Iraq Veterans Against The War Comes To Ft. Hamilton, Brooklyn:

"He Got His T-Shirt, Which He Proudly Announced He Would Wear At The Next 'Drill’"

"With Tears In My Eyes, I Cleaned Up The Picnic Mess, And Knew That Nothing Could Be Better Than That"

6 Jul 2007 By Elaine Brower, The Military Project

The day after this Country celebrated "Independence Day" which marks the declaration of the colonials breaking off relations with King George of England, the Iraq Veterans Against the War arrived in Brooklyn, New York. 

The New York Harbor, and surrounding areas, was the bloodiest battlegrounds of the revolution which earmarked the birth pangs of a new nation.  Fittingly, a huge bus, "The Yellow Rose of Texas," arrives in front of Ft. Hamilton Military Base, which was then and still is a bastion of the harbor. 

Troops fought and died in this harbor, and now troops train and leave for another bloody battle, but this time in an occupied territory.  It seems that this Nation, founded on "Common Sense" and independence, has now become what it loathes. 

The day started with food taken into the park, long before the bus arrived.   In the tradition of Brooklyn, large 6 ft. heroes, with Italian roast beef, ham, cheese, turkey, salami and tomatoes, with salads, fruit and vegetable platters, were placed on top of picnic tables in the middle of Dyker Beach Park, a half a block away from the gates to Ft. Hamilton Military Base.  

This was all done under the strict supervision and surveillance of New York’s Finest, the NYPD.   One lonely woman, and 3 police cars with inhabitants watching, set up the picnic area, and surrounded it with pictures of the boots of fallen soldiers killed in Iraq and who were from the State of New York, approximately 200 of them. 

They watched as she struggled arranging these pictures with care, but did not offer any assistance, which was not a surprise since obtaining the permits was nothing short of a miracle for that day. 

The NYPD expressed concern that this may get "out of control."  Ha!  It was a picnic.

A member of Vets for Peace shows up to help and brings soda and music. 

We were now ready to greet the weary road warriors who were doing their utmost, with all their energy, stamina and military training, to meet and greet as many military members as they could up the East Coast and then heading out West.  The least we could do was offer them food and hospitality in this place that was historic, and now for more than one reason. 

Again, a resistance had formed in the harbor.

Right before the bus arrived at the site, one of the Finest came over and asked if we were expecting a Greyhound bus at this location.  No, it was the "Yellow Rose of Texas", with a huge banner on the side announcing "IRAQ VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR".  He looked confused, befuddled and then concerned. 

He got on the walkie-talkie, and told them that the bus that was at the front gate of the base couldn’t be the bus we were waiting for since it was a Greyhound bus.  Ignoring the looks from the NYPD, we continued fusing over the arrangements. 

Again they asked, but we didn’t have an answer.  It seemed to them that something was amiss, and maybe the picnic idea was a decoy so this mysterious bus could attempt entry onto the base. 

A short time later, our huge Yellow Rose pulled up and did a perfect parallel park on the Brooklyn street.  Again, New York’s Finest exited the patrol car and asked "How many people are on that bus?"  Turning around, we shrugged.  However, looking across the park, 2 more patrol cars and a police van were surrounding the area. 

Our beleaguered visitors jumped off the bus and slowly meandered over to the picnic area.  Heartfelt hugs and kisses were exchanged, and food was immediately grabbed for the eating.  The day was overcast, but the warmth and energy that was brought by the Iraq Veterans made our picnic area very special.  We talked, ate, played music, and the park was enjoyed by the guys playing Frisbee. 

New York’s Finest relaxed a little, and helped themselves to some food. 

After about an hour, a police officer calling for Elaine Brower, approached the picnic area.  I turned to be summoned over to the other side of the park, where a gentleman was sitting down on a picnic bench.  The Police Officer asked that I speak with this gentleman.  I extended my hand, and he introduced himself as Rocco Mandile, the Provost Marshal of Ft. Hamilton Military Base. 

Caught off guard, I wasn’t sure how to respond to the introduction.  My first sentence was "We’re not on the base." 

