military resistance 8l6 bagging bagram[1]

8/8/2019 Military Resistance 8L6 Bagging Bagram[1]

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[Capture of or direct attacks on the base are unnecessary. Moving in closeenough for direct fire to bring down some C5s would be quite sufficient. T]

December 10, 2010 by Erin Cunningham, EurasiaNet.org

Expanding outward from the Afghan capital and sweeping north past the foreign military

base at Bagram, Afghanistan’s Shomali Plain, a bustling and bountiful agricultural hubwith one of the safest roads in the country, seems, at first glance, like a peaceful oasis inan otherwise war-ravaged country.

Once one of the most heavily mined areas in the world – the result of more than threedecades of continual conflict – the Shomali Plain is now alive with economic activity.The region’s once-destroyed orchards of grapes, figs, peaches and cherries areblooming again, and new roadside businesses have sprung up to serve the heavy flowof traffic to and from the military base, just 40 kilometers north of Kabul. The pavedhighway that cuts north through the valley from the capital is crowded with commuters,traders, and fuel-tankers bound for the base.

Yet as fighting between American and NATO forces and anti-government insurgentsintensifies throughout the country, the relative calm in Shomali, the heartland of ParwanProvince, may prove to be a short-lived aberration.

Taliban-led insurgents are making inroads into Shomali from nearly all sides, accordingto Afghan and American officials, and locals say they fear the foreign troop presence atBagram – the largest military base in the country – provides a false sense of bothsecurity and economy.

“I have lived here for five years, and the area is safe now because the foreign troops arehere,” says Najibullah, 21, who owns a mobile phone shop in the bustling bazaar, knownfor contraband, outside the base. “But once they leave, it will no longer be like this.

There will be fighting and we will all have to leave.”

Bagram serves as the engine for local economic development, employing as many as5,000 locals, American officials say. “So many Afghans from this area work at the base,”says Omaid Khan, a 15-year-old Shomali resident who runs his father’s conveniencestore, situated opposite the base. “They come out here and use their salary to buy thingsfrom my store. It helps a lot, and we are happy.”

According to a 2007 report by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP),medium-sized industries and other small and medium-sized enterprises in theengineering and warehousing sectors are expanding in Parwan, mainly to servebusiness and construction at Bagram, which during the Taliban era was a ghost town.

The HALO Trust, a UK-based humanitarian mine clearance organization, saysapproximately 72,000 Afghans have returned to the area immediately surrounding thebase since 2001; at least 200,000 were displaced by fighting amid civil warfare in the1990s. The government says the province is home to 600,000 now, though no reliablecensus has been conducted for decades.

Despite economic growth in the area around Bagram, just half of men and one-fifth ofwomen in Parwan are literate, according to the Afghanistan Congressional



Communications Hub, a support service providing information on Afghanistan to USmembers of Congress. Only 25 percent of the population has access to electricity, theUS government body says.

Even more worrisome, locals say, is the recent infiltration of Taliban-led insurgents intothe area.

Immediately south and southeast of Bagram, on the other side of the mountainrange that divides Parwan and neighboring Kapisa province, is “Taliban territory,”aid workers say.

A former Afghan army officer familiar with the area confirms that Taliban fightersare already “in control” of areas just to the east of Bagram, especially after dark.

A senior US military adviser at Bagram, speaking on the condition of anonymity, saysinsurgents are currently implementing a long-term, coordinated plan to surround thecapital, and that there is definitely a higher level of insurgent activity in the areas aroundParwan in recent years. In May, Taliban fighters launched a complex attack on Bagram

that killed one US contractor and injured four soldiers.

Forty-four-year-old Asidullah was a young farmer when he left Shomali for Iran in 1998,but now he runs a Bagram-area store stocked with combat boots, sunglasses, proteinpowder and other goods popular with foreign soldiers.

He says his small business is prosperous, and his family’s land elsewhere in theShomali is growing grapes once again, but his relatives remain wary.

“The security is still good, but it is getting worse,” Asidullah says. “We know where theTaliban are and they are waiting. Once the Americans leave, all of this will be theirsagain.”

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Insurgent Attack Kills Six U.S. SoldiersAt Zari Base Checkpoint

[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, Military Resistance Organization, who sent this in.]

December 12, 2010 BBC & By Heidi Vogt and Mirwais Khan, Associated Press

Six US soldiers and two Afghan soldiers have been killed in an attack near Kandahar insouthern Afghanistan, military sources say.

A senior Afghan army officer told the BBC a car bomber had targeted a checkpointoutside a base manned by Afghan and US troops in Zari district.



