2 Deaths at Occupy Protests in Calif. and Vermont

2 Deaths at Occupy Protests in Calif. and Vermont

By TERRY COLLINS Associated Press
OAKLAND, Calif. November 11, 2011 (AP)
Police are investigating a fatal shooting just outside the Occupy Oakland encampment in Northern California and the apparent suicide of a military veteran at an Occupy encampment in Vermont's largest city.

The Oakland killing is further straining relations between local officials and anti-Wall Street protesters. A preliminary investigation into the gunfire Thursday that left a man dead suggests it resulted from a fight between two groups of men at or near the camp on a plaza in front of Oakland's City Hall, police Chief Howard Jordan said.

Investigators do not yet know if the men in the fight were associated with Occupy Oakland, but they are looking into reports that some protest participants tried to break up the altercation, Jordan said.

Burlington, Vt., police said preliminary investigations show a 35-year-old military veteran fatally shot himself in the head Thursday at an Occupy Wall Street encampment. The name of the Chittenden County man is being withheld because not all of his family has been notified.
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Veteran commits suicide at Occupy Vermont

Veteran committed suicide at Occupy Burlington Vermont

Protesters: Veteran shoots self at Vt. encampment

Paramedics rush a shooting victim from the Occupy Burlington, Vt., encampment at City Hall Park to an ambulance Thursday, Nov. 10, 2011. The public was not believed to be at risk after the afternoon shooting at City Hall Park in Burlington, but the circumstances are still being investigated, said Burlington Police Deputy Chief Andi Higbee. (AP Photo/Burlington Free Press, Ryan Mercer)

By Dave Gram
Associated Press
November 11, 2011

"This person has clearly needed more help than we were capable of giving him here at this park," said Emily Reynolds, a University of Vermont student and a leader in the local Occupy movement.

If government provided better mental health services, she said, "this probably wouldn't have happened."

BURLINGTON, Vt.—Police said preliminary investigations show a 35-year-old military veteran fatally shot himself in the head Thursday at an Occupy Wall Street encampment in Vermont's largest city.

Burlington police said the name of the Chittenden County resident is being withheld because his family has not been fully notified.

The man shot himself inside a tent in City Hall Park on Thursday afternoon. Mike Noble, a spokesman for the Fletcher Allen Health Care hospital in Burlington, confirmed that the man had died. Noble said he could provide no other details.


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Vets Form Backbone of ‘Occupy DC’ Protest: Or do They?

Vets Form Backbone of ‘Occupy DC’ Protest: Or do They?
November 08, 2011
Military.com|by Bryant Jordan

Former servicemembers don't just make up part of Washington's population of "Occupy Wall Street" protestors -- by one measure, they make up fully half.

Veterans established one of the city's two main encampments, and it's clear from the neat layout of tents there was military planning behind it. A large white tent is clearly marked for first aid. There's also a mess tent where people can get chow, and the concrete path that runs like a main street down the center of the camp is totally clear.

"Veterans for Peace are the organizers, and we're a little older," said Bill Miniutti, a former Marine artilleryman and Vietnam veteran. He came up from Jacksonville, Fla., for the protest in early October, but the origins of the Vets for Peace camp go back even further. "They were actually working on this since March, way before [Occupy] Wall Street."

"We actually have port-o-potties -- and us old men need that," he quipped.
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Iraq veteran in intensive care after being beaten by police

With all the uproar over Scott Olsen being hit by a teargas canister, this should really set veterans off since Sabehgi was beaten, so there is no way he was hit on accident.

Occupy Oakland: second Iraq war veteran injured after police clashes
Kayvan Sabehgi in intensive care with a lacerated spleen after protests in Oakland, a week after Scott Olsen was hurt. He says police beat him with batons

Adam Gabbatt
guardian.co.uk, Friday 4 November 2011

A second Iraq war veteran has suffered serious injuries after clashes between police and Occupy movement protesters in Oakland.

Kayvan Sabehgi, who served in Iraq and Afghanistan, is in intensive care with a lacerated spleen.

He says he was beaten by police close to the Occupy Oakland camp, but despite suffering agonising pain, did not reach hospital until 18 hours later.

