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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 09:23 am: | 
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Supporting our troops with a knife in the back
Hand-in-hand with the Republican Party's post-September 11 fear campaign has been its goal of tying "supporting the troops" with "supporting the administration". Meaning, if you - you terrorist-loving, Hitler appeasing, hybrid-driving, latte-drinking fringe leftist - disagree with anything Dear Leader does (waging a costly, unjust war, for instance), not only do you suffer from intellectual and/or moral confusion, but you also don't support the troops. So our brave young men and women, sadly, find themselves playing the pawns for this White House, both at home and abroad. Dying to prove a point there. Serving to prop up a failing administration here.
But a funny thing happened on the way to Mission Accomplished. The Republicans, as it turns out, support the troops about as much as they've supported, let's say, the city of New Orleans. Hint: Not at all. So, despite the constant stream of phony patriotism standing in for practical policy, once you strip away the spin, the actual, on-the-ground reality tells a far, far, far different tale. A tale that indeed paints a picture of Republicans supporting our troops. Supporting them with a knife in the back.
Listing every example of Republicans screwing the troops would fill a weighty volume, the type of volume the president would laughingly claim to have read this summer, just after those "three Shakespeares". Think about it. You've got an administration that sent the troops to Iraq based on a pack of lies, only to deny them the proper equipment, serving them spoiled food and contaminated water once they were there. You've got a president who has set the all-time record for a vacationing Commander-in-Chief, yet who still hasn't attended his first military funeral. You've got the Secretary of Defense who jokes about not providing our men and women with the proper equipment, yet can't be bothered to personally sign the condolence letters resulting directly from his and his administration's misguided foreign policy. For the ones lucky enough to return home alive, you've got Republican leadership that cuts their benefits while seeking to redefine what actually constitutes a "veteran" in order to further cut costs. To be more concise, however, I'll condense the administration's terrible record with a few memorable examples.
As I pointed out yesterday, one need look no further than this administration's skewed priorities to render ridiculous any claim that Republicans support the troops. Consider that the Pentagon is seeking a two-year, $20 million public relations deal to monitor media both at home and abroad in the hopes of conjuring something that simply isn't there in abundance - good news. Square that, however, with the fact that Congress seems poised to slash funding for the research and treatment of the traumatic brain injuries suffered by our troops. In fact, the new figure would be $7 million, down from $14 million. As I said then, let that sink in. An administration that has seems to have a better war plan for the media than it does the Middle East considers putting lipstick on a pig - positively spinning the Iraq quagmire - nearly three times as important as it does researching and treating what's considered the signature injury of this war. I wonder if the forthcoming public relations program will find a positive way to spin that reality.
When they're not looking to cut the funding earmarked for treating injured troops, some Republicans in Congress have gone on the record as supporting their torture, mutilation and murder in Iraq. In June, on the heels of a Republican-sponsored political vote, Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson offered a nonbinding, "sense of the Senate" resolution that condemned the notion that the Iraqi government would ever grant amnesty to those who would have "attacked, killed, or wounded" our men and women in Iraq. One would think, naturally, that such a resolution would pass unanimously. Wrong. Nineteen senators - all of the Republican - voted against our troops. Those flag-waving senators who should be ashamed of themselves included, as I wrote then, Lindsey Graham, who considers it against U.S. interests to discuss the mistakes we've made in the war, but apparently in the U.S. interest to pardon war criminals. And Trent Lott, who's "not a fan of Secretary Rumsfeld" but apparently is a fan of those who torture Americans. Among the 19 were 11 Republicans with military service who, it appears, voted in favor of those who would have done them grievous harm. It also included John McCain. Back then, I wrote, about this stunner, "Former prisoner of war John McCain. The same John McCain whose amendment setting limits on detainee interrogation the White House vowed to ignore. And now, the same John McCain who opposes degrading treatment of our detainees but would support granting freedom to those who not only degrade American detainees, but also kill them."
Meanwhile, when push comes to shove, Republicans seem content to let someone - anyone - else do the fighting. At every turn, you'll find young right-wing warmongers talking a good game but refusing to enlist to defend the joys of freedom they seem so willing to spread across the Middle East like a face-melting fire. You know, the kind of children of privilege who were born on third base yet act as though they reached safely with a triple. The kind of young Americans to whom military service "isn't for our kind of people". Or, you'll find Republicans who consider supporting the troops slapping a Rick Santorum bumper sticker on their car. And the latest - surely not the last - example of right-wing cowardice may be the most stunning yet. Consider that Sean Hannity told his listeners that, indeed, "there are things in life worth fighting and dying for". At the top of that list? Ensuring that Nancy Pelosi not become Speaker of the House this fall. I wonder how that statement played at enlistment centers across America?
