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WAR/DRAFT Archives
May 15, 2008
No one could have guessed, back in 2000, what would come of Chalabi's efforts in Washington.
May 12, 2008
Lars-Olof Corneliusson, the former commander of a Swedish amphibious military unit based near Stockholm, is accused of trying to cover up an incident in which new conscripts fired shoulder mounted artillery cannons while in the nude.
Ummmmmmmm ... okay. - M. R.
May 10, 2008
The U.S. Navy air wing commander for the USS Kitty Hawk's strike group was relieved of duty Friday after an admiral said he lost confidence in the commander's ability, according to a Navy spokeswoman.
Sounds like the "purge" of commanders opposed to war with Iran has started. - M. R.
May 9, 2008
No one wants another war - so why does it seem inevitable?
Because THEY want a war!
We are failing miserably in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the US economy is absolutely in the commode, for most working Americans.
So what does this administration have in store for us?
More war, and a new enemy to blame for all our problems.
Of course it's completely insane, and fixes nothing.
But unfortunately, this administration couldn't find a logical domestic or foreign policy at this point with a flashlight and both hands. - M. R.
May 8, 2008
McCain's "Spiritual Guide" Wants America to Destroy Islam...
May 7, 2008
Everywhere, the American message is the same: "Join us in our crimes against humanity, or perish in our glorious shock and awe."
May 4, 2008
MacDill spokeswoman Rebecca Heyse said attendance was down from previous years, judging from all the available parking. An estimated 60,000 came to the event Saturday, a sharp drop from last year's 150,000.
War is no longer cool. - M. R.
May 3, 2008
Enmeshed in two military occupations that have turned into well-publicized quagmires, the Army and Marines are understandably having trouble enlisting new recruits. Their answer: vastly increase the number of convicted felons and other societal miscreants accepted into their ranks.
May 1, 2008
RAF pilot crash-landed £69million fighter jet after 'forgetting to put the wheels down'...
Whoopsie! - M. R.
China has secretly built a major underground nuclear submarine base that could threaten Asian countries and challenge American power in the region, it can be disclosed.
It amazes me that the US and UK can embark on a program of belligerence across the globe, invading innocent country after innocent country, then when other nations start making what are prudent preparations to counter the obvious militarism of the US/UK/Israel, everyone acts like it's a huge surprise and a provocation.
What is China SUPPOSED to do? Open the gates and roll out the red carpet for our invading hordes? - M. R.
April 29, 2008
More than a quarter of senators and congressmen have invested at least $196 million of their own money in companies doing business with the Department of Defense (DoD) that profit from the death and destruction in Iraq.
Every drop of blood shed is another piece of silver in their pockets. - M. R.
April 26, 2008
The more likely explanation for the US invasion of Iraq is the neoconservative Bush Regime's commitment to the defense of Israeli territorial expansion. There is no such thing as a neoconservative who is not allied with Israel. Israel hopes to steal all of the West Bank and southern Lebanon for its territorial expansion. An American colonial regime in Iraq not only buttresses Israel from attack, but also can pressure Syria and Iran from giving support to the Palestinians and Lebanese. The Iraqi war is a war for Israeli territorial expansion. Americans are dying and bleeding to death financially for Israel. Bush's "war on terror" is a hoax that serves to cover US intervention in the Middle East in behalf of "greater Israel."
The military adventurers in the Bush administration have much in common with the corporate leaders of the defunct energy company Enron. Both groups thought that they were the "smartest guys in the room" -- the title of Alex Gibney's prize-winning film on what went wrong at Enron. The neoconservatives in the White House and the Pentagon outsmarted themselves. They failed even to address the problem of how to finance their schemes of imperialist wars and global domination.
In a speech at Imperial College, London, Mahathir called for a tribunal to try US President George W. Bush plus former prime ministers Tony Blair of Britain and John Howard of Australia for their part in the conflict
April 25, 2008
A number of Democratic senators said they were appalled at e-mails showing Katz and other VA officials apparently trying to conceal the number of suicides by veterans. An e-mail message from Katz disclosed this week as part of a lawsuit that went to trial in San Francisco starts with "Shh!" and claims 12,000 veterans a year attempt suicide while under department treatment.
...
Another e-mail said an average of 18 war veterans kill themselves each day - and five of them are under VA care when they commit suicide.
How would you react if you woke up and realized that you were the bad guy in this war, if you were the 21st century version of the Nazis, invading other nations for no other reason than empire and conquest? - M. R.
April 22, 2008
Three U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups are patrolling waters off southeast Taiwan. The task forces with the Kitty Hawk, Nimitz and Lincoln in the lead are believed to continue the patrol until May 20. Of course, it's rather unusual. But what for?
The Army has accelerated its policy of involuntary extensions of duty to bolster its troop levels, despite Defense Secretary Robert Gates' order last year to limit it, Pentagon records show.
Between this, the number of gang members recruited, and the criminals for whom "moral waivers" had to be given, you have to wonder: just how soon will a draft be reinstated? - M. R.
April 21, 2008
Mikhail Gorbachev, former President of the USSR, was asked today in Santa Fe, New Mexico, to lead the next USA President out of the USA's present Middle East conflicts; "USA needs to elect a President who gets along with the world, and doesn't brandish a big stick and make threats;" World needs "Planetary Glasnost"
April 19, 2008
Pelican shatters Aussie F-111...
I don't imagine it did the Pelican much good, either! - M. R.
