Iraqi Children: Bearing the Scars of War

With just one child psychiatrist working at a government hospital, Iraq’s healthcare system is unprepared for the treatment of its children — many of whom suffer from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) from the long-running war. Middle East Times International correspondent César Chelala investigates this pressing issue.

The great number of Iraqi children affected by post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is one of the saddest, and least known, legacies of the Iraq war.

That a new clinic for their treatment — opened last August in Baghdad — is the first of its kind says a lot about how this problem is being addressed.

>>>Read Rest Here>>>

Military Suicides: Senate Hearing 3.18.09

DoD Addressing Military Suicides

Chairman Ben Nelson (D-NE) is holding a Senate Armed Services Personnel Subcmte. hearing examining suicide prevention programs in each of the armed services. Defense Dept. representatives are discussing areas for improvement of access to mental health care and other initiatives that might help reduce military suicides.

This will bring up their Video Page of the Hearing

Policy and Female Soldiers

Does Policy Endanger Female Soldiers?
Female Troops Face Threat Of Sexual Abuse By Comrades As "Moral Waivers" Increase

For Wendy - an idealistic 17-year-old - the military seemed like the answer to her prayers.

“I was mostly going in for school,” Wendy said. “But I was also going in to see the world and travel.”

Deployed as a combat medic, Wendy was thrust into a chaotic and increasingly violent situation. Not long after, she experienced another kind of trauma, when she was assaulted by a fellow soldier in her barracks while she was sleeping.

“He started pushing himself on me,” she said. “And I wasn’t having it. So I started punching him and I actually kicked him in the groin.”

Afghan views on new US president

Some Afghans Speak: Short Slideshow

Just a few of the comments

A Ghoayoar, 26, fruit seller

"Afghan people want three things immediately: no more civilian casualties, improvement in the lives of common people and help to develop the police and army. But this is our country and we must rebuild it ourselves. Our government must sack corrupt people and help low-level people with salaries."

Mohammad Gul, labourer

"I work in a far-away village in northern Afghanistan. We want Obama to help Afghans with clinics, roads and other things. More troops, more war creates more war. But I have a lot of hope for Obama. Each time he talks on television, he seems like a honest person. Bush came across as bad guy in the movies."

Shamsudin, orange seller

"I want Barack Obama to stop the killings of the Palestinian people. Where is democracy and human rights? They must also stop killing our civilians. Democracy doesn't come with bombs and bullets. I don't expect any foreigner to rebuild my country for me - they can only help with things from time to time."

And in Iraq

Martin Chulov in Baghdad

Many Iraqis seemed nonplussed at the swearing-in of Obama, with some not knowing the inauguration was taking place and others consumed by the fall-out from the outgoing presidency.

Obama's messages of change and remaking America have yet to resonate in the country that will help shape the legacy of his first years in office. Some Baghdadis, however, were impressed by his inauguration speech.

"If he can do as well as he talks, then all our problems are over," said Abu Ali, the owner of a sparkling new restaurant, Shisha Cafe, in the city's Karada district. "I believe he is a good man, but many people in Iraq believe all American presidents are the same and that we are a playground for their interests," he added. "That's it."

Another cafe-goer, Haitham Sarkis, said that his family had long ago stopped listening to Bush and become dispirited by his last three years in office.

Iraqis expressed mixed feelings about the new president, with some saying Mr Obama represents a significant new page in US history and others questioning how much American policy will change in Iraq.

Muna Abdul-Razzaq, a 37-year-old primary school teacher in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, said Iraqis have bad memories of Bush "who destroyed Iraq", adding: "We hope that Obama will be more responsible".

In the northern city of Sulaimaniyah, dozens of Kurds and Arabs cheered Mr Obama's inauguration as they watched it on television. The crowd gave Mr Bush a thumbs-down when he appeared on the screen, then cheered for Mr Obama.

Beyond Our Differences

December 26, 2008

BILL MOYERS JOURNAL presents the film "BEYOND OUR DIFFERENCES" which explores the common threads that unify the world’s religious traditions. In BEYOND OUR DIFFERENCES, religious leaders, politicians and luminaries in their fields give voice to the positive effects of spirituality and morality, focusing on commonalities spanning all faiths. While the negative — even violent — side of religion is widely reported, director Peter Bisanz documents the hope for positive change and healing universal to so many.

