Military Resistance:

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5.10.13

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Military Resistance 11E6

My Mother Died Last Thursday At The Age Of 89

Im Sure The Veterans Administration Is Relieved

They Wont Have To Pay Her The Thousands Of Dollars In Retroactive Pension Money They Would Have Owed Had She Lived Until They Finally Processed Her Application
Benefits Would Only Be Paid If The Recipient Were Alive At The Time That The Application Was Approved
Older veterans and disabled veterans and their widowed spouses across the country are being shafted by the Veterans Affairs Agency, the Pentagon and especially by the political charlatans in Washington including President Obama and members of Congress, Democratic and Republican who are quick to claim that they support the troops, and quick to vote for benefits for veterans, but who then quietly allow the VA, through lack of public outreach and through deliberate foot-dragging, to make those benefits unavailable. May 06, 2013 by DAVE LINDORFF, CounterPunch My mother died last Thursday at the age of 89. Her death, fortunately coming peacefully following a stroke during her sleep, followed a long mental decline caused by Alzheimers disease. Im sure the Veterans Administration is relieved. They wont have to pay her the thousands of dollars in retroactive pension money they would have owed had she lived until they finally processed her application (or the tens of thousands more theyd have spent if shed continued to live). Mom was a US Navy veteran of World War II. Something of a pioneer for women in the military, she volunteered to become a Navy WAVE (Women Accepted for Voluntary Emergency Service) as a young woman in her early 20s during the war, and was posted at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, where she took on the duties of some male sailor who was thus freed up to go to sea. Because she had earned an honorable discharge, she was entitled, in her old age, to a pension, currently worth about $22,000 per year, based upon her financial need. The way these pensions work is, if a retired veterans income, after deducting all medical costs, including the costs of home care for those who cannot live on their own because

of some disability, falls below the pension amount of $22,000, the VA is supposed to provide pension funds that will top up the persons income to that level. In my mothers case, because she was unable to take care of herself, and had to have a round-the-clock home-care companion in her house, her cost of care about $70,000 a year was entirely eating up both the $36,000 pension my father left her and her $14,000 Social Security widows benefit, leaving her with a deficit of $20,000 a year plus the cost of her food and other things, all of which I and my two siblings had to cover. In early January, I filed her application for a veterans pension. We had earlier registered her with the VA, so they had already, two years earlier, processed and confirmed her discharge papers and issued her a veterans ID number. Last June, we also applied for her veterans medical benefits and she had been approved for VA healthcare last October. All we needed to do in January then, since her service and discharge status had already been confirmed was document her income, which we did with a statement from both the Social Security Administration and the Connecticut State Comptrollers pension office (my dad, a US Marine veteran who had died in March, 2012, had been a professor at the University of Connecticut), and document her home-care and other medical expenses, which required only a statement from the licensed home-care agency we were using. All of that should be so routine and simple that a pension could have been approved with the stroke of a few computer keys, but we were advised by a veterans affairs advocate working for the town of Windham, Connecticut that such applications were taking nine months to a year for the agency to process! Worse yet, he said that while the benefits would be paid retroactive back to the date of the application, they would only be paid if the recipient were alive at the time that the application was approved. If the veteran were to die before approval, the money would be lost. Think about that a minute. My mom volunteered to stand up and help defend her country in one of the biggest wars of its history, and her government left her dangling in her old age in her case for four months. Many vets wait a year or longer, and then often get denied because of agency errors. They then have to appeal, often with the help of a lawyer whom they have to pay, if they can. I know one couple, a legally blind WWII veteran and his wife who are scraping by on pennies after their cost of health care and housing, who were told a year after they had applied that the VA had lost their application and had no record that they had filed for a pension.

