GI SPECIAL
5G25:

A Bankrupt Empire Hits The Wall:
"Today There Was Full-Blown Carnage"
"It’s Kind Of Like Catching A Falling Knife Right
Now"
"A Fairly Disorderly And Hysterical Move"
"By Spreading To Other Markets, The Subprime Mess
Is Driving Up Interest Rates For Borrowers Of All Sorts, Which Can Lead To A
Credit Crunch"
Comment On
The Articles Below: T
Contrary to absurd fantasies,
crises that interrupt the operation of capitalism don’t just go on day after
day at the same or increasing levels of panic and collapse. There will be weeks ahead when everything
seems quiet, and alarming news reports like the ones below fade away.
But as the contagion spreads
through more and more realms of production, distribution and accumulation, dramatic
upheavals become more frequent and severe; the interruption of the cycle of
production, distribution and accumulation becomes more pronounced; and it
becomes ever clearer to everyone in the society that a serious downturn has
arrived, with falling production, cuts in employment, and intense downward
pressure on wages.
Occasional violent shocks --
the bankruptcy of some major corporation or financial institution – grab
headline attention transiently, but play out against the background of a
slower, grinding attack on the standard of living of the working class as a
whole.
And who better suited to
preside over attacks on the standard of living of the American working class
and use the government to impose discipline upon it than the Democratic Party?
And who less suited to do so
than the Republican Party, too clearly identified with wealth and naked, crude
corporate greed? The relatively few
remaining political representatives of the American ruling class who still have
enough intelligence to perceive reality know that.
Meanwhile, within a year or
two, the want of ready money, called a credit crisis, will finally reach the
debt instruments of the Imperial government itself.
Those who today look for safety
from the violence shaking financial markets by buying U.S. treasury bonds and
notes, the famous "flight to quality" reporters love to point to today, will
come to regard those instruments as toxic waste, and wonder how they could ever
have been so foolish as to seek safety in the worthless paper of a bankrupt
Empire.
With that, the crisis matures
into a crisis of confidence in the government and the class of capitalists the
government was instituted, designed, and is operated to serve.
No, we have not been through
this before.
Never before.
Certainly not during Vietnam,
when the U.S. economy was still relatively stable, with substantial capital
reserves and deriving some income from the Empire, rather than seeing the
relative costs of the Empire pile up mountains of dollar denominated debt that
can never be repaid short of a violent depreciation of the dollar sufficient to
impoverish much of the population.
Never before in U.S. history
has a major crisis in the sphere of economic relations, expressing both massive
private and governmental bankruptcy, come at the same time as a failing
Imperial war draining off what little national capital remains.
Those who babble mindlessly
about a new world being possible had best appreciate that this indeed will be a
new world, and it will not be pretty.
One question, of some
importance, will be whether our troops will choose to serve the vast majority
of Americans who are the working class of the United States, or will choose to
serve the few on top who oppress, exploit, and torment us for their own benefit,
and who preside over the hopelessly antiquated economic relations that bring on
Imperial war abroad and economic disaster at home.
The answer to that question
will depend, more or less, perhaps decisively, on what links we have forged
with our class brothers and sisters in arms.
Now, not later.
Those who are willing to invest
substantial amounts of time in forging those links, and see no greater priority
in their lives, of necessity must find each other and begin the work.
A few who have made that
commitment can accomplish infinitely more acting together in an organized way
than an assortment more numerous who half-step their way lamely and hesitantly
along because they have other priorities.
It has been said there is a
world to win. There is also a world to
lose, a more dangerous possibility now than has been the case previously in
human history.
T
***************************************************
July 27, 2007 By MICHAEL
HUDSON, PETER A. MCKAY and AARON LUCCHETTI, Wall St. Journal
[Excerpts]
By bidding up stock prices all year,
investors were effectively betting the housing slowdown wouldn’t engulf the
broader economy. Yesterday, that confidence appeared to be shaken.
Stocks and corporate-bond markets tumbled
amid selling that was more widespread than during the three previous days of
triple-digit declines this month.
Along with risky bonds and
anything connected to the housing market, investors sold off stocks,
emerging-markets bonds and even high-quality corporate debt. The record trading
volume in stocks reflected rising anxiety.
Meanwhile, roughly 1,300, or nearly 17%, of
the around 7,800 stocks that trade on U.S. exchanges hit their lowest price of
the past 12 months.
To many investors, that made yesterday’s
selloff more ominous than other big declines this year. Sid Bakst, a senior
portfolio manager at investment firm Robeco Weiss, Peck & Greer, said the
steady drip of bad news on subprime-mortgage loans and the failure of some
leveraged buyouts to get long-term financing has made investors increasingly
nervous.
"As each day has gone by,
things have been leaking a bit more," Mr. Bakst said. "But today there was
full-blown carnage."
The Dow Jones Industrial Average sank 311.50
points, or 2.3%, to finish at 13473.57, after being down as much as 440 points
at midafternoon.
At the New York Stock Exchange,
trading curbs designed as safeguards against a crash remained in effect for
nearly all of yesterday’s trading session.
The selloff marked the biggest
three-day point drop for the Dow industrials in five years and wiped $105.9
billion off the average’s market value.
The broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock
index slid 35.43 points, or 2.3%, to 1482.66, leaving it up 4.5% on the year.
The technology-focused Nasdaq Composite Index shed 48.83 points, or 1.8%, to
2599.34, and was up 7.6% on the year.
Yesterday’s volume on the nation’s three
major stock exchanges totaled 10.59 billion shares, up 34% from the previous
record, which was set earlier this year.
When volume is high, investors take big market moves more seriously.
The moves in the stock and bond markets, and
discouraging news about home sales and orders for capital equipment, led the
federal-funds futures markets -- where traders can bet on the Federal Reserve’s
next move -- to conclude that the central bank is now much more likely to cut
interest rates sometime this year.
Yesterday, investors sold off
stocks whose performance is tied to the ups and downs of the economy, like
energy companies, industrials and basic-materials companies, a sign investors
now think the economy will slow down. Those sectors were among the market’s
leaders this year.