Like pretty much everything else coming from the Republican Party, the "support the troops" claims ring hollow. At every turn, those doing the administration's dirty work - and often paying the ultimate price for doing so - get nothing in return for their sacrifice. What's more, the thanks for a job well done, more often than not, instead takes the form of a stab in the back. So, yeah, if you consider the previous examples as evidence that the Republicans support the troops, then yes, I suppose they do support them.
3161
Total Fatalities - 3,161 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
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Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 11:02 am: |
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Another a bunch of mean vicious political propaganda that plays on nearly every emotional buzz word in the pseudo-liberal talking point prspaganda arsenal. All of them are lies carefully chosen and worded for their emotional impact.
i.e. Playing the pawn: -- Pawns are not volunteers.
Sent to war on a pack of lies: A lie is a deliberate telling of a false hood. None of the reasons given for the going to war has been demonstrated to be a deliberate false hood. The only fact presented that turned out not to be correct was the WMD question. Every intelligence agency in the world knew that Iraq had them and used them in the past. It is a fact of history that the pseudo-liberal propagandists deliberately ignore for their own dishonest political ends.
Deny proper equipment: There was no "denying". There was a routine delay in response to changing enemy battlefield tatics. No one can wave a magic wand to fill changing needs. New equipment must be manufactored and shipped to the troops.
Cut benefits: An outright lie. Benefits have been increased and the VA system has been reorganized to a remarkably effective system that is the standard for the world.
No good news: Another outright lie. The most cusory of honest research reveals that the vast majority of Iraq territory is making rapid advances in post war recovery in the face of determined murderous opposition from the members of the old power structure and a constant influx of weapons and trained terrorists from Iran as well as other state enemies of freedom in the area.
Torture murder and mutelation: More vicious lies. The incidence of behavior on the part of our troops that could be reasonably labeled as such is remarkably low. Considering that the enemy routinly uses such as a terrorist tatic it is nothing short of miraculous that we don't see a great many of our troops responding in kind. The fact that such behavior is quickly sought out and disciplined by the U.S. command structure is routinly ignored by the lying propagandists. As is the fact that the enemy openly displays such egregous behavior in the public media.
We cannot lose this war on terror on the battlefield. We can only lose it through free citizens loosing confidence in our heroic men and women because of lying propaganda from pesudo-liberal socialists who see a chance to gain power from our defeat.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 11:15 am: |
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A very emotional response but not one fact presented to support your point of view.
Total Fatalities - 3,161 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
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Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 11:50 am: |
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I will gladly stand my presentation of real facts against your "cut and paste" tirade anytime.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 11:59 am: |
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By all means, go right ahead and show us your "facts".
Total Fatalities - 3,161 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
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Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 01:16 pm: |
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Just read what I said. If you are so blinded by your hatred that you can't understand them in stark open print ----------?
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
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Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 03:14 pm: |
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Total Fatalities - 3,161 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
A large percentage of the above listed casualties can be directly attributed to the aid, comfort and encouragement given to the enemy by the pseudo-liberal socialists.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 03:58 pm: |
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What you posted are your opinions. Support them with facts, for a change.
Directly attributed to rushing troops into battle without a plan, proper body arm and properly equipped vehicles.
“Army Specialist Thomas Wilson, 31, asked the Secretary why soldiers are being sent to war in humvees and trucks so vulnerable that troops must forage for "rusted scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass that's already been shot up, dropped, busted, picking the best out of this scrap to put on our vehicles to take into combat." Many of Wilson's 2,300 comrades in the hangar were applauding in agreement.”
Total Fatalities - 3,161 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 04:06 pm: |
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Vets charged for lost & damaged gear
By Jim Hoffer / WABC
Imagine fighting for your country in Iraq, risking life and limb, only to be billed for your lost or damaged uniform. That's what is happening to some soldiers returning from Iraq.
The Eyewitness News Investigators has been looking into this for some time.