Now its been almost another year and a half since they refiled their application and they still have not received a pension determination. The good thing: this veteran says his battle with the agency is keeping him alive. I am not going to die until I get those bastards to approve my pension so my wife will get the money! he vows. In our case it was not a disaster. My brother, sister and I have enough money to have been able to cover my moms income shortfall, and the fact that we wont get reimbursed by the VA wont kill us. But I know there are many elderly and younger disabled veterans of WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and so many of Americas endless string of wars, incursions and invasions, who do now have any money, or any relatives with sufficient assets to assist them. A young man, a Marine veteran of the Iraq War who is currently working as a staffmember in the veterans affairs advocacy office of my own Montgomery County, PA, who also helped me with completing my mothers pension application, told me that he thought the US government was deliberately stalling on processing and approving pension applications because if they processed all these things promptly, and paid every veteran what they were owed for pensions and disability benefits, it would make wars too expensive to fight! And by the way, its not just veterans. Spouses of disabled and retired veterans, if they are low-income, can be entitled to what is called aid-and-attendance benefits from the VA if they are home-bound and need to hire in-home care. This benefit program can provide up to about $1000 a month in assistance. Again the VA is inexcusably taking upwards of a year to process these claims and is frequently wrongly denying them, requiring people to appeal (if they can afford to). There is also a particularly nasty aspect to how the government is handling this latter program. A couple of years ago, the agency finally acknowledged that the defoliant Agent Orange, used extensively by the US in a criminal effort to destroy ground cover and jungles in Indochina during the Vietnam War, was responsible for a laundry list of some 43 common deadly and debilitating ailments found among returning veterans of that war, including things like ischemic heart disease, parkinsons disease, Type II diabetes and prostate cancer. Under the VAs rules, it was determined that if any veteran who had spent even one day in Vietnam were to contract any of those ailments, it would be presumed to have resulted from exposure to Agent Orange, meaning that the resulting disability would be considered a wartime service-connected disability, and the disability payment would be made regardless of income.

The veteran would no longer have to battle to prove that the problem was the result of Agent Orange. So far so good, but heres the rub: If a veteran dies of such a service-connected disability, as many have, her or his spouse is entitled to aid-and-attendance benefits if needed. This particular aspect of veterans benefits is not publicized, but surely could help many tens of thousands of needy widows. Now, however, Ive learned that the VA is trying to eliminate the retroactivity of that program, so that if a Vietnam War veteran died years ago from one of those presumptive Agency Orange-caused ailments, without having known it was caused by Agent Orange and before the presumptive decision was made, and thus without having received a disability rating and benefit determination, that persons spouse would not be able to apply for any benefits. This is a truly disgusting idea, probably dreamed up by the same people who came up with the idea of using a chained CPI to screw Social Security retirees out of inflation adjustments to their Social Security benefits. My mom, who despite being an ardent pacifist in her later years, was always tremendously proud of her pioneering service in the Navy in WWII, regularly marching in Veterans Day parades in our local community where she was often the only older woman in the formation of veterans, has been shafted by her country. But shes not alone. Older veterans and disabled veterans and their widowed spouses across the country are being shafted by the Veterans Affairs Agency, the Pentagon and especially by the political charlatans in Washington including President Obama and members of Congress, Democratic and Republican who are quick to claim that they support the troops, and quick to vote for benefits for veterans, but who then quietly allow the VA, through lack of public outreach and through deliberate foot-dragging, to make those benefits unavailable. According to the VAs own statistics, there are some 800,000 disability claims currently pending, many filed by aging WWII and Korean War era vets, with an average wait time of over 10 months. Regular pension claims like my mothers are now taking an average of 9 months to approve. When desperately ill, or aged, vets face waits like that, you know someone is counting on them to die before they get approved. We need to demand that a well-funded, full-scale publicity blitz be launched on radio and TV, to publicize all available veterans benefits, we need adequate staffing and training of VA personnel to quickly eliminate the backlog in approval of benefits, we need

guaranteed retroactivity for all veterans benefits, including to the estates of those veterans and veterans spouses who die while waiting for approval (to eliminate the current incentive for agency delays in approvals), and finally we need to oust all the politicians who talk so unctuously about supporting the troops while undermining that support in practice. Lets make sure that the government and the taxpayers pay the full cost of Americas wars, and not leave those who had to go fight them in the lurch just to keep those costs down and hidden from view. The government won in its insidious effort to stiff my mom of her veterans benefits through administrative delay. It should not be able to stiff any more veterans.

