Here's our editorial for today's Daily News. You can read it in the DN opinion section or right here on Citizen Hunter. Feel free to add your comments.

ONE-QUARTER of 1 percent.

That's the sanctioned amount of time - one day out of the year - we are supposed to be concerned about veterans.

This is that day, and a good time to reflect on how little else we give them. Especially compared to the level of concern they show us when they risk their lives and well-being to fight for us.

The state of veterans' affairs in this country has seen some improvement in the last year. But considering that our recent treatment of vets has been shameful, we are hardly out of the woods.

Still, Congress deserves much credit for improving the lives of veterans. In August, it passed an expanded GI Bill that would increase educational benefits to veterans.

Congress also fully funded the VA, and passed the biggest increase in spending on vet health care in over 70 years.

Yet the horrors of Walter Reed Army Hospital came to light less than two years ago. Its decrepit, overcrowded conditions became a symbol of our nation's disregard for those who fight on our behalf. And VA hospitals around the country that didn't get the level of coverage that the Walter Reed scandal got are still struggling to provide the proper degree of care to wounded and ailing vets.

I want to thank my colleague David Gambacorta for introducing me to this amazing soldier, and to thank this man and his family for their service and sacrifice.

I hope, if you are able, you will let a helping hand to the family by making a donation. (The info is at the end fo the piece.)

Citizen Hunters, here's a quick update for you.

Last Thursday, the House of Representatives voted in favor of a domestic spending provision of the war supplemental funding bill which includes a World War II-style GI Bill for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans. The final bill will also allow service members who stay in the military to transfer their education benefits to their spouses and children.

Sixty-four years have passed since President Roosevelt signed the original GI Bill into law, making education affordable for eight million World War II veterans. Because of last week's agreement, there is a real chance that we could see a new GI Bill signed within several days and sent to the President.

For more information, check out www.GIBill2008.org or www.IAVA.org

UPDATE 7/1: For more details on how this new law will reward some of my favorite Citizen Hunters, please check out this link.

ANOTHER VIEW OF EDUCATIONAL CRISIS, AND A FIX

Here's our editorial for today's Daily News. I don't need to tell you Citizen Hunters how important the veterans issue is to me. Just read it and if you agree feel free to let your congressional representatives know.

THE GRIM NEWS of the city's high dropout rate (45 percent) and low numbers of people with college degrees (18 percent) is even grimmer considering we're seeing a similar troubling trend in the military.
The National Priorities Project, a research group that analyzes federal data, found that only 71 percent of Army recruits had earned regular high-school diplomas, about 20 percentage points away from its target of 90 percent.

This has far-reaching implications on the battlefields and the homefront, but there is one silver lining: Congress can use it to spur positive action by adapting a 21st-century version of the G.I. Bill.

The G.I. Bill - the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 - was designed to help veterans assimilate into civilian life, with tuition assistance, low-cost housing loans, and unemployment benefits.

Sadly, the G.I. Bill has been left to decompose, not updated or adjusted to deliver the same promise to our newest veterans.

With the holidays upon us let's not forget those who will be without their loved ones overseas. The U.S. Postal Service says they will process over 20 million pounds of mail for our men in women in uniform serving our nation. That stat makes me very happy: So many of you are probably already planning to send a care package - just wanted to remind you of some of the particulars.

If you want your package to arrive by Christmas: (jump to the list)

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks for all the many blessings, big and small, we have in our lives: our family, friends, health, freedom, life's many gifts. To be grateful, sure, for all the grandeur of big accomplishments, fulfilling relationships, exotic adventures (I just came back from a big one, as all of you know), a shooting star or a breathtaking rainbow. But what about feeling grateful for an "ordinary" day, those too are full of limitless magic and countless wonders.

We all do a pretty good job, I think, being thankful for the big stuff, but what about the moments in between? What about being grateful for every moment which is precious, to be thankful for a beating heart, while we do the zillions of things in our day and even in giving thanks for them we forget that simple truth, that we are on borrowed time and every moment we get is a gift which we must appreciate. Don't rush past life, even in your gratitude, if that makes sense, savor and take in the profound, the simple, the answers and questions, all that is obvious, but that which is hidden as well. Let gratitude permeate your being and fill you up, you need not even know why. I have found that just feeling grateful reveals to you things that you should be thankful for that you had not even noticed.

Kahlil Gibran wrote, "all you have shall some day be given, therefore give now that the season of giving may be yours and not your inheritors." Having the opportunity to be grateful is something to be thankful for in and of itself. I think life teaches us that most things worth having are things we have to nurture, search for, things that are often concealed at first. Don't give thanks just for the stuff you know you should give thanks for, but give thanks for the unknown blessings that are around the corner. Search in your difficult days, troubled relationships, moments and circumstances that seem rough, search for the light always lurking below the surface. There is something to be learned from every moment.

A 19th century Rabbi, Menahem Mendel of Kotzk once asked some visiting scholars "Where does God dwell?" You can sub beauty gratitude, love, for God if you like. Where does God dwell? The scholars laughed and answered what they thought was an obvious question I guess, "God is everywhere, of course. The whole earth is full of his glory." The rabbi shook his head and suggested what I think is an even greater truth, "God dwells wherever man lets him in." True, that things to be thankful for abound all around us, but we have to let them in. Make sure in this season of Thanksgiving, and throughout the year, the door to your heart is always open.

MILITARY AND VETERAN-HEALTH-CARE REPORT SHOWS HOW TO HEAL WOUNDS

Here's our Editorial from today's Daily News. Let me know what you think, and remember you can find related pieces in our Support and Defend section.

