Doctor laments brush-off of Iraqi war dead

Doctor laments brush-off of Iraqi war dead
Tom Paulson, Hearst Newspapers

Thursday, October 23, 2008


(10-23) 04:00 PDT Seattle --

Dr. Les Roberts risked his life a few years ago to get some numbers that some people fiercely attack as inaccurate or misleading and that many, many more probably pay little or no attention to.


Roberts, a physician and prominent public health scientist at Columbia University, believes there is solid evidence that something like half a million people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Iraq war. His statistics are about 10 times higher than the estimates put forth by the Bush administration and Pentagon.

But a much bigger problem than the numerical disparity, Roberts said, is the simple fact that so few even ask.

"I think it's important that every American understand the true magnitude of this tragedy," said Roberts. Unfortunately, he added, few in the media or in government appear to want to draw attention to the deaths that have so severely altered the life of nearly every Iraqi.

In 2004, Roberts and colleagues sneaked into Iraq with dyed beards and dressed in robes to conduct a series of mortality "cluster point" surveys in various communities while the war raged on. His team initially estimated the civilian death toll as at least 100,000 (two to three times the official estimate) but later analysis caused him to raise the estimate to be 95 percent certain to be in the range of 400,000 to 950,000 - or a mean of about 650,000 deaths. The findings were reported in the British medical journal the Lancet in 2006.

"To help people understand this, given the population of Iraq, this would be like New York City having two 9/11 attacks every week over a period of three years," Roberts said. Things have gotten less violent in Iraq, he said, but nobody should be lulled into thinking that things are good.
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US combat hospital saving more wounded Iraqis

US combat hospital saving more wounded Iraqis
By ANNA JOHNSON – 3 hours ago

BALAD, Iraq (AP) — The U.S. military's main combat hospital in Iraq has increasingly switched to helping Iraqis. As the numbers of wounded American soldiers have fallen, the hospital is now saving the lives of a remarkable 93 percent of Iraqis who come with devastating injuries.

It's another sign of the radical improvements in health care made at combat trauma care units in war time — especially because unlike U.S. soldiers, most Iraqi patients at the Air Force Theater Hospital don't wear body armor and helmets or drive in vehicles designed to withstand roadside bombs.

"There are people with injuries that are brought here, and I say this with confidence, if they went anywhere else in the world, they would not survive," said Col. Mark Mavity, the commander of the hospital.

On one recent day, 5-year-old Sajad Lafta lay in his bed crying for his father while his older half brother, Abdul Wahid, tried to comfort him by holding up a picture of a puppy that Sajad colored while recovering at the hospital.

The boy didn't know yet that Wahid, 25, came to visit him because his father was attending the funerals for two of his other young sons. They were killed by a car bomb that blew off Sajad's lower left leg and left tiny pieces of metal scattered over his body.

"Thank God, we are positive he is going to live," said Wahid, who planned to bring the puppy picture home to their mother as proof that Sajad was alive.
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US: 7 soldiers die in chopper crash in Iraq

US: 7 soldiers die in chopper crash in Iraq
Washington Post - United States

By SAMEER N. YACOUB
The Associated Press
Thursday, September 18, 2008; 12:25 AM

BAGHDAD -- An American Chinook helicopter crashed early Thursday as it was landing in southern Iraq, killing seven U.S. soldiers, the military said.

The CH-47 Chinook was landing after midnight about 60 miles west of Basra at the time of the crash, the U.S. statement said.

A spokesman for the Multi-National Force-Iraq confirmed to The Associated Press that the helicopter had crashed. He said five had died, and the bodies of two soldiers who had originally been missing were found.

The spokesman said hostile fire was not suspected.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to provide details.

The chopper was a part of an aerial convoy flying from Kuwait to the U.S. military base at Balad just north of Baghdad. The Chinook, the Army's workhorse, is designed to transport troops and supplies to combat and other regions.

The statement said the incident was under investigation.
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Soldier's death steels mom's voice

Capt. Brian S. Freeman, USMA 1999, a civil affairs officer assigned to the 412th Civil Affairs Battalion, Whitehall, Ohio, a subordinate unit of the U.S. Army Civil Affairs and Psychological Operations Command (Airborne), died while deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Utah delegate to Dem convention
Soldier's death steels mom's voice
By Robert Gehrke
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 08/23/2008 01:26:51 AM MDT

Four years ago, Kathleen Snyder wouldn't have considered being a national delegate to the Democratic Convention.

But that was before her son, Capt. Brian Freeman, was kidnapped, tortured and executed while fighting in a war he didn't believe in.

"He would always say 'quit complaining and do something,' " she said.

A lifelong Democrat, she hadn't done much more than vote before her son was called up and deployed to Iraq.

She started working in local races and became more active in the state party. But she says her new vocation was given a keen focus when she learned her son had been killed.

Next week, Snyder will be casting a vote for Sen. Barack Obama when Democrats gather in Denver, hoping it might help end the war.

"I was against the war and he was against the war long before he was called back" to active duty, Snyder said. "I think it's futile. It never should have been fought. It's the saddest thing ever in my life."
go here for more
http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_10283464

Sgt. Nickolas Lee Hopper officially listed as combat death

Illinois Marine counted among combat deaths
Associated Press
1:18 PM CDT, August 22, 2008
RALEIGH, N.C. - The military says a North Carolina-based Marine who died last year from injuries he suffered in 2005 has officially been counted as a combat death in Iraq.

The Department of Defense said Friday that 27-year-old Sergeant Nickolas Lee Hopper of Montrose, Illinois, died in September 2007. The married father was wounded more than two years earlier while fighting in Anbar province.

Hopper wasn't officially included in the list of Iraq casualties at the time. The military says Hopper was added to the list based on his final autopsy report.

