Once again the powers that be have another war to supply, more money to be made by shedding the blood of pawns. Not a mention of who the new soldiers are and where they will come from. Oh, right, we're recruiting from places Americans never would imagine, like Uganda. See my post of 4/9/08–Uganda: The New Face of US Military? for details on what we’re doing to entice that country’s young men to sign up. And there are plenty of Third World Countries where people are willing to risk death in war to escape death from famine, or tribal wars or juntas. Aren't you sick of it?
May Combat Deaths In Afghanistan
Outnumber Those In Iraq
AP,
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hmt5RrIrR8Kpia74k7R0PNVwVAbQD919ETBO0
via http://www.uruknet.de/?s1=1&p=44859&s2=14
BRUSSELS, Belgium — It's a grim gauge of U.S. wars going in opposite directions: American and allied combat deaths in Afghanistan in May passed the monthly toll in Iraq for the first time.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates used the statistical comparison to dramatize his point to NATO defense ministers that they need to do more to get Afghanistan moving in a better direction. He wants more allied combat troops, more trainers and more public commitment.
[...] But the deterioration in Afghanistan suggests a troubling additional possibility: a widening of the war to Pakistan, where the Taliban and al-Qaida have found haven.
By the Pentagon's count, 15 U.S. and two allied troops were killed in action in Iraq last month, a total of 17. In Afghanistan it was 19, including 14 Americans and five coalition troops. One month does not make a trend, but in this case the statistics are so out of whack with perceptions of the two wars that Gates could use them to drive home his point about Afghanistan.
Even when non-combat deaths are included, the overall May toll was greater in Afghanistan than in Iraq: a total of 22 in Afghanistan, including 17 Americans, compared with 21 in Iraq, including 19 Americans, according to an Associated Press count.
[...] Gates made a point upon taking his Pentagon post in December 2006, amid great and growing U.S. public doubt about Iraq, that he was deeply concerned about backsliding in the less publicized and less unpopular war in Afghanistan. He seems even more troubled now.
And he appears less patient with the allies, aware that much of the European population is unconvinced by the American argument that al-Qaida in Central Asia _ whether it's Afghanistan, Pakistan or the largely ungoverned areas along their mountainous frontier _ poses a
grave danger to Europe as well as to the United States.
Gates said that when it came his turn to talk at Thursday's defense ministers meeting on Afghanistan he tossed aside the remarks his aides had prepared for him and stated his case as sharply and directly as he could.
[...] NATO has no direct combat role in Iraq. In Afghanistan, several allies are taking a fighting role, but most have shied away, preferring to contribute in other ways such as humanitarian assistance.
The relatively low U.S. death toll in Iraq in May continues a trend of declining violence against Americans as well as Iraqi civilians, although the situation there remains fragile. If the trend continues _ which is far from a certainty _ then U.S. officials may decide to withdraw more U.S. troops in the second half of the year and perhaps beyond. That would enable the Pentagon to send more troops to Afghanistan _ for combat and for training Afghan forces.
And that's just what the next president may have to do unless things begin turning around in Afghanistan.
United States Defense Secretary Robert Gates speaks during a media conference after a meeting of NATO defense ministers at NATO headquarters in Brussels, Friday June 13, 2008. NATO nations have agreed to broaden their peacekeeping mission in Kosovo to include training for the newly independent nation's security forces. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)
June 15, 2008
Afghanistan Body Count Rises
June 7, 2008
Vietnam Veteran Will Finally Get US Citizenship
Thanks to Denis Hamill of NY Daily News. Well done! Mr. Thomas' story is too amazing to edit, so here is the whole story:
No way to treat a hero: Vet earned three Purple Hearts but still no citizenship
Thursday, June 5
th 2008, 4:00 AM
This one looks like it might have a happy ending - but for the moment this disabled Vietnam veteran with three Purple Hearts is a man without a country.
In 1960, at 16, Rudolph Thomas Sr. came to America with his grandmother from Trinidad. He lived in his grandfather's house on Decatur St. in Bedford-Stuyvesant and, after graduating Franklin K. Lane High, he was drafted into the United States Army on March 8, 1965.
He did basic training in Fort Gordon, Ga., advanced individual training at Fort Dix, and then volunteered for the Army Airborne jump school at Fort Benning, Ga.
"In 1967, I was stationed in Fort Bragg with the 82nd Airborne when I got my orders to go to Vietnam," says Thomas, who lives in Flatbush. "When I reported to leave they said they couldn't send me because I was not a United States citizen."