Gen. Abdul Hamid, the Afghan army chief for the province, said the attacker drovea minibus into the entrance of the base Sunday morning just as vehicles werepreparing to move out on a patrol.

"They were leaving the compound and at that moment, the minibus attacked and

they hit right at the entrance of the base," Hamid said.

Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack, saying theinsurgent group was retaliating for all the attacks launched on them in the area in recentmonths.

Fall River Soldier Killed In Afghanistan

December 12, 2010 The Boston Channel

BOSTON -- A soldier from Fall River has been killed in the war in Afghanistan.

The mayor’s office said Saturday that Ethan Goncalo, 21, was a member of the 181stinfantry with the Massachusetts National Guard.

It was not immediately clear how or when he died.

Goncalo was a 2008 graduate of Durfee High School. He attended Westfield State for acouple of years after being recruited to play for the college’s baseball team.

Goncalo left for Afghanistan in October.

He is the second soldier killed from Fall River in the past two months.



Area Soldier Killed In Afghanistan

Curtis Oakes

December 3, 2010 By Messenger and AP staffs For The Times-Journal

Staff Sgt. Curtis Allen Oakes of Athens had planned to make a career out of the Army,according to his mother, but that service to his country tragically ended Monday when hewas killed in Afghanistan.

“He had no worries,” Valerie Oakes said of her son. “He loved life and he lovedeverything to the fullest.”

Oakes, 29, was killed when an Afghan border policeman went rogue during a trainingsession and opened fire on U.S. troops. At the time, Oakes was conducting artilleryregistration during a training mission in the Pachir Wa Agam district at Combat OutpostLonestar, Nangarhar province.

Valerie Oakes said her son graduated from Alexander High School in 1999 and went onto obtain two degrees from Hocking College in wildlife management and agriculture, butit was the military that became his focus.

“It was all his decision,” she said of her son’s enlistment. He was the only one in thefamily who had joined the military.

Oakes enlisted in the Army in March 2003 and arrived at Fort Campbell, Ky., inSeptember 2004. At the time of his death, he was a fire support specialist.

Oakes’ awards and decorations include the: Army Commendation Medal; ArmyAchievement Medal; Valorous Unit Award; Army Good Conduct Medal; NationalDefense Service Medal; Korean Defense Service Medal; Afghanistan Campaign Medal;Iraq Campaign Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Non-commissionedOfficer Professional Development Ribbon; Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Service



Ribbon; NATO Medal; Driver and Mechanic Badge; Combat Action Badge and AirAssault Badge.

He is survived by his wife, Brandy Oakes; son, Bradley Oakes, and stepson, TylerJones, all of Clarksville, Tenn. Oakes is also survived by his daughter, Mia Robus ofWhite City, Kan., and his parents, Terry and Valerie Oakes of Athens.

Valerie Oakes said her son was “just happy all the time.”

Betsy Schmidt of McConnelsville contacted The Messenger and said that Curtis was a“big guy with a big heart.”

“Curtis and I rode the same bus growing up,” she said. “He was a true character.Always made you laugh. He will be missed amongst friends and family.”

Alexander Schools Supt. Bob Bray said the flag at the high school was lowered onWednesday after the news of Oakes’ death broke. He said staff at the high school areworking to hold some kind of memorial in Oakes’ honor.

According to the Associated Press, Oakes was one of six U.S. soldiers killed on Mondaywhen an Afghan border policeman turned his gun on his American trainers as the groupheaded to shooting practice. The gunman was killed in the shootout.

Bodies of the six soldiers were returned to U.S. soil Wednesday night. The other soldierswere Sgt. Barry E. Jarvis of Tell City, Ind.; Pfc. Jacob A. Gassen of Beaver Dam, Wis.;Pvt. Buddy W. McLain of Mexico, Maine; Spec. Matthew W. Ramsey of Quartz Hill,Calif.; and Pvt. Austin G. Staggs of Senoia, Ga.

The Taliban claimed responsibility, saying the officer had enlisted as a sleeper agent tohave an opportunity to kill foreigners.

The only sound during the “dignified transfer” of the bodies Wednesday night was of thewind blowing through the 747 jet engines as the flag-topped caskets, called transfercases, were lowered to the ground. Teams of white-gloved pallbearers carried eachcasket to a waiting truck. Fathers, mothers, wives and other family of five of the soldierstraveled to Dover for Wednesday’s return.

Marine Gen. James Cartwright, who is the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, leda delegation of U.S. officials to pay respects. The unusually large group that flew fromWashington included national security adviser Tom Donilon and several senior NationalSecurity Council advisers. Defense Undersecretary Michele Flournoy and TreasuryUndersecretary Stuart Levey and several senior Pentagon officers also attended.