He was very cordial and congenial, so much so, that it put me on guard.  We spoke for over ½ hour.  His long history was told to me, and how he was not only in the military, was retired from the NYPD, and then as a civilian was asked to become Provost at Ft. Hamilton. 

I listened, only to say that my son returned from Iraq, he was a police officer, my husband was retired from the "job" and my stepson was stationed in the 110.  He was a bit surprised by this statement. 

To make a long conversation short, he came, along with a member of his MP unit, to let "me" as the coordinator of this event, know that "he sympathizes with what these guys are doing, but if they make an attempt to go on the base….well…he had already informed the MP’s of what to do."  He couldn’t allow them on the base, and didn’t want any trouble.  He explained how he was looking at the IVAW website and keeping up with the tour.  I thought that this was not only good, it was bad.  He knew that these guys were serious and were not afraid. 

The two comments that I made to him that hit home were "why don’t you go back to the base and tell the soldiers that we are having a picnic here and they should all come and see what it is about.  That might prevent these guys from trying to talk to them on the base."

To that he had a very garbled response of "oh, ha, oh, I can’t get involved…", And then I said "Well, why don’t you get on the phone to all the newspapers and media you know, which I assume is a lot since you have been around the block a few times, and get them over here to interview these guys.  After all, they are traveling around the Country and want their story told on the 6:00 news." 

Another very garbled response. 

Well, he was told by me that I had no control over what the IVAW members did, they were grown men, and I was just sponsoring the picnic. 

I would be happy to convey his message, and extended an offer to him and his guard to come join us and speak to them directly, which he declined.  We exchanged phone numbers, and they politely left.

Picnicking and fun went on, and a few more people showed up, but no military members. 

At 5:30 PM, just when rumblings of when to leave started, my son showed up.  USMC, Sgt. James Brower.  He immediately came over and stuffed his face because "Ma, I’m hungry!" 

He ate and talked to Shalom, or I should say Shalom talked to him.  They laughed, and then one by one IVAW members wandered over and met James. 

That moment will remain fixed in my mind forever.  I remember the night he left for boot camp, and all the sleepless nights I had for the last 6 years, only to look upon him standing with these bravest of brave young men resisting the Empire. 

All was not lost, they had a new member. 

He got his t-shirt, which he proudly announced he would wear at the next "drill." 

With tears in my eyes, I cleaned up the picnic mess, and knew that nothing could be better than that. 

The bus left with a police escort, and off to party at Rocky Sullivans. 

IRAQ WAR REPORTS

U.S. Soldier Killed, Three Wounded West Of Baghdad

July 8, 2007 Multi National Corps Iraq Public Affairs Office, Camp Victory RELEASE No. 20070708-16

BAGHDAD — A Multi-National Division - Baghdad Soldier was killed and three other Soldiers were wounded when a suicide vehicle-borne improvised explosive device detonated near their patrol during combat operations west of the Iraqi capital July 8.

Chicago Soldier Dies In Iraq Explosion, Family Says

July 8, 2007 By Gerry Smith, Chicago Tribune staff reporter

A Chicago soldier serving in Iraq was killed after being struck by a roadside bomb, his family said Saturday.

Eric Lill, 28, was on his second tour of duty in the country, where he was training the Iraqi police force, said his father, Anthony Lill of Lawrenceburg, Tenn.

He said his son was pronounced dead about 11 a.m. Friday in Baghdad.

Lill had been transferred from an Army base in Germany to the 2nd Infantry Division in Ft. Carson, Colo., where he hoped to see his two children more frequently, his father said. But the unit was deployed to Iraq in October, and Lill worried about the mission.

"He was leery about going to Iraq this time because the unit had a history of casualties," Anthony Lill said.

He said his son was born and raised in Chicago and graduated from St. Laurence High School in suburban Burbank.  He played hockey at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va., where he studied for a year before enlisting.

He is survived by a daughter, Mikayla, 4, and a son, Cody, 6. He and his former wife were divorced in March while he was in Iraq, his father said.