April 17, 2008
Scientists and critics say projected US missile defense system cannot work
April 15, 2008
Several Reasons Why it isn't about Oil...
See WHO IS THE US CONGRESS
LISTENING TO? - M. R.
For every hour the Military recruiters prey on our young, the potential teenage enlistee should spend fifteen minutes with an actual combat veteran. Those fifteen minutes might save their lives. But does Uncle Sam really want to save lives?
Dick Cheney knew about peak oil back in 1999 when he spoke to the London Petroleum Institute as Halliburton CEO. He predicted it would come in 2010. After that it's just a matter of years before it runs out. Whoever controls the remaining oil determines who lives and who dies.
Sixty percent of this oil is under a triangular area of the Middle East the size of Kansas. In that speech Cheney said: "The Middle East with two thirds of the world's oil and the lowest cost, is still where the prize ultimately lies."
See also WRH:It's About Oil. - M. R.
We have no space here to dwell on the extensive role of big business and business interests in getting the United States into World War I. The extensive economic ties of the large business community with England and France, through export orders and through loans to the Allies, especially those underwritten by the politically powerful J.P. Morgan & Co. (which also served as agent to the British and French governments), allied to the boom brought about by domestic and Allied military orders, all played a leading role in bringing the United States into the war. Furthermore, virtually the entire Eastern business community supported the drive toward war.
I can't look at Petraeus -- his uniform ornamented like a Christmas tree with honors, medals and ribbons -- without thinking of the great Mort Sahl at the peak of his brilliance. He talked about meeting General Westmoreland in the Vietnam days. Mort, in a virtuoso display of his uncanny detailed knowledge -- and memory -- of such things, recited the lengthy list ("Distinguished Service Medal, Croix de Guerre with Chevron, Bronze Star, Pacific Campaign" and on and on), naming each of the half-acre of decorations, medals, ornaments, campaign ribbons and other fripperies festooning the general's sternum in gaudy display. Finishing the detailed list, Mort observed, "Very impressive!" Adding, "If you're twelve."
April 14, 2008
A fragment of a two-pound artillery shell plummeted through the roof of their Jefferson Township home around 2:30 p.m. Friday, landing on their little girl's bed - ultimately killing the family's cat.
"The cat was a known Al Qaeda operative." -- Official White Horse Souse - M. R.
April 13, 2008
Several unmanned military drones with U.S. Air Force markings washed ashore in Alabama and forced the closure of a portion of at least one beach.
There is a fine for littering. - M. R.
The Air Force's newest and most technologically advanced fighter, the F-22 Raptor, is under attack here. Free-falling clams dropped by in-flight birds are regular air threats to the F-22 as gulls drop fist-sized mollusks on the Langley Air Force Base runway to break open the shell-fish appetizer. The birds' shelling device just happens to be a convenient launch pad for the F-22.
Although the gulls remove half their mess -- slurping up tender meat from the runway -- they leave behind hard, brittle sea shells for an F-22 to suck up through its engine intake that can cause severe damage. Although the Air Force is wildlife-friendly, Lt. Col. Lawrence Spinetta, the 1st Fighter Wing Safety Office chief, isn't willing to let a $10.2 million jet engine go to the birds -- or the clams.
The USA always designs their aircraft to be launched and recovered on squeaky clean runways, but the Russians, realizing that war is a dirty business, design their aircraft to tolerate debris-filled runways. - M. R.
April 12, 2008
Ooopsies!!!!...
Our bad! - M. R.
John McCain 'would confront Russia and China'...
Ummm, John? Those people really DO have nuclear weapons. And ICBMs. And WE have a missile defense system that only works if the target has a homing beacon on it. And the Russians have already come up with a steerable re-entry vehicle which obsoletes our whole system. - M. R.
About 1,821 current or former soldiers committed suicide in 16 states in 2005, the most recent year of available data, according to the report published today by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Almost half were diagnosed with depression and a third left suicide notes.
Imagine waking up one morning and realizing you were NOT the benevolent occupier your government had told you that you were. - M. R.
April 11, 2008
Combat Robot Attempts Rebellion Against Human Masters in Iraq, Army Pulls Plug for 10-20 Years...
Your tax dollars at work. - M. R.
April 10, 2008
NATO fighters intercepted two Russian strategic bombers when they were flying near Alaska, on Wednesday, Russian media reported.
"Two Tu-95MS strategic bombers and four Il-78 tanker aircraft were on an air patrol mission over neutral waters of the Arctic and Pacific Oceans on Wednesday," Interfax news agency cited Air Force spokesman Col. Alexander Drobyshevsky.
Someone sure wants a return to the cold war. - M. R.
April 8, 2008
"There sure as hell is a draft going on," the passenger sitting next to me said grudgingly as the flight attendant handed him a ginger ale on our way into Los Angeles last week. "I signed up to be in the Navy, not the damn Army."
April 6, 2008
The Army can't be sure some of its body armor met safety standards, partly because it didn't do proper paperwork on initial testing of the protective vests, a Defense Department audit said.
Democratic Rep. Louise M. Slaughter of New York, who requested the department inspector general's report, on Wednesday demanded the firing of officials responsible. But the Army said the gear is safe and the issue is a disagreement over when and what type of testing is required -- principally so-called "first article testing" typically done on a product before a contract is awarded.
"Hey, it's not like it's OUR kids whose lives depend on it or anything." -- Official White Horse Souse - M. R.