Monday’s attack was the deadliest of its kind in at least two years. It underscored one ofthe risks in a U.S.-led program to train enough recruits to turn over the lead for securityto Afghan forces by 2014.

Attacks on NATO troops by Afghan policemen or soldiers, although still rare, haveincreased as the coalition has accelerated the program. Other problems with the rapidlygrowing security forces include drug use, widespread illiteracy and high rates of attrition.



This is the deadliest year of the nine-year-old conflict in Afghanistan, with more than 450U.S. troops killed.

More than 1,300 U.S. forces have died there since the war began in 2001, a majority ofthem in the past two years as fighting has intensified and President Barack Obamaordered more than 30,000 reinforcements.

The U.S. now has about 100,000 troops in Afghanistan, a record. Obama plans to beginwithdrawing some forces in July, on the way to an eventual transfer of security control tothe Afghan forces now being recruited and trained under U.S. and NATO supervision.

19-Year-Old Marine From San Jose KilledIn Afghanistan

November 26, 2010 KTVU

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- A 19-year-old Marine from San Jose was killed during a tour ofservice in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the U.S. Department of Defense announcedThursday.

Lance Cpl. Ardenjoseph A. Buenagua - known more familiarly to friends and family asArden - died while conducting combat operations in the country's Helmand province.

Buenagua belonged to the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I MarineExpeditionary Force based out of Camp Pendleton in Southern California.

In the days leading up to his late September deployment, Buenagua used his iPhone to

post frequent updates to his Facebook page, including his last post from Sept. 30announcing his arrival in Afghanistan.

Days before, on Sept. 24, Buenagua wrote of insomnia spurred by excitement for hisfirst tour of duty and trip out of the country, writing, "can't wait to get a (peek) at the restof the world!"

Buenagua's mother, Marivic Ayuson Trinidad, lavished constant support on her son'spage and responded to his last post, praying for his safety and encouraging him to dothe same.

"Pray, pray, and pray always," she wrote on his page on Sept. 30, adding "we're praying

for ur SAFETY."

According to networks Buenagua listed on his page, he graduated from Piedmont HillsHigh in 2009 and also attended Independence High School.

Former classmates, like Alex Rivera, remembered Buenagua for his laid-backpersonality and ambition.



But more than half of all Afghans — 55 percent — want U.S. forces out of their country,and the sooner the better.

Those who moan about the lack of readiness among the Afghan National SecurityForces might be surprised to learn that more than twice as many Afghans thinkthe police are better able to provide security in their areas than U.S. or NATO

forces.

Of those polled, only 36 percent said they trusted the foreigners to protect them,while 77 percent voted for their local police.

Polls are tricky tools, especially in conflict zones. ACSOR itself freely acknowledges thatthere were many areas it could not go to because of security concerns. That real estatewould, of course, include the south, where U.S. and NATO forces are now battling theTaliban.

Anecdotal evidence suggests that the popularity of U.S. forces would be even lower inthese areas, given the higher incidence of civilian casualties from airstrikes, and the

greater frequency of night raids, in which U.S. Special Forces descend on housingcompounds, often with a mission to kill or capture alleged Taliban fighters.

The poll shows that Afghans are implacably against airstrikes by U.S. or NATOtroops, with 73 percent saying that they opposed them even if they help to defeatthe Taliban.

“They just do not want us here,” said one foreign diplomat, speaking on condition ofanonymity. “The Western troops, when they came here [in 2001] said ‘the Soviets wereinvaders, we are liberators. But for Afghans it is all the same — we are all ‘foreigners.’They will fight anyone who comes here.”

NEED SOME TRUTH?CHECK OUT TRAVELING SOLDIER

Traveling Soldier is the publication of the Military Resistance Organization.

Telling the truth - about the occupations or the criminals running the governmentin Washington - is the first reason for Traveling Soldier. But we want to do morethan tell the truth; we want to report on the resistance to Imperial wars inside thearmed forces.

Our goal is for Traveling Soldier to become the thread that ties working-classpeople inside the armed services together. We want this newsletter to be aweapon 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 networkof active duty organizers. http://www.traveling-soldier.org/

http://www.traveling-soldier.org/

http://www.traveling-soldier.org/



“The single largest failure of the anti-war movement at this pointis the lack of outreach to the troops.” Tim Goodrich, IraqVeterans Against The War



WELCOME TO THE LONELY SIDE OF HELL:ALL HOME NOW!

