Military Resistance: thomasfbarton@earthlink.net 12.12.10 Print it out: color best. Pass it on.

Military Resistance 8L6

Afghan Resistance Moves To Take Control Of Shomali Plain

Surrounding Vital U.S. Air Base At Bagram:

“Insurgents Are Making Inroads Into Shomali From Nearly All Sides” “Taliban Fighters Are Already ‘In

Control’ Of Areas Just To The East Of Bagram”

[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, Military Resistance Organization, who sent this in.]

[Capture of or direct attacks on the base are unnecessary. Moving in close enough for direct fire to bring down some C5s would be quite sufficient. T] December 10, 2010 by Erin Cunningham, EurasiaNet.org Expanding outward from the Afghan capital and sweeping north past the foreign military base at Bagram, Afghanistan’s Shomali Plain, a bustling and bountiful agricultural hub with one of the safest roads in the country, seems, at first glance, like a peaceful oasis in an otherwise war-ravaged country. Once one of the most heavily mined areas in the world – the result of more than three decades of continual conflict – the Shomali Plain is now alive with economic activity. The region’s once-destroyed orchards of grapes, figs, peaches and cherries are blooming again, and new roadside businesses have sprung up to serve the heavy flow of traffic to and from the military base, just 40 kilometers north of Kabul. The paved highway that cuts north through the valley from the capital is crowded with commuters, traders, and fuel-tankers bound for the base. Yet as fighting between American and NATO forces and anti-government insurgents intensifies throughout the country, the relative calm in Shomali, the heartland of Parwan Province, may prove to be a short-lived aberration. Taliban-led insurgents are making inroads into Shomali from nearly all sides, according to Afghan and American officials, and locals say they fear the foreign troop presence at Bagram – the largest military base in the country – provides a false sense of both security and economy. “I have lived here for five years, and the area is safe now because the foreign troops are here,” says Najibullah, 21, who owns a mobile phone shop in the bustling bazaar, known for contraband, outside the base. “But once they leave, it will no longer be like this. There will be fighting and we will all have to leave.” Bagram serves as the engine for local economic development, employing as many as 5,000 locals, American officials say. “So many Afghans from this area work at the base,” says Omaid Khan, a 15-year-old Shomali resident who runs his father’s convenience store, situated opposite the base. “They come out here and use their salary to buy things from my store. It helps a lot, and we are happy.” According to a 2007 report by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), medium-sized industries and other small and medium-sized enterprises in the engineering and warehousing sectors are expanding in Parwan, mainly to serve business and construction at Bagram, which during the Taliban era was a ghost town. The HALO Trust, a UK-based humanitarian mine clearance organization, says approximately 72,000 Afghans have returned to the area immediately surrounding the base since 2001; at least 200,000 were displaced by fighting amid civil warfare in the 1990s. The government says the province is home to 600,000 now, though no reliable census has been conducted for decades. Despite economic growth in the area around Bagram, just half of men and one-fifth of women in Parwan are literate, according to the Afghanistan Congressional

Communications Hub, a support service providing information on Afghanistan to US members of Congress. Only 25 percent of the population has access to electricity, the US government body says. Even more worrisome, locals say, is the recent infiltration of Taliban-led insurgents into the area. Immediately south and southeast of Bagram, on the other side of the mountain range that divides Parwan and neighboring Kapisa province, is “Taliban territory,” aid workers say. A former Afghan army officer familiar with the area confirms that Taliban fighters are already “in control” of areas just to the east of Bagram, especially after dark. A senior US military adviser at Bagram, speaking on the condition of anonymity, says insurgents are currently implementing a long-term, coordinated plan to surround the capital, and that there is definitely a higher level of insurgent activity in the areas around Parwan in recent years. In May, Taliban fighters launched a complex attack on Bagram that killed one US contractor and injured four soldiers. Forty-four-year-old Asidullah was a young farmer when he left Shomali for Iran in 1998, but now he runs a Bagram-area store stocked with combat boots, sunglasses, protein powder and other goods popular with foreign soldiers. He says his small business is prosperous, and his family’s land elsewhere in the Shomali is growing grapes once again, but his relatives remain wary. “The security is still good, but it is getting worse,” Asidullah says. “We know where the Taliban are and they are waiting. Once the Americans leave, all of this will be theirs again.”

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Insurgent Attack Kills Six U.S. Soldiers At Zari Base Checkpoint

[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, Military Resistance Organization, who sent this in.] December 12, 2010 BBC & By Heidi Vogt and Mirwais Khan, Associated Press Six US soldiers and two Afghan soldiers have been killed in an attack near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan, military sources say. A senior Afghan army officer told the BBC a car bomber had targeted a checkpoint outside a base manned by Afghan and US troops in Zari district.

