The Tulsa Peace Fellowship's Counter-Recruitment Update/Digest, for Oct 2010

[Tony Nuspl]

"Don't Believe the Hype!" - Truth in Recruiting Now

(scroll down for details about any story - links back to full articles also provided in PDF version)


Lead Story from the past month's news:


follow up on gangs in military, wreaking havoc in U.S. cities upon their return
Gangs in the military pose problem for civilian police, Texas detective says
file under: bringing the war home

quote:
"The gang members at Fort Hood get their dope from Fort Worth, Dallas
and Houston. The Gangster Disciples at Fort Hood are directly linked to
the Gangster Disciples in Houston."
~Det. John Bowman, Killeen, Texas

related story
Army confronts escalating drug abuse as soldiers return from Iraq
--follow up drug addictions created while soldiers posted overseas

facts & figures:
One brigade kicked 200 soldiers out of the Army. They were
discharged from the 4th Brigade of the 1st Armored Division, the unit
having just returned to Texas.

antiwar radio:
Lied To, Shot At, Shell Shocked
--Aaron Glantz on American GIs

excerpt from 'rush' transcript:

"I remember how stupid I was when I was 17 years old.  And on TV they say the Marine Corps means you get to dress up real fancy, walk
around with a neat sword all day, and just play. "War is honor," and
all these stupid things...  They never tell you how dirty it is, how
bad it stinks, how hard it is to get the replaying of the audio of
people's dying screams out of your ears, or your best friend dying in
your arms and trying to get that out of your head."
~Scott Horton, host of the show

"They target 17-year-olds because they lovefirst-person shooter games that were designed by the American
military.  And they thought that "war" would be just like the
first-person shooter game that they play at home in front of their
television screen or their computer.  And you know, when they go in to
sign up, no one in the Army recruiting office tells them that 'hey,
that's just a computer game, you know, real war is different.'  So they
go out to the front and they discover war is not like a computer game,
that real people die, the smells are there.  And it might not be worth
anything.  You might kill someone and it might affect you differently
than killing some electronic character in a video game.  Everyone says
'how silly is that' but we're talking about seventeen-year-olds. "
~Aaron Glantz, journalist in Iraq 2003-2005, and author of The War
Comes Home, and the best-seller, How America Lost Iraq

featured op/ed
Hoy newspaper editorial:  Say No to the so-called "Dream" Act, because it Militarizes Immigration
--Spanish-language article title: Dicen no a Dream Act --
Argumentan que militarizaría a jóvenes. Es una pesadilla.

related group: San Diego
¡Raza Sí; Guerra No!
Unión del Barrio

follow up on epidemic of suicides in the U.S. military
Italian film documents trauma of Iraq war veterans
--entitled "Ward 54," the film is named for the psychiatric wing of the
U.S. military's Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington

facts & figures:

Last month, a Congressionally-ordered report found historically high
rates of suicides in the U.S. military, saying more than 1,100 members
of the armed forces had killed themselves from 2005 to 2009 and that
suicides are rising again this year. The sharpest increases were in the Army and Marine Corps

sidebar: follow up on TBI
Traumatic Brain Injury earns a mention in President Obama's Speech
to the Nation
--brains jostled inside the cranium by powerful blasts, causing
permanent brain injury

quote:
"[W]e have already made one of the largest increases in funding for
veterans in decades. We are treating the signature wounds of today’s
wars post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injury, while providing
the health care and benefits that all of our veterans have earned."
~President Obama, Aug 31st 2010

related exclusive:
One Iraq veteran’s harrowing struggle with TBI, and then PTSD,
leading to his eventual succumbing to suicide
--an IED, or improvised explosive device, gave him a concussion,
starting the soldier's demise

facts & figures:

IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices), planted by insurgents targeting
American troops, are the one attack all soldiers fear. The bombs reach
up from the earth and rip your arms from your shoulders, legs from your
torso, or rattle your bones inside your head, for days, months, years
afterward.

