A Soldiers Blog

'Embedded' by Tim Robbins Opens; Actor's Play Portrays Journos in Fictional War
'Embedded' by Tim Robbins Opens; Actor's Play Portrays Journos in Fictional War: "Robbins told the Los Angeles Times' Richard Stayton last week that vicious attacks on him and his family (especially his 13-year-old son) after he and Susan Sarandon came out against the war in the spring motivated him to write the play, which 'came really fast.' Among other things, Robbins was accused of being a traitor and his appearance at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown to honor Bull Durham was cancelled. "



So in order to assuage his bruised ego he demoralizes the troops, emboldens the terrorists, and crushes the hearts of thousands of military familys with what is truly a pack of lies and calls it art.
Do you feel better Tim?
Art is great, timing is everything, and this isn't the time for that kind of art.
Tom Hanks where are you? We need you.
A Soldier's Mom
Patti Patton-Bader
Posted by: Patti / 1:45 PM
Iraq War News

Six Spanish Intelligence Officers Killed in Iraq in IraqWar.ru (English)



Shevardnadze says US planned overthrow as Bush sends delegation to assess Georgia's 'needs' in IraqWar.ru (English)



Talks Could Fail if No N Korea Pledge to Scrap Nukes in IraqWar.ru (English)



Anti-Terror Raids Target Islamists Across Europe in IraqWar.ru (English)



3 held in probe of network recruiting fighters for Iraq in IraqWar.ru (English)



In Iraq, scorn and praise for Bush visit in IraqWar.ru (English)



Ammunition was source of concern during US invasion of Iraq in IraqWar.ru (English)



White House's Iraq claims rapped in IraqWar.ru (English)



Bush's visit showed US fear of Iraqis : Iran in IraqWar.ru (English)



How do we get out of Iraq? Kennedy, Owen, Alrawi, Rubin in IraqWar.ru (English)



US Is Worried Foe Is Tracking Targets in Iraq in IraqWar.ru (English)



Sen. Clinton More Time for Iraq Power Transfer in IraqWar.ru (English)



75 US Troops Die in November in Iraq in IraqWar.ru (English)



Turkey synagogue bombing suspect charged: "A central figure in the suicide bombing of an Istanbul synagogue was captured while trying to slip into Iran, police said Saturday. He was charged with trying to overthrow Turkey's "constitutional order" - an offense equivalent to treason."

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq



Governor: Tikrit, Iraq open for business: "In a tightly guarded ceremony, the governor of Saddam Hussein's home province declared Saturday that the region was open for business, and thanked foreign businessmen who attended a gathering wearing flak jackets and helmets."

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq



77 U.S. troops die in November in Iraq: "November was the deadliest month yet for the American military in Iraq."

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq



7 Spanish intel officers killed in Iraq: "Attackers ambushed a team of Spanish intelligence officers on a highway south of Baghdad on Saturday, killing seven agents and wounding one, Spanish Defense Minister Federico Trillo said."

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq



Spain mourns officers' deaths in Iraq: "Seven members of Spain's military intelligence agency were killed in Iraq and another was injured in an ambush, Defense Minister Federico Trillo confirmed Saturday night."

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq



Troop families go to Iraq on peace mission: "Relatives of U.S. service members said they were nervous but hopeful Saturday as they embarked on a private peace mission to Iraq, where they will bring their message of friendship and doubts about the war."

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq



Six Spanish recon soldiers killed in Iraq: "Attackers ambushed a convoy of Spanish military intelligence officers on a highway south of Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least six agents and wounding one, a Spanish defense ministry official said."

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq

Toll on U.S. troops in Iraq grows as wounded rolls approach 10,000
BY ROGER ROY
The Orlando Sentinel

ORLANDO, Fla. - (KRT) - Nearly 10,000 U.S. troops have been killed, wounded, injured or become ill enough to require evacuation from Iraq since the war began, the equivalent of almost one Army division, according to the Pentagon.

Unlike the more than 2,800 American fighting men and women logged by the Defense Department as killed and wounded by weapons in Iraq, the numbers of injured and sick have been more difficult to track, leading critics to accuse the military of under-reporting casualty numbers.

Military officials deny they are fudging the numbers. But the latest figures show that 9,675 U.S. troops have been killed, wounded, injured such as in accidents, or become sick enough to require airlifting out of Iraq.

"I don't think even that is the whole story," said Nancy Lessin of Boston, the mother of an Iraq war veteran and co-founder of Military Families Speak Out, a group opposed to the war in Iraq.

