'Idealist' tried to halt Saddam's Kurdish slaughter

When President Bush sent the troops into Iraq, first it was because of our security. Then some of the people on the right pointed out how Saddam killed the Kurds, as if it had just happened. It was the talking point of the time when the WMD claim fell flat on the face of the all involved. The truth was, when it came to a choice between people and business, business won and people died.

After the Gulf War, President Bush (41) was blamed for telling the Kurds to rise up against Saddam and they would have the backing of the America. We didn't help them at all. The only thing that was done was the establishment of the no-fly zone under the UN sanctions. By then it was too late for hundreds of Kurds.

What really gets me in all of this is that when the Kurdish north was being bombed by Turkey and Iran because of the new freedom the Kurds had, the media never really covered any of it.

Well, now can know the rest of the story if you haven't read any of the history of what went on in Iraq.

'Idealist' tried to halt Saddam's Kurdish slaughter

Scream Bloody Murder
Christiane Amanpour introduces you to the courageous few who saw evil and tried to stop the killing.December 4, 9 p.m. ET
see full schedule »

Story Highlights
Years before the first Gulf War, Saddam Hussein was slaughtering Iraq's Kurds

Peter Galbraith was one of the first Westerners to see the effects of the killing

A Senate staffer at the time, he tried to invoke the U.N. Genocide Convention

The House killed his sanctions bill with backing from the Reagan White House

By Andy Segal
CNN Senior Producer

(CNN) -- Years before the first Gulf War, Saddam Hussein was slaughtering Iraq's Kurds with bombs, bullets and gas


The Reagan White House saw it as a ruthless attempt to put down a rebellion by a minority ethnic group fighting for independence and allied with Iraq's enemy, Iran.

But Peter Galbraith thought it was something worse.

"A light went off in my head, and I said, 'Saddam Hussein is committing genocide,'" said Galbraith, who was on the staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee at the time.

An unabashed idealist, Galbraith was known for tackling unconventional issues.

"If you're going to be idealistic in life, you're going to be disappointed," he said. "But that's not a reason to abandon idealism."

Galbraith was one of the first Westerners to witness the effects of the slaughter. During a fact-finding trip for the Senate in 1987, he saw something troubling.


"When we crossed from the Arab part of Iraq into the Kurdish part of Iraq, the villages and towns that showed on our maps just weren't there," he said. Bulldozing Kurdish villages was just the first phase of Hussein's war against the Kurds. In 1988, it escalated with chemical weapons.

"Thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people were killed in those attacks, and then Iraqi troops moved into those villages and gunned down the survivors."

Galbraith wanted to invoke the U.N.'s Genocide Convention, which requires countries to prevent and punish such crimes.

"We could not stand aside and allow Saddam Hussein to commit genocide against the Kurds of Iraq."

With the support of his boss, Democratic Sen. Claiborne Pell of Rhode Island, Galbraith drafted a bill -- the Prevention of Genocide Act -- that would cut off U.S. foreign aid to Iraq and impose a trade embargo.


"That would have been an appropriate response to a dictator who is gassing his own people," Galbraith said. "I thought with a name like that it would garner a lot of support."

But the compelling name was not enough. So Galbraith went back to the region to gather more evidence.


Tens of thousands of Kurds had fled to Turkey. Survivors described blinding, burning clouds of poison gas that dropped people in their tracks.

"These people don't make up these stories. These are real stories. And if you talk to them, if you simply talk to them ... you know that they're telling the truth," Galbraith said.

His report was still not enough to persuade the White House to punish Saddam.


The Reagan administration had invested several years cultivating Iraq as an ally against Iran, their mutual enemy, and as a market for U.S. products, including more than $1 billion a year in farm exports.