Gen. Abdul Hamid, the Afghan army chief for the province, said the attacker drove a minibus into the entrance of the base Sunday morning just as vehicles were preparing to move out on a patrol. "They were leaving the compound and at that moment, the minibus attacked and they hit right at the entrance of the base," Hamid said. Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the insurgent group was retaliating for all the attacks launched on them in the area in recent months.

Fall River Soldier Killed In Afghanistan

December 12, 2010 The Boston Channel BOSTON -- A soldier from Fall River has been killed in the war in Afghanistan. The mayor’s office said Saturday that Ethan Goncalo, 21, was a member of the 181st infantry with the Massachusetts National Guard. It was not immediately clear how or when he died. Goncalo was a 2008 graduate of Durfee High School. He attended Westfield State for a couple of years after being recruited to play for the college’s baseball team. Goncalo left for Afghanistan in October. He is the second soldier killed from Fall River in the past two months.

Area Soldier Killed In Afghanistan

Curtis Oakes

December 3, 2010 By Messenger and AP staffs For The Times-Journal Staff Sgt. Curtis Allen Oakes of Athens had planned to make a career out of the Army, according to his mother, but that service to his country tragically ended Monday when he was killed in Afghanistan. “He had no worries,” Valerie Oakes said of her son. “He loved life and he loved everything to the fullest.” Oakes, 29, was killed when an Afghan border policeman went rogue during a training session and opened fire on U.S. troops. At the time, Oakes was conducting artillery registration during a training mission in the Pachir Wa Agam district at Combat Outpost Lonestar, Nangarhar province. Valerie Oakes said her son graduated from Alexander High School in 1999 and went on to obtain two degrees from Hocking College in wildlife management and agriculture, but it was the military that became his focus. “It was all his decision,” she said of her son’s enlistment. He was the only one in the family who had joined the military. Oakes enlisted in the Army in March 2003 and arrived at Fort Campbell, Ky., in September 2004. At the time of his death, he was a fire support specialist. Oakes’ awards and decorations include the: Army Commendation Medal; Army Achievement Medal; Valorous Unit Award; Army Good Conduct Medal; National Defense Service Medal; Korean Defense Service Medal; Afghanistan Campaign Medal; Iraq Campaign Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Non-commissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon; Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Service

Ribbon; NATO Medal; Driver and Mechanic Badge; Combat Action Badge and Air Assault Badge. He is survived by his wife, Brandy Oakes; son, Bradley Oakes, and stepson, Tyler Jones, all of Clarksville, Tenn. Oakes is also survived by his daughter, Mia Robus of White City, Kan., and his parents, Terry and Valerie Oakes of Athens. Valerie Oakes said her son was “just happy all the time.” Betsy Schmidt of McConnelsville contacted The Messenger and said that Curtis was a “big guy with a big heart.” “Curtis and I rode the same bus growing up,” she said. “He was a true character. Always made you laugh. He will be missed amongst friends and family.” Alexander Schools Supt. Bob Bray said the flag at the high school was lowered on Wednesday after the news of Oakes’ death broke. He said staff at the high school are working to hold some kind of memorial in Oakes’ honor. According to the Associated Press, Oakes was one of six U.S. soldiers killed on Monday when an Afghan border policeman turned his gun on his American trainers as the group headed to shooting practice. The gunman was killed in the shootout. Bodies of the six soldiers were returned to U.S. soil Wednesday night. The other soldiers were Sgt. Barry E. Jarvis of Tell City, Ind.; Pfc. Jacob A. Gassen of Beaver Dam, Wis.; Pvt. Buddy W. McLain of Mexico, Maine; Spec. Matthew W. Ramsey of Quartz Hill, Calif.; and Pvt. Austin G. Staggs of Senoia, Ga. The Taliban claimed responsibility, saying the officer had enlisted as a sleeper agent to have an opportunity to kill foreigners. The only sound during the “dignified transfer” of the bodies Wednesday night was of the wind blowing through the 747 jet engines as the flag-topped caskets, called transfer cases, were lowered to the ground. Teams of white-gloved pallbearers carried each casket to a waiting truck. Fathers, mothers, wives and other family of five of the soldiers traveled to Dover for Wednesday’s return. Marine Gen. James Cartwright, who is the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, led a delegation of U.S. officials to pay respects. The unusually large group that flew from Washington included national security adviser Tom Donilon and several senior National Security Council advisers. Defense Undersecretary Michele Flournoy and Treasury Undersecretary Stuart Levey and several senior Pentagon officers also attended. Monday’s attack was the deadliest of its kind in at least two years. It underscored one of the risks in a U.S.-led program to train enough recruits to turn over the lead for security to Afghan forces by 2014. Attacks on NATO troops by Afghan policemen or soldiers, although still rare, have increased as the coalition has accelerated the program. Other problems with the rapidly growing security forces include drug use, widespread illiteracy and high rates of attrition.