"We really think there's an effort to hide the true cost in life, limb and the mental health of our soldiers," Lessin said. "There's a larger picture here of really trying to hide and obfuscate what's going on, and the wounded and injured are part of it."

The number of sick and injured is almost certainly substantially higher, because the figures provided by the military last week include totals only through Oct. 30.

Virginia Stephanakis, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Army surgeon general, said there has been no effort to manipulate the casualty statistics.

"I can reassure you that these are the best figures we have," Stephanakis said. "We're certainly not playing with the numbers or trying to downplay them."

As of Friday, 2,401 U.S. troops were listed as wounded in Iraq since the war began in March. At least 424 have died in combat or in accidents.

Another 2,464 suffered nonbattle injuries, which would include everything from accidental gunshots to broken bones and vehicle accidents, Stephanakis said.

And another 4,397 troops have been evacuated from Iraq to U.S. military hospitals - usually in Germany - for treatment of medical problems not related to wounds or injuries.

They include 290 treated for urological problems such as kidney stones - thought by many soldiers to be caused by drinking large quantities of high-mineral bottled water during the blistering summer in Iraq. Another 299 were treated for heart problems and 249 for gastrointestinal illnesses.

Another 504 troops were evacuated for treatment of psychiatric problems.

Stephanakis could not say how many of the psychiatric cases have been diagnosed as post-traumatic stress disorder, a debilitating mental condition that can strike troops who have been in combat or a war zone.

"I have no breakdown," she said. "Most are related to what people call combat stress, depression, anxiety."

The Pentagon is not expected to release any updated figures on noncombat wounded, sick and injured until early next month.

Some critics accuse the military of low-balling its figures to curb criticism of the war.

"I think it's a general reluctance to be forthcoming," said Wilson "Woody" Powell, a Korean War veteran and executive director of Veterans for Peace, a St. Louis antiwar organization.

"There are ways of shaping numbers," Powell said. "You can do a lot just by omitting a few things now and then."

For example, critics said, the figures released by the Army do not include men and women whose injuries or illnesses were treated in Iraq, but only those who required transfer to medical facilities outside Iraq.

Some troops who have been wounded in bomb or mortar attacks have been awarded the Purple Heart, but their wounds were not serious enough to require them to be evacuated.

And Lessin said the reported number of troops treated for psychiatric problems does not include those who didn't seek treatment until they returned home.

Since April, the military says, at least 17 U.S. troops have committed suicide in Iraq, and the cause of at least two dozen other noncombat deaths had not been determined.

Stephanakis acknowledged the figures don't include every troop injury and illness from the war in Iraq. But because the military medical system was designed to give only enough treatment in Iraq to stabilize patients, then transfer them to facilities in Europe or the United States, virtually every serious injury or illness is included in the numbers, she said.

And some troops were taken to medical facilities in Europe for minor procedures not available in Iraq, Stephanakis said.

For example, 319 troops were evacuated for gynecological treatments, some of which may have been minor procedures, she said.

"It's easier for us to evacuate them to Germany than to keep a gynecologist in Baghdad," Stephanakis said.

And although accidents have killed and seriously injured hundreds of troops in war-time Iraq, even in peace time, military accidents claim many lives.

In 1999, the latest year for which statistics were available, 761 U.S. troops died around the world out of a military population of about 1.4 million, according to the Defense Department. Most of those deaths - 411 - were caused by accidents, with illness claiming another 126 lives and self-inflicted wounds, 110.

Even so, according to the Defense Department statistics, the death rate among troops that year was less than half the death rate in 1980.

---

© 2003, The Orlando Sentinel (Fla.).

Visit the Sentinel on the World Wide Web at http://www.orlandosentinel.com. On America Online, use keyword: OSO.

KRT Wire | 11/28/2003 | Toll on U.S. troops in Iraq grows as wounded rolls approach 10,000

US press divided on appraisal of Bush's stealth visit to Baghdad: "President George W. Bush's surprise holiday visit to Baghdad was the main course in US newspapers' post-Thanksgiving issues Friday, but the dailies diverged in their assessments of the trip's outcome. (AFP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



New purported Bush tape raises fear of new attacks (28 Nov 03) in Radio Free USA



Paper: Israel weighs removing settlements: "Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is considering dismantling Jewish settlements in the Gaza Strip while simultaneously annexing blocs of West Bank settlements if peace efforts fail, an Israeli newspaper reported Friday."