Lill was to be discharged from the Army in June 2008 and planned to work at Scholle Corp., a food-packaging plant in Northlake, his father said.

But Lill also voiced concerns about his transition to life after the military. "He wondered if he would fit back into society," his father said.

Lill's body will be flown to Chicago for a funeral, his father said.

2nd British Soldier Dies After Attacks In Basra;

Air Cover Needed To Safeguard Retreat From The City

July 8, 2007 The Associated Press

LONDON: A British soldier seriously injured in heavy fighting in southern Iraq died Sunday, the Defense Ministry said.

The soldier, who was not identified, was one of three wounded as British troops were hit by heavy attacks with bombs, rocket-propelled grenades and gunfire in the southern city of Basra early Saturday. Another soldier died during the attacks, the ministry said.

The troops came under "a large number of attacks" while conducting operations in which several people were arrested in Basra, the military had said. 

Coalition warplanes destroyed roadside bombs from the air as the troops were extracted from the city, it said.

Grenade Blast Kills Carson GI;

"Like Everyone Over There, He Got Sick Of It Real Fast"

June 26 By SARAH PULLIAM, The Colorado Springs Gazette

A Fort Carson soldier died from injuries last week after a rocket-propelled grenade struck his vehicle in Baghdad, the Army said Monday. Pfc. Jerimiah J. Veitch, 21, of Dibble, Okla., died Thursday. He was assigned to the 2nd Brigade Combat Team.

"It's really hard right now," Veitch's older sister Amanda Testerman said. "We knew that was a risk, obviously, but we never really expected this."

Friends and family gathered Sunday night for a candlelight vigil at Dibble High School, where Veitch had played football.

"The entire town knew him. He was a rock star," Testerman said.  "He played tough guy, but if he sees a girl he likes, he gets real shy."

Veitch, who had been in Iraq for eight months, was home on leave two months ago for a couple of weeks.

Veitch was injured a week before his death and could have taken medical leave, but he volunteered to go on the patrol when his Hummer was hit.

"He was just doing his job, but he was ready to come home," Testerman said.  "Like everyone over there, he got sick of it real fast."  

Religion was a large part of Veitch's life, his sister said.  His grandfather was a Southern Baptist preacher.

"The family takes comfort in knowing that he is no longer waking up in a living hell every day but is walking streets of gold," Testerman said.

Veitch moved from California to Dibble before high school with his mother, Valorie Sanchez, and stepfather, Tony Sanchez.

"I lost one of my best friends in the whole world, and his mother lost her son," Tony Sanchez said. "We couldn't believe it."

Veitch's family described him as outgoing and liked by everyone who met him.

"He made other people part of his family," his stepfather said. "If you made a friend with him, you were a friend for life."

Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, 3,562 members of the U.S. military have been killed, 206 of them Fort Carson soldiers.

In two deployments to Iraq, the 2nd Brigade has lost more soldiers than any other Fort Carson unit, with 99 killed. Roadside bombs have been the leading cause of death for Fort Carson soldiers in Iraq, claiming 90 lives.

The Great Surge Fiasco Rolls On:

"11,000 Iraqi Soldiers Were Assigned To A U.S.-Led Offensive"  "Only About 1,500 Showed Up"

Silly Maj. Gen. Lynch Says U.S. Troops Will Stay Forever

July 8, 2007 Associated Press

U.S. soldiers in night-vision goggles piled out of a Chinook helicopter under a wide, orange moon. They crawled through mud along canals south of Baghdad, then stormed a chicken farm that the U.S. military believed doubled as a car bomb factory.

But something was missing: Iraqi partners.

The Iraqi army has yet to deploy a single soldier on this 380-square-mile swath, where the U.S. military is waging an offensive to dislodge al-Qaida fighters from marshlands along the Tigris River.

In Tuesday’s predawn raid, the lack of Iraqi backup meant a frustrating outcome for U.S. forces. When suspects fled, there was no Iraqi cordon to catch them.