April 4, 2008
A U.S. B-1 bomber crashed at an air base in Qatar on Friday, a U.S. defense official said, adding the cause was still unknown.
The Army and Marine Corps bought hundreds of thousands of sets of body armor -- without the equipment being properly tested, according to a report by the Defense Department's inspector general.
April 3, 2008
Members of Congress have as much as $196 million collectively invested in companies doing business with the Defense Department, earning millions since the onset of the Iraq war, according to a study by a nonpartisan research group.
In other words, they are voting themselves rich on your tax dollars. - M. R.
The Defense Department has announced a new get-tough policy with colleges and universities that interfere with the work of military recruiters and Reserve Officer Training Corps programs.
April 2, 2008
This is not about the waste of taxpayer dollars--already pushing a trillion--in funding the Iraq war, which, while reprehensible enough, pales in comparison to the big-ticket military systems purchased in the wake of 9/11. In the horror of that moment, the floodgates were lifted and the peace dividend promised with the end of the Cold War was washed away by a doubling of spending on ultra-complex military equipment originally designed to defeat a Soviet enemy that no longer exists, equipment that has no plausible connection with fighting stateless terrorists. Example: the $81-billion submarine pushed by Sen. Joseph Lieberman, presumably to fight al-Qaida's navy.
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE AGENCY FINANCIAL REPORT (PDF)...
Check out pages 12 and 69. The DOD is carrying a lot of "unfunded liabilities". In other words, either they are spending far more than Congress has given them, or we have another trillion dollar "disappearance" about to happen.. - M. R.
April 1, 2008
The stories are shocking in their simplicity and brutality: A female military recruit is pinned down at knifepoint and raped repeatedly in her own barracks. Her attackers hid their faces but she identified them by their uniforms; they were her fellow soldiers. During a routine gynecological exam, a female soldier is attacked and raped by her military physician. Yet another young soldier, still adapting to life in a war zone, is raped by her commanding officer. Afraid for her standing in her unit, she feels she has nowhere to turn.
Suuure, let your kids enlist! - M. R.
More importantly, the war has shown the limits of American power. It is clear the United States can only manage to fight two small wars at a time.
Iraq and Afghanistan have stretched the US armed forces almost to breaking point. America after the invasion of Iraq is no longer the superpower it was before.
Daily we see TV shows that propagandize us all about America's high-tech "Wonder Weapons", promising to make killing the other guys a safe open air video game, costly to develop, always "just around the corner", and when finally deployed usually unable to perform as advertised. (If you have not read the book "The Pentagon Wars" about the development of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle, make a point of doing so. There is also a very funny movie based on the book.)
But the fact is that America's war machine, like America's President, is all hat and no cattle. Our expensive high-tech military toys are easily spoofed by some very low-tech tricks. This is a repeat of Vietnam, in which the US taxpayer paid to turn 4000 Bell Helicopters into rusted monuments to the 60,000 kids who died in that mistake. Despite the aforesaid helicopters, laser-guided bombs, aircraft carriers, E6 and B-52 bombers, and the very best technology DARPA could come up with, we lost that war, just as we are losing this one.
The reason is simple. The might of a nation is not in its hardware but in the spirit of the people. The United States will always win a war when the people know that war is just and necessary. But all the modern weapons in the world cannot win a war when the people know that the war is false, based on lies; a war not for defense but to invade and conquer another nation in order to plunder its wealth. That is not what America is, despite the best efforts of those who stole the elections in 2000 and 2004. - M. R.
March 31, 2008
The final phase or aftermath of WW III is the destruction of the United States so what remains can be folded into the North American Union. The Iranian response to the Israeli air strike will include the cut off of all oil from the Persian Gulf which should raise the price of oil to $300 or $400 a barrel. That would bankrupt more than 50% of all American families as they would have no means of buying gas to get to work. The destruction of the dollar will make food unaffordable too."
Eat the rich. - M. R.
March 30, 2008
Interactive Vietnam Veterans Memorial - My Small Tribute to Eric Duffer...
March 29, 2008
Virtual Vietnam Veterans Memorial (The Vietnam Wall)...
So many names.
So many names. - M. R.
Laser plane could destroy tanks from 10 miles...
The invasion of Iraq may be the greatest self-inflicted blunder in the history of U.S. foreign policy. The case for war rested on false information, dubious assumptions and mendacious analysis. Neoconservatives inside and outside the Bush administration persuaded the president, vice president, and the American people that Saddam was an imminent threat, that war would be easy and pay for itself, and that ousting him would bring far-reaching benefits to the region. They were wrong on all counts, and their responsibility for this catastrophe should not be forgotten.
March 27, 2008
Michael Ledeen offers yet another of his many posts lauding the reports by Michael Yon, embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq, and joyously greeting the news of impending victory that Yon provides the war propagandists, year after bloody year after carnage-drenched year. Ledeen, of course, is one of the most sickeningly awful of the war lovers, and let us never forget the Ledeen Doctrine: "Every ten years or so, the United States needs to pick up some small crappy little country and throw it against the wall, just to show the world we mean business."
Initially the Bush Administration articulated missile defense plans that included a significant commitement to a Space Based Interceptor [SBI] program. These plans provoked technical criticism and political controversy. The Administration apparently dropped these plans for space weapons, and the controversy faded. Critics of space based weapons were left with nothing to criticize. In reality, the Administration continued the Space-Based Interceptor program under a classified program, PE 0603891C Special Programs MDA, that first appeared in the 2005 budget request, around the time that overt funding for space based weapons was fading away. The program continues, without the political contoversy that had attended the overtly funded program of previous years.