The Prevention of Genocide Act would end the diplomatic courtship and hurt U.S businesses.
Read once-secret documents from the Reagan administration
go here to read more
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/11/20/sbm.iraq.galbraith/index.html

Join us: CNN & MTV honor the vets

Join us: CNN & MTV honor the vets

Posted: 10:35 PM ET
Program Note: 3 out of 4 young people know someone who is currently serving or has served in Iraq or Afghanistan. Anderson helps MTV shine a light on issues facing young veterans… A special hour you don’t want to miss.
‘Back From The Battle’ airs Saturday and Sunday 8p ET
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/24/join-us-cnn-mtv-honor-the-vets/

Fact Check: Did Afghan general say 'surge principle' won't work?

McCain would know this if he paid attention or if he could remember what was said and when it was said. Considering his people prepared Palin with talking points, we shouldn't wonder why she got this one wrong as well. McCain sits on the committee but has not attended a single hearing on Afghanistan. This is a fact as well.

Average citizens do not spend countless hours researching what is real and what is spin to know the difference or keep up with any of this. This election is too important to assume any of them are telling the truth without verifying it especially when it comes to the lives of the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan along with the security interests of this nation and vast amounts of money being spent. It was easy for Bush and McCain to call people "anti-war" while they ignored the fact that most Americans supported what was being done in Afghanistan but while they avoided even discussing Afghanistan, lives were lost, time was lost and we became less safe. It's about time the average, "Joe six pack" as Palin labeled average Americans, paid attention to all of this and what the truth is.

October 3, 2008
Fact Check: Did Afghan general say 'surge principle' won't work?
Posted: 07:00 AM ET

Sen. Joe Biden said the 'commanding general in Afghanistan said the surge principle won't work in Afghanistan.'
The Statement:
Sen. Joe Biden said at the Oct. 2 vice presidential debate that "our commanding general in Afghanistan said the surge principle in Iraq will not work in Afghanistan."

Get the facts!


The Facts:
Gov. Sarah Palin, who lauded the successes of the "surge strategy" in Iraq, asserted in the debate that "the surge principles, not the exact strategy, but the surge principles that have worked in Iraq need to be implemented in Afghanistan."

But Sen. Joe Biden disagreed, saying "our commanding general in Afghanistan said the surge principle in Iraq will not work in Afghanistan. … He said we need more troops. We need government-building. We need to spend more money on the infrastructure in Afghanistan."

Gen. David McKiernan, the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, was quoted on Oct. 2 in The Washington Post as saying that "no Iraq-style 'surge' of forces will end the conflict" in Afghanistan, even though more U.S. troops are needed to take on a growing insurgency.

"Afghanistan is not Iraq," McKiernan said in Washington on Oct. 1. He also said "the word I don't use for Afghanistan is 'surge.' " He called for a "sustained commitment" leading to a political and not just a military solution.

He said Afghanistan is a "far more complex environment than I ever found in Iraq." The newspaper paraphrased him as citing the country's "unique challenges" — "the mountainous terrain, rural population, poverty, illiteracy, 400 major tribal networks and history of civil war."

The Verdict: True.

Filed under: Fact Check
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Fact Check: Debate claims -- fact or fiction?

Iraq and Afghanistan PTSD veterans, CNN wants to hear from you

This comment was left on my YouTube group. It's no joke. I got off the phone with her less than a half hour ago.

acginnyc has sent you a message on YouTube:
CNN urgent request -- PTSD/veterans
Greetings, My name is Chris Gajilan. I’m a senior producer for CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta. I came across your channel on youtube.

We are working on a piece profiling an Iraq/Afghanistan war veteran who suffers from PTSD. I am wondering if you could help us find the appropriate person who is willing to share their story – who has benefited from your program. The report will be part of a larger CNN and MTV project. Our networks are working together towards an MTV special airing 10/24 that will become a CNN “Anderson Cooper 360” special airing the following day.

The MTV program is a 4-hour event “Fight for Veterans” that will include music acts and news pieces. The news pieces come from CNN and will focus on vet issues. Here are some of the elements we’d like to consider: --a veteran of the Iraq/Afghanistan war who suffers from PTSD.