They served bravely and are now being slapped with a bill from Uncle Sam. The men you are about to hear from are being charged for the uniforms they served in -- one of them damaged on the battlefield, others lost in the confusion of war.
Are these careless soldiers or victims of a stingy military?
They dodge roadside bombs and bullets for a year in Iraq, but for some soldiers there are no handshakes at their homecoming. Instead, they're handed a bill for damaged or missing equipment.
"I'm so proud to be in the military ... at the same time I just could not believe that when I got back after sacrificing so much that I owed the Army money," the soldier said.
This soldier got a bill for about $500 dollars for lost gear. Another soldier had to pay nearly $800 dollars for items such as trousers, a coat, a helmet which he lost during a year spent in some of Iraq's most dangerous towns.
"Maybe you were lying down with a coat behind your head and you come under fire. Your first reaction isn't to grab coat fold it neatly and make sure it's properly stowed when you're being shot at," another soldier said.
These two soldiers asked us to cover their faces because they're considering making a career of the military. They say the bills are a blow to morale.
"You've got the threat of people shooting at you, you're under intense stress and sometimes you have more important things to potentially think about than do I have everything with me," the soldier said.
And in this letter, an uncle details how when his nephew handed in his Army uniform after returning home from Iraq, "they made him pay for parts of it because it was blood stained during combat along the Syrian border."
"To ask him to fight a war and then pay the bill to fight the war defies common sense," said Congressman Steve Israel (D-NY).
Israel is fighting on the soldier's behalf to get the bill for his bloodied uniform dropped. The Army has responded by saying the soldier should contact his commander who can provide him with a "fair wear and tear statement that would eliminate any responsibility to pay for the damaged uniform."
"That's the last thing in the world we should be asking commanders to have to do while they're writing condolence letters to families back home and it's the last thing we should be asking our soldiers to do," Israel said.
The Army says there's a simple process for soldiers to avoid getting billed for lost or damaged gear. All they have to do is fill out a three-page form listing the items missing and why and then get their commander to sign it. The military says these forms are an easy way for soldiers to avoid charges while maintaining accountability to the American taxpayers. But soldiers we spoke to say it's much more complicated.
"You can sometimes get him to sign a waiver, but he's often swamped with things that are much more important," the soldier said.
These soldiers paid their bills rather than getting bogged down in bureaucracy. They still love the military, even though the respect seemed less than mutual.
"I joined the military because I wanted to give back to those who gave me the freedom that I have today ... when I got home and I was told that I owed the military money because I misplaced or lost some things in the course of my duties as an American soldier, I was really sad. I felt hurt," another soldier said.
It's unclear how widespread this is, but the soldiers we spoke to say they saw fellow veterans getting similar bills. Most of them paid it so they could be discharged and go home to see their families.
Total Fatalities - 3,161 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
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Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 04:30 pm: |
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Now here is something on which we can agree. If it is as presented by Mr Hoffer it is a stupid administrative blunder and needs to be sorted out immediately.
Total Fatalities - 3,161 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
A large percentage of the above listed casualties can be directly attributed to the aid, comfort and encouragement given to the enemy by the pseudo-liberal socialists.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 04:50 pm: |
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Attention everyone! I know it's a really offensive and a very silly thing for him to post, but please, just ignore Jimbo's statement about "pseudo-liberal socialists" being somehow responsible for the deaths and casualties caused by Bush's war of choice. Evidently Jimbo's having a bad day so let's be kind to him, just smile and nod politely.
Total Fatalities - 3,161 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 05:04 pm: |
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Yes, I’ve read about Nixon’s Saturday Night Massacre. That was a nasty bit of business, wasn’t it, Jimbo.
3162
Attention everyone! I know it's a really offensive and a very silly thing for him to post, but please, just ignore Jimbo's statement about "pseudo-liberal socialists" being somehow responsible for the deaths and casualties caused by Bush's war of choice. Evidently Jimbo's having a bad day so let's be kind to him, just smile and nod politely.
Total Fatalities - 3,161 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
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Njaeok
Starlite Member
Username: Njaeok
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 05:04 pm: |
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Attention everyone!
There is no "somehow" about it.
Total Fatalities - 3,161 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
A large percentage of the above listed casualties can be directly attributed to the aid, comfort and encouragement given to the enemy by the pseudo-liberal socialists.
