The article is the second in a four-part series on the mental health issues faced by veterans returning from Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom. The article describes the suicide of Jeffrey Sloss, a Gulf War and Iraq War veteran.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/NewsArticle.cfm?ID=2190

Casualties of Combat: For Some, the Battle Goes on Long After the Shooting Stops

The article below is the first in a four-part series documenting how the U.S. Department of Defense is failing to address the mental health needs of combat veterans. The article details the escalating costs of combat in Iraq and Afghanistan, and where veterans can get help from the Department of Veterans Affairs. Leading the way providing advocacy for these veterans is the National Gulf War Resource Center, an organization sponsored, in part, by the Vietnam Veterans of America.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/NewsArticle.cfm?ID=2189

Bush Changes Reasons for Starting Iraq War (Again)

Compare these quotes: In March 2003, President George Bush said, "Saddam Hussein [has] biological weapons sufficient to produce over 25,000 liters of anthrax -- enough doses to kill several million people." In contrast, Bush recently said, "And [Iraq] could have passed that knowledge on to our terrorist enemies." This, too, is another deception, because the CIA and the 9/11 Commission confirmed there are no links between the 9/11 attacks and Iraq.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/NewsArticle.cfm?ID=2188

One of the most important indicators of how well our Nation takes care of our troops is to ask the spouses. In the Washington Post article below, two lives of two women are profiled as they cope, adjust, endure, and survive as their husbands fight overseas.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/NewsArticle.cfm?ID=2185

Here are the facts on the ground from the Marines wearing the boots:

"The reality right now is that the most dangerous opinion in the world is the opinion of a U.S. serviceman," said Lance Cpl. Devin Kelly, 20, of Fairbanks, Alaska. Here's the view of another Marine: "Every day you read the articles in the States where it's like, 'Oh, it's getting better and better,' " said Lance Cpl. Jonathan Snyder, 22, of Gettysburg, Pa. "But when you're here, you know it's worse every day."

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/NewsArticle.cfm?ID=2184

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2004/10/10/wbush10.xml&sSheet=/news/2004/10/10/ixnewstop.html


Informant: kevcross5

Lucian Bernard, the father of Mike Bernard who is fighting in Iraq, asks President George Bush the tough question: "For the last three years, your administration has been telling us that bin Laden and the people who were responsible for attacking us have been holed up in the mountains between Pakistan and Afghanistan. So why did you deploy 140,000 troops a thousand miles away in Iraq?" In plain language, Bush pulled a "bait and switch," using the fear of 9/11 to start a war against Iraq, a nation we now know had no weapons of mass destruction, no ties to 9/11 terrorists, and posed no threat to nearby nations or to the U.S.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/NewsArticle.cfm?ID=2170

VCS is pleased to note that the debates this week heavily on the Iraq War. Though VCS, by law, is unable to endorse any candidate or political party, it's impossible to avoid the observation that the administration has been wrong on Iraq since day one, and continues to be wrong on Iraq.

Yesterday's report from the Iraq Survey Group clinches the case: after eighteen months of searching, after over one thousand coalition deaths and over ten thousand Iraqi deaths, the Presidentially appointed weapons inspectors have returned with their hands empty and the inescapable conclusion: not only did Iraq not have weapons of mass destruction, but their programs to create them were dismantled by inspections in the early 1990s. The New York Times suggested this week that National Security Advisor Condoleeza Rice should have resigned as a result.

http://www.veteransforcommonsense.org/NewsArticle.cfm?ID=2161

The current administration continues to twist and turn on Iraq. After proposing a new provision that would allow the U.S. to "render" prisoners to countries that will torture them, the administration this week flip-flopped and denied supporting it. Unfortunately, the record is absolutely clear: the Bush administration believes it can detain individuals -- including American citizens -- indefinitely and secretly, without recourse to trial or legal representation, and if necessary abuse them ourselves or ship them to another country which will torture them on our behalf. We all believe we have to do what is necessary to prevent further terrorist attacks against the United States, but these steps undermine the very fabric of the Constitution we swore to protect.

That's why Veterans for Common Sense, with other organizations, is suing the administration to get to the bottom of their policies on civil liberties and human rights.

In another bizarre twist in an Iraq policy that seems to be imploding, former Coalition Provisional Authority head Paul Bremer publicly said this week that he had repeatedly told the administration that more troops were necessary in order to secure Iraq. The administration dodged the question, suggesting that the commanders on the ground never asked for more. Given the long-established U.S. doctrine of using overwhelming force, we find this statement difficult to believe.

The bottom line: leaving a failed state in the midst of a civil war in Iraq is bad for global security, disastrous for the Iraqi people, and dangerous for the United States. But as long as the U.S. continues to control every step, control every dollar, and refuse to involve Iraqis in more than token shows of sharing the load in combat, U.S. involvement in Iraq will continue to be a disaster. A good start would be to channel the billions in reconstruction money straight to Iraqi workers who can use it to rebuild their own country, create jobs, and reduce the incentives to join the insurgency. A speaker at a recent event with EPIC pointed out that in 1991, the Iraqis had the lights back on in Baghdad in six weeks. Today, basic services like electricity are even less available or reliable than they were right after the invasion.

Unfortunately, the Kerry campaign has not gone far enough in its plan for Iraq, although they do recognize there is a need for change. On the other hand, it's very clear that the administration refuses to own up to their mistakes and make the changes that are so obviously necessary. That just means more dead, more wounded, and more lives destroyed in a war that was never necessary in the first place.