Further details haven't been released.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-ap-nc-marinedies,0,2608823.story

Military needs to stop hiding behind "under investigation" on non-combat deaths

These are just some of the non-combat deaths. Some have been counted in the death toll of war but far too many have not.

death under investigation (36)

Staff Sgt. Derrick Degrate
attempted suicide sent back
http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2007/08/soldier-sent-back-to-duty-three-days.html

Spc. John R. Fish
suspected suicide
http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2007/08/spc-john-r-fish-death-suspected-suicide.html


Sgt. Denise A. Lannaman fatally shot herself in Kuwait

http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2007/09/from-queens-to-kuwait-where-life-was.html

Spc. Michael Crutchfield suicide
http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2007/10/suicide-of-mike-crutchfield-army.html

Marine Lance Cpl. Jeffrey Lucey, who died by his own hand in June 2004.
http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2007/11/marine-lance-corporal-jeffrey-luceys.html

Sgt. Matthew A. Proulx, a soldier to the end, had no interest in seeking help
Staff Sgt. Justin Reyes, a proven leader in Iraq, was troubled back in the U.S
Sgt. Gary Underhill loved the Army life, but had nightmares and anxiety.
Airman Andrew Norlund, praised for his work ethic, was frustrated and angry
http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2007/11/four-erie-county-soldiers-commit.html

Spc. Melvin Henley was on his second tour of duty in Iraq The cause of death was a single gunshot wound to the head
http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2007/11/local-paper-uncovers-another-apparent.html

Tyler Curtis survived bullets and bombs. But once he got home, he couldn’t escape the emotional wounds he suffered.
http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2007/12/tyler-curtis-survived-bullets-and-bombs.html

Sammantha Owen-Ewing, a soldier who hung herself
http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2007/12/sammantha-arlene-owen-ewing-after.html

Pvt. Daren Smith died Dec. 13, 2007, of self-inflicted wounds.
http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2007/12/another-non-combat-death.html

Jason Scheuerman, death came on July 30, 2005, around 5:30 p.m., about 45 minutes after his first sergeant told the teary-eyed private that if he was intentionally misbehaving so he could leave the Army, he would go to jail where he would be abused.
http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2007/12/despite-signs-suicidal-soldier-not.html

Sgt. T.J. Sweet, 23, of Bismarck, N.D., was fatally shot in his barracks in 2003 in Iraq in what she says the Army has determined to be a self-inflicted wound,
http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2007/12/why-are-family-member-last-to-know.html

Chris Dana came home from the war in Iraq in 2005 and slipped into a mental abyss so quietly that neither his family nor the Montana Army National Guard noticed.

http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2007/12/suicide-of-spec-chris-dana-causes.html

Army Specialist Noah C. Pierce.

http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2008/01/soldiers-words-push-mother-to-act.html

Sgt. Lorek was a two tour OIF veteran and under the care of the VAMC for PTSD and a back injury
http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2008/01/sgt-joe-lorek-ends-ptsd-combat.html

Sgt. Jacob Blaylock shot himself this month
http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2007/12/sgt-jacob-blaylock-wont-be-counted.html

Lt. j.g. Terry Dugas, 37, who hanged himself in a semi-populated area in the small town of Sant’Alfio
http://woundedtimes.blogspot.com/2008/02/lt-terry-dugas-hanged-himself-near.html

Lance Cpl. James Jenkins
Marine Jeffrey Lucey
Marine Eric Hall, PTSD, found dead in Florida
Marine Jonathan Schultz
Sgt. Brenden Teetsell
Sgt. Steven Vickerman
Pvt. Ashley Baker
Sgt. James Musack

The list goes on and on. There were more, too many more non-combat deaths.

If this is not an issue that needs attention, nothing does. There are far too many still listed as "under investigation" and until the media begins to push for answers, we will not know the true number. Some die by their own hands, others as we have seen in the past, die at the hands of someone else. If the problem of suicides in the military is ever going to be addressed, the true number of them must be reported. We need to know what is failing to prevent it in the future. We need to know beyond a doubt what it will take to save their lives and do it.

Part V: Joy over survival, tears at extension

Part V: Joy over survival, tears at extension
By Sharon Cohen - The Associated PressPosted : Friday Aug 8, 2008 16:29:21 EDT

Christmas Day arrived — and for two 1st Brigade Combat Team soldiers, there was a gift like no other: their very survival.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Can the long separation be extended further? Yes, and for some there’s major fighting ahead. Fifth of a seven-part series on the longest deployment of the Iraq war.
Sgt. J.R. Salzman had arrived at Walter Reed Army Medical Center hours earlier, days after being critically injured in a roadside bomb in Iraq.
A few doors down, Sgt. John Kriesel already had settled in as a patient after he, too, was maimed by an explosion.
For both, there would be a long hospital stay and an even longer recovery. The two bombing survivors had much in common but they took different paths in starting over.
Kriesel had to learn to walk again with prosthetic legs.
Salzman would learn to write, feed and dress himself with an artificial arm.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/08/ap_longdeployment_080808/

Parents to take wounded soldier off life support

Parents to take hurt soldier off life support

The Associated Press
Posted : Wednesday Jul 30, 2008 13:02:14 EDT

GREAT FALLS, Mont. — The parents of a Fairfield soldier who was critically injured by a roadside bomb in Iraq are expected to take their son off of life support Wednesday.

Army Sgt. Jimmy McHale, 31, has been in a coma since the July 22 bombing of his Humvee that also injured the driver.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/ap_lifesupport_073008/

Army taking even longer to take care of wounded

Army falls further behind processing wounded

By Gregg Zoroya - USA Today
Posted : Tuesday Jul 22, 2008 13:06:48 EDT

WASHINGTON — Soldiers who are physically or mentally ailing can wait two months to a year before the Army acts to medically discharge them or return them to their units, according to a House investigation. That’s two or three times longer than the Army goal set last year.

The Army promised last year to cut the time spent treating and preparing soldiers to either return to their units or leave the military after the revelation of bureaucratic delays and poor treatment at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. However, the investigation by the House Armed Services Committee said whatever progress was made has been reversed.

Instead of taking one to four months, the process takes between two months and a year, the investigation shows. Also, unit squad leaders or caseworkers have become overwhelmed by larger-than-expected numbers of wounded soldiers.

“The Army failed to properly forecast the growth in the number of warriors in transition,” said the investigation by the House Armed Services subcommittee on military personnel.

“I’m disappointed and troubled,” said House Armed Services Committee Chairman Rep. Ike Skelton, D-Mo., in a statement. “These soldiers deserve high-quality care. The staff members charged with providing their care are doing yeoman’s work, but the current staffing levels can’t handle the load.”
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/07/gns_woundedtime_072208/

Spc. Byron J. Fouty's name used in scam

Authorities: Scam used name of slain soldier

The Associated Press
Posted : Monday Jul 21, 2008 6:39:19 EDT

DETROIT — The Michigan attorney general’s office and Better Business Bureau are investigating an online scam using the name of a Waterford soldier whose remains were found last week in Iraq after a 14-month search.
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Family told: May take a year for autopsy on non-combat death

The family is told they may have to wait a year for the autopsy? What? A year of not knowing how their son died?