In case you missed it last night!

Multiple Tours, and Not From A Soldier

CNN’s Prisoner of War

Michael Ware's Tortured World:
"I Am Not The Same Fucking Person"

"I am not the same fucking person," he tells me. "I am not the same person. I don't know how to come home."

It's October, six months after our first meeting, and Michael Ware, 39, is at his girlfriend's apartment in New York, trying to tell me why after six years he absolutely must start spending less time in Iraq. He's crying on the other end of the telephone.

Click to keep reading (server may be down, but check back because it's a must-read).

Tiny Clay Figures - Symbols Of.........

Tiny clay figures are reminders of growing Iraq death toll

Nearly 100,000 hand-fired clay figures, representing lives lost in the Iraq war, will be the backdrop on Friday for an Iraq Moratorium action in the California community of Aptos, near Santa Cruz.

New PTSD Brochure

'Transmission of Trauma' Can Span Generations

The NAMI brochure includes the following sections:

* Psychological Trauma & PTSD
* Risk Factors for Developing PTSD
* The Neurobiology of PTSD
* What is PTSD?
* PTSD & Co-Occurring Disorders
* Combat Veterans & Trauma
* Children & Trauma
* Trauma & the Mental Health System
* Family Impact of PTSD
* Recovery and Coping
* Treatment for PTSD
* Medications
* Resources, including Family-to-Family Education and NAMI Connection programs.

NAMI is the nation's largest grassroots organization dedicated to improving the lives of individuals and families affected by serious mental illnesses.

SOURCE National Alliance on Mental Illness

Further New Research & Study Materials:

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

“Including empirical research and anecdotal prose and poetry about combat veterans, this book discusses post-traumatic stress disorder among war veterans and present debates about diagnoses. Paulson and Krippner also... Read more

War Trauma: Lessons Unlearned, From Vietnam to Iraq

As a clinical psychologist and veteran of the War in Iraq, I can assure you that my review of the current literature has been extensive. To date, nothing published contains such extraordinary real world relevance as that... Read more

Packing Inferno: The Unmaking of a Marine

Tyler E. Boudreau is a twelve-year veteran of the Marine Corps infantry. He trained and committed himself physically and intellectually to the military life. Then his intense devotion began to disintegrate, bit by bit, during his final mission in Iraq. After returning home, he discovered a turmoil developing in his mind, estranging him from his loved ones and the bill of goods he eagerly purchased as a marine officer.... Read more

'What Killed Sergeant Grey?'

Broadcast: Midday, 10/07/2008, 12:00 p.m.


Sgt. Adam Gray during his tour in Iraq, sitting on top of a tank with Battalion 1-68. Gray was troubled by what he did when he was assigned to guard Iraqi prisoners. (Photo courtesy Tony Sandoval)

Minnesota Public Radio-American Radio Works

American RadioWorks investigates the mysterious death of an Iraq War veteran and uncovers new allegations of detainee abuse. This powerful documentary follows members of a U.S. Army unit and their struggle to come to terms with what they did, and didn't do, in Iraq.

Click To Listen To Radio Documentary

That will bring up their NPR Station radio player, it's about 54min long.

"that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic"

If Iraq Is Not Another Vietnam,

Why Do I Find Myself Rereading Dispatches?

“What They Understood And Their Leaders Refused To Acknowledge Was That Battles And ‘Victories’ Didn’t Add Up To Anything. The Number Of Communist Dead Meant Nothing, Changed Nothing”

“There Is A Point Of View That Says That The United States Got Involved In The Vietnam War, Commitments And Interests Aside, Simply Because We Thought It Would Be Easy”



Dispatches

Michael Herr, who wrote about the Vietnam War for Esquire magazine, gathered his years of notes from his front-line reporting and turned them into what many people consider the best account of the war to date, when published in 1977. He captured the feel of the war and how it differed from any theater of combat ever fought, as well as the flavor of the time and the essence of the people who were there. Since Dispatches was published, other excellent books have appeared on the war--may we suggest The Things They Carried, The Sorrow of War, We Were Soldiers Once...and Young: Ia Drang - the Battle That Changed the War in Vietnam--but Herr's book was the first to hit the target head-on and remains a classic.