But more broadly, it illustrated a key weakness in the new U.S. counterinsurgency strategy of "clear, hold, rebuild." American commanders say the "hold" phase relies on Iraqi forces’ ability to move into cleared areas and keep insurgents in check once the U.S. draws down its troop levels.

But areas such as Salman Pak - once an enclave for Saddam Hussein’s favored officials - reinforce the accusations that the Iraqi military is still a long way from meeting U.S. expectations.

"We’re all very frustrated. We’re trying to fix this country, but the Iraqis are having trouble recruiting and getting their numbers up," said Maj. Gen. Rick Lynch, commander of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division, which is deployed in the area.

There also are signs of an unwillingness by Iraq’s leadership to commit forces to operations outside Baghdad. About 11,000 Iraqi soldiers were assigned to a U.S.-led offensive launched last month in and around Baqouba, on Baghdad’s northeastern rim.  Only about 1,500 showed up, U.S. officials said.

"In some areas, the Iraqi army is full of capable military professionals, but there are other places where there are literally no Iraqi security forces," Lynch told The Associated Press this week.

"Those are the places where the coalition will have to stay until the Iraqi government recruits, trains and builds forces to deny militants those sanctuaries." 

[Which means the idiot thinks U.S. troops will keep fighting the war forever.  Fools like Lynch had the same stupid opinions about Vietnam, until the whole army rebelled and refused to go on fighting that evil Imperial war any more.  And that was that.  Period.]

Since his arrival here in March, [Col. Wayne Grigsby Jr., commander of the Army’s 3rd Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division] said he put in several requests for two Iraqi army battalions - up to about 1,500 men - to join the 3,800 U.S. troops now in the area.

He is still waiting.

Iraq’s Defense Ministry said it was concentrating its resources in Baghdad.

So U.S. commanders here are resigned to teaming up with whatever Iraqi partners they have - mostly Iraqi police patrols riding in pickup trucks with just rudimentary armor as protection from mines and other attacks.

And they are no match for insurgents, U.S. military officials say.

THIS IS FOR REAL:

U.S. Command Announces Killing Of Key Al-Qaida Leader That U.S. Command Announced Killing Last Year

July 6, 2007 Washington Examiner

The U.S. command in Baghdad this week ballyhooed the killing of a key al-Qaida leader but later admitted that the military had declared him dead a year ago.

A military spokesman subsequently acknowledged the mistake.

NO MISSION;

HOPELESS WAR:

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW

BAQUBA, Iraq, June 25:  Leaving the area of what the troops call an "H-BIED" - or house-born improvised explosive device - soldiers had to look for thin copper wires outside, which are used as trip wires.  Scott Nelson/World Picture Network, for the New York Times

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Eleven Polish Soldiers Asked To Be Sent Back To Poland "Due To The Insufficient Armouring Of The American Hummer Vehicles"

Four Wounded By Paktika IED Today

7.8.07  (AFP)

A roadside bomb injured four Polish soldiers north of the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday during a patrol near their base, the troops' commander said.

The explosion happened at 8:00 pm (1530 GMT) in the southeastern Paktika region, commander of the Polish contingent in Afghanistan, General Marek Tomaszycki, told the PAP news agency.

None of the soldiers' lives were in danger, he added.

According to private television channel TVN24, however, two of the four had been seriously injured when the device exploded underneath the third vehicle in their convoy.

Polish troops in Afghanistan have recently complained that their vehicles are not sufficiently protected against attacks.

Eleven soldiers requested last month to be sent back to Poland "due, according to them, to the insufficient armouring of the American Hummer vehicles," defence ministry spokesman Jaroslav Rybak said.

"Our Homes Are Being Destroyed.  We Are Bombed.  They Destroy Us And They Kill Us"

July 8, 2007 By Kim Barker, Chicago Tribune foreign correspondent [Excerpts]

KABUL, Afghanistan -- The men told the same story, of how foreign troops bombed their villages long after the Taliban fighters had left, how the bombs killed women and children, goats and sheep, and how if they had one wish, it would be for the foreigners to leave.