"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel," said author Samuel Johnson. Bush's deceit leading to the invasion of Iraq perverted the meaning of patriotism by enabling our corrupt military-industrial complex to make outrageous profits for multinational corporations. Corporate greed and war profiteering have made endless war a corporate imperative.
March 26, 2008
While school officials at Forest Lake Area High School fielded many phone calls Tuesday from people upset with their decision to cancel a visit by touring veterans, more than 100 people greeted the vets at the local American Legion center.
Young people should see the classic film, "All Quiet on the Western Front", which illustrates how schools exist to sell wars to the young people. - M. R.
This project takes an overall look at US government/military/CIA interventions around the world over the past century. It organizes the information into regions and countries, for each country giving a timeline highlighting particular intervention(s) while supplying a small context surrounding the events. While attempting to simply report events as they occurred, the project presents a generally critical view of these interventions with respect to US intentions and the results of the US actions, whereby the ever-repeated rhetoric of supporting "democracy," and "freedom" is shown to be somewhat at odds with the reality.
Requested by a reader. This may help people understand why Rev. Wright says "the chickens have come home to roost."
- M. R.
He was referring to those who have been the victims of stop-loss, the device by which the president can, "in the event of war," choose to extend an enlistee's contract "until six months after the war ends." The "War on Terror" is this president's excuse for invoking that clause. Because that war will, by definition, continue as long as we insist that there is a difference between the terror inflicted on our innocents and the terror inflicted on theirs, American soldiers are effectively signing away their freedom indefinitely when they join the military.
March 25, 2008
Last Friday, Dick Cheney was in Saudi Arabia for high-level meetings with the Saudi king and his ministers. On Saturday, it was revealed that the Saudi Shura Council -- the elite group that implements the decisions of the autocratic inner circle -- is preparing "national plans to deal with any sudden nuclear and radioactive hazards that may affect the kingdom following experts' warnings of possible attacks on Iran's Bushehr nuclear reactors," one of the kingdom's leading newspapers, Okaz, reports. The German-based dpa news service relayed the paper's story.
Simple prudence -- or ominous timing?
Calls for the west to use force to restore its values in the face of radical Islam reveal a profound detachment from reality
March 24, 2008
Over 70,000 deaths, and over 1 million disabilities among American soldiers attributed to Iraq Wars says U.S. government data
According to U.S. media reports, there are well below 5,000 U.S. soldiers who have been killed in Iraq. However, this data appears to be very misleading. Why? Because many tens of thousands of American soldiers have apparently been killed to-date, as a result of being exposed to radiation poisoning from the indiscriminate killing machines of U.S. military weaponry.
March 22, 2008
US Vice President Dick Cheney, during a trip to the Middle East aimed at consolidating Washington's position in its ongoing wars of aggression and preparing new ones, gave vent Wednesday to his utter contempt for the will of the American people.
Victories are within sight for people in a growing number of nations where communities that host U.S. foreign military bases have long fought to get rid of them.
Ecuador's decision not to renew the U.S. lease for the forward operating base at Manta (see Yankees Head Home) is the culmination of just one of many long-term and recently initiated community-based and national struggles to remove these military installations that are often sources of crime and demeaning human rights violations. A growing alliance among anti-bases movements in countries around the world, including the United States, is preventing the creation of new foreign military bases, restricting the expansion of others, and in some cases may win the withdrawal of the military bases, installations and troops that are essential to U.S. wars of intervention and its preparations for first-strike nuclear attacks.
March 21, 2008
Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah in a meeting with visiting US Vice President Dick Cheney has rejected any US military strike against Iran.
"So?" -- Dick "The Shootist" Cheney - M. R.
We swallowed a load in 2001 and we're seeing signs and wonders and signs and wonders all over the place now. We are seeing a collection of related events that are all indicating that 'the future is now' or just around the corner. Ominous evidence of three dimensional chess pressures are pushing circumstance ...and daring it to do something stupid. Food shortages; high fuel costs, housing foreclosures, bank failures, the falling dollar and assorted saber rattling all seem to indicate that 'the boys in the backroom' are getting all sub rosa before they go nova.
March 19, 2008
There are some major military movements taking place in Asia right now, and it should come to no surprise to anyone that the US Navy is about to have more ships at sea in the Pacific than any other time in recent memory, including all 4 available Carrier Strike Groups. In our observations of the Tibet blogger feeds, or even more interesting the hackers in Tibet feeding information out in some very tech savvy clever ways through the Chinese firewalls, there are a lot of reports that a major Chinese Army is moving down G318, the main road into Tibet from Sichuan province.
VIDEO - Nationwide anti-war demonstrations March 18, live capture and chat...
VIDEO - Iraq War Protesters Take to the Streets...
Note the very negative tone in the reporter's voice. - M. R.
Russia had a short answer Tuesday for President Bush's top national security advisers who came to ask for detente in the simmering argument over a planned U.S. missile shield at Russia's doorstep. "Nyet." Or maybe, "Not yet."
Putin understands that the USSR lost the cold war when the US taxed-and-spent more for never-used weapons than the USSR could. Putin may realize that the new Russian Republic is probably better able to compete with the US economically in such a contest, but why waste the money when there is so much infrastructure to be built?
So, Putin is sending a message. He doesn't want to play at Cold War. He's living in the 21st Century and needs to deal with current problems, not help the US revive old worn-out scams against the taxpayers. - M. R.