Energy stocks, which were up
25% on the year before yesterday, led the way down after ExxonMobil Corp.
reported weaker-than-expected earnings. The energy sector had accounted for
roughly a third of the stock market’s earnings growth over the past two years,
meaning high oil prices actually had a positive impact on stocks.
But now energy prices, which have flirted
with new highs recently, are clearly a drag on the market.
The meltdown in the
subprime-mortgage market was clearly the factor that set off the cascade of
declines.
Investors fears have been
heightened by the sheer complexity of collateralized-debt obligations and other
structured finance vehicles, which makes it difficult for investors to judge
just how bad conditions are in the subprime sector, said Arthur Tetyevsky,
chief U.S. credit strategist at HSBC.
"Now it’s a much broader, much
more nebulous, much more intimidating issue for the market. And that’s adding to the duress that we’ve
seen in the market," Mr. Tetyevsky said.
By spreading to other markets,
the subprime mess is driving up interest rates for borrowers of all sorts,
which can lead to a credit crunch.
Many bearish observers thought the housing
slump might cause an economic slowdown by cutting into consumer spending, which
accounts for about two-thirds of the U.S. economy.
Consumer spending has held up reasonably
well, however, and now worries about the economy are focused on whether tighter
credit will undermine companies’ ability to borrow money so they can expand and
keep boosting their stock values.
The impact of tighter credit is
already apparent in the market for high-grade debt.
Yesterday, for example, Tyco
Electronics Ltd. pulled a $1.5 billion bond deal "due to unfavorable conditions
in the debt markets," the company said.
Selling bonds for a company
like Tyco, which has put its past scandals behind it, is normally a routine
affair.
As another example, Mr. Tetyevsky pointed to
the price action on a $1.5 billion bundle of 30-year bonds issued two weeks ago
by Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
By yesterday the quoted yield on those bonds
was roughly 2.4 points above the yield on 30-year Treasurys, widening from a
spread of roughly 2.15 points on Wednesday and 1.7 points back on July 12.
That’s a big increase for the
investment-grade bond market and a sign that investors are nervous and want to
get paid more for risking their money, even on bonds that are considered to
have a very low chance of default.
Some analysts said the credit market, which
had rallied strongly for several years, was due for a downturn. RBC Capital Markets fixed-income strategist
T.J. Marta said the high-grade-bond market’s move may simply be a symptom of
the air being let out of a credit bubble that had gotten too big.
"But the concern is that this
is a fairly disorderly and hysterical move, and that always carries the risk
that you hit a tipping point where things get out of control," Mr. Marta said.
Juggling his phone on the floor of the New
York Stock Exchange, broker Steven Grasso weighed in on a stock market where
investors’ fear has replaced greed as the most-prominent emotion.
The bond market "is a huge concern,"
said Mr. Grasso. "It’s been overhanging the market. New companies keep getting lumped into what’s
happening to subprime....People thought it would be a handful of companies, but
we’re seeing a marketwide impact."
Mr. Grasso said many companies’ borrowing
costs will go higher, lowering their earnings.
Until recently, emerging-market bonds had
largely weathered the turmoil in the U.S. and European credit markets. That’s a
testament to the strong economic fundamentals and financial stability of many
emerging economies. But, in another sign
of the disquiet in the markets, Russian energy giant OAO Gazprom abruptly
postponed a bond offering planned for yesterday.
"It’s kind of like catching a
falling knife right now," said Edwin Gutierrez, an emerging-market portfolio
manager at Aberdeen Asset Managers in London, of yesterday’s trading. "I wouldn’t be in a hurry to add risk."
U.S. investors awoke to overnight selling in
key Asian and European markets. In addition, the Australian asset-management
firm Absolute Capital announced that it was halting withdrawals from two funds
with about $200 million in assets invested in credit instruments, including
CDOs.
As the morning progressed, the
Commerce Department released data showing that new-home sales in the U.S. fell
6.6% in June -- more than quadruple the decline expected by economists in a
survey by Dow Jones Newswires.
The government also announced a
smaller-than-expected rise of 1.4% in June orders for big-ticket items known as
durable goods.
But mutual-fund investors have picked up
their selling as volatility has increased recently, according to TrimTabs
Investment Research.
MORE:
"There Is A Full Blown Liquidity Crisis At Hand In
World Financial Markets"
"Right Now, Virtually All Sources Of Liquidity Are
Drying Up Faster Than Anyone Would Have Thought"
"The Speed Which This Liquidity Crisis Is Emerging
Is Amazing Many"
Jul 27 2007 By Chris Laird, Prudent
Squirrel.com [Excerpt]
For the last several years, corporate
buyouts, corporate stock buy backs and such, the Yen carry trade, and the
mortgage derivatives markets have added tremendous liquidity to world financial
markets. In tandem with this, the market
analysts came to view a 'world stock bull’ emerging, and even the most
conservative market bears started to get into this world stock bull theme in
their writings.
The total amount of these sources of
financing and liquidity in the last 2 years is over $5 trillion, and has been
one of the major supports for stock markets.
All of a sudden, these sources
of liquidity are vanishing so fast, that market experts are amazed.
This all came together in about 3 or 4 weeks
after the Bear Stearns mortgage derivatives mess revealed how illiquid
structured finance (derivatives in mortgages and such) can become –
instantaneously.
After that, investors started
to flee from billions of dollars value of structured finance offerings in the
last several weeks, and in the blink of an eye, almost the entire derivatives
financing universe lost liquidity across the board.
This is a prime cause of the latest world
stock crashes.
Right now, virtually all
sources of liquidity are drying up faster than anyone would have thought.
Or, put another way, with corporate buy outs
and stock buybacks at over $1 trillion in the last year alone – that is now
almost gone as support for the markets.
Investment banks such as Morgan and Goldman have had to park about 40
huge deals planned this year, as they have not been able to sell of the bonds
and financing for these deals.
This picture emerged in only about 3 weeks.
