Hundreds of thousands of servicemen were exposed to asbestos over decades, especially during the period from 1940 to 1980. Asbestos was used in construction of naval vessels as well as shore facilities. All branches of the military used asbestos, which was also widely used in civilian applications. Asbestos can cause mesothelioma. Because this cancer has a particularly long latency period, many servicemen who were exposed years ago are now developing this disease.
- Mesothelioma Patient & Family Resources: Mesotheliomahelp is provided by Belluck & Fox, LLP as a comprehensive resource for mesothelioma victims and their families. The site provides up-to-date information on the latest news and treatment options as well as an easy to use search feature to find local mesothelioma doctors and health care clinics.
We fight for veterans harmed by asbestos: Veterans with mesothelioma or asbestos-related lung cancer should know they have options: the opportunity to bring a suit against manufacturers and sellers of the asbestos that caused their illness. If you were harmed by asbestos exposure, for example, in ships or military housing, contact Weitz & Luxenberg to get a free case review.
Important Information for Veterans: Asbestos products were often used on military ships and within military housing, and Veterans may have been exposed. Previous exposure to asbestos is the only known cause of mesothelioma, a fatal cancer that has no cure and affects countless Veterans and loved ones. For more information regarding military asbestos exposure visit Mesothelioma.com
Special Report: U.S. Troops Hostages of Iraq's Broken Society, Says MidEast Expert
Enough now. $Trillions and 100,000s of victims; we're out now, right?
by Juan Cole - Oct. 30, 2009 | Al-Hayat reports in Arabic that the Iraqi parliament again on Thursday failed to pass an electoral law to govern the holding of the planned January 16 parliamentary elections. The Kurdish delegates refused to come into the parliament building, thereby denying the session a quorum. The Turkmen and Arab delegates had demanded that Kirkuk be treated differently in the legislation than other provinces.
News: Iraq: Most Deadly Blast in Two Years, 30 Children Dead
Blowback says Juan Cole - Oct. 25, 2009 | Two massive blasts shook central Baghdad on Sunday, killing at least 155 people, including 30 children and wounding 500, and destroying three government ministry buildings, according to the Times of London's Oliver August reporting from Baghdad. (The total has now been revised upward.) August notes that the likely perpetrators were either Baathists from the old regime or Sunni Muslim extremists, both of whom want to stop a new, Shiite- and Kurdish- dominated status quo from settling upon Iraq. [Cole and August don't see that Kurds, Sunni and Shiite kill because they hate the US for its freedom; George W. Bush knows.]
Baghdad - An American soldier accused of killing five fellow troops at a counseling center in Iraq had been unraveling for nearly two weeks but the U.S. military lacked clear procedures to monitor him or deal with the deadly shooting spree once it began to unfold, a military report found.
Here is the article released this afternoon by the Associated Press.
I posted it immediately upon reading it. It speaks volumes about what we have done to our Armed Forces these past eight years in Western Asia. It needs no further comment from me.
News: Wounded Soldiers Return to Iraq, Seeking Solace
Rick Kell, of Troops First, comforted Sgt. John Hyland, who had returned to Iraq after losing a leg in an explosion in 2007. Photo: Joao Silva for The New York Times
The seven-day program, called Operation Proper Exit, has been kept quiet previously, partly because returning to a combat zone is considered a delicate experiment. For the eight wounded men who returned to Iraq this week, including five amputees and one blinded soldier, the hope is that returning to places many of them left while unconscious or in agony might reassure them that their losses have been worth it.
News: Pullout From Iraq Poses Daunting Challenges - NYT
In today's New York Times there are a series of articles that show us just how asleep at the wheel we have been the last eight or nine years relative to our understanding of events in the Middle East. The first article is about our pending pullout from Iraq. The article is here.
The expense of this war has been enormous and it has hurt us. The expense of our getting out of the place is equally enormous. The story is enlightening.
News: Investigation ordered into chemical exposure
Williams man says cancer developed after Iraq service
From: The Times Mail Bedford Indiana
The Department of Defense inspector general will initiate an investigation into the U.S. Army's response to the exposure of hundreds of U.S. soldiers to the deadly chemical sodium dichromate in Iraq.
The investigation came at the request at U.S. Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Ind.
In 2003, 142 members of the Indiana National Guard, led by a Williams resident, Indiana National Guard Lt. Col. James Gentry (now retired), were among troops guarding the Qarmat Ali Water Treatment Plant in Iraq. The plant was being rebuilt by the Houston-based construction firm KBR, then a subsidiary of the oil conglomerate Halliburton. Despite on-site assurances that the orange, sand-like dust spread throughout the facility was a "mild irritant," it was later revealed to be sodium dichromate. A major component of sodium dichromate is hexavalent chromium, one of the world's most carcinogenic substances.
