By Dahr Jamail, IPS

In a clear change of strategy to energise public anti-war sentiment, Iraq veterans led a determined demonstration of hundreds through the streets of downtown Seattle last Saturday, following regional Winter Soldier hearings at the Seattle Town Hall.

A larger Winter Soldier event occurred at the National Labour College in Silver Spring, Maryland from Mar. 13 to Mar. 16 earlier this year. But the strategy for those hearings appeared to be based on keeping the event from being directly affiliated with any demonstrations or anti-war activities in an attempt to reach a broader audience. Those hearings were closed to the public, and no demonstrations or other overtly public actions were tied to the event.

This tactic was apparently meant to draw in more national mainstream media coverage of the event, which, with few exceptions, did not materialise.

 read more »

by Aaron Glantz for oneworld.net

WASHINGTON - Antiwar veterans of the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan took their case to Capitol Hill Thursday, baring their souls with stories of killings of innocent civilians, torture, and wrongful detentions.

“On several occasions our convoys came upon bodies that had been lying on the road, sometimes for weeks,” said Marine Corps veteran Vincent Emanuele, who served in al-Qaim near the Syrian border in 2004 and 2005.

“When encountering these bodies standard procedure was to run over the corpses, sometimes even stopping and taking pictures, which was also standard practice when encountering the dead in Iraq,” he told the Congressional Progressive Caucus, which organized the hearing.  read more »

Army not expected to ease policy before fall 2009

By Michelle Tan, Army Times

Last year’s surge of five combat brigades into Iraq helped drive a 43 percent increase in soldiers being barred from leaving the service under stop-loss orders, and Army leaders predict the policy will remain in place at least through next year. However, they expressed optimism that the numbers will ebb as surge forces redeploy.  read more »

Top Army Leaders forced to take action after YouTube video from Fort Bragg Soldier's Father causes nationwide outcry over poor barracks conditions

By Matthew Cox - Army Times

The Army has cut $248 million from other programs to make immediate fixes to barracks at eight installations across the country.

The move follows an Armywide barracks inspection ordered after the father of an 82nd Airborne Division soldier posted a video on YouTube that showed peeling paint, mold and a bathroom drain plugged with what appeared to be sewage in the barracks that paratroopers from the Fort Bragg, N.C., unit were housed in after returning from a 15-month deployment to Afghanistan.  read more »

Saturday, May 31st from Noon to 4:15pm
Town Hall, 1119 8th Ave in Seattle's First Hill Neighborhood
Intersection of 8th Ave & Seneca St
Click here for directions: http://www.townhallseattle.org/directionsAndParking.cfm
Tickets are $5 at the door

In 1971 Vets from the Vietnam War, organized by Vietnam Veterans Against the War, came together to provide testimony about the horrific events that occurred during the War. Many spoke about the killing innocent civilians, rape, and torture that they had witnessed and taken part in.  read more »

PLEASE FORWARD WIDELY

Dockworkers Union to Shut Down Ports on May 1st!
NO PEACE, NO WORK!
BRING THE TROOPS HOME NOW!

In recognition of this bold stand by the International Longshore & Warehouse Union (ILWU), Peace Action Coalition Tacoma (PACT) proposes a MAYDAY Solidarity Demonstration…

Thursday, May 1st
5-7 PM

PACT proposes a DEMONSTRATION for the rights of ALL workers, and against another dumb bosses’ war on Pacific Ave. over Interstate 5. The demonstration will be followed by a short march to the Federal Courthouse where a vigil will be held.

More details to follow.... Contact pactacoma@yahoo.com for more information.

(Tacoma-Olympia calendar and background below)

Tacoma-Olympia Mayday Calendar:  read more »

By William E. Odom, lieutenant general, USA (retired)

Wednesday 02 April 2008

Testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Iraq.

Good morning Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. It is an honor to appear before you again. The last occasion was in January 2007, when the topic was the troop surge. Today you are asking if it has worked. Last year I rejected the claim that it was a new strategy. Rather, I said, it is a new tactic used to achieve the same old strategic aim, political stability. And I foresaw no serious prospects for success.

I see no reason to change my judgment now. The surge is prolonging instability, not creating the conditions for unity as the president claims.  read more »

By THOM SHANKER, New York Times

WASHINGTON — Army leaders are expressing increased alarm about the mental health of soldiers who would be sent back to the front again and again under plans that call for troop numbers to be sustained at high levels in Iraq for this year and beyond.

Among combat troops sent to Iraq for the third or fourth time, more than one in four show signs of anxiety, depression or acute stress, according to an official Army survey of soldiers’ mental health.  read more »

Vittorio Hernandez - AHN News Writer

Washington, DC (AHN) - The large number of troops needed to fight America's war in Iraq and Afghanistan is leading to a requirement ease in the recruitment of Army soldiers. Proof of this is the rise in number of active and reserve soldiers with past criminal or misdemeanor charges, who were still accepted on the strength of conduct waivers.

In 2004, 4.6 percent of the Army recruits had a criminal or misdemeanor past. By 2007, recruits who had to secure waivers went up to 11 percent. while latest figures show the rate had gone up further to 13 percent.  read more »

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Dozens of U.S. troops in Iraq fell sick at bases using "unmonitored and potentially unsafe" water supplied by the military and a contractor once owned by Vice President Dick Cheney's former company, the Pentagon's internal watchdog says.

North Dakota Sen. Byron Dorgan has led Democratic inquiries into contracting abuses in Iraq.

A report obtained by The Associated Press said soldiers experienced skin abscesses, cellulitis, skin infections, diarrhea and other illnesses after using discolored, smelly water for personal hygiene and laundry at five U.S. military sites in Iraq.  read more »