Funeral today for Sussex County soldier who died in Iraq
by Leslie Kwoh/ The Star-Ledger
Saturday July 19, 2008, 7:05 AM

Friends and family will gather in Newton today to mourn the death of Jeffery Stevenson, the 20-year-old Marine from Sussex County who died last Sunday in Iraq.

Lance Cpl. Stevenson, who grew up in Stillwater, died in a non-combat-related incident while serving as a machinist at Camp Fallulah in western Iraq, according to the Department of Defense. The circumstances surrounding the death are still unclear,

and military officials said it could be a year before they release autopsy results, the family said
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Is it "combat death" when 'vehicle accident' ?

If they are in Iraq or Afghanistan and they die or get wounded, it should be because of combat and listed that way. If they die of their wounds later, then it should be counted as the "official" count. Honor them all or they do not honor any of them.

Randolph native died in combat in Iraq, family reports
Army lists cause of death as 'vehicle accident'
By Lou Michel - News Staff Reporter
Updated: 07/19/08 9:32 AM


Staff Sgt. David W. Textor was killed when he was thrown from the turret of his Humvee during an enemy attack in Mosul, Iraq, according to his relatives.

The death of the 27-year-old Randolph native Tuesday was not the result of a simple vehicle accident as the Army first reported, his family says.

“He died in action. They were attacked. They were targeted,” said Debbie Faultner-Vondra, the sister of Textor’s wife, who both live in Olympia, Wash., where he had been assigned to Fort Lewis before his deployment in May.

The Army, at this point, still officially lists Textor’s death as a “vehicle accident.”

Three other soldiers were injured in the incident, said Lt. Gen. Robert Wagner, commanding general of the U.S. Army Special Operations Command.

“Once the investigation is complete, the Army will be able to release a statement that encompasses everything that occurred in relation to Sgt. Textor’s death,” Capt. Chris Augustine, a spokesman for Special Forces Command at Fort Bragg, N.C., said Friday.
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Linked from ICasualties.org

US troops collateral damage now to contractors?

From US Military

Department of DefenseDictionary of Military and Associated Terms
http://www.dtic.mil/doctrine/jel/new_pubs/jp1_02.pdf
collateral damage — Unintentional or incidental injury or damage to persons or objects thatwould not be lawful military targets in the circumstances ruling at the time. Such damage is not unlawful so long as it is not excessive in light of the overall military advantage anticipated from the attack. (JP 3-60)
link provided from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collateral_damage

KBR doesn't seem to care. The Pentagon didn't care enough when the problem first became clear and safety was being disregarded. What is behind this ambivalence and neglect? Is this more of the same kind of attitude that allowed the troops to be exposed to contaminated water? More of the same when they were not provided with the vehicles that could spare their lives? More of the same when contacts were given to inept companies supplying substandard uniform pants that separated in the crotch? Even worse, substandard body armor? Are the troops now collateral damage to the contractors making money off what they are doing to the troops as long as they get paid? Who is being held accountable for any of this? Anyone at KBR? Anyone at the Pentagon?

Failure to Fix Base Hazards Worried Pentagon Official
By JAMES RISEN
Published: July 19, 2008
WASHINGTON — A Pentagon safety expert told senior Defense Department officials earlier this year that their failure to heed warnings to fix widespread electrical hazards on American bases in Iraq could leave the Pentagon liable for multiple electrocutions of American soldiers, according to internal e-mail correspondence released Friday.


In a May 5, 2008, e-mail message, a safety official at the Defense Contract Management Agency, the Pentagon organization in charge of supervising defense contractors in Iraq, noted that the agency had failed to act after its own comprehensive safety survey in February 2007 found widespread electrical problems at American bases that had led to a series of deaths, injuries and fires.

But top D.C.M.A. officials responded to the assertion by saying that they had never heard of the safety survey, indicating that they had no knowledge of the longstanding electrical problems.

In January 2008, 11 months after the comprehensive safety review, Staff Sgt. Ryan D. Maseth, a Green Beret, was electrocuted while taking a shower at his base in Baghdad, apparently because of poorly grounded electrical work in the building. A subsequent Pentagon review of its records found that at least 13 American personnel had been electrocuted in Iraq since the war began in 2003
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What if no one reported on the Revolutionary War?

What if no one reported on the Revolutionary War?

1770s-1850s: Baptism Under Fire
While Revolutionary War-era newspapers published news of battles, the information usually was second-hand and often inaccurate. By the early 1800s, however, journalists were daring to venture out on the battlefield and see for themselves what was happening.

The first-ever war correspondent may have been Louisiana newspaper editor and publisher James Bradford, who covered the War of 1812 by enlisting in Gen. Andrew Jackson's army. By the Mexican War of 1846-48, newspapers such as the Baltimore Sun had figured out how to utilize horseback couriers and steamboats to get the latest war news back to their readers, often before military couriers were able to inform the White House of what was happening.

George Wilkins Kendall of the New Orleans Picayune, who had been captured and imprisoned in a Mexican leper colony during his coverage of the Texans' earlier rebellion against Mexico, rode into battle with U.S. forces on the Rio Grande and actually captured an enemy battle flag. He followed Gen. Winfield Scott on the invasion of Mexico, and was wounded in the knee in the assault on Chapultepec.

By the 1850s American correspondents even were covering wars overseas. In 1859, Henry J. Raymond, one of the founders of the New York Times, and the paper's Paris correspondent, W. E. Johnston, witnessed the Battle of Solferino, one of the key moments in the struggle for Italian unification, and published an account in the Times 10 days before any other newspaper got the story.

1860s: An Army of Scribes
The Civil War was the first modern conflict to attract huge press coverage. At least 500 journalists covered the conflict, including 150 who dared to venture out on the front lines and travel with the armies. The New York Herald alone had 63 men in the field.

Military men still considered the press a nuisance, or worse — Gen. William T. Sherman, for example, blamed the Union defeat at the first Battle of Bull Run in 1861 on Northern papers revealing too much of the Union's battle plans. (Actually, Confederate commander G.T. Beauregard had help from a spy in Washington.) Virtually from the start, Abraham Lincoln's administration tried to exercise control over what the press was writing, seizing control of telegraph lines, confiscating editions of newspapers and even threatening journalists with trials before military tribunals if they revealed anything considered too sensitive.