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq



Analyst defends prewar spy data on Iraq: "A top U.S. intelligence analyst who supervised the production of the U.S. government's key prewar findings on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs says he believes those conclusions were sound, even though many have not been validated."

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq



Suspected Iraq Attack Recruiters Caught: "Three North African men were arrested in Italy and Germany as part of efforts to smash a network seeking to recruit Islamic militants for suicide attacks against coalition forces in Iraq, officials said Friday. (AP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



Pentagon funds pro-U.S. network in Iraq: "One of the chief U.S. weapons in the battle to win Iraqi hearts and minds is Al-Iraqiya - a Pentagon-funded TV station with an optimistic, pro-American slant."

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq



Rice defends Bush trip to Iraq: "President George W. Bush's national security adviser defended his lightning trip to Baghdad, denying it was a political stunt that inadvertently highlighted the chaos still blighting Iraq. (AFP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



Analyst Defends Prewar Spy Data on Iraq: "A top U.S. intelligence analyst who supervised the production of the U.S. government's key prewar findings on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction programs says he believes those conclusions were sound, even though many have not been validated. (AP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq

Iraq war news
Bush wows troops with secret visit to Iraq: "US President George W. Bush was headed back to the United States after braving the threat of missiles over Baghdad to join 600 troops for an emotional Thanksgiving dinner in Iraq, in a trip arranged under strict secrecy. (AFP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



Iraqi oil close to pre-war levels in IraqWar.ru (English)



A Paper Trail Follows Iraqi Merchants of Tyranny in IraqWar.ru (English)



Bush makes surprise visit to Iraq for Thanksgiving holiday in IraqWar.ru (English)



Bush's Iraq coup unlikely to boost US polls in IraqWar.ru (English)



Iraq's scientists get a new academy in IraqWar.ru (English)



Not enough troops in Iraq: Garner in IraqWar.ru (English)



US 'won't seek Iraq resolution' in IraqWar.ru (English)



Russia Praises IAEA Iran Resolution in IraqWar.ru (English)



Roadside bomb hits convoy outside Baghdad in IraqWar.ru (English)



Ex-U.S. general recalls mistakes made in Iraq in IraqWar.ru (English)



Bush visit underlines commitment to Iraq in IraqWar.ru (English)



On Secret Iraq Trip, Bush Pays Holiday Visit to G.I.'s: "In one of the most secretive presidential trips in American history, George W. Bush visited U.S. troops in Baghdad."

In New York Times: World Special



Meeting of Iraqi Leaders Gives Lift to U.S. Plan on Power Shift: "The Iraqi Governing Council's president and a senior cleric appeared to be moving toward a compromise on a new government."

In New York Times: World Special



Guarding the Gaudy, G.I.'s Gorge Near a Hussein Palace: "Soldiers in the First Armored Division shared Thanksgiving dinner by the bombed-out palace of Saddam Hussein's youngest son."

In New York Times: World Special



Police ID explosives from Turkish attacks: "Ammonium nitrate-based explosives were used in four deadly suicide truck bombings in Istanbul, police said Thursday, as the bodies of two British diplomats were flown home after a somber ceremony."

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq



Italy arrests five suspected terrorists: "Five people led by a suspected senior al-Qaeda operative were arrested late Thursday by Italian anti-terror police on suspicion of having recruited suicide attackers for strikes in Iraq, the Milan prosecutors office said. (AFP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



Ex-Iraqi General Dies During Interrogation: "A former Iraqi general died while under American interrogation, the U.S. military said Thursday. (AP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



Bush stuns troops with Iraq visit: "It was the biggest of holiday surprises."

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq



U.S. Wanted to Avoid Label of Occupiers: "American military commanders did not impose curfews, halt looting or order Iraqis back to work after Saddam Hussein's regime fell because U.S. policymakers were reluctant to declare U.S. troops an occupying force, says an internal Army review examined by The Associated Press. (AP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



Turkish town in shock after attacks: "His path to radicalism began four years before he blew himself up in front of a synagogue, part of what appeared to be a coordinated chain of deadly suicide attacks."