--in their 20s or 30s
--he/she has family members who have been affected by their loved one with PTSD and are willing to be interviewed on camera.
--lives in NY city area or Atlanta
--ideally we would shoot some footage sometime next week (week of 09/15 or week of 09/22) and again on Friday 10/10 (Dr. Gupta will spend some time interviewing them).
--vet who has still photos or home video of himself/herself and family over the years.
--if possible, somebody who struggled to get PTSD care after asking for help

Thanks again,
Chris A. Chris Gajilan Senior Producer
CNN Medical News One Time Warner Center, 0403N3 New York, NY 10019
w 212.275.8058
I m 917.406.7742
I f 212.275.9549

Speaking out on PTSD
PTSD is a wound. No one would be ashamed of a bullet wound. Why be ashamed of this wound? End the silence and break the stigma. More than you know suffer from this wound. Trauma is Greek for wound.
acginnyc has made a comment on PTSD Final battle of war:
Thanks for your video NamGuardian. This msg is for any iraq/afghanistan vets who are willing to share their stories of PTSD. Im a senior producer for CNN. We are working on a piece profiling an Iraq/Afghanistan war veteran who suffers from PTSD. If you're interested in speaking to us pls msg me.



If you feel my videos helped you, then help CNN. Their goal is the same as mine. To help veterans heal. We have to get rid of the stigma and provide the help, support and knowledge to all veterans dealing with this wound and give other veterans a reason to hope they can be healed. Too many are taking their own lives as hope slips through their hands. Do you want to feel like a hero again? You are one already because you were born that way. It may have been a very long time since you last felt like one though. Coming forward and being willing to talk about what has been going on, what has helped you, will help others.

I'm keeping my promise to all of you to keep your stories and emails private and will not break that ever. It's up to you to contact CNN to talk to them. I can understand some of you won't be able to but for those who are, pray for them so they can be your voice.

Senior Chaplain Kathie Costos
Namguardianangel@aol.com
www.Namguardianangel.org
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

Homeless veterans worth less than 2 minutes to CNN

Veterans Living on the Street: CNN Reports

By homelessalliance CNN did a short story on Homeless Veterans in Washington, DC, highlighting that post traumatic stress disorder is a contributing factor to homelessness and almost 2000 Iraq War veterans around the country are homeless (according to the ...The Homeless Alliance of WNY - http://homelessalliance.wordpress.com

The video report was 1:59. 2,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans already living on the streets across America joining the older veterans who found no place to call home and all CNN could do was devote less than two minutes to this important issue. At least they did report on that much anyway.

Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at power of prayer

Prayer as healing source 2:41
Dr. Sanjay Gupta looks at the effects of faith and prayer on our health.
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2008/06/25/gupta.power.of.prayer.cnn

Coping when loved ones have dangerous jobs

• Coping when loved ones have dangerous jobs
  Story Highlights
  Families of soldiers, police, firefighters live with anxiety
  
  Expert: Family stress symptoms similar to those of post-traumatic stress
  
  Eating and sleeping problems, headaches, irritability and withdrawal
  
  Widow: Make the most of time together because it is not unlimited

(LifeWire) -- RoseEllen Dowdell wakes up in the middle of the night, thinking about her sons, one in the military and one a firefighter. Kristina Zimmerman changes the channel when she hears of another soldier killed -- not wanting to worry about her husband, a military policeman.

For them, and for other families of firefighters, soldiers, police officers, miners or anyone else who risks death to do their jobs, anxiety is a part of life.

"It is a constant state of worry and this feeling like your stomach is in your throat," says Zimmerman, 23, a stay-at-home mother of three whose husband, Michael, searches for drugs and bombs with an Army K-9 unit. The military will be sending him to Kosovo for a year in early 2008.

"I get frustrated because, yes, I know he is just doing his job and that he is doing it for us," says Zimmerman, who lives in Miesau, Germany -- where her husband is stationed. "But at the same time I don't understand how he can put himself at risk, and our kids and me at risk of losing him as a father and husband."