This is the deadliest year of the nine-year-old conflict in Afghanistan, with more than 450 U.S. troops killed. More than 1,300 U.S. forces have died there since the war began in 2001, a majority of them in the past two years as fighting has intensified and President Barack Obama ordered more than 30,000 reinforcements. The U.S. now has about 100,000 troops in Afghanistan, a record. Obama plans to begin withdrawing some forces in July, on the way to an eventual transfer of security control to the Afghan forces now being recruited and trained under U.S. and NATO supervision.

19-Year-Old Marine From San Jose Killed In Afghanistan

November 26, 2010 KTVU SAN JOSE, Calif. -- A 19-year-old Marine from San Jose was killed during a tour of service in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Defense announced Thursday. Lance Cpl. Ardenjoseph A. Buenagua - known more familiarly to friends and family as Arden - died while conducting combat operations in the country's Helmand province. Buenagua belonged to the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force based out of Camp Pendleton in Southern California. In the days leading up to his late September deployment, Buenagua used his iPhone to post frequent updates to his Facebook page, including his last post from Sept. 30 announcing his arrival in Afghanistan. Days before, on Sept. 24, Buenagua wrote of insomnia spurred by excitement for his first tour of duty and trip out of the country, writing, "can't wait to get a (peek) at the rest of the world!" Buenagua's mother, Marivic Ayuson Trinidad, lavished constant support on her son's page and responded to his last post, praying for his safety and encouraging him to do the same. "Pray, pray, and pray always," she wrote on his page on Sept. 30, adding "we're praying for ur SAFETY." According to networks Buenagua listed on his page, he graduated from Piedmont Hills High in 2009 and also attended Independence High School. Former classmates, like Alex Rivera, remembered Buenagua for his laid-back personality and ambition.

"I met this dude my (sophomore) year in world history," Rivera posted on his own Facebook page Wednesday night. "He was a chilled laid back kinda guy but really smart with great ambition." Casting a somber shadow over the Thanksgiving holiday, others such as Laura Choo publicly expressed their shock and made their fondness for Buenagua known on the Web. "Arden Joseph Buenagua, it's still unreal to me & everyone else," Choo posted on Thursday. "thanks for the memories, love you. Rest In Paradise."

New Poll Finds Good News For The U.S. Government:

U.S. Troops More Popular Than Osama Bin Laden!

2% Of Afghans Have Favorable Opinion Of Bin Laden;

4% Of Afghans Have Favorable Opinion Of U.S. Troops

[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, Military Resistance Organization, who sent this in.] “They just do not want us here,” said one foreign diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The Western troops, when they came here [in 2001] said ‘the Soviets were invaders, we are liberators. But for Afghans it is all the same — we are all ‘foreigners.’ They will fight anyone who comes here.” December 9, 2010 By Jean MacKenzie – GlobalPost [Excerpts] KABUL, Afghanistan — First the good news: U.S. forces are still more popular in Afghanistan than Osama bin Laden. Fully 6 percent of respondents in a new poll expressed a “very favorable” opinion of American troops, versus just 2 percent for the fugitive Al Qaeda leader. To be fair, the United States scored much higher in the more grudging “somewhat favorable” category, outstripping the world’s most wanted man by 36 percent to just 4.

But more than half of all Afghans — 55 percent — want U.S. forces out of their country, and the sooner the better. Those who moan about the lack of readiness among the Afghan National Security Forces might be surprised to learn that more than twice as many Afghans think the police are better able to provide security in their areas than U.S. or NATO forces. Of those polled, only 36 percent said they trusted the foreigners to protect them, while 77 percent voted for their local police. Polls are tricky tools, especially in conflict zones. ACSOR itself freely acknowledges that there were many areas it could not go to because of security concerns. That real estate would, of course, include the south, where U.S. and NATO forces are now battling the Taliban. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the popularity of U.S. forces would be even lower in these areas, given the higher incidence of civilian casualties from airstrikes, and the greater frequency of night raids, in which U.S. Special Forces descend on housing compounds, often with a mission to kill or capture alleged Taliban fighters. The poll shows that Afghans are implacably against airstrikes by U.S. or NATO troops, with 73 percent saying that they opposed them even if they help to defeat the Taliban. “They just do not want us here,” said one foreign diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. “The Western troops, when they came here [in 2001] said ‘the Soviets were invaders, we are liberators. But for Afghans it is all the same — we are all ‘foreigners.’ They will fight anyone who comes here.”

NEED SOME TRUTH? CHECK OUT TRAVELING SOLDIER

Traveling Soldier is the publication of the Military Resistance Organization. Telling the truth - about the occupations or the criminals running the government in Washington - is the first reason for Traveling Soldier. But we want to do more than tell the truth; we want to report on the resistance to Imperial wars inside the armed forces. Our goal is for Traveling Soldier to become the thread that ties working-class people inside the armed services together. We want this newsletter to be a weapon to help you organize resistance within the armed forces. If you like what you've read, we hope that you'll join with us in building a network of active duty organizers. http://www.traveling-soldier.org/

“The single largest failure of the anti-war movement at this point is the lack of outreach to the troops.” Tim Goodrich, Iraq Veterans Against The War

WELCOME TO THE LONELY SIDE OF HELL: ALL HOME NOW!