Growing numbers of Iraq war veterans had been joining the movement that supports redeployment of U.S. troops from Iraq.
Other Iraq war veterans believe the United States needs to stay the course and support the good work being done there by the troops.
Several veterans were among the 200 people arrested during an anti-war demonstration (including the staging of a "die-in") held Sept. 15 at the U.S. Capitol that drew 10,000.
News: Court Rejects Suit Against CACI Over Abu Ghraib Torture - W.P.
The Washington Post is reporting that a federal panel of judges has rejected a lawsuit against the contractor CACI based here in Northern Virginia concerning abuse of prisoners in Abu Ghraib Prison.
The reasoning seems to be that if a contractor is hired by the military during wartime as part of a wartime interrogation team that is under military control, the contractor is then an agent of the military and cannot be sued in court as a corporation. In other words, these guys worked for the Army and so the Army is responsible for the abuses. At least that is how I read this ruling.
News: It is time to leave Iraq, as soon as possible - George Will - W.P.
In today's Washington Post George Will, the same Republican conservative thinker who days ago said it was time to leave Afghanistan now says that we must leave Iraq much sooner than even Obama wants us to do. He says we have achieved little, that he can find no socially redeeming factors in our staying and that we need to leave the Iraqis to sort out their own problems.
I personally remember hearing him vehemently defend our involvement in Iraq on many, many talk shows over many years during the Bushite reign. I am having a little trouble adjusting my reality bearings relative to American conservatism and George Will, a major speaker of same, over the last week. To say that I am confused is an understatement. Where have these people been over the last nine years?
What exactly does the GOP believe relative to damned near anything anymore? Since roughly 31% of all Americans routinely and consistently poll as conservatives and/or Republicans in virtually any poll given by any pollster regarding any subject it is imperative that we know what it means to be a conservative. What are the platforms? the groundrules? the core values? What the hell is going on?
EVER WONDER WHY THERE IS NO PRESS REPORTING FROM IRAQ
MAYBE WE CAN TALK ABOUT WHAT WE ARE HIDING
By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER
Ever wonder why we don't have even the press coverage we got from Vietnam for our current wars? Many of the photos and films from Vietnam were made in Louisiana, did you know that? Most members of press seldom left the confines of opulant Saigon or DaNang. Thus, we could kill a generation in a war driven by corruption and greed and nobody would know.
We have no draft to supply cannon fodder for a hundred bucks a month but we can sure steal money at a scale that puts Vietnam to shame. What are we hiding? We are hiding, not the illegal war, but a war fought simply to steal. Planned and executed by a pack of bunglers whose only life experiences were oil scams, insider trading and a few 3rd string military types with "country club" combat credentials, what would you expect? You should expect what you have.
Tomorrow is the fourth anniversary of the day Cindy Sheehan, Dede Miller and I led the march in the bar ditches to former President Bush’s ranch in Crawford, Texas to ask “What Noble Cause?” We had our faces and stories splashed all over the news that weekend and for weeks and weeks, thanks to the perfect storm created by the mothers of dead soldiers coming to face off with the President and a very, very bored bunch of media sitting and waiting in Crawford, Texas for something, anything to happen.
News: Sec. of Defense Gates: U.S. Will Take Advisory Role in Iraq - A.P.
The Associated Press notes today that Secretary of Defense Gates is open to Americans taking "an advisory role" in Iraq past 2011. I am not. The story is here.
Let us not forget that the war in Iraq was started by an American administration besed on a muddy rationale at best. WE started it on bad intelligence information that the Bushites either deliberately manipulated to get American troops into the Middle East for unclear reasons or they mistook to be dangerous when it was actually non-existent. There were no WMDs. To state this plainly, we made a big mistake. We started a war where there definitely did not have to be one. Now Americans have died and suffered life-long injuries in a war that should never have been. And we are going to prolong our involvement? I think not. I will personally protest the Pentagon over this one if it happens.
News: Iraq Combat Horrors Drove 4th Infantry Division Soldiers Over the Edge? - A.P.
The Associated Press has released an article this morning of a rather disturbing nature. One Army Infantry Division that has returned home to Colorado has given birth to more murderers and felons than any other in the Army. It has also seen the most action. The story is hard to read. Brace yourself. The story is here.
News: Looking for rules in a changed relationship. Iraq/U.S. - Washington Post
In today's Washington Post there is a fine article on the changed and still changing relationship between Iraq and the U.S. There are no useful precedents to use to guide this "work in progress" that is the connection between the two countries. Americans feel used and abused from an ingrate that they consider that they 'liberated' from tyranny. Iraqis feel occupied and subjegated from a "savior" they never invited into their country. Maliki is coming to the White House to see Obama very soon. The discussions should be enlightening to say the least.