book review:
Tom Engelhardt's new book: The American Way of War: How Bush’s
Wars Became Obama’s
--review by Mamoon Alabbasi – London

also see, just published:  Bob Woodward's Obama's War which documents the infighting at the White House over the deliberate escalation of hostilities in Afghanistan

sidebar:
Brisbane war correspondent alleges U.S. forces committed war crime in Iraq
--Mr. Michael Ware, journalist, says he caught the gruesome episode on
film

quote:
‘‘The footage should be shown so people know how callously US soldiers
treat the Iraqis,’’
~Mr John Martinkus, journalist, commenting on film shot by an
Australian reporter, in possession of CNN, but never shown to the public

file under: what?! there are rules during wartime?
More Stryker Brigade soldiers charged with assault on Afghan
civilians
--two U.S. soldiers incarcerated and facing court-martials on separate murder charges

more coverage:
file under:  decline of moral in U.S. armed services
US troops took body parts, 'kept finger trophies' : 2nd Stryker
Brigade run amuck
--American soldiers murdered Afghan civilians and took body parts as
trophies, it was alleged
--documents show five soldiers have been charged with killing innocent Afghans in January,
February and May this year after forming a secret "kill team".
--the five soldiers standing accused face the death penalty or life in
prison, if convicted

quote
They don't 'hate us for our freedoms.' They hate us because we're *sociopaths.*
~Commentary from Citizens for Legitimate Government (CLG)

op/ed
How To Spot A Whitewash In Army’s Death-Squad Inquiry
--American soldiers have become what we'd prefer to think doesn't exist
in the U.S. army: a death squad bent on committing war crimes

quote
The motives of the “Kill Team” appear to be
indistinguishable from sadism: we only know about the plot
because a private came forward to investigators after “Kill Team”
members beat him up.

Call for 'Gaza style' inquiry into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan
--former UN official demands investigation into coalition link to deaths revealed by WikiLeaks
--rising concern over the level of civilian casualties caused by coalition forces



follow-up story on active-duty war resisters find refuge in Canada
Iraq war resister marks one year since taking sanctuary in Vancouver church

quote:
Watson recalls the Iraqi man asking him "why do white soldiers and
white contractors hate us so much?" Watson replied saying he'd been
wondering the same questions for years back in America. "We clicked on
that," he said "We knew we had something in common, even though we came
from different worlds."

related:
Liberal MP will negotiate on bill to keep U.S. war resisters in
Canada

file under: betrayed by your so-called brothers
Navy, Marine theaters decline to screen Tillman film
--The film does not portray the Army and Defense Department in a
positive light, and therefore is being censored by all U.S. armed
services


file under: mercenary companies and war profiteers
A Maryland Judge rules that "Military Contractors" Can Be Sued
--A federal judge says military contractors can be sued by soldiers and
others who allege they were harmed by improper waste disposal while
serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.



sidebar: up in smoke
$13m Reaper Drone Crashes During Test Flight in California
--Air Force says one of its unmanned MQ-9 Reaper aircraft has crashed
in a sparsely populated area in California’s Mojave Desert.



featured book:
Black Hearts: One Platoon's Descent into Madness in Iraq's
Triangle of Death, by Jim Frederick
--war crimes committed by U.S. troops, reviewed by Edward Wilson, of The Guardian
--chilling echoes of Vietnam war in a US platoon's rape & killing spree in Iraq

quote:
"In retrospect, it was obvious that Green was a troubled youngster whom
the army couldn't redeem."

related:
Pentagon destroyed 10,000 copies of army officer's book, at a cost of $47,000
The Pentagon has admitted buying up and destroying 10,000 copies of an
insider's account of life in Afghanistan by an army intelligence
officer. It said that the book, Operation Dark Heart by Lt Col
Anthony Shaffer, threatened to divulge state secrets. Lt Col Shaffer, a
bronze star recipient, said he had no intention of jeopardising
American lives or damaging national security. "The whole premise smacks
of retaliation," he told CNN. "Someone buying 10,000 books to suppress
a story in this digital age is ludicrous."

file under:  U.S. war crimes in Iraq
Two Soldiers Allege that U.S. Commander Ordered "360 Rotational
Fire" in Iraq
--indiscriminate killing of civilians is a war crime, for which people
were thrown in jail for life, the Nuremberg Trials led by the U.S.