Continuing, the now well known debacle with
mortgage derivatives – structured finance packaging risky mortgages into so
called AAA rated tranches – have led to financial crises at Bear Stearns,
Italease, killed deals with Morgan, and Goldman and others, and caused that
sector to lose liquidity to zero basically, in a mere two or three weeks after
the problems with Bears two now worthless hedge funds emerged.
Now, the almost the entire mortgage
derivative universe is tanking – and huge margin calls by banks to counter
parties are happening- and no one wants to buy.
Then, the long threatening
unwinding of the Yen carry trade is afoot, the Yen strengthening significantly
now for two weeks, and as that continued apace, world stock markets finally
started to fall apart – or crash – this week.
Lots of cheap Yen are borrowed at about 1%
and invested in every financial market imaginable. As the Yen rises, investors have to sell out
stocks and whatever, and then pay back Yen at higher exchange rates – a sure
loser.
This effect is magnified by a factor of ten
by hedge funds who use 10 to 1 or more leverage.
And the list of liquidity
drying up goes on, but, only a few weeks after the Bear Stearns CDO (mortgage
derivative mess) showed that no one wanted to buy CDOs any more, that rumbled
through credit markets, and now, as one trader said, 'there is a full blown
liquidity crisis at hand in world financial markets’.
This is not just about CDOs, but has now
scared almost the entire structured finance (derivatives) universe because it
showed how illiquid they can become- basically instantly illiquid.
And, as, in the case of Bear, or Italease,
bankers have to call in loans from counterparties who hold their structured
finance derivatives, and find that their counterparties cannot fulfill the 'margin’
calls in many cases – read as a liquidity crisis.
Then, as this all is occurring,
world financial markets are crashing, as the easy liquidity for corporate
buyouts and buybacks, and mortgage financing, all of a sudden vanishes in only
about 3 weeks.
The speed which this liquidity
crisis is emerging is amazing many.
MORE:
"What Are, Generally Speaking, The Characteristics
Of A Revolutionary Situation?"
Comment: T
Whatever you may think of the
politics of this writer, he was rather skilled at figuring out when a
revolutionary situation was present:
He describes the essential
ingredients:
1. A ruling class split and at war within itself
about what to do: "a crack through which the dissatisfaction and the revolt of
the oppressed classes burst forth"
2. An economic crisis hammering the working
class
3. A war that breaks the passivity of "peacetime"
politics.
4. He might have added, had this been written
later, a rulings class so blind and stupid it can’t conceive of a whole
population rising in revolution against it, and an army happy to join the mass
movement from below.
**************************************************
1915, Excerpts from Collapse Of The Second
International & IMPERIALISM AND SOCIALISM IN ITALY, Kommunist, Nos. 1.2,
1915, By V. I. Ulyanov. [The writer used
the pen name "Lenin" to keep the government from terrorizing his family. Excerpts]
For a Marxist there is no doubt that a
revolution is impossible without a revolutionary situation; furthermore, we
know that not every revolutionary situation leads to revolution.
What are, generally speaking,
the characteristics of a revolutionary situation?
We can hardly be mistaken when
we indicate the following three outstanding signs:
(1) it is impossible for the
ruling classes to maintain their power unchanged; there is a crisis "higher up,"
taking one form or another; there is a crisis in the policy of the ruling
class; as a result, there appears a crack through which the dissatisfaction and
the revolt of the oppressed classes burst forth.
If a revolution is to take
place …. it is necessary that "one is incapable up above" to continue in the
old way;
(2) the wants and sufferings of the oppressed
classes become more acute than usual;
(3) in consequence of the above
causes, there is a considerable increase in the activity of the masses who in "peace
time" allow themselves to be robbed without protest, but in stormy times are
drawn both by the circumstances of the crises and by the "higher-ups"
themselves into independent historic action.
Without these objective
changes, which are independent not only of the will of separate groups and
parties but even of separate classes, a revolution, as a rule, is impossible.
The co-existence of all these
objective changes is called a revolutionary situation.
This situation existed in 1905 in Russia and
in all the periods of revolution in the West, but it also existed in the
seventh decade of the last century in Germany; it existed in 1859,1861 and in
1879-1880 in Russia, though there was no revolution in these latter instances.
Why?
Because a revolution emerges
not out of every revolutionary situation, but out of such situations where, to
the above-mentioned objective changes, subjective ones are added, namely, the
ability of the revolutionary classes to carry out revolutionary mass actions
strong enough to break (or to undermine) the old government, it being the rule
that never, not even in a period of crises, does a government "fall" of itself
without being "helped to fall."
***************************************
"Much Has Been Left In The World That Must Be
Destroyed By Fire And Iron For The Liberation Of The Working Class"
Take the present army. It is one of the good examples of
organisation. This organisation is good
only because it is flexible; at the same time it knows how to give to millions
of people one uniform will.
Today these millions are in their homes in
various parts of the country. Tomorrow a
call for mobilization is issued, and they gather at the appointed centres.
Today they lie in the trenches, sometimes for months at a stretch; tomorrow
they are led into battle in another formation.
Today they perform marvels, hiding themselves
from bullets and shrapnel; tomorrow they do marvels in open combat. Today their
advance detachments place mines under the ground; tomorrow they move dozens of
miles according to the advice of flyers above ground.
We call it organisation when, in the pursuit
of one aim, animated by one will, millions change the forms of their
intercourse and their actions, change the place and the method of their
activities, change the weapons and armaments in accordance with changing
conditions and the vicissitudes of the struggle.
The same holds true about the fight of the
working class against the bourgeoisie.
Today there is no revolutionary
situation apparent; there are no such conditions as would cause a ferment among
the masses or heighten their activities; today you are given an election ballot
- take it.
Understand how to organise for it, to hit
your enemies with it, and not to place men in soft parliamentary berths who
cling to their seat in fear of prison.
Tomorrow you are deprived of
the election ballot, you are given a rifle and a splendid machine gun equipped
according to the last word of machine technique: take this weapon of death and
destruction, do not listen to the sentimental whiners who are afraid of war.
Much has been left in the world
that must be destroyed by fire and iron for the liberation of the working
class.
And if bitterness and despair
grow in the masses, if a revolutionary situation is at hand, prepare to
organise new organisations and utilize these so useful weapons of death and destruction
against your own government and your bourgeoisie. .
This is not easy, to be sure.
It will demand difficult preparatory
activities. It will demand grave
sacrifices.
This is a new species of organisation and
struggle that one must learn, and learning is never done without errors and
defeats.
The relation of this species of
class struggle to participation in elections is the same as storming a fortress
is to maneuvering, marching, or lying in the trenches.
This species of struggle is
placed on the order of the day in history very infrequently, but, its
significance and its consequences are felt for decades.
Single days when such methods
can and must be put on the programme of struggle are equal to scores of years
of other historic epochs.
**************************
The question has been put
squarely, and one cannot fail to recognise that the European War has been of
enormous use for humanity in that it actually has placed the question squarely
before hundreds of millions of people of various nationalities: either defend,
with, rifle or pen, directly or indirectly, in whatever form it may he, the
great-nation and national privileges, in general, as well as the prerogative or
the pretensions of "our" bourgeoisie, that is to say, either be its adherent
and lackey, or utilize every struggle, particularly the clash of arms for
great-nation privileges, to unmask and overthrow every government, in the first
place our own, by means of the revolutionary action of an internationally
united proletariat.
There is no middle road; in
other words, the attempt to take a middle position means, in reality, covertly
to join the imperialist bourgeoisie.
IRAQ WAR REPORTS
U.S. Soldier Killed In Diyala
July 27, 2007 Public Affairs Office, Camp
Victory Release No 20072607-06
TIKRIT, Iraq — One Task Force Lightning
Soldier died as a result of injuries sustained from an explosion near his
vehicle while conducting operations in Diyala province, Thursday.
Everett Soldier Who Joined Army For His Daughter Killed
In Iraq
July 27, 2007 By ROB PIERCY, KING 5 News
EVERETT, Wash. — The family of Army Private
Michael Baloga, who grew up in Everett, says he has been killed in Iraq.
"He was probably my best friend," says Baloga’s
sister, Leah Valade. "He was the last person I would expect or want anything
bad to happen to. I was really upset because I know the risks involved with him
going over there, but I was really proud he took the initiative to do something
he wanted to do with his life."
After graduating from Sequoia High School in
Everett, Baloga worked construction.
Then his daughter, Isis, came along. Wanting
to give her more than he could at the time, he joined the Army.
On his Myspace page, Baloga wrote that two of
his goals in life were to watch his daughter graduate and give his daughter
away at her wedding.
"The whole reason he went into it was pretty
much for his daughter," said Valade. Baloga was a cavalry scout at Fort Hood,
Texas. He shipped out just about a year ago to Camp Normandy in Northern Iraq.
Every few weeks, he’d send his family an
email update.
"Every time he’d come back from a mission, he’d
tell me, 'I’m back, I’m okay, you can stop worrying now," said Valade.
Exactly what happened Thursday that killed
Baloga was not immediately clear. All Valade knows is that there was some sort
of explosion and her brother died. Not
just a brother, but a friend.
"Make sure you tell the people you love, that
you love them everyday, because you never know when they’re going to be gone,"
said Valade.
The Baloga family is gathering in Idaho,
where Baloga’s father lives. No funeral arrangements have been made.
Army Nurse From Puerto Rico Killed In Iraq
Jul 16, 2007 By Michael Melia, The Associated
Press
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico — A Puerto Rican
soldier killed in a mortar attack in Baghdad’s Green Zone was the first Army
nurse to die from combat-related injuries in the Iraq war, a Pentagon
spokeswoman said Friday.
Army Capt. Maria Ines Ortiz, 40, who had been
serving in Iraq since September, was caring for wounded Iraqis at a hospital
inside the fortified district that also hosts the U.S. Embassy and Iraq’s
parliament, her family said.
"She touched everyone’s lives and everything
about her was positive," her fiance, Juan Casiano, said from her mother’s home
in Pennsauken, N.J. "She always carried a smile."
Born in Camden, N.J., Ortiz grew up in
Bayamon, Puerto Rico. She had been
assigned to Kirk U.S. Army Health Clinic at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., where
she was chief nurse of general medicine.
She was the only U.S. citizen among three
people killed in the barrage Tuesday, one in a series of recent attacks that
have added to safety concerns for key Iraqi and international officials who
live and work in the Green Zone.
Her father, Jorge Ortiz, said
she was not wearing body armor because she felt safe inside the walls of the
central Baghdad district. It is common
for people not to wear protective gear in the area, especially during warm
summer months.
Ortiz, who died from her wounds Tuesday, was
the first Army nurse killed in Iraq since the 2003 U.S. invasion, according to
Pentagon spokeswoman Cynthia Smith.
Through January of this year, 90 Army medical
personnel had been killed in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2001, said
Margaret Tippy, a spokeswoman for the Army Medical Command.
"It was her calling," said Casiano, an Army
veteran. "I saw in her what everyone else sees, a beautiful person who brings
joy to everyone she touches."
Ortiz is survived by her parents, and four
sisters in New Jersey and Florida.
A memorial service is scheduled for 3 p.m.
Wednesday at Aberdeen’s chapel.
One Carried On A Family Tradition; Another Was A 'Soldier
At Heart’
July 19, 2007 By Mark Berman, Washington Post
Staff Writer
Army Pfc. Steven A. Davis was a fearless,
stand-up guy who exceeded expectations and wanted to take care of his young
family, those who knew him said. Yesterday,
friends and family members gathered to honor Davis as he was laid to rest at
Arlington National Cemetery.
Davis, 23, of Woodbridge, was killed July 4
in Baghdad when insurgents attacked his unit with grenades, the Defense
Department reported. He was assigned to
the 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 2nd
Infantry Division based at Fort Carson, Colo.
More than 90 mourners stood under a cloudy
sky and braved intermittent rain to pay their respects to Davis, who was the
351st member of the military killed in Iraq to be buried at Arlington.
Davis came from a family steeped in military
tradition. His mother, Tess Davis, is a
paramedic in Iraq; his grandfather, Rick Lara, is there as a mechanic; and his
younger brother, Christopher, is a soldier there as well, said Davis’s father,
Buck, an Army veteran who spoke to The Washington Post this month.
"He had no sense of any type of fear," Buck
Davis said. He said he had encouraged his son to work and go to school, because
not everyone is suited for military service.
But Buck Davis said his son turned out to be "a
really good soldier. He exceeded all of my expectations."
As a teenager, Davis was the only youth
allowed to play ice hockey with the grown-ups at Fort Bragg, his father said.
As an adult, Davis continued to show maturity
beyond his years, joining the Army to support his family. His wife, Ayla, gave birth to their daughter,
Elizabeth, in April 2006.
"He wanted to be a man and take care of his
family," his sister-in-law Michelle Davis told The Post in an interview this
month.
Yesterday, Ayla Davis received a folded
American flag while Elizabeth sat on her grandmother’s lap. Davis’s parents also received flags, as the
three family members in Iraq had returned for the funeral.
Although Davis had only been in the Army
since 2005, he had received several awards, including the Purple Heart and
Bronze Star Medal. He was on his first
tour in Iraq and had been home in April to celebrate his daughter’s 1st
birthday.
Beside his grave were half a dozen wreaths
and floral arrangements, including a red and white wreath from the Baghdad fire
department, with a card that read: "With heavy hearts, please hear the words we
are not able to speak."
Earlier yesterday, mourners had gathered to
say goodbye to another Southern son, Army Sgt. Gene L. Lamie of Homerville, Ga.
Family members said that there was little doubt that Lamie was going to join
the military.
"He grew up with a soldier’s heart," his
brother, John Lamie, told the Florida Times-Union last week.
His mother, Linda Lamie, agreed. "My son served his country. He was a soldier
at heart. His biggest concern was to get the people under him home."
Lamie, 25, died July 6 in Iraq of wounds
suffered when a makeshift bomb detonated near his vehicle. Pfc. Le Ron A.
Wilson, 18, of Queens, N.Y., was also killed. Lamie was assigned to the 3rd
Battalion, 7th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division
based at Fort Stewart, Ga.
More than 50 mourners followed Lamie’s
flag-draped silver coffin to his grave site. He was the 350th member of the military killed
in Iraq to be laid to rest at Arlington.
Lamie’s wife, Dara, was presented with a
folded flag, as were his father, Eugene M. Lamie, and mother.
Lamie’s brother John Lamie, a Georgia
National Guardsman, served in Iraq and spoke with his brother after his own
squad suffered casualties.
"He told me we were soldiers," John Lamie
told the Times-Union. "We were meant to do what we were doing."
The Davis and Lamie services were among 32
burials at Arlington yesterday. Separated by two years in life and two days in
death, the men were laid to rest side by side in what John Lamie called "a
house of heroes."
Community Bids Farewell To Marine
July 16, 2007 By Hallie Winchell, Community
Editor
COOS BAY - "You hear about soldiers dying but
you never think it will happen here, to someone you knew."
Words of disbelief and sorrow were whispered
into the dusky gloom on Friday night, as the light of more than 70 candles
formed a bright circle in the courtyard at Marshfield High School. A young woman wept, embracing her friend and
said the war in Iraq had come home - to Coos Bay.
Flames wavered in the soft breeze and sobs
broke the somber quiet, as friends and family gathered to remember the life of
local U.S. Marine Lance Cpl. Steven Stacy.
More than a week after Stacy was killed outside
Fallujah, the Bay Area community was still reeling with the news that one of
its own had died on a dusty road in the middle east - very far from home. Stacy, a Marshfield graduate, was described as
a gentle soul, often generous and kind to friends and strangers alike.
The son of Dana Potts and her husband,
Robert, of Coos Bay, and Stanley Stacy, of Albany, Steven was an avid scuba
diver and had earned the nickname "Scuba Steve" during his time as an employee
at Sunset sports. He is remembered
fondly for his easy laughter, big smiles and adventurous spirit.
On Friday and Saturday, Steven was honored by
a series of memorial services, with friends and family sharing memories and
grief by candlelight or graveside. The ceremonies included not only those who
knew Steven well, but those who never met him, as a community grieved for its
lost son.
According to Coos Bay Chapel Director Tom
Boynton, the community’s reaction to Steven’s death has been overwhelming.
"When we were leaving the airport with the
deceased, I called the Coos Bay and North Bend police for an escort to the
chapel," he said. "But they must have
sent everyone they had on duty, and it looked like a few off-duty officers came
over as well. We had an escort from Coos Bay Police, North Bend Police and
Oregon State Police."
As the motorcade - which was led by Steven’s
grandfather and veteran Steve O’Brien - left the airport and drove through
downtown North Bend, Boynton said he was astounded to see motorists pull over
to the side of the road.
"Traffic stopped in both directions even
though we were just in one lane. People got out of their cars, construction
workers stopped working, and put their hands over their hearts as we drove by,"
he said.
Boynton said the community support for the
Potts and the Stacy families has been astounding, with veterans from all over
the state and hundreds of community members attending the service on Saturday.
"I had hoped we would get through this war
without losing any local boys, any local servicemen or women, but it’s been my
honor and privilege to help the family in their time of need," he said.
As the dusk deepened on Friday night during
the candlelight vigil at Marshfield, the silence of the evening was broken by
nearby songbirds, stifled sobs and the sudden laughter of a young toddler held
in his mother’s lap.
Community members and friends spoke of Steven’s
kindness and great loyalty through voices choked with tears.
"I adored him," said Janet Holmes, a former
teacher at Marshfield and close friend of Steven’s. "My heart is broken."
Holmes was Steven’s study hall teacher and
said they shared an interest in music and Steven almost had her convinced to go
scuba diving.
"You hear a lot about the teachers who
influenced students’ lives, but you don’t hear about the students who influence
our lives," Holmes said, with tears in her eyes. "Steven was one of those, for
me."
Flags flew at half-staff, motorcyclists lined
the route and hundreds of people gathered at Sunset Memorial cemetery outside
of Coos Bay on Saturday morning, as Steven was buried with full military
honors.
Under an overcast sky, the great crowd of
mourners ringed the pavilion where Steven’s casket was draped with the stars
and stripes, their heads bowed in sorrow.
The Rev. Don Berney officiated at the
graveside service and praised Steven’s great spirit, which had touched so many
lives among his community - both before and after he joined the Armed Services.
"He became a Marine and was sent where his
country deemed he was needed the most," Berney said, looking to Steven’s
mother, Dana, sitting only 3 feet from her son’s casket. "I want to thank you
for his sacrifice."
Chris Stevens, a friend and colleague of
Steven’s, remembered him as a great outdoorsman. Even fishing on the East Fork of the Millicoma
River in February couldn’t dissuade Steven from swinging on a nearby rope
swing, Stevens said.
"I’ll never ever forget his great sense of
adventure," he added.
The crack of the gun salute split the silence
of the cemetery as the Purple Heart that was awarded to Steven for receiving
wounds in action while in Iraq was given to his mother.
Voices clashed against one another in the
narrow dining room at TJ Shaws restaurant, 240 S. Broadway, in Coos Bay,
filling the building with the chaos of noisy conversations and exclamations at
a reception following Stacy’s graveside service.
The relief from sorrow so fresh and new left
a trail of giddy laughter and quick smiles behind. Friends and community members gathered first,
eventually joined by the Potts and Stacys, who greeted the partygoers with soft
smiles.
Eating from tables laden with homecooked
foods, such as lasagna, potato salad and tuna noodle casserole, the community
remembered Steven as it seemed he would have liked best - with laughter. Stories were swapped, memories traded and
treasured over an afternoon as different from the morning as night from day.
"While the grief is raw now, we must remember
one day we will look back and think of Steven, and feel only a pang for the man
we knew," Holmes said earlier.
Eventually, it will be with a smile, if not
laughter, that we tell stories of his antics and adventures, she added.
War Hits Home For Another Utah Family With Death
Of American Fork Soldier
07/19/2007 By Jason Bergreen, The Salt Lake
Tribune
AMERICAN FORK - Kevin Barnes got a call from
his wife, Donna, around 1:30 p.m. Tuesday asking him to come home from work
because a master sergeant and a military chaplain were at their home in this
northern Utah County city.
Their 23-year-old son, Sgt. Nathan Barnes,
had been serving his first mission in Iraq with the Army’s 10th Mountain
Division, an infantry unit out of Fort Drum, N.Y. The Barneses knew the news they were going to
get about their son was not good.
Early Tuesday, Nathan Barnes had gone on an
assault mission with his unit. The helicopter he was in was taking fire when it
landed and troops began to exit.
"As they opened the door, he caught one," his
father said Wednesday as he stood on the front lawn of his home surrounded by
family, friends and U.S. flags.
He and his wife had just one question for the
chaplain.
"We asked them if there was any chance of a
mistake," Kevin Barnes said. "They said, no."
Nathan Barnes was born in American Fork and
went to high school here. He loved
camping, hiking, hunting and being in the outdoors, his family said.
Nathan Barnes joined the Army when he was 19
and had already given three years of service to his country when he died. He was shipped to Baghdad in August and was
scheduled to return home toward the end of this year.
Nathan Barnes’ older sister Lisa Blake said
her brother was smart, and loved to read and discuss books with her. They corresponded by e-mail several times a
week. The last e-mail Nathan Barnes sent his sister was written an hour before
he was killed, she said. It promised a
letter and some stories would arrive in the mail. Nathan’s e-mail didn’t hint
at what the stories were about, and now Blake must wait for her brother’s last
gift to arrive.
"He was philosophical and intelligent and so
smart," Blake said.
Danger was part of Nathan Barnes’ everyday
life. His sister said he had several
near-death experiences in Iraq, including bullets whizzing within six inches of
his head during a gunfight with insurgents. Once he nearly tripped on a wire that was
rigged to an explosive while entering a home. And he suffered minor injuries when a bomb
hidden in a trash can exploded.
"We affectionately called him our little
soldier," Kevin Barnes said.
Nathan Barnes’ mother Donna stayed in the
family home Wednesday.
"She’s not doing that good," Blake said. "She
misses her son and she’s sad."
Nathan was Kevin and Donna Barnes’ fifth
child. He had three older brothers, Jay,
Tim and Mike, an older sister, Blake, and a younger brother, Matthew, who is
serving an LDS Church mission in Nicaragua.
"We were all really close," said Tim Barnes.
Several members of the Barnes family,
including Nathan’s grandparents and uncles served in World War II and Vietnam
War respectively, said Kevin Barnes.
Nathan "just felt like he wanted to do it,"
he said. "He understood it takes a soldier’s sacrifice to ensure peace and
freedom."
Nathan Barnes loved children and was planning
to go to college to study to be a physician’s assistant when he was discharged.
His family has set up a fund at Zions Bank that is expected to benefit kids and
military families, Kevin Barnes said.
Blake said she would always remember her
brother’s "infectiously happy and positive," attitude.
"He was always grinning from ear to ear,"
said Blake.
Nathan Barnes’ body is expected to return to
the U.S. within the next two weeks. Funeral services are pending.
"He was a good kid and a wonderful young man,"
his father said.
Cordele Airman Injured in Iraq

7/27/2007 Marilyn Peguero, WMAZ
A 24-year-old airman from Cordele was injured
in southern Iraq. Staff sergeant Chris Forsythe’s arm was shattered when an
improvised explosive device exploded next to a vehicle he was riding in,
according to Forsythe’s wife, Jessica Forsythe. It happened Tuesday in Iraq --
that’s Monday Georgia time.
More than 26,000 servicemen and women have
been injured in Iraq, according to the Secretary of Defense website.
Tony Forsythe, Chris Forsythe’s father, says
he’s just glad that his son’s injury wasn’t worse. But he says his son knew the risks. "He
believes in what he’s doing, so we gotta back him," Tony Forsythe said.
Chris Forsythe joined the air force about
five years ago. He’s been stationed at Moody Air Force base in Valdosta.
Forsythe was on his fourth tour in Iraq.
Jessica Forsythe says the injury hasn’t
changed how her husband feels about the Air Force.
"He’s planning on staying in and retiring,"
Jessica Forsythe said. "And he said that it wasn’t enough to make him want to
get out."
Jessica, who is eight months pregnant, says
one good thing has come out of the her husband’s wounds: the Air Force is
taking him to Florida to recover. "He’ll be here when the baby is born,"
Forsythe said.
Stupid U.S. Command Orders Another Attack On
Nationalist Forces;
Thousands March In Karbala:
Mehdi Army Holds The Streets After U.S. Soldiers
Retreat

Thousands of Iraqi citizens march in Karbala
against the occupation killing of members of the Mehdi Army July 27, 2007. Nine
people were killed while 23 others were wounded during clashes between the U.S.
soldiers and members of the Mehdi Army on Thursday night, hospital sources in
Kerbala said. REUTERS/Mushtaq Muhammad

Armed members of the Mehdi army take the
streets during a funeral for their comrades in Kerbala, 68 miles south of
Baghdad, July 27, 2007. (Mushtaq
Muhammad ,/Reuters)
07/27/2007 By SINAN SALAHEDDIN Associated
Press Writer & Reuters
KERBALA, Iraq (Reuters) - Nine people were
killed, including several civilians, in clashes between U.S. soldiers and
militia fighters in Iraq’s holy Shi’ite city of Kerbala on Friday, police and
hospital sources said.
Helicopters were called in to support the
U.S. troops.
At least 25 people were wounded in the
fighting, including a number of civilians, a hospital source said. Six
militiamen were arrested.
The fighting in Karbala, 50 miles south of
Baghdad, broke out at about dawn as the joint U.S.-Iraqi force conducted a
pre-dawn raid on the house of a leader of the Mahdi Army militia, which is
loyal to nationalist politician Muqtada aI-Sadr, prompting the militia fighters
to open fire, according to a police officer and a local council member.
The militia leader Razzaq al-Ardhi and his
brother were arrested in the clashes, which lasted nearly two hours, the
officials said.
Reuters pictures showed
fighters dressed in black, traditionally the uniform of Mehdi Army fighters,
and brandishing AK-47 assault rifles as they stood in the back of a truck
beside coffins being taken for burial.
Other pictures showed coffins
being held aloft by civilians and Mehdi Army fighters, and a teenage boy lying
wounded on a mattress. Walls in several
streets were pockmarked by bullet holes, and several cars had shattered
windscreens.
There was no immediate response
from the U.S. military, which generally stays out of Kerbala, home to one of
the holiest Shi’ite shrines in Iraq.
It is one of Iraq’s best protected cities
because of its holy status, though there have been several large bomb attacks
in the city this year.
The officials said four
militiamen and five civilians were killed and 23 people were wounded in the
fighting, which also damaged four or five houses.
Another clash erupted about
three hours later as residents were removing the dead bodies from the hospital.
Militiamen with the mourners briefly fought with a joint Iraqi army and police
patrol, but no casualties were reported, the officials said.

Armed members of the Mehdi army take the
streets during a funeral for their comrades in Kerbala, 68 miles south of
Baghdad, July 27, 2007. (AP Photo/Ghassan al-Yassiri)
AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS
British Soldier Killed In Gereshk Valley
28 Jul 07 Ministry of Defence
It is with much sadness that the MoD must
confirm that a soldier from 14 Signal Regiment was killed whilst providing
support to operations with Task Force Helmand in Southern Afghanistan on Friday
27 July 2007.
The soldier was serving with Battle Group
South as a communications specialist in support of operation 'Chakush’ ('Hammer’)
aimed at disrupting Taliban forces in the upper Gereshk Valley in Helmand
Province.
At around 15.30 (local) he was working in a
compound between Heyderabad and Mirmandab when he was fatally wounded in a
rocket attack.
Soldier Recovering From 30-Hour Battle That Never
Happened
[According To The U.S. Occupation Command, That
is]
[Two U.S. Troops killed, four
more wounded in a thirty-hour battle that got no coverage by any news service,
including the military itself. The
cowards are afraid to let us know the truth about these wars, so they try to
cover it up and pretend everything is going just so well. A pack of lying rats, no exceptions. T}
Jul 28 2007 By MICHAELA MARX WHEATLEY, South
Whidbey Record
FREELAND — A soldier with South
Whidbey roots is recovering from wounds suffered during one of the worst
firefights in recent years in the war in Afghanistan.
Sgt. Jeremy Czarnik of Freeland was shot in
his right arm on July 5, the bullet busting through his ribs and puncturing his
chest and lungs before exiting through his sternum.
Czarnik, 23, was airlifted from Afghanistan
to Germany where military doctors at Landstuhl Medical Center saved his life,
his family said.
"They were in the firefight for several hours
when, he said, he felt something funny on his side. He looked down and saw the
blood," said the soldier’s father, Matt Czarnik, of Freeland.
"He told his buddy — who was also shot in the
left side — and they took him down and cut his vest open," his father said. "He
says he doesn’t remember anything until waking up in the hospital in Germany."
Czarnik is a paratrooper with the 2nd
Battalion, 503rd Infantry Regiment (Airborne) 173rd Airborne Combat Team. The
sergeant and his fellow soldiers came under attack July 5 in the mountains in
the Watapor Valley near Tsangar, Afghanistan.
During the 30-hour battle, four
soldiers of the company were seriously injured, including Czarnik. Two team members were killed.
Spc. Christopher Honaker, 23,
from North Carolina and Pfc. Joseph Miracle, 22, from Michigan were killed
after their dismounted patrol came under enemy small arms fire, according to
the Department of Defense.
The Czarnik family got a phone call from the
military at 6 a.m. the day following the attack. "We almost didn’t answer the phone,"
stepmother Angela Czarnik recalled.
By the time the family learned what had
happened, however, their soldier was on his way to Germany after going through
field surgery in Afghanistan.
