“NOW LET’S CURE WHAT AILS AFGHANISTAN”

Martin Rowson 2009  [Thanks to JM, who sent this in.]

Yes He Can:

“Obama Has Approved The Deployments Of About 30,000 More Troops To Afghanistan This Year”

“Could Check Off On Another 10,000 Later This Year For 2010”

“If Obama Approves More Troops This Fall, The Total Next Year Would Rise To Around 78,000”

“The Obama Plan Garnered Praise From Both Sides Of The Aisle In Congress”

April 13 By William H. McMichael, Army Times [Excerpts]

President Barack Obama has approved the deployments of about 30,000 more troops to Afghanistan this year, and could check off on another 10,000 later this year for 2010 duty, according to testimony in two congressional hearings on April 1 and 2.

All told, U.S. troop strength there is projected to rise this year from the current 38,000 to about 68,000 by year’s end, Michele Flournoy, undersecretary of defense for policy, told the Senate Armed Services Committee on April 1.

If Obama approves more troops this fall, the total next year would rise to around 78,000.

And the force will not shrink as units complete their rotations — those units will be replaced.

The Obama plan garnered praise from both sides of the aisle in Congress.

“It’s about time,” said Rep. Ike Skelton, chairman of the House Armed Services Committee.  Sen. John McCain, R Ariz., the Senate Armed Services Committee’s ranking Republican, said the plan “has every chance of success.”

MORE:

Afghan-Again

From: Dennis Serdel

To: GI Special

Sent: April 06, 2009

Subject: Afghan-Again

By Dennis Serdel, Vietnam 1967-68 (one tour) Light Infantry, Americal Div. 11th Brigade, purple heart, Veterans For Peace 50 Michigan, Vietnam Veterans Against The War, United Auto Workers GM Retiree, in Perry, Michigan

****************************************

                     Afghan-Again

The Russian tanks clank snap and crunch

the road under their tracks as they

smash across the border like hatred

while thousands and thousands

of Soldiers start killing anybodies

nobodies to them like animals

as Red Jets and Choppers attack

like fireworks from the sky

and kill anybody who shoots at them

the Afghanistan's with their primitive rifles

die their heads cut off

bodies cut in half with Buddha looking

stone cold from the rock

doing nothing as babies die in their

mother's arms as the Russians

rape the women and then shoot

them in the stomach so they will die

slowly to watch their daughters raped

a husband shot when he throws

down his gun to surrender

as supply trucks announce themselves

with black diesel smoke trailing

stinking up the Country's air

that they are taking away from them

Afghanistan is occupied by brutality

Commu-Capitalism

the Russians laugh at their backward

weapons so the CIA gives them

modern guns hand grenades

land mines to fight their Cold War

but still it is not enough so they

give them mortars and hand held rocket

propelled grenade launchers as a million

Afghanistan fighters die in the war

and a million plus more civilians die

because the Russians fight from the air too

and the Afghanistans are helpless fighting

the Bear as Russian Jets fire rockets

and take out the Afghanistan Soldiers

like squashing an ant with a bloody

red hammer and slice the civilians

with a bloody red sickle as

mothers cry and ask through

their tears, what did we do

to deserve all this blood

then the fighters say to the CIA

we can't beat them, their Jets

and Choppers destroy us so

the CIA gives them the newest

almost untested James Bond trick

the hand held Stinger Missile

that blow up the Red Choppers

and Jets and beat the Bear as

the CIA Eagles drink champagne

with a $1000 whores in London

patting themselves on the back

leaving a destroyed Country

with no help for rebuilding so

the truth was they just used

the Afghanistan fighters to fight

their Cold War and now

many years later, the Americans

invade Afghan-Again

with their pimp president

with a fake government

while the X-Russian Soldiers

were ostracized like the USA

Vietnam Soldiers for not fighting

and losing the war

drinking vodka smoking opium

but some join Veterans For Peace.

MORE:

Get Some:

Books are $12 plus $4 for postage and mailer = $16 due.