U.S. soldiers from 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion during an early morning patrolin Zhari district in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan November 22, 2010.REUTERS/Peter Andrews

A U.S. soldier from 2nd Brigade Special Troops Battalion during an early morning patrolin Zhari district in Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, November 22, 2010.REUTERS/Peter Andrews



A U.S. soldier from 502nd Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne Division during a patrol inPanjwai district, Afghanistan's Kandahar province, Nov. 25, 2010. (AP Photo/AlexanderZemlianichenko)

MILITARY NEWS

THIS IS HOW OBAMA BRINGS THEM HOME:

ALL HOME NOW, ALIVE



The casket of Army Spc. Dale J. Kridlo at Arlington National Cemetery Nov. 18, 2010.

Kridlo, 33 of Hughestown, Pa., was killed Nov. 7, 2010 in Kunar province, Afghanistan,by insurgent attack on his unit with small arms fire. He was assigned to the 27thEngineer Battalion, 20th Engineer Brigade, XVIII Airborne Corps, Fort Bragg, N.C. (APPhotos/Jose Luis Magana)



“I Couldn’t Believe The VAWanted To Pump Me Full Of

Drugs, As If Loading Up On ACombination Of Pills, I CouldNumb My Fear And Pain Into

Smooooth Jazz — ‘Yeaah,Baby’”

“I Wanted To Talk To Someone And IWanted Answers To Questions I

Didn’t Have Courage To Ask”“Where Were The Caring Doctors And

Couches And Explanations For AttemptsTo Get To The Bottom Of My Problem?”

[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, Military Resistance Organization, who sent this in.]

December 8, 2010 By The Usual Suspect, Rucksacktobackpack.blogspot.com[Excerpts]

We told the man we wanted money for college, to serve our country, or to travel and seethe world; he said for us to sign on the dotted line.

We gave what we owed, and they took more than we bargained for.

This is the account of one veteran, or many, finally taking back. This is where we

discuss the issues we face in returning from war, and transitioning into the classroom.We've DX'd our rucksacks for backpacks, our boots for flip flops, and have sworn offhaircuts, shaving, and whatever else we're tired of. We gave what we did, to be wherewe are now, and these are our stories.

***************************************************************

In March 2010, I finally agreed to seek help.



With Robyn’s hand in mine, I walked into the Long Beach VA Hospital to file a PTSDclaim. Outside the main entrance, homeless veterans in BDU (Battle Dress Uniform;green camouflage) pants huddled on benches, smoking cigarettes and talking tothemselves.

To avoid eye contact, I stared at the ground, ashamed of my outward youth and health.Inside, every awake face in the crowded lobby stared at TV’s hanging on the wall.

I felt even more of a fraud that my Iraq nightmares paled in comparison to those of thehomeless vets racked-out on chairs inside the lobby.

Upstairs in the mental health office, a dozen more Vietnam vets hacked and coughedbetween passed-out snores leaning in chairs against the wall.

There were a few young guys, like me, probably Marine’s, who’d seen some real shit.

One guy sat rocking in a chair with his head between his knees and a clipboard with a

stack of ruffled papers next to him. A couple of large ladies in light blue uniforms cartedhim away.

Another young guy walked to the bathroom with a small cup in his hand. The nursestuck her foot in the door and I could tell he didn’t seem optimistic about his chances.

I filled out the stack of papers attached to the clipboard. It asked for specific memorieswhere I felt I would die, and for names of people to contact to verify my claims. When Ifinished the stack, I ate a sandwich lunch and waited.

A small, thin woman in light blue called my name.

She brought me through a series of lefts and rights and back-arounds until we came toan open examination office. She sat at a computer and read the stack of papersattached to the clipboard.

As she pecked at the keyboard, I played the role of dumb private — thoughtful, timid andpolite, though that wasn’t far-fetched from my own mood. For forty-five minutes, shewent through a list of questions to determine the immediacy of help that I needed.

I told her about my nightmares and some of the graphic events I had witnessed in Iraq,and how I had been resolving those issues at home. She seemed concerned and saidthat I displayed symptoms of PTSD. Then she scheduled for me an appointment tomeet with “a doctor closer to home” in Santa Ana.

I met with Dr. Stewart in late July. She smiled and led me to her office, and I tooka seat across from her.

For the next twenty-five minutes, she typed into a computer and didn’t look at me.She seemed indifferent and I felt like another name in her long list of patients asshe played twenty questions.

“Do you smoke? Drink? Do drugs? Are you on any medications?



Has your appetite changed?How do you feel right now?How are you sleeping?What is today’s date? If you had to guess the date… pick a day…Who is the President of the United States?Have you committed any recent crime sprees?”