quote:
"I learned that the military trains people to hate and dehumanize
entire people groups... And sadly, the military tries to rob you of
what's inside and the result is people treating killing like a joke and
showing little care for human life."
~Spc. Josh Stieber , a witness to the street
massacres committed by U.S. troops in Iraq, carried out "maybe
five to ten times."

file under : mercenaries run amuck
Murder trial under way for 2 ex-Blackwater contractors in 2009
deaths of 2 Afghan men


file under: the war at home
An Indiana Town Reflects Growing Doubts Among Americans About the
Afghan 'War'
--A majority of Americans say the war has not been worth its cost, an
opinion voiced frequently in Elkhart, a hard-luck town that sees the
conflict through the lens of loss and economic hardship.

"Why are we there? Why are we even there?"
~Donna Shoecraft, the shock still fresh from her son's death in
Afghanistan.

"We've been there too long, way too long. I just think it's a useless
war," said Fisher, a soldier from 1958 to 1967. The billions in
taxpayer dollars should be spent on "people who are
sleeping under bridges or living out of food banks."

file under:  Colorado used as military dump
Makings of an Environmental Disaster in Colorado?  Mustard gas shells
--crazy idea of blowing up 125,000 shells has been withdrawn
--EPA yet to vet idea of blowing up leaky shells


follow up: Japan still occupied 65 years later
Okinawa city elections reveal strengthening anti-U.S. base stance
--U.S. base opponents in the northern Okinawa city that hosts Camp Schwab won a 60 percent majority in the elections.


more war crimes committed in Afghanistan
Australian soldiers charged with manslaughter of five Afghan children
--civilians died after the Special Operations Task Group soldiers used
gunfire and hand grenades during the operation

sidebar:
British have withdrawn from Helmand province, Afghanistan
--the Dutch are already gone completely, the Canadians will be gone by next year


from the archives:
How the British military fetishized the bayonet and enabled sadists,
in World War I
--mostly they used it to kill unarmed prisoners who posed no threat, or
the wounded; the weapon was largely ineffective otherwise

facts & figures:
"Downed" opponents who pose little threat are protected under proper
application of military law, and have been, since World War I.

related event:

Oct 2nd, 2010 12 noon to 2pm
Rally in Tulsa sponsored by TPF, co-sponsored by T-Town DFA (Democracy
for America), in solidarity with "One Nation Working Together" rally in
Washington D.C., same day
Location in Tulsa:  41st & Yale
Bring Our War $$ Home -- U.S. Out of Afghanistan
Reduce Military Spending - Rebuild America

11:45am - Volunteers arrive & set up signs/banners along road
side, on sidewalks, public spaces. Ample parking is available in strip
malls on northwest and northeast corners of 41st & Yale. Pls do not
use bank lot.

12:00 noon - Peace Vigil / Antiwar Rally begins, in solidarity with the
One Nation Working Together rally in D.C., and the One Nation Working
Together for Peace civic actions across the country

2:00 pm - Peace vigil in Tulsa wraps up

2:00 pm to 3pm - Participants change venues to meet up with the
Oklahoma Progressive Coalition, at the Pipeliner's Union Hall, 4823 S.
83rd E. Avenue,  Tulsa, Oklahoma

3:00pm CST - Head out to volunteer on a progressive campaign!

---

The Tulsa Peace Fellowship's Counter-Recruitment Update/Digest, for
Oct 2010

lead story

Gangs in the military pose problem for civilian
police, Killeen detective says

Thursday, Sep. 09, 2010
By Chris Vaughn, Dallas Star-Telegram
[e-mail]


FORT WORTH -- It's not particularly palatable to think about, but there
are gang members in the military, serving overseas and gaining valuable
weapons and tactical training.

Not only does Killeen gang detective John Bowman know that firsthand,
but he also said it shouldn't be that surprising.

Bowman, an Army veteran and 20-year police officer in the city
adjoining Fort Hood in Central Texas, said the presence of gangs in the
armed forces is not just a problem for people like him. He said it
affects many of the nation's cities and counties, while the troops are
in service and certainly when they get out.