U.S. soldiers from 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion during an early morning patrol in Zhari district in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan November 22, 2010. REUTERS/Peter Andrews

A U.S. soldier from 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion during an early morning patrol in Zhari district in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, November 22, 2010. REUTERS/Peter Andrews

A U.S. soldier from 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division during a patrol in Panjwai district, Afghanistan's Kandahar province, Nov. 25, 2010. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

MILITARY NEWS

THIS IS HOW OBAMA BRINGS THEM HOME: ALL HOME NOW, ALIVE

The casket of Army Spc. Dale J. Kridlo at Arlington National Cemetery Nov. 18, 2010. Kridlo, 33 of Hughestown, Pa., was killed Nov. 7, 2010 in Kunar province, Afghanistan, by insurgent attack on his unit with small arms fire. He was assigned to the 27th Engineer Battalion, 20th Engineer Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, N.C. (AP Photos/Jose Luis Magana)

“I Couldn’t Believe The VA Wanted To Pump Me Full Of

Drugs, As If Loading Up On A Combination Of Pills, I Could Numb My Fear And Pain Into

Smooooth Jazz — ‘Yeaah, Baby’”

“I Wanted To Talk To Someone And I Wanted Answers To Questions I

Didn’t Have Courage To Ask” “Where Were The Caring Doctors And

Couches And Explanations For Attempts To Get To The Bottom Of My Problem?”

[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, Military Resistance Organization, who sent this in.] December 8, 2010 By The Usual Suspect, Rucksacktobackpack.blogspot.com [Excerpts] We told the man we wanted money for college, to serve our country, or to travel and see the world; he said for us to sign on the dotted line. We gave what we owed, and they took more than we bargained for. This is the account of one veteran, or many, finally taking back. This is where we discuss the issues we face in returning from war, and transitioning into the classroom. We've DX'd our rucksacks for backpacks, our boots for flip flops, and have sworn off haircuts, shaving, and whatever else we're tired of. We gave what we did, to be where we are now, and these are our stories.

*************************************************************** In March 2010, I finally agreed to seek help.

With Robyn’s hand in mine, I walked into the Long Beach VA Hospital to file a PTSD claim. Outside the main entrance, homeless veterans in BDU (Battle Dress Uniform; green camouflage) pants huddled on benches, smoking cigarettes and talking to themselves. To avoid eye contact, I stared at the ground, ashamed of my outward youth and health. Inside, every awake face in the crowded lobby stared at TV’s hanging on the wall. I felt even more of a fraud that my Iraq nightmares paled in comparison to those of the homeless vets racked-out on chairs inside the lobby. Upstairs in the mental health office, a dozen more Vietnam vets hacked and coughed between passed-out snores leaning in chairs against the wall. There were a few young guys, like me, probably Marine’s, who’d seen some real shit. One guy sat rocking in a chair with his head between his knees and a clipboard with a stack of ruffled papers next to him. A couple of large ladies in light blue uniforms carted him away. Another young guy walked to the bathroom with a small cup in his hand. The nurse stuck her foot in the door and I could tell he didn’t seem optimistic about his chances. I filled out the stack of papers attached to the clipboard. It asked for specific memories where I felt I would die, and for names of people to contact to verify my claims. When I finished the stack, I ate a sandwich lunch and waited. A small, thin woman in light blue called my name. She brought me through a series of lefts and rights and back-arounds until we came to an open examination office. She sat at a computer and read the stack of papers attached to the clipboard. As she pecked at the keyboard, I played the role of dumb private — thoughtful, timid and polite, though that wasn’t far-fetched from my own mood. For forty-five minutes, she went through a list of questions to determine the immediacy of help that I needed. I told her about my nightmares and some of the graphic events I had witnessed in Iraq, and how I had been resolving those issues at home. She seemed concerned and said that I displayed symptoms of PTSD. Then she scheduled for me an appointment to meet with “a doctor closer to home” in Santa Ana. I met with Dr. Stewart in late July. She smiled and led me to her office, and I took a seat across from her. For the next twenty-five minutes, she typed into a computer and didn’t look at me. She seemed indifferent and I felt like another name in her long list of patients as she played twenty questions. “Do you smoke? Drink? Do drugs? Are you on any medications?