But Lincoln also recognized, wisely, that the right sort of war coverage could help hold together the politically divided North. Indeed, articles such as the New York Times' story of the Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 — a "Splendid Triumph of the Army of the Potomac," as the headline proclaimed — undoubtedly helped rally support for the Union cause.

While much of Civil War reporting consisted simply of generals' public recitations of skirmish locations and casualties, there was the occasional breathless dispatch from a correspondent caught in the fray. "We had a brisk little time here Yesterday morning," wrote an unnamed New York Times journalist from Cold Harbor in 1864. "The enemy made a dash at our pickets, with the intention of gaining control of the entire line of rifle pits ... little did they dream of the treatment in store for them."

http://military.discovery.com/randr/interactives/reporters/timeline/timeline.html

These are just some of the newspapers published at the time.

Boston Evening Post
Maryland Journal
American Oracle of Liberty
Massachusetts Spy
South Carolina Gazette
New-York Journal
New-England Chronicle
(N.J.) Plaindealer
Pennsylvania Journal
Virginia Gazette
New-Jersey Journal


http://www.historicpages.com/18thc.htm

As you can see above, most of the reports of the Revolutionary war came from second hand accounts and most were unreliable. The question is, what would have happened if no one reported on any of it? How would the historians know what happened at places like Valley Forge? Would we have history books covering every war this nation has been involved in?

"Our liberty cannot be guarded but by the freedom of the press, nor that be limited without danger of losing it." --Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 1786.
http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff1600.htm

"No experiment can be more interesting than that we are now trying, and which we trust will end in establishing the fact, that man may be governed by reason and truth. Our first object should therefore be, to leave open to him all the avenues to truth. The most effectual hitherto found, is the freedom of the press. It is, therefore, the first shut up by those who fear the investigation of their actions." --Thomas Jefferson to John Tyler, 1804. ME 11:33

http://etext.virginia.edu/jefferson/quotations/jeff1600.htm

When it comes to covering the war, we need to remember that if the reporters are censored, we loose. The free press is considered the forth estate of the nation. Jefferson was so determined to have a free press that he said he would rather have a free press than a government.

Thomas Jefferson, on the necessity of a free press (1787)

The basis of our government being the opinion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.

As we can see, there should be no censorship of the press since it was never the intent of the Founding Fathers to allow it.

Amendment 1 - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791. Note

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Naturally it should always be the responsibility of the reporters to use wise judgment in what they report but if they pass something off as fact, they should be ready to prove it. Another reporter doing their job would be able to either verify the report of prove it's false. The problem with the lead up to the invasion of Iraq is that there were very few doing their jobs and those who did we isolated, relegated to smaller media outlets and in the process, created the world of news blogs. After all considering the newspapers rely so heavily on advertisers, the editors have to walk a fine line to please the advertisers instead of informing the public. That was the biggest downfall of the media. When money meant more than truth.


We have so little being reported from Iraq and Afghanistan while for nearly 7 years, we've been told how important these to occupations are to the security of the nation and hundreds of billions of dollars have been spent along with far too many lives. Most of the nation has no clue what is going on in either nation. While the generals and NATO forces have been screaming for help for several years, and rightly so, the vast majority of the fraction of war reporting being done has only focused on Iraq, ignoring these pleas when there was a chance to truly secure Afghanistan. Noting that Iraq has been center of the storm of anger, Afghanistan has been forgotten by those who began the invasion and subsequent occupation of it. When was the last time you heard any in Congress debating Afghanistan or heard Bush mention it? Hardly ever. Yet Afghanistan was in direct response to the attacks against the US.

We see the reports of deaths coming out of both occupations but we have to know where to look to find them. What is harder to find is when they die after leaving the battlefields. The majority of these deaths, the ultimate sacrifice, are ignored and not included in the final tally. While this is not a new practice for the Department of Defense, it is a deplorable one. Asked why they do not include these deaths, they claim there is no way to track them. Just as there is supposedly no way to track how many commit suicide because of their service to this nation, or how many become homeless. The truth is that there are ways they can if they wanted to. The DOD has the equipment to find them if they wanted to but then it would bring such a picture of truth to the American public that wars would no longer be tolerated. Imagine if you will the Vietnam Memorial Wall including all those who died as a result of Agent Orange or PTSD. With over 58,000 names on the Wall as it is, could you envision the size of it with several hundred thousand names on it?

When it comes to our troops and our wounded, we don't have a clue unless we spend countless hours searching for it to even obtain a impression of the truth. The suppression of facts leaves us ambivalent. It's time Congress stepped in and removed the barriers to real reports so that once again we can in fact claim those who serve this country are serving a grateful one fully aware of the sacrifices they are making.


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

Journalist Charges Censorship by U.S. Military in Fallujah

When asked about what the troops think, one of the biggest issues they have is that the American people are not paying attention. Sure, we pay attention or you wouldn't be reading this blog or any of the thousands out there paying attention to what is happening to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as what happens when they come home. The problem is the vast majority of the nation tuned out a long time ago. Given the fact a deplorable number of minutes focus on Iraq and even less on Afghanistan by the broadcast media, it's easy to understand why that is.

Last night on the Military Channel Wounded Warriors program they covered the story of Pvt. Channing Moss.
http://military.discovery.com/video/wounded-warriors.html

By RICHARD HALICKS, MIKE LUCKOVICH

The Atlanta Journal-ConstitutionPublished on: 05/21/06
RICK MCKAY/Staff
Pvt. Channing Moss of Gainesville is assisted by technician Cameo Atkins in a recent physical therapy session. Pvt. Channing Moss stood in the gun turret of the Humvee, wary and watchful. His truck was No. 5 in a column of five Humvees rumbling through the eastern mountains of Afghanistan, near the Pakistan border.It was about 10:30 a.m. on March 16, a Thursday. Staff Sgt. Eric Wynn, sitting in the front seat, checked out the ridgeline above them and judged it perfect for an ambush. "I would have used it myself," he said later.The Taliban came at the Americans with AK-47 rifles and rocket-propelled grenades.Moss, 23, had a wife and a family back home in Gainesville; in Afghanistan he had a Mark 19 grenade launcher, a vicious weapon that can fire more than 300 grenades per minute. Moss began raining hell on their attackers.Up front, Wynn was trying to get his troops out of the kill zone. "A bullet hits my windshield," he said, recounting the attack nearly two months later. "Then the RPGs came in. Three of them. One hit my door and two hit my windshield."