Iran's Foreign Ministry warned on Monday that the United States' alleged plans to deploy missile defense elements in Turkey could pose a threat to Russia's security.
What the United States is trying to do is bring back the cold war, a glorious time when the people could be taxed to pay for weapons and a military that were never actually used and never had to prove themselves. It was a hugely profitable racket, trillions of dollars with little accountability. All they had to do was wave "commies" at the people, and the money flowed in!
When the USSR collapsed, the US Government lost their enemy with which to scare the people, so we got a bunch of PR wars, the war on poverty, the war on drugs, the war on terror, the war on global warming. But these were all abstract, ill defined. There was no enemy whose presence and threat were immediate and visible. So the American people doubted. They refused to believe there was a reason why their taxes would not go down now that the USSR was no more.
So, Bush and his minions are trying to turn back the clock, and take us back to the middle of the last century when the Russians were THE BAD GUYS and no sacrifice was to great to make certain we had more nookular bombs than the ENEMY did!
BULL BISCUITS! - M. R.
March 18, 2008
It's all the rage for superpowers to shoot down satellites. So the U.S. Air Force is planning to field a capability to counter an anti-satellite weapon by 2011, reports Aviation Week & Space Technology.
Hey, the economy is already trashed paying for wars based on lies; what's another new toy gonna hurt? - M. R.
March 16, 2008
Are You Prepared For A Hundred Years War On Terror?...
Just a little footnote. How many offensive nuclear armed missiles does the United States have? Well, it turns out to be 10,000. China may now have maybe 400, if you believe the hawks. That proves that they are trying to conquer the world.
A party whore will hug anyone. A dance or a pose, it doesn't go well with the lipstick or the disguise. McCain --the self-styled, 'straight-talking moderate'--dances with radical, Zionist war-mongers and neocons, 'promising' them and the Military/Industrial complex that the US may stay in Iraq for 100, 10,000, possibly '...a million years". Should McCain get elected, I would not be surprised if Wolfowitz himself came in out of the cold to claim vindication.
March 15, 2008
Thousands in anti-war demonstration...
OOOPS! DANG!!!...
Video: Army Lasers Zap Bikers in Afghanistan...
What happens when the newly-blind people start to complain? - M. R.
March 14, 2008
We all know that the Pentagon has more space weapons technology in mind than just a single, satellite-shooting missile. But trying to pin down how much the Defense Department is spending on space combat research -- and on what projects -- is an absolute bitch. The programs are spread across at least a dozen different accounts; much of the technology involved is "dual use" -- meaning, it could help with another military matters, too; and that's before you get into the Defense Department's "black," classified budget.
March 13, 2008
Although the 1971 Winter Soldier meeting inspired the Senate Foreign Relations Committee to hold a hearing that featured Vietnam Veteran John Kerry -- "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" he famously asked -- it failed to receive wide ranging media coverage.
"I don't think we had nearly the effect we had hoped for," Vietnam veteran William Crandell told Salon's Mark Benjamin. "The reporters on the scene were very impressed," he said. "But the networks sat on it."
As they will again. - M. R.
The cost of buying and operating a new fleet of jet fighters for the U.S. military is nearing $1 trillion, according to a congressional audit that found the program dogged by delays, manufacturing inefficiencies and price increases.
March 12, 2008
Many veterans who have fought in Iraq and/or Afghanistan, as well as those who served in earlier conflicts, are not being given the disability compensation, medical services and care they need. A much higher percentage of these veterans suffer with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder ("PTSD") than veterans of any previous war, due to the multiple tours many are serving, the unrelenting vigilance required by the circumstances, the greater prevalence of brain injuries caused by the types of weaponry in use, among other reasons. Despite this, the Department of Veterans' Affairs ("DVA") is failing to provide adequate and timely benefits and medical care. This federal lawsuit, on behalf of veterans with pending claims based upon PTSD, regardless of the conflict in which they served, is for declaratory and injunctive relief, based primarily on the due process clause of the Constitution.
Everyday millions of veterans are effected by a computer coding system (SPN) (SDN) (SPD). Said coded number is used to determine eligibility for benefits, used by large corporations / subsidiaries, insurance companies, banks, state and federal government agencies. This coded number will affect your compensation pension claim with the VA. Because of the frivolous way in which these codes were handed out some veterans have been stigmatized with negitive mental health codes that records indicate do not excist. Although it may not have been the intent of Washington DC personel to harm veterans, it has been the effect.
The track record of the mainstream media's efforts to unearth and report the truth about the war in Iraq is shoddy at best. When one considers that this war has been a big money maker for the corporate owned media and its sponsors, the integrity of the reporting - or lack thereof - becomes suspect. Whether the failure to engage in authentic investigative journalism is a result of incompetence or of manipulation, there is little doubt that it contributed to the nightmare that is the Iraq war.
Realtime video streams of the Winter Soldier hearings will be available HERE
- M. R.
Cheney says US needs missile defense...
We already HAVE a National Missile Defense. It's called the nuclear arsenal, with the silos full of nuclear Minutemen missiles, the submarines full of nuclear Trident Missiles, and the stealth bombers full of nuclear bombs.
We were sold that very expensive arsenal on the premise that the devastating retaliation it offered would deter any other nation from attacking us. Now we are being sold another huge and costly system, apparently because that last one (we are still making the payments on) doesn't really work after all.
To date, the actual success rate of the anti-missile system in the tests has not been impressive. So this new system doesn't work very well either.