MORE:

I Feel Compelled To Reach Out To My Fellow Brothers And Sisters In Arms Who Are Close To Retiring
Do Not Expect That Anyone In The VA System, The Pentagon Or The White House Cares If Your Claim Is Being Processed Accurately Or Promptly
Do Not Rely On The Veterans Affairs Department Or Any VA Claim System To Care About When You Get Your Claim Decision
Letters To The Editor Army Times May 13, 2012

I feel compelled to reach out to my fellow brothers and sisters in arms who are close to retiring. If you are retiring now or are close to retiring, do not rely on the Veterans Affairs Department or any VA claim system to care about when you get your claim decision. Do not expect that anyone in the VA system, the Pentagon or the White House cares if your claim is being processed accurately or promptly. I retired out of Fort Hood, Texas, in July 2012. My VA claim was misdirected and sat idle for five months with no one knowing or caring where it was. During those five months, I personally spoke to four different VA claim representatives, whose job it is to track your claim and assist you. All four representatives told me for five months, Sir, your claim is in the system and good to go; you just have to wait for the decision. I found out five months later that my paperwork was sitting in Temple, Texas, and had never been forwarded where it was supposed to go. I was immediately five months behind on receiving a decision for my claim. If the Army wants to initiate necessary cutbacks, it should eliminate all of the positions for these so-called VA representatives who are sitting in an office telling veterans their claims are good to go, when in reality all they are doing is paying lip service to veterans. I am disappointed in the VA system, and I want to spread the word to all veterans retiring. Dont do what I did and depend on your money from your VA claim in your budget. You wont see it any time soon and all you will get is the runaround from VA representatives, and each one will give you a different story as to why your claim isnt processed. My claim is supposedly in Salt Lake City, so they tell me, but no one, not one person, website or reference has a phone number or a contact at Salt Lake City to call. The VA claim system for recent retirees is broken and uninformative to the veterans themselves and everyone knows it. Do not trust or depend on the system if you are recently retiring. The sad thing is, theres absolutely nothing we can do about it. 1st Sgt. Ryan Lee Sutton (ret.) Round Rock, Texas

DO YOU HAVE A FRIEND OR RELATIVE IN THE MILITARY?

Forward Military Resistance along, or send us the email address if you wish and well send it regularly with your best wishes. Whether in Afghanistan or at 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 injustices, inside the armed services and at home. Send email requests to address up top or write to: Military Resistance, Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657.

MILITARY NEWS

Heartless Clueless Worthless ShitEating Despicable Lame-Brained Waste Of Fucking Space And Bane Of All Human Existence Of The Year, So Far:
Its Gen. Mark Welsh, The Chief Of Staff For The Air Force:
Blames Women Who Are Raped In The Military For Their Hook-Up Mentality
May 7, 2013 By MAUREEN DOWD, The New York Times [Excerpt] Gen. Mark Welsh, the chief of staff for the Air Force, shocked the women on the Senate Armed Services Committee when he testified that part of the problem in combating The Invisible War, as the Oscar-nominated documentary feature on the epidemic of rape in the military was titled, is that young women who enter the military have been raised in a society with a hook-up mentality. We have got to change the culture once they arrive, the general said. Hook-ups may be stupid, but they are consensual. To dismiss violent rapes as part of the hook-up culture shows a complete lack of understanding, a fiery Senator Kirsten Gillibrand of New York told me.

Were not talking about a date gone badly. Were talking about criminal behavior by predators who often stalk their victims in advance.

Tricare Horrors:
United Healthcare War Profiteers Tormenting Military Families:
Treatment Delayed And Denied To Those In Need;
My Cancer Isnt Waiting For Authorization! I Dont Understand Why United Is Taking So Long To Approve A Basic Request For A Standard Procedure That I Have Annually
May 13, 2013 By Patricia Kime, Army Times [Excerpts] April was a bad month for an Army captains family at Fort Carson, Colo. Their 16-year-old daughter, already enrolled in weekly therapy for substance abuse, was becoming increasingly unruly, ditching classes, disappearing for hours and relapsing into drinking and smoking pot. Counselors recommended a 21-day inpatient dependency program, one she had attended previously with some success. The active-duty family had no reason to believe the treatment would be denied. But in mid-April, United Health-care Military & Veterans the contractor that assumed management of the Tricare West region on April 1 rejected the referral. United wouldnt admit her for this treatment. We were told they didnt think she needed it. I didnt know United staff were doctors, said the girls father, an active-duty officer with six years of military service who asked that his name not be used. United Healthcare is the first new company to take over a Tricare contract since the military health programs regions were consolidated in 2004. No one expected the