Dowdell, 51, who lives in the New York City borough of Queens, knows that kind of risk intimately. Her husband, Kevin, a 20-year veteran New York City firefighter and a member of an elite rescue unit, died in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.

Dowdell and her sons waited many anxious months for Kevin's body to be recovered
It was not until April 2002, when the majority of debris had been cleared from ground zero, that the Dowdell family was able to hold a memorial service and experience some kind of closure. Kevin Dowdell's body was never found.

go here for the rest

http://www.cnn.com/2007/LIVING/personal/11/27/uncertainty/

Wounded Warriors Face Home-front Battle with VA

VA Fails Wounded Warriors
But he didn't expect a new battle when he returned home as a wounded warrior: a fight with the Department of Veterans Affairs. "Sometimes, you get lost in the system," he told CNN.

Wounded Warriors Face Home-front Battle with VA
Story Highlights
Ty Ziegel lost an arm, part of his skull when he was attacked in Iraq
VA initially rated his brain injury at 0%, meaning he got no compensation for it
Another vet: VA rejected his claim, saying his wounds were "not service connected"
Ziegel: "I want to make the VA system better"From Emily Probst
CNN WASHINGTON, Illinois (CNN) -- Ty Ziegel peers from beneath his Marine Corps baseball cap, his once boyish face burned beyond recognition by a suicide bomber's attack in Iraq just three days before Christmas 2004. He lost part of his skull in the blast and part of his brain was damaged. Half of his left arm was amputated and some of the fingers were blown off his right hand.Ziegel, a 25-year-old Marine sergeant, knew the dangers of war when he was deployed for his second tour in Iraq. But he didn't expect a new battle when he returned home as a wounded warrior: a fight with the Department of Veterans Affairs. "Sometimes, you get lost in the system," he told CNN. "I feel like a Social Security number. I don't feel like Tyler Ziegel." His story is one example of how medical advances in the battlefield have outpaced the home front. Many wounded veterans return home feeling that the VA system, specifically its 62-year-old disability ratings system, has failed them.
click post title for the rest


Iraq War Vet Let Down by V.A. 2:40
CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta investigates Iraq War veteran Garrett Anderson's disability compensation.
• CNN.com - CNN: Special Investigations Unit
Source: CNN Added November 14, 2007

Wounded Marine fights the V.A.1:57
A family of warriors2:33
Iraq War Vet Let Down by V.A.2:40
The price of war2:12


These are wounds you can see with your eyes. After you watch the videos, think of how hard it is for the veterans with wounds you cannot see.

Claims of PTSD being "over-used" avoid reality

"Trauma survivors have a different outlook. There is a new sense of danger and vulnerability," he said. "But it doesn't mean you're not resilient."

Forum looks at storm victims, war veterans
Groups have much in common
By MEGHA SATYANARAYANA
megha@sunherald.com

War and a hurricane - when it comes to mental trauma, the two aren't so different.
This was one conclusion of a forum Thursday night featuring two mental-health professionals and a Sun Herald staff writer. The seminar was about post-traumatic stress syndrome, the recognized precursor of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Mental trauma after the storm fell into two categories, said Steve Barrilleaux, director of Outpatient Services at Gulf Coast Mental Health Center in Gulfport. There were those with no mental-health problems before Katrina, who afterward began feeling anxiety and depression for the first time. Then there were those with pre-existing issues, which the hurricane exacerbated.
go here for the rest
http://www.sunherald.com/201/story/172947.html

"But these symptoms alone are not enough for a PTSD diagnosis, which he said is overused." Barrilleaux went on to claim.

If anything, it is under diagnosed.
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
Navy Psychologist Warns of Mental Health Provider, PTSD Training Shortfalls

From USA Today:


From his distant vantage point treating Marines at a base in Iwakuni, Japan, [Navy Cmdr. Mark] Russell, 46, has been speaking out for three years that the U.S. military faces a mental health crisis in the treatment of its combat veterans.

