Senate report criticises care of peacekeeper veterans
Sarah Smiles
August 2, 2008
HUNDREDS of mental health disability claims are being made by peacekeepers who have served in Iraq, Afghanistan and East Timor, a report reveals.
One hundred and five mental health claims have been made from personnel who have served in Iraq; 163 claims from Afghanistan and 1469 from East Timor, Department of Veterans Affairs figures show. The Australian Federal Police has paid out more than $1,300,000 in compensation for claims relating to post-traumatic stress disorder from service in Timor.
The data is contained in a Senate inquiry report into Australia's involvement in peacekeeping operations. It details the increasing complexity and dangers of peacekeeping missions and calls for a white paper to determine government policy in the area.
The report is critical of the Department of Defence and Veterans Affairs' handling of veterans with health problems. It highlights poor medical record-keeping by both departments, which complicates veterans' claims for disability pensions.
Veterans Affairs can provide figures on mental health disability claims from Iraq, Afghanistan, Timor and the Solomons but could not specify to which mental health problems they relate. The report calls for better medical record-keeping and an education program on post-traumatic stress disorder and mental health issues for peacekeepers before deployment. It says peacekeepers are often thrust into complex situations for which they are not well trained. Post-deployment care of personnel can be cursory.
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Friday, August 1, 2008
Suspected in anthrax attack commits suicide
Too many things in this article are very troubling. The first is that "that has been investigating the anthrax mailings for more than a year" but has not said why it was never an important enough investigation to have been non-stop since 2001.
It took them all this time to exonerate Steven Hatfill who had this hanging over his head for seven years. The good thing is that they had to pay for what they did to him all this time.
The article went on to say that after the attacks, Ivins conducted unauthorized tests but did not say he had done so before the attacks.
This is very odd.
It took them all this time to exonerate Steven Hatfill who had this hanging over his head for seven years. The good thing is that they had to pay for what they did to him all this time.
The government paid Hatfill $5.82 million to settle a lawsuit he filed against the Justice Department in which he claimed the department violated his privacy rights by speaking with reporters about the case.
The article went on to say that after the attacks, Ivins conducted unauthorized tests but did not say he had done so before the attacks.
This is very odd.
Anthrax Scientist Commits Suicide, Report Says
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: August 1, 2008
Filed at 3:57 a.m. ET
WASHINGTON (AP) -- A top U.S. biodefense researcher apparently committed suicide just as the Justice Department was about to file criminal charges against him in the anthrax mailings that traumatized the nation in the weeks following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, according to a published report.
The scientist, Bruce E. Ivins, 62, who worked for the past 18 years at the government's biodefense labs at Fort Detrick, Md., had been told about the impending prosecution, the Los Angeles Times reported for Friday editions. The laboratory has been at the center of the FBI's investigation of the anthrax attacks, which killed five people.
Ivins died Tuesday at Frederick Memorial Hospital in Maryland. The Times, quoting an unidentified colleague, said the scientist had taken a massive dose of a prescription Tylenol mixed with codeine.
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Nam Guardian Angel is now tax exempt
Thanks to some great help at the IRS, Nam Guardian Angel.org is now tax exempt. If you want to make a donation, or have some extra funds in grants, I'd be more than happy to accept all the money you want to give. Plus this way, I won't drive my H&R Block agent crazy next year with more deductions than income.
You all know I work for free, but the traveling is getting really expensive and so is making the DVD videos. Along with all of this, this is all I do now considering it's usually 16 hour days, that does not provide much time to work for a paycheck anymore. I'm counting on you to keep me going so that I keep doing this work.
The EIN number is 94-3434559 for donations.
You can mail the donation to
Nam Guardian Angel
5703 Red Bug Lake Road #154
Winter Springs, FL 32708
Please make sure you have the box number included in the address or they will return the mail to you.
Or you can use my PayPal link on the side bar of this blog.
You all know I work for free, but the traveling is getting really expensive and so is making the DVD videos. Along with all of this, this is all I do now considering it's usually 16 hour days, that does not provide much time to work for a paycheck anymore. I'm counting on you to keep me going so that I keep doing this work.
The EIN number is 94-3434559 for donations.