Sabehgi, 32, is the second Iraq war veteran to be hospitalised following involvement in Oakland protests. Another protester, Scott Olsen, suffered a fractured skull on 25 October.

On Wednesday night, police used teargas and non-lethal projectiles to drive back protesters following an attempt by the Occupy supporters to shut down the city of Oakland.

Sabehgi told the Guardian from hospital he was walking alone along 14th Street in central Oakland – away from the main area of clashes – when he was injured.

"There was a group of police in front of me," he told the Guardian from his hospital bed. "They told me to move, but I was like: 'Move to where?' There was nowhere to move.
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Hundreds of protestors at Berkeley, none at White House?

“The passed ordinances are far beyond the realm of civil politics," said David B. Norris of the group Veterans of Foreign Wars.
"It is one thing to oppose military operations in Iraq, but it is completely different to declare war on the men and women who faithfully serve the elected officials of this city. Our troops deserve our unwavering support for their dedication and commitment to our country."

Berkeley Mayor To Marines: 'Don't Expect An Apology'
Protesters Face Off At Berkeley City Hall Over Marine Flap

POSTED: 5:58 am PST February 12, 2008


BERKELEY, Calif. -- As hundreds of protesters on both sides of the Iraq War debate demonstrated in Berkeley Tuesday, the city's mayor told officials with the Marine recruiting office in town they should not expect an apology.



NBC11 REPORT: Emotional Debate Erupts In Berkeley Over Marine Issue
NEW SLIDESHOW: View Images
RAW VIDEO: Competing Rallies In Berkeley
OCT. PROTEST: View Images
SLIDESHOW: Crowds Gather At Berkeley City Hall

"I think it's unwanted," said Berkeley mayor Tom Bates. "I think it stands (that) we didn't want them here and they came here. And (they are) unwelcome, you know we'd like them to leave voluntarily. So I don't think an apology is in order."

At first glance the statement appears to be a "flip flop" from the statement Bates made last week, when he issued an apology to family members of those serving in Iraq.


"We apologize for any offense to any families of anyone who may serve in Iraq. We want them to come home and be safe at home," Bates, a retired U.S. Army captain, said last week.

Last week's apology apparently had not been directed at officials at the Marine recruiting station.

Scores of activists have been pouring into the city over the last several days as the Berkley City Council prepared to consider rescinding a letter it drafted last month to the recruiting center telling Marines they were not welcome in the city. NBC11's Jodi Hernandez said Tuesday night's meeting was expected to be heated, with crowds growing by the hour.
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http://www.nbc11.com/news/15278981/detail.html


Hundreds of people both against the occupation of Iraq and the pro-war people spending hours standing in line, holding signs, screaming at each other, accusing each other of not supporting the troops, all because the City of Berkley doesn't want Marine recruiters there. I find it fascinating that all this talk about who supports the troops finds so much time to protest for or against the occupation of Iraq but they fail to find the time to do the same to protest the appalling treatment and lack of action the wounded have to endure.

Where are the protests when wounded veterans are pulled out of the hospital to be sent back to Iraq? Where are the protestors when they are being sent back with medication after they have already been diagnosed as wounded and unable to even work a peaceful job? Where are they when the disabled veterans claims sit in a pile over 650,000 deep on in an appeal mountain of over 140,000 deep? Where are they when families are losing their homes because a member of their family was deployed as a member of the National Guard so many times they lost their jobs and businesses? Where are they when the President dares to have his lawyer state in court the government does not owe the veterans mental health care of even timely care?

All of these people on both sides can show up and fight about if a city has a right to have recruiters there or not but they can't seem to be bothered to write a letter when the wounded already back home need their help. They can march down the streets of cities and towns protesting the occupation of Iraq or stand on the side walk shouting about how the others are against the troops all they want, but when you get right down to it, none of them are really there when it matters to the wounded that keep getting wounded while they fight over how to end it and who is the most patriotic among them. The real patriots are the men and women who put on the uniform and took an oath to serve this nation under the Constitution, not under a particular president. It is their lives being risked and if God's grace keeps them alive to return wounded, you'd think it would be of more meaning to them to know their wounds would be treated without delay, their bills would be paid as compensation for their wound and they would not have to fight for every tiny thing this nation truly owes them.

