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Friday,
October 19, 2012. Chaos and violence continue, 4 British families get
good news, Senator Patty Murray wants to know when an announced review
into diagnoses changes is going to start since it still hasn't, State of
Law launches more attacks on Barzani, new details about the attack on
the US Consulate in Benghazi emerge, and more.
Starting
with veterans, in the US veterans have struggled with many issues they
shouldn't have to. Some struggles may truly be a surprise. Many
struggles aren't. Many struggles are a sign that proper planning was
not done when the government sent people off to war. This is a point US
House Rep Bob Filner very skillfully made September 30, 2010:
Chair
Bob Filner: It struck me as I looked at a lot of the facts and data
that we-we see across our desks that, as a Congress, as a nation, we
really do not know the true costs of the wars we are fighting in Iraq
and Afghanistan. [. . .] We all look at the data that comes from these
wars. It struck me one day that the official data for, for example, the
wounded was around 45,000 for both wars. And yet we know that six or
seven hundred thousand of our veterans of these wars -- of which there
are over a million already -- have either filed claims for disability or
sought health care from the VA for injuries suffered at war -- 45,000
versus 800,000? This is not a rounding error. I think this is a
deliberate attempt to mask what is going on in terms of the actual
casualty figures. We know that there is a denial of PTSD -- Post
Traumatic Stress Disorder. It's a 'weakness' among Marines and soldiers
to admit mental illness so we don't even have those figures until
maybe it's too late. We all know that women are participating in this
war at a degree never before seen in our nation's history and, yet, by
whatever estimate you look, whether it's half or two-thirds have
suffered sexual trauma. The true cost of war? We know that over 25,000
of our soldiers who were originally diagnosed with PTSD got their
diagnosis changed or their diagnosis was changed as they were -- had to
leave the armed forces, changed to "personality disorder." And not only
does that diagnosis beg the question of why we took people in with the
personality disorder, it means that there's a pre-existing condition and
we don't have to take care of them as a nation. Cost of war? There
have been months in these wars where the suicides of active duty have
exceeded the deaths in action. Why is that? When our veterans come home
from this war, we say we support troops, we support troops, we
support troops? 30% unemployment rate for returning Iraqi and
Afghanistan veterans. That's three times an already horrendous rate in
our nation. Guardsman find difficulty getting employment because they
may be deployed. Now a democracy has to go to war sometimes. But people
have to know in a democracy what is the cost. They have to be informed
of the true -- of the true nature -- not only in terms of the human
cost, the material cost, but the hidden cost that we don't know until
after the fact or don't recognize. We know -- Why is it that we don't
have the mental health care resources for those coming back? Is it
because we failed to understand the cost of serving our military
veterans is a fundamental cost of the war? Is it because we sent these
men and women into harms way without accounting for and providing the
resources necessary for their care if they're injured or wounded or
killed? Every vote that Congress has taken for the wars in Iraq and
Afghanistan has failed to take into account the actual cost of these
wars by ignoring what we will require to meet the needs of our men and
women in uniform who have been sent into harms way. This failure means
that soldiers who are sent to war on behalf of their nation do not know
if their nation will be there for them tomorrow.
That
pretty much says everything about the planning and the funding and how
both were lacking. Bob Filner was Chair of the House Veterans Affairs
Comittee at that time and credit to him and US House Reps Harry Teague,
Ciro Rodriguez, Jerry McNerney, Walter Jones, George Miller and Jim
Moran who all attended that hearing while almost everyone in the House
had already bolted and gone back to their districts to focus on their
re-election races. Bob Filner did a great job serving veterans as a
member of Congress. He's decided not to seek re-election to Congress
and instead is running for Mayor of San Diego.
He
will be missed in Congress. Veterans are fortunate to have other
champions in Congress. One of those is Senator Patty Murray whose
office issued the following yesterday:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Contact: Murray Press Office
(202) 224-2834
Sen. Murray Calls on Secretary Panetta to Provide Timeline for Promised Military Review of PTSD and Behavioral Health Diagnoses
In
the aftermath of the misdiagnoses of servicemembers in Washington
state, Murray calls on the Pentagon to move forward with nationwide
review of mental health diagnoses since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
began
Letter
also calls for information on efforts to collect missing unit military
records that could prove critical if certain health care problems arise
from service in Iraq or Afghanistan
(Washington
D.C.) -- Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray, Chairman of the Senate
Veterans' Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Defense Secretary Leon
Panetta requesting next steps and a timeline for the execution of a
critical military-wide review of PTSD and behavioral health diagnoses
made since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began. The review, which
Secretary Panetta promised following the misdiagnoses of severvicemembers at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state, has seemingly stalled since being announced on June 13th.
