GI Special: 5.22.04 Print it out (color best). Pass it on.
GI SPECIAL 2#84
Honduras Quits War
No More Iraq, Ever, For These Soldiers;
Get Ours Home, NOW!
Following the lead given by Spain, Honduras has withdrawn all soldiers from Iraq. Soldiers’ relatives welcome them upon the soldiers' return home from Iraq to Palmerola Air Base in Honduras May 21. (AP Photo/Ginnette Riquelme)
“As In Vietnam” Soldiers Want To “Get Out And Forget They Were Ever In Iraq:”
Officer Writes Senator:
Soldier-Killer Rumsfeld Blows It Off
May 24, 2004 By Vince Crawley, Army Times staff writer
Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., read aloud to Rumsfeld a letter from one of his constituents, a career officer serving in Iraq.
The public outcry over the Abu Ghraib prison scandal is “simply the beginning of the end,” the officer wrote. “Two-thirds of the Iraqis want us to leave as of yesterday. … Every battlefield success seems to be another Pyrrhic victory.”
As in Vietnam, the officer wrote, more and more troops just want to “get out and forget they were ever in Iraq.”
Rumsfeld said it is “disturbing but not surprising that an individual feels that way.”
(The slimy shit heard the letter say “the troops” want to get out, and he comes back about how “an individual” feels that way. No asshole, “the troops” are not “an individual.” Hopefully, one day soon, they will teach you the difference, up close and personal, right where you sit in your Pentagon office on your fat worthless ass in your $5000 Eames chair, sending others to their deaths with your Cross gold pen.)
“You don’t have security,” Sen. Ernest Hollings, D-S.C. told Rumsfeld. “In fact, we’re bogged down. We’re trying to win the hearts and minds as we’re killing and torturing. Sure, the troops are superb, but the question is, are we superb here in Washington?”
GET SOME TRUTH: CHECK OUT TRAVELING SOLDIER
Telling the truth - about the occupation, the cuts to veterans’ benefits, or the dangers of depleted uranium - is the first reason Traveling Soldier is necessary. But we want to do more than tell the truth; we want to report on the resistance - whether it's in the streets of Baghdad, New York, or inside the armed forces. Our goal is for Traveling Soldier to become the thread that ties working-class people inside the armed services together. We want this newsletter to be a weapon to help you organize resistance within the armed forces. If you like what you've read, we hope that you'll join with us in building a network of active duty organizers. http://www.traveling-soldier.org/
IRAQ WAR REPORTS:
Marine Dies In Vehicle Accident
05/21/04 Combined Joint Task Force Seven Press Release:
A Marine assigned to I Marine Expeditionary Force died May 20 in a vehicle accident in the western most region of the Al Anbar Province, while conducting security-and-stability operations.
1 U.S. Soldier, 2 Iraqis Killed in IED Attack
5.21.04 Combined Joint Task Force Seven Release #040521b
BAGHDAD, Iraq - One U.S. Soldier and two Iraqi citizens died when an improvised explosive device detonated May 20 around 5:15 p.m.
Marine Falls In Canal, “Does Not Resurface”
May 21, 2004 United States Department of Defense News Release No. 488-04
Pfc. Michael M. Carey, 20, of Prince George, Va., died May 18 in Iraq. He apparently fell into a canal and did not resurface. His remains were recovered on May 18. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
Oklahoma Soldier Hurt When Truck Rolls Over Explosive
5.21.04 McALESTER, Okla. (AP)
An Oklahoma soldier who is deployed in Iraq suffered second-degree burns after the vehicle in which he was riding rolled over a bomb and exploded, the man's mother said.
Pfc. David Willis couldn't hold the telephone but was able to talk to his mother a few hours after the incident, said Tammy Willis, his mother.
``But he's doing all right,'' she said.
David Willis, 20, is part of the 2nd Battalion, 1st Infantry Division.
He was riding in a gas truck that was part of a convoy that was delivering fuel and ammunition on Saturday when it approached the explosive device. The explosive was remotely detonated, Tammy Willis said.