They would love to be able to label everything that points out their culpability as "offensive" and I suppose it is to them but the truth is the truth and if that offends you; you might really need to check out your own honesty index.
Born with the gift of laughter, aware that the world is mad. -- Jimbo
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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 28, 2007 - 05:13 pm: |
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See why I'm concerned, Jimbo, you're going off topic and ranting on again. Perhaps if you put on your tinfoil hat you could shut out those voices that seem to have taken control of your pen and common sense.
Attention everyone! I know it's a really offensive and a very silly thing for him to post, but please, just ignore Jimbo's statement about "pseudo-liberal socialists" being somehow responsible for the deaths and casualties caused by Bush's war of choice. Evidently Jimbo's having a bad day so let's be kind to him, just smile and nod politely.
Total Fatalities - 3,162 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Thursday, March 01, 2007 - 12:07 pm: |
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Headline: COMMANDING GENERAL AT WALTER REED ARMY MEDICAL CENTER FIRED AFTER REPORTS OF SUBSTANDARD CARE AND LIVING CONDITIONS
Total Fatalities - 3,163 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Thursday, March 01, 2007 - 03:57 pm: |
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3164
Total Fatalities - 3,164 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Thursday, March 01, 2007 - 03:59 pm: |
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Bay City Marine dies in Iraq
Pfc. Bufford "Kenny" VanSlyke, 22, was slain Tuesday night in Fallujah, said his mother Cindy L. Fisher, 44, of Bay City. "Kenny did the checkpoints and he had all his gear on, but (a shot) went right through his armor."
Total Fatalities - 3,164 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Thursday, March 01, 2007 - 04:08 pm: |
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A secret Pentagon study has found that as many as 80 percent of the marines who have been killed in Iraq from wounds to the upper body could have survived if they had had extra body armor. Such armor has been available since 2003, but until recently the Pentagon has largely declined to supply it to troops despite calls from the field for additional protection, according to military officials.
>
The vulnerability of the military's body armor has been known since the start of the war, and is part of a series of problems that have surrounded the protection of American troops. Still, the Marine Corps did not begin buying additional plates to cover the sides of their troops until September, when it ordered 28,800 sets, Marine officials acknowledge.
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Total Fatalities - 3,164 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Friday, March 02, 2007 - 04:38 am: |
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Complaints about Walter Reed were voiced for years.
Top officials at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, including the Army's surgeon general, have heard complaints about outpatient neglect from family members, veterans groups and members of Congress for more than three years.
A procession of Pentagon and Walter Reed officials expressed surprise last week about the living conditions and bureaucratic nightmares faced by wounded soldiers staying at the D.C. medical facility. But as far back as 2003, the commander of Walter Reed, Lt. Gen. Kevin C. Kiley, who is now the Army's top medical officer, was told that soldiers who were wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan were languishing and lost on the grounds, according to interviews.
Steve Robinson, director of veterans affairs at Veterans for America, said he ran into Kiley in the foyer of the command headquarters at Walter Reed shortly after the Iraq war began and told him that "there are people in the barracks who are drinking themselves to death and people who are sharing drugs and people not getting the care they need."
"I met guys who weren't going to appointments because the hospital didn't even know they were there," Robinson said. Kiley told him to speak to a sergeant major, a top enlisted officer.
A recent Washington Post series detailed conditions at Walter Reed, including those at Building 18, a dingy former hotel on Georgia Avenue where the wounded were housed among mice, mold, rot and cockroaches.
Kiley lives across the street from Building 18. From his quarters, he can see the scrappy building and busy traffic the soldiers must cross to get to the 113-acre post. At a news conference last week, Kiley, who declined several requests for interviews for this article, said that the problems of Building 18 "weren't serious and there weren't a lot of them." He also said they were not "emblematic of a process of Walter Reed that has abandoned soldiers and their families."
But according to interviews, Kiley, his successive commanders at Walter Reed and various top noncommissioned officers in charge of soldiers' lives have heard a stream of complaints about outpatient treatment over the past several years. The complaints have surfaced at town hall meetings for staff and soldiers, at commanders' "sensing sessions" in which soldiers or officers are encouraged to speak freely, and in several inspector general's reports detailing building conditions, safety issues and other matters.