Until the occupation of Iraq ends and until the occupation of Afghanistan ends, there will be more wounded for many more years to come. We are already behind taking care of them. How do they expect the wounded veterans to survive between now and the time they get around to paying attention to them? Why can't both sides for once come together and prove where their hearts are and protest at the White House for them to be taken care of?

"It is one thing to oppose military operations in Iraq, but it is completely different to declare war on the men and women who faithfully serve the elected officials of this city. Our troops deserve our unwavering support for their dedication and commitment to our country." How does this sound to you now?

Back from Iraq:Mental scars of war still fresh 2 years later

"Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is no longer a rare diagnosis for combat veterans, but it is almost never discussed publicly. Why is that? Amputees are commonly seen in the media, as are family members and friends of soldiers who have died. It is hard to imagine that mental scars can be as difficult to deal with as physical ones, but they can be. The biggest difference between the two is that physical injuries are more noticeable, often even obvious. PTSD leaves no marks, nothing that signifies trauma to the naked eye."

Guest Columnist: Mental scars of war still fresh 2 years later
Two incidents with IEDs while vet was in Iraq, have taken a toll on her life, her dreams and her psyche.

Elizabeth Ricci

Last update: October 27, 2007 – 4:19 PM
When people talk about the war in Iraq, discussion almost always focuses on topics related to the physical survival of soldiers. As a veteran of this war, I believe more attention needs to be paid to the mental scars soldiers are suffering.

Homemade bombs called IEDs -- improvised explosive devices -- are what have claimed the most lives in Iraq, by far. These devices can range in force from causing mild annoyance to instantaneous death. Early in my deployment, I had my first of several personal encounters with an IED.
go here for the rest

http://www.startribune.com/10240/story/1501645.html

There is more outrage among veterans right now on the web over the speeches people can give in the flag folding ceremony at a military funeral. You would think there would be more outrage over the veterans like Ricci, but there isn't. They come home as they have done from all other wars, carrying the combat with them and the horrors they see. What causes the outrage? A flag folding ceremony for the fallen.

Yesterday I attended one of the protest marches across the country. It was raining in Orlando but still they came to voice their outrage over Bush's delusion in Iraq. No one protested being in Afghanistan, which has all but been forgotten. Swarms of peace marchers walked in front of a small group of pro-war people. Sitting across the street so that I could get a good film of it, as I waited for them to come, it stuck me that both groups were taking a stand for the same reason. Both groups care deeply about the soldiers in Iraq but they cannot come together on the right way to support them.

How can they? Those who have researched how and why the troops ended up in Iraq blame Bush for what he is doing to the military and the people of Iraq. The other side sees it as their duty to support Bush because he is the Commander-in-Chief. They feel it is a betrayal to the men and women in Iraq to go against Bush. Their commonality is the passion they feel for those serving. Both groups feel outrage. Where is the outrage for the wounded coming back? Bush and those who support him have turned those who support just the troops and not him, into the enemy of pro-war groups. Why can't they see that no one is protesting the action taken in Afghanistan?

Still, as I read what outrages people, when apathy does not have them focusing on trivial nonsense, I can't help but wonder who is behind all of this. The bloggers go nuts when someone on the other side says something they can sharpen their teeth on. I'm guilty of that too. Yet I also sharpen my teeth when I see more outrage over trivial than I do over what matters in the lives of the men and women coming back from what we fight over. I care deeply about how they were sent into Iraq and how no one in Washington has done their job while expecting the military to pull off all of it, but I care more about the state of their lives when they come home to live with what they survived.

Go and read the rest of what Ricci wrote and then ask yourself why you can't be so moved as you were yesterday across the country for the sake of the wounded. They need all of us to help them today, not when the occupation is over. The sooner the better, but until it is over, we will have more wounded needing help today. Can't both groups at least come together on this for them?





Kathie Costos

Namguardianangel@aol.com

www.Namguardianangel.org

www.Namguardianangel.blogspot.com

www.Woundedtimes.blogspot.com

"The willingness with which our young people are likely to serve in any war, no matter how justified, shall be directly proportional to how they perceive veterans of early wars were treated and appreciated by our nation." - George Washington