U.S.: Soldiers Tell of Detainee Abuse in Iraq
Abusive Techniques Were Authorized, Soldiers’ Complaints Ignored

Torture and other abuses against detainees in U.S. custody in Iraq were authorized and routine, even after the 2004 Abu Ghraib scandal, according to new accounts from soldiers in a Human Rights Watch report released today.
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Why is a U.S. Army brigade being assigned to the "Homeland"?'
Posted WEDNESDAY SEPT. 24, 2008 12:26 EDT
by Glenn Greenwald

Several bloggers today have pointed to this obviously disturbing article from Army Times, which announces that "beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the [1st Brigade Combat Team of the 3rd Infantry Division] will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North" -- "the first time an active unit has been given a dedicated assignment to NorthCom, a joint command established in 2002 to provide command and control for federal homeland defense efforts and coordinate defense support of civil authorities." The article details:
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'Soldier Suicide' Epidemic Continues in Iraq --
This One Was Still a Teen
Posted June 23, 2008 | 10:54 AM (EST)

His family questions the idea of suicide. As I reported here two days ago another family, this one in Texas, was told last year that their daughter was killed by friendly fire, and it turned out to be murder. But incidents of murder and friendly fire have been relatively rare in Iraq, while the suicides toll is now in the hundreds.
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Afghanistan now 15X deadlier than Iraq
Wed Sep 24, 2008 at 12:52:56 PM EDT
by: Brandon Friedman

Nobody wants to break the loss of human life down into simple statistics, but it's often necessary to highlight just what exactly is going on. First, consider that one year ago--last September--the hostile fire death rates in Iraq and Afghanistan were roughly equal. But now, in terms of hostile fire death rates, what was once seen as the "safer" theater, Afghanistan has now exploded to the point that it's nearly 15 times more dangerous for American troops than Iraq.

This data is for the last 15 days: .......Continue the story here

Another Iraq Vet, Haunted by the War, Hangs Himself
Posted June 3, 2008 | 10:19 AM (EST)

In recent months, the issue of suicides among troops in Iraq, and returnees at home, has -- after long being ignored -- earned wide attention in the U.S. press. Many newspapers have documented tragic examples in their own backyards, the only way they can really get recognized at all, and I have been documenting this in my writings here and elsewhere, and in my new book, for almost five years.
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US soldiers accidentally kill Sunni leader in Iraq
By KIM GAMEL, Associated Press Writer | Tuesday, September 23, 2008

(09-23) 12:07 PDT BAGHDAD, (AP) -- American soldiers accidentally shot and killed the leader of a local U.S.-allied Sunni group Tuesday after coming under attack in a volatile area north of Baghdad, the military said.
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How post-invasion Iraq came to be awash in 'missing' guns
By Inter Press Service | Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Sep 23, 2008 14:12 EST

SAN FRANCISCO: Clandestine gun suppliers, funded by the US and Iraqi governments, have flooded Iraq with a million weapons since 2003, a new Amnesty International investigation has found. Because of faulty or non-existent tracking systems, many of those guns have gone missing, and some have turned up in the hands of insurgents.
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Soldiers of Conscience
By Catherine Ryan and Gary Weimberg

When is it right to kill? In the midst of war, is it right to refuse? Eight U.S. soldiers, some who have killed and some who said no, reveal their inner moral dilemmas in "Soldiers of Conscience." Made with official permission of the U.S. Army, the film transcends politics to explore the tension between spiritual values and military orders. Soldiers follows the stories of both conscientious objectors and those who criticize them. Through this clash of views, the film discovers a surprising common ground: All soldiers are "soldiers of conscience," torn between the demands of duty and the call of conscience.
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VA Conceals Vet Suicide Figures From CBS To Downplay ‘Epidemic In Suicide’
CBS News Investigation | April 21, 2008

Today, CBS News reports that the VA apparently concealed veteran suicide statistics, and fed the news organization faulty data for a story on the issue. The VA told CBS that there were 790 attempted suicides in all of 2007. Yet shortly after, the VA’s head of Mental Health, Dr. Ira Katz, wrote in an e-mail to the VA’s top media adviser that there were “about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among veterans we see in our medical facilities.”
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Sept. 11 suspect grills U.S. judge on religion
Randall Mikkelsen | Reuters North American News Service
Sep 23, 2008 14:12 EST

