I need links on the problems of service men and women in Iraq.

[yardwork]

I have been talking with some conservatives on another site, and I find that the issue that resounds most with them are my statements that the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are not receiving appropriate supplies and equipment. I mentioned the high suicide rates and the intentions of many to leave the military as soon as they can. I mentioned the problems with Halliburton and other private vendors not being able to provide safety equipment, so that parents of service people are buying the equipment themselves.

Some of them are demanding proof, links, sources of information. Can you help me? If you can provide me with the best links to these sources of information, I'll create a file of my own to send and give to other conservatives I know.

I think that this issue may be something that we need to discuss and put more emphasis on during the election. A lot of conservatives are pro-military, and they will be angry if they see the truth about how men and women in the service are being treated now.

Thank you!

[Melinda]

1. SoCalDem can give you everything you need, but here's one:

-snip-

“It is an outrage that servicemembers, deployed in the Global War on Terrorism, do not receive adequate personal hygiene products and drinking water,” the letter said. “Servicemembers have told us they lack personal items like razors, shaving cream, toothpaste, etc. Congress needs to provide these items to America’s soldiers and not rely on families to continually send their loved ones these necessities.”

Brown sent the letter, which includes the signatures of 32 other representatives, all Democrats, “to emphasize the importance of supplying the troops with all they need,” Dahlia Melendrez, a veteran’s affairs staff member for Brown, said in a Thursday interview.

Melendrez said that the letter was based on “lots of newspaper articles” about reported shortages and letters that Brown has received from her constituents.

Many members of Congress have expressed anger over Defense Department estimates that more than 40,000 troops, most notably Reserve and National Guard combat support units, were not outfitted with the new “Interceptor” body armor before deploying to Iraq.



http://www.stripesonline.com/article.asp?section=104&article=17731&archive=true

[Melinda]

2. Here's another:

“I went to the BX … and I waited for two hours in line. When I got in, there was not much left. Again no shampoo. In fact, there wasn’t much of anything, not worth the wait.” –SRA Brook Glynn in an email to her mother March 18, 2003

Patrick has been receiving regular correspondence from her daughter outlining shortages on a base that even the Air Force describes as having “sparse facilities” in peacetime. No aspirin. No soap. Now, with thousands of additional troops coming through “The Rock” (or Camp Doho, as the area is also referred to), about the only thing not shown on television is the frustration the troops are feeling with the shortages of supplies – sentiments emailed to families across the nation.

In addition to basic supplies, Patrick sent an email to friends asking for help sending boxes containing pop-top cans of chicken, socks, paperbacks and other provisions for the troops, including rat traps. “Brook shares a tent with several other women, and rats enter during the night,” Patrick explained. “One soldier woke screaming with a rat on her face.”

Conditions in the Gulf region, where temperatures will soon go over 130 degrees and sandstorms are common, make the deployment difficult during the best of times; waiting for a chemical bomb in extra layers of charcoal-lined clothing make it unbearable. Lining up for showers, and not having soap or toothpaste adds to the misery. Patrick and Senior Airman Glynn have worked out a distribution channel for packages from the general public who want to help. Nine “first shirt” commanding officers (responsible for troop conditions) will accept the donations. The questions remained – where would the supplies come from and who would ship them? Even priority mail takes about two weeks before delivery and, for security reasons, the packages would need to be pre-inspected.

-snip-

Articles asked for include deodorant, paperbacks (no romance or flesh exposure on cover), soap, aspirin, over-the-counter “relief” drugs such as anti-diarrhea medicine, cotton socks and underwear, puzzles, booklights (soldiers share tight quarters), personal fans, batteries, etc. Cards and messages of support are welcome and will be distributed to individual soldiers, as will letters offering to “sponsor” a soldier by people willing to continue shipping on their own to an individual or troop.

-snip-

Wrote Glynn to her mother: “I can’t tell you what the packages mean to me, Mom. I’m lucky I have family who can afford to help me.” The Salvation Army is asking for the community to help those not so fortunate.


http://www.salvos.com/madison_eds/pr01.htm

[Melinda]

3. And one more - this one is horrifying:

March 26, 2004

Report acknowledges shortfalls in addressing troop morale, stress

By Robert Burns
Associated Press


The Army’s first-ever survey of mental health in a combat zone showed that soldiers in Iraq last year suffered from low morale, high stress and holes in the Army’s support system.
In releasing survey’s results Thursday, the Army also said its mental health specialists in Iraq were constrained in helping distressed soldiers because of shortages of anti-depressant and sleeping drugs, inadequate training in combat stress control and ill-defined standards of care.

Among the survey’s findings:

• Fifty-two percent of soldiers said their personal morale was low or very low, and 72 percent said their unit’s morale was low or very low. The cohesiveness of units also was described as low. These are inexact measures of mental health, but senior Army officials told reporters that morale is one factor among many in the pattern of soldier suicides in Iraq.

