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Brother Bobby Tellin It Like It Is, Muller That Is

Submitted by jimstaro on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 05:45.

Shorter Iraq Deployments Aim to Ease Strain on U.S. Forces

Assessing the burden on soldiers

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.

You can read the trasnscript, listen to the show and watch with their player at their site.

There was also a Debate on the issue on PRI:

Warren Olney's "To The Point" regarding the August 2008 reduction in tour lengths from 15 months to 12 months with:

Guests:
Mark Silva: White House Correspondent, Chicago Tribune

Carissa Picard: President, Military Spouses for Change

Sig Christenson: Military Reporter, San Antonio Express-News

Pete Hegseth: Executive Director, Vets for Freedom

Brandon Friedman: Editor, VetVoice.com

You can Listen Here or at the site link above.

And this from Truth Dig

Failing the Troops

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.

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McCain Uses POW Status as Sword & Shield

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Winter Soldier book to be

Submitted by jimstaro on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 06:03.

Winter Soldier book to be released September 2008

The following link on Amazon.com will allow readers to
pre-order copies of the Winter Soldier book coming
this fall.

Winter Soldier: Iraq and Afghanistan: Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations

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McCain Uses POW Status as Sword & Shield

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IRAQ: Returning Home Is No

Submitted by jimstaro on Fri, 04/11/2008 - 06:26.

IRAQ:

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."

To access the report in PDF Click Here

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McCain Uses POW Status as Sword & Shield

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