"Don't let the fact that you don't have a base near you blind you to
the problem," he said. "The gang members at Fort Hood get their dope
from Fort Worth, Dallas and Houston. The Gangster Disciples at Fort
Hood are directly linked to the Gangster Disciples in Houston."

That kind of message from city police has led to sharp disagreements
with officials on military installations, who argue that gangs are not
a significant problem.

Bowman acknowledges that gang members constitute a fraction of the
military's active, National Guard and reserve troops, but even 1
percent would be more than 10,000, he said. It's hard, if not
impossible, to know exactly how many there are because gang members
don't broadcast that information, nor, Bowman said, does the Army have
an incentive to accurately report gang activity in its ranks.

In 2007, a report from the National Gang Intelligence Center for the
FBI concluded that it was an "increasing" problem and "poses a threat
to law enforcement officials and national security."

That report provided anecdotal evidence that gangs have committed
serious crimes -- robbery, burglary, drug and gun running, extortion
and identity theft -- at Fort Hood; Fort Bragg, N.C.; Fort Bliss; Fort
Carson, Colo.; and other Army installations, most often against other
soldiers.

Bowman's presentation included photographs of gang graffiti on
barricades and tanks in Iraq, and the Internet is rife with pictures of
troops proudly flashing gang signs. Bowman displayed a newspaper
photograph of soldiers gleefully returning home. In the middle of the
photo was a soldier flashing a gang sign. Tattoos are often another
giveaway, he said.

Many street gang members join the military to get out of their
neighborhoods, he said, but are drawn back into the lifestyle once they
encounter gang members in the military. Others, including white
supremacists, often join the military for weapons and tactics training,
he said.

The danger to police officers, Bowman said, is that these troops are
combat-hardened and proficient in urban combat. They also have access
to better quality body armor than many police.

Read more:
http://www.star-telegram.com/2010/09/09/2456950/gangs-in-the-milita...





Army confronts escalating drug abuse as soldiers
return from Iraq

By Nancy A. Youssef
McClatchy Newspapers
September 17, 2010

WASHINGTON — When Lt. Col. Dave Wilson took command of a battalion of
the 4th Brigade of the 1st Armored Division, the unit had just returned
to Texas from 14 months in Iraq.

Nearly 70 soldiers in his 1,163-member battalion had tested positive
for drugs: methamphetamine, cocaine and marijuana. Others were abusing
prescription drugs. Troops were passing around a tape of a female
lieutenant having sex with five soldiers from the unit. Seven soldiers
in the brigade died from drug overdoses and traffic accidents when they
returned to Fort Bliss, near El Paso, after their first deployment.

"The inmates were running the prison," Wilson said.

With the U.S. drawdown in Iraq, the Army is finally confronting an
epidemic of drug abuse and criminal behavior that many commanders
acknowledge has been made worse because they'd largely ignored it
during nearly a decade of wars on two fronts.

The Army concedes that it faces a mammoth problem.

The increase in drug abuse and bad behavior came at the same time that
the Army enlisted thousands of recruits who in previous years would
have been ruled ineligible because of drug or other criminal
convictions. According to the report, nearly 20 percent of the soldiers
who've enlisted in the Army since 2004 — perhaps as many as 10,000 —
would "not have been eligible for entry into the Army before."

"I think we've got to understand that the force we have today is
different from the force we had 10 years ago," said Gen. Peter W.
Chiarelli, the vice chief of staff of the Army, who oversaw the study
and is heading up the Army's response to it. "We've got kids that are
going to have some behavioral health issues."

Wilson said he found a failure of leadership to be a major factor in
the deterioration of his unit.

When the brigade returned from Iraq in December 2007, many commanders
were moved to other units, and new soldiers were rushed through the
system to get them to the battlefield quickly, without the proper
guidance.

As a result, 37 of the 69 drug abusers in Wilson's battalion belonged
to one company of 200, he said. When he was a company commander a
decade ago, having five soldiers test positive would have been
considered a lot, he added.