transfer of health care management for 2.9 million beneficiaries in 21 states to be flawless. But a month into the contract, the Tricare Management Activity had received 1,347 customer service calls concerning United Healthcares responsiveness, or lack thereof. Most concern prolonged wait times for the companys customer service representatives, but 228 involved referral and authorization complaints. Other beneficiaries have protested on Tricares Facebook page. I was appalled to be placed on hold for 40 minutes. However, to put my doctors office on hold for an hour and 45 minutes is neglectful, wrote Dawn C. Francis. My cancer isnt waiting for authorization! I dont understand why United is taking so long to approve a basic request for a standard procedure that I have annually, added Michelle Oakland. Beneficiaries and physicians began contacting Congress for help. On April 26 and May 2, Rep. Doug Lamborn, R-Colo., sent letters to United Healthcare chief executive Gail Boudreaux and Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel asking for immediate action to ensure the proper medical care for military families. The problem is widespread and includes critical health specialties where a month long delay in receiving care could have a significant negative health impact, Lamborn wrote. The current situation is unacceptable. United Healthcare was awarded the Tricare West region contract, worth up to $21 billion over the next five years, in July 2012 after a prolonged contract award and protest process that began in 2009. Tricare and United Healthcare acknowledge there have been growing pains and officials from both organizations said they are working to solve the problems. The fix to the quagmire has come too late for the Army captains daughter, however. After numerous calls to UnitedHealth, her father secured approval for treat-ment, but United Health agreed to pay only for up to seven days. She attended and, at the end of the week, was released back to her family, which has since moved her to live with relatives in another state and Tricare region. To this day, we havent received an explanation from United Health as to why her care was denied. Were hoping the change in her environment will help level things out long enough so we can start looking at other treatment options, her father said.

[No Its Not Only A U.S. Armed Forces Problem]

Soldiers Guilty Of Sexual Offences Kept On By British Army:
The Worst Part Isnt Actually The Assault. Its What Happens Afterwards
In The British Military; The Way Youre Treated Afterwards, Its Your Fault, Youre A Trouble-Maker
[Thanks to Mark Shapiro, Military Resistance Organization, who sent this in.] 02 May 2013 Channel 4 [UK] The Ministry of Defence has admitted to Channel 4 News that there are 20 soldiers who are on the sex offenders register and still serving in the army. Ten have been convicted of a sexual offence in a civilian court, six at Court Martial and four have a police caution. This programme has also seen an internal army email which reveals an unknown number are still in the army who were convicted but NOT put on the sex offenders register. The email acknowledges the seriousness of these convictions, but states there are exceptional circumstances, whereby a commanding officer can retain the soldier. These include whether the soldier is still worthwhile to the army; whether his retention would impact on the armys reputation; how long he has served and ultimately, the interests of the service. Channel 4 News also understands that during an army meeting on standards last February, it was suggested that three to five major crimes per day across the army are reported and that of these, most are sexual assaults, rapes and assaults against the person.