"The
Department must act with a sense of urgency in order to complete this
review and to act on its findings in coordinating with other ongoing
efforts to improve the disability evaluation system." Murray wrote to
Panetta. "Each of these efforts is vital in ensuring servicemembers
truly have a transparent, consistent, and expeditious disability
evaluation process."
"Senator
Murray's letter also addressed her concerns that records for military
units in Iraq and Afghanistan, which are often used to provide
information on potential health and exposure issues be carefully
identified, located, and collected.
The full text of Senator Murray's letter follows:
October 18, 2012
The Honorable Leon E. Panetta
Secretary of Defense
1000 Defense Pentagon
Washington, DC 20301
Dear Secretary Panetta:
I
am writing to express my concern about two distinct issues, which taken
together impact the disability evaluation process for servicemembers
and veterans.
At
the outset, I very much appreciate your ongoing efforts to address
behavioral health diagnoses and care both within the Integrated
Disability Evaluation System and throughout the Department at large. In
June, as part of this ongoing effort, you announced a comprehensive
Department-wide review of mental health diagnoses. Shortly after the
announcement, I had the opportunity to meet with Under Secretary Conaton
to discuss some of the initial steps the Department had taken in
preparation for this review. However, it appears that progress on this
effort may have stalled. I am writing today to request the Department's
next steps and timeline for execution of this review.
The
Department must act with a sense of urgency in order to complete this
review and to act on its findings in coordinating with other ongoing
efforts to improve the disability evaluation system. Each of these
efforts is vital in ensuring servicemembers truly have a transparent,
consistent, adn expeditious disability evaluation process.
My
second concern relates to the ability of the Department, and
specifically the Army, to identify and account for many records for
units that served in Iraq and Afghanistan. The lack of access to
documentation of the locations and fucntions of specific military units
interferes with the ability of both servicemembers and veterans to
obtain evidence of military service that may result in adverse health
conditions now or in the future. As we have learned from prior
conflicts, this lack of documentation all too often leads to hardship
for veterans in establishing a relationship between miltiary service and
a specific medical condition.
The
lack of accessible documents may also impede future research efforts if
health care problems arise from service in Iraq or Afghanistan. For
these reasons, I would like to know the current status of efforts to
identify, locate and collect records for units that served in Iraq and
Afghanistan. I also urge you to take all necessary steps to ensure unit
records are properly archived and accessible.
I
appreciate your attention to these requests and look forward to our
continued work together to strengthen both the disability evaluation
system and behavioral health diagnoses and care and to ensure our
servicemembers and veterans have access to critical military documents.
Sincerely,
Patt Murray
Chairman
###
To
tie the two together -- because this is really not new -- Bob Filner
was speaking of a policy to change a diganoses from PTSD to "personality
disorder" because someone was deciding the government shouldn't pay
what the government owed. Someone was deciding that the role of
government was to get over on veterans, not to deliver to veterans what
had been promised.
There
is no excuse for diagnoses to have ever been changed. There's even
less excuse for refusing to start the promised review of changed
diagnoses. To be clear, there's even less excuse for Leon Panetta to
avoid starting the promised review. Leon is Secretary of Defense. I
like him, I've known him for years -- since he was in Congress. I like
Leon. But that doesn't change the fact that as Secretary of Defense it
reflects poorly on him that the review has not started. It doesn't
change the fact that he needs to do his job. I didn't care for Robert
Gates and was appalled to see the press fawn over him (in the months
long farewell tour coverage as well as in that awful farewell press
conference that immediately went off the record so the press could hug
him and get their photos taken with him -- as someone in the
entertainment industry, I'm used to excited fans, but this was a press
acting like teeny boppers mooning over some heart throb of the
moment). The fact that I like Leon doesn't mean that I don't think he
should be evaluated when he leaves office. There are not two standards
here. Gates should have been evaluated on key issues (instead, he was
only evaluated on granting press access) such as military suicides and
military sexual assaults. Those were two key problems in the military
and he should have been evaluated on how he addressed those (and other
key problems). Leon should be judged by those and also by issues like
this scandal and the failure to launch a review in a timely manner.