News: U.S. Troopers under Iraqi Command. Some Questions - Washington Post
by CWO3 Tom Barnes, USCG (Ret.), Staff Writer
In today's Washington Post there is an article titled "U.S. Troops in Iraq Find Little Leeway" showing the problem of placing American troopers under Iraqi command. This is extremely dangerous for our people. The article points out the problems. We need to get these people out of there before we have a bloodbath, our own!
News: Iraqi Government Orders New Restrictions on U.S. Troops That Were Not Negotiated - Washington Post
RESTRICTIONS?
by CWO3 Tom Barnes, USCG (Ret.), Staff Writer
In this morning's Washington Post there is a leading article titled "Iraq Restricts U.S. Forces" outlining new severe restrictions on the movements and resupply situation of American troops in Iraq that were not negotiated and place American troops in very real danger of attack.
Apparently the Maliki government wishes to show the Iraqi people that they are fully in charge.
The problem is that American commanders and the American government in D.C. never agreed to these restrictions which place American troops in a defenseless position in many ways.
KURDS READY TO FIGHT TO REGAIN HOMELAND TAKEN BY SADDAM AND BAATHISTS
BAGHDAD REGIME, BACKED BY IRAN OPPOSES TOP US ALLY IN THE REGION WITH US BACKED ARMY
By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER
When abandoned by every nation in the region, only the Kurds stood by America to overthrow Saddam. These were the same Kurds who had been slaughtered by Saddam after helping America in the first Gulf War. President George H.W. Bush stepped aside and allowed Saddam to murder tens of thousands of Kurds, most women and children. This is the crime Saddam was executed for by Bush II, a crime facilitated by Bush I.
Oil rich Kirkuk is a Kurdish city with a minor Turkmen population. Arabs in Kirkuk were moved in by Saddam when Kurds were "resettled" or slaughtered. This is not an Arab region in Iraq. Kirkuk is pure Kurd.
There are some interesting statistics in the article as found by the researchers. For instance, 37% of all vets from Iraq and Afghanistan seeking treatment at D.V.A. clinics and hospitals are being diagnosed with mental health problems and this is higher than DoD expected.
Do you think it could be because these young people were sent to fight a senseless set of multiple wars with frequent and dangerous combat deployments to protect an uninterested and uninvolved American population from a non-existent immediate threat of harm that might come from a clutch of scattered and disunified westeren Asian Bedouins who live more in the 11th Century than in the 21st? Just a thought. I am just thinking out loud here!
The online magazine, Salon, continues its Coming Homeseries finding an "Army report [that] seems to confirm a Salon investigation linking battle stress to murder. But the Army begs to differ."
Funny how Salon -- that has animatedly opposed the Iraq War -- steps up for veterans. Where the hell are the neocons?
Talking to veterans, many report that troops in the rear or those patrolling areas with erratic insurgencies have a worse time of it than those troops who fight more-or-less straight-up against their enemy.
But the bottom line is, we don't know and we can't guess and we shouldn't subject troops asking for DVA benefits to humiliation and bullshit.
Features: "Goodbye Iraq, And Good Luck": Op-Ed by Thomas L. Friedman - NY Times
"I THOUGHT THEY'D NEVER LEAVE"
In the New York Times this morning, Thomas L. Friedman writes an Op Ed piece that more or less expresses the views of all thoughtful Americans as we begin to wind down our efforts in Iraq in order to exit the place. The piece is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/15/opinion/15friedman.html?_r=1&th&emc=th
A U.S. flag being flown upside down as a protest in a northern Wisconsin village was seized by police before a Fourth of July parade and the businessman who flew it, who happened to be an Iraq war veteran, is now claiming police officers trespassed and stole his property.
News: Children of Iraq-Afghanistan War Soldiers Seeking Mental Health Care in Huge Numbers
NO PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN OF PTSD PARENTS?
He is an article from today's Washington Post that was originally posted by the Associated Press that speaks to the unprecedented number of children of active duty servicemen and women who are seeking mental health care. The story is here:
AFP-US Vice President Joe Biden was visiting Iraq Thursday in a surprise trip just days after US forces completed their pullout from Iraqi cities, the White House said.
News: Iraq halts clearing landmines even as huge toll keeps rising
By Jack Dolan and Jenan Hussein | McClatchy Newspapers
SAID JABAR, Iraq — Sadiqa Foroon has lost two brothers, her right foot and 32 sheep to landmines and other explosive remnants of the three wars that have raged through her village since 1980.
Burns from the mine she stepped on contort the right side of her face. "And my horse is missing a hoof," she said with a weary laugh. "So is my donkey."