Has your appetite changed? How do you feel right now? How are you sleeping? What is today’s date? If you had to guess the date… pick a day… Who is the President of the United States? Have you committed any recent crime sprees?” After the last question, she turned away from the computer and said that I displayed symptoms of PTSD. She asked me if I wanted to join a substance abuse class, and after we talked about my family and school obligations, she wrote me a prescription for Trazadone, an antidepressant used for depression and insomnia. I returned for a follow-up appointment in late August. Dr. Stewart led me to the same room and she sat at the same computer without looking at me. Ten minutes later, after a blitzkrieg session of the same questions, she asked me about the Trazadone. I lied and said it didn’t work the few times I took it. Then she wrote me a prescription for Tamazepam, a hypnotic used by Air Force pilots to combat insomnia. I didn’t want drugs and I wondered whether I should forget the whole process. I wanted to talk to someone and I wanted answers to questions I didn’t have courage to ask. Where were the caring doctors and couches and explanations for attempts to get to the bottom of my problem? I couldn’t believe the VA wanted to pump me full of drugs, as if loading up on a combination of pills, I could numb my fear and pain into smooooth jazz—“Yeaah, baby.” “Fuck that,” I thought. “I’d rather drink…” MORE:

The Soldier Above Has It Right: “Only One Treatment Method — Exposure Therapy — Has Been

Proven To Help PTSD In Studies By Objective Researchers” Previous Research Finding

Confirmed By Atlanta V.A. Test Program;

“81% Showing ‘Clinically Significant Improvement,’ Which Was Still At 81 %

Six Months Later”

From GI SPECIAL 6G17: 7.29.08: July 28, 2008 By Kelly Kennedy, Army Times Three new studies looking at combat stress have found group exposure therapy seems to work, that troops with traumatic brain injuries are more likely to have post-traumatic stress disorder, and that stress debriefings held after traumatic events don’t appear to prevent PTSD. The research comes as the Department of Veterans Affairs works to find the best treatment methods for combat veterans. It follows a report by Rand Corp. that showed only one treatment method — exposure therapy — has been proven to help PTSD in studies by objective researchers. The first study looked at a program that had been in place for four years at the Atlanta VA Medical Center. The center’s Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Team began researching group-based exposure treatment. Past studies have shown group therapy to be ineffective on veterans with PTSD, but authors of this study, published in the April issue of the Journal of Traumatic Stress, said the amount of exposure therapy — 60 hours — in this group may be the key to why it works. First, nine to 11 people get to know each other and talk about their experiences before they joined the military. Then, they spend several weeks talking about their wartime experiences. A total of 93 Vietnam veterans, four Gulf War veterans, one Korean War veteran and two Iraq war veterans took part in the study, with 81 percent showing

“clinically significant improvement,” which was still at 81 percent six months later. And the study found something else: VA clinicians indicated to researchers that they do not use exposure therapy out of concern for possible increases in suicide ideation, hospitalizations and dropout rates, but “we found the opposite to be true,” the study’s authors said. Many patients said hearing others’ traumatic experiences evoked painful recall of what had happened to them, but “none reported any negative lasting effects, and many indicated that this process helped them put their own experience into better perspective,” the study said. For example, one-third of the group members said they had frozen under fire. “Learning how common this was helped reduce the shame and guilt that many patients had felt for decades,” researchers said.

MORE: From GI SPECIAL 6E15: 5.24.08:

This Information Could Save Your Sanity, Or Your Life:

If Somebody Tries To Drug You Or A Buddy Or Family Member, The Fact The

Information Below Appeared In Army Times Can Be A Powerful Weapon Of

Self-Defense

Comment: T Because of the extreme importance of this information to every member of the armed forces, for or against the war, it is being reprinted again from a previous GI Special. This news report below makes clear that there is now new evidence based research about what works and what doesn’t work for troops experiencing PTSD. The credibility and importance of this research -- initiated by the Department of Veterans Affairs – is underlined by publication of the findings in Army Times, rather than appearing on some obscure web site or other as somebody or other’s opinion. The V.A. has long practiced drugging troops with all kinds of very dangerous pills as a “treatment” for PTSD. As this article documents, that’s useless. And

dangerous: overdoses can kill. Benzodiazepines [Valium & Librium are well known examples] are viscously addictive and potentially deadly drugs handed out to troops like bags of popcorn. As the article below reports, the only effective treatment for PTSD so far is “exposure therapy; reliving a traumatic experience by writing or talking about it.” A lot of quacks, including at V.A. facilities as well as privately, are hustling other bullshit phony treatments, ranging from moving your eyeballs around to eating herbs and weeds. Excuse a personal note, but I’ve been working professionally with traumatic stress survivors for over 30 years, both military and civilian, both at VA and private facilities, and can testify that the research finding reported in this article is 100% right: the only effective treatment for PTSD so far is “reliving a traumatic experience by writing or talking about it.” But you don’t have to believe that. Here’s the report, from Army Times. Assuming you give a shit about whether troops live or die, send it around, word for word, and be sure to mention it comes from Army Times in case some idiot thinks you sucked it out of your thumb. Most important, if somebody in command or at the V.A. tries to drug you or a buddy or family member, the fact this information appeared in Army Times can be a powerful weapon of self-defense: MORE:

“Research Has Not Shown Serotonin Re-Uptake Inhibitors, Such As Prozac, Zoloft Or Celexa, To Be

Effective In Treating PTSD” “Exposure Therapy -- Reliving A

Traumatic Experience By Writing Or Talking About It -- Is The Only Therapy

Proved Effective By Independent Research”

April 14, 2008 By Kelly Kennedy, Army Times [Excerpts] “Problems related to getting troops adequate mental health treatment cannot be resolved unless two issues — stigma and access — are addressed,” Todd Bowers, director of government affairs for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told the House Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on health on April 1. Almost 59,000 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been diagnosed with PTSD by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Army post-deployment health assessments have found that 20 percent of active-duty and 40 percent of reserve-component troops had symptoms of PTSD, and some experts say the real numbers could be much higher. But because PTSD hasn’t been addressed until fairly recently — the first scientific paper about the disorder in veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War didn’t come out until five years after that war ended — VA and Pentagon officials say much needs to be done to determine good screening techniques and therapies. “This is the first war where DoD and VA recognized the psychological impact going in,” said Army Col. Charles Hoge, chief of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Walter Reed Institute of Research. Combat vets are not sleeping, experience startle reactions and are hyper-alert. “All of these things that we label as symptoms are things they need in combat,” Hoge said. “No sooner are they transitioned back home than they’re right back in rotation.” At the House hearing, Hoge said an Army assessment last summer showed that the numbers of soldiers with PTSD is going up with each deployment. “There’s a direct connection between mental health and multiple deployments,” he said, adding that troops also need more time between deployments. David Matcher, of the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Treatment of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, said a recent study found that research has not shown serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, such as Prozac, Zoloft or Celexa, to be effective in treating PTSD. Exposure therapy — reliving a traumatic experience by writing or talking about it — is the only therapy proved effective by independent research, he said. Other treatments exist, but they have been tested mainly by the same people who developed them. That’s an important point because the Defense Department and VA use several such methods, including group and drug therapy, to treat combat veterans.

“The ACU Has Too Many Nice-To-Have Features That Don’t Really Get Used And Only End Up Increasing The Cost Of The

Uniform And Not Its Usefulness” Dec. 13, 2010 Army Times Letters To The Editor The Army needs to re-evaluate the effectiveness of continuing to use the Army Combat Uniform as its standard combat uniform. The ACU is not a uniform that can be worn in a combat theater and has no use in a garrison environment. When the ACU was introduced, it included many changes that were expected to enhance its combat effectiveness. It used Velcro patches that allowed soldiers to “sterilize” (remove all identifying features) their uniforms in theater, incorporated built-in pockets for elbow and knee pads, employed a mandarin collar for use when worn with body armor and had infrared tabs that would aid in friendly force identification during night operations. But since its fielding, many of these features have become worthless. In three tours to Iraq, I have yet to see any units actually allow their soldiers to sterilize their uniforms while conducting missions. The integrated knee and elbow pad and mandarin collar are also rarely used. The knee and elbow pads issued during the rapid fielding initiative have become the option of choice for most units, therefore marginalizing the built-in ACU option. The ACU has too many nice-to-have features that don’t really get used and only end up increasing the cost of the uniform and not its usefulness. It’s time for the Army to abandon this uniform and adopt a uniform that can be worn in theater as well as garrison while being available in two different camouflage patterns, similar to what’s used by the Marines. Maj. Jeff Nordin Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

Troops Invited: Comments, arguments, articles, and letters from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Write to Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657 or send email to contact@militaryproject.org: Name, I.D., withheld unless you request publication. Same address to unsubscribe.

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

“The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose.” “At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nation’s ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. “For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. “We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake.”

Frederick Douglass, 1852 Hope for change doesn't cut it when you're still losing buddies. -- J.D. Englehart, Iraq Veterans Against The War “The Nixon administration claimed and received great credit for withdrawing the Army from Vietnam, but it was the rebellion of low-ranking GIs that forced the government to abandon a hopeless suicidal policy” -- David Cortright; Soldiers In Revolt It is a two class world and the wrong class is running it. -- Larry Christensen, Soldiers Of Solidarity & United Auto Workers

The Attack On WikiLeaks “What We Are Hearing From The

Enraged Officialdom Is Mostly The Petulant Screaming Of Emperors

Whose Clothes Have Been Shredded By The Net”

“The Leaks Make It Abundantly Clear Not Just That The U.S.-Anglo-European

Adventure In Afghanistan Is Doomed But, More Important, That The American, British, And Other NATO Governments