He remained at Fort Bragg and three months later they issued new Vietnam orders. "They said, ‘Congratulations, we've naturalized you as a U.S. citizen and you're going to Vietnam,'" he says. "They checked yes on the papers where it asked if I was a U.S. citizen."
Thomas went to Vietnam with the 173rd Airborne and saw heavy action in places with names like Bon Song, An Khe, Bar Tuey.
"The first time I got shot it was in the right ankle," he says. "I got sent to Cam Ranh Bay to recuperate. Then I went back into the bush and was shot in my left foot. I got laid up in the hospital again. I got my third Purple Heart from a landmine, taking shrapnel in my right knee, left buttock and left shoulder. It burned the pants off me."
After the third injury he was sent back to the States.
Rudy Thomas reenlisted, spent six years in the army and received honorable discharge papers that clearly indicate he was an American citizen.
He returned to Brooklyn where he receives a 40% disability pension for post traumatic stress disorder.
His son from his first marriage, Rudy Thomas Jr., became a New York City police officer.
"In 1980 I was hired by New York State Department of Labor under the veteran's readjustment program," the father says. "I have been working there since as a disabled veteran's outreach specialist."
On July 4, 1993, his police officer son was off duty, waiting for his fiancée to come out of a deli on Pennsylvania Ave. in Brooklyn when a gunman demanded his motorcycle. When he identified himself as a cop, the armed man shot Rudy Thomas Jr. dead.
In 2005, when his grandfather died in Trinidad - in his late 90s - Thomas applied for his first American passport.
"The people at the passport office looked at my army papers and told me that I could not have a passport because I was not a United States citizen," Thomas says. "I was shocked. They told me to go to 26 Federal Plaza to apply for citizenship."
In December of 2005 Thomas went and applied for citizenship to the country for which he'd fought in a foreign war.
"The woman there said the information on my military papers was inaccurate and that I was never naturalized," he says. "They opened a case and told me to go home and wait."
He's still waiting - and he never got to attend his grandfather's funeral.
Last week, he sent me an e-mail: "I am writing to you with the hope that this matter can be taken care of as soon as possible since it didn't take this long to send me to Vietnam and fight and shed blood for this country when so many others were running away and dodging service ..."
I called Shawn Saucier, a spokesman at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, part of Homeland Security.
"There is a provision of U.S. immigration law that enables us to move forward on Mr. Thomas' citizenship application pending a criminal background check," he said after doing some research.
"Typically someone has to be a Green Card holder for five years before being eligible to apply for citizenship, but there is a provision ... for certain military veterans who served in active duty during a time of war ... It could possibly happen in the next few weeks."
"If the background check goes well," says Saucier, "we're glad to help someone who put his life on the line to defend the United States to become a citizen."
"That's great news," Thomas says. "Especially since I thought I was a U.S. citizen for the last 40 years since I went to Vietnam."
April 9, 2008
Section 9b
This is the first time I've posted this here, but it's something everybody who works on military recruitment needs to know:
[Emphasis added]
So let's just review the facts:
★★★ Don’t Do It! ★★★
September 26, 2007
Candles Burn for Peace in East Harlem
A candlelight vigil was held in front of the U.S. Army Recruiting Station in East Harlem this past Friday evening.
By K. Cyr, September 23, 2007http://nyc.indymedia.org/en/2007/09/91170.html
A candlelight vigil was held in front of the U.S. Army Recruiting Station in East Harlem this past Friday evening. Over 20 people gathered to share their experiences and grievances about the overwhelming presence of Army recruiters in Harlem and Washington Heights since US occupation in Iraq. The vigil was the first action in Harlem to demonstrate solidarity with the Iraq Moratorium, scheduled to take place on the third Friday of every month. Visit www.iraqmoratorium.com for more information of who is organizing across the nation.
September 11, 2007
A Successful Saturday
The three arrestees were charged with disorderly conduct and released four hours later.
The NYC War Resisters League called the week of anti-recruiting actions “to demand an end to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, to cease destroying the lives of young people who are sent to war, and to rechannel the hundreds of billions of dollars spent on the military into programs here and abroad that seek to improve lives of all people.”
Each day for the next week, a different group or groups will take responsibility for actions aimed at keeping the recruiting station in Times Square closed, beginning at 9am- (see sidebar, Keep Times Sq. Closed... for schedule)
http://www.warresisters.org/