Leon Panetta needs to provide an answer to Senator Murray -- more than
that, he needs to launch the promised review.
The Paterson Press notes
another need, in Paterson, New Jersey, the Paterson Veterans Council
wants to inscribe the names of three local Iraq War veterans who died
while serving in Iraq on the Veterans Memorial Park monument. The three
fallen are Spc Gil Mercado, Spc Farid Elazzouzi and Sgt Christian
Bueno-Galdos. The Paterson Veterans Council is staging a beefsteak
dinner November 5th as a fundraiser: "Donations to the Nov. 5 beefsteak are tax-deductible and can be made to the Paterson Veterans Council, 296 Maitland Ave., Paterson, NJ 07502. For information, call Tony Vancheri at 973-303-3523."
Sue
Smith: This is a case of an employer owing his staff the right duty of
care. Take away the uniform and everything else and it's simply a man
or a woman doing their job and they should be respected for doing that
job the same as anybody else. [. . .] I think it's despicable. They
knew the vehicles were no good but it's also this dismissive attitude of
it doesn't matter, they're like action men, if we break them, we can
throw them in a junk pile and nobody can do anything about it. And if
they're really badly broken, they can be buried. Well, it doesn't work
like that.
Nick
Childs: Why are you trying to go through the UN Convention on Human
Rights to deal with this - this issue? When the court of appeal has
said these claims can be pursued in terms of care and negligance through
the courts here?
Sue
Smith: The negligance is for wives or dependants because that's a
compensation claim. I'm not claiming compensation. I'm claiming that
the soldiers have a right to life which is something that the MoD seemed
to say that if they're on exercise or anything like that abroad,
they're not covered by that.
[. . . ]
Nick Childs: How have you felt about the Ministry of Defence as you've gone through this-this legal proces.?
Sue
Smith: Well they're just pen pushers as far as I'm concerned. They've
got no idea. They're not living in this world. They're not the ones
going out in substandard vehicles -- or were. I'm not sure what they're
doing now. But at the end of the day, they're people that are arguing
who haven't actually lived the life that we're living. They've got no
idea. So how can they sit there and say that these boys have no right
to life? They're not the ones sitting in the back of the vehicle that
might blow up at any moment.
On security issues, Margret Griffis (Antiwar.com) reported yesterday, "A number of Sahwa members quit their jobs and abandoned their posts in Hawija and Kirkuk.
The men say their demands have not been met, but local leaders are
asking them to remain on the job. The Sahwa were to have been folded
into the military, but the central government has refused to fully do
so. The payment of salaries has also been slow at times. Because the
group is made of Sunnis, many who are former insurgents, the central
government has been wary of them if not outright antagonistic. About
8,000 Sahwa are in the Kirkuk region. Should they all abandon their
posts, it would be a significant blow to security."
Deutsche Welle covers
Nouri's attack on the Central Bank noting that this all began back
again a year ago -- this was when the political stalemate transitioned
into a political crisis. The outlet notes that the talk in Iraq is that
there are political reasons behind the sacking of the Governor of the
Central Bank. From yesterday's snapshot:
This week, charges were brought against Sinan al-Shabibi, the governor of the Central Bank, and he was replaced. Al Mada reports
that Parliament's Legal Committee is saying the actions were both rash
and illegal. Nouri does not control the Central Bank and he cannot fire
a governor with it. They point to Article 103 of the Iraqi Constitution which has two clauses pertaining to the Central Bank:First:
The Central Bank of Iraq, the Board of Supreme Audit, the Communication
and Media Commission, and the Endowment Commissions are financially and
administratively independent institutions, and the work of each of
these institutions shall be regulated by law.Second: The
Central Bank of Iraq is responsible before the Council of
Representatives. The Board of Supreme Audit and the Communication and
Media Commission shall be attached to the Council of Representatives.
The
second clause puts the Parliament over the Central Bank. (The third
clause, not quoted, puts the Cabinet over the Endowment Commission.) Michael Peel (Financial Times of London) reports
an arrest warrant has been sworn out for "Sinan al-Shabibi and 15 of
his colleagues." Peel also observes, "While no evidence has yet been
produced about the allegations, analysts and business people have raised
concerns about the way the government has handled the case. Some
observers see it as an extension of efforts by Nouri al-Maliki, prime
minister, to extend his control over important security and financial
institutions, a charge the governmnet denies."