And worse, the latest Russian MIRV is known to be able to evade our anti-missile system, so what it comes down to is that Dick Cheney is trying to sell you an anti-missile system that is already obsolete and ineffective. - M. R.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates did not have to accept Admiral Fallon's resignation. "The military people think basically that Admiral Fallon was PUSHED OUT" - Mark Thompson Time Magazine National Security Correspondent. Fallon is described as "the one person in the military or Pentagon standing between the White House and war with Iran."
March 3, 2008
US Soldier throws puppy off cliff...
Yes, that was mean. - M. R.
A US military official in Washington told Associated Press it had been "a deliberate, precise strike against a known terrorist and his associates".
"They were hiding Saddam's nookular bombs. Honest!" -- Official White Horse Souse - M. R.
February 28, 2008
According to the report, Strategic Assessment 1999, prepared for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Secretary of Defense, "energy and resource issues will continue to shape international security".
February 27, 2008
Increasingly autonomous, gun-totting robots developed for warfare could easily fall into the hands of terrorists and may one day unleash a robot arms race, a top expert on artificial intelligence told AFP.
"That's why we are hooking them all into this computer system we have called Skynet!" -- Official White Horse Souse - M. R.
February 25, 2008
Russia's ambassador to NATO suggested Sunday that Kosovo's split from Serbia was the result of an imperialistic American effort to "divide and rule."
February 23, 2008
It was the second US air force crash this week after two F-15C jets collided during training over the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, killing a fighter pilot.
February 18, 2008
Actually, I kind of liked the name Ionatron; I thought it was the best thing going for the company. But I guess officials wanted to distance themselves from a history of shady deals, canceled contracts, and alleged insider trading.
And by the way, the device shown in the photo can be defeated by wrapping the IED in a rubber sheet surrounded by a Faraday cage. - M. R.
February 15, 2008
The 27-page document, labeled SECRET, though much of it is actually unclassified, was obtained and released on February 4 by the Wikileaks website. Wikileaks is an uncensorable version of Wikipedia for untraceable mass document leaking and analysis.
The document has received attention in the mainstream press because it it appears to authorize raids into Syria and Iran.
February 13, 2008
YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK!...
With regard to number 7, a facility for this use of Dolphins was in operation in San Diego for many years, but when the program was canceled the news made a big deal about the dolphins being released back into the wild. The running joke at the time was that we could kiss those tune boats goodbye! - M. R.
February 11, 2008
New Stryker Faring Poorly in Field...
If you ever get a chance, read the book and/or see the film "The Pentagon Wars", based on the true story of the botched up and costly development of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. - M. R.
February 10, 2008
A document from the Department of Veterans Affairs contradicts an assertion made by the Army surgeon general that his office did not tell VA officials to stop helping injured soldiers with their military disability paperwork at a New York Army post.
February 9, 2008
VA Watchdog dot Org -- Home Page - Keeping an eye on the VA because somebody has to!...
Veterans for Common Sense...
NPR stories on the Army's denial of VA assistance to help soldiers file their disability papers....
The Army claimed that it had not instructed the VA to stop helping wounded soldiers with their disability paperwork, then a memo surfaced confirming the story. - M. R.
February 3, 2008
Although the Air Force has stated that the bombings involve dropping inert or “dummy” bombs that do not explode, increasing numbers of Hawaiians have begun a public crusade against the tropical island being used for target practice.
February 2, 2008
Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside, a psychiatric outpatient at Walter Reed Army Medical Center who was waiting for the Army to decide whether to court-martial her for endangering another soldier and turning a gun on herself last year in Iraq, attempted to kill herself Monday evening. In so doing, the 25-year-old Army reservist joined a record number of soldiers who have committed or tried to commit suicide after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.
Imagine waking up one day and realizing that you are the bad guy, that you are part of an invading horde of thieves and murderers sent to conquer and plunder a nation and a people who had not actually done anything to deserve it.
How easily could you live with that? - M. R.
Bush to seek $515 billion for Pentagon in 2009...
But he will send you $600 to buy your forgiveness for lying us into the wars in the first place. - M. R.
I now wish to call attention to another form of addiction, which has not been previously identified. It is more like gambling than drinking, since the people afflicted are ravenous for situations that will cause their bodies to release exciting chemicals into their bloodstreams. I am persuaded that there are among us people who are tragically hooked on preparations for war.
February 1, 2008
The U.S. military isn't ready for a catastrophic attack on the country, and National Guard forces don't have the equipment or training they need for the job, according to a report.
Now that Bush has used up the US military in Afghanistan and Iraq, here comes the beg for yet more money to replace all the equipment now rusting away in the deserts of the Middle East, on the theory that Canada or Mexico is about to invade us because they hate our freedoms. - M. R.
January 31, 2008
Soldier Suicides at Record Level...
American soldiers know they are the "Bad Guys" in this war. That is a very hard thing to live with. - M. R.
If passed by a majority of Berkeley voters, a proposed initiative would require military recruiting offices and private military companies in Berkeley to first acquire a special use permit.
To obtain this permit, a business must hold public hearings and a public comment period.
If the initiative passes, recruitment offices could not be opened within 600 feet of residential districts, public parks, public health clinics, public libraries, schools or churches.
January 29, 2008
President George W. Bush will ask for 70 billion U.S. dollars approved by Congress to fund Iraq and Afghanistan wars in the fiscal year 2009, the Defense Department said on Monday.