After the last question, she turned away from the computer and said that I displayedsymptoms of PTSD.

She asked me if I wanted to join a substance abuse class, and after we talked about myfamily and school obligations, she wrote me a prescription for Trazadone, anantidepressant used for depression and insomnia.

I returned for a follow-up appointment in late August.

Dr. Stewart led me to the same room and she sat at the same computer withoutlooking at me.

Ten minutes later, after a blitzkrieg session of the same questions, she asked meabout the Trazadone.

I lied and said it didn’t work the few times I took it. Then she wrote me a prescription forTamazepam, a hypnotic used by Air Force pilots to combat insomnia.

I didn’t want drugs and I wondered whether I should forget the whole process.

I wanted to talk to someone and I wanted answers to questions I didn’t havecourage to ask.

Where were the caring doctors and couches and explanations for attempts to getto the bottom of my problem?

I couldn’t believe the VA wanted to pump me full of drugs, as if loading up on acombination of pills, I could numb my fear and pain into smooooth jazz—“Yeaah,baby.”

“Fuck that,” I thought. “I’d rather drink…”

MORE:

The Soldier Above Has It Right:“Only One Treatment Method —Exposure Therapy — Has Been



Proven To Help PTSD In StudiesBy Objective Researchers”

Previous Research FindingConfirmed By Atlanta V.A. TestProgram;

“81% Showing ‘Clinically SignificantImprovement,’ Which Was Still At 81 %

Six Months Later”

From GI SPECIAL 6G17: 7.29.08:

July 28, 2008 By Kelly Kennedy, Army Times

Three new studies looking at combat stress have found group exposure therapy seemsto work, that troops with traumatic brain injuries are more likely to have post-traumaticstress disorder, and that stress debriefings held after traumatic events don’t appear toprevent PTSD.

The research comes as the Department of Veterans Affairs works to find the besttreatment methods for combat veterans.

It follows a report by Rand Corp. that showed only one treatment method —exposure therapy — has been proven to help PTSD in studies by objectiveresearchers.

The first study looked at a program that had been in place for four years at the AtlantaVA Medical Center. The center’s Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Clinical Team beganresearching group-based exposure treatment.

Past studies have shown group therapy to be ineffective on veterans with PTSD,but authors of this study, published in the April issue of the Journal of TraumaticStress, said the amount of exposure therapy — 60 hours — in this group may bethe key to why it works.

First, nine to 11 people get to know each other and talk about their experiences beforethey joined the military. Then, they spend several weeks talking about their wartimeexperiences.

A total of 93 Vietnam veterans, four Gulf War veterans, one Korean War veteranand two Iraq war veterans took part in the study, with 81 percent showing



“clinically significant improvement,” which was still at 81 percent six monthslater.

And the study found something else: VA clinicians indicated to researchers that they donot use exposure therapy out of concern for possible increases in suicide ideation,hospitalizations and dropout rates, but “we found the opposite to be true,” the study’s

authors said.

Many patients said hearing others’ traumatic experiences evoked painful recall ofwhat had happened to them, but “none reported any negative lasting effects, andmany indicated that this process helped them put their own experience into betterperspective,” the study said.

For example, one-third of the group members said they had frozen under fire.“Learning how common this was helped reduce the shame and guilt that manypatients had felt for decades,” researchers said.

MORE: From GI SPECIAL 6E15: 5.24.08:

This Information Could Save YourSanity, Or Your Life:

If Somebody Tries To Drug You Or ABuddy Or Family Member, The Fact The

Information Below Appeared In Army

Times Can Be A Powerful Weapon OfSelf-Defense

Comment: T

Because of the extreme importance of this information to every member of thearmed forces, for or against the war, it is being reprinted again from a previous GISpecial.

This news report below makes clear that there is now new evidence based

research about what works and what doesn’t work for troops experiencing PTSD.

The credibility and importance of this research -- initiated by the Department ofVeterans Affairs – is underlined by publication of the findings in Army Times,rather than appearing on some obscure web site or other as somebody or other’sopinion.

The V.A. has long practiced drugging troops with all kinds of very dangerous pillsas a “treatment” for PTSD. As this article documents, that’s useless. And



dangerous: overdoses can kill. Benzodiazepines [Valium & Librium are wellknown examples] are viscously addictive and potentially deadly drugs handed outto troops like bags of popcorn.

As the article below reports, the only effective treatment for PTSD so far is“exposure therapy; reliving a traumatic experience by writing or talking about it.”

A lot of quacks, including at V.A. facilities as well as privately, are hustling otherbullshit phony treatments, ranging from moving your eyeballs around to eatingherbs and weeds.

