Iraq Vets Speak Out on Veterans' Day in Rutland Herald

Iraq war is a betrayal of American democracy

By MATT HOWARD

Editor's note: Matt Howard gave this statement at a recent protest at the Statehouse.

In 2003 I illegally invaded the sovereign nation of Iraq with 1st Tank battalion 1st Marine Division. My commander in chief unleashed the world's fiercest fighting force upon the country and people of Iraq, and now those of us used and betrayed by him are demanding justice.

Four and a half years after our opening "shock and awe" Bush's lies are known throughout the world, and yet he continues to act with impunity. Four and a half years later the Bush regime has unleashed a hell upon the country of Iraq that only those who have been there can truly understand. More...

Sergeant: False war isn't worth the sacrifice

By DREW CAMERON

I served with the U.S. Army as an active duty field artillery soldier for four years and then a subsequent two years in the Vermont Army National Guard in the State Medical Detachment. I originally enlisted in August of 2000 and worked hard to become a professional soldier.

I was sent to Iraq in April of 2003 under the suspicion that Saddam Hussein was harboring weapons that were an imminent threat to the United States. I served until December of that year traveling around the country finding and destroying weapons caches. Since my return I have been working to answer all of the questions that I was left with upon the end of my time there. What I experienced and took part in was nothing short of disgraceful and blatant betrayal of the military service member. More...

Officer's job was targeting Americans

By ADRIENNE KINNE

Thank you for giving veterans a forum to share their perspective on what Veterans Day means to us.

I served in the U.S. Army and Army Reserves from 1994 to 2004 as an Arabic linguist in military intelligence. After the events of Sept. 11, I was mobilized in the Reserves and stationed stateside where I served in direct support of operations in Afghanistan and Iraq as a voice interceptor.

Over the next two years, I witnessed firsthand the behind-the-scenes dismantling of the Constitutional rights of Americans, as higher ranking officials in military intelligence had us target journalists, humanitarian aid workers, the United Nations and other non-governmental organizations, to include Americans and their phone calls to family members in the United States. More...

Vets Deserve What They Earned: Dignity!

Kurt Staudter's weekly column, "While We Were Sleeping":

Members of Congress and other political leaders often say that the men and women who have served in our military since 9/11 are the ‘new greatest generation.’ Well, here’s a thought from two infantry combat veterans of the Vietnam era’s ‘wounded generation’: if you truly believe that our Iraq and Afghanistan veterans are like those who fought in World War II, let us provide them with the same G.I. Bill that was given to the veterans of that war.” Sens. Jim Webb (D-VA) and Chuck Hagel (R-NE) in a New York Times Op Ed.

There is no doubt in my mind that much of the prosperity that we’ve enjoyed in this country was as a direct result of the G.I. Bill after World War II. I believe that a whole generation of veterans went to college on the government nickel that would have never attended otherwise. This led to unprecedented innovations, technological advances, and the Nobel prizes in the sciences are still rolling in. Our investment in these returning war veterans is what made them the “greatest generation.” Not because of what they did in the war, but what they did afterwards. In a way, by thanking these vets for their sacrifice, by helping them buy homes and go to college, we set off a wave of prosperity that has only now begun to crest.

On this Veteran’s Day, I’m ashamed at the way we are treating vets now. No matter how you feel about this war, or war in general, those citizens that answer the call to serve deserve our gratitude. At the very least they’ve earned the right to be treated with dignity.

But somehow I don’t see the dignity in the fact that “wounded veterans are getting the runaround” according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office which chastised the Pentagon and Veterans Administration. The reports about conditions at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and the case backlogs at VA hospitals around the country are an outrage. The irony here is that before the war the VA was held up as a model of efficiency and effective care, and many looked at it as a way to proceed towards a single-payer system for all of us. It seems like it was almost a deliberate effort on the part of Bush to trash the VA system in order to just discredit government-run healthcare. It makes me sick.