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq



Secrecy Key to Bush Mission to Baghdad: "Behind President Bush'sextraordinary visit to Baghdad -- the first by any U.S.president -- was an elaborate plan that called for absolutesecrecy. (Reuters)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



U.S. Didn't Want to Be Called Occupiers: "American military commanders did not impose curfews, halt looting or order Iraqis back to work after Saddam Hussein's regime fell because U.S. policymakers were reluctant to declare U.S. troops an occupying force, says an internal Army review examined by The Associated Press. (AP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



Bush's Iraq coup unlikely to boost US polls: "US President George W. Bush's surprise visit to troops in Iraq was a public relations coup, but is unlikely to boost sagging domestic support for US involvement in Iraq, analysts said. (AFP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



Inside Bush's Secret Trip to Baghdad: "Slouched in the back of a nondescriptvehicle with a baseball cap pulled over his face, PresidentBush sneaked out of Texas on the first leg of his bold trip toBaghdad. (Reuters)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



President Travels to Baghdad and Addresses Soldiers at Airport: "International Herald Tribune"

In New York Times: World Special



Iraqis May Be Moving Toward a Compromise on Government: "The head of the Iraqi Governing Council met with the senior cleric who has raised objections about a provisional government."

In New York Times: World Special

Our thoughts go out this Thanksgiving to all our Armed Forces near & far away from home, and all our brave Allies who have stood strong.
Our hearts hold so tightly the families who have lost their heroes,
and our wishes go out to all peoples in hopes of world peace and tolerance.

Happy Thanksgiving
Patti Patton-Bader


Iraq War News

Iraq war news
U.S. arrests wife of Saddam deputy: "U.S. troops arrested the wife and daughter of a top Saddam Hussein deputy suspected of masterminding attacks on U.S. troops, and a major pipeline linking northern Iraqi oilfields to the country's biggest refinery was ablaze Wednesday."

In JuneauEmpire.com: Associated Press



Palestinians salute U.S. on Israeli loan: "Palestinian officials on Wednesday welcomed a U.S. decision to deduct $289.5 million from loan guarantees to Israel, but said the penalty was insufficient to force Israel to stop building a security barrier or to end continued settlement building."

In JuneauEmpire.com: Associated Press



Yemen arrests leading al-Qaida member: "Yemeni security forces captured a man described as one of the country's top al-Qaida leaders and the suspected mastermind of the suicide bombing of the USS Cole, after surrounding his hide-out west of the capital."

In JuneauEmpire.com: Associated Press



U.S. troops get taste of home on holiday: "Far from the family Thanksgiving table and miles from Mom's turkey and stuffing, American troops deployed overseas during the holidays can still get a taste of home on Thanksgiving."

In JuneauEmpire.com: Associated Press

Iraq war news
Large explosions are heard in Baghdad: "Large explosions were heard after sundown Tuesday in central Baghdad but the precise location was unclear."

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq



Eid Al-Fitr Reflects Iraq's Fragmentation: "For Sunni Muslims, it began Monday. Some Shiites started celebrating Tuesday. Others will wait until Wednesday. (AP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



Baghdad rattled by mortar attack: "Two mortars are fired in the centre of the Iraqi capital, sparking a security alert at the US-led administration."

In BBC: Conflict with Iraq (UK Edition)



Video Shows Iraqi Firing at Cargo Plane: "

A homemade videotape given to a French journalist showed a man firing a surface-to-air missile at a DHL cargo plane, moments after a U.S. helicopter flew overhead - apparently without noticing him.

The tape appeared to record the insurgent operation Saturday in which a missile struck the wing of a DHL cargo plane, forcing the aircraft to make an emergency landing at Baghdad's airport. It was the first time insurgents struck a civilian plane in Iraq. The U.S. military said there were no injuries to the three-member crew.

Full story...."

In Command Post: Irak

S.A. soldier gets a hero's welcome home

By Vincent T. Davis
San Antonio Express-News

Web Posted : 11/25/2003 12:00 AM

After completing a seven-month tour of duty, Staff Sgt. Gilbert Ytuarte was looking forward to spending time with his wife, Rose, and their three daughters at their home in Fort Sill, Okla.
The 12-year Army veteran, who returned from Iraq two days ago, planned to visit his parents and brothers in San Antonio at a later date.

But his mother, Angelita, and older brother, Santiago, had other plans.

They persuaded him to drive his family back home, and when he turned into his mother's driveway Monday night, he found a hero's welcome waiting for him. A shocked look registered on his face as he walked up a pebble path lined with a dozen miniature flags that led to steps decorated with red, white and blue balloons.

Peeking from her half-opened door, his mother shouted, "He's here!"

"Well, hello!" Ytuarte, 36, said, surprised at the sight of old high school friends, relatives and friends gathered to greet him. "I just expected to see my mother and stepfather, but lo and behold!"

On the dining room table, he found a large frosted cake with the words "Welcome Back Home, Son!"