Debate Avoids Wars - Video Loaded

No need for any narrative by me, let the video's speak for themselves, and follow the links at bottom for more.

Police Outside Debate Charge, Injure, Arrest Veterans














More videos and narative available at Be the Media

And a Short writeup at Huffington

Art For, By And About Veterans Begins Sunday

Ilona Meagher has just posted on her blog site, PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within, an outstanding collection of links and a few video's on what the subject title describes "Art For, By And About Veterans Begins Sunday" and the link just above will take you to it.

She starts it out with this:

An Iraq infantryman named Zero offers a compelling introduction to this post, which brings together a number of art programs and exhibits taking place on television and in galleries and statehouses and theaters across the country this summer and fall.

The one common denominator: the fusion of expression through art and the experience of war. Here, Zero explains how he uses his artwork to express himself and what he knows of combat:

I couldn't do the justice Ilona has in bringing this to the public conscious so please visit her post and find out more as well as if there are showings near you or within easier traveling distance and for how long they will be on display, and more.

Veterans Tsunami is coming...

There's a post over at KOS that if you haven't caught you should, if a Veteran of OIF and OEF and or a concerned advocate and activist.

It is posted by Peoples Lobby

The Country should be giving Total Funding to these programs, but it's always left to the Families of Veterans, Veterans of previous conflicts and the Dedicated Advocates/Activists to not only Volunteer but to gather the needed funds to accomplish the goals. And most of those advocates come directly from the Pro-Peace Activists ranks during and long after the conflicts are over!

Dedicated individuals in the nonprofit sector have the programs that our government should be carrying forward to help our troubled vets today and produce fewer wounded vets tomorrow. Building Veterans Villages helps vets erase post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and build their lives. Fielding 21 million Americans under the American World Service Corps will eliminate creating future PTSD wounded vets and build stronger lives for all who serve and are served. Visit Veterans Village and World Service Corp to learn more.

SNIP: Read Rest Here


And if you have a KOS account rate it up as you visit the sites and offer your Help to Nadia!

Desperate for Cannon Fodder, Recruiters Threatening Youngsters!!!

Army Recruiter Used Scare Tactics
Teen Who Signed Non-Binding Contract Told He'd Be Jailed If He Didn't Join Army


(CBS) From NASCAR to bull riding, Army recruiters are pulling out all the stops and have had remarkable success meeting their quotas despite two wars. But one recruiter was caught in a tape-recorded phone call doing it with threats, CBS News national security correspondent David Martin.

As CBS affiliate KHOU in Houston first reported, Irving Gonzalez signed a non-binding contract that left him free to change his mind about joining the Army up to the moment he reported for basic training - which is exactly what he did.

"I'd rather just stay here," he said. "Go to college."

But listen to what his recruiter, Sgt. Glenn Marquette, told him would happen.



SNIP Rest Here

Join Us Leading Up To Dec. 8th

Starting on this Thanksgiving Day 2007!

It's long past time for Us Adults to Finally become the Responsible Beings we are supposed to be, for the Coming Generations on a whole host of issues!

We aren't here for Our Personal Benefit, Wealth, or Power, we're here to build better Futures for those who follow, that's our Main Responsibility and Always Has Been!

But I'll let Pete Seeger, and the children {always more adult than us} introduce us to one Extremely Important Issue and Coming Event!

Pete Seeger on December 8th

Legendary folk singer-songwriter Pete Seeger sings his song One Blue Sky and talks about the need to get involved in the International Day of Climate Action on December 8th, 2007.

You can go to Climate Crisis Coalition for more information.

Over at the Climate Crisis Coalition you will find the following:

*Download the poster by clicking here!
(right click to save)

*Sign up to create a local event!

*Search for an event near you!

*See a map of all of the events

And this:


Al Gore has signed the Kyoto and Beyond petition, and urges you to do the same, and to encourage others to do so.
Read his endorsement
Visit Kyoto and Beyond

And a Whole Host of other Important information and links, Visit the Site!

In the Seeger/Kids video another site link is givin 1 Sky.

Where you'll find this Powerful Video, with the Kids Leading The Way:

One Movement: StepItUp, PowerShift, 1Sky


And again a Whole Host of important information!

We Responsible Adults? don't Elect the Children to Lead, though most of the time I think we should, or at least Listen To Them!