Something tore away half of Wynn's upper lip and left it hanging down over his mouth. The tip of his nose was blown off, and he was bleeding heavily. "I'm like, 'What the hell happened?' I start to look around the truck. It was then that I see Moss."Moss was down, blood erupting from his middle. But he was conscious, and he couldn't quite believe what was going on in his own gut.An RPG had hit him in the left side just above the hip, plowed across his abdomen and was poking out the skin at his right hip. It had snapped off a piece of hip bone, fractured his pelvis, lacerated his colon. The only thing it hadn't done was the one thing it was meant to do: explode."I could see the tail fins sticking out of me," Moss said weeks later from his hospital bed at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. "I was thinking: I am going to die this way."

Finally, the battered Humvee lumbered out of the kill zone. Moss was pulled from the vehicle and laid out on the ground. He had the thought that someone might "sandbag" him, he said — move him a safe distance away and just let him bleed out and die. He had become UXO — unexploded ordnance — dangerous to himself and anyone nearby.But a medic worked hard to stabilize Moss. He stripped off the tall private's body armor — "everything except my helmet" — gave Moss a morphine shot and covered the RPG with tape.

go here for more of this

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/showthread.php?t=81648

The bravery of the men in his unit, the flight crew taking him to receive medical care and the sheer courage of the medics, was simply amazing. With the RPG embedded in the Moss, they were fully aware they could all be blown up at any minute but they didn't care. All they cared about was that Moss could die if they did not act. This is what America is missing.

Combat is horrific, but within the horrifying carnage, there are moment of magnificence. We cannot dismiss this fact. While the great majority of the American people still fully support the troops despite the fact we no longer support the Bush Administration, they have no right to stop the public from being aware of the actions of the men and women we do support. The events they endure must be made public if we are ever going to approach being able to understand them and what they have gone through.

Some will argue that it was the nightly coverage of the Vietnam War behind the lack of support the Vietnam Veterans received when they came home. Others will argue this was precisely the reason for the public to become aware of the abysmal attitude we took toward them. We are no longer that nation simplistically lumping in those we send to fight with the people in charge giving the orders.

On this blog, as posting of their suffering is brought to the attention of the readers, within the post are stories of courage, loyalty to their brothers and sisters and acts of human kindness. While most of us are fully aware of the excuses used to send the troops into Iraq and the ambivalence of the Administration toward those they send, as well as the suffering of the Iraqi people, we do not look at Iraq or Afghanistan through blinders unable to see the amazing actions our troops display on a daily basis. Still these stories are hard to find.

When the media, the few remaining in Iraq and Afghanistan, are censored, it keeps the public detached from the heroic efforts like the story of Pvt. Moss, as well as the bad news. Is it the intention of the Administration to have us detached from both occupations? Do they really want us to be unaware of all the stories of the men and women risking their lives?

Read the following and think about what is being censored.



Received by email

IRAQ: Journalist Charges Censorship by U.S. Military in Fallujah
By Dahr Jamail
SAN FRANCISCO, Jul 3 (IPS) - U.S. journalist Zoriah Miller says he was censored by the U.S. military in the Iraqi city of Fallujah after photographing Marines who died in a suicide bombing.

On Jun. 26, a suicide bomber attacked a city council meeting in Fallujah, 69 kms west of Baghdad, between local tribal sheikhs and military officials.

Three Marines, Cpl. Marcus Preudhomme, Capt. Philip Dykeman, and Lt. Col. Max Galeai, were assigned to 2d Battalion, 3d Marines, 3rd Marine Division, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

The explosion also killed two interpreters and 20 Iraqis, including the mayor of the nearby town of Karmah, two prominent sheikhs and their sons, and another sheikh and his brother. All were members of the local "awakening council," one of the U.S.-backed militias that have taken up arms against al Qaeda in Iraq, according to U.S. and Iraqi authorities.

Miller was embedded with Marines on a patrol one block from the attack when it occurred. He had originally turned down the option of going to report on the city council meeting that was bombed.

Miller ran with the Marines he was with to the scene of the attack. "As I ran I saw human pieces...a skull cap with hair, bone shards," he told IPS during a telephone interview from the so-called Green Zone in Baghdad. "When we arrived at the building it was chaotic. There were Iraqis, police and civilians running around screaming. Bodies were being pulled out of the building."

"I went in and there were over 20 people's remains all over the place," Miller continued, "Of the Marines I jogged in with, someone started to vomit. Others were standing around, not knowing what to do. It was completely surreal."

"At that moment I realised this was far beyond anything I'd experienced, and I realised I wanted to focus and make sure I could capture what it felt like, and the visual horror," Miller explained.

"I thought, 'Nobody in the U.S. has any idea what it means when they hear that 20 people died in a suicide bombing.' I want people to be able to associate those numbers with the scene and the actual loss of human life. And to show why soldiers are suffering from PTSD [post-traumatic stress disorder]," Miller told IPS.

Miller was taken out of the building by Marines, but then allowed back inside where he took one last photo of the carnage before they closed the scene to him.

"We spent most of the rest of the day as Marines picked up body parts and put them in buckets and bags," he said.

In an Iraqi Police station in Karmah, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) was brought in to investigate the bombing. Millers' photos were the only ones of the scene, so the NCIS team asked for them.

"I made them copies, but then one of the Marines came in and told me to delete my memory card after I give them the photos, and I refused," Miller told IPS, "I told the NCIS that if they forced me to delete them, I would stop sharing them. So they stopped pressing that issue."

Miller said that he was following the rules for embedded journalists. "That evening, during the debriefing, the guys [Marines] I was with told me that the higher-ups had said I was a stand-up guy and behaved well and to treat me well. The guys I was with were all very much on my side."

Miller explained to IPS that he meticulously showed his photos to the Marines he was with to make sure he was not going to show any photos that would upset the family members of the deceased Marines. "They were all okay with them, so then about 96 hours after the bombing I published the photos on my blog."

Then things got interesting.

"Tuesday [Jul. 1] I awoke to a call in their combat operations centre, and the person on the phone told me they were a PAO (Public Affairs Officer) at Camp Fallujah, and he wanted me to take my blog down right away," Miller told IPS. "I asked them why, and was told then called back after five minutes by a higher ranking PAO who claimed I had broken my contract by showing photos of dead Americans with U.S. uniforms and boots."