This $70 billion is just the direct costs of the war. The Pentagon is having to start replacing all the stockpiles of equipment and supplies used up and worn out in Iraq and Afghanistan, and that is not counted as direct war costs but comes out of the huge defense budget, which is more than half of all tax money you pay. - M. R.
VA: 10 patients died under care of former surgeon at IL hospital...
Buchanan: McCain win would mean war with Iran...
Hillary win would mean war with Iran.
Obama win would mean war with Iran.
Giuliani win would mean war with Iran.
Huckabee win would mean war with Iran.
Romney win would mean war with Iran.
Etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. etc. - M. R.
January 27, 2008
Iraq war veteran Jon Turner said it was almost expected of him to pull the trigger on people who didn't need to die. So he did.
January 22, 2008
Notwithstanding the innumerable war crimes committed by the neocon thugs, their little enterprise would have come to nothing without the full complicity, not to mention head start, of their "friends across the aisle," the other half of the American War Party. Nor would this glorious and historic moment in US history have been possible without decades of training, of culling the working class into the "volunteer" armed forces, militarizing every nook and cranny of society from children's fashion and toys to the Pentagon-enhanced budgets of all our major universities.
January 20, 2008
A Soldiers Revolution...
January 18, 2008
US Army proto-Dalek combat robots enter testing...
EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! - M. R.
January 17, 2008
This bill is in the first step in the legislative process.
Do you feel a draft? - M. R.
Cluster bombs, which nearly 100 countries are seeking to ban, should not be considered bad as long as states involved in conflicts use them responsibly, a senior United States official said on Wednesday.
"We promise not to use them inside the District of Columbia or the state of Texas!" -- Official White Horse Souse - M. R.
January 15, 2008
H.R. 393: Universal National Service Act of 2007...
A draft by any other name... - M. R.
January 14, 2008
History is repeating itself, and because history does repeat, no doubt Bush and his advisers are thinking that if they can start a major war, they will be off the hook. Once more the American people will silently endure their hardships for the war effort, silence their complaints, and accept with dignity yet another enforced decline in their standard of living.
For this, to save themselves, Bush and his advisers are willing to risk turning a regional war with Israel's enemies into a wider war, possibly a global war with Russia, possibly with China, possibly with the rest of the entire world as the globe realizes that the United States has become this century's embodiment of the Nazi empire.
It is for this reason that President Bush scarcely missed a step when the National Intelligence Estimate proved Iran innocent of Bush 'a accusations, before trying to stage a new "Gulf of Tonkin" provocation in the Straight of Hormuz. Bush doesn't want this war. Bush NEEDS this war. The entire US Government needs it. Indeed, having already depleted the nation's resources to fund the current invasions, the US Government probably will not be able to survive without a new world war.
Which is why they will do anything, and I stress ANYTHING, to start one.
January 6, 2008
Residents near a local middle school said they find it hard to believe that no one knew about the World War II bombing range the school was built on.
That is a real problem all over. Many portions of Hawaii were used for bombing or gunnery practice, then turned over for development. Somewhere here in the city I live in there are supposedly two unexploded naval shells fired up here from Pearl Harbor by accident. One of these days somebody digging in the wrong place will find them. - M. R.
January 5, 2008
Returning troops strip on airport tarmac after uniform ban...
Welcome home! - M. R.
January 4, 2008
The Army has temporarily halted bonus payments for more than 20 enlistment, re-enlistment and service extension programs pending enactment of authorizing legislation.
President Bush, to the surprise of Congress and the Defense Department, vetoed the fiscal 2008 Defense Authorization Act on Dec. 29 after months bargaining with House and Senate leaders.
The congress-critters gave the asshole every thing he fucking wanted and he still won't take good care of our troops, He just wants them to die. - M. R.
Russian forces are expected to participate in large-scale multinational naval exercises scheduled for waters off Hawaii this year, a U.S. Pacific Fleet spokesman said Thursday.
The Army has temporarily halted bonus payments for more than 20 enlistment, re-enlistment and service extension programs pending enactment of authorizing legislation.
December 31, 2007
These two wars, which in reality are one, are not – as Bush pretends – “going well.” Not for the U.S. troops.
And certainly not for the people of these besieged countries.
December 30, 2007
The grounding of hundreds of F-15s because of dangerous structural defects is straining the nation's air defense network, forcing some states to rely on their neighbors' fighter jets for protection, and Alaska to depend on the Canadian military.
December 29, 2007
Reports that Poland's troops in Afghanistan may have committed a war crime against defenseless civilians has shocked the country's public, which remains sensitive to the performance of the Polish military abroad.
December 28, 2007
The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) is placing all of its eggs into the basket of network-centric warfare -- or the notion that everything from aircraft and warships to individual infantry soldiers should be connected on a massive military network similar to the Internet.
"And we're going to run it all with VISTA!" -- Official White Horse Souse - M. R.
December 27, 2007
U.S. Soldiers Stage Mutiny, Refuse Orders in Iraq Fearing They Would Commit Massacre in Revenge for IED Attack
U.S. Soldiers Stage Mutiny, Refuse Orders in Iraq Fearing They Would Commit Massacre in Revenge for IED Attack...
December 25, 2007
Hillary Clinton Voted to Continue Cluster Bombing Civilians...
December 20, 2007
Paul Reutershan, a helicopter crew chief in Viet Nam who flew through Agent Orange dust clouds many times, died of cancer in December 1978. Early in 1978 he knew he had no hope and in an appearance on the Today Show he stated, "I died in Viet Nam, but I didn't even know it."