"We found that we had leaders that were dealing with combat stress
issues as well. So when you have sick leaders, that leader can't care
for the soldiers properly," said Wilson, who commanded 1,163 of the
brigade's 3,800 soldiers. "The drug problem was just a symptom of the
disease."

The brigade also kicked 200 soldiers out of the Army.

http://www.stripes.com/news/army-confronts-escalating-drug-abuse-as...

---

The Tulsa Peace Fellowship's Counter-Recruitment Update/Digest, for Oct 2010

page 1 stories



Lied To, Shot At, Shell Shocked



Aaron Glantz on American GIs



Interviewed by Scott Horton, for antiwar radio

September 03, 2010

Aaron Glantz, author of The War Comes Home: Washington’s Battle against America’s Veterans,
discusses the U.S. media’s eager participation in selling the Iraq War
and hyping Colin Powell’s infamous U.N. presentation, how Obama made
good on troop reductions but is too quick to claim credit for the war’s
end, increased funding for the VA that has improved care somewhat, the
betrayal of soldiers who have killed and died for a war based on lies
and how service dogs are used to reduce the epidemic of suicides among
veterans.

MP3 here. (20:13)

Aaron Glantz is an independent journalist who specializes on the impact of war on those who have experienced it directly: soldiers and
civilians, aid workers and journalists. Aaron reported extensively from
inside Iraq from 2003 to 2005 and has been covering veterans’ issues
since his return to the United States.

http://antiwar.com/radio/2010/09/03/aaron-glantz-7/

featured op/ed

Dicen no a "Dream" Act
Argumentan que militarizaría a jóvenes. Otros la apoyan ante la falta
de una reforma migratoria



Por Jaime J. Reyes, 312.527.8449/CHICAGO



August 23, 2010



Jesús Palafox dice que no apoya la propuesta Dream Act porque no
resuelve el problema de 12 millones de indocumentados, y porque la
propuesta militarizaría a los jóvenes latinos.



Palafox, quien cursa el año sénior de la Universidad Northeastern, fue
parte de un grupo de organizaciones que el lunes hicieron pública su
oposición a la propuesta Dream Act, que de ser aprobada otorgaría un
estatus legal a estudiantes indocumentados que se gradúan de secundaria.



Según la organización College Board, unos 65,000 estudiantes
indocumentados (hispanos y no hispanos) se gradúan anualmente de
secundaria.



Para Ramiro Borja, del Frente Unido de Inmigrantes, "la propuesta tiene
varias fallas. La peor es que va a militarizar a nuestra comunidad y,
más que nada, dividir familias".



"Dream Act sólo ayuda a quienes son parte (elegibles) de esto, pero no
ayuda a los padres, ni a los hermanos menores o aquellos mayores (de 35
años) que ya no pueden entrar en Dream Act", dijo Borja.



Pero la Coalición de Illinois pro Derechos de Inmigrantes y Refugiados
(ICIRR), que apoya Dream Act y la reforma migratoria, indicó en un
comunicado que mientras no haya una solución integral, seguirán
apoyando ese proyecto de ley.



"Varios jóvenes quieren servir en el Ejército y Dream Act les daría la
oportunidad de servir al país de esta manera. Esta propuesta también
les daría la opción de ir a la escuela. Dream Act les daría status
legal inmediatamente y serian elegibles para una 'Green Card' en seis
años", según la declaración.



Laura Paz, del Comité Antimilitarización, dijo que Dream Act tiene un
componente militar que se conoce poco y que debido a que una mayoría de
jóvenes latinos no asisten a la Universidad, lo más probable es que
tendrían que enlistarse en las fuerzas armadas.



Paz agregó que era una mentira que sean dos años para obtener la
legalización a través de Dream Act, ya que los contratos con el
Ejército son por ocho años y, si quieren salirse antes, no serán dados
de baja con honores y podrían ser deportables.



Según la sección 5 de la propuesta Dream Act, el solicitante puede
obtener la ciudadanía condicional permanente si cumple con uno de dos
requisitos: haber obtenido un diploma de educación superior en Estados
Unidos o terminado dos años en un programa de educación superior, o
haber servido en las fuerzas armadas al menos dos años y, si fue dado
de baja, debió haberlo sido de forma honorable.