One man said 60 civilians had been killed in the air strike June 29 in a village in southern Helmand province, one of the most remote and dangerous areas of Afghanistan.

"Our children are being killed," said Abdul Qader, who said he lost at least seven family members.  "Our homes are being destroyed.  We are bombed. They destroy us and they kill us.  What should we do?"

The video showed shrapnel-riddled tractors and mangled cars and homes that looked like piles of crushed crackers.

In interview after interview, ordinary Afghans say they increasingly distrust NATO's motives and increasingly blame their government for failing to stem civilian deaths.

Ghulam Reza and Ashuqullah Wafa, workers at a Kabul salt factory, were shot June 16 on the street in front of their factory, near NATO troops investigating an earlier suicide bombing.  Their friend, Azizullah Mawlawizada, was killed. Reza, Wafa, witnesses and police blamed Western troops.

"Sometimes we think they are trying to invade our country, that they just don't like us," said Reza, 28, who has 5 inches of stitches on his back and X-rays showing the bullet in his right side.

"I saw them.  They didn't care.  Sometimes, it comes to my mind that I am Muslim and they are not.  And that is why they shot me and that is why they don't care."

This Is Not A Satire:

World’s Stupidest Liars At Work

July 8, 2007 By Jason Straziuso, Associated Press & RFE

In the west, in Farah province, Abdul Qadir Daqeq, chief of the provincial council, said elders from the Bala Baluk district delivered a letter to his office saying that 108 civilians, including women and children, were killed in airstrikes Thursday and Friday.

Provincial Governor Muhayuddin Baluch said all casualties were Taliban militants.

Baluch said that an investigation has determined that "not a single civilian was killed in the clash that took place in Bala Bluk district."    

"The area is under the control of the enemy," Daqeq said. "No one can go to Bala Baluk to find out the exact number of casualties."

Assorted Resistance Action

Jul 6 (AFP) & July 7, 2007 By NOOR KHAN, Associated Press Writer & 7.8.07 Xinhua

A roadside bomb planted by insurgents struck a police van in Hazar district of the central Logar province on Saturday afternoon, killing three policemen, provincial deputy police chief Abdul Majid Latifi said.

Another explosion killed three Afghan policemen at a police base in Sangin district of the southern Helmand province on Saturday, the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) said.  "The explosive device was hidden in a wooden cart," said the statement, which blamed Taliban militants for the blast.

Thursday saw one of the deadliest attacks in three weeks when a bomber blew himself up at a police gathering in southern Afghanistan, killing nine people

In Farah, a western province bordering Iran that has seen little violence until this year, insurgents attacked an Afghan security patrol from fortified positions and wounded five Afghan soldiers, the coalition said.

TROOP NEWS

THIS IS HOW BUSH BRINGS THE TROOPS HOME:

BRING THEM ALL HOME NOW, ALIVE

The casket of First Lt. Daniel Riordan at St. Catherine Laboure Catholic Church June 30, 2007, in Sunset Hill, Mo.  Riordan and three others were killed by a roadside bomb north of Baghdad. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)

200 Fort Wainwright Soldiers Off To Bush’s Imperial Slaughterhouse

Jul 6, 2007 The Associated Press

FAIRBANKS, Alaska — About 200 aviation regiment soldiers at Fort Wainwright are being deployed to western Iraq to support ground troops there.

An advance team of about 40 soldiers has already arrived in Kuwait to prepare the way for the 15-month deployment.

The soldiers are from the 1st Battalion, 52nd Aviation Regiment, known as Task Force Dragon. The task force’s eight CH-47 Chinook helicopters are en route to the Middle East. The Chinooks, often termed the Army’s workhorse, can carry large amounts of supplies or troops.

The remaining 160 soldiers, who are scheduled to fly out of Fairbanks within the next few days, were honored during a deployment ceremony Thursday morning at Fort Wainwright.

Protest Update From Stockholm:

Next Year He Hopes To Have A Fucking HUGE Demo At The Embassy

From: Mark Shapiro

To: GI Special