Bush Approves Army Reorganization...
December 19, 2007
About 39 P-3 Orion anti-submarine patrol planes were grounded by the U.S. Navy on Monday over faulty wings concerns. Naval Air Systems Command spokesman John Milliman said that worries reflected about structural defects that might cause either of the aircraft's wings to break off in flight was behind the warning.
December 18, 2007
Saturday, December 15th, 2007, was predicted to be the coldest day Vicenza had seen. It snowed lightly in the morning. And even without the weather factor, organizers had hopes of only about 20,000 people turning out for a long march through the city and yet another rally against the construction of a base at a location called Dal Molin. But as the march proceeded for hours through the streets of Vicenza, the sun melted the snow, and word came that the back end of the march had not yet left the starting place, it became clear that, without any advertising, and with negative or nonexistent media coverage, over 80,000 people had turned out in this conservative city with no university and no protest tradition. And there was no counter-protest whatsoever.
In the test, the Kongo fired a ballistic missile interceptor called Standard Missile 3, which successfully destroyed the target outside the earth's atmosphere at 2212 GMT.
Death Ray Replaced By The Voice of God...
Spending your tax dollars to find new ways to mess with people. - M. R.
December 17, 2007
Russian general says missiles could target US shield: report...
Yep, they are kicking up a new Cold War whose sole purpose is to justify the American Defense Contractors to soak the US taxpayer for trillions of dollars while allowing the Russian counterparts to do the same to their people. - M. R.
Russian general says Pentagon is seeking direct confrontation with Moscow...
"Yeah, with the invasion of Iran dead on arrival we better kick up a new Cold War with the Russkies, or those cash-strapped taxpayers are gonna start bitching about high taxes and the 'peace dividend' and asking why we have to spend so much on big shiny bombs, and, well, we just CAN'T lower taxes; I mean, what a dangerous precedent THAT would set!" -- Official White Horse Souse - M. R.
December 15, 2007
The White House campaign to stampede this nation into war, to smash Iran's nuclear facilities before she acquires the capability to build an atom bomb, has been derailed, probably for the duration of the Bush presidency.
... barring another 9-11, of course. - M. R.
How much of this went to troops in Iraq? None, some don't even have BASIC body armor on many of their vehicles. And the Interceptor body armor they have now is heavy and doesn't even wrap around the whole torso. We shouldn't be in Iraq in the first place, but you think the people who sent them there would want to at least give them the best armor. Maybe Iran can buy some dragon armor through third parties.
December 6, 2007
The troops, our newest war veterans, better look out for themselves. In the long run the government and the people will do what they’ve done since the Korean War: Pretend they don’t exist.
The spokesperson said instead that the possibility of banning the M85 was not even on the table at Vienna because a self-destruct mechanism provides "the relevant technology to prevent unnecessary harm".
December 4, 2007
Five Army National Guard brigades have been alerted for deployment in the summer of 2009 to support Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, the Defense Department announced Monday.
2009. Read that? 2009.
The wars are planned to continue after Bush leaves the White House. This is why we are having the pro-war candidates shoved down our throats (or into some other orifice) by ABCNNBBCBS. - M. R.
December 2, 2007
US charging army officer with "attempted suicide"...
"Take him out and have him SHOT!" -- Official White Horse Souse - M. R.
A quote from a "very senior British ministerial source" contending, "[I]f people had known how close we came to world war three that day there'd have been mass panic."
"And we would have HAD it too, if Syria had retaliated like they were supposed to, dammit!" -- Official White Horse Souse - M. R.
November 27, 2007
Major General Smedley Butler USMC: War is just a racket...
November 26, 2007
The British army has come up with an innovative way of attracting ethnic minority recruits - it has taken up the Indian contact sport, kabaddi.
"And you get to play with guns, too!" - M. R.
November 22, 2007
Security guards, police officers and armed forces could become Robocops able to take bullets in their stride, thanks to a carbon nanotechnology yarn which can deflect projectiles without a trace of damage.
I can just see George Bush singing the check to get this newer and better armor to our troops.
Oh yeah, I can just SEE that! - M. R.
Maj. Brian Bogue, deputy chief of strategy plans at the 613th Air and Space Operations Center, said such methods are extremely accurate and that there is little chance any bombs would stray off the Pohakuloa range.
Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure.
- M. R.
The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments.
November 20, 2007
Army IDs 37,000 soldiers who have not gone to war
Merry Christmas! - M. R.
The U.S. Military is demanding that thousands of wounded service personnel give back signing bonuses because they are unable to serve out their commitments.
"Now listen up, maggot. You weren't supposed to get crippled until the END of your tour! We didn't get our money's worth and WE WANT A REFUND!!!! We gotta get a check out the door to Tel Aviv for the holidays!" -- Official White Horse Souse
- M. R.
November 18, 2007
The head of the Army has warned that years of Government under-funding and overstretch have left troops feeling "devalued, angry and suffering from Iraq fatigue", The Sunday Telegraph can reveal.
"Say, Napoleon had a method for improving the morale of his troops; let's give THAT a try!" -- Official White Horse Souse - M. R.
November 17, 2007
After six years of war in Afghanistan and Iraq, American soldiers are deserting their posts at the highest rate since 1980. The number of US Army deserters this year shows an 80 percent increase since the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.
They know this war is illegal and immoral. - M. R.