You can mail the donation to
Nam Guardian Angel
5703 Red Bug Lake Road #154
Winter Springs, FL 32708
Please make sure you have the box number included in the address or they will return the mail to you.
Or you can use my PayPal link on the side bar of this blog.
Iraq:Soldier dies, 2 hurt in non-combat incident
Soldier dies, 2 hurt in non-combat incident
The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Aug 1, 2008 7:34:11 EDT
BAGHDAD — The U.S. military says an American soldier has died in a non-combat incident in northern Iraq. The death pushes the U.S. monthly toll for July to at least 10.
The military says the soldier died and two others were wounded Thursday during operations in Ninevah province. American and Iraqi troops have been targeting al-Qaida in Iraq and other insurgents in the provincial capital of Mosul and surrounding areas.
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/08/ap_noncombat_080108/
England crane accident leaves worker with PTSD but no compensation
Death witness builder denied payout
Aug 1 2008 By Tom Lawrence
A builder who was left mentally scarred by the memory of a workmate's horrific death on the Wembley Stadium construction site has been refused a penny in compensation.
Stephen Monk was on the scene within minutes after a work platform weighing a third-of-a-ton fell 60 feet to the ground, on top of his friend Patrick O'Sullivan.
Mr Monk, aged 43, from Essex, climbed underneath the three-meter-wide buckled platform to comfort his stricken friend, but Mr O'Sullivan, 54, from Cork, Ireland, died at the scene.
Judges at the High Court were told that the horrific experience had left Mr Monk with post traumatic stress disorder.
He has not worked for more than three years and doubts whether he can ever return to the construction industry.
The contractors he was working for, PC Harrington Ltd, admitted the accident was caused by a crane driver's negligence
But Deputy High Court Judge George Leggatt QC, ruled out Mr Monk's damages claim against them, saying that, despite the devastating impact the accident had on his life, he was not himself a primary victim.
Although Mr Monk argued he had acted as a rescuer - and believed he was risking his own life in climbing under the platform - the judge said that was not enough for him to qualify for damages.
Had he won his case, he would have been awarded more than s200,000 damages.
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Aug 1 2008 By Tom Lawrence
A builder who was left mentally scarred by the memory of a workmate's horrific death on the Wembley Stadium construction site has been refused a penny in compensation.
Stephen Monk was on the scene within minutes after a work platform weighing a third-of-a-ton fell 60 feet to the ground, on top of his friend Patrick O'Sullivan.
Mr Monk, aged 43, from Essex, climbed underneath the three-meter-wide buckled platform to comfort his stricken friend, but Mr O'Sullivan, 54, from Cork, Ireland, died at the scene.
Judges at the High Court were told that the horrific experience had left Mr Monk with post traumatic stress disorder.
He has not worked for more than three years and doubts whether he can ever return to the construction industry.
The contractors he was working for, PC Harrington Ltd, admitted the accident was caused by a crane driver's negligence
But Deputy High Court Judge George Leggatt QC, ruled out Mr Monk's damages claim against them, saying that, despite the devastating impact the accident had on his life, he was not himself a primary victim.
Although Mr Monk argued he had acted as a rescuer - and believed he was risking his own life in climbing under the platform - the judge said that was not enough for him to qualify for damages.
Had he won his case, he would have been awarded more than s200,000 damages.
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Canada:Bus attacker tried to eat parts of the body
Man stabbed, beheaded on Greyhound bus by apparent stranger
Gabrielle Giroday and Ian Hitchen, Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, July 31, 2008
BRANDON, Man. -- Screaming passengers fled in terror from a Greyhound bus as an unidentified fellow passenger suddenly stabbed a man sleeping next to him, decapitated him and waved the severed head at horrified witnesses standing outside.
The apparently unprovoked assault left 36 men, women and children stranded Wednesday night on the shoulder of the darkening Trans-Canada Highway near Portage la Prairie, Man., about 85 kilometres west of Winnipeg, watching while the bus driver and a driver of a nearby truck shut the crazed attacker inside the bus with the mangled victim. Reports Friday said the suspect tried to eat parts of the victim.
go here for more
http://www.nationalpost.com/most_popular/story.html?id=692762
Gabrielle Giroday and Ian Hitchen, Canwest News Service
Published: Thursday, July 31, 2008
BRANDON, Man. -- Screaming passengers fled in terror from a Greyhound bus as an unidentified fellow passenger suddenly stabbed a man sleeping next to him, decapitated him and waved the severed head at horrified witnesses standing outside.