Before he sat down, his high school friend Mark Zamorra thrust a cold beer into his hand, a drink he hadn't tasted in eight months.

Ytuarte, wearing a long-sleeved brown shirt and bluejeans, spoke of the people and sights he witnessed in Bilad, Iraq. Ytuarte, an information systems operator analyst, said one of his jobs was guarding Iraqi people working for the Army.

"A lot of the people were glad we were there," he said. "But then there were times we didn't know if they were behind the mortar attacks on us at night."

He said most of the people he worked with were genuine. Several of his co-workers gave him a mattress to place on his cot.

In his e-mails and phone calls, he left out details about injured soldiers. He said it is a common routine for people to drive up to the compound perimeter and make threatening gestures toward tower guards.

But when he talked of having soldiers still in Iraq, he stopped to gather his thoughts.

"I'm just glad to be home. It's been difficult," Ytuarte said, pausing to fight back tears. "I've got a large mix of emotions. I had to leave early, and my troops are on my mind often."

Handing his brother a tissue, Santiago said: "We still meditate and pray for those who lost their lives. Every moment, it's in the back of your head."

Ytuarte's wife said e-mails, phone calls and a post support group helped her deal with her husband's absence. While her husband was deployed, she avoided the news on television.

"I'm just happy he's back, safe and in one piece," she said, watching their youngest daughter, 18-month-old Alexandria, wave miniature flags above her head.

With a smile, Ytuarte's mother complimented Rosa for her strength in her son's absence.

"I feel like my daughter—in-law is as much a hero as he is," his mother said. "She kept the house in order all of this time. Even though my son is home, my heart still hurts for our children we're losing over there."

Ytuarte pulled a silver cross, a lucky charm Santiago gave him for protection, from his wallet. "I never went anywhere without it," Ytuarte said, rubbing the cross.

"We used to fight all of the time," Santiago said. "I never thought our paths would bring us where we are now."

Ytuarte said he's at a crossroads trying to decide whether to re-enlist or try something new.

I've got plenty of reasons to stay," Ytuarte said, "and plenty of reasons to go."


MySA.com: Metro | State

Homemade bombs make Iraq deadlier for soldiers
BY ED TIMMS
The Dallas Morning News

DALLAS - (KRT) - Iraq's mean streets have become even more dangerous because of homemade bombs that are easy to make, easy to conceal - and deadly.

"Improvised explosive devices," as they are called by the military, are the preferred weapon for many Iraqi insurgents who cannot compete with the superior firepower and technology of U.S. forces. U.S. service members may never see who detonates a bomb by wire or remote control; the perpetrators may be miles away if a pressure switch is used to activate the devices.

Military officials say that U.S. forces increasingly are encountering the homemade bombs, and that the devices are taking a toll. Since President Bush declared major combat operations over on May 1, at least 60 U.S. service members have been killed in incidents involving homemade bombs, including one Sunday.

"The attacks have become more stand-off," said Maj. Gen. Raymond Odierno, commander of the 4th Infantry Division, in a recent teleconference.

"They try to avoid direct contact. … What we have seen is more mortar attacks and more … improvised explosives," he said.

The raw materials for making the explosive devices are abundant in Iraq. Massive quantities of munitions were stored in military facilities. And weapons caches are still being discovered in abandoned homes, remote fields or buried in containers. One Army demolition expert has estimated that roughly 600,000 tons of ordnance is still on the ground in Iraq.

Just one buried container located by 4th Infantry Division soldiers earlier this year was filled with more than three dozen assault rifles and submachine guns, rocket-propelled grenade launchers and rounds, surface-to-air missile launchers, a substantial quantity of ammunition, 45,000 sticks of dynamite, 11 improvised explosive devices and 80,000 feet of detonation cord.

On Friday, 16 Iraqis were caught trying to plant improvised devices; soldiers with the 10th Mountain Division obtained information that led them to a large weapons cache that included 28 prepared IEDs.

On a larger scale, truck and car bombs have been used in a number of high-profile attacks. In August, a truck filled with military munitions devastated the United Nations' headquarters in Baghdad, killing the top U.N. official in Iraq and 16 others. More recently, truck bombs killed more than two dozen Italian peacekeepers and Iraqis earlier this month in the southern city of An Nasiriyah.

There is, however, a notable distinction between these incidents - typically suicide attacks - and placing a roadside improvised explosive device, possibly while unobserved and not facing certain death.

