UnCommon Sense TV - “Paul Rieckhoff, IAVA: ‘Chasing Ghosts’ “ Iraq war veteran and the founder & executive director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America talks about his book “Chasing Ghosts”, which details his experiences in Iraq. Rieckhoff also elaborates on the needs and concerns of our military veterans and how they are being overlooked. This includes both how our nation apportions social and economic support for them, as well as how current political debate on Iraq policy is sorely missing the inclusion of more voices of experience from those who have actually served on the ground there.
Joining the discussion is Paul Hackett, fellow Iraq war veteran and former candidate for U.S. Congress, who weighs in with his own observations and commentary regarding the politics of the Iraq war.

On April 4, 2004 Tomas Young was shot and paralyzed in Iraq in an unarmored Humvee. He came home to become an outspoken anti-war activist, transforming his anger at the Bush administration into action. Tomas’ fight to bring the troops home is deeply personal. His brother Nathan is currently in Iraq, having been stop-lossed (he served the required time of his contract and was then re-deployed). For Tomas, who cannot walk and who struggles daily with basic bodily functions, protesting the war has given his life purpose. Our film, “Body of War”, has been described as a searingly honest portrait of his journey, both personal and political. Tomas has roused people from their complacency and spurred many to follow in his activist footsteps.

Tomas is a bright light in a dark time.

On May 23 last month Tomas Young suffered a pulmonary embolism in the middle of the night and was found in his home the next day– in a coma. He has been struggling to get better ever since, and is still able to infuse humor into the scariest and darkest moments.

When Tomas emerged from the coma, he asked to see a doctor. He took a long pause and muttered “Dr. Cornell West or Dr. Dre, please.” Then he slipped off to sleep again.

Tomas served as Executive Producer the film’s companion album, “Body of War: Songs That Inspired an Iraq War Veteran”, featuring 23 songs chosen by Tomas, including songs by Eddie Vedder, Ben Harper, Tom Morello, Michael Franti, Bright Eyes, Lupe Fiasco, Tori Amos, Public Enemy and Serj Tankian. Tomas designated the Iraq Veterans Against the War to receive the profits from this album.

Tomas and his family have been on a medical rollercoaster ride, in an out of the I.C.U., with rapid improvements followed by sudden set-backs. Tomas began to improve and was talking and cracking more jokes when he was struck with an infection that left him back in an unresponsive state in intensive care. When he emerged yet again, he struggled to identify the people in the room. His mom started playing his i-pod and Tomas began to sing. Tomas could barely speak, and his short-term memory was out-of-whack, but he could sing! Hooked up to oxygen, heart monitors and an IV, Tomas sang all the lyrics to Franti’s “Light up Ya Lighter” and Vedder’s “No More”. He also conjured up some Rod Stewart singing “if you like my body and you think I’m sexy, come on baby let me know

While Tomas was in intensive care getting his musical memory back and making nurses laugh their heads off, dozens of Kansas City activists held an anti-war protest in his honor. One protester held a sign that read “We Cherish Tomas Young, a true patriot. Our thoughts are with you. George W. Bush, a mass murderer, we are thinking about you, too!”

When Body of War screened in Los Angeles, Ron Kovic, the Vietnam veteran whose life was the basis for the movie Born on the Fourth of July, stood before the crowd and said

“It was Martin Luther King who once said ‘a time comes when silence is betrayal.’ A time comes when silence is betrayal…We’re not going to be silent anymore in this country. Because of heroic people like Tomas Young. Tomas Young is a hero. Give Tomas your support, give him your love. Give your love and support to every young man and woman who comes home from this war. We support our troops, but we want our troops home now! Bring the troops home now. Keep fighting for peace. Tomas Young is my hero.”

Tomas Young is OUR hero, too.

To help Tomas in his healing process, go to b>www.bodyofwar.com, click on Take Action and do something in honor of Tomas to bring the troops home, including Tomas’ younger brother Nathan.