Miller said the PAO claimed he was not allowed, by the embed contract, to show dead or wounded U.S. citizens or soldiers in the field. "I never signed any contract for that," Miller said.

He was called back after another five minutes and told his embed was terminated and they would send him back to Baghdad on the next flight. He was then taken back to Camp Fallujah where he said, "Everyone was extremely angry and fired up at me."

Nevertheless, the lower ranking Marines he had embedded with "were on my side, and they told me they thought that what was happening was wrong."

Miller explained that he grew nervous when the flight was cancelled due to a sandstorm, and then a security guard was assigned to him.

"I started to feel uncomfortable with this," Miller explained. "The next day, Gen. Kelly, [Major General John Kelly, who is the Commanding General of the I Marine Expeditionary Force] wanted to have some words with me. I was to meet with him at 3 pm, and we sat outside in the sun for two hours and he never showed."

Miller was told he would be flown out that night, but he was deleted from the flight and told that General Kelly wanted to see him, so he waited again until Thursday, Jul. 3. Again the general did not appear, so Miller was given an official letter about the grounds for the termination of his embed, signed by Gen. Kelly, and flown to Baghdad.

"Now, as I think about it, I think they needed the extra time to figure out what they were going to say about my dismissal," Miller said. "Their original reason ended up being bogus, so they had to figure something else out."

The letter he was given stated reasons for his dismissal as "you photographed the remains of U.S. soldiers", "you posted these images along with detailed commentary", and "by posting the images and your commentary you violated 14 H and O of the news media agreement you signed".

In addition, the letter, which Miller read to IPS, stated, "By providing detailed information of the effectiveness of the attack and the response of U.S. forces to it, you have put all U.S. forces in Iraq at greater risk for harm."

Miller feels the reason for his dismissal is otherwise.

"The bottom line is that the thing they cited as the reason for my dismissal was 'information the enemy could use against you'. They realised, probably from keeping track of my blog, that I was not showing identifiable features of a soldier...and they couldn't find a reason to kick me out. Because it was a high ranking person who got killed, they were all fired up."

Miller concluded, "Up to that point they said it was because I showed pictures of bodies with pieces of uniform and boots. The letter, though, doesn't mention that at all. I checked the document I had about ground rules for media embeds, and I followed them."

The Pentagon would not comment on the story when contacted by IPS, saying they had no information on Miller's case beyond what Central Command had already posted.

(END/2008)

While reports like this are censored, there are many more as well. The DOD claims to be reporting all the casualties and fatalities, yet if you look on ICasualties.org, these deaths are not counted. They use the information from the DOD to track the deaths of the troops.

Spc. Estell L. Turner succumbs to wounds from bomb blast
4th BCT soldier dies in Afghan IED blast
Clarksville Leaf Chronicle - Clarksville,TN,USA
The Leaf-Chronicle • July 4, 2008A 101st Airborne Division soldier with 4th Brigade Combat Team died Wednesday of injuries suffered in Afghanistan.Spc. Estell L. Turner, 43, of Sioux Falls, S.D., died at the National Naval Medical Center, Bethesda, Md., of wounds suffered June 28 in Malikheyl, Afghanistan, when his vehicle encountered an improvised explosive device, according to a news release today from the Department of Defense.

Spc. Joseph Patrick Dwyer dies after PTSD struggle
Soldier in photo dies after PTSD struggle
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writerPosted : Thursday Jul 3, 2008 15:56:51 EDT
During the first week of the war in Iraq, a Military Times photographer captured the arresting image of Army Spc. Joseph Patrick Dwyer as he raced through a battle zone clutching a tiny Iraqi boy named Ali.The photo was hailed as a portrait of the heart behind the U.S. military machine, and Doc Dwyer’s concerned face graced the pages of newspapers across the country.

But rather than going on to enjoy the public affection for his act of heroism, he was consumed by the demons of combat stress he could not exorcise. For the medic who cared for the wounds of his combat buddies as they pushed toward Baghdad, the battle for his own health proved too much to bear.

On June 28, Dwyer, 31, died of an accidental overdose in his home in Pinehurst, N.C., after years of struggling with post-traumatic stress disorder. During that time, his marriage fell apart as he spiraled into substance abuse and depression. He found himself constantly struggling with law, even as friends, Veterans Affairs personnel and the Army tried to help him.

Or this story of Sgt. Webster who was in the Warrior Transition unit.

Sgt. Sean K. Webster found dead at Camp Pendleton
VA Marine Killed (10:31 pm)CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. (AP) - Marine Corps authorities investigating the death of an Iraq combat veteran at Camp Pendleton say they have not ruled out the possibility of homicide. The Marine Corps said the body of 23-year-old Sergeant Sean K. Webster of Fairfax, Virginia, was discovered Saturday. Webster was twice awarded the Purple Heart.

As of today, only one death has been attributed to the occupation of Iraq for this month.

07/06/08 MNF: MNC-I Soldier dies of non-battle related causes
A Multi-National Corps - Iraq Soldier died of non-battle related causes in Baghdad July 5. An investigation into the cause of death is under way.

Why aren't all the deaths counted? Why aren't the deaths of the ones who make it home counted in the numbers the DOD releases? What about the ones who die as a result of the wound of PTSD when they take their own lives because of the enemy they have within them? Thousands of them are not included in the true accounting of the lives lost because of service to this country. Their stories are not on the nightly news. The stories of their families suffering are not the focus of any of the media or daily talk shows.

Are they hard stories to cover? Absolutely but they are harder to live through. While various day time shows focus on teenage sex or if a man is actually the father of a child, they will not cover something as important as what is happening to the troops when they come home wounded. While the radio talk shows love to focus on trivial matters like Senator Obama wearing a flag pin or Cindy McCain plagiarizing a cookie recipe, they ignore the suicides of our veterans or the fact we already have a reported 2,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans homeless joining the ranks of the older veterans without any place to live. They ignore the fact we have military families on food stamps and National Guards and Reservists families struggling to make ends meet when they have to go without the incomes from civilian jobs these families base their budgets on. The very fact we have women deployed into Iraq and Afghanistan being sexually assaulted to the point where they are stopping themselves from taking in fluids just to avoid having to use the latrine at night out of fear has left people in shock when they learn of this.