KRT Wire | 11/25/2003 | Homemade bombs make Iraq deadlier for soldiers

Iraq war news updates
Iraq shuts down Arab satellite channel; Muslim leader urges ceasefire: "Iraq's interim Governing Council said it was banning the Al-Arabiya satellite channel from working in Iraq for incitement to murder as a Sunni Muslim leader called for a week-long ceasefire to celebrate the feast marking the end of Ramadan, during which violence had surged. (AFP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



Iraq roadside bomb hurts one U.S. soldier: "Gunmen ambushed U.S. soldiers on patrol with a roadside bomb then opened fire on them in Mosul on Monday, wounding one, as fears grew that the anti-coalition insurgency was spreading north a day after two American soldiers were killed here and their bodies mauled."

In Seattle Post-Intelligencer: War on Iraq



Iraq Roadside Bomb Hurts One U.S. Soldier: "Gunmen ambushed U.S. soldiers on patrol with a roadside bomb then opened fire on them in Mosul on Monday, wounding one, as fears grew that the anti-coalition insurgency was spreading north a day after two American soldiers were killed here and their bodies mauled. (AP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



Pentagon now considering "post-war" Peacekeeping units in IraqWar.info



The Baath Party faithful were just in it for the money in IraqWar.info



Chirac meets Blair in first Franco-British summit since Iraq war: "French President Jacques Chirac met Prime Minister Tony Blair in London as the two leaders tried to repair a relationship severely strained by the US-led invasion of Iraq in March. (AFP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



Secret Pentagon memo details Saddam-bin Laden ties: "A conservative US magazine said it had obtained a classified US government memo purporting to prove that the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein had contacts with al-Qaeda and was implicated in the September 11, 2001 attacks. (AFP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq



Iraq interim leadership bans al-Arabiya over Saddam broadcast: "Iraq's US-installed interim Governing Council announced it was banning Dubai-based satellite television al-Arabiya from working in Iraq for incitement to murder after it broadcast a Saddam Hussein tape calling for attacks on the council's members. (AFP)"

In Yahoo! News: War with Iraq

Family of dying GI battles bureaucracy
Associated Press

KARNACK - By the time he shipped out for the war in Iraq in January, Special Forces Sgt. James Alford was a wreck of a soldier.
For five months, he had been doing odd things. He disappeared from Fort Campbell, Ky., for several days. He lost equipment and lied to superiors. In December, he was demoted from staff sergeant to sergeant.

In the Kuwaiti desert, he came apart. The hotshot Green Beret, who a year earlier ran circles around his team members and earned a Bronze Star in Afghanistan, was ordered to carry a notepad to remember orders. By March, he was being cited for dereliction of duty, larceny and lying to superiors. He couldn't even keep up with his gas mask.

Finally, in April, his commanders had had enough. They ordered him to return to Fort Campbell to be court-martialed and kicked out of the Special Forces.

"Your conduct is inconsistent with the integrity and professionalism required by a Special Forces soldier," Lt. Col. Christopher Conner of the 2nd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group Headquarters in Kuwait wrote April 10.

Confused and disgraced, the soldier moved back into his off-base home, where he ate canned meat and anchovies, unaware of the day, the month or the year.

Sensing something was wrong, a neighbor called Alford's parents. They drove 600 miles from East Texas to find a son who had lost 30 pounds and could no longer drink from a glass, use a telephone, button his shirt or say "Amber," the name of his soldier wife, who was still stationed in the Middle East.

They rushed him to an emergency room. A month and several hospitals later, Alford's family learned that he was dying of a disease eating away his brain. He had Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, an extremely rare and fatal degenerative brain disorder akin to mad cow disease that causes rapid, progressive dementia.

Now, as the 25-year-old soldier wastes away in his boyhood home, his parents and his wife are struggling to understand how the military could have misdiagnosed Alford's erratic, forgetful behavior as nothing more than the symptoms of a sloppy, incompetent soldier.

"He had to hold his hands to keep them from shaking, but they saw nothing wrong with my child," his mother, Gail Alford, a nine-year Army veteran, said recently from her home in Karnack, a rural community near Marshall.

Alford's parents say Special Forces staff members told them that a doctor in Kuwait had found nothing wrong with him and that a psychiatrist there had said Alford was "faking it."

Army officials have acknowledged that the 5th Special Forces Group erred and, more than eight months after Alford's demotion, they reinstated his staff sergeant rank.

But the dying soldier's family members want more. They want a public apology for the ridicule and disgrace that they say filled Alford's final days of service.