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Total Fatalities - 3,164 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Friday, March 02, 2007 - 08:50 pm: |
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Walter Reed was privatized by Halliburton subsidiary
Committee subpoenas former Walter Reed chief
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Friday Mar 2, 2007 18:51:46 EST
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has subpoenaed Maj. Gen. George Weightman, who was fired as head of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, after Army officials refused to allow him to testify before the committee Monday.
Read complete coverage of the Walter Reed controversy.
Committee Chairman Henry Waxman and subcommittee Chairman John Tierney asked Weightman to testify about an internal memo that showed privatization of services at Walter Reed could put “patient care services… at risk of mission failure.”
But Army officials refused to allow Weightman to appear before the committee after he was relieved of command.
“The Army was unable to provide a satisfactory explanation for the decision to prevent General Weightman from testifying,” committee members said in a statement today.
The committee wants to learn more about a letter written in September by Garrison Commander Peter Garibaldi to Weightman.
The memorandum “describes how the Army’s decision to privatize support services at Walter Reed Army Medical Center was causing an exodus of ‘highly skilled and experienced personnel,’” the committee’s letter states. “According to multiple sources, the decision to privatize support services at Walter Reed led to a precipitous drop in support personnel at Walter Reed.”
The letter said Walter Reed also awarded a five-year, $120-million contract to IAP Worldwide Services, which is run by Al Neffgen, a former senior Halliburton official.
They also found that more than 300 federal employees providing facilities management services at Walter Reed had drooped to fewer than 60 by Feb. 3, 2007, the day before IAP took over facilities management. IAP replaced the remaining 60 employees with only 50 private workers.
“The conditions that have been described at Walter Reed are disgraceful,” the letter states. “Part of our mission on the Oversight Committee is to investigate what led to the breakdown in services. It would be reprehensible if the deplorable conditions were caused or aggravated by an ideological commitment to privatize government services regardless of the costs to taxpayers and the consequences for wounded soldiers.”
The letter said the Defense Department “systemically” tried to replace federal workers at Walter Reed with private companies for facilities management, patient care and guard duty – a process that began in 2000.
“But the push to privatize support services there accelerated under President Bush’s ‘competitive sourcing’ initiative, which was launched in 2002,” the letter states.
During the year between awarding the contract to IAP and when the company started, “skilled government workers apparently began leaving Walter Reed in droves,” the letter states. “The memorandum also indicates that officials at the highest levels of Walter Reed and the U.S. Army Medical Command were informed about the dangers of privatization, but appeared to do little to prevent them.”
The memo signed by Garibaldi requests more federal employees because the hospital mission had grown “significantly” during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It states that medical command did not concur with their request for more people.
“Without favorable consideration of these requests,” Garibaldi wrote, “ Base Operations and patient care services are at risk of mission failure.”
Total Fatalities - 3,166 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Saturday, March 03, 2007 - 10:05 am: |
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Why was Francis J. Harvey the Secretary of the Army?
Secretary of the Army, Francis J. Harvey, was fired today by Defense Secretary, Robert Gates made the announcement today. The “resignation” was the latest fallout in the Walter Reed debacle that has, so far, cost a Major general and a Lieutenant General in charge of the hospital, their jobs.
Francis J. Harvey, a Bush appointee, has a flimsy experience for the job he held from 2004 until today. Dr. Harvey holds a doctorate in metallurgy and a bachelors degree in the same field. Dr. Harvey never found the time for actual military service even though he was of the right age to have fought in Vietnam. Probably had more important things to do.
Apparently Dr. Harvey left out a job on his official DOD biography. He was the president of the IT Group which has ties to the Carlyle Group. The company went bankrupt in 2002 when Harvey was it’s top executive. All the boring facts are here.
The Carlyle Group has ties to the Bush family, going back to Papa George, and the Saudi royal family.
Conspiracy theorists go to work.
But in the non-conspiracy department, it certainly appears that George W. Bush appointed another family friend, who was woefully underqualified, to one of the most important and powerful posts in the military.
The result to our wounded troops; tragic failures, substandard treatment and shoddy facilities.
Francis Harvey, who, I am sure, had some cutesy nickname from Bush, is the latest in a long line of cronyistic political payback appointments, that have resulted in massive incompetence and, this time, our war wounded are again paying the price for Bush’s total lack of responsibility.
Move over Brownie, another “heckuva job”, Bush family friend will be joining you on the book and lecture circuit, making money by exploiting the military people he failed.