Excuse a personal note, but I’ve been working professionally with traumaticstress survivors for over 30 years, both military and civilian, both at VA andprivate facilities, and can testify that the research finding reported in this article is100% right: the only effective treatment for PTSD so far is “reliving a traumaticexperience by writing or talking about it.”

But you don’t have to believe that.

Here’s the report, from Army Times.

Assuming you give a shit about whether troops live or die, send it around, wordfor word, and be sure to mention it comes from Army Times in case some idiotthinks you sucked it out of your thumb.

Most important, if somebody in command or at the V.A. tries to drug you or abuddy or family member, the fact this information appeared in Army Times can bea powerful weapon of self-defense:

MORE:

“Research Has Not Shown SerotoninRe-Uptake Inhibitors, Such AsProzac, Zoloft Or Celexa, To Be

Effective In Treating PTSD”“Exposure Therapy -- Reliving A

Traumatic Experience By Writing OrTalking About It -- Is The Only Therapy

Proved Effective By IndependentResearch”



April 14, 2008 By Kelly Kennedy, Army Times [Excerpts]

“Problems related to getting troops adequate mental health treatment cannot beresolved unless two issues — stigma and access — are addressed,” Todd Bowers,director of government affairs for Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, told theHouse Veterans’ Affairs subcommittee on health on April 1.

Almost 59,000 veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been diagnosed withPTSD by the Department of Veterans Affairs. Army post-deployment healthassessments have found that 20 percent of active-duty and 40 percent of reserve-component troops had symptoms of PTSD, and some experts say the real numberscould be much higher.

But because PTSD hasn’t been addressed until fairly recently — the first scientific paperabout the disorder in veterans of the 1991 Persian Gulf War didn’t come out until fiveyears after that war ended — VA and Pentagon officials say much needs to be done todetermine good screening techniques and therapies.

“This is the first war where DoD and VA recognized the psychological impact going in,”said Army Col. Charles Hoge, chief of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Walter ReedInstitute of Research.

Combat vets are not sleeping, experience startle reactions and are hyper-alert.

“All of these things that we label as symptoms are things they need in combat,” Hogesaid. “No sooner are they transitioned back home than they’re right back in rotation.”

At the House hearing, Hoge said an Army assessment last summer showed that thenumbers of soldiers with PTSD is going up with each deployment.

“There’s a direct connection between mental health and multiple deployments,” he said,adding that troops also need more time between deployments.

David Matcher, of the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Treatment ofPosttraumatic Stress Disorder, said a recent study found that research has notshown serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, such as Prozac, Zoloft or Celexa, to beeffective in treating PTSD.

Exposure therapy — reliving a traumatic experience by writing or talking about it — is the only therapy proved effective by independent research, he said.

Other treatments exist, but they have been tested mainly by the same people who

developed them.

That’s an important point because the Defense Department and VA use severalsuch methods, including group and drug therapy, to treat combat veterans.



“The ACU Has Too Many Nice-To-HaveFeatures That Don’t Really Get Used AndOnly End Up Increasing The Cost Of The

Uniform And Not Its Usefulness”

Dec. 13, 2010Army TimesLetters To The Editor

The Army needs to re-evaluate the effectiveness of continuing to use the Army CombatUniform as its standard combat uniform. The ACU is not a uniform that can be worn in acombat theater and has no use in a garrison environment.

When the ACU was introduced, it included many changes that were expected to

enhance its combat effectiveness. It used Velcro patches that allowed soldiers to“sterilize” (remove all identifying features) their uniforms in theater, incorporated built-inpockets for elbow and knee pads, employed a mandarin collar for use when worn withbody armor and had infrared tabs that would aid in friendly force identification duringnight operations.

But since its fielding, many of these features have become worthless. In three tours toIraq, I have yet to see any units actually allow their soldiers to sterilize their uniformswhile conducting missions. The integrated knee and elbow pad and mandarin collar arealso rarely used. The knee and elbow pads issued during the rapid fielding initiative havebecome the option of choice for most units, therefore marginalizing the built-in ACUoption.

The ACU has too many nice-to-have features that don’t really get used and only end upincreasing the cost of the uniform and not its usefulness. It’s time for the Army toabandon this uniform and adopt a uniform that can be worn in theater as well as garrisonwhile being available in two different camouflage patterns, similar to what’s used by theMarines.

Maj. Jeff NordinFort Leavenworth, Kan.