We are suppose to 'Hire' other Responsible Adults? to lead the whole in the right directions, making the Policies that Effect our present but More Important The Future!

Those who wish to lead? are supposed to be giving us their public resumes leading up to our Votes, they are supposed to lay down their Honest Stands on a whole host of issues we face as human beings on this planet, for the Planet and for All that exists on it!

We aren't supposed to Hire on Spin and Talking Points of others who are labeled, and label themselves Experts, they are only so called Experts on the Manipulation of Words there to Deceive!

We must abolish so called Think Tanks and start reusing the gifts we've All been endowed with, though for many are getting more dormant, and Start Thinking for ourselves with Common Sense!

We have a Whole Host of Extreme Problems, especially now, after we and the world, have been sent on a spiraling direction that will only lead to the Extremes of Diasterous Incidents that the coming generations will be facing!

From Retaliations for the Deaths and Destructions we have wrought to the Speeding Up of a Planet's Climate Change that may just make the Human Animal Extinct, just as other living creatures are disappearing right now, to the monatary costs that these future generations will bear because of our selfish follies of the present!

Become what You are supposed to be, Responsible Adults!. Get off those butts and out from sitting in front of these technologies bitching and complaining And Actually Get Involved, there's Alot Of Important Work To Be Done and an Awful Lot Of Corrections to be made, And Fast!!!

*****

For Inspiration

I want to share an e-mail, many of us are receiving this Thanksgiving morning from one young lady who took One Extremely Important Issue on her shoulders and hasn't relented since.

Sending my thanks to you

Hi everyone,

Happy Thanksgiving.

Sending out my thanks for your personal and professional support and friendship over the past two years.

In big and small ways, each of you have mentored me, nurtured me, rooted for me, and worked with me as I moved two years ago into the issue of advocating for our returning veterans and military families. The need for your help was and is great, and remains greatly appreciated.

Even more so, especially to those who have been at this a lot longer than I have, I thank you for embracing me and sending me in the right directions when I simply asked for your assistance or advice. You helped to expand my networks exponentially, giving me the chance to learn more about the issue from the very best hearts and minds out there. Thank you so very much.

I know that all of these efforts were not specifically on my behalf personally. The need is so great and the difficulties so real for our military families coping with combat PTSD that anyone willing to come into the fold – be they even a novice such as myself – is welcomed with open arms and kindheartedness. Thank you for that and so much more.

Sending you and yours my personal wishes for a peaceful and warm Thanksgiving.

Cheers and thanks,

Ilona

Ilona Meager started out on a journey to Move A Nation To Care.... on one issue PTSD, which has expanded into Traumatic Brain Injuries as well. This isn't only for Combat Veterans but People in general, for many have the Traumatic Incidents that lead to change and troubled minds!

She didn't do this alone, initially, but with the help of others she found online as they combined into a group ePluribus Media researching, collecting, archiving, information on PTSD of which Ilona put together in the a book Moving A Nation To Care....... and a growing website PTSD Combat: Winning the War Within

I'm still convinced that All the Media reports about PTSD started because of the Dedication to an issue, PTSD, by a few Extremely Concerned and Dedicated People writing about and posting up their writings on this new and growing technology about what they finding and concerned about!

It is Us who should be Thanking Them not Ilona Thanking Us!

And I, as well as many other Veterans Do Thank You on this Thanksgiving Day 2007!

Ilona adds a PS to the above:

P.S. Although it has not yet been officially made public, House Veterans Affairs Chairman Bob Filner has today invited me to testify before Congress on December 12 on the issue of veterans’ suicide. I’m humbled at the opportunity to bring the average citizen’s voice into the issue and wish to do a good job for everyone. Would appreciate any words of advice as I prepare myself for the hearing. I will send an update as my participation in the hearing is fully confirmed and my name is added to the day’s roster. Until then, please keep this news confidential. ty

House Committee on Veterans Affairs

That's right, our very own Young Dedicated Lady May just bring her New Found and Growing Knowledge to the Peoples House to Benefit Us All!!

Now just think of the possibilities You might be able to accomplish, if not by yourself than certainly joining with others!

We Pass Along Our Thanks To You, and Your Family, Ilona! And We Are Extremely Happy To Have You Now Leading This Important Issue! HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Fall of Humanity..