GUANTANAMO BAY U.S. NAVAL BASE, Cuba - Accused Sept. 11 plotter Khalid Sheikh Mohammed asked a U.S. military judge at the Guantanamo war crimes court Tuesday whether he was a member of an "extremist" American religious group.
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9/11 Defendant Would Like to See Secret Evidence Before He's Executed
By Carol Rosenberg | The Miami Herald

At least four of the men want to defend themselves. Kohlmann has been warning them that, even as their own lawyers, they can't see or challenge classified evidence until their trial.
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Welcome Home Soldier: Now Shut Up!
By By Paul Rockwell

“Now listen. You won’t believe this. I got done and nobody said a word. No applause. Nothing. Then this skinny old fart shaped like a cold chisel gets up and says he’s a retired colonel, and he thinks we should keep on pounding those little yellow bastards until they do what we say or we kill ‘em all, and he tells me I can’t be a real veteran because a real veteran wouldn’t go around badmouthing the good old U.S. of A., and the whole place erupts in thunderous applause.”
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New High In U.S. Prison Numbers
By N.C. Aizenman Washington Post Staff Writer, Friday, February 29, 2008; Page A01

With more than 2.3 million people behind bars, the United States leads the world in both the number and percentage of residents it incarcerates, leaving far-more-populous China a distant second,
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The Myth of the Media's Role in Vietnam
By Jeff Cohen, Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, May 2001

Of the many myths that mushroomed from the carnage of the Vietnam War perhaps none is more specious than the fable about how a bold, aggressive mainstream media turned America against the war. As the pundit class sinks into a new quagmire debating former Sen. Bob Kerrey's Vietnam mission, it's a good time to dissect the myth.
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More Americans Fear Losing Their Health Insurance
Than Being in a Terrorist Attack
By Ezra Klein, The American Prospect. Posted May 21, 2008.

An October 2007 Kaiser Family Foundation poll found that more Americans were "very worried" about being priced out of their health insurance than feared losing their job, their house, or being in a terrorist attack. And with good reason: Premiums have gone up 98 percent since 2000. Wages have not.
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Pentagon Reverses Position and Admits U.S. Troops
Used White Phosphorus Against Iraqis in Fallujah
Democracy Now!, originally broadcast on November 17, 2005.

The U.S. government has now admitted its troops used white phosphorus as an incendiary weapon against Iraqis during the assault on Fallujah a year ago. Chemical weapons experts say such attacks are in violation of international law banning the use of chemical weapons. We speak with columnist George Monbiot and the news director of RAI TV, the Italian TV network that produced the film “Fallujah: The Hidden Massacre.” ....
...watch the video or listen to audio of this broadcast here [includes rush transcript]

How Politicians and Pundits Keep Spinning Us to Death

Just recently, it was revealed that the Pentagon was placing retired military officers as "consultants" on television to recite the pro-war line in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq – and you can bet they're doing the same thing to gin up a war with Iran..
Watch the video here on our web site
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The Truth About Veteran Suicides
By Aaron Glantz - Foreign Policy in Focus - Posted Friday 09 May 2008

Shh! begins one e-mail from Dr. Ira Katz, the head of the VAs Mental Health Division, advising a media spokesperson not to tell CBS News that 1,000 veterans receiving care at the VA try to kill themselves every month.
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Pentagon’s Pundits: A Look at the Defense Department’s Propaganda Program
Democracy Now! Broadcasted on Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The New York Times has revealed new details on how the Pentagon recruited more than seventy-five retired military officers to appear on TV outlets as so-called military analysts ahead of the Iraq war to portray Iraq as an urgent threat. The Times reported the Pentagon continues to use the analysts in a propaganda campaign to generate favorable news coverage of the administration’s wartime performance. We speak with Col. Sam Gardiner (Ret.) and Peter Hart of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. [includes rush transcript]
.......Continue the story on the Democracy Now! web site

What did you sacrifice for the war?
Bush Says Gave up Golf in Solidarity With Iraq Dead

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - “I feel I owe it to the families to be as -- to be in solidarity as best as I can with them. And I think playing golf during a war just sends the wrong signal,” he said.