Troops Invited:Comments, arguments, articles, and letters from service menand women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Write to Box126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657 or send email [email protected]: Name, I.D., withheld unless yourequest publication. Same address to unsubscribe.

mailto:[email protected]




The Attack On WikiLeaks“What We Are Hearing From The

Enraged Officialdom Is Mostly ThePetulant Screaming Of Emperors

Whose Clothes Have Been ShreddedBy The Net”

“The Leaks Make It Abundantly Clear NotJust That The U.S.-Anglo-European

Adventure In Afghanistan Is DoomedBut, More Important, That The American,British, And Other NATO Governments

Privately Admit That Too”

The political elites of western democracies have discovered that the internet canbe a thorn not just in the side of authoritarian regimes, but in their sides too. Ithas been comical watching them and their agencies stomp about the net likemaddened, half-blind giants trying to whack a mole.

December 6, 2010 By John Naughton, Guardian News and Media Limited [Excerpts]

"Never waste a good crisis" used to be the catchphrase of the Obama team in the run-upto the presidential election. In that spirit, let us see what we can learn from officialreactions to the WikiLeaks revelations.

The most obvious lesson is that it represents the first really sustained confrontationbetween the established order and the culture of the internet.

There have been skirmishes before, but this is the real thing.

And as the backlash unfolds -- first with deniable attacks on internet serviceproviders hosting WikiLeaks, later with companies like Amazon and eBay andPayPal suddenly "discovering" that their terms and conditions preclude themfrom offering services to WikiLeaks, and then with the U.S. governmentattempting to intimidate Columbia students posting updates about WikiLeaks onFacebook -- the intolerance of the old order is emerging from the rosy mist inwhich it has hitherto been obscured.



The attack of WikiLeaks also ought to be a wake up call for anyone who has rosyfantasies about whose side cloud computing providers are on.

These are firms like Google, Flickr, Facebook, Myspace, and Amazon which host yourblog or store your data on their servers somewhere on the internet, or which enable you

to rent "virtual" computers -- again located somewhere on the net.

The terms and conditions under which they provide both "free" and paid-for services willalways give them grounds for dropping your content if they deem it in their interests todo so. The moral is that you should not put your faith in cloud computing -- one day it willrain on your parade.

Look at the case of Amazon, which dropped WikiLeaks from its Elastic Compute Cloudthe moment the going got rough.

It seems that Joe Lieberman, a U.S. senator who suffers from a terminal case of hubris,harassed the company over the matter. Later Lieberman declared grandly that he would

be "asking Amazon about the extent of its relationship with WikiLeaks and what it andother web service providers will do in the future to ensure that their services are not usedto distribute stolen, classified information."

This led the New Yorker's Amy Davidson to ask whether "Lieberman feels that he, orany senator, can call in the company running the New Yorker's printing presses when weare preparing a story that includes leaked classified material, and tell it to stop us."

What WikiLeaks is really exposing is the extent to which the western democratic systemhas been hollowed out.

In the last decade its political elites have been shown to be incompetent (Ireland, the

U.S., and UK in not regulating banks); corrupt (all governments in relation to the armstrade); or recklessly militaristic (the U.S. and UK in Iraq).

And yet nowhere have they been called to account in any effective way. Instead theyhave obfuscated, lied, or blustered their way through.

And when, finally, the veil of secrecy is lifted, their reflex reaction is to kill themessenger.

As Simon Jenkins put it recently in the Guardian, "Disclosure is messy and tests moraland legal boundaries. It is often irresponsible and usually embarrassing. But it is all thatis left when regulation does nothing, politicians are cowed, lawyers fall silent and audit is

polluted. Accountability can only default to disclosure."

What we are hearing from the enraged officialdom of our democracies is mostly thepetulant screaming of emperors whose clothes have been shredded by the net.

Which brings us back to the larger significance of this controversy.

The political elites of western democracies have discovered that the internet can be athorn not just in the side of authoritarian regimes, but in their sides too. It has been



comical watching them and their agencies stomp about the net like maddened, half-blindgiants trying to whack a mole.

It has been deeply worrying to watch terrified internet companies -- with the exception ofTwitter, so far -- bending to their will.

But politicians now face an agonizing dilemma. The old, mole-whacking approach won'twork. WikiLeaks does not depend only on web technology. Thousands of copies ofthose secret cables -- and probably of much else besides -- are out there, distributed bypeer-to-peer technologies like BitTorrent.

Our rulers have a choice to make: either they learn to live in a WikiLeakable world, withall that implies in terms of their future behavior; or they shut down the internet.

Over to them.