The apparently unprovoked assault left 36 men, women and children stranded Wednesday night on the shoulder of the darkening Trans-Canada Highway near Portage la Prairie, Man., about 85 kilometres west of Winnipeg, watching while the bus driver and a driver of a nearby truck shut the crazed attacker inside the bus with the mangled victim. Reports Friday said the suspect tried to eat parts of the victim.
go here for more
http://www.nationalpost.com/most_popular/story.html?id=692762
Firefighter's arson confession rocks B.C. town
Firefighter's arson confession rocks B.C. town
Jenny Wagler, National Post
Published: Thursday, July 31, 2008
Oliver, B.C., is a tinderbox of a town perched above Canada's only pocket of desert. It's a town of vineyards, sage brush, parched grass and scorching 40C summers.
And five summers ago, as the region grappled with a fire storm that ripped through the Okanagan Valley, an arsonist struck in Oliver, and then struck again and again.
"You could almost put your clock to it," Mayor Ron Hovanes said. "We have an old air raid siren on the rooftop of the firehall. You could hear it go off every Sunday afternoon, and you knew."
On Thursday, a Penticton, B.C., provincial court sentenced Mike Hagel, 47, a one-time volunteer firefighter, to two years' house arrest followed by two years' probation. Hagel, who confessed to the arsons, must also pay $10,000 to fire chief Dave Janzen and $10,000 to Telus for equipment loss. It ends -- at least legally -- an arson saga that saw the town's fire chief of 30 years suspended under taint of suspicion, until Hagel's public confession exonerated him.
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Jenny Wagler, National Post
Published: Thursday, July 31, 2008
Oliver, B.C., is a tinderbox of a town perched above Canada's only pocket of desert. It's a town of vineyards, sage brush, parched grass and scorching 40C summers.
And five summers ago, as the region grappled with a fire storm that ripped through the Okanagan Valley, an arsonist struck in Oliver, and then struck again and again.
"You could almost put your clock to it," Mayor Ron Hovanes said. "We have an old air raid siren on the rooftop of the firehall. You could hear it go off every Sunday afternoon, and you knew."
On Thursday, a Penticton, B.C., provincial court sentenced Mike Hagel, 47, a one-time volunteer firefighter, to two years' house arrest followed by two years' probation. Hagel, who confessed to the arsons, must also pay $10,000 to fire chief Dave Janzen and $10,000 to Telus for equipment loss. It ends -- at least legally -- an arson saga that saw the town's fire chief of 30 years suspended under taint of suspicion, until Hagel's public confession exonerated him.
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A Saddened Corona Receives Its Soldier, Home From Iraq
The funeral procession for Sgt. Alex R. Jimenez made its way from Hinton Park the few blocks to the funeral home, and church.
A Saddened Corona Receives Its Soldier, Home From Iraq
By JAVIER C. HERNANDEZ
Published: August 1, 2008
For 14 months, they waited for him. They hung the midnight-black missing-in-action banner at his home in Queens, offsetting its grimness with the bright hues of the Dominican and American flags. They dreaded another knock at the door from soldiers in uniform, but as the months dragged on, some came to crave closure most of all.
On Thursday, he came back. The police cars with flashing lights guided Sgt. Alex R. Jimenez’s coffin past the laundry, the travel agency and the minimart to 104-35 37th Drive in Corona. The procession paused in front of the bouquet of yellow and white flowers.
“You’re home, you’re home,” his friends and relatives cried as they surrounded the car holding his coffin, holding each other up for support.
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Thursday, July 31, 2008
Landstuhl says Obama could have media with him, but he didn't want them
Landstuhl clarifies press rules for aborted Obama visit
By Steve Mraz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, August 1, 2008
LANDSTUHL, Germany Although news outlets have reported charges that Sen. Barack Obama canceled his trip to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany because the media weren't allowed to cover the event, U.S. European Command officials say plans were in place to allow limited press coverage.