Nadia Unzueta, de la Alianza de Jóvenes Inmigrantes por la Justicia
(IYJL), grupo que trabaja en pro de Dream Act, dijo que la propuesta es
un paso para iniciar la reforma migratoria y describió la posición del
grupo opositor como "errónea".



"Decir que no queremos algo que puede legalizar a las personas porque
tiene un componente de militarización y vamos a echarlo todo a la
basura, no tiene sentido. Tiene más sentido pelear para ampliar eso
para que la gente tenga más opciones y no se vean forzados a entrar las
fuerzas militares", dijo Unzueta.



Según un reporte del Pew Hispanic Center de 2009, 29 por ciento de
latinos inmigrantes indicaron que no planeaban ir a un colegio o
universidad.



El reporte "Hispanos en las Fuerzas Militares" del Pew, indica que en
2001 había en las fuerzas armadas 109,487 miembros de origen latino, o
el 9.49 por ciento de los más de 1,150,000 miembros de las fuerzas
armadas.



En comparación, los latinos eran el 13.35 por ciento de la fuerza
laboral entre los 18 a 44 años, el rango de edad típico de
reclutamiento en el servicio militar, según el reporte.



Palafox concluyó diciendo supongamos que "yo me legalizo, pero si mis
padres son deportados, ¿quién me va a ayudar económica y moralmente si
mi padres son deportados?".



[e-mail]

http://www.vivelohoy.com/noticias/localidades/chicago/hy-ch-inmigra...



The link above includes video feeds from the event.



related group:

¡Raza Sí; Guerra No!
Unión del Barrio

http://uniondelbarrio.org/laverdad/2010/07/29/commemoration-of-the-...



Follow up: on TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury) from
Concussion


One Iraq veteran’s harrowing journey from the battlefield to suicide

By James Foley, for The Raw Story

Tuesday, September 7th, 2010



“He said three times that he should have just died in Iraq and I would
have loved him forever, because he didn't think we were going to get
back together,” Krissy Caudill, Sgt. First Class Spencer Kohlheim’s
fiancée said after his grandmother found him hanging in her garage less
than a month after he returned from Iraq.



SFC Kohlheim's his vehicle was hit by an IED in Kirkuk



IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices), planted by insurgents targeting
American troops, are the one attack all soldiers fear. The bombs reach
up from the earth and rip your arms from your shoulders, legs from your
torso, or rattle your bones inside your head, for days, months, years
afterward. Soldiers will tell you they’d rather get shot at any day
than deal with IEDs.



Sergeant First Class (SFC) Spencer Kohlheim, 38, was from LaGrange, a
town tucked in the Northeast corner of Indiana.



On a sunny April morning in 2008, Sergeant First Class (SFC) Spencer
Kohlheim’s vehicle led his platoon on convoy from Tikrit North to the
volatile city of Kirkuk, Iraq, on a mission guiding Army tractor
trailers bearing the new heavily-armored Mine Resistant (MRAP) vehicles
to a distant outpost.



"He reminded me a lot of myself," Spade said of Kohlheim. "He was out
of control sometimes, opinionated, but a hard worker and a hard
trainer."



When Kohlheim went outside the wire, he often put himself as leader of
the convoy. That morning it was in the driver’s seat of the five-ton
truck with rollers on the front that looked like the heads of an old
push mower.



But the rollers didn’t work if the bomb was “command wired” -- if it
had a human waiting and watching for when to detonate it. This was how
Kohlheim’s lead truck exploded just outside Kirkuk. We felt the blast
four vehicles back, and watched the ball of black smoke rise in the
sky. Then we saw Kohlheim running towards us carrying his rifle.



A man had given them the middle finger from the roadside just before
the IED went off, riddling their five-ton with shrapnel that just
missed his gunner’s head. Kohlheim seemed to be moving everywhere,
gesturing to Iraqi Army and Police, helping to load his vehicle onto
the tow trailer.



By the time he got in our Humvee, Kohlheim’s hand was shaking just to
lift the water bottle to his lips. He spent the night being evaluated
in the base hospital for concussion symptoms.