News: BUSH TOLD HOUSTON JOURNALIST IN 1999 IF ELECTED, “I’M GOING TO INVADE IRAQ”
by Sherwood Ross
Two years before the 9/11 attacks on America, George W. Bush told a Houston journalist if elected president, “I’m going to invade Iraq.”
Bush made the comments about starting an aggressive war to veteran Houston Chronicle reporter Mickey Herskowitz, then working with Bush on his book “A Charge To Keep,” later brought out by publisher William Morrow.
This disclosure was uncovered by Russ Baker, an award-winning investigative reporter when he interviewed Herskowitz for his own book, “Family of Secrets” (Bloomsbury Press) about the Bush dynasty. However, Baker says, when he approached The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times with the potentially devastating story to President Bush prior to the 2004 presidential election, they declined to publish it.
I had every intention to make the trip downtown to the Flag Memorial today and see it when my friends from the local chapter of Veterans For Peace had it all put up. I went down yesterday and talked to a few people as they were working hard and fast to get it done before the pouring rain hit – but they didn’t quite make it.
It was my hope that I would be able to convey, through my words, what it’s like to see a field of flags fluttering in the wind, one flag for every man or woman who had died in Iraq while serving our country. As of last count, that number is 4,300. Texas has the second highest body count at 2,998, according to icasulaties.org. Add to that the number of men and women who have died while serving in Afghanistan, which is 687 and the uncounted number of suicides from soldiers coming back from the battlefront and taken their own lives.
The Eleven General Orders of a Sentry (Navy and Coast Guard version)
1. To take charge of this post and all government property in view.
2. To walk my post in a military manner, keeping always on the alert, and observing everything that takes place within sight or hearing.
3. To report all violations of orders I am instructed to enforce.
4. To repeat all calls from posts more distant from the guard house than my own.
5. To quit my post only when properly relieved.
6. To receive, obey and pass on to the sentry who relieves me, all orders from the Commanding Officer, Command Duty Officer, Officer of the Deck, and Officers and Petty Officers of the Watch only.
7. To talk to no one except in the line of duty.
8. To give the alarm in case of fire or disorder.
9. To call the Officer of the Deck in any case not covered by instructions.
10. To salute all officers and all colors and standards not cased.
11. To be especially watchful at night, and, during the time for challenging, to challenge all persons on or near my post and to allow no one to pass without proper authority.
The Army, Air Force and Marine Corps versions differ only in the ranks of the superiors who must be consulted in case of a questionable situation. Now why would I post these now on a veterans site when most of us are decades and decades away from having been forced to memorize these General Orders in boot camp, basic training, OCS, OTS or one of the Academies? Does anybody see anything in here that would even vaguely allow an American man or woman in uniform to participate in torture?
Now, I direct your attention to General Order number 8. Would you consider that your fellow sailors, soldiers, marines, airmen or coastguardsmen would be in disorder if they were following illegal orders to torture (read waterboard) prisoners? I certainly would. The General Orders are specifically set down to make sure the American Service man or woman knows how very narrowly and specifically military orders must confine themselves. "Petty Officer Barnes, go over there and waterboard that Iraqi prisoner who is handcuffed and chained to the deck" would obviously not fit into either the spirit or the letter of the law relative to carrying out the General Orders in a faithful and legal way. An idiot could see that.
Enough of the waterboarding is not torture nonsense. Enough.
Features: Memorial Day Flag Display in Houston, Texas
Memorial Day Flag Display in Houston. The local Houston chapter of Veterans for Peace (VFP-12) will be putting up their annual Memorial Day Flag Display honoring those who have given their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan along with a special section for those service members who have taken their own lives. They are asking for volunteers to help put the display up, guide visitors through the memorial and to take the display down when they are finished. They estimate there will be more than 5000 flags (one for each person being honored), so this is a tremendous undertaking that grows every year.
When: May 24-26. Set up starts at 9:00 a.m. on the 24th. Where: Herrmann Memorial Park, Houston, Texas, across the street from the Museum of Natural Science
For more information, contact Jim Rine at 281-414-1386 or jmrine@hotmail.come@hotmail.com
Blowback says Juan Cole - Oct. 25, 2009 | Two massive blasts 
Rick Kell, of Troops First, comforted Sgt. John Hyland, who had returned to Iraq after losing a leg in an explosion in 2007. Photo: Joao Silva for The New York Times
RESTRICTIONS?
KURDS READY TO FIGHT TO REGAIN HOMELAND TAKEN BY SADDAM AND BAATHISTS
GATES/OBAMA PROGRAMS LOWER TOLL
I THOUGHT THEY'D NEVER LEAVE"
NO PROGRAM FOR CHILDREN OF PTSD PARENTS?
by Amy Branham, Staff Writer