He has fired off memos to higher command and has gone public with his views, an unusual step for many in the military. Russell discussed his concerns in phone and Internet interviews. "We cannot provide the standard of care to treat PTSD via psychotherapy when we can barely keep up with new referrals and have to manage crises while filling in for the staffing gaps and vacancies due to deployment, attrition or no billeting," Russell says. "This is why I have been so outspoken."
http://ptsdcombat.blogspot.com/2007/01/navy-psychologist-warns-of-mental.html

From NAMI
How common is PTSD?
Studies suggest that anywhere between 2 percent and 9 percent of the population has had some degree of PTSD. However, the likelihood of developing the disorder is greater when someone is exposed to multiple traumas or traumatic events early in life (or both), especially if the trauma is long term or repeated. More cases of this disorder are found among inner-city youths and people who have recently emigrated from troubled countries. And women seem to develop PTSD more often than men.

Veterans are perhaps the people most often associated with PTSD, or what was once referred to as "shell shock" or "battle fatigue." The Anxiety Disorders Association of America notes that an estimated 15 percent to 30 percent of the 3.5 million men and women who served in Vietnam have suffered from PTSD.

What are the symptoms of PTSD?Although the symptoms for individuals with PTSD can vary considerably, they generally fall into three categories:

Re-experience - Individuals with PTSD often experience recurrent and intrusive recollections of and/or nightmares about the stressful event. Some may experience flashbacks, hallucinations, or other vivid feelings of the event happening again. Others experience great psychological or physiological distress when certain things (objects, situations, etc.) remind them of the event.
Avoidance - Many with PTSD will persistently avoid things that remind them of the traumatic event. This can result in avoiding everything from thoughts, feelings, or conversations associated with the incident to activities, places, or people that cause them to recall the event. In others there may be a general lack of responsiveness signaled by an inability to recall aspects of the trauma, a decreased interest in formerly important activities, a feeling of detachment from others, a limited range of emotion, and/or feelings of hopelessness about the future.

Increased arousal - Symptoms in this area may include difficulty falling or staying asleep, irritability or outbursts of anger, difficulty concentrating, becoming very alert or watchful, and/or jumpiness or being easily startled.

It is important to note that those with PTSD often use alcohol or other drugs in an attempt to self-medicate. Individuals with this disorder may also be at an increased risk for suicide.
go here for the rest

http://www.nami.org/Template.cfm?Section=
By_Illness&template=/ContentManagement/
ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentID=10095

Dr. Sanjay Gupta, and the CNN Medical Unit

It's no surprise that most people who endure a traumatic event suffer from some symptoms of PTSD, but the effects will often subside. According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, about 8 percent of men and 20 percent of women go on to develop PTSD and roughly 20 percent of those people develop a chronic lifelong form of it. The condition is associated with other ailments such as increased risk of heart disease in men.

In terms of children, Stanford researchers found that severe stress can damage a child's brain. They looked at children suffering from PTSD as result of severe abuse and found that they often suffered a decrease in the size of the hippocampus - a part of the brain involved in memory processing and emotion. What's even more startling is that this effect on the brain may make it even harder for them to process normal stress for the rest of their lives. These days, more and more money and attention is being directed towards PTSD research, due in great part to the war. As troops come home from Iraq and Afghanistan, as many as 13 percent are found to have PTSD. There can be thousands more whose conditions go undiagnosed.

http://www.cnn.com/HEALTH/blogs/paging.dr.gupta
/2007/08/back-to-va-tech-ptsd-concerns.html

Anyone can claim whatever they want if they have a title after their name but if they have no, or little, background dealing with PTSD, they will make claims that are not educated ones. I've read what they've had to say for 25 years. The professionals who write what is lived with and through are the ones I trust. If they come out with claims that PTSD is over used, I don't trust them.

There have been too many cases of someone having PTSD and not being diagnosed with it. Over 22,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan were given "personality disorder" markers instead of PTSD. Max Cleland, triple amputee, ex-senator, ex-head of the VA, was diagnosed with depression and treated for that since Vietnam, but it turned out, he too had PTSD.