"I think we all got our melons scrambled a little bit," he said the
next day. "This morning I woke up and I remembered everything.  Last
night I couldn't remember too much."



By the end of the summer I was in Baghdad and got an email message from
Kohlheim’s ex-wife, Beth. She said one of the Indiana Guard’s family
liaisons had called to tell her Spencer had been hit by another IED.
“He says it was another concussion, but I’m not supposed to even know
that much," she wrote.



For Kohlheim, a second concussion meant confinement to the base. "The
second hit, I said he’s done,” CSM Spade later told me over the phone.



Spencer never told his Command Sergeant Major that he was suffering any
effects from the blasts.  But by the end of summer there wasn’t that
much time left. Roughly four months later, the 76th Brigade’s 3,500
soldiers started re-deploying back to Indiana.



“Leaving Iraq he wasn’t flagged for risk,” CSM Spade said.



http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2010/09/iraq-veterans-harrowing-journey-...



TPF editorial:  See previous issues of "Truth in Recruiting" to learn more about this harrowing injury, the signature wound of modern day combat



More Stryker Brigade soldiers charged with assault on
Afghans



By Hal Bernton | Seattle Times

3 September 2010



Five soldiers from a Western Washington-based infantry brigade have
been charged with aggravated assault for firing on three Afghan men,
expanding the scope of the alleged crimes committed by a troubled group
in Afghanistan's Kandahar province.



The newest charges follow charges filed earlier this year that accuse
five brigade soldiers of killing three Afghan civilians in January,
February and May of this year.



All together, the Army criminal investigation that began in May has
resulted in more than 70 criminal charges filed against 12 soldiers.



The charges include allegations of illegal drug use, impeding
investigations and of participation in an assault against a fellow
soldier viewed as a drug informant.



Among those charged with aggravated assault against the three Afghan
men are Staff. Sgt. Calvin Gibbs, of Billings, Mont., and Spc. Michael
Wagnon, of Las Vegas. Both are incarcerated and facing court-martials
on separate murder charges.



Read more:
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/09/03/100147/more-stryker-brigade-s...






US soldier admits gruesome killing of Afghan civilians



Sep 27, 2010, 21:54 GMT



Washington - One of five US soldiers charged with premeditated murder
described his unit leader as ordering the gruesome death of unarmed
Afghan civilians in a military interrogation video obtained by US media
on Monday.



Corporal Jeremy Morlock, who faced a pretrial military hearing Monday
in Washington state, admitted in the interrogation his role in the
slayings of three Afghans. He described how his 'crazy' Staff Sargent
Calvin Gibbs would seek out civilians and order them killed by the
military unit.



'We identify a guy. Gibbs makes a comment, like, you know, 'You guys
wanna wax this guy or what?'' Morlock told the military interrogators.



Morlock, Gibbs, Specialist Adam Winfield, Specialist Michael Wagnon II
and Private First Class Andrew Holmes face the death penalty or life in
prison if convicted by a military court.



http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/southasia/news/article_15874...



epitaph for this edition of "Truth in Recruiting"

War is liberty’s greatest enemy, and the deadly foe of economic
progress.
~Leonard E. Read, from the Prologue (1981) to "Conscience on the
Battlefield" (a dialogue inspired by the Korean War, 1951)

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The Tulsa Peace Fellowship's Counter-Recruitment Update/Digest, for
Oct 2010

TPF needs your support.

You can donate online via PINC (pull down menu for US$ donations)
http://www.pincgiving.com/donate/organization/1202854

Or, please mail a check or money order made out to the"Tulsa Peace Fellowship" to :

The Tulsa Peace Fellowship
c/o UU Church of the
Restoration,
1314 N. Greenwood Ave, Tulsa Oklahoma. Zip code: 74106-4854
Find on a map: Google
Maps link
Contributions to TPF are not tax deductible.

The next monthly anti-war demo in Tulsa
is scheduled for
Saturday Oct 2nd 2010, 12noon to 2pm,
with the theme: "U.S. Out of Afghanistan Now!"


The next regularly
scheduled business meeting
of the Fellowship will be held
 on