THE REPORT FROM the President's Commission on Care for America's Returning Wounded Warriors delivered to President Bush on Wednesday isn't full of scathing details or outraged anecdotes about the hoops we have forced wounded soldiers to jump through for decent health care.
Then again, it doesn't have to be: The very idea that we have continually failed to properly treat our military for the physical and mental wounds suffered while defending us is a scathing enough truth.

The report, called "Serve, Support, Simplify" is compelling, though. In 29 concise pages, it oulines 35 steps that Congress, the Department of Defense and the Veterans Administration must take to fix a shamefully broken system.

Former Sen. Bob Dole, a wounded World War II veteran, and former Heath and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala deserve credit for running their commission in a professional, serious, and deliberate manner. Said Dole, "We weren't going to have a whitewash or a witch hunt. These are really bold recommendations."

Among the panel's calls to action were:

Boosting staff and money for Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Creating comprehensive recovery plan for every wounded service member with a single point of contact to oversee the plan.

Restructuring disability pay systems to give the VA more responsibility for awarding benefits.

Requiring comprehensive training programs in post-traumatic stress and traumatic brain injuries for military leaders, VA and Pentagon personnel.

Creating a Web site to give troops a personalized, interactive tool to track their medical care and benefits.

Amending Family Medical Leave Act to let wounded troops' relatives take up to six months from jobs.

Today a new study by the Journal of the American Medical Association showed striking new findings about the severity of the mental health crisis facing returning Iraq veterans. One in five Iraq vets need mental health care. This may come as news to the politicians in Washington. But for anyone who's been listening to Iraq veterans, this should be no surprise.

Right now, new veterans are facing a health care system that simply isn't ready for the influx. From hotlines that never get answered, to VA centers threatened by closure, to medical claims that get lost in the shuffle, the system designed to care for our Veterans needs a drastic overhaul.

More info: National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

UPDATE 6/20: Washington Post: Stress Taking Toll on Foreign Service

BUSH THREATENS VETO ON MILITARY PAY AND DEATH BENEFITS

Here is today's Daily News editorial. Remember there are resources for actually supporting the troops in our Support and Defend section.

A MEMORIAL DAY during wartime is an especially rich opportunity to honor - and reflect on - the people in the military whom we ask to sacrifice so much.
But President Bush's veto threat on a new House military-spending bill does neither.

In a veto threat issued just over a week ago to the National Defense Authorization Act (a fancy name for defense spending legislation), the White House cited two issues that would bring out the president's veto stamp.

The first is a 3.5 percent increase in military pay that Democrats in Congress inserted into the bill - the president had requested 3 percent.

The Democrats also inserted an increase in death benefits paid out to survivors of the fallen, by $40 a month.

There may be good reasons to veto the bill, but those two issues shouldn't be among them.

Here's today's Daily News editorial, which as you know I feel strongly about. Please don't miss the Action Item at the end.

WHILE THE White House and Congress express shock and dismay at recent revelations about the Army's Walter Reed Medical Center, the problems with care for those who serve in our nation's military is no shock to those who have been through the system. And as horrific as the conditions at Walter Reed are, they represent just the tip of the iceberg.

It would be a critical error for either the White House or Congress to address Walter Reed without taking the opportunity to address the larger issue: Troops and veterans are not getting the care they deserve, in both the system for active-duty soldiers, which costs about $50 billion a year, and the Veterans Health Administration, which has a budget of about $35 billion for health care for 5.3 million vets, but still generates complaints of waits for all services.

Indeed, former Sen. Bob Dole and ex-Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala have indicated that the commission they are heading on the matter will go deeper than just Walter Reed, and examine the entire system, including the VA.

This is a good start, and long overdue. Yet, the commission will take months to write a report. In the meantime, hundreds of thousands of veterans of Iraq, and the millions overall, will continue to be shortchanged by the current system.

I hope you'll all read today's Daily News Editorial about the folly of provoking a nuclear confrontation with Iran.

Votevets.org and General Wesley Clark have started a campaign that warns against a military strike on Iran.

At stopiranwar.com you can take action by letting U.S. policymakers know that you feel we should work with our allies around the world to use every political, diplomatic, and economic option available in dealing with Iran.

UPDATE 3/6: In a new study, the Oxford Research Group reports that military strikes on Iran "could accelerate rather than halt Tehran's production of atomic weapons."

Wanted to tell Citizen Hunters about S117, the Lane Evans Act, that Senators Olympia Snowe (R-ME) and Barack Obama (D-IL) have introduced, which would establish mandatory mental health screenings for all returning combat veterans. At least one in three Iraq Vets returning home face serious mental health problems from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, to depression and anxiety. Many of our brave men and women are being shipped off for their second and third deployments and we must make sure they don't leave untreated.

Please call your Senators and Representatives today and let them know you support the Lane Evans Act.

Iraq Headlines & Commentary by Michael Zacchea

It Just Gets Worse

Joe Galloway continues to be spot on in his commentary on the war. Stay the course is a euphemism for "doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results." This is the classic definition of insanity. Is anyone else frightened that the neo-conservative alpha
males of this adminsitration seem to be crack-smoking delusional??? Does anyone else care?

The nation has been entrusted to mad men. Now Henry Kissinger is advising President Bush. Kissinger is a well-known Machiavellian practitioner of the real-politique school of international relations. Just to refresh everyone's memory, he is the one who concocted the "peace with honor" slogan to get us out of Viet Nam, and orchestrated the withdrawal of US troops from Viet Nam, and withdrew support from the South Viet Namese govt. This led to the sad spectacle of Operation Frequent Wind, the evacutation of the US Embassy that saw Americans hanging off of helicopter struts to get out of Viet Nam as the NVA took Saigon. This led to a decade of Viet Namese fleeing the country in boats as refugees. Just to further refresh everyone's memory, he is the one who screwed the Kurds in 1973, saying "There is a difference between charity and diplomacy." Two weeks ago, MajGen Richard Zilmer, CG of 2nd Marine Division in Iraq, said he didn't have enough troops to win the war in Al Anbar, but he did have enough troops to conduct his mission to train the Iraqis. That same week, Gen Abizaid said, "Given unlimited time and unlimited resources, we are winning." This is another way of saying "We're losing." without appearing defeatist.