3166 + 3 = 3169
Total Fatalities - 3,169 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Monday, March 05, 2007 - 11:36 am: |
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U.S. builds Baghdad garrisons to fight violence
Mon Mar 5, 2007 10:58AM GMT
By Ibon Villelabeitia
BAGHDAD, March 5 (Reuters) - Barricaded in a small garrison in a Baghdad neighbourhood, U.S. soldier Aaron Larson keeps an uneasy eye on the traffic for suicide car bombers.
A mortar bomb had just landed a few metres away, shaking the sandbagged outpost where some 30 American soldiers are hunkered down with Iraqi police and army under a new security plan to rein in sectarian violence in the Iraqi capital.
"We feel like sitting ducks here," said Larson. "They are watching us all the time. We don't know what they'll do next."
U.S. commanders are moving troops from the relative safety of their sprawling bases and stationing them in small outposts in Baghdad's most violent districts in a pivotal tactical shift.
More than a dozen joint security stations have opened in a fresh approach designed by General David Petraeus, the new U.S. commander in Iraq, a counter-insurgency expert who warns troops to be ready to be "greeted with a handshake or a hand grenade".
3169 + 2 + 3 = 3174
Total Fatalities - 3,169 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 07, 2007 - 11:53 pm: |
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72 Percent Of Army Brigades Have Served Multiple Tours of Duty
The Center for American Progress has released a new study on the state of our military readiness. The report — “Beyond the Call of Duty: A Comprehensive Review of the Overuse of the Army in the Administration’s War of Choice in Iraq” — undertook a “massive research project to identify, brigade by brigade, the number and duration of deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan by the active Army.” The report found a large majority of Army brigades have served multiple tours:
– Brigades with one tour in Iraq or Afghanistan: 12
– Brigades with two tours in Iraq or Afghanistan: 20
– Brigades with three tours in Iraq or Afghanistan: 9
– Brigades with four tours in Iraq or Afghanistan: 2
The report also points out that a total of 420,000 troops have deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan more than once, and over 84,000 National Guard and Reservists have done multiple tours.
The multiple deployments and extended tours of duty are taking a serious toll on our soldiers. Two-thirds of Army brigades are “not ready for wartime missions,” and one Pentagon survey found that troops in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer from chronic shortages of armored vehicles, heavy weapons, and communications equipment.
3188
Total Fatalities - 3,169 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Friday, March 09, 2007 - 08:05 am: |
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Under VA Chief, Effort to Aid Wounded Vets Stalled, Ex-Employee Charges
A proposal to keep seriously wounded vets from falling through he cracks of the bureaucracy was shelved in 2005 when Jim Nicholson took over as the secretary of the Veterans Affairs Department, according to the former VA employee who was responsible for tracking war casualties.
As a result, seriously wounded veterans continued to face long delays for health care and benefit payments after being discharged from the military, says former VA program manager Paul Sullivan.
The program, called the Contingency Tracking System, had been approved by Nicholson's predecessor but died once Nicholson took over the VA, Sullivan told ABC News.
Total Fatalities - 3,189 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
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Jennifer03801
Starlite Member
Username: Jennifer03801
| | Posted on Sunday, March 11, 2007 - 02:41 pm: |
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3193
The Army is ordering injured troops to go to Iraq
At Fort Benning, soldiers who were classified as medically unfit to fight are now being sent to war. Is this an isolated incident or a trend?
By Mark Benjamin
March 11, 2007 | FORT BENNING, Ga. -- "This is not right," said Master Sgt. Ronald Jenkins, who has been ordered to Iraq even though he has a spine problem that doctors say would be damaged further by heavy Army protective gear. "This whole thing is about taking care of soldiers," he said angrily. "If you are fit to fight you are fit to fight. If you are not fit to fight, then you are not fit to fight."
As the military scrambles to pour more soldiers into Iraq, a unit of the Army's 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Benning, Ga., is deploying troops with serious injuries and other medical problems, including GIs who doctors have said are medically unfit for battle. Some are too injured to wear their body armor, according to medical records.
More http://www.salon.com/news/2007/03/11/fort_benning/
3190 + 3 = 3193
Total Fatalities - 3,190 Total Wounded - 23,417
Diseases Medical Air Transport Required - 18,704
Total Medical Air Transported - 32,544
Total Non-Mortal Casualties - 54,910
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