``He got the worst of the burns; the driver was not hurt that bad,'' she said.
She said he joked with the doctors and nurses and is in good spirits.
``I told him he's a hero in everybody's eyes, to go through all of this at only 20 and survive it,'' Tammy Willis said.
If David Willis is moved to a burn unit in the United States, the family plans to go visit him, she said.
The Army will only pay for his family to visit him
U.S. Troops Retreat From Mosque After Repeated Attacks By Madhi Army In Karbala
5/21/2004 By Fisnik Abrashi, Associated Press
KARBALA, Iraq (AP) American AC-130 gunships and tanks pounded militia positions early Friday near two shrines in the center of the holy city of Karbala, and the U.S. military said it killed 18 fighters loyal to a rebel cleric.
Early Friday, U.S. troops pulled out of the Mukhayam mosque in Karbala, the scene of fierce fighting last week during which coalition forces ousted insurgents who were using it as a base of operations. Since then, American soldiers there have come under frequent attack.
The military said it planned to conduct regular patrols in Karbala despite the withdrawal from the mosque.
Officers said soldiers operating in Karbala's Old City in the past two weeks experienced intense urban combat similar to battles in Mogadishu, Somalia, more than a decade ago.
The mosque pullout happened hours after a major military operation into Karbala was postponed. The operation was postponed to allow discussion between Iraqi leaders and al-Sadr's militia on a possible negotiated end to the fighting, a senior military official said on condition of anonymity.
The fighting started after insurgents fired several rocket-propelled grenades at U.S. tanks that were patrolling on the outskirts of Karbala's so-called ''Old City,'' a maze of alleyways and cluttered buildings, said U.S. Army Col. Pete Mansoor of the 1st Armored Division.
The tanks returned fire, and more than two hours of heavy fighting followed. Smoke billowed from burning buildings. Explosions lit up the night sky and reverberated throughout the city. Electric lights flickered on and off. By 3 a.m., the fighting had stopped.
Much of the fighting was near the city's Imam Hussein and Imam Abbas shrines, which U.S. forces allege are being used by militiamen as firing positions or protective cover.
The military says it is doing its best to avoid damage to the gold-domed shrines, which could infuriate Shiite Muslims who are not involved in the conflict. Cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who launched an uprising against the U.S.-led occupation of Iraq last month, has accused U.S. forces of desecrating holy sites.
Dr. Abbas Falih al-Hassani of Karbala's al-Hussein hospital said 12 people died, including two Iranian pilgrims. Thirteen were injured.
The dead included a driver for a camera crew of the Al-Jazeera television network, the station reported.
There was also overnight fighting between U.S. forces and al-Sadr loyalists in another holy city, Najaf. One civilian died and another was injured when their car was caught in the crossfire, hospital officials said.
In the northern city of Kirkuk, American troops detained a representative of al-Sadr, Sheik Anwar al-Jinani and 10 supporters at a mosque, Iraqi authorities said. The press office of the U.S.-led coalition in Baghdad said it had no information.
TROOP NEWS
No Mission No Hope No Win
BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW
Stop-Loss Cruelty:
Soldiers Treated “Like Indentured Servants, Slaves And Serfs”
Army Times 5.24.04 Letters To The Editor
Spc. Matthew Bowers’ letter [“A prisoner of sorts,” April 26 Army Times] gave me the courage to speak out. It is a crime that soldiers have served their time proudly but are given no idea when they will be allowed to leave the service.
We are treating them like indentured servants, slaves and serfs. It is brutal being over in Iraq or Afghanistan — brutal on the soldier, brutal on the family in his absence.
We owe them a date, an end to the madness.
I want my son home on time this year. I want all soldiers with stop-losses to come home on time. The Army owns my son for four years, then he’s mine.
Good luck, Spc. Bowers. We’re pulling for you at home.
Pamela Goodwill
Las Vegas
(Slaves and serfs both fought for and finally won their freedom, rebelling with arms in hand. Mere words didn’t cut it.)