It appears we are losing because the Bush Administration is not deploying troops to fight to win, but rather to fight to train the Iraqis. Whenever Kissinger gets involved, someone is going to get royally screwed, and decades of misery for hundreds of thousands ensue; and the US winds up looking like a**holes. I am calling it right now, President Bush is fixing to f**k some group of people over hard...my guess is the Sunnis.

Here's another guest blog from Sgt. Joe Duran.

Another Woodward book came out this past week as did the NIE report. They seem to tell stories that contradict the written record and conventional wisdom. How can that be? Well, it seems we are told that in war there are alot of smart people in the room with opinions. They work at the respective intelligence agencies and at the Pentagon. We are also told that those that 'leak-speak" to reporters, are usually the ones with a great big axe to grind because no one in authority would listen to them.

So why aren't they grinding away?

Maybe they just can't FIND a real reporter.

Back to the Page Sex Scandal:

We're not so sure if we should call it that just yet. Raunchy emails that weirded a young boy out is one thing. Full blown sex is another. I think the biggest scandal is the unwillingness for those who could best fix the problem to do something about it. It just seems they were more interested in sweeping the whole thing under the rug for political purposes. Putting Party before Pages. Just horrible. Hey reporters! How about these questions:

How many pages have similar stories but chose not to report them?

Could it be that the parents also put party before the welfare of their own children, choosing not to rock the boat and any political access they enjoy?

Speaking of political access, just who are these kids and their families? How does a page get chosen? How can a parent not want to pursuit these allegations aggressively?

These are questions we would like to know the answer to. I mean, when it was known that priests were abusing their positions didn't the press go to town on the topic? I just don't see it happening now.

Hey reporters, where are you?

The more I read of what Joe Galloway writes, the more he becomes one of my heroes.

In this section Lt. Col. Michael Zacchea brings Citizen Hunters news stories from and about Iraq, as well as providing his own take on the latest developments.

Here is a guest blog from the good folks at Connect and Join. It is one of our newest resources in Support and Defend, to make it easier for you to make a difference. Please check it out.

Being around the military and military families for years and as a publisher of educational and computer-based craft magazines, we felt there was a way to provide military families with the ability to communicate online and create digital scrapbooks when family members were apart. This initial idea came to fruition with Connect And Join, a subscription-based family website community, allowing private, frequent and meaningful interactions between a deployed family member and their family members at home.

Connect And Join has been in development for just a few short years and is now ready for public consumption. We have tested the site with military families and seen the power of communication at work in families who before had a hard time communicating or sharing events. It has been a whirlwind experience. In this time we have joined America Supports You and created military children crafting areas at the Joint Services Open House and at several National Guard events. We have also started an education program for schools called "Connect with the Troops." This program offers a free web site that includes templates for creating scrapbook pages for creating the world's largest scrapbook to be presented to the troops.

Connect And Join, America Supports You, and KandCompany have also developed a patriotic scrapbook, available on the Connect And Join web site or through Michaels stores, in which proceeds go to support military families.

Through Connect And Join, we hope to provide military families with the communication tools to keep them connected during deployment and help with the reintroduction into family life upon their return.

Here is a guest blog from a Citizen Hunter reader, Scott Adenauer (Age 18)

As a history buff, and a citizen of the present, I have given some thought to foreign policy.
I am suppoter of the Iraq War, but believe that there should have been better planning beforehand . As a supporter of the Vietnam War, I noticed that our failure there came when Washington tried telling the military what to do, and later cut funding for the war. Washington should let the military handle its own affairs with respect to strategy making, so long as there is a success straegy for the beginning and end of the war.

Having said that, Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) as a presidential candidate in the 2004 Democratic primaries said if elected president, he would create a Department of Peace. He's part right, there should be reform to the Department of Defense. This reform would leave the DoD in its current form, and also add as part of it, a section for War & Peace, which would be created and funded for the obvious purpose of war and peace strategic thinking for present and potential future wars, and this would be its sole function; think of it as a policy think tank.

This is the first of a recurring guest blog series by Michael Zacchea, who will be commenting on some of the latest headlines emerging from the military.

What chutzpah! What bald-faced, unmitigated gall! When our mendacious Secretary of Defense refers to his speech to the American Legion in Salt Lake City, he fails to mention his ill-advised and erroneous comparison of critics of his mis-begotten war strategy to Nazi appeasers. He remembers being at the Pentagon on 9/11...what about the thousands of Americans who have died or been wounded because of his poorly planned and poorly executed war in Iraq??? On 9/11, 3001 Americans died, 10000+ were injured, and the US economy suffered a loss of 400 billion dollars. In the two wars the country has fought since then, one necessary, the other by choice, the US has lost 3000 soldiers, had 25000 wounded, and has spent (squandered) 400 billion dollars with almost no positive effect. Its all good and well to say the US is a force for good in the world. I believe that. But his inept management, poor leadership, and incompetent strategic and operational plans fail to live up to the billing that the US is a force for good in the world. Its hard to sell that bill of goods to the world when he fails to take responsibility for war crimes on his watch, like Abu Ghraib, and the extra-legal mistreatment of enemy prisoners of war in Guantanamo Bay and "black" prison cites around the world. The US is a force for good, but Donald Rumsfeld, mendacious reprobate and incompetent strategist, is not.