“It was a pretty miserable set of circumstances” facing soldiers there last summer, said Col. Virgil J. Patterson III, a social work officer who headed a 12-member team of psychologists and other mental health professionals who spent several weeks in Iraq and Kuwait last August through October.

• Seventeen percent of soldiers were assessed to be suffering traumatic stress, depression or anxiety and were deemed to be “functionally impaired.” Of that group, about three-quarters said they had received no help at any time in Iraq from a mental health professional, a doctor or a chaplain.

EDITED BY ADMIN: COPYRIGHT

http://www.armytimes.com/story.php?f=1-292925-2768174.php

[yardwork]

4. Thank you very much!

These are excellent! I will use them, with your permission.

[Moderator]

6. Melinda

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
news source.


Thank you.

DU Moderator

[Hekate]

5. Here's a bunch

These are a mish-mash (and very long) because I was copying and pasting for you from my many files and don't have time to clean it all up. Some came from DU, but most have come from my friends in the Vets for Peace. Try visiting any of the veterans' websites, too. I think most of the links still work, and you can go straight to one of the Paul Krugman websites (http://www.pkarchive.org/) for the full text of his essays.

Hekate

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/columns/shoptalk_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000442221
Suicides Among Soldiers Who Served in Iraq

Go to this site for updated info on US casualties (both injuries and deaths)
http://lunaville.org/warcasualties/Summary.aspx

To this site for civilian deaths:
http://www.iraqbodycount.net

And an article from The Observer in the UK
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1041722,00.html
America's hidden battlefield toll:
New figures reveal the true number of GIs wounded in Iraq
Jason Burke in London and Paul Harris in New York
Sunday September 14, 2003
The Observer
The true scale of American casualties in Iraq is revealed today by new
figures obtained by The Observer, which show that more than
6,000American servicemen have been evacuated for medical reasons since
the beginning of the war, including more than 1,500 American soldiers
who have been wounded, many seriously.

http://www.goletavalleyvoice.com/cgi-bin/viewpoint/readarticle.cgi?article=509

What price privatization?
In the Aug. 12 New York Times, economist Paul Krugman wrote:
"There's also another element in the Iraq logistical snafu: privatization. The U.S. military has shifted many tasks traditionally performed by soldiers into the hands of such private contractors as Kellogg Brown & Root, the Halliburton subsidiary. The Iraq war and its aftermath gave this privatized system its first major test in combat — and the system failed."


(Wounded billed for hospital food)
http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0309/19/ldt.00.html
LOU DOBBS TONIGHT
Aired September 19, 2003 - 18:00 ET
LOU DOBBS, CNN ANCHOR: It's still a war, but is the Pentagon looking after its own? Lisa Sylvester reports on the wounded service men and women who are asked to pay for their own food while recovering in U.S. military hospitals.

DU 1-2004 Betrayed Vets Links
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=979780

Bush supports eliminating danger-pay raises (i.e. halving current combat benefits):
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/135143_troops15.html
http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0803/14paycut.html


http://www.upi.com/index.cfm
http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20031017-024617-1418r
> Sick, wounded U.S. troops held in squalor
>
> By Mark Benjamin
> UPI Investigations Editor
> Published 10/17/2003 3:36 PM
> FORT STEWART, Ga., Oct. 17 (UPI) -- Hundreds of sick and wounded U.S.
> soldiers including many who served in the Iraq
> war are languishing in hot cement barracks here while they wait --
> sometimes for months -- to see doctors.
>
> The National Guard and Army Reserve soldiers' living conditions
> are so substandard, and the medical care so poor, that
> many of them believe the Army is trying push them out with reduced
> benefits for their ailments. One document shown to UPI
> states that no more doctor appointments are available from Oct. 14
> through Nov. 11 -- Veterans Day.


http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/dec2003/suic-d05_prn.shtml
World Socialist Web Site www.wsws.org
WSWS : News & Analysis : Middle East : Iraq
> Alarming rise in suicides among US troops in Iraq
> By Jeff Riley
> 5 December 2003
> One grim indicator of t he sinking morale of US occupation forces in
> Iraq is the alarming number of suicides among American soldiers.
>
> The deaths of at least 17 US troops in Iraq—15 Army personnel and two
> Marines—have been confirmed as suicides over the past seven months,
> according to a recent Associated Press review of Army casualty
> reports. Nearly all of the suicides have occurred since May 1, when
> the Bush administration declared an end to major combat operations.
>
> This number represents more than 10 percent of non-combat deaths
> there. According to one estimate, US troops in Iraq are committing
> suicide at three times the usual rate. Dozens of other deaths are
> currently under investigation, and the real number of suicides could
> be significantly higher. Over 500 soldiers have recently been
> evacuated from Iraq for mental health reasons. The Army has sent a
> team of mental health specialists to Iraq to assess what is perceived
> as a growing problem of both depression and suicide.

http://www.wgcltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1469146
Senate passes a bill in October 2003 for health benefits for reservists.
http://www.boston.com/yourlife/health/diseases/articles/2003/12/13/army_facing_medical_crisis/


Go to Veterans for Kerry, Max Cleland heads it, or call Kerry's office. They have all the hard stats you need on veterans and combat issues.