"They called him stupid, told him he was lazy, he was a liar, that he wasn't any good, that he was a faker," his mother said, recalling what little her son could tell her about his time in Kuwait. "I want them shamed the way they shamed my son."

And they want his pay restored and his medical benefits maintained. The Army declared Alford medically incompetent, placed him on retirement status and froze his pay this month until his parents can prove in court that they are his legal guardians. His mother said she was given power of attorney long ago.

Special Forces blamed

Alford's father, retired Army Command Sgt. Maj. John Alford, who served 34 years, said that Army doctors have been caring and professional and that commanders stationed his son's wife, Spc. Amber Alford, in Texas near her husband.

He mainly faults the Special Forces.

"I think they did everything they could to break him, mentally and physically," he said.

A Special Forces spokesman did not respond to phone messages and an e-mail request for an interview with The Associated Press.

In a July 30 letter responding to an inquiry by U.S. Rep. Max Sandlin, D-Marshall, Army Lt. Col. Johan Haraldsen wrote that the Special Forces group to which Alford belonged expressed "its deepest concerns" to the soldier and his family.

"All actions taken ... involving Sergeant Alford were appropriate based on the best information available at that time," Haraldsen wrote.

Alford himself may have tried to conceal his symptoms, said Dr. Steve Williams, a clinical fellow in the division of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn.

"He was capable of masking the symptoms because he was resourceful and he was a smart guy," said Williams, who diagnosed Alford with Creutzfeldt-Jakob. "I'd ask him what floor he was on, and I could catch him looking outside and counting the number of windows."

Doctors believe that Alford has the classic form of the disease, which develops spontaneously. It affects one in 100 million people under 30, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Col. David Dooley, an infectious-disease doctor at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, said Special Forces staff members shouldn't take the blame for missing Alford's illness. A delayed diagnosis is "typical and classic"; the average lag time for the disease is five to seven months, he said.

"If I'm going to hold anything against them, they might have come around a little faster when a medical problem was recognized," Dooley said. "The Special Forces group was fairly inert to the face of data that we medics were showing them."

Alford's parents believe that he has the variant form of the disease, caused by eating brains or nervous-system tissue from an infected cow. They worry that he may have gotten it from eating sheep brains locals served to soldiers as an honor in Oman two years ago.

But there is no evidence that people can get the disease from sheep.

Doctors also note that Alford didn't have the outbursts of anger and depression usually associated with the variant form and that the fast progression of his illness is more consistent with the classic form.

Losing everything

Alford was the youngest man in the 5th Special Forces Group, and his wife says some of his team members resented his promotion. At least one said Alford seemed a bit immature and made a few bad decisions when he first joined, but military records show that he earned decorations.

He was awarded the Bronze Star in May 2002 for "gallant conduct" in leading reconnaissance patrols in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar and helping capture Iranian terrorism suspects.

Staff Sgt. Miguel Fabbiani, a friend of Alford's and a member of the same team based at Fort Campbell, said Alford's symptoms escalated during wartime when he was working with a new group that didn't know him as well.

Alford's parents said they didn't see him enough to detect a problem. His wife was stationed near him for a while in Kuwait, but she chalked up his odd behavior to stress.

Alford's father said the actions of his son's superiors broke the spirit of a young man who had wanted to become a soldier since he was 4.

He now lies in pastel sheets next to a wall painting of John Wayne. Wearing a Houston Texans T-shirt that hangs like a hospital gown, he stares absently into a television that glows 24 hours, his hands gripping stuffed animals to keep them from clenching shut.

"He knows his name, sometimes," says his wife, a tiny woman in sneakers who helps tend to her husband as she ponders a life alone. "Sometimes I'll go up to him, wink at him and make kissy faces, and he laughs."

Her eyes well up as she remembers the handsome, arrogant boy she met as a teen-ager at a barrel-racing contest in Texas.

As his brain deteriorates, his organs will fail.

"He will go blind, he will go deaf, he will lose everything," his father said.

He stopped walking more than a month ago, mumbles when he tries to speak, is fed intravenously and takes medicine for insomnia, pain and tremors. Doctors have told the family that he probably won't live to see Christmas.

The Army has said that the issues over Alford's pay could be resolved within weeks, but the family members are skeptical. They aren't sure how they will pay his bills and maintain his 24-hour care without his salary.

"It's very sad when the people who are putting their life on the line for this country should be treated like this," Alford's father said. "This has been a bureaucratic nightmare. We've got enough to deal with on a daily basis, caring after our son and dealing with our pain and weariness and our suffering to have to fight the U.S. Army."