If this truly is a war for the 21st century, then why doesn't the Bush administration mobilize the entire country's resources? Why is a minuscule minority of the American population bearing the full weight of combat? Why is the Bush administration passing tax cuts while wasting more than 400 billion for little gain in Iraq? Why did Rumsfeld insist on invading Iraq with a force to small by half, and refuse to recognize the insurgency as it happened? Why has Rusmfeld lost more than 9 billion dollars of American taxpayer money? Why don't we bring overwhelming force to bear in Iraq, to win decisively??? Why is there this cognitive dissonance between what President Bush says, and what Donald Rumsfeld decides???

Why is Rumsfeld still SecDef? Why hasn't he been fired, and held criminally accountable for the lives and treasure he has squandered in this "defining conflict of the 21st century?"

Washington Post: In the five years since Sept. 11, the tactics and strategy of Islamic extremists fighting U.S. or NATO forces have improved dramatically. To a degree they could not approach five years ago, the extremists are successfully facing off against the overwhelming technological apparatus that modern armies can bring to bear against guerrillas. Islamic extremists are winning the war by not losing, and they are steadily expanding to create new battlefronts.

The Army is now doing the Kabuki dance to show that they are doing everything "prudent" to protect soldiers. I think its a load of horsesh**.

Check out this discussion I took part in dealing with Rumsfeld, Fake Fascism, and a "Hail Mary" thrown by an Administration that Doesn't have a playbook (except Rove's) and has no clue what's going on on the field. We are ready for a new game in town!

UPDATE 9/13: (Via Huffpost)
I have always been a fan of Russ Feingold's - right on the war, right on campaign finance reform, right on lowering the defecit and many more. I saw him a week or so ago out in California and he came and spoke to young folks who weren't giving him money - not bad, right? Anyway, it appears he is reading Citizen Hunter as well, we love it! I was complaining about the use of this word last week. President Bush and the English language have never been close friends though.

Here's a guest blog from Sgt. Joe Duran.

A few years ago, I walked away from a comfortable job to fulfill a personal obligation to serve my country. It was also a family tradition as my father, grandfather, and uncles had served in every branch of the military. But I was running out of time. Had it not been for an age waiver granted to me by the Marine Corps, I would've come close to missing my chance. But that was then. According to the changes made by Undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, David Chu, the age limits have been raised. A 42 year old can now, with an age waiver, enter the service as a soldier. We are healthier and living longer he says. Over the weekend I thought about how I felt about this change, and I've decided it depends on whether I see it as a Marine, a Citizen, or my father's son.

If You Can't Meet the Goal, Lower the Goal

As a Marine, I wish the Army recruiters well. They had missed their goals last year, recruiting almost 7,000 below their target. So it is understandable that in addition to beefing up their recruiting and referral incentives, hiring a new add agency, and lowering their recruiting goal by 8,000, the Army made their target this year by relaxing their age standards as well. But as stated in the excellent blog by Steven Urbanski, "with recruiters struggling to meet enlistment goals, the recruiters have begun looking the other way." Now they won't have to. Along with the acceptance of an older generation of men and women, the Army has to accept their past. According to the Army's own numbers, waivers concerning prior misdemeanor criminal offenses, drug or alcohol issues or medical problems have been required by 15.5 percent of recruits compared with 12 percent for 2004 and 2003. Last year, when they did not meet their goal, they were at 15 percent.

Wanted to be sure everybody got a chance to read this guest blog from Steve Urbanski.

"Ever since my youth --- when I watched WWII footage and saw how well-disciplined and sharply dressed the German forces were --- I have wanted to be a soldier. Joining the American military was as close as I could get." These are the haunting words spoken by Army engineer Jon Fain, who joined the military and fought in the invasion of Iraq.

Unfortunately, he is not alone in today's United States Army. With recruiters struggling to meet enlistment goals, the recruiters have begun looking the other way --- a sort of "don't ask, don't tell" policy on recruits with violent, extremist, and racists views.

Fortunately, someone is doing something about it. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) is stepping up the pressure on the Department of Defense to stop allowing the United States military to be a training ground for neo-Nazi and other extremists groups. The SPLC was founded in 1971 as a small civil rights law firm. Today, the Center is internationally known for its tolerance education programs, its legal victories against white supremacists and its tracking of hate groups.

I have written before about the sad fact that the unemployment rate among Veterans is in some cases double that of their non-veteran counterparts. Last year, 15.6% of 20-to 24 year-old vets were unemployed, peaking at 18.7%. As Representative Rush Holt, the sponsor of the Bill, said, "these aren't just numbers--these are men and women who put on our country's uniform to protect each and every one of us."

We must serve our veterans as honorably as they have served us. Making sure we help them find good paying jobs is a must! This Bill will hopefully prompt renewed focus on the importance of taking care of our veterans when they come home. It will remind employers, in the private and public sector, of the importance of hiring veterans and also the value in doing so.

Don't forget to visit the Support and Defend section where there are lots of ways you can make a difference by contributing to organizations that help our veterans transition to life at home.

For years we have been told we are fighting the Bad Guys. Al Qaeda. Terrorists. Fighting them over there so we wouldn't fight them over here. So we fought and died, trained our Iraqi allies, and depleted our resources to provide the Iraqis with democracy and freedom. Just a few days ago, 2 of our finest were tortured and brutally murdered by evil men drawn to Iraq for the sole purpose of killing Americans. Never before has the face of our global enemy revealed itself in these acts of depravity. Against this foe, we were the Freedom Fighters, the liberators in the "noble cause". It was our duty to rid Iraq and the world of their savagery and lawlessness. It was a Global War on Terror, after all, and they were the enemies of civilization.

Why does the U.S. inprison them here while our "ally" seeks to pardon them over there?