What do you think? Comments from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Send to the E-mail address up top. Name, I.D., withheld on request. Replies confidential.
Wounded From Iraq, In The Thousands Now, Who Arrive Quietly, One By One, With No Fanfare, No Waving Flags.
May 21, 2004 By Deborah Amos ABC News
Christie Chappell joined the military because she thought it would change her life — and it did.
She was seriously injured when a guard tower collapsed during a sandstorm in southern Iraq. "I have pain, I always have pain. It's in my lower back," Chappell said. "I have had it so long and it's so constant that you kind of get used to it. It's not important anymore. I know my limitations."
After months in a wheelchair, Chappell has had to learn to walk again in small, painful steps. She is part of the wave of wounded from Iraq, in the thousands now, who arrive quietly, one by one, with no fanfare, no waving flags.
When she left for Iraq, Chappell was front-page news — a star in her small hometown of Covington, Tenn., the only woman to go to the war in the county, and the first woman to fight from her family. But it is easier to send these soldiers off to war than to face them when they come home.
"As far as the town, I don't know if I have let them down. I don't know if I have changed the way they think about it. I am not sure," she said. "They want to know what is going on. They want to hear about the war and stuff. I think they are scared to talk about my injuries … [If] you don't talk about it, it didn't happen."
She is a patient at a military hospital at Fort Campbell, Ky., a place she didn't think she would get to in her darkest moments in Iraq. "The funniest thing about thinking you're not going to make it, you regret things. And you don't regret the things you would think you would. I mean, the silliest things. I regretted not taking my kids to the ocean. And I regretted not building a patio off the back of my house."
Her family is sure she is a hero, and they are thrilled to have her back early, even if it is at a military hospital 160 miles from home. But even before she checked in, she made good on a promise to herself in Iraq. She took her teenagers, Michael and Megan, to the ocean on her first day back.
"It was like, 'OK, don't you want to go home first?' " Megan recalled. "She's like, 'No.' So we had just come back from camp, so that was the only clothes we had with us was camp clothes, so I thought it was a little strange."
Her mother explained why they were making the visit. "She said she regretted it, and then she started crying and said she was sorry. And we just said, 'OK.' "
Chappell's husband, Alan, cared for the kids full time while she was gone. He was the first to get the call that his wife had been injured.
"As a man, and as a husband, my job is to protect my wife and family, you know, always. Like a guard dog," he said. "So it was difficult emotionally. I just couldn't be there for her. It was really hard on me, not being able to be there and help."
When she first crossed the border into Iraq, Chappell knew things had changed. "I think, 'What have I gotten myself into?'" she recalled. "I was terrified. I was absolutely terrified. And there were a lot of children. And I'm a mother, and my heart just kind of stopped. And then I just went into my soldier mode and pushed it away and carried on with my mission."
The mission is on her mind even today. "Sometimes I dream about it. In the beginning … I couldn't sleep. The kids would sleep, and I would sit at the window and look out and make sure no one could get 'em. It's been a long process."
Physical healing is a long process, too. There is still joy in the small moments with her family — as when Megan read a poem she wrote about her mother's experiences from letters Chappell sent home. "It's so beautiful. It just chokes me up every time I hear it," Chappell said.
The news from Iraq makes her angry. She doesn't watch it anymore. (Too bad the reporter didn’t ask the so obvious question: “Why?”) For the first time, she's started a college course with her military benefits. It's not the life she'd planned, but one she can live with. And she doesn't regret serving.
"It was the hardest thing I have ever done, but the accomplishment that I have done and how I feel about myself for doing it and my country, it's worth it. Absolutely worth it."
Losing Hand, Skills, Control Hard For Michigan National Guard Member
May 14, 2004 BY KATHLEEN GRAY, FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER, Detroit Free Press
WASHINGTON -- Sgt. James McKelvey knew the risks when he went to Iraq to defuse bombs. He even planned for his death, knowing that soldiers who work over bombs rarely survive a blast.