What sort of dignity is there in the taking of your own life? Since this war started over 283 combat veterans have committed suicide. In a culture where mental illness is dismissed by your superiors as a sign of weakness, still over 100,000 combat veterans have requested care – Many suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder. The Bush administration has finally acknowledged the problem and has directed the VA to create programs that identify and help suicidal veterans. In that one dark moment of hopelessness, no veteran should feel alone. They need to know that a nation stands behind them ready to help.

Coming of age in the 1970s in and around New York City, you couldn’t help but notice that many of the homeless on the streets wore military fatigues. Even back then, the government did little to help these veterans suffering from mental illness, but by now it should be expected that we’d have gotten a handle on the homelessness of vets. Sadly, today veterans make up about one in four of the homeless. Some estimates put the number of Afghanistan/Iraq vets that are homeless at around 1,500, and shelters are reporting that many of the new arrivals include wounded veterans of the current war.

What about the myth that veterans have health insurance for life? In a new report from Harvard places the number of veterans and their families without health insurance at around 6 million, and the number of uninsured veterans at 1.8 million in 2004. This is up roughly more than a quarter of a million people since 2000. Preliminary numbers for more recent years are showing that the problem is becoming bigger. It seems that like the population as a whole, veterans are no longer getting their insurance through their employer, and almost 2/3 of the uninsured vets were employed.

Here are some other findings of the Harvard study to be released in December in the American Journal of Public Health: 56.5% of the uninsured veterans are over 44 years old; 645,628 are uninsured Vietnam-era vets and 1.1 million are vets from wars that include the current conflict; 26.5% reported they failed to get care because of costs; 31.2% delayed care because of costs; 49.1% has failed to see a doctor in the last year; and finally, 66% failed to receive preventative care. This is just shameful.

The Bush administration in 2003 made many middle income veterans ineligible for VA care, set co-pays for specialized care at unaffordable levels, and set the stage for overwhelming the VA system.

As I sit here on this Veteran’s Day I wonder what a difference this next generation of warriors might make in this country if we sent all of them to college for free, helped them buy homes and gave them the medical care that they deserve. You can’t help but believe that this next generation would shine in our history books. However, we all know that this will never happen. So if we aren’t going to have a meaningful G.I. Bill for these folks, the very least we can do is to treat them with the dignity they earned.

Costs of This War & Occupation

The costs of this war and occupation fall on all of us, but especially working people. First and foremost, there are the service members themselves who are facing injury and death every day, as well as their family members who love them - the vast majority of whom are working people. Then there are the financial costs: the US has spent over $450 billion on the war so far ($663 million of it from Vermont's taxpayers), and the Bush administration is now asking Congress to appropriate over $190 billion more for another year. The war is costing the US $720 million each day to occupy Iraq. That's money that could be used to build affordable housing, extend health insurance to every child, and train and hire tens of thousands of public school teachers.

Last but certainly not least, there are the Iraqi people themselves, who, after living with decades of political repression under Saddam Hussein, are now living under the heel of foreign troops. Over 4 million Iraqis have been displaced, and an estimated million Iraqis have died, as a result of the chaos the war and occupation have created. The rights of Iraqi working people to organize has been trampled and the labor movement has been suppressed by both the occupation and Iraqi government.

It is in labor's interest to end this war, because it's working people here and in Iraq who are being hurt most by it. Hundreds of union locals, labor councils, worker committees, state labor federations, and internationals - including the AFL-CIO - have called for an end to the war and the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq. The majority of the American people want the same. But George Bush has said that the war must continue; it's up to American working people to make sure it ends, now.

Let’s Engage Our Members to Bring Our Troops Home . . and Take Care of Them When They Return

70% of Americans are against the war in Iraq. Yet our political leaders have failed to end it. We must find new ways to force an end to U.S.military involvement in Iraq. It is up to US to provide the 70% Solution! That’s what this letter is about.

President Bush wants another $190 billion to continue the occupation and war. He now seems intent on attacking Iran as he sends more forces to Iraq. Doing so will not only kill numerous innocent Iranians, but will also expose our troops in Iraq to a horrific backlash by pro-Iranian Iraqis. Such a reckless attack will only further isolate the U.S. in the world.

It’s time to show the politicians that we’re not as apathetic as they apparently think. We elected them to get us out of this mess, not to drag it on. We don’t want more of their empty promises, phony compromises, contrived goals and meaningless benchmarks. We want this war ended now. We won’t accept anything else.

Since President Bush refuses to end it, we must tell Congress to exercise its authority to stop funding the war and instead to fund an immediate rapid withdrawal of all U.S. forces from Iraq. It is the only way to truly support our troops, and end this nightmare. Let’s use our resources to fully fund services to vets, provide universal health care, rebuild the Gulf, and meet numerous other human needs.

We need to draw more of our members who have yet to take action to actively oppose the war. Let’s press our demands for an immediate end to the bloodshed, shattered lives, wasted resources, abuses of power, and inadequate funding that has deprived the VA system the resources needed to provide world-class care our vets deserve.

Let’s ask our members to join the Nationwide Iraq Moratorium

The Iraq Moratorium is a simple, powerful organizing idea. On the 3^rd Friday of the month... October 19^th and November 16^th – all those who oppose the occupation of Iraq are asked to take an action to call for bringing our troops home now from Iraq, and taking care of them when they return.

We want to encourage locals to explore what you can do with workplaces actions. We favor actions that can be built in an organized way. Here are some ideas:

· Wear stickers

· Distribute a handout on the cost of the war to Vermont

· Organize a call-in, write-in or petition signing to Congress during breaks

· Ask people to do Congressional district office visits

· Show “Meeting Face to Face,” a documentary about the U.S. tour of Iraqi labor leaders

· Vigil near the VA hospital with signs saying, “Fund Vets’ Services, Not the War.”

For stickers, flyers, or the video, contact Vermont Labor Against the War - a coalition of the Vermont AFL-CIO, Champlain Valley and Washington-Orange-Lamoille Labor Councils, and Vermont Workers Center – at: traven_L@earthlink.net or 55 E. Bear Swamp Rd., Middlesex, VT 05602; tel. 802-522-3484

Working together, we in organized labor can provide a big part of the “70% Solution.” We do it for our troops. We do it for our families. We do it for our country. We do it to defend our democracy. We do it for peace. If we don’t do it, who will?

Unions Step in to Aid Injured Iraqi War Veteran

Richard Negri, a dedicated unionist who runs the blog Union Review, has a great post we’d like to highlight. Negri rightly applauds the organization Helmets to Hardhats, which connects National Guard, Reserve and transitioning active-duty military members with quality career training and employment opportunities within the construction industry and other trades.

Up in Windsor Locks, Conn., local building trades unions joined up with Helmets to Hardhats to assist a local veteran named Sgt. Barry Albert. The soldier lost a leg as a result of a May 14 attack on four U.S. Army vehicles in Iraq.

The 42-year-old war hero was driving the lead vehicle near the city of Al Hillah when he sustained significant shrapnel injuries to his leg, yet continued to drive his passengers to safety, including a wounded comrade.

When his story was heard, it was clearly identified that Sgt. Albert and his wife, Susan, needed to have their home retrofitted to accommodate his injury. Helmets to Hardhats, along with another group called Heroes to Hometowns and American Legion Post 36 in Windsor Locks, reached out to the building trades unions in the Greater Hartford area to help coordinate the effort.

And frankly, the unions came through…in a big way! They donated all labor and materials to make this happen. We learned today that the renovation work has begun and completion is expected within the next two weeks.

We take off our hats and say thank you to these union workers and salute Sgt. Albert—all for doing a great job!

From AFL-CIO blog