While the media may tout the Warrior Transition Units and the suicide prevention hot line, none of them are reporting on the failures of either program when they still die of drug overdoses, car accidents and motorcycle crashes or when they call the suicide prevention hotline only to be told to call back in the morning. While there are successes and the VA as well as the DOD have been making changes in the way they treat the troops, they still have far to go but with the lack of true reporting, the public assumes the problems are fixed when they are in fact far from it.

Preventing the media from reporting all of this prevents awareness of all of it. It's time the muzzles came off and time for the public to demand reporting, the bad as well as the good, for the sake of the men and women, our countrymen risking their lives on foreign lands. It is the only way the ambivalence will end.

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

Chaplain Turner's War

Chapter 8 of 8: Chaplain Turner's War

A dangerous mission, a devastating night -- and God's foot soldier marches on


By MONI BASU
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Published on: 06/29/08

Baghdad — The story so far: Chaplain Darren Turner's battalion has lost another soldier. Now he must see three platoons off on a mission in unfamiliar territory. Before the day is over, more bad news tests the chaplain's emotional endurance.



Chaplain Darren Turner hurtles toward the motor pool at Forward Operating Base Falcon. He is anxious to see his men off to battle.

Turner is ordinarily not one for prayers before a mission — he abhors the idea of a soldier nurturing a 911 relationship with God: Pray before you roll out the gates. Pray when a buddy gets hurt.

Then stuff your Bible back into the trunk.

But Turner also understands the comfort that prayer can bring. And this mission to Baghdad's Sadr City is big.

It is March 28, and three 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment platoons in Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Abrams tanks have been called up to support U.S. forces already in the thick of battle.

An impoverished enclave of 2.5 million Shiites, Sadr City is unfamiliar and raw territory for Turner's soldiers. The battalion has not yet experienced urban guerrilla warfare — it is more accustomed to the farmlands and villages of Arab Jabour.

"Hey, what's up, fellas?"

Turner greets the visibly nervous soldiers.

"Ready to ride?"

They reply in a chorus of "hooahs."

"I just wanted to come and encourage you guys before you head out."

Two men who Turner baptized on Good Friday are here. The chaplain notices several others who regularly seek him out.

With those who share his Christian faith, Turner takes extra risks to know them well, to love them as brothers. It's an emotional roll of the dice, because at war, any day could be a soldier's last.

Like today.

Turner reads aloud Psalm 140.

"Keep me safe from violent people ... who plot my downfall. The proud have set a trap for me; they have laid their snares, and along the path they have set traps to catch me."

King David's words resonate, as though they were written specifically about this war, where roads are booby-trapped with improvised explosive devices.

The soldiers bow their heads before the chaplain.

Several fall to their knees.

click post title for more

CHAPLAIN TURNER'S WAR
Chapter 1: Comfort in toughest of places
Chapter 2: The invisible war
Chapter 3: Summer of death
Chapter 4: Formidable enemy
Chapter 5: Nightmare revisited
Chapter 6: Easter baptisms
Chapter 7: Tragedies test the armor of God
Chapter 8: A dangerous mission, a devastating night

Nadia McCaffrey gets to the point in radio interview

MON MAY 26, 2008
Memorial Day: The Past and the Present

Legacy Player:
Memorial Day originated after the Civil War, but a somber remembrance of fallen soldiers has also become a cheerful greeting of summer. Monday, on To the Point, how well does America honor those who've died for their country? Also, the GI Bill and the presidential campaign.
more…

One Mother's War
Robert Durell / LAT
Nadia McCaffrey, who now operates a nonprofit grief counseling program and has become a leader in the Northern California antiwar movement, has been a lifelong pacifist and opposed her son's enlistment from the beginning.
By Jeff Nachtigal, Special to the Times
January 30, 2005
TRACY, Calif. -- On the day her son Patrick McCaffrey died on a blacktop farm road in northern Iraq, Nadia McCaffrey's war began.

Her first act was to invite the press to the Sacramento Airport when her 34-year-old son's flag draped-coffin was brought home at the end of June 2004.


"Patrick was not a private person. All his life he loved people," Nadia McCaffrey explained. "Why should I hide him when he comes home? He would not have wanted that."

At a time when the Pentagon was attempting to keep photographs of the returning coffins out of the American press, the Sacramento Airport scene attracted international attention.

From the first interviews with newspaper obituary writers, Nadia was outspoken about her own opposition to the war as well as her son's growing reservations at the time he was killed.

"Patrick was overwhelmed by the hatred there for Americans and Europeans," Nadia told a reporter for The Times. "He was so ashamed by the prisoner abuse scandal. He even sent me an e-mail to tell me that not all the soldiers were like that. He said we had no business in Iraq and should not be there. Even so, he wanted to be a good soldier."

go here for more
http://www.latimes.com/features/printedition/magazine/la-tm-guard30jan30-sb,1,3668041.story

Published on Saturday, July 3, 2004 by the Independent/UK
The Son Who Came Home for the Fourth of July
Last week Nadia McCaffrey defied President Bush by allowing the media to view the coffin of her son, Patrick, killed in action in Iraq. Andrew Buncombe was invited to attend his funeral in Tracy, California



The photographs of Patrick McCaffrey laid out on the table at the front of the reception hall were the record of a life cut short. There were pictures of Patrick as a young boy, a head of curly brown hair, posing in his judo outfit. There was one of him dressed to play American football and another, taken a few years later, of Patrick wearing a tuxedo and probably heading out to the high school prom. There was one of him with his family - a wife, a little girl and a son so proud that his father was a member of the California National Guard that he had asked for his own set of dog-tags.


Finally there was a photograph of Patrick with his unit in Iraq. It had been taken shortly before the ambush in which Patrick was killed. In the picture he is laughing with his friends. He was 34-years-old and - according to the Iraq Coalition Casualty Count website - the 848th American soldier to die in Iraq.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0703-04.htm

Veteran's Village
Sgt Patrick R McCaffrey Sr
Foundation for War Veterans
http://www.veteransvillage.org/

Staff Sgt. Travis Griffin 7th deployment when killed

Airman was on his 7th deployment when killed
By Bryce S. Dubee, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, May 18, 2008

YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Air Force Staff Sgt. Travis Griffin was only 15 days from returning home on leave at the midway point of his Iraq tour when he was killed by a roadside bomb while on patrol in Baghdad.

He was on his fourth Iraq deployment — his seventh to the Middle East. He had volunteered for the yearlong assignment, conducting patrols and training police forces in heart of the Iraqi capital.