However, the MoD claims: These are not figures that we recognise. A woman whose case is now being reviewed by the military prosecutor has told Channel 4 News how she was coerced by the Army into dropping her original allegation that she was sexually assaulted. Former Territorial Army driver Donna Rayment, 44, alleges she was sexually assaulted by two colleagues in Germany in 1999. Speaking exclusively to Channel 4 News she said: I was sitting on the bed and fell asleep. When I woke up I found they were sexually assaulting me I was in such shock, it was like incest, it was like oh my God, these men were like brothers to me. You feel ashamed. You feel dirty. I trusted them. Ms Rayment complained a day later when back in the UK, but was allegedly coerced by an officer into signing a disclaimer saying she would not take the complaint further. He told me it was my fault for going into the room: You know what soldiers are like, which I thought well no, not all soldiers are like that. He said it wouldnt be in my interest to proceed with the complaint. I thought by signing it, it would go away. Ms Rayment moved regiments and was harassed, being exposed to explicit porn and long working hours. I went in one morning to find faeces had been left on the toilet seat. So I cleaned it off, didnt say nothing. The next morning I went in again and it was the same thing. Im thinking thats done deliberately. It was basically telling me I wasnt wanted there. Eight years later, after counselling, she felt strong enough to report the alleged assault to civilian police. But they passed her case on to the Royal Military Police. The case was dropped, but she won damages for harassment at the High Court in 2010. She claims her sexual assault complaint effectively ended her career. The worst part isnt actually the assault. Its what happens afterwards, especially in the British military; the way youre treated afterwards, Its your fault, youre a trouble-maker. Ms Rayment claims the military justice system is not independent from the chain of command. She said: Youre fed by the army, youre clothed by the army, youre paid by the army. Theres no independence. You cant have the British army being judge, jury and executioner. Back in 2009 Corporal Anne-Marie Ellement alleged that two colleagues had raped her. The Royal Military Police investigated her allegations but no charges were brought. In October 2011 she hanged herself at Bulford barracks in Wiltshire.

Now Channel 4 News has learnt the military prosecutor who dropped her case had not attended training in relation to rape cases. Cpl Ellements sister Sharon Hardy told Channel 4 News: Hed been a prosecutor for 10 years. I was absolutely disgusted. My afterthought was how many other people has he failed? The Service Prosecuting Authority says a more progressive approach to training for prosecutors has been adopted since then with regard to rape and serious sexual offences. However the SPA says the prosecutor in the Ellement case was the most experienced at that time and was beyond reproach. A MoD spokesperson told Channel 4 News: The Armed Forces have a zero tolerance approach to all forms of bullying, discrimination and abuse. All allegations will be thoroughly investigated... we have taken a number of steps to improve training and awareness to ensure that service personnel know how to report concerns and what support is available to them.

Building New Veterans Hospitals Is An Abysmal Process Filled With Delays And Cost Overruns
Las Vegas Hospital Is Taking More Than 10 Years To Complete, 74 Months Behind Schedule. Its Price, Now Estimated At $585 Million, Is 80% Over The Initiative Estimate
VA Officials Said They Are Learning Lessons And Doing Better

They Cite As An Example An Orlando Hospital That Is 39 Months Behind Schedule And 143% Over Cost
May. 8, 2013 By Rick Maze, Staff writer, Army Times [Excerpts] Building new veterans hospitals is an abysmal process filled with delays and cost overruns, says the chairman of a House panel investigating how the Veterans Affairs Department spends money. Not only is VA building facilities over budget and late, but it is also failing to pay the contractors for their work in a timely manner, Rep. Mike Coffman, R-Colo., chairman of the House Veterans Affairs subcommittee on oversight and investigations, said Tuesday. The Government Accountability Office, the investigative and auditing arm of Congress, studied VA hospital construction projects in Denver, Las Vegas, New Orleans and Orlando, finding the average construction delay was 35 months and the average cost overrun was $366 million. The biggest overrun is in Denver, where a hospital now expected to be finished in April 2015 is now estimated to cost $800 million, a 144 percent jump over initial estimates, said Lorelei St. James, GAOs physical infrastructure director. The longest delay was in Las Vegas, where a hospital now expected to be done in June is taking more than 10 years to complete, 74 months behind schedule. Its price, now estimated at $585 million, is 80 percent over the initiative estimate VA officials said they are learning lessons and doing better. They cite as an example an Orlando hospital, scheduled to be completed in June, that is 39 months behind schedule and 143 percent over cost. Lessons learned from Orlando and past major construction projects are guiding us in our management of the Denver and New Orleans replacement hospitals, Haggstrom said. The New Orleans hospital is expected to be completed in February 2016, 14 months behind schedule and, at $995 million, 59 percent over its initial cost.

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FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nations ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose. Frederick Douglass, 1852 Wars throughout history have been waged for conquest and plunder and it is the working class who fights all the battles, the working class who makes the supreme sacrifices, the working class who freely sheds their blood and furnishes their corpses, and it is they who have never yet had a voice - in either declaring war or making peace. It is the ruling class that invariably does both. They alone declare war. They are continually talking about patriotic duty. It is not their patriotic duty but your patriotic duty that they are concerned about. Their patriotic duty never takes them to the firing line or chucks them into the trenches. -- Eugene V. Debs

Why?

Photo by Mike Hastie From: Mike Hastie To: Military Resistance Sent: May 08, 2013 Subject: Why? Why? Why I chose to be arrested at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in New York City on Water Street on October 7, 2012. James T. Burns Hector Luis Caraballo Ronnie S. Catanzariti Thomas Joseph Cullen Reinaldo Luis Delgado John Patrick Emerling Clarence Harold Genau Jr. Otis James Hampton Julio Hernandez Jr. Victor C. Hill Michael Joseph Morrow Jerry Mosby Carmelo Navarro Louis Fabian Peralez David Quinones Raymond Rodriguez Arthur Welker Reinhardt

Leroy Robinson Aristides Sosa Loren Cleveland Surles After the reading of 20 names, a gong was sounded, and a white carnation was placed in one of 11 vases on the ground, symbolizing the 11th anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. There were over 100 people gathered at the memorial in somber respect for those soldiers killed in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, who were from the state of New York. All you heard were the names being read, the sound of the gong, a brief moment of silence, while white carnations were placed in glass vases. You could feel the honor and respect for the dead, no different than what you would feel at the tomb of the Unknown Soldier, or a military funeral. Joseph Acevedo Michael J. Pernaselli Nicholas Wilson Steven E. Auchman Patrick Lee Griffin Jr. James C. Matteson David M. McKeever Heath A. McMillin James D. McNaughton Cari A. Gasiewicz Ramona M. Valdez Denise A. Lannaman Devin A. Snyder John Baco Peter Aviles Richard Andrew Anderson Michael Edward Berdy Alan Lee Blair Robert Lee Brown Abraham Jackson And on and on the names were read, as the glass vases began to fill with white carnations. The sound of the gong could be heard time and time again. And then... the New York City Police arrived at 10:15PM, to announce that we would be arrested if we did not vacate the premises as soon as possible. When we refused to leave, because of the nature of the ceremony, the police arrested and handcuffed 24 people and took them to jail for refusing to obey a lawful order-- that the Memorial had a curfew at 10:00PM. There were absolutely no exceptions. The reading of the names of the dead soldiers did not make any difference. Absolutely no exceptions.

Thats the law! And so, I and 11 other people, mostly Vietnam veterans, were put into a paddy wagon and taken to jail to be processed like we were criminals. The same was true for all 24 arrested. Photographs and fingerprints were taken as usual, because we broke the law. After we were individually questioned and searched, four people were put into individual cells. The Vietnam Veterans Memorial was completely silent shortly after we were arrested and taken to jail. A friend, who chose not to be arrested because there were personal belongings to be removed from the site, reminded me later on what is anonymously engraved in large letters at the top of the memorial: One thing worries me, will people believe me? Will they want to hear about it, or will they want to forget the whole thing ever happened? It rained almost continuously during the time we were conducting the ceremony at the memorial. For many of us Vietnam veterans, it reminded us of our time in Vietnam. Most Vietnam veterans came home to a country that shamed us for ever being there. Our government never took blame for anything, so we became the scapegoats. More Vietnam veterans have committed suicide than were killed in Vietnam. Everyday one active duty soldier commits suicide. 22 veterans of all ages commit suicide every day across America. Thats why I chose to be arrested that night on October 7, 2012, because I wanted to remember the names of the dead, and bear witness that they gave their lives for a war that violently divided this nation. If you do not remember the names of the dead, they will be forgotten. Forgotten forever. On that night, October 7, 2012, the New York City Police Department forgot, because they were enforcing a 10:00PM curfew law, that probably no other Vietnam Veterans Memorial across this country has. This country has reverence for its fallen heroes as they return to the United States, after dying in Iraq, or Afghanistan, but for some reason that did not apply on October 7, 2012, when 24 people were arrested for reading the names of American soldiers killed in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. Somehow, this did not matter as the New York City Police Department

chose to arrest and handcuff American veterans and non-veterans, who were committed to memory. When I was personally arrested that night, I truly believe most of the arresting officers did not want to be there. I could see it in their faces and body language. But, for some reason, the powers that be chose to make a power statement against its fellow citizens for defying and disobeying a lawful order, that in most states would have been seen as absurd. Included in this written statement is a photograph I took of a medevac helicopter in my military unit in Vietnam. On the nose of the helicopter, the flight crew painted in large white letters the word, Why. By 1970-71, most of the soldiers in Vietnam were questioning why we were ever in Vietnam. I certainly was asking the same questions. Even though I was questioning the cause of why we were in Vietnam, I continued to perform my duties as an Army medic. Part of those duties were taking dead and wounded soldiers off of helicopters. Treating soldiers who were occasionally wounded or killed on base. Responding to soldiers who attempted or committed suicide. Treating many soldiers who were addicted to heroin, or who came down with malaria. Or, being emotionally there for fellow soldiers who were simply falling apart. I did exactly what most American soldiers did in a war zone, we helped each other survive. We did it everyday, because we were loyal to each other, because we could see ourselves in each other. We did this for the same reasons that New York City Firemen and Police Officers did for each other on September 11, 2001, and long afterwords. I lost three very close buddies from Vietnam. They did not die in Vietnam, but as a result of being there. The last one hung himself in a motel room. Like countless veterans, they suffered from severe Post-Traumatic-Stress, just like most of the veterans who were arrested on October 7, 2012. When I was at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in New York City that night, I was there not only to remember the dead, but to gain strength from the brotherhood and sisterhood of the people who were gathered there as a community of veterans showing respect for their perished comrades. We did this because we were morally obeying our humanity. We simply spoke for those who can no longer speak. There is no rest for the messenger until the message has been delivered. Norman Robert Mayer Peter Mitchell Donald William Bruck Eric John Jednat

Angelo Andrew Petraglia Heinz Kurt Roesch Samuel Lee Dash Jr. Jose Anton Robles-Miranda John Joseph Vennard Andrew Gilbert Zissu Daniel Tirado Willie George Turner Hilario Pizarro Villanueva Andrew Kung Young Rafael Olivo William Gerard Kane Jr. Robert Thomas Manning Clifford George Labombard Melvin Wood Henry York Mike Hastie Army Medic Vietnam May 8, 2013 The Wall is like a character in a play, whose silence makes all the other characters speak. William Broyles Jr. Vietnam Veteran Photo and caption from the portfolio of Mike Hastie, US Army Medic, Vietnam 1970-71. (For more of his outstanding work, contact at: (hastiemike@earthlink.net) T) One day while I was in a bunker in Vietnam, a sniper round went over my head. The person who fired that weapon was not a terrorist, a rebel, an extremist, or a so-called insurgent. The Vietnamese individual who tried to kill me was a citizen of Vietnam, who did not want me in his country. This truth escapes millions. Mike Hastie U.S. Army Medic Vietnam 1970-71 December 13, 2004

OCCUPATION PALESTINE

Master Race Approves New Cleansing Of Untermenschen From Their Sacred Soil:
The Plan Will Forcibly Evict Nearly 40,000 Bedouins And Destroy Their Communal And Social Fabric, Condemning Them To A Future Of Poverty And Unemployment
The Government Simultaneously Promotes The Establishment Of New Jewish Communities, Some Of Which Are Even Planned To Be Built On The Fresh Ruins Of Bedouin Villages
The Main Goal Of These Plans Is To Seize Arab Lands And Exterminate Arab Roots
06/05/2013 Maan BETHLEHEM -- Israel approved a draft law on Monday to implement a plan which will displace thousands of Bedouins in the Negev desert, an Israeli rights group said. The Ministerial Committee on Legislation approved a bill which outlines a framework for implementing the Prawer-Begin plan, the Association for Civil Rights in Israel said.