Please write to Tomas and tell him what you did in his honor :
St. Luke’s Hospital, 4401 Wornall, Kansas City, MO 64111

With hope and optimism,
Ellen Spiro and Phil Donahue

One of the better missives from a veteran on the current corrupting policies of the whole misbegotten venture in Iraq, and for pursuing a different course for our society.

My respect for the military convinces me that the lives and well-being of our young men and women are not automatically forfeit upon enlistment, relegating them to the status of cannon fodder. Sending inadequately prepared National Guard troops into combat and then failing to provide them with body and vehicle armor is unconscionable and criminally negligent. Repeated combat tours and insufficient time for rest and rehabilitation between deployments increase the likelihood and inevitability of psychological, emotional and moral injury that is devastating and life-altering. Finally, the “stop-loss” provision that prevents our servicemen and women from leaving the military once their term of service has been completed is disingenuous and a violation of contract. I am pro military. I support the troops.

It is apparent that the burden of this war is not being shared fairly by all Americans. Only a fraction of our citizenry is directly affected, while the vast majority go about their consumption-driven lives as usual, oblivious to the sacrifices of our soldiers, sailors and Marines and to the death and destruction being prosecuted in their names. It is not support, therefore, nor is it patriotic, to remain silent when our troops are placed in harm’s way unnecessarily, to kill and be killed subject to the whims and ineptitudes of our political leaders.”

War is over (If you want it).

Read The Full Essay

The comments by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace regarding the ‘immorality’ of being gay proves to me that only a nut-job like Rumsfeld would have promoted a nut-job like Pace to CJCS. He’s the worst CJCS I can ever remember. An ideological nut-job, a bigot, and a gutless yes-man who has spent his entire career kissing up to those in power. He is not an impressive, independent-minded Marine general like Newbold or Zinni. As a graduate of the US Naval Academy, I’m ashamed to admit that he went to the same college as me.

Here former Republican Senator Alan Simpson makes some good points regarding the sad absurdity of this situation in an op-ed in The Washington Post.

- Posted by A.V., USNA Graduate, for USTV Media

Paul Rieckoff of IAVA lays out this piece of why if you really want to ’support the troops’, you need to support the Geneva Conventions and America’s adherence to them.

In 2002, I attended the Infantry Officer Basic Course at Fort Benning, Ga. At “the Schoolhouse,” every new Army infantry officer spent six months studying the basics of his craft, including the rules of war.

I remember a seasoned senior officer explaining the importance of the Geneva Conventions. He said, “When an enemy fighter knows he’ll be treated well by United States forces if he is captured, he is more likely to give up.”

A year later on the streets of Baghdad, I saw countless insurgents surrender when faced with the prospect of a hot meal, a pack of cigarettes and air-conditioning. America’s moral integrity was the single most important weapon my platoon had on the streets of Iraq. It saved innumerable lives, encouraged cooperation with our allies and deterred Iraqis from joining the growing insurgency.

But those days are over. America’s moral standing has eroded, thanks to its flawed rationale for war and scandals like Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo and Haditha. The last thing we can afford now is to leave Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions open to reinterpretation, as President Bush proposed to do and can still do under the compromise bill that emerged last week.

Read The Complete Post from Paul Rieckhoff

The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, a strictly non-partisan organization, recently did a survey of members of Congress in order to better ‘grade’ their records of support for our soldiers in the field and veterans of our nation’s conflicts. The results are interesting, and display a distinctly partisan divide.

Read The IAVA Report

Here is a list of Senators in order of rankings based on the IAVA study. Very interesting, and quite striking in the discrepancies it reveals in regards to political party support for our nation’s armed forces and it’s veterans. Guess yellow car magnets don’t count towards the IAVA rankings.

And if you are looking for some more commentary in regards to this study, you can read some of the postings on the subject to The Daily Kos Here

One of the toughest, saddest, yet most courageous stories I’ve read about the true cost of the debacle in Iraq.