They fought for four months before his rank was reinstated in September.

John Alford knew his son might not live long enough to get the good news, so he had already told him a "white lie" that he had been vindicated.

"It was very important to him because he kept saying, 'I didn't do anything wrong, Daddy.' "

Associated Press : Family of dying GI battles bureaucracy

Luck saved them


11/24/03

By MIKE MARSHALL
Mobile Register Editor


BAGHDAD -- Just before dawn on Aug. 19, Sgt. Anthony Pierce and eight members of his platoon were headed back to Camp Graceland on the south side of Baghdad. They had just been relieved after pulling the night shift at Balad Police Station, where they supervise and train Iraqi police officers.

"I turned 45 that day," said Pierce. "It's a birthday I won't soon forget."


Pierce was sitting in the front passenger seat of the last of three Humvees returning to camp, normally a five-minute drive from the station.

They had not gotten far when an improvised explosive device, known by troops as an IED, was detonated just off the highway. In quick succession, four rocket-propelled grenades, or RPGs, hit the Humvees. Then AK-47s opened fire from several directions.

One of the RPGs ripped through the rear door of Pierce's Humvee, striking the radio console before lodging in the dashboard, blowing the driver, Spc. Josh Yoder, 22, of Brewton, clear out of the vehicle. Shrapnel hit Pierce in the arm. The turret gunner, Spc. Charles Williams, 38, a nurse's assistant from East Brewton, was hit in the legs. His pants caught fire.

A second RPG pierced the Humvee's rear quarter panel, but injured no one.

The lead Humvee was also struck by two RPGs, one exploding beneath it and knock ing out the tires, the other hitting the turret ring on top of the Humvee before slamming into the back of the gunner, Sgt. Dustin Andrews, 24, of Mobile.

The University of South Alabama senior was incredibly lucky. The RPG failed to detonate, only cracking the armor plating inside Andrew's flak jacket.

Despite flat tires and a damaged suspension, the first Humvee continued on toward Graceland, followed by the relatively unscathed second vehicle. But the third Humvee was without a driver. Pierce used his hands to pat out Williams flaming pants, then grabbed Yoder's M-16 -- his own had been blown out of the Humvee -- leaped from the vehicle and returned fire with the rifle as well as his 9 mm pistol.

The insurgents slipped away. Amazingly, Yoder got up and ran back to the Humvee. From IED explosion to retreat, the ambush had taken about a minute. The attackers were never found.

Andrews, the gunner hit by the RPG, was treated for back spasms but otherwise was unharmed. Four other soldiers with the Alabama National Guard's 1165th Military Police Company were treated for minor bruises and cuts. No one from the Fairhope-based company was admitted to a hospital.

"These were the smaller, anti-personnel RPGs," said Pierce, who is in the auto parts supply business in Pensacola. "If they had been the big anti-tank RPGs, we'd have been goners for sure."

As lucky as the members of Third Platoon were, they would have been even more fortunate inside "up-armor" Humvees, which are reinforced on all sides by thick steel plating. The RPGs likely would have exploded harmlessly against the skin of such armored vehicles, and no one would have been hurt, except perhaps for the gunner. The net damage from the attack would have been a couple of flat tires.

Up-armor Humvees are much more suited to urban warfare, and therefore much in demand by soldiers stationed in Iraq. They shield occupants against rifle fire, shrapnel and all but the larger RPG rounds.

The extra armor adds about 5,000 pounds to the weight of a conventional Humvee, which is already about 6,000 pounds. To carry that additional weight, the engine is turbocharged. That creates additional engine noise, so the up-armor Humvees come equipped with an intercom as part of the radio system. Occupants wearing headsets can easily communicate with one another and with other Humvee crews.

Unlike the bare-bones version used by the 1165th, armored Humvees are also air conditioned, so occupants can keep the thick, "ballistic" windows closed no matter what the weather. All of this costs money, of course. The Army pays about twice as much for the armored Humvee, around $100,000.

When I recently visited MPs with the Alabama Guard's 1166th Military Police Company at their camp near Baghdad International Airport, they had just been issued 10 of the up-armored Humvees. The soldiers told me that the vehicles are better in just about every way, even traveling faster than the plain Humvee.

I can tell you that the extra inch of steel plate sure made me feel cozier.

Capt. Chris Butler of Auburn, Ala., commander of the 1165th, said his company has more than 30 of the regular Humvees, but hopes to be equipped with at least some of the sturdier models soon. It's what all of his soldiers would like for Christmas.





al.com: News

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