A Picture Worth A Thousand Words: Newspaper Criticized For Publishing Photo
By Helen Thomas, Hearst White House columnist - May 7, 2008

Some Americans believe the media were to blame for the U.S. defeat in Vietnam. Nonsense.
Read more here

Insidious disease of war is behind many military suicides
By AL MARTINEZ - Los Angeles Times - Posted May 5, 2008

Recent reports from Iraq and Afghanistan bring to mind a sad case from Korea.
Read more here

Dying for Coverage: 8 Californians Die Each Day Due to Lack of Health Care
New State Reports from Families USA March – April 2008

The number of uninsured Americans reached 47 million in 2006, and it continues to rise. For many of the uninsured, the lack of health insurance has dire consequences. The uninsured face medical debt, often go without necessary care, and even die prematurely. Across the United States, in 2006, twice as many people died from lack of health insurance as died from homicide.
Get Your State Report Here

Pentagon Propaganda: So Much Worse Than We Thought
By John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton, PR Watch. Posted April 25, 2008

The Bush Administration has spent millions on deceptive PR to sell the war, as recently documented in the New York Times. Where's the fallout?
Read more here

Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand
By Michael Doyle | McClatchy Newspapers

The abrupt collapse of ATA Airlines has left an untold number of U.S. soldiers, sailors and Marines stuck in Iraqi and Afghan airports while they await a ride home.
Read more here, here and here.
See our page here for a video on this subject.

Half of Vets Suffering Brain and Mind Injuries Go Untreated, But Pentagon Pretends Nothing's Going on
By Penny Coleman, AlterNet. Posted April 29, 2008

An activist travels to the DoD's annual suicide prevention conference, only to find the military brass living in a parallel universe.
Read more here

Union Shuts West Coast Ports in Antiwar Protest
by Eric Garris

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union - ILWU, brought all ports on the US west coast to a halt in a one-day protest against the US occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

“Longshore workers are standing down on the job and standing up for America,” said ILWU International President Bob McEllrath. “We’re supporting the troops and telling politicians in Washington that it’s time to end the war in Iraq.”
Read more here and here

Airline's Bankruptcy Strands U.S. Troops in Middle East
By Michael Doyle | McClatchy Newspapers

The abrupt collapse of ATA Airlines has left an untold number of U.S. soldiers, sailors and Marines stuck in Iraqi and Afghan airports while they await a ride home.
Read more here

Saudi Royals Snub Bush, Fund Opposition to U.S. Troops
By Jeffrey Klein and Paolo Pontoniere, New America Media

Saudi Arabia, fearful of a nuclear Iran and a Shiite Iraq, is taking steps to influence U.S. policy in Iraq. The kingdom may also be building its own nuclear program.
Read more here

“We Think the Price Is Worth It”
Media uncurious about Iraq policy's effects - there or here
By Rahul Mahajan, Extra! November/December 2001

Lesley Stahl on U.S. sanctions against Iraq: “We have heard that a half million children have died. I mean, that's more children than died in Hiroshima. And, you know, is the price worth it?”

Secretary of State Madeleine Albright: “I think this is a very hard choice, but the price--we think the price is worth it.”

--60 Minutes (5/12/96) Read more here

Pentagon, Big Pharma: Drug Troops to Numb Them to Horrors of War
By Penny Coleman, AlterNet. Posted January 10, 2008

The DoD is flirting with the idea of medicating soldiers to desensitize them to combat trauma -- will an army of unfeeling monsters result?
Read more here

935 False Statements Led U.S. to War in Iraq

President Bush and seven of his top officials made at least 935 false statements in the two years following 9/11 about the national security threat posed by Saddam Hussein's Iraq. That's the finding of an exhaustive investigation by the non-partisan Center for Public Integrity which showed an orchestrated campaign of misinformation marked the march to war.
(Read the report here)