Iraq Business News notes
that "there has been tension between the Central Bank and the
government for years. In January of last year, Nouri al-Maliki secured a
court ruling placing the Central Bank under the control of the cabinet,
rather than the parliament, much to the displeasure of al-Shabibi." My
apologies, I'm not aware of that decision. The Parliament either isn't
or doesn't consider it a valid decision.
Let's note this week's war of words by first dropping back to Monday's snapshot:
Today Al Mada reports
Yassin Majeed, an MP with Nouri's State of Law, is declaring that KRG
President Massoud Barzani is a threat to Iraq. Majeed held a press
conference outside Parliament to denounce Barzani. Alsumaria notes
that among Barzani's supposed outrageous offenses is objecting to the
infrastructure bill and objecting to the recent weapons shopping spree
Nouri's been on ($1 billion dollar deal with the Czech Republic, $4.2
billion dollar deal with Russia). All Iraq News notes
that Iraqi President Jalal Talabani issued a statement noting that, at a
time when they are trying to resolve the current political crisis, the
remarks are not helpful.
Wael Grace (Al Mada) reports
today that State of Law is rushing to walk away from Majeed's remarks
after Talabani and Iraqiya both called out the "reckless" remarks
yesterday. Alsumaria reports
Iraqiya stated there was no way to justify the remarks and called on
everyone to condemn the remarks and this method to destroy a foundation
of unity. In addition, All Iraq News notes
the Kurdistan Alliance announced yesterday that there is no political
difference between Massoud Barzani and Jalal Talabani and that the
Allliance's statement was in response to the verbal attack on Barzani
from Majeed. Hussein Ali Dawed (Al-Montior) notes
Talabani statined "he considered these statements a 'call to war'."
State of Law has never walked away from their constant smack talk
before. The difference here appears to have been a united push back
from the blocs at the same time that Nouri wanted it to appear he was
trying to reach an understanding with everyone and be a national
leader. Majeed's remarks were in keeping with State of Law's trash talk
in the past. A month ago -- or maybe a month from now -- they wouldn't
have raised an eyebrow and are part of State of Law's never-ending
attacks on other politicians.
KRG President Massoud Barzani will be visiting Moscow shortly. This trip to Russia was planned weeks ago. Wael Grace (Al Mada) reports
today that State of Law MP Mohammad Chihod is stating that the trip is
so Barzani can destroy the weapons deal Nouri signed with Russia.
State
of Law is a bunch of losers, liars and thieves. They lost the 2010
election, they lie constantly and they stole the post of prime
minister. They are also stupid. So possibly Chihod is so dumb that he
believes what he's saying (or maybe he shares Nouri's paranoia?). But
Barzani can't break the contract. And unless he has some previously
unknown magical power, he can't force Russian President Vladamir Putin
to break the contract either. Now he may be a very charming man and
might be able to use all that charm to slow delivery. But he can't stop
delivery. A contract is a contract.
I grasp
that's difficult for State of Law to understand because in addition to
everything else they lack honor and integrity. They break contracts.
So they assume everyone else must as well. If Russia were to break the
contract with Nouri without just cause, it would be very difficult for
Russia to interest other countries in buying weapons from them.
Nouri's
State of Law came in second in the March 2010 elections. Since the
Iraqi Constitution meant that Nouri wouldn't get a second term, he dug
his heels in and spent over eight months (Political Stalemate I)
bringing the country to a standstill while the US White House -- which
fully backed Nouri -- went around telling political blocs that they
needed to be mature and put Iraq first. Grasp that lie.
Grasp
that the White House told all the other political blocs -- that Moqtada
al-Sadr, that's Ibrahaim al-Jafaari (National Alliance) -- that they
were stopping Iraq from moving forward. All the other leaders by
wanting to stick to the Constitution were harming Iraq. Not the little
bastard Nouri who refused to honor the Constitution or the will of the
Iraqi people.
Then the US government rolls up
with a proposal that everybody give a little to get a little. Give
Nouri a second term as prime minister and what is it you want? What can
Nouri give you?
That's what the White House
did. So the Kurds wanted many things but among them Article 140 of the
Constitution implemented. (Article 140 was supposed to have been
implemented -- per the Constitution -- by the end of 2007; however,
Nouri refused to do so. It is how disputed areas will be resolved --
census and referendum. The Kurds want Kirkuk so does Baghdad.)