On one hand, the U.S. government is fighting tooth and nail to indefinitely hold enemy combatants of the same sort who mercilessly tortured and killed PFC's Menchaca and Tucker. The Geneva Convention has been cast aside to keep these terrorist away from the "central front of the war on terror". Meanwhile the Iraqis, with our acquiescence, are considering the pardon of these same killers right on our front lines. In the words of the Iraqi leadership, those that kill Americans are guilty only of "legitimate acts of resistance and defending their homeland." That same high-ranking official went on to say, "These people will be pardoned definitely, I believe". There is a contradiction here, and it doesn't make sense.

Here's a message from Joe Duran, giving us some perspective on the proposal to provide amnesty to ex-insurgents who may have killed Americans, but not Iraqis.

"Thunderstruck, bewildered, and pissed off."

That was pretty much the words you could use to describe the reaction of my fellow Marines and I as we discussed the latest news this morning.

The news that the freely elected Iraqi government is considering giving amnesty to those who have killed our servicemen and women hit us like a kick in the gut. The fact that they are even considering amnesty dishonors those brave young men and women who have sacrificed their lives to help them secure their freedom and endangers those still standing by emboldening the enemy to strike Americans. That hit a nerve, and hit it hard. You might say we were thunderstruck today, and that is not an easy thing to do to Marines. We are caught in the middle with no help from the Iraqi government we helped establish and protect.

After hearing the news this morning, some Gut Reactions:

"It's a B.S. move"

"It's a bad deal"

"What a bunch of As*&*$%*es"

"Give 'em an inch, they take a mile."

...and these are just for starters. A group that is relatively unmoved by their own government's decisions got fired up by a supposed ally on this Global War on Terror... Global unless you happen to kill an American in Iraq. Then you are a free man.

Guest blog by Michael Zacchea

Memory is painful. The more I remember, the more it hurts. There is a deep, dark part of me would rather not remember.

I was speaking to some veterans recently, from a variety of American conflicts. World War II. Korea. Viet Nam. The Gulf. And most recently, Iraq. They all admitted to similar feelings.

I spent a year in Iraq, from March 2004 to March 2005. Alone with my memories, I find myself starting to forget. I re-read my journal and saved e-mails to remember my experiences in Iraq, and the people I shared them with. I look at the pictures we took.

As soon as I am finished, the images and names begin to fade from my mind. Particularly of the fellows with whom I served who were grievously wounded or killed.

By Mike Zacchea

Mike Zacchea, from Long Island, NY, is a Marine Reserve Officer who served in Iraq from 2004 to 2005. He is also a member of the New York-based advocacy group IAVA: Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America

I am a reserve Marine officer. I served a year in Iraq as an advisor to the first Iraqi Army battalion trained by the US military. We participated in the assault on Fallujah in November 2004. I have served with the relieved battalion commander, LtCol Jeff Chessani, in garrison and in Iraq, in peace and war. I am completely comfortable in writing publicly that LtCol Chessani was among the Marine Corps' best and brightest officers, and had a sterling reputation and distinguished career until this incident. Significantly, Arwa Damon, a CNN reporter embedded with the battalion, has offered similar testimony.

I have been observing the media reports and shameless political grandstanding surrounding the allegations of a massacre of Iraqi civilians in Haditha in November 2005. There is much that disturbs me about these allegations, and the way they are being covered in the press. What concerns me is how the media, and the politicians, rush towards judgment, even before the facts have been made public. What concerns me even more is the lack of understanding of Iraqi culture, and the cultural dissonance between America and Iraq. Strike that. I was concerned about the allegations a week ago. Now these allegations are starting to royally piss me off. Here's why:

First, training in the Rules of Engagement and Law of Land Warfare is an annual training requirement in the Marine Corps, along with a number of other basic military skills. An integral part of Marine combat training includes target identification, and discerning friend from foe. It is difficult to overstate the Marine Corps' training emphasis on only engaging combatant targets.

"Psychology, as I understand it, means knowledge of the soul. Yet, how shall we speak about the souls of others, when we do not even know our own? Is there a single one of us who can say with certainty how he will react to a certain event? Nevertheless, as leaders we must have some knowledge of the souls of our soldiers; because the soldier, the living man, is the instrument with which we have to work in war...no commander lacking in this inner knowledge of his men can accomplish great things."

- Adolph Von Schell, "Battle Leadership" (1933) Standard Marine Corps Reading

After spending billions of our dollars and lives Mr. Bush is slowly finding out what he could have learned for the price of a used book or a youth better spent:

Experienced troops need experienced leadership.

Never has a gap in a life's history become so apparent, and so dangerous, than now. Had he the experience of a warrior, he would truly understand what the military man needs to win a war. Had he the soul of one, he would have learned the role that faith in leadership plays in the hearts of our troops. Now, as his leadership moment passes into history, a chance of a lifetime to atone for missing time when he was needed most gone, he has chosen to align himself with something other than the soul of a soldier.
And this soldier's soul will never forget.

More from Joe Duran

Let us not forget the sacrifices the First Americans made in the war in Iraq. Below is a link to a slide show honoring one such American Indian. One of the more beautiful ceremonies I have seen (PowerPoint Slide Show).

Some veterans bear visible signs of their service; a missing limb, an aged scar, a certain look in the eye. Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg, or perhaps another sort of inner steel - the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity. Except in parades or certain meetings, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem. You can't tell a vet just by looking.

What is a Vet? He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel. He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel. She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang. He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL. He is the Quantico drill instructor that has never seen combat but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.

More thoughts from Sgt. Joe Duran:

The battling analogies...Fukuyama, a noted thinker and essayist likening the Iraqi pre-emptive war to committing a suicide to prevent a killing...a day later Rumsfeld, the right's version of Kennedy's best and brightest, comparing the notion of leaving Iraq now to giving Germany back to the Nazis...c'mon guys...