Make Money Orders or Checks payable to:

Dennis Serdel

339 Oakwood Lane

Perry,

Michigan 48872

Money Orders sent next day, Personal Checks after 3 days.

Over Seas Orders, please write first and I will send the Postal costs. Let me know if you want USA Postal costs, Western Union Perry Michigan, Money Gram, Fed Ex, Pink Japanese International Money Order.

Or payment can be made by well hidden American dollars in a Registered Mailing.

Let me know.

Dennis Serdel

ACTION REPORTS

Outreach To New York National Guard:

“There Were Feeling Of Weariness And Some Trepidation About What The Ensuing Months Would Bring”

From: Carl Foster, Military Project

To: GI Special

Sent: April 06, 2009

Subject: Outreach to New York National Guard

On Friday April 3, 2009, seven intrepid souls from Military Project braved the inclement weather and the vagaries of the New York City transit system to attend the outreach at the National Guard armory in [XXXXX].

According to brother Al, approximately 80 pieces of literature were distributed during approximately an hour and a half of outreach. 

As usual, the men and women of the New York Guard were very receptive to our presence as some of us veteran outreacehers are now familiar presence.   One Member even remembered that I was prior service and that we had spoken on numerous prior occasions.  Most of the people saw the guard a way to supplement family incomes, help with college tuition or simply as a way to aid their fellow citizens of New York State. 

Never in their wildest imagination would they have imagined themselves in the cities of Mesopotamia or the Hindu Kush mountains.

Conversations with the military personnel ranged from discussions about the contents of recent handouts; Sir No Sir”; concerns about the economy; the recent announcement of an Afghan “surge.”  As with previous outreaches, more and people are familiar with the DVD, many said to have several copies in their possession. 

Overall, I got sense that there were feeling of weariness and some trepidation about what the ensuing months would bring. 

Alas very soon the buses to Camp [XXXX] arrived and our outreach was at an end.  Based on volume of literature that was distributed and a feeling that the personnel were becoming more and more familiar with the issues at stake and how they affect them, I would conclude that this outreach was a success. 

MORE:

ACTION REPORTS WANTED:

FROM YOU!

An effective way to encourage others to support members of the armed forces organizing to resist the Imperial war is to report what you do.

If you’ve carried out organized contact with troops on active duty, at base gates, airports, or anywhere else, send a report in to GI Special for the Action Reports section. 

Same for contact with National Guard and/or Reserve components.

They don’t have to be long.  Just clear, and direct action reports about what work was done and how. 

If there were favorable responses, say so.  If there were unfavorable responses or problems, don’t leave them out.

If you are not planning or engaging in outreach to the troops, you have nothing to report. 

NOTE WELL:

Do not make public any information that could compromise the work. 

All identifying information – locations, personnel – will be omitted from the reports.

If accidentally included, that information will not be published.

Whether you are serving in the armed forces or not, do not in any way identify members of the armed forces organizing to stop the wars.

The sole exception: occasions when a member of the armed services explicitly directs his or her name be listed as reporting on the action.

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

Mine Kills U.S. Soldier Near Baghdad

A transfer case containing Army specialist Israel Candelaria Mejias, from San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, at Dover Air Force Base, Delaware, April 7, 2009.  REUTERS/Tim Shaffer

April 07, 2009 U.S. Department of Defense News Release No. 224-09

Spc. Israel Candelaria Mejias, 28, of San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, died April 5 near Baghdad, Iraq, of wounds sustained when a mine detonated near him during combat operations.  He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 2nd Infantry Regiment in Task Force 3rd Battalion, 66th Armor Regiment, 172nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, Grafenwoehr, Germany.

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Foreign Occupation Soldier Killed Somewhere Or Other In Afghanistan:

Nationality Not Announced

Apr 8 By FISNIK ABRASHI, Associated Press Writer

NATO said in a statement that one of its soldiers was killed Wednesday in a “hostile incident” in southern Afghanistan, but it did not provide the exact location of the incident or the nationality of the victim.

