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PATH: BS | Government | Military | Support Our Troops
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A Soldier's Last Words
Posted by Pile
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[Activists] |
 Daniel Somers was a veteran of Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was part of Task Force Lightning, an intelligence unit. In 2004-2005, he was mainly assigned to a Tactical Human-Intelligence Team (THT) in Baghdad, Iraq, where he ran more than 400 combat missions as a machine gunner in the turret of a Humvee, interviewed countless Iraqis ranging from concerned citizens to community leaders and and government officials, and interrogated dozens of insurgents and terrorist suspects. In 2006-2007, Daniel worked with Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) through his former unit in Mosul where he ran the Northern Iraq Intelligence Center. His official role was as a senior analyst for the Levant (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, and part of Turkey). Daniel suffered greatly from PTSD and had been diagnosed with traumatic brain injury and several other war-related conditions. On June 10, 2013, Daniel wrote the following letter to his family before taking his life. Daniel was 30 years old. His wife and family have given permission to publish it. |
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Racism As A Tool Of The American Military
Posted by Pile
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| Mike Prysner describes a mission he took part in which his unit forced Iraqis out of half a dozen homes, with no compensation, so the US military could use them. "One family in particular, a woman with two small girls, very elderly man, and two middle-aged men--we dragged them from their houses and threw them onto the street, and arrested the men because they refused to leave." Since he left, he has been plagued by guilt, "anytime I see a mother with her children, like the one who cried hysterically and screamed that we were worse than Saddam as we forced her from her home--anytime I see a young girl like the one I grabbed by the arm and dragged into the street." Prysner also describes the physical abuse of a wounded prisoner, with a sandbag over his head and his hands tied behind his back. "We were told we were fighting terrorists; the real terrorist was me, and the real terrorism is this occupation." |
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In 1983, the National Film Board of Canada produced a 57-minute film, "Anybody's Son Will Do". Arguably the best documentary on military recruitment ever made, and tailored for public television, it scared the hell out of the U.S. military machine, which has done its best to "disappear" it. For years it has been nearly impossible to find a copy, until now.
Before You Enlist! provides a rational voice to counter the seductive and often deceptive recruiting practices of the U.S. military. The message is not "don't enlist" but rather to provide young people and their families a more complete picture of the life-altering consequences of joining the military especially in wartime.
Keith Olbermann goes off on a rant addressing George W. Bush's attempt to empathize with fallen soldiers fighting in Iraq.... by giving up golf. Or has he?
According to a new book called, "Army of None", there are plenty of reasons to be very suspicious about what a military recruiter tells you about the benefits and details of service in the armed forces...
CENTCOM Commander Gen. John Abizaid apparently is no friend of his cohort David Petreus, going so far as to say, Petraeus is "an ass-kissing little chickenshit."
In 1943, The US Army published a guide to Iraq to help soldiers during World War II. 
Federal Election Commission reports for the most recent quarter of 2007 show that the vast majority of active-duty American troops apparently "hate America" and "hate themselves" because they overwhelmingly donated money to the political campaigns of those running on an anti-war platform.
The Army Reserves--an institution where, according to their advertisements on tv, you can wear a cool beret while flying in a helicopter and learning about computers. Signing up, however, means your "part-time" service commitment to our armed forces can get full-time in a hurry. Enter Sgt. Erik Botta, who is about to get his fifth all-expense-paid vacation in the Middle East.
Breaking a 211-year media silence, retired Army Gen. George Washington appeared on NBC's Meet the Press Sunday to speak out against many aspects of the way the Iraq war has been waged.
In 2005 she made the invisible visible. The bereaved mom of a US soldier killed in Iraq, Sheehan cried in public, cursed in public and gave public voice to what for many was until then a private question. Why did my son die, she asked the president: "What is the noble cause?"
If you're the President and your generals are so upset with you that they're quitting service so they can go public with how badly you've screwed up the military, Mr. George W. Bush, you might be having a bad day...
Scores of veterans across the country are getting lifetime checks from the government for gonorrhea, genital herpes and other venereal diseases they caught while in the ranks.
The letter, originally posted on Craigslist, says, "I'm having the worst damn week of my whole damn life so I'm going to write this while I'm pissed off enough to do it right."
In exploring reasons why the "War in Iraq" isn't going so well, some liberals say it's because Americans have not been asked to make sacrifices for the war. Bill Maher, in his "New Rules" segment on HBO's Real Time, has a different take.
A U.S. Marine Sargeant was ordered to put a stop to an online auction which would have allowed the winner to pick the name the young Marine would legally assume. Sgt. Cody Baker might have become Sgt. Finest Freshest Fastest or Sgt. Mr. Clean although the winning bidder at the time the auction ended was FreebieStore.com with a bid of 30,000.01. Apparently the Dept. of Defense was not amused (is anyone surprised?).
President George W. "I Am the Decider!" Bush is delaying until some time in January his planned report to the nation on the direction he and aides are charting for the United States in Iraq. Meanwhile the American soldier death toll in Iraq is nearing 3000, tens of thousands of Americans injured, and reports of upwards of 500,000 dead Iraqis. But hey, what's another month... listen to what even CNN is saying now about "The Decider!"
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, the controversial face of U.S. war policy, quit on Wednesday after Democrats rode Americans' anger over Iraq to victory in Tuesday's congressional elections.
Two days from now, an incredibly rare joint editorial will run in the Army Times, the Air Force Times, and the Navy Times. Read it in full here...
The U.S. Army recruited more than 2,600 soldiers under new lower aptitude standards this year, helping the service beat its goal of 80,000 recruits in the throes of an unpopular war and mounting casualties.
It barely made news last week when Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne called for the testing of nonlethal weaponry on US citizens in crowd-control situations. According to Wynne, "If we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation."