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And now, Iran is in the crosshairs. In one possible scenario, Dick Cheney is reported to be cooking up plans for Israel to attack Iran, and then for the U.S. to dive into the war when Iran counter-attacks. Massive U.S. naval power off the coast of Iran puts the U.S. in position to attack at any time. The White House is demanding $88 million to modify B-2 Stealth bombers to carry a newly developed 30,000-pound bunker-buster bomb-very possibly for use in a war on Iran.
| Read more |
November 15, 2007 09:47am
THE US military is experiencing a "suicide epidemic" with veterans killing themselves at the rate of 120 a week, according to an investigation by US television network CBS.
At least 6256 US veterans committed suicide in 2005 - an average of 17 a day - the network reported, with veterans overall more than twice as likely to take their own lives as the rest of the general population.
While the suicide rate among the general population was 8.9 per 100,000, the level among veterans was between 18.7 and 20.8 per 100,000.
That figure rose to 22.9 to 31.9 suicides per 100,000 among veterans aged 20 to 24 - almost four times the non-veteran average for the age group.
"Those numbers clearly show an epidemic of mental health problems,'' CBS quoted veterans' rights advocate Paul Sullivan as saying.
CBS quoted the father of a 23-year-old soldier who shot himself in 2005 as saying the military did not want the true scale of the problem to be known.
"Nobody wants to tally it up in the form of a government total,'' Mike Bowman said.
"They don't want the true numbers of casualties to really be known.''
There are 25 million veterans in the United States, 1.6 million of whom served in Afghanistan and Iraq, according to CBS.
"Not everyone comes home from the war wounded, but the bottom line is nobody comes home unchanged,'' Paul Rieckhoff, a former Marine and founder of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans for America said on CBS.
The network said it was the first time that a nationwide count of veteran suicides had been conducted.
The tally was reached by collating suicide data from individual states for both veterans and the general population from 1995.
History… phooey!
....For one thing, the past is often just so inconvenient.
On Monday, for instance, there was a front-page piece in the New York Times by Elisabeth Bumiller on Robert Blackwill, one of the "Vulcans" who helped Condoleezza Rice advise George W. Bush on foreign policy during the 2000 election campaign, Iraq Director on the National Security Council during the reign in Baghdad of our viceroy L. Paul Bremer III, and the President's personal envoy to the faltering occupation (nicknamed "The Shadow"), among many other things.
He is now -- here's a giant shock -- a lobbyist. And, among those he's lobbying for (in this case to the tune of $300,000) is Ayad Allawi, former CIA asset and head -- back in Saddam's day -- of an exile group, the Iraq National Accord.
Bumiller identifies Allawi as "the first prime minister of the newly sovereign nation -- America's man in Baghdad." She also refers to him as having had "close ties to the CIA" and points out that he was not just Bremer's, but Blackwill's "choice" to be prime minister back in 2004.
Now, he's Blackwill's "choice" again. Allawi is, it seems, yet once more on deck, with his own K-Street lobbyist, ready to step in as prime minister if the present PM, Nouri al-Maliki, were to fall (or be shoved aside).
But there's another rather inconvenient truth about Allawi that goes unmentioned -- and it's right off the front page of the New York Times, no less -- a piece by Joel Brinkley, "Ex-C.I.A. Aides Say Iraq Leader Helped Agency in 90's Attacks," published in early June 2004, just at the moment when Allawi had been "designated" prime minister.
In the early 1990s, Brinkley reported, Allawi's exile organization was, under the CIA's direction, planting car bombs and explosive devices in Baghdad (including in a movie theater) in a fruitless attempt to destabilize Saddam Hussein's regime.
Of course, that was back when car bombs weren't considered the property of brutes like Sunni extremists, al-Qaeda in Iraq, and the Taliban.
(Just as, inconveniently enough, back in the 1980s the CIA bankrolled and encouraged the training of Afghan "freedom fighters" in mounting car-bomb and even camel-bomb attacks in a terror campaign against Soviet officers and soldiers in Russian-occupied Afghan cities (techniques personally "endorsed," according to Steve Coll in his superb book Ghost Wars, by then-CIA Director William Casey).
But that was back in the day -- just as, to randomly cite one more inconvenient piece of history also off the front page of the New York Times (Patrick Tyler, "Officers Say U.S. Aided Iraq in War Despite Use of Gas," August 18, 2002), years before we went into Iraq to take out Saddam's by then nonexistent weapons of mass destruction, we helped him use them.
The Reagan Pentagon had a program in which 60 officers from the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency "were secretly providing detailed information on Iranian deployments" to Saddam's forces, so that he could, among other things, wield his chemical weapons against them more effectively.
("The Pentagon 'wasn't so horrified by Iraq's use of gas,' said one veteran of the program. 'It was just another way of killing people -- whether with a bullet or phosgene, it didn't make any difference.'")
Of course, when it comes to America's oily history in Iraq, there is just about no backstory -- not on the front page of the New York Times, not basically in the mainstream.
Even at this late date, with the price of crude threatening to head for the $100 a barrel mark, Iraqi oil is -- well, not exactly censored out -- just (let's face it) so darn embarrassing to write about.
In fact, now that all those other explanations for invading Iraq -- WMD, freedom, you name it -- have long since flown the coop, there really is no explanation (except utter folly) for Bush's invasion.
So, better to move on, and quickly at that. These last months, however, Tomdispatch has returned repeatedly to the subject as a reminder that history, even when not in sight, matters. And the deeper you go, as Michael Schwartz proves below, the more likely you are to find that gusher you're looking for.
Tom
Click here to read more of this dispatch.
To send this to a friend, or to read more dispatches, go to tomdispatch.com
In Loving Memory of My Father
COLIN McPHIE
September 9, 1923 - October 21, 2007
An ordinary, decent man
who showed extraordinary commitment
to his family, friends and employers.
Spared further suffering, he now rests in peace.
BIRTH & CHILDHOOD
Colin McPhie was born in Surrey Hills,
to parents Norman McPhie and Pearl Barlow, on September 9, 1923.
When Colin was only about 3 years old, his father left the family.
He was raised in Yarram, East Gippsland, in country
PHOTOS: Young Colin McPhie, presumably at Yarram.
On the back of the photo on the old tractor, written in my mother's handwriting,
are the words "2 years & 9 months".
When young Colin was only 12, his mother died.
He was then raised in
MARRIAGE TO LOIS
While attending Glen Iris Elementary School No.1148,
Colin met young Norma Lois Haeberle,
of
Later, on September 21, 1946 at the age of 23,
Colin married Lois, then aged 21,
at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church in
Colin & Lois were always a devoted
and inseparable couple for almost 60 years,
living true to their solemn vows of love "until death do us part".
Sadly, Lois passed away on June 5, 2006,
after suffering Alzheimer’s Disease
and other health complications.
FAMILY LIFE
Together, Lois & Colin built their new family home
in what was then the orchards and green rolling hills of Burwood,
at 3 Morell Street, (later the suburb was renamed Glen Iris),
and there they raised their two sons -
Bruce born in 1951, and Russell born in 1955.
We were blessed with parents who loved and
supported us every step of the way through life.
Through all the very good times and the bad,
the ups and downs of life,
Mum and Dad were always there with a helping hand
or a comforting word.
When we were young, our parents were not wealthy,
but they saved wisely and made sacrifices
to give us a good education,
and we enjoyed many family holidays together.
Dad & Mum always supported us in our many hobbies
and interests over the years.
(PHOTO: The proud Dad!... I may have earned the Queen's Scout Award,
but Mum & Dad rightly deserved much of the credit.
Photo taken in November, 1968.)
(PHOTO: Mum & Dad with the youngest of their 3 grandchildren, in 1989.)
(PHOTO: Russell, Lois, Colin & Bruce -
a happy family celebrate
Dad's 60th birthday at
3 Morell Street, Burwood, in 1983.)
WORK
Our Dad had many jobs throughout his life,
and he soon developed a well-deserved reputation
for being a dedicated and conscientious worker.
He worked as a fireman at Camberwell Fire Station.
For most of his working life, he was a skilled lathe operator,
a turner & fitter, at Inglis Smith Ship Chandlers in
Later still, after his health declined, he moved to easier employment
as a biscuit maker at the former Brockoff’s Biscuit Factory
in Burwood, until his retirement at 65.
PHOTO: Dad & workmates at Brockhoff Biscuit factory.
Wherever he worked or went,
Colin formed many good friendships, and was popular for his
hard work, loyalty and sometimes a wicked sense of humour.
