You'll get it. Even those of you who don't want to.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...081901233.html

http://usacac.army.mil/CAC/milreview...gseptoct07.pdf

http://www.slate.com/id/2180883/

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071226/..._secret_salons

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/wi...,3432216.story

A winning strategy for the Democrats would be to adopt what can be accurately described as a "Two-War Theory" regarding Iraq - that is to say, that there have been two wars in that country, not one, since 2003.

In the First Iraq War, Saddam Hussein and the Baathists were removed from power, with the United States and its allies and interests emerging victorious in that war.

Shortly thereafter, the Second Iraq War broke out, a struggle resembling that which took place in the former Yugoslavia throughout most of the 1990s, of which the United States is not a belligerent.

This neutralizes any attempt by the Republicans to paint the Democrats with the dreaded "cut-and-run" brush - and with the economy likely to be in recession (at least) come Election Day, it could mean a landslide win for the Democrats, particularly if it turns out to be a Hillary Clinton-Jim Webb ticket (to further debunk the anti-military stereotype).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/s...216920,00.html


Friday January 11, 2008 11:46 AM

By BEN NUCKOLS

Associated Press Writer

BALTIMORE (AP) - The revelation that the Army threw out the conviction of the only officer court-martialed in the Abu Ghraib scandal renewed outrage from human rights advocates who complained that not enough military and civilian leaders were held accountable for the abuse of Iraqi prisoners.

Those critics found an unlikely ally in the officer himself, Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan, whose conviction on a minor charge of disobeying an order was dismissed this week, leaving him with only an administrative reprimand.

Jordan told The Associated Press on Thursday he believes many officers and enlisted soldiers did not face adequate scrutiny in the investigation that led to convictions against 11 soldiers, none with a rank higher than staff sergeant.

He said the probe was ``not complete'' and that a link between abusive interrogations at Abu Ghraib and in military prisons at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and in Afghanistan was not adequately established.

If rough interrogation techniques were taught to the soldiers who abused prisoners at Abu Ghraib, Jordan said, ``the question at that point is, who's responsible for that? Is it Donald Rumsfeld? (Lt.) Gen. (Ricardo) Sanchez? ... I don't know.''

Barring any startling new information, the decision by Maj. Gen. Richard J. Rowe, commander of the Military District of Washington, to throw out Jordan's conviction brings an end to the four-year Abu Ghraib investigation. And it means no officers or civilian leaders will be held criminally responsible for the prisoner abuse that embarrassed the U.S. military and inflamed the Muslim world.

Jordan, 51, a reservist from Fredericksburg, Va., was acquitted at his court-martial in August of all charges directly relating to prisoner abuse. He had been accused of failing to supervise the 11 lower-ranking soldiers convicted for their roles in the abuse, which included the photographing of Iraqi prisoners in painful and sexually humiliating positions.

The conviction stemmed from disobeying an order not to talk about the investigation. Jordan acknowledged e-mailing a number of soldiers about the probe, though he claims the order was not made clear to him until after he sent the e-mails.

Maj. Kris Poppe, Jordan's attorney, said he argued that Jordan ``faced these very serious charges for a long period of time, that he had been found not guilty of any offense related to the abuse of detainees, and that he had a stellar record.''

Rowe agreed.

``In light of the nature of the offense that Jordan had been found guilty of committing and the substantial evidence in mitigation at trial and in post-trial matters submitted by defense counsel, Rowe determined that an administrative reprimand was a fair and appropriate disposition of the matter,'' Joanna P. Hawkins, a military spokeswoman, said in a statement.

Eugene R. Fidell, a Washington lawyer who specializes in military law, said the decision was not surprising. If disobeying an order had been the only charge against Jordan, the matter almost certainly would not have gone to court-martial, Fidell said.

Human rights advocates complained that the case did not go higher up the chain of command and said the decision sent a troubling message.

``It could not be more clear that prisoner abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan resulted from policies and practices authorized by high-level officials, including military and civilian leaders,'' said Hira Shamsi, an attorney with the National Security Project of the American Civil Liberties Union. ``Although the abuse was systemic and widespread, the accountability for it has been anything but.''

Mila Rosenthal, deputy executive director for research and policy for Amnesty International USA, said: ``I think we're emboldening dictators and despots around the world. We're saying that it's OK to allow these kinds of abuses to flourish.''

Jordan doesn't dispute the deplorable nature of the abuse but maintains he was never aware of it. He said he planned to write a book about his experiences serving at Abu Ghraib and his protracted effort to clear his name.

``It's been a unique ordeal,'' he said. ``I still love the Army, you know? I love being a soldier. I love being around soldiers, and there were just some folks in the Army, I feel, that had maybe political motives to go after Steve Jordan as a reservist.''

Jordan, who remains on active duty at Fort Belvoir, Va., joins four other officers who received administrative, or non-criminal, punishment in the scandal.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/...n3731718.shtml

U.S. Sends Wounded Troops Back To Iraq
Short On Soldiers, Army Returns Injured Service Members To War Zone

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo., Jan. 19, 2008

(AP) Seventy-nine injured soldiers were pressed into war duty last month as the U.S. Army struggled to fill its ranks, but most were assigned to light-duty jobs within limits set by doctors, two Army leaders said.

The Denver Post, quoting internal Army e-mails and a Fort Carson soldier, reported that troops had been deployed to Kuwait en route to Iraq while they were still receiving medical treatment for various conditions.

Fort Carson's top general Maj. Gen. Mark Graham said most of the 79 soldiers remain in Iraq, while about a dozen are in Kuwait, the newspaper reported in Friday editions. A few returned to the United States because of inadequate rehabilitation available in theater, Graham said.

Graham said he has asked Fort Carson's inspector general to investigate whether proper procedures were followed in sending the soldiers into