PVA’s Fox Denounces House Budget Committee’s Funding Cuts in Veterans’ Benefits and Services
http://www.pva.org/NEWPVASITE/newsroom/PR2003/pr03018.htm

Republicans Seek To Slash VA Budget
With our military poised to attack Iraq, the Republican Party is poised to devastate the budget of American veterans
http://www.vaiw.org/vet/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=59

Veterans Battle Budget Cuts
http://www.legion.org/pub_relations/2003_releases/pr_nr_031703_budgetcuts.htm
As thousands of sailors and Marines are sent abroad for a possible war with Iraq, the Bush administration is proposing to cut
education funding for many children of military families
http://signonsandiego.com/news/education/20030216-9999_1m16fedcuts


Veterans For Justice names a new holiday in honor of the Republican-led U.S. Government … "Veterans Betrayal Day"
(2/12/03)
http://www.vetsforjustice.com/VeteransBetrayalDay.htm

Court Overturns Ruling on Vets' Free Lifetime Health Care
http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/11/19/retired.veterans.hearing/index.html

Bush Threatens Veto of Concurrent Receipt Even As He Prepares to Send Military into Preemptive War (11/02/02)
http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=10856&archive=true

American Legion: Billions For Baghdad, Nothing For Veterans (10/31/02)
http://www.usnewswire.com/topnews/prime/1031-102.html

American Legion is the Latest Victim of GOP Campaign Tricks
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/10/20/politics/20VETS.html

As Bush Seeks to Create New Generation of Disabled Vets, He Withdraws Desperately Needed Aid from Past Veterans (9/16/02)
http://www.msnbc.com/news/809143.asp

Bush’s War Against Military Veterans:
Bush Refuses to Allow the VA to Inform Vets and their Families of Benefits They Have Honestly Earned (9/02)
http://www.interventionmag.com/cms/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=141

Don't Tell, Maybe They Won't Ask
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/20/opinion/20KRUG.html

Bush Breaks Promise to Veterans
http://www.legion.org/pub_relations/2002_releases/pr_nr_081402_healthfunds.htm

Paralyzed Veterans of America are Upset by 'Wholly Inadequate' Funding for Sick and Disabled Vets (7/12/01)
http://www.pva.org/NEWPVASITE/newsroom/PR2001/pr0173.htm

Disabled Veterans Enraged over Bush Stonewalling on Provision to Aid Disabled Military Retirees
http://www.military.com/MilitaryReport/?file=MR_DAV_Denounces

Rotten food
http://www.organicconsumers.org/corp/halliburton121903.cfm
Halliburton Serves Up "Dirty, Rotten" Food to U.S. Soldiers in Iraq

Water rations
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/special_packages/iraq/6218852.htm
Responding to congressional concerns about water and food rations, Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard B. Myers recently acknowledged in a letter that "some problems exist," particularly in remote spots far from supply depots.
But he assured U.S. Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri that most troops are well supplied with drinking water -- even if it may be the locally "purified" variety that tastes funny.


Mandatory extensions of tours of duty
Source: Washington Post, 9-9-03
Title: "Reserve Tours Are Extended"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A45553-2003Sep8?language=printer

http://www.pkarchive.org/column/column.html
Paul Krugman
Thanks for the M.R.E.'s

SYNOPSIS: Through penny pinching and crony capitalism, the Bush administration is failing our troops in Iraq and making them endure terrible conditions. Krugman provides some of the sources for this article here A few days ago I talked to a soldier just back from Iraq. He'd been in a relatively calm area; his main complaint was about food. Four months after the fall of Baghdad, his unit was still eating the dreaded M.R.E.'s: meals ready to eat. When Italian troops moved into the area, their food was "way more realistic" — and American troops were soon trading whatever they could for some of that Italian food.
Other stories are far worse. Letters published in Stars and Stripes and e-mail published on the Web site of Col. David Hackworth (a decorated veteran and Pentagon critic) describe shortages of water. One writer reported that in his unit, "each soldier is limited to two 1.5-liter bottles a day," and that inadequate water rations were leading to "heat casualties." An American soldier died of heat stroke on Saturday; are poor supply and living conditions one reason why U.S. troops in Iraq are suffering such a high rate of noncombat deaths?
The U.S. military has always had superb logistics. What happened? The answer is a mix of penny-pinching and privatization — which makes our soldiers' discomfort a symptom of something more general.
Colonel Hackworth blames "dilettantes in the Pentagon" who "thought they could run a war and an occupation on the cheap."

And finally, the ultimate cost of war on display here:
ARLINGTON WEST, SANTA BARBARA CALIF.
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/Default.htm
click on the large photo of AW to go here and scroll down:
http://www.veteransforpeace.org/Arlington_west_121003.htm