As a testament to his popularity
with both workers and management,
he was always warmly welcomed back to visit the workplaces,
even after he had stopped working there.
Together, our parents enjoyed many coach tours
around much of
More than just wonderful holidays together,
these also became opportunities to gather
many close, long-term friends.
SURVIVOR OF ILL-HEALTH
Throughout his life, our Dad experienced and survived
some very serious medical conditions,
and developed a reputation as a tough survivor.
As a young man, he underwent a brain haemorrhage operation at
Prince Henry’s Hospital in
He was welcomed back there by medical staff for many years
as a popular and successful survivor.
In later life, he suffered from a number of strokes,
which left him with some side effects,
but he somehow always bounced back.
A roll-your-own smoker most of his life,
Dad immediately quit the deadly habit after his first stroke.
Dad’s quiet stubbornness and strong will to live,
cheated Death for many years.
After nearly 60 years of devoted marriage to Lois,
Colin had to suffer seeing Lois consumed
by the dreadful Alzheimer’s Disease.
Finally, her passing in 2006,
although in many ways a blessing,
must also have been a terrible time for Dad.
As was often Dad’s way,
he mostly kept his inner feelings to himself.
Perhaps that was his way of dealing with a situation
so tragic and painful, which he could not change.
NEARING THE END
Dad’s strength noticeably declined during those last years,
and especially after the death of Lois.
He required nursing home care,
and became steadily older and weaker,
although his heart remained strong to the very end.
Some days before my next tour was to start, I got a
message from brother Russell to say Dad had got worse,
but the doctor could not say how long he had left.
He improved a bit, but then declined again.
I informed my manager, but decided not to fly home at that stage.
I had seen Dad only a few weeks before, while in
annual holiday, and Dad’s condition was still unclear.
Anxiously, I continued the tour, prepared to return
to
but chose not to tell the travellers about this.
We got half-way through the tour, when I got the call.
Finally, on Sunday morning, October 21,
after a full and active long life of 84 years,
Colin McPhie passed away.
FUNERAL
On Thursday October 25, 2007 at 1:45 pm, about
35 close family, friends, neighbours and former workmates
gathered at Blair Chapel, Springvale Crematorium,
to say farewell to Dad, who was cremated by request.
We displayed some interesting photos of Dad
taken throughout his life,
including some when he was only about 2 years old.
Dad's most favourite flower was always the tulip,
so we arranged an impressive display of tulips to send off with him.
On the coffin, there were red roses, and a black sash -
Dad's favourite football team was always Essendon!
During the time of reflection, the music played was
Vera Lynne singing "We'll Meet Again."
At the end of the service, we played the Essendon footie song.
We think Dad would have liked that!
The moving service was well conducted by Mr. Greg Crawford
from Syd Peek & Daughter funeral services,
who had also taken care of Mum's funeral in June 2006.
Colin is survived by his two sons, Bruce & Russell,
and his three grandchildren born to Russell and Janet -
Stuart, Ryan and Ashlea.
Colin McPhie will be remembered and loved by his family,
and all the friends and work colleagues who ever knew him,
for his honesty, dedication and selflessness.
He was a hard-working, and devoted Dad, and a loyal mate to his friends.
He will be sadly missed, but now he can finally rest in peace.
In honour of the memory of my Dad,
Intrepid Indochina, my employers in Viet Nam,
made a donation to Alzheimer's Australia (Victoria).
This was unexpected, and much appreciated.
Anything that helps others facing this terrible disease,
and hopefully brings a cure closer,
is a good thing indeed.
Colin & Lois
enjoyed almost
60 years of happy
married life together,
separated only by
the death of Lois
1 year and 4 months ago.
Now,
they can
rest in peace
together
forever.
(PHOTOS: Mum & Dad
at
celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary,
on September 21, 1996.
Mum passed away just 3 months before reaching their 60th wedding anniversary.)