“In the four months since the death of my son, Sgt. Matthew J. Fenton, from injuries suffered in Iraq, I have stated many times the horror of what I saw in the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland.” says John Fenton, “I believe that the time has arrived to tell the whole story of his death and the carnage that was inflicted on some of his fellow Marines. I do not find this easy to do, but as the death toll and injured number continues to climb, I cannot sit silently.”

Read The Full Essay

Just the tip of the iceberg on the total casualties being racked up by this illegal and ill-conceived war.

There is something massively wrong with Herbert Reed, though no one is sure what it is. He believes he knows the cause, but he cannot convince anyone caring for him that the military’s new favorite weapon has made him terrifyingly sick. Reed believes depleted uranium has contaminated him and his life. He now walks point in a vitriolic war over the Pentagon’s arsenal of it - thousands of shells and hundreds of tanks coated with the metal that is radioactive, chemically toxic, and nearly twice as dense as lead.

Read The Full Article Here

Forgotten Sacrifice
By F. John Duresky
The Washington Post
July 5th, 2006

A few days ago, as I do every day in Iraq, I listened to the commander’s battle update. The briefer calmly and professionally described the day’s events. Somewhere in Iraq, on some forgotten, dusty road, an insurgent fighting an occupying army detonated an improvised explosive device (IED) under a Humvee, killing an American soldier. The briefer fielded a question from the general and moved to the next item in the update.

The day before that, in America, a 15-year-old’s incredibly rich parents planned the biggest sweet 16 party ever. They will spend more than $200,000 on an opulent event marking a single year in an otherwise unremarkable life. The soon-to-be-16 girl doesn’t know where Iraq is and doesn’t care. That same day an American soldier died in Iraq.

Two days earlier, a 35-year-old man went shopping for home entertainment equipment. He had the toughest time selecting the correct plasma screen; he could afford the biggest and best of everything. In the end, he had it installed by a specialty store. He spent about $50,000 on the whole system. He has never met anybody serving in the military nor served himself, but thinks we should “turn the whole place into a parking lot.” That day, another American soldier died in Iraq.

Three days earlier, some college students had a great kegger. There were tons of babes at the party, the music was awesome. Everybody got totally blitzed, and many missed class the next day. The young men all registered for the draft when they were 18, but even though our nation is at war, they aren’t the least bit worried about the draft. It is politically impossible to conscript young people today, we are told. That day, another American “volunteer” died in Iraq.

Four days earlier, a harried housewife looked all over town for the perfect accessory for her daughter’s upcoming recital. Her numerous chores wore her out, but she still found herself preoccupied. Her oldest son is having trouble in his first year of college, and he has been talking of enlisting in the Army. She is terrified that her child will go off to that horrible war she sees on TV. She and her husband decide to give their son more money so he doesn’t have to work part-time; maybe that will help with his studies. That day, another soldier died.

Yesterday millions of Americans celebrated Independence Day. They attended parties and barbecues. Families came together from all across the country to celebrate the big day. Millions of dollars were spent on fireworks. At public events, there were speeches honoring the people who served and those who made the ultimate sacrifice. These words mostly fell on bored ears. While the country celebrated its own greatness, other Americans were still fighting in Iraq.

Today Americans go back to their normal business. The politicians in Washington have made sure the sacrifices of the war are borne by the very smallest percentage of Americans. They won’t even change the tax rates to prevent deficits from running out of control. Future generations will pay the cost of this war.

Many Americans feel strongly about the war one way or another, but they aren’t signing up their children for service or taking the protest to the streets. What can they do? It is they whom we in the military trust to influence our leaders in Washington.

Today, as on every other day in Iraq, American servicemen are in very real danger. Our country is at war. Mothers, fathers, wives, husbands and children are worrying about their loved ones in a faraway land. They all hope he or she isn’t the one whose luck runs out today.

The writer is an Air Force captain stationed in Iraq.

Robert Scheer writes: “The administration used Pat,” Mary Tillman told me in a phone interview on Monday from San Jose. “They tried to attach themselves to his virtue and then they wiped their feet with him.” Over the past two years, she has been fed so many lies by this administration that she now confidently accuses it of something much more sinister than simple incompetence.

Read The Article