The first 24 hours were sketchy, and doctors
didn’t know if Czarnik would make it. A captain from the 173rd Airborne Brigade
gave the family updates of Czarnik’s condition every four to five hours, and
there was a phone hotline that the family could call to speak to nurses on call
at the hospital.
"He was listed as an ICU in serious
condition, which isn’t the worst, but they had already said they would have to
fly me and his mom out to Germany," his father recalled.
About three days after the attack, the
soldier was able to call home himself and tell his father that he was OK. "The first time he called was Sunday," his
father said. "He didn’t really say much.
They had just taken the tube out. He
just said he was fine and he said he was sore. He said the whole time he was
fine."
It was also the first time that Czarnik got
the chance to talk to his son’s doctor and ask about the details of the
injuries. Miraculously, the bullet had
done surprisingly little damage to other vital organs.
The next day, Jeremy seemed to be on his way
to recovery.
"Monday we talked and his voice sounded
incredibly better," Czarnik said.
Czarnik, an EMT, went to Germany two weeks
ago to check out his son’s progress.
The trip was an unfortunate family reunion
for more reasons than one.
"We were the ones that told him about the two
guys that got killed," Czarnik said. "It really bummed him out. He knew both of
them."
Czarnik was impressed with the medical
facilities and the staff at the hospital and how the Army served its wounded
soldiers.
"They seemed to take their injured very
serious," Czarnik said.
After a few more days at the hospital, Jeremy
was released and the Army gave him convalescent leave. He eventually returned to Italy where he is
stationed. His father said his son still
has trouble with his arm and back and is very sore.
He occasionally discovers a scratch or scar
that he isn’t sure how he got. But overall, his son is doing much better.
It is not clear if he will return to duty in
Afghanistan with his teammates. His
company deployed for Afghanistan in May and is scheduled for a 15-month tour.
"It depends," Angela Czarnik said. "They’ll
check how he is doing physically and psychologically."
The family said they could only imagine how
tough it would be for their son to return to Afghanistan, but his father is
confident.
"He has a lot of experience, this tour to
Afghanistan, and before that, he was in Iraq for 11 months," Czarnik said.
The injury wasn’t their son’s first brush
with death, however. "Jeremy already had
a close call in paratrooper school. He had a bad fall and busted his arm up,"
Angela Czarnik said.
"In Afghanistan, the truck behind him blew
up, ripping the guys in it apart," she said.
"In Iraq, his vehicle came around a corner
and a bomb exploded in a trash can," Matt Czarnik added.
The family is now looking forward to a few
uneventful days when their soldiers comes home on leave. If all goes well, he is expected for a visit
in about two weeks to see his sisters Jennifer, 21 and Alexis, 3, and step
brothers Adam and Kyle, both 15, as well as his grandpa Lenny Workman and other
relatives who live on Whidbey.
TROOP NEWS
THIS IS
HOW BUSH BRINGS THE TROOPS HOME:
BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW, ALIVE

The casket containing 3rd Infantry Division
U.S. Army Sgt. Gene L. Lamie, 25, from Homerville, Georgia, who was killed in
Iraq earlier this month, at Arlington National Cemetery July 18, 2007.
REUTERS/Larry Downing
FUTILE
EXERCISE:
ONLY 15
MILLION MORE TO GO:
COME ON HOME NOW!

A handcuffed Iraqi citizen is held prisoner
by a foreign occupation soldier from the USA on the roof of his own home in
Baghdad, 20 July 2007. (AFP/Olivier
Laban-Mattei)
Troops
Invited:
What do you think? Comments from service men and women, and
veterans, are especially welcome. Write
to Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657 or send email contact@militaryproject.org:. Name, I.D., withheld unless you request
publication. Replies confidential. Same address to
unsubscribe.
NEED SOME TRUTH? CHECK OUT
TRAVELING SOLDIER
Telling the truth - about the occupation or
the criminals running the government in Washington - is the first reason for
Traveling Soldier. But we want to do
more than tell the truth; we want to report on the resistance - whether it’s in
the streets of Baghdad, New York, or inside the armed forces. Our goal is for Traveling Soldier to become
the thread that ties working-class people inside the armed services together.
We want this newsletter to be a weapon to help you organize resistance within
the armed forces. If you like what you’ve
read, we hope that you’ll join with us in building a network of active duty
organizers. http://www.traveling-soldier.org/ And join with
Iraq War vets in the call to end the occupation and bring our troops home now!
(www.ivaw.org/)
IRAQ RESISTANCE ROUNDUP
It’s Their Country;
They Don’t Have To Go Home;
They Are Home

Nationalist soldiers take up position behind
a garbage bin as they fight British occupation troops in central Basra, July
16, 2007. The clash began before sunset when the Provincial Joint Coordination
Center was subjected to small arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades, said a
British military spokesman. (AP Photo/ Nabil al-Jurani)
IF YOU
DON’T LIKE THE RESISTANCE
END THE
OCCUPATION
OCCUPATION ISN’T LIBERATION
BRING ALL THE TROOPS HOME NOW!
Do you have a friend or relative in the
service? Forward GI Special along, or
send us the address if you wish and we’ll send it regularly. Whether in Iraq or stuck on a base in the
USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut off from
access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the war, inside the armed
services and at home. Send email requests to address
up top or write to: The Military Project, Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y.
10025-5657
OCCUPATION REPORT
60% Of Iraqis Want U.S. Troops Dead:
Big Surprise

An Iraqi citizen is forced at gunpoint to sit
on the floor of her own home after foreign occupation soldiers officers break
in to search her belongings in Baghdad July 17, 2007. REUTERS/Nikola Solic
[61% of Iraqis say they approve
of attacks on U.S.-led forces in their country, up from 47 percent in January. A solid majority of Shiite and Sunni Arabs
approved of the attacks, according to the poll.
9/27/2006 By BARRY SCHWEID, AP & Program on
International Policy Attitudes
Iraqis feel about U.S. troops
trampling them in the dirt the same way Americans felt about British troops
trampling them in the dirt in 1776. They
are right to resist. T]
GI
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