Rest in Peace - Colin McPhie
* To read my Tribute to My Mum, go to:
http://lemonjuicebruce.blogspot.com/2006/06/in-loving-memory-of-my-mother.html
Islip and Liberation - another excellent free, daily, email alternative news bulletin from George Anthony. Having discovered the esoterica of blogging, with a little help from friends, it occurred to yours truly, that a blog was not enough. One needs to take proactive action and give the occasional blog reader the nudge that there is more to life than reading the Guardian and the lesser purveyors of distortion. So every day, incidentally as happened during the invasion of Iraq, a bulletin is issued after culling useful information from the CeeFax, the Morning Star, the Financial Times, aljazeera news on Sky and website, and the daily emailings to midhurst14@aol.com. On Sunday's the Observer. The service is free, but yours truly and those at the Arkwright Road office, like to think it might build the circulation of the Liberation journal and the Islip newsletter. The whole exercise takes about two hours a day, the Islip bulletin concentrated on economic and political news, that Islip readers tastes are well known for. The Liberation bulletin concentrating on international news and human rights events, something it has been famous for, for over fifty years. Please join up by emailing to liberation@btinternet.com or midhurst14@aol.com for your delectation and information. George Anthony |
I am very sad to have to report the news that Dave Cline died this past weekend.
There are many wonderful tributes to Dave being written
( http://www.veteransforpeace.org ), and I would like to add some personal reflections on the part of his life with which I was deeply connected - the
GI Movement against the Vietnam War.
I hope you will indulge some nostalgic reminiscing here-there really is a point to it.
Let me say up front that without Dave Cline, Sir! No Sir! would not have been made.
I met Dave in the Spring of 1970, when I joined the staff of the Oleo Strut Coffeehouse outside Ft. Hood in Killeen, Texas. My introduction to him and the GI Movement was riding in a broken down Chevy with Dave driving 120 mph through central Texas and me convinced I would never get out of there alive. I'm not sure anything defines Dave Cline better than that wild ride.
Dave and I were from different worlds. I was a middle class kid who came to my opposition to the war and growing radicalism intellectually. Dave, a working class kid from Buffalo, had joined the army and been wounded three times in Vietnam. It was his last wound, from an NLF soldier at point blank range, that changed everything.
The soldier shattered Dave's knee, and Dave killed him with a bullet in the chest. His first realization was it was "pure luck" that he was alive and the other guy was dead. Then it hit him that there was no real difference between the two of them.
Finally, the epiphany: It was the NLF soldier who was fighting for a just cause, while Dave and his comrades were fighting for a lie. In typical Dave Cline fashion he concluded in 1970, "I had to kill a revolutionary to become a revolutionary."
And revolutionaries we were. . .
In 1971 - with literally thousands of GIs rebelling against the war and joining groups like the Black Panther Party - planning demonstrations by day and hotly debating the writings of Marx, Lenin and Mao by night was a very practical thing to do. And boy could Dave debate. Even in his sleep. It wasn't uncommon for him to jolt up from his bed at 2 am to continue a discussion from earlier that day, only to have no memory of it the next morning (Dave claimed he had even slept through a mortar attack in Vietnam) . . .
Then the war ended, and we all moved into other arenas, believing deeply in the possibility of revolution right here in the United States. For a while we stayed close, but through the years political disagreements developed, and in those heady times that meant a lot. By the end of the 70s and beginning of the 80s we weren't in contact any more. Those were very difficult times. In one of the last conversations I had with Dave back then he told me that every morning he woke up thinking "Oh fuck, another day!"
So when I started to make Sir! No Sir! Dave was the first person I wanted to talk to, but I had no idea what or whom I would find. What I found was the person so many have been writing about these last few days. Wracked by illness, he was extraordinarily energetic and eager to tell his story. The day of our interview, he had just come home from a grueling three-day VFP convention and was worried he wouldn't have much energy. We talked for four hours.
. . . Dave knew the tremendous importance of telling the story of the GI Movement today, in this world and with this war.
Because of him, several people are in the film alongside others they wouldn't have been in the same room with a few years ago. And he carried that spirit into the dozens of screenings and Q&As he participated in these past couple of years. He has played a tremendous role in making Sir! No Sir! the spark for today's GI Movement that it has been. And that's on top of his superhuman energy in building the work of Veterans for Peace.
In these last years of his life, I don't think Dave was saying "Oh fuck, another day!" anymore.
This has been a tough year. Along with Dave, two other veterans of the GI Movement who were integral parts of the film have also died-Oliver Hirsch of the Nine for Peace, and Terry Whitmore, who deserted to Sweden after watching federal troops invade his home town of Memphis as he lay wounded in a hospital bed in Japan. Along with Dave, their lives had deep historic meaning.
For more about Dave, and information on funeral and memorial plans, please go to http://www.veteransforpeace.org
Signed,
David Zeiger