Griffin, 28, had served in the Air Force nine years and deployed to Iraq in October 2007 as a member of Detachment 3 of the 732nd Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron.

In an April news story by The Associated Press, Col. Robert E. Suminsby Jr., 377th Air Base Wing commander at Griffin’s home station of Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., said Griffin’s mission in Iraq was longer and more dangerous than most for deployed airmen.
go here for more
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54886

Bush didn't tell the truth about golfing either

This morning on CNN, they were talking about Bush's claim he gave up golfing out of respect for the fallen. Turns out that is not exactly true.

Inside BASS
President Bush, Alton Jones enjoy a round of golf
By Tim TuckerAug. 27, 2003(Archive)
Updated: September 2, 2003, 6:56 PM ET
Email
Print
Nine years ago, veteran Texas pro Alton Jones guided then-Gov. George W. Bush on a fishing trip to Lake Aqilla. The pair was recently reunited in the great outdoors.

Alton Jones shakes hands with President Bush after a friendly game of golf.This time it was on the first green of the Ridgewood Country Club near Waco, where Jones lives, and Crawford, which serves as the President's southern White House while visiting his home state.
It was on the golf course that a gracious President Bush greeted Jones and Charles Pack, a mutual friend who hosts a local television fishing show. Pack had pre-arranged the meeting with the President, who fishes his own 80-acre stocked bass lake on his Crawford ranch.
"It was probably the most amazing thing I've ever experienced," Jones said. "He remembered all about our fishing trip, and I was surprised to learn that he follows the (CITGO Bassmaster) Tour. He knew that I had had a real good season.
"It was a thrill to talk with the president. He is a genuinely nice, sincere person."
When Jones and Pack arrived on the course (after submitting to a government background check), President Bush recognized them and waved to them to join him and his entourage (which included 19 golf carts). As they ducked under the security barrier, they were immediately confronted by Secret Service agents. The President instructed the agents to allow them to continue toward the green.
http://sports.espn.go.com/outdoors/bassmaster/columns/story?page=bass_col_tourney_trail_030827

Bush Shoveling Out Iraq Happy Talk
Associated Press Writer Scott Lindlaw contributed to this report, 10.13.03.
WASHINGTON – President Bush, annoyed by what he considers the “filter” of news reporting, will seek to go around the press on Monday through television outlets that do not routinely cover the White House.
Bush was giving a series of interviews to make the case that the situation in Iraq is getting better.
The Commander-And-Sneak George W. Bush shows off his military skills at the Andrews Air Force Base Golf Course in Maryland, using golf club to command troops to “Charge!” Bush acquired his knowledge of tactics and strategy watching John Wayne cavalry movies in his childhood. He has told the press that he receives direct orders from God on military matters (such as invading Iraq).
http://www.williambowles.info/gispecial/gi-113.html

Yesterday I posted how he made the claim of giving up golf because of the fallen troops but managed to do a stunt for the video he presented for laughs at the correspondents dinner. I brought up the fact of how many lost their lives looking for the WMD Bush managed to joke about looking for on this tape. This morning one of the panel on CNN raised the fact that maybe he should have taken care of the wounded out of respect instead of giving up golfing. He was right.

The conditions at Walter Reed were known by his administration in 2004. He did absolutely nothing. We've have years of members of his administration hiding data on the wounded, the suicides and the backlog of claims, yet Bush seems to think that his golfing is so damn important that the imagine of his sacrificing it for the troops would be of any value to anyone! Well turns out that wasn't true either. Above are just two pictures of him enjoying golfing. Who knows how many more are out there on the net?

This just came out on Raw Story

Bush's last round of golf as president dates back to October 13, 2003, according to meticulous records kept by CBS news.

http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Bush_I_quit_golf_over_Iraq_war_05132008.html

In the interview he said he gave up golfing in August. Looks like one month is just like anyother to him.

Military reports 4 deaths and 13 wounded

6 soldiers wounded in Iraq fighting

By Hamid Ahmed - The Associated Press
Posted : Tuesday Apr 29, 2008 10:07:30 EDT

BAGHDAD — More than two dozen people were killed when Shiite militants ambushed a U.S. patrol in Baghdad’s embattled Sadr City district, bringing the death toll in area on Tuesday to more than 30, a U.S. military spokesman and Iraqi officials said.

The clashes broke out at 9:30 a.m. after U.S. troops were attacked with rocket-propelled grenades and machine guns, spokesman Navy Lt. Col. Steve Stover said.

Six American soldiers were wounded in the fighting. As the troops were leaving the area, a vehicle was hit with two roadside bombs, Stover said.

The attack occurred along a road on which the U.S. military is erecting a concrete barrier to try to cut off the militants’ ability to move freely into the rest of Baghdad and hamper their ability to fire rockets and mortars at the Green Zone, the central Baghdad district where government offices and the U.S. Embassy are located.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/ap_iraqfighting_042908/

Seven soldiers injured in training mishap
The Associated PressPosted : Tuesday Apr 29, 2008 15:25:24 EDT

FRANKFURT, Germany — The Army says seven soldiers have been injured in a training exercise in Germany and two of them were flown to a hospital intensive care unit.
The soldiers, none of whom has been identified, were injured in a vehicle accident Monday afternoon at the Grafenwoehr Training Area in southern Germany, the Army said Tuesday.
The other five suffered injuries and were taken to another hospital. Three have been released and the other two are set to be released later Tuesday.
All seven soldiers are part of V Corps, U.S. Army Europe.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/ap_germany_training_accident_042908/

4 soldiers killed in Baghdad fighting
April is deadliest month for U.S. forces in Iraq since September
By Slobodan Lekic - The Associated PressPosted : Tuesday Apr 29, 2008 5:48:57 EDT

BAGHDAD — Bombardments by suspected militants killed four U.S. soldiers as troops tried to push Shiite fighters farther from the U.S.-protected Green Zone and out of range of their rockets and mortars.
At least 44 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq in April, making it the deadliest month for U.S. forces since September.
The military said three soldiers were killed Monday in eastern Baghdad by indirect fire, a reference to mortars or rockets. The statement did not give an exact location for the attack, but the Shiite stronghold of Sadr City has been the scene of intense fighting recently with Shiite militiamen.
A fourth U.S. soldier was killed by a shell in western Baghdad, the military said.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/04/ap_casualties_042808/