Privately Admit That Too” The political elites of western democracies have discovered that the internet can be a thorn not just in the side of authoritarian regimes, but in their sides too. It has been comical watching them and their agencies stomp about the net like maddened, half-blind giants trying to whack a mole. December 6, 2010 By John Naughton, Guardian News and Media Limited [Excerpts] "Never waste a good crisis" used to be the catchphrase of the Obama team in the run-up to the presidential election. In that spirit, let us see what we can learn from official reactions to the WikiLeaks revelations. The most obvious lesson is that it represents the first really sustained confrontation between the established order and the culture of the internet. There have been skirmishes before, but this is the real thing. And as the backlash unfolds -- first with deniable attacks on internet service providers hosting WikiLeaks, later with companies like Amazon and eBay and PayPal suddenly "discovering" that their terms and conditions preclude them from offering services to WikiLeaks, and then with the U.S. government attempting to intimidate Columbia students posting updates about WikiLeaks on Facebook -- the intolerance of the old order is emerging from the rosy mist in which it has hitherto been obscured.

The response has been vicious, coordinated and potentially comprehensive, and it contains hard lessons for everyone who cares about democracy and about the future of the net. There is a delicious irony in the fact that it is now the so-called liberal democracies that are clamouring to shut WikiLeaks down. Consider, for instance, how the views of the U.S. administration have changed in just a year. On 21 January, secretary of state Hillary Clinton made a landmark speech about internet freedom, in Washington, DC, which many people welcomed and most interpreted as a rebuke to China for its alleged cyberattack on Google. "Information has never been so free," declared Clinton. "Even in authoritarian countries, information networks are helping people discover new facts and making governments more accountable." She went on to relate how, during his visit to China in November 2009, Barack Obama had "defended the right of people to freely access information, and said that the more freely information flows the stronger societies become. He spoke about how access to information helps citizens to hold their governments accountable, generates new ideas, and encourages creativity." Given what we now know, that Clinton speech reads like a satirical masterpiece. One thing that might explain the official hysteria about the revelations is the way they expose how political elites in western democracies have been deceiving their electorates. The leaks make it abundantly clear not just that the U.S.-Anglo-European adventure in Afghanistan is doomed but, more important, that the American, British, and other Nato governments privately admit that too. The problem is that they cannot face their electorates -- who also happen to be the taxpayers funding this folly -- and tell them this. The leaked dispatches from the U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan provide vivid confirmation that the Karzai regime is as corrupt and incompetent as the South Vietnamese regime in Saigon was when the U.S. was propping it up in the 1970s. And they also make it clear that the U.S. is as much a captive of that regime as it was in Vietnam. The WikiLeaks revelations expose the extent to which the U.S. and its allies see no real prospect of turning Afghanistan into a viable state, let alone a functioning democracy. They show that there is no light at the end of this tunnel. But the political establishments in Washington, London, and Brussels cannot bring themselves to admit this.

The attack of WikiLeaks also ought to be a wake up call for anyone who has rosy fantasies about whose side cloud computing providers are on. These are firms like Google, Flickr, Facebook, Myspace, and Amazon which host your blog or store your data on their servers somewhere on the internet, or which enable you to rent "virtual" computers -- again located somewhere on the net. The terms and conditions under which they provide both "free" and paid-for services will always give them grounds for dropping your content if they deem it in their interests to do so. The moral is that you should not put your faith in cloud computing -- one day it will rain on your parade. Look at the case of Amazon, which dropped WikiLeaks from its Elastic Compute Cloud the moment the going got rough. It seems that Joe Lieberman, a U.S. senator who suffers from a terminal case of hubris, harassed the company over the matter. Later Lieberman declared grandly that he would be "asking Amazon about the extent of its relationship with WikiLeaks and what it and other web service providers will do in the future to ensure that their services are not used to distribute stolen, classified information." This led the New Yorker's Amy Davidson to ask whether "Lieberman feels that he, or any senator, can call in the company running the New Yorker's printing presses when we are preparing a story that includes leaked classified material, and tell it to stop us." What WikiLeaks is really exposing is the extent to which the western democratic system has been hollowed out. In the last decade its political elites have been shown to be incompetent (Ireland, the U.S., and UK in not regulating banks); corrupt (all governments in relation to the arms trade); or recklessly militaristic (the U.S. and UK in Iraq). And yet nowhere have they been called to account in any effective way. Instead they have obfuscated, lied, or blustered their way through. And when, finally, the veil of secrecy is lifted, their reflex reaction is to kill the messenger. As Simon Jenkins put it recently in the Guardian, "Disclosure is messy and tests moral and legal boundaries. It is often irresponsible and usually embarrassing. But it is all that is left when regulation does nothing, politicians are cowed, lawyers fall silent and audit is polluted. Accountability can only default to disclosure." What we are hearing from the enraged officialdom of our democracies is mostly the petulant screaming of emperors whose clothes have been shredded by the net. Which brings us back to the larger significance of this controversy. The political elites of western democracies have discovered that the internet can be a thorn not just in the side of authoritarian regimes, but in their sides too. It has been

comical watching them and their agencies stomp about the net like maddened, half-blind giants trying to whack a mole. It has been deeply worrying to watch terrified internet companies -- with the exception of Twitter, so far -- bending to their will. But politicians now face an agonizing dilemma. The old, mole-whacking approach won't work. WikiLeaks does not depend only on web technology. Thousands of copies of those secret cables -- and probably of much else besides -- are out there, distributed by peer-to-peer technologies like BitTorrent. Our rulers have a choice to make: either they learn to live in a WikiLeakable world, with all that implies in terms of their future behavior; or they shut down the internet. Over to them.

