar with the Cato Institute
A former intelligence analyst who handled Middle Eastern issues for years and who asked not to be identified by name
Lawrence Wilkerson, chief of staff to former Secretary of State Colin Powell
Gordon Adams, professor of U.S. Foreign Policy at the School of International Service, American University
Retired Colonel W. Patrick Lang Jr., former director of the Defense Intelligence Agency's human intelligence service
A former Army colonel and planner who asked not to be identified
The questions he received from the legislators were mostly softballs. (Neither senators Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama were impressive when questioning Petraeus.)
the Congressional Questions last time
This time is a Huge Question Mark coming from a Congress not following the Will Of The People!
Q & A In the year and change since the upswing With circumstances largely in the dark The questioners are lining up with the clipboards I'm sure you'll hit their softballs out of the park
So get some magic markers and draw a happy face And cross out all your notes from the past few days The counter hits 4,000 and it counts and counts away If they had a chance to ask, what would they say? In Q & A
You'll recommend against reductions I'm afraid it's more than they can stand Someone get a page to bring you water To wash that blood off of your master's hands
A confident demeanor and the medals on your coat Give googly eyes to the fourth estate If someone happens to ask you if it's worth the price we've paid When you answer think of those who've gone away In Q & A
Max and the Marginalized are the only rock band in the progressive blogosphere, and therefore the best one! They write and record a song a week and post them on The Huffington Post.
"Victory means exit strategy, and it's important for the president to explain to us what the exit strategy is," - George W. Bush, Texas Gov., 1999
" What does it matter to the dead, the orphan, and the homeless whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?" - Mohandas K. Gandhi
" Wars, conflict, it's all business. One murder makes a villain. Millions a hero. Numbers sanctify." -Charlie Chaplin
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.
Veterans Affairs employees last year racked up hundreds of thousands of dollars in government credit-card bills at casino and luxury hotels, movie theaters and high-end retailers such as Sharper Image and Franklin Covey — and government auditors are investigating, citing past spending abuses.
By using Their Dime to make your life more enjoyable, and Shopping to Show Support!!!
The Country, who cheers them on, goes into Denial and Refusal to grant what is owed to those they send!
The first Gulf war was a War of Choice when Bush Sr gave a certain old U.S. buddy a 'wink and a nod'!
The conflict I served in was a War of Choice built on lies with the lies continuing, even to today, and just one of the many results was returning military suffering from results of Defoliant Spraying which Government, Producers of, and the Public Denied it had adverse effects. Vietnamesse and Soldiers are still suffering the effects and this Country still Denies!
There are other reports that trickle out, as there were with the defoliants of 'Nam, like this one from Australia that people who really care pay attention to, others just give passing glances to.
Every day five U.S. soldiers attempt to take their own precious lives in the U.S. army. Or this article about Military Suicides which gives referance to present mysterious ailments of returning OIF Military personal.
Many U.S. veterans of the 2003 U.S. war in Iraq have complained of a range of serious diseases, including tumors, chronic blood strains in their urine and stool, sexual dysfunction, migraines, frequent muscular spasms, and other health issues similar to the debilitating symptoms of the “Gulf War Syndrome” and the Vietnam War Syndrome, known as “Agent Orange”.
Which is a Powerful Writeup that should be a Must Read, giving context to the Suicides and PTSD, which I'll get to shortly, I suggest you visit and read!
Here are a few more recent reports on 'Gulf War Syndrom' you can view Here and Here, the second one again coming out of Australia.
A BIG Thank You goes out to Ilona Meagher over at PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within, if you don't visit You Should! Ilona posts up some very important information and reports that should be read and embedded in this countries concious.
She has two recent ones that are powerful reminders, out of many, of what the Tragic Trauma's many experiance, from the Combat Battlefields to the Extreme Tragedies within a society, can do to some who live them. Many of those who suffer from do so Silently, especially those who never experiance the Combat Trauma's but their own events that live on within them, as well as the Combat Soldier who won't admit to his or hers concious reminders and triggers.
Those of you who read PTSD Combat regularly know I'm currently a student at Northern Illinois University and shared my experiences the day of the shooting and beyond.
After all these years, and the many Wars, with returning troops, and the civilians of countries invaded, suffering from their Traumatic Nightmares of the Living Hell on Earth, PTSD is Finally being mentioned as a result to many who live through the personal and collective tragedies a society create.
It gave mention in an article, from my old hometown paper, I happened to catch yesterday, Discovery still haunts man, a very sad story about a baby:
"It was almost like a post-traumatic stress kind of thing. . . . It was haunting for a number of years, even today," he said.
Along with the above I've heard it brought into the public realm, where it should already have been, a few times recently. One was a movie on Lifetime. The main charactor described an event from her childhood that haunts her with nightmares and fear that she, which was what the movie was about, was trying to rid herself from. Another was an interview on NPR where the young women mentions the trauma of her mothers death, both actually say the four important letters, PTSD.
The second post Ilona has is about Combat PTSD and the effects of on one soldier.
That link brings you to her site post, but hopefully she won't mind, I'm bringing it over to you, as it contains just a short introduction with five video's containing the show.
As Ilona writes:
A&E's Intervention program recently featured a segment on Brad, a young man coping with his PTSD by self-medicating with alcohol and marijuana after two Iraq tours with the 101st Airborne.
For those unfamiliar with the show, Intervention is a "series in which people confront their darkest demons and seek a route to redemption" by profiling "people whose dependence on drugs and alcohol or other compulsive behavior has brought them to a point of personal crisis and estranged them from their friends and loved ones." Brad's journey is a powerful and important episode.
These are ambitious but critical goals. "Let me tell you my theory about PTSD," said US VET's Mitchell, a Vietnam veteran and licensed counselor. "Everyone that is in a combat zone experiences PTSD. The key is what support systems are there for when they get home."
There is no shortage of veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan who need help adjusting to civilian life. And, unlike during the Vietnam War, there is no shortage of civilians who want to embrace the nation's returning warriors, even if they don't support the war.
One new grassroots effort will take place at noon Monday, when more than 1,000 therapists from around the country will participate in an online forum on treating Iraq war vets suffering from trauma. It can be seen at UCTV - University of California.
Actually If one visits, or listens to, the Pro-War, though Not Serving, folks and their sites, Very Little is being done or said by them!
This planet, not only this country, but this country Must Take The Lead, must finally start to realize what it's Wars of Choice do to those they send but more important to those innocents forced into that Hell, the Long Term Effects!
By doing so it will better understand what, in silence, many living within it's communities are going through from their own extreme tramatic life events and how it effects much of what they do as they moved forward from them, from the silent suffering to possibly causing others experiances that should not have occurred!