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK



POLITICIANS CAN’T BE COUNTED ON TOHALT THE BLOODSHED

THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOPTHE WARS

CLASS WAR REPORTS

Homes Of Wealthy Burned:

“In Both Cases, The Arsonist Left ACalling Card, The Message, ‘Fuck TheRich’ At The Scene”

December 12, 2010 The Boston Channel

SANDWICH, Mass. -- Police and fire officials are investigating an arson fire in Sandwichthat has a disturbing similarity with a suspicious incident in Barnstable, the Cape CodTimes reported Sunday.

In both cases, the arsonist left a calling card, the message, "Fuck the rich" at the scene.

On Nov. 24, fire burned an unoccupied home still under construction at 16 BoulderBrook Road in Sandwich. The home, which was valued at $500,000, had a three-cargarage and three bedrooms, but no plumbing or electric service, Sandwich Fire ChiefGeorge Russell told the newspaper.

The heavy damage burned much of the evidence, but the state Fire Marshal's Office wasrecently able to rule that an arsonist had set the fire, Russell said.

The following week, on Dec. 2, incendiary devices were found at 43 Trotters Lane inMarstons Mills, law enforcement officials said.

At Trotters Lane, the message "Fuck the rich," was clearly spray painted on a fence onthe property, Barnstable police Det. John York said.

York said a similar message had been found at the Sandwich property.

The police said they smelled gas and found an empty propane tank in the basement.They found burn marks upstairs, which could have been evidence of a candle or smallfire that had burned itself out, York told the newspaper.



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Forward Military Resistance along, or send us the address if you wish and

we’ll send it regularly. Whether in Afghanistan, Iraq or stuck on a base inthe USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut offfrom access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the wars, insidethe armed services and at home. Send email requests to address up top orwrite to: The Military Resistance, Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y.10025-5657. Phone: 888.711.2550

“Today, The Richest 1 Percent Of

Americans Takes Nearly 24 PercentOf Overall Income”

“The Most Extreme Level Of InequalitySince Statistics Started Being Kept”

December 10, 2010 By Alan Maass, Socialist Worker [Excerpts]

The profits of U.S. businesses hit another record in the third quarter of 2010, clocking inat $1.659 trillion at an annual rate, according to the Commerce Department--the highestfigure in non-inflation-adjusted dollars since the government started keeping track morethan 60 years ago.



This was the seventh straight quarter of rising profits, and at one of the fastest clips inrecent history.

Meanwhile, unemployment has hung on stubbornly at twice its pre-crisis level, and onein six Americans--including one in four children--is at risk of hunger, according to the

latest government statistics.

On Wall Street, the top three dozen publicly held banks, hedge funds and investmentfirms plan to pay $144 billion in compensation and benefits this year, according to theWall Street Journal's survey--the second-straight record-setting year.

At Christie's and other New York auction houses that peddle art to the highest bidder,the first two weeks of November were among the most lucrative in history.

Dr. Francesca Fusco reports that her Manhattan cosmetic surgery business is boomingagain--”Wall Street is back spending as much if not more than before,” she gushes.

And the bidding action for rentals next summer in the posh Hamptons on Long Island is“hotter and heavier” than ever, says Dolly Lenz of Prudential Douglas Elliman. She hasthree people ready to pony up more than $400,000 to put a roof over their heads for afew weeks next year.

The vast gap between rich and poor has grown even larger during the GreatRecession. Today, the richest 1 percent of Americans takes nearly 24 percent ofoverall income--nearly tripling their share since 1976 and the most extreme levelof inequality since statistics started being kept.

In the first nine months of the year, the big six banks in the U.S.--Bank of America,JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley--cleared

$35 billion in profits. Thanks to the way the bankers reward themselves, a lot of thatmoney will end up being paid out as bonuses. And it's mostly on the government's dime,to boot.

Not only did the federal government save them with a multibillion-dollar rescue when thecrisis hit, but the bankers are still taking advantage of the Federal Reserve Bank's policyof pumping money into the economy by lending to financial institutions at effective 0percent interest rates.

Business profits as an overall dollar amount hit a new record in the third quarter.

Calculated as a percentage of the gross domestic product--the total production of goods

and services in the economy--profits reached 11.2 percent, close to the high point of the2000s boom. In other words, for every $9 produced in the U.S. economy today, theruling class is pocketing $1.

At the same time as profits for the third quarter jumped 28 percent over the yearbefore, business spending on compensation for employees rose only 7.6 percent,or about one-quarter as fast.



That statistic reveals the old-fashioned secret of the profit boom--corporations aremaking workers work harder for less. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics,the output of the U.S. economy rose 4.1 percent in the third quarter compared tothe year before, the number of hours worked increased by 1.6 percent, and unitlabor costs fell by nearly 2 percent.

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