This is America. In America you use sports analogies when discussing geo-politics and anything else that isn't sports. It's March Madness for crying out loud! The NFL draft is just around the corner! We're thinking brackets, not BRAC! Draft selections, not Iraqi elections! So if Fukuyama or Rumsfeld, or anyone else important wants to get our attention about this war, we'll give you a hand with your analogies and make them something we can understand.

First of all, the Iraq war is not football, basketball, or any other game with a clock. Those games have a beginning and an end. This administration has decided that our opponent cannot know when this war ends, less they be emboldened to win. I have a hint for these smart ones. Our enemies know that if we are still there -- the game's not over!

The Iraq War is not a tennis, bowling, or baseball. While there are no clocks for these sports, there is a definite scoring system involved. This administration has not decided on any concrete way to measure victory. The Iraqi Security Forces are able to defend themselves as stand alone units? What does that mean to the sports fan? It means that the game isn't over until the JV suits up and takes over the game. I don't know about you, but if I were the other team, I would just wait for the JV to take the field, and then pound them. This definitely wouldn't happen in any sport I know.

So now they know which sports analogies not to use. Which leaves us with this last one. What sport has no scoring, no time clocks, and yet has a definite winner at the end that can claim "complete victory"? Only one.

And it was played over a thousand years ago in the Coliseum of Rome for an Emperor that watched as men wielded weapons that he had only seen and never touched. It is the ultimate sport that all sports analogies derive from. "Sudden death" or "complete victory". Only one man had the power to decide this with the up or down of a thumb. This, my friend, is the ultimate sports analogy, and one we should remember through this March Madness.

What we want is to win. The best way to win is to do it quickly. Not this cat and mouse game. The longer the insurgency goes on, the stronger it will become. History shows this. You see, in 10 - 20 years the fighters will be born into the insurgency, not just trained. That is a tough enemy to beat.

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Your unique voice captured my attention, the very first time I heard it, and when you captured my attention last night I listened to you because I can relate to what you were saying. You're different. Ms. Sheehan too had the same unique voice and quality about her, and in her I saw my mother, a woman of conscience and courage. I felt a smear against her was a smear against all service-members mothers, including my own, and I spoke out publicly in her defense.

Now she is a celebrity of sorts, with an agenda that has grown with time. Her list of friends and supporters has grown from the concerned families who lit candles on the side of the road to what appears to be an industry, and this industry includes a man that has a serious beef with our administration. I still understand her big picture and as a citizen she has a right to speak out. But Ms Sheehan has traded in her once unique voice in return for a larger audience.

Sometimes smaller is bigger and "unique" always captures our imagination. Hanging with Chavez just stereotypes her. I thought her cause was bigger than that, and I'm disappointed. Ten years from now Chavez will be a memory if this admininstration has anything to do with it. I was hoping Cindy would've realized that. Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and Cesar Chavez were unique too. Their message played to everyone and their voices were stronger than any world leader's stage. They made their own stage with their message. She may be trading in the legacy of one Chavez for another, and by that, diminish her truth. Unique people would never do that.

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Just read Jack's response, and you were right. It was Truth and truth is the the best gift you can give to a Marine like me. Truth is passionate. Truth is courageous. Truth saves. Heroes like you and Jack Murtha shine their light of truth in places people do not want to go. Marines like me have to go to those places, and are grateful to those who shine that light upon us. It is only by your courage and passion to do so, that we can say that we where there and saw clearly, and by seeing clearly, act accordingly. Thank you.

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Flav- these are the things that effect morale. Not the truth, never the truth, but the ineptitude of policy-making that kills, maims, and wounds the heart.
James Glanz of the NYT writes:
"Sweeping statistics on insurgent violence in Iraq that were declassified for a Senate hearing on Wednesday appear to portray a rebellion whose ability to mount attacks has steadily grown in the nearly three years since the invasion.
The statistics were included in a report written by Joseph A. Christoff, director of international affairs and trade at the Government Accountability Office, who testified before the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee during a hearing on Iraq stabilization and reconstruction."

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Last night, I learned that the interpreter assigned to me while I was in Iraq, who went with us all through our combat operations, who was by my side the whole time, was assassinated. He had survived two assassination attempts since December, and still he wouldn't quit. This is a man who never took an oath to support and defend the Constitution of either Iraq or the US; a man with a wife and a mother and a 3-yr old son. He remained faithful to his duty, and to the cause of democracy and peace, despite the danger, and until the end.

I feel a mix of pride, and grief, and hope, and despair. Pride, that he was my friend, and we survived some of the worst Iraq had to offer, pride at his courage and commitment despite the mortal danger; grief, at the loss of a fine man and friend; hope, because Iraq produces such men, with commitment to a better future Iraq beyond our comprehension; and despair, that such men may be killed by insurgents and criminals.

Citizen-soldier Mike Zacchea is a major in the reserves who has served In Iraq, Haiti and Somalia, receiving numerous medals including two Bronze Stars and a Purple Heart.

Here is a message I received today:

"I am a Marine currently serving at 4th Marine Aircraft Wing in New Orleans. Right now my fellow Marines and I are watching as we slowly slouch towards war with Iran. If deployed to the area, I promise you this: we will fight together, and we will fight valiantly. We will fight for those we do not know and for a cause we might not share. But we will fight. And when we come home, we may continue our fight, in the halls of power, the state capitols, and DC, if we so choose. We have earned it in blood and sweat. No one, and I mean no one, has the right to impugn our service, or our credentials without expecting a defense. I am defending Mr. Murtha because he did in Vietnam what others would not do. And I thank God for giving me the chance to make my mark as he has. And when I come home, will you be there to slander me too?"

Here's another note I got from Sgt. Joe Duran:

Something I was thinking about on the ride home today after talking with the guys: You can tell Cheney never served by the way he's handled this last issue. Military guys tend not to wait to be handled. They go on guts. Bush waits. Cheney waits. They all wait. To bad Hackett pulled out. Not a very strategic guy, at first, but sometimes its good to let it all hang out, like Murtha did. Its more genuine. And in times like these, I think thats what we need. Its been so long since we've had bare-your-soul honesty, f*&* the polls, focus groups, and donor lists.

Hackett should've taken this quote to heart: "Don't just fight the fights you can win, fight the ones worth fighting." Its gotten so bad that people wouldn't know the truth when they hear it. They'd just assume they're being handled and spun.To quote a movie-again: "People don't drink the sand because they're thirsty. They drink the sand because they don't know the difference." I just hope people like you can help the rest of us make the distinction between strategy and honesty. They've been serving us sand margaritas for so long.

Hope your "gigs" are successful because your wins are the people's wins.

---

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I don't think the Administration is on the cusp of losing the support and morale in any significant way, nor will the negative feeling spread in a way that effects our performance in any substantial way for 2 reasons.

The first reason is that the Marine Corps is very good at managing the education and informational input of its troops and by extension, what we think and feel. I first noticed this shortly after the attacks of 9/11 when the hallways of work were filled with professionally produced posters bearing the image of the burning and smoking Twin Towers in the middle and photos of Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein on either side of it. It was a very powerful image, and very wrong. It is no wonder that, "while 85% said the U.S. mission is mainly "to retaliate for Saddam痴 role in the 9-11 attacks," 77% said they also believe the main or a major reason for the war was "to stop Saddam from protecting al Qaeda in Iraq." (Zogby , 2/28/06).

These astounding percentages nearly 5 years after the attacks and over 4 years after the invasion of Iraq is a testament to the power of this administration痴 management of information and education of its citizen soldiers. They have only begun to flex their power.

I can further describe what the Pentagon has created within its forces with this quote:

It is a "culture of silence - rather than being encouraged and equipped to know and respond to the concrete realities of their world, (the soldiers) are kept submerged in a situation in which critical awareness and response are practically impossible - and it becomes clear that the whole educational system was one of the major instruments for the maintenance of the culture of silence". (Paulo Freire, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 1970).

Freire痴 culture of silence is an apt description of our current state of the union and or armed forces and how any negative feelings that you mentioned will not spread in any real way. No one talks about them. They come secondary to the task at hand.

The second reason the president has to do no further than what he has done to keep our morale at sufficient levels is more visceral to me. As the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps, Sergeant Major Estrada, told a small room of NCO痴 of which I was a part of today, "it comes down to doing our job, a job that not many people would step up for, one that we might be asked to kill, or be killed, doing. That is why we are the few, the proud." Almost 300 years of military tradition will squelch any significant negative feelings from spreading quickly throughout the military, and if it does, we are being trained to wear that hardship as a badge of honor. I could feel the goosebumps rise on my neck. It is a powerful antidote to bad news.

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We need to measure success with hard numbers. We are "bowling in the dark". Without metrics we cannot make the best decisions as it regards to drawing down. This "slow bleed" of blood and money is hurting our families and effects morale in a negative manner. This will lead to attrition of force numbers, a reduction in recruitment numbers, and it leaves the men and women in the field without adequate reinforcements. Something as simple as winning or losing is indiscernable to the average citizen. This is wrong.

We must keep our promises. The leadership in DC is attempting to impose commissions and spending bills that will ultimately reduce military benefits and the Department of Veteran Affairs funding. These programs are committments made--not welfare. The servicemen and women have worked hard keeping our promise to defend this country. All we ask is for the same committment from those who send us to war.

We need accountability. The last thing a soldier should worry about is faulty equipment. The military families worry too. It is the responsibility of our leadership to provide the best equipment to its troops and to correct deficiencies. We cannot fight this war "on the cheap". We owe it to the troops and their families to hold those responsible for sending us into harms way without adequate armor. They must be held accountable for their actions and inactions. We owe it to the troops and their families to investigate this and bring it to the light of day.

We need to increase the size of our force. Right now we are spread too thin. Many hardworking men and women are asked to go back for a second and third tour. This puts an undue strain on the military families at home. These military families have done more than their share and should not be penalized for a failure to plan ahead. Hurricane Katrina spotlighted the glaring gap in our readiness created by the over extension of forces. People like my wife, a first-responder as a sheriff's deputy, were tasked with jobs reserved for the National Guard. Inadequate force size leaves us vulnerable at home. It doesn't have to be this way. We need to utilize all resouces available to the United States to avert war. Unending war only weakens this country. The economy, the environment, dependence on foreign sources of energy, healthcare and AIDS funding, and every issue that affects not just the people of Louisiana, but every American is neglected. By employing a strong and smart diplomatic effort, America can deal from a position of strength and increase her respect in the world. Respect and strength leads to a de-escalation of conflict, and allows America's leaders to focus on issues that need more attention.

We must take care of the military family. TRICARE should be extended to all servicemembers. As the National Gaurdsmen and reservist shoulder more of the load in this war, it is only fair to cover them and their families for the extraordinary service they have given to our country. It is the right thing to do and they deserv> e it. In addition, due to the increased responsiblity placed on our veterans, it is important that we recognize their years of hard work by lowering the retirement age to 55 from 60. It is also of vital importance that we institue a pay increase to reflect the current cost of living for our servicemembers. This will increase morale and show our committment to those who have raised their hands to defend America's freedom.

If these committments are kept by our leaders, we will retain our supremacy and strengthen our security in this time of terror and tribulation. Anything less would be a failure of responsibility.

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Below are thoughts from a soldier about his deployment, who at this point does not want to be identified. He did decide, however, that he wanted me to post them, as they might help others.

Anyway there will be billets for my MOS in plenty in July. That is good because it gives me more time to visit friends and family. They won't say it, when I visit, but they know and I know why I visit. Its to drink them in, too take in the way they smile and sound. The way they feel in my arms and hold onto it just in case I need it when I'm gone, and to give them a piece of me to hold. I wonder if other sons, daughters, husbands and wives, and mothers and fathers feel this way too before they leave. Of course they do and now it's my turn.

I did not think I would know what it feels like to deploy so soon. I thought it started on the tarmac, or when the plane touches down, but it has started now and I have been wrestling with this feeling, now for the first time after 6 years in. I could hear sadness in my baby sister Lisa's voice (she's 33 but she'll always be my baby sister.) My father said "Son, why?" I hadn't spoken to him in over 12 years. I called him yesterday. He called back and I answered "Sgt ---" on the phone. Imagine hearing your sons voice for the first time after that long. I was 24 years old then. He was 44 then, 8 years older than I am now. I suspect he knows why I called.

Flavia,

I just came back from visiting 3 young Marines at Brook Army Medical Center in San Antonio. I had never met them before that day, but I will never forget them. They are the young and the brave, and the best our country has to offer. They have done all that has been asked of them by leaders who have not done the same when it was their time to serve. Please honor these young Americans by continuing to do all you can, so when the last Marine comes home, you, along with Jack Murtha, can say: "We did not forget them. We did all we could."

Respectfully,

Sgt G.J. Duran

USMC, New Orleans

A new PAC called Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America PAC launched and, announcing that an Iraq Vet from Pittsburgh, Jon Soltz will head it, while Wes Clark will lead its Board of Advisors. It's about time! It's ironic and sad that not a single elected official who has debated the war in Iraq actually served in it. IAVA PAC is trying to change that, by existing for the sole purpose of getting Iraq and Afghanistan Vets into elected office. There are 10 Iraq Vets running in 2006 for Congress, ten Dems and one Republican. Frankly, I don't care which party they come from, - as long as they are willing to cut through the BS coming out of Washington. The President has bungled this war, and the Democratic leadership refuses to put together a plan to get out. The more heroes from the war in Iraq get into Congress, the more the course we are on in Iraq can change, because only these Vets have the credibility to really move the debate and push for serious action.

This editorial from the Los Angeles Times cites that paper's interview with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, in which he asserted the United States had "opened the Pandora's box" when it removed Saddam Hussein from power, creating the potential for widespread sectarian violence to lead to a civil war between Sunnis and Shiites. The editorial notes that this candor is out of the ordinary: "Usually such candor from high-ranking administration officials — about Iraq or anything else — comes only after the word "former" appears before their titles."

Iraq Veterans Call for Answers in State of the Union Speech
NEW YORK - The nation's largest organization for Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan released the following list of points that the President should make in his State of the Union address this evening:
1) This Nation's Veterans are a Priority: This past year has been a discouraging one for Veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In August, the VA revealed that it had underestimated its budget needs for 2005 by more than $1-billion, with a further shortfall of nearly $1.5-billion expected in 2006. Congress passed an emergency spending bill to bridge the gap, but the incident was yet another disheartening example of the VA's inability to handle this influx of new Veterans. Current services for Veterans continue to be woefully inadequate, as was revealed in one recent study that found only one-in-five calls to the VA helpline is answered correctly. The President must present a plan for fixing this broken system.

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.
The sound wasn't loud, and it wasn't too near,
But I opened my eyes when it tickled my ear.
Perhaps just a cough, I didn't quite know,
Then the sure sound of footsteps outside in the snow.
My soul gave a tremble, I struggled to hear,
And I crept to the door just to see who was near.
Standing out in the cold and the dark of the night,
a lone figure stood, his face weary and tight.
A soldier, I puzzled, some twenty years old,
Perhaps a Marine, huddled here in the cold.
Alone in the dark, he looked up and smiled,
standing watch over me, and my wife and my child.
"What are you doing?" I asked without fear,
"Come in this moment, it's freezing out here!
Put down your pack, brush the snow from your sleeve,
You should be at home on a cold Christmas Eve!"
For barely a moment; I saw his eyes shift,
Away from the cold and the snow blown in drifts..
To the window that danced with a warm fire's light.
Then he sighed and he said "Its really all right,
I'm out here by choice. I'm here every night."
"It's my duty to stand at the front of the line,
That separates you from the darkest of times.
No one had to ask or beg or implore me,
I'm proud to stand here like my fathers before me.
My Gramps died at 'Pearl on a day in December,"
Then he sighed, "That's a Christmas 'Gram always remembers."
My dad stood his watch in the jungles of 'Nam',
And now it is my turn and so, here I am.
I've not seen my own son in more than a while,
But my wife sends me pictures, he's sure got her smile.
Then he bent and he carefully pulled from his bag,
The red, white, and blue... an American flag.
"I can live through the cold and the being alone,
Away from my family , my house and my home.
I can stand at my post through the rain and the sleet,
I can sleep in a foxhole with little to eat.
I can carry the weight of killing another,
Or lay down my life with my sister and brother..
Who stand at the front against any and all,
To ensure for all time that this flag will not fall."
"So go back inside," he said, "harbor no fright,
Your family is waiting and I'll be all right."
"But isn't there something I can do, at the least,
"Give you money," I asked, "or prepare you a feast?"
It seems all too little for all that you've done,
For being away from your wife and your son."
Then his eye welled a tear that held no regret,
"Just tell us you love us, and never forget.
To fight for our rights back at home while we're gone,
To stand your own watch, no matter how long.
For when we come home, either standing or dead,
To know you remember we fought and we bled.
Is payment enough, and with that we will trust,
That we mattered to you as you mattered to us.

WE ALL NEED TO PRAY FOR OUR MILITARY PERSONNEL EVERY NIGHT