The
White House negotiated the contract, which would become known as the
Erbil Agreement. It swore that the contract was valid, legal and
binding. So all the leaders -- including Nouri -- signed off on it.
Nouri
grabbed the second term that the Erbil Agreement delivered and Nouri
then refused to honor the contract, he broke the contract. That's why
the country's in a political crisis at present. It's not a mystery.
Turning
to the issue of the September 11, 2012 attack on the US Consulate in
Benghazi, there are new items in the news cycle. First, the background
via the House Oversight Committee hearing this month:
Committee
Chair Darrell Issa: On September 11, 2012, four brave Americans
serving their country were murdered by terrorists in Benghazi, Libya.
Tyrone Woods spent two decades as a Navy Seal serving multiple tours in
Iraq and Afghanistan. Since 2010, he protected the American diplomatic
personnel. Tyrone leaves behind a widow and three children. Glen
Doherty, also a former Seal and an experienced paramedic, had served his
country in both Iraq and Afghanistan. His family and colleagues grieve
today for his death. Sean Smith, a communications specialist, joined
the State Dept after six years in the United States Air Force. Sean
leaves behind a widow and two young children. Ambassador Chris Stevens,
a man I had known personally during his tours, US Ambassador to Libya,
ventured into a volatile and dangerous situation as Libyans revolted
against the long time Gaddafi regime. He did so because he believed
the people of Libya wanted and deserved the same things we have: freedom
from tyranny.
But
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers, a Michigan
Republican, told CNN that the panel had information from the
intelligence community within 24 hours of the incident that it was a
military style attack.
"If you look at all
of the information leading up to (the attack) from an intelligence
perspective, it's really confounding how you can come to a conclusion
and then promote it for days in the face of all of that information that
this was about a video," Rogers said.
Reality,
the State Dept's Patrick Kennedy went to Congress September 12th and
briefed staffers on the attack. He called it terrorism. Reality, the
attack was seen by State Dept types ('types' because the CIA also saw
this) in real time. Reality, a little over 50 minutes of the attacks is
on video. Reality, the FBI has no objection to Congress reviewing the
video but they don't have it. At this point, it is not disclosed who
has possession of the video other than that they are in the executive
branch and they are not law enforcement. The White House is refusing to
turn the video over to Congress.
If your outlet of choice -- say The NewsHour
on PBS wasted your time by refusing to tell you about those realities
and instead offered a 'style' report, you really need to demand that
your news outlet of choice covers the damn news. A lot of people are
talking -- like Bob Somerby -- who clearly were not at the hearing and
really need to inform themselves before speaking. These days you assume
that what was reported was what happened at your own peril. That
hearing was important and full of revelations.
So
one of the items was Susan Rice's alleged innocence which, again, has
been pushed back on. And should be. Another item in the news cycle is
the cables released today.
A
diplomatic cable sent by Ambassador Chris Stevens from Benghazi hours
before the attack on the U.S. Consulate that killed him was largely
devoted to the rising security threats in and around the city.
The
cable, sent to the State Department, was released Friday by the
chairman of the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee,
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-California. It is among more than 160 pages of
documents that paint a picture of persistent and unpredictable violence
in and around Benghazi this year and an often fractious debate about
resources for diplomatic security.
In
the September 11 cable, the ambassador refers to a meeting nine days
earlier in which the commander of Benghazi's Supreme Security Council
"expressed growing frustration with police and security forces" being
too weak to keep the country secure.
Another
paragraph refers to the "expanding Islamist influence in Derna," a town
east of Benghazi, amid reports linking "the Abu Salim Brigade with a
troubling increase in violence and Islamist influence."
The Abu Salim Brigade was prominent among the opponents of former strongman Moammar Gadhafi.
The
ambassador refers to another meeting on September 9 in which commanders
of unofficial militia claimed that the Libyan Armed Forces depended on
them to secure eastern Libya, and even supplied them with weapons.
The
White House is not being honest when they claim that it was 'intel.'
The tape exists, the attack was monitored in real time, CIA agents were
wounded in the attack and made clear that it was not a protest that
descended upon the Consulate. But not only are they not being honest
there, the document release makes clear that there was reason for
concern -- serious concern -- and that the administration ignored those
warnings. Four Americans died. It's time for the White House to get
honest.
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