All media, including local press and the more than 40 journalists accompanying the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee on his eight-day international trip last week, would have been able to photograph the Illinois senator entering and leaving the hospital, said Air Force Lt. Col. John Dorrian, a U.S. European Command spokesman.
Defense Department public affairs policy guidance on media coverage of candidates visiting military installations states "under no circumstances may a candidate receive approval to make a campaign or election-related statement or to respond to a campaign or election-related media query."
The guidance also states that "the candidate may appear on camera and in photographs as an official participant and may make a statement or answer questions about the official business being conducted."
go here for more
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=56487
Aside from McCain having two scripts ready to attack Obama no matter what he decided to do, McCain decided to not tell the truth about any of this and that's a real shame. The shame does not belong to Obama, who did't want the media with him even though he could have them there, but McCain decided to use the wounded troops no matter what happened. Sickening!
By Steve Mraz, Stars and Stripes
Mideast edition, Friday, August 1, 2008
LANDSTUHL, Germany Although news outlets have reported charges that Sen. Barack Obama canceled his trip to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany because the media weren't allowed to cover the event, U.S. European Command officials say plans were in place to allow limited press coverage.
All media, including local press and the more than 40 journalists accompanying the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee on his eight-day international trip last week, would have been able to photograph the Illinois senator entering and leaving the hospital, said Air Force Lt. Col. John Dorrian, a U.S. European Command spokesman.
Defense Department public affairs policy guidance on media coverage of candidates visiting military installations states "under no circumstances may a candidate receive approval to make a campaign or election-related statement or to respond to a campaign or election-related media query."
The guidance also states that "the candidate may appear on camera and in photographs as an official participant and may make a statement or answer questions about the official business being conducted."
go here for more
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=56487
Aside from McCain having two scripts ready to attack Obama no matter what he decided to do, McCain decided to not tell the truth about any of this and that's a real shame. The shame does not belong to Obama, who did't want the media with him even though he could have them there, but McCain decided to use the wounded troops no matter what happened. Sickening!
"Agent Orange Equity Act of 2008," H.R. 6562 needs tweaking
Received by email
Hello Friends,
Please Can You Help?!
A lot of conversation has been circulating in regards to Rep. Bob Filner's (D-CA) "Agent Orange Equity Act of 2008," H.R. 6562.
Some think this will resolve the exposure to Agent Orange issues because it includes those exposed in "the inland waterways of such Republic Vietnam, the waters offshore of such Republic, and the airspace above such Republic." While this solves the problems of the "Blue Water Navy" veterans...the fact is it leaves others out such as those exposed in nearby countries such as Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Korea, Okinawa, the Phillipines. It also doesn't include other areas through which large quantities of Agent Orange were shipped (and used) such as Guam & even right here on military bases in the U.S.
I think the saddest part about herbicide issues/exposures is the fact
that so many years has gone by, too many lives lost & so little has
changed. The cases are presented, the facts are there to back them
up, but no justice prevails. Somehow, together we must find a way to
change that!
Please Can You Help?!
HELPPP!, the Herbicide Exposure Legislative Proposal & Promotion Program, is a Yahoo Group created with the purpose and mission of establishing a forum to support and advance the passage of legislation submitted by Blue Water Navy veterans and introduced in the Congress by the Chairman, House Committee on Veterans Affairs.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AgentOrange-DioxinExposureBill-HELPP/
The Group includes all those exposed to Agent Orange and other herbicides: While serving in the Military or as a civilian, in combat or in direct support of combat, from any service, including but not limited to Blue and Brown Water Navy, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Okinawa, Guam, Korea, and the Philippines or other places from the Lane Evan's list and/updates from 'The History of the US Department of Defense Programs for the Testing, Evaluation, and Storage of Tactical Herbicides by Alvin Young', between 1962 and 1975, during the period known as the Vietnam War, the War in Indochina, or the War in Southeast Asia.
The Group does not segment, discriminate, or differentiate between services, categories of service, countries, MOS, or rank and will not discuss political parties, candidates, or other subjects other than to determine legislative sponsors, co-sponsors, and strategies to ensure passage of this legislation submitted to clarify the service-connection of veterans as it applies to P.L. 102-4, the Agent Orange Act of 1991.
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