REALLY BAD PLACE TO BE:

ALL HOME NOW

A U.S. Marine on patrol in Musa Qala, Helmand province March 26, 2009.  REUTERS/Omar Sobhani

Good News For The Afghan Resistance!!

Commands’ Stupid Tactics Recruit Even More Fighters To Kill Foreign Occupation Troops

A Canadian soldier from Recce Platoon 3rd battalion of the Royal Canadian regiment battle group from the NATO-led coalition body searches an Afghan citizen in the Arghandab district in Kandahar province, southern Afghanistan, March 30, 2009.  REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini

[There’s nothing quite like invading somebody else’s country, slaughtering their families, and then publicly humiliating the survivors.

[This tends to arouse an intense desire to kill you in the patriotic, self-respecting civilians who live there.

[But your commanders know that, don’t they?  Don’t they?]

TROOP NEWS

NOT ANOTHER DAY

NOT ANOTHER DOLLAR

NOT ANOTHER LIFE

4.5.09:  The casket of Air Force Staff Sgt. Phillip Myers, of Hopewell, Va., who was killed Afghanistan on April 4, Dover Air Force Base, Del.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

[Thanks to Sandy Kelson, Military Project & Veterans For Peace, who sent this in.]

200 From 844^th Off To Obama’s Imperial Slaughterhouse

April 13, 2009 Army Times

About 200 soldiers with the 844th Engineer Battalion, a Reserve unit headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, received a send-off ceremony March 26 as the unit readied for a deployment to support Operation Iraqi Freedom.

The battalion is deploying to U.S. Central Com­mand’s area of operations in the coming months.  It will perform the role of task force headquarters for construction units and will perform survey and design tasks.

550 From Minnesota National Guard Off To Obama’s Imperial Slaughterhouse

April 13, 2009 Army Times

About 550 soldiers from the Minnesota National Guard’s 1st Battalion, 151st Field Artillery Regiment, were honored March 28 with a deployment ceremony before leaving for Fort Hood, Texas, to prepare for their upcoming mission to Iraq.

The soldiers are scheduled to leave for Texas in April. Their training is expected to last about three months. Once overseas, the soldiers will provide theater convoy security and force protection throughout Iraq and Kuwait.

3,500 From Fort Hood Off To Obama’s Imperial Slaughterhouse

April 13, 2009 Army Times

The 3,500 soldiers from the 1st Air Cavalry Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, were honored during a ceremony March 25 at Fort Hood to case the unit’s colors in preparation for its upcoming deployment to Iraq.

This will be the brigade’s third deployment to Iraq since 2004.

Soldiers Blinded, Hospitalized By Lasers Used On Iraqi Citizens At Checkpoints:

“Since November 2008, A Single Unit In Iraq ‘Has Experienced 12 Green-Laser Incidents Involving 14 Soldiers And Varying Degrees Of Injury’”

One “Was Blinded In One Eye And Three Others Required Medical Evacuation Out Of Iraq”

March 30, 2009 By David Hambling, Wired.com [Excerpts]

An American soldier was blinded in one eye and three others required medical evacuation out of Iraq in a series of laser “friendly fire” incidents, the U.S. military has disclosed.

Since November 2008, a single unit in Iraq “has experienced 12 green-laser incidents involving 14 soldiers and varying degrees of injury.

“Three soldiers required medical evacuation out of Iraq and one soldier is now blind in one eye,” writes Sgt. Crystal Reidy, from the 3rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), or ESC.

Captain Russell Harris, a Troop Commander with 3rd ESC reports that his troops have suffered “temporary blindness, headaches and blurred vision,” as a result of laser incidents.

Others describe severe, 48-hour migraines after lasing.

In 2006, the Army's Rapid Equipping Force reportedly acquired 2,000 green lasers for use at checkpoints, as a tool to warn oncoming drivers to stop.

Although they are said to be safe for eyes, the unspecified lasers are also described as being fifty times the power of normal red-laser pointers. (Green light is far more effective than red for dazzling.)

MSNBC noted in 2006 that troops were trained not to use the laser closer than 75 yards, as this “would cause eye damage.”<