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

POLITICIANS CAN’T BE COUNTED ON TO HALT THE BLOODSHED

THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP

THE WARS

CLASS WAR REPORTS

Homes Of Wealthy Burned: “In Both Cases, The Arsonist Left A

Calling Card, The Message, ‘Fuck The Rich’ At The Scene”

December 12, 2010 The Boston Channel SANDWICH, Mass. -- Police and fire officials are investigating an arson fire in Sandwich that has a disturbing similarity with a suspicious incident in Barnstable, the Cape Cod Times reported Sunday. In both cases, the arsonist left a calling card, the message, "Fuck the rich" at the scene. On Nov. 24, fire burned an unoccupied home still under construction at 16 Boulder Brook Road in Sandwich. The home, which was valued at $500,000, had a three-car garage and three bedrooms, but no plumbing or electric service, Sandwich Fire Chief George Russell told the newspaper. The heavy damage burned much of the evidence, but the state Fire Marshal's Office was recently able to rule that an arsonist had set the fire, Russell said. The following week, on Dec. 2, incendiary devices were found at 43 Trotters Lane in Marstons Mills, law enforcement officials said. At Trotters Lane, the message "Fuck the rich," was clearly spray painted on a fence on the property, Barnstable police Det. John York said. York said a similar message had been found at the Sandwich property. The police said they smelled gas and found an empty propane tank in the basement. They found burn marks upstairs, which could have been evidence of a candle or small fire that had burned itself out, York told the newspaper.

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“Today, The Richest 1 Percent Of Americans Takes Nearly 24 Percent

Of Overall Income” “The Most Extreme Level Of Inequality Since Statistics Started Being Kept”

December 10, 2010 By Alan Maass, Socialist Worker [Excerpts] The profits of U.S. businesses hit another record in the third quarter of 2010, clocking in at $1.659 trillion at an annual rate, according to the Commerce Department--the highest figure in non-inflation-adjusted dollars since the government started keeping track more than 60 years ago.

This was the seventh straight quarter of rising profits, and at one of the fastest clips in recent history. Meanwhile, unemployment has hung on stubbornly at twice its pre-crisis level, and one in six Americans--including one in four children--is at risk of hunger, according to the latest government statistics. On Wall Street, the top three dozen publicly held banks, hedge funds and investment firms plan to pay $144 billion in compensation and benefits this year, according to the Wall Street Journal's survey--the second-straight record-setting year. At Christie's and other New York auction houses that peddle art to the highest bidder, the first two weeks of November were among the most lucrative in history. Dr. Francesca Fusco reports that her Manhattan cosmetic surgery business is booming again--”Wall Street is back spending as much if not more than before,” she gushes. And the bidding action for rentals next summer in the posh Hamptons on Long Island is “hotter and heavier” than ever, says Dolly Lenz of Prudential Douglas Elliman. She has three people ready to pony up more than $400,000 to put a roof over their heads for a few weeks next year. The vast gap between rich and poor has grown even larger during the Great Recession. Today, the richest 1 percent of Americans takes nearly 24 percent of overall income--nearly tripling their share since 1976 and the most extreme level of inequality since statistics started being kept. In the first nine months of the year, the big six banks in the U.S.--Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley--cleared $35 billion in profits. Thanks to the way the bankers reward themselves, a lot of that money will end up being paid out as bonuses. And it's mostly on the government's dime, to boot. Not only did the federal government save them with a multibillion-dollar rescue when the crisis hit, but the bankers are still taking advantage of the Federal Reserve Bank's policy of pumping money into the economy by lending to financial institutions at effective 0 percent interest rates. Business profits as an overall dollar amount hit a new record in the third quarter. Calculated as a percentage of the gross domestic product--the total production of goods and services in the economy--profits reached 11.2 percent, close to the high point of the 2000s boom. In other words, for every $9 produced in the U.S. economy today, the ruling class is pocketing $1. At the same time as profits for the third quarter jumped 28 percent over the year before, business spending on compensation for employees rose only 7.6 percent, or about one-quarter as fast.

That statistic reveals the old-fashioned secret of the profit boom--corporations are making workers work harder for less. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the output of the U.S. economy rose 4.1 percent in the third quarter compared to the year before, the number of hours worked increased by 1.6 percent, and unit labor costs fell by nearly 2 percent.

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