Today the government approved a plan that will cause the displacement and forced eviction of dozens of villages and tens of thousands of Bedouin residents, ACRI lawyer Rawia Aburabia said. All of this while the government simultaneously promotes the establishment of new Jewish communities, some of which are even planned to be built on the fresh ruins of Bedouin villages, she added. The Israeli government approved the plan in 2011, in what it says was an attempt to address the problem of unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev desert of southern Israel. The 2011 proposal was formulated without any consultation with the Bedouin community and rights groups slammed it as a major blow to Bedouin rights. The Regional Council of Unrecognized Arab Villages of Negev along with the High Steering Committee of the Arabs of Negev organized Monday a demonstration near office of Israeli prime minister in Jerusalem protesting approval of the recommendations. Knesset member Ibrahim Sarsour addressed the demonstrators confirming that his party, the United Arab List, rejected the recommendations. He expressed concern that the recommendations might be approved as a law and urged the Arab public to use legal means to try and prevent such a step. Talab Abu Arar, another lawmaker, echoed Sarsours remarks but appealed to the rational people on the Israeli side to treat the Arabs wisely giving them their rights, recognizing their unrecognized villages, and involving them in the planning process. He warned the Israelis against being driven by racist and extremist blocs in the Knesset. Approval of the Prawer committee recommendations means Judaisation of Negev. The main goal of these plans is to seize Arab lands and exterminate Arab roots, said head of the Regional Council of Unrecognized Arab Villages of Negev Atiyeh al-Asam. According to ACRI, the plan will forcibly evict nearly 40,000 Bedouins and destroy their communal and social fabric, condemning them to a future of poverty and unemployment. Israel refuses to recognize 35 Bedouin villages in the Negev, which collectively house nearly 90,000 people. The Israeli state denies them access to basic services and infrastructure, such as electricity and running water, and refuses to place them under municipal jurisdiction.

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Comment: T
Zionism is a reactionary political tendency, combining the most vicious expansionist nationalism with force of arms.

Neo-Nazis would like the world to think that all Jews are evil, scheming predators, pointing to the Zionist seizure of Palestine as proof. That is a despicable lie. Zionists would like the world to think that Jews who openly condemn and repudiate Zionism and Israel are self-hating Jews and that non-Jews who do so are antiSemites. That is another despicable lie. Huge numbers of Jewish socialist and communist opponents of Zionism died in the German extermination camps; others, with unparalleled courage, rising up and fighting back against their exterminators in the Warsaw ghetto. There have always been, and are to this day, Jewish political tendencies that have fought Zionism implacably, and still fight Zionism for what it is: a reactionary, odious, bloodthirsty politics that says a bunch of foreigners can walk into Palestine, slaughter the people living there, reduce the survivors to objects of scorn and abuse, and stuff them in ever-smaller open-air concentration camps, where they may be killed more conveniently. Zionism, like fascism, or any other form of expansionist militarized invasive nationalism, has nothing whatever progressive or redeeming about it. As finally occurred in South Africa, where a regime founded on similar murderous tyranny eventually was destroyed by mass resistance, it may be hoped that one day, the area comprised now by every inch of Israel, including every inch of the occupied territories, will form one political entity, with one person, one vote, and where all, regardless of their background, have equal rights, including the right of the Palestinians to return to where they wish to live. In order for that to happen, the loathsome exclusionary Zionist regime must be destroyed, just as for change to come to South Africa, the loathsome exclusionary apartheid regime that ruled there had to be and was destroyed. Nothing less will end the bloodshed, just as nothing less could end the racist bloodshed in South Africa generated by a regime openly proclaiming that a Master Race should rule, and all others bow down before it. How fortunate that increasing millions of our species all over the world have no interest whatever in defending foreign tyranny, large, as practiced by the U.S. government, or small, as established and practiced by the Zionist regime, and are resisting these enemies of the vast majority of us. Change for the better has come and will come when people have had enough, and organize to fight back from below against the torment and death inflicted by the predators who use their money and their weapons to control the power of a society, and to decide who lives and who dies. We are indeed responsible for taking action to fight back.

It is impossible to be too hard on the Zionist regime, or the Obama regime. Both are the political expression of virulent, murderous capitalist nationalism intent on continuing, relentless domination of those it chooses to plunder, imprison and kill. We must be sisters and brothers to everyone in resistance to tyranny, everywhere in the world. Thats what solidarity is.

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