After a major policy announcement that the U.S. combat mission in Iraq will end next year, President Obama spoke with Jim Lehrer about Iraq, Afghanistan and the challenges of his new presidency. Watch the full interview on Friday's NewsHour.
Newsmaker: Obama Outlines Goals for Afghanistan, Iraq
In a speech Friday at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, President Barack Obama set a timetable for U.S. combat troop withdrawal in Iraq by 2010. The president discusses his military strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan with Jim Lehrer.
Full Transcript
Policy changed 18 years after Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney first banned news media from covering honor ceremonies at Dover Air Force Base.
Washington, DC, February 26, 2009 – Today Secretary of Defense Robert Gates lifted a blanket ban on news media coverage of the honor guard ceremonies that mark the return of military casualties from abroad. The new policy will permit media coverage of the ceremonies, during which caskets draped with American flags are brought home from war, after consultation with the families of the fallen. The Obama administration’s move restores press access to the honor ceremonies, which had been the practice from World War II through the Panama invasion of 1989. During the lead-up to the Gulf War in 1991, Secretary of Defense Dick Cheney instituted the ban. The news media lost a first amendment challenge to the ban, but Professor Ralph Begleiter and the National Security Archive forced the release of hundreds of images taken by military photographers under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) in 2005.
Funding Plan Improves Access, Modernizes Technology
WASHINGTON (Feb. 26, 2009) – President Obama's first proposed budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) expands eligibility for health care to an additional 500,000 deserving Veterans over the next five years, meets the need for continued growth in programs for the combat Veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, and provides the resources to deliver quality health care for the Nation’s 5.5 million Veteran patients.
Hate Group Numbers Up By 54% Since 2000.
From the e-mail report:
Fueled by immigration fears, the recession and the election of a black president, hate groups in America increased their numbers again in 2008. The count now stands at a staggering 926 — a more than 50% increase since 2000.
I'm now deeply worried about the way hate group leaders are exploiting the election of Barack Obama and the economic crisis to swell their ranks and how their anti-Semitic, white supremacist propaganda is promoting violence.
* A neo-Nazi leader was quoted in USA Today saying "When the economy suffers, people are looking for answers. … We are the answer for white people."
* The day after President Obama was inaugurated, a white man in Massachusetts killed two black people and raped and gravely wounded another. His arrest derailed his plan to also invade a synagogue and kill as many Jews as possible. He'd spent six months reading racist websites and concluded they "spoke the truth about the demise of the white race."
As you know, we not only track and expose the activities of racist extremists — we use innovative legal strategies to put them out of business. We recently won a $2.5 million verdict against the leader of the Imperial Klans of America for the brutal beating of a teenage boy of Latino descent in Kentucky.
Southern Poverty Law Center
400 Washington Ave.
Montgomery, AL 36104
A soldier charged in the 2005 gang initiation beating death of Sgt. Juwan Johnson returned from an Iraq deployment as a member of the Gangster Disciples, Army prosecutors said during Pvt. Bobby Morrissette’s court-martial Tuesday.
"After the guys came back from deployment ... that’s when they started calling it the ‘Gangster Disciples,’ " he said.
The gang became more violent, he said.
"We called the gang members who came back from Iraq the ‘Young ‘Uns’. Their behavior was rowdy. They would act without thinking. The entire organization just went more negative. Drugs were used frequently. Fights would start from people looking at each other wrong or flashing gang signs," he said.
Defense and congressional officials say news organizations will be allowed to photograph the homecomings of America’s war dead under a new Pentagon policy.
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""The private part probably is best handled at the memorial service or funeral if the family wishes, not at the arrival at Dover.""
Extended Trailer from 2008 Tribeca Premiere music documentary showcasing how a small group of independent filmmakers traveled the world in search of hope and inspiration through music, JOIN THE MOVEMENT at Playing For Change Help connect the world through music!
Washington D.C. - As President Obama works to stabilize Iraq, he must be sure to comprehensively address the Iraqi refugee crisis. Five million Iraqis have been uprooted by conflict, forced to leave everything behind. They have sought refuge within Iraq, Syria, Jordan and other neighboring countries. They are running out of resources with little opportunity for employment; access to food, heath care, education and other essential services is extremely limited. The conditions for Iraqis to return home safely do not exist, and millions of Iraqi refugees are unlikely and unwilling to return to Iraq in the foreseeable future. The U.S. administration must lead international efforts to meet the long-term needs of displaced Iraqis. Failure to assist Iraqis will have dramatic impacts on security inside Iraq.
Just a few months after securing a historic, multibillion-dollar increase in veterans educational benefits, some veterans groups may ask Congress to wipe out part of what they gained.
The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America and the American Legion are among groups considering asking lawmakers to place a cap - $13,000 per year has been suggested by the IAVA - on tuition aid for veterans. That's far less than would be available in many states under a new GI bill for post-9/11 troops but is enough to cover virtually all public college costs, advocates of the limit say.
The cap would make the new benefit program easier for veterans to understand and simpler for the Department of Veterans Affairs to run, said Patrick Campbell, the IAVA's legislative counsel.
a cap - $13,000 per year has been suggested by the IAVA - on tuition aid for veterans.
Translation: veterans are unfit to go to more expensive private colleges so we sell-out, backstabbing worthless s**t-eating fake “Veterans Organizations” don’t want them to have the money to go; those are for the children of the rich, after all.
We can’t have a bunch of grotty veterans around campus reminding Muffie and Bruce Jr. about the unpleasant realities of American life. As the super rich of Greenwich, Connecticut like to say, “They just wouldn’t fit in.” And by the way, did you catch the weasel words, “virtually all” public college costs? That means it won’t cover all public college costs. Duh.
The cap would make the new benefit program easier for veterans to understand and simpler for the Department of Veterans Affairs to run, said Patrick Campbell, the IAVA’s legislative counsel.
Well yes. Every veteran can certainly understand if a pack of scum rat traitors f**k them over by getting Congress to cut the amount of money they get to go to school. And yes, it will be simple for the VA to give out less money to the veterans. Oh, sorry, misunderstanding: the purpose of the program isn’t to benefit veterans first, they come after making things “simpler” for the VA, yeah, that’s what the priority should be, right, f**k the veterans. What a pack of lame, stupid sleazy bulls**t.
NEW YORK - The recent article, “Veterans groups want cap on tuition aid under new G.I. bill,” printed in the Virginian-Pilot, grossly misstated the position of IAVA regarding the new GI Bill benefit by implying we are seeking a reduction in the value of that benefit. There is already a cap on the benefits available under the new GI Bill – it is a cap that varies wildly and unfairly by state. IAVA supports a fairer, national ceiling which would increase the benefit for many veterans who wish to attend private colleges or universities, and would have no effect on anyone attending a public school. Ideally, there would be no cap. But if there is a cap, it should be fair and generous.
The new GI Bill is intended to give every veteran access to an affordable college education, but the VA’s recently-issued regulations have made the benefits system both confusing and unfair. Right now, a veteran attending a private school in Arkansas might end up tens of thousands of dollars in debt, while a veteran across the border in Texas, with identical tuition costs, gets their school paid for. Besides being inequitable, the system is confusing. Under the VA’s patchwork system of tuition and fee benefits, veterans will not be able to make educated decisions about the costs of attending school. IAVA has recommended a simpler system that would increase benefits for thousands of students attending private school, leave the benefits to public school veteran-students unchanged, and would dramatically improve the benefit’s fairness. A complete breakdown of our recommendations is available at http://iava.org/iava-in-washington/legislative-agenda.
Since 2004, IAVA’s mission has been to improve the lives of troops, veterans and their families. IAVA was at the forefront of the fight for a new GI Bill, and we will continue to work closely with the VA and with Congress to resolve these and other oversights within the new GI Bill regulations, so every Iraq and Afghanistan veteran gets the benefits he or she has earned.
Any veteran seeking more information on the new GI Bill and their benefits, or to give us feedback, should visit us at www.GIBill2008.org.
Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (www.IAVA.org) is the country's first and largest nonprofit, nonpartisan organization for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and has more than 125,000 veteran members and civilian supporters nationwide. Its mission is to improve the lives of this country's newest generation of veterans and their families.
Thanks for your note. I don't want to get into a back-and-forth debate online, so I don't think I'll respond directly to Mr. Reickhoff here. Suffice it to say that IAVA has taken exception to the way I presented their position. I'm listening to them and expect to develop a follow up story in the next day or two.
Dale
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Dale Eisman
Washington correspondent
The Virginian-Pilot
President Obama is speaking before a joint session of Congress Tuesday night in what is being described as the first State of the Union address of his presidency. While the economy is expected to dominate the agenda, Obama will also talk about his top foreign policy initiative: the war in Afghanistan. Last week, Obama ordered an additional 17,000 US combat troops to Afghanistan. The new deployments will begin in May and increase the US occupation force to 55,000. Today, we spend the hour looking at US involvement in Afghanistan with five guests: Anand Gopal, Afghanistan correspondent for the Christian Science Monitor; Paul Fitzgerald and Elizabeth Gould, authors of Invisible History: Afghanistan’s Untold Story; Gilles Dorronsoro, visiting scholar at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; and documentary filmmaker Kathleen Foster. [includes rush transcript]
In his Inaugural Address, President Obama said "The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works, whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified. Where the answer is yes, we intend to move forward. Where the answer is no, programs will end."
A collection of military experts have already identified billions of dollars of wasteful programs which don't work, and should end.
Tell Congress to dump the useless programs, so we can afford things which truly make America stronger.
Thanks!
Series Overview with Links to the Series Reports Over several months in 2008, Stars and Stripes reporters and photographers traveled to Iraq, Kuwait and Fort Drum, N.Y., chronicling the lives of the “Triple Deuce” — the 2nd Battalion, 22nd Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade, 10th Mountain Division — both soldiers and their families.FORT BLISS, Texas – As soldiers stream home from Iraq and Afghanistan, the biggest charity inside the U.S. military has been stockpiling tens of millions of dollars meant to help put returning fighters back on their feet, an Associated Press investigation shows.
Between 2003 and 2007 — as many military families dealt with long war deployments and increased numbers of home foreclosures — Army Emergency Relief grew into a $345 million behemoth. During those years, the charity packed away $117 million into its own reserves while spending just $64 million on direct aid, according to an AP analysis of its tax records.
Tax-exempt and legally separate from the military, AER projects a facade of independence but really operates under close Army control. The massive nonprofit — funded predominantly by troops — allows superiors to squeeze soldiers for contributions; forces struggling soldiers to repay loans — sometimes delaying transfers and promotions; and too often violates its own rules by rewarding donors, such as giving free passes from physical training, the AP found.
Those two aspects of the review may well yield opposing perspectives. Britain and Canada, two important allies in the war in Afghanistan, allow far more news media access to the repatriation process — the return of a fallen soldier to his or her country — than does the United States.
The new review has revived an old debate. Supporters of the ban say it protects families’ privacy and keeps the deaths from becoming politicized; critics say the government is trying to sanitize the wars and reduce public awareness of their human cost.
About 100,000 people have taken part in protests in Dublin city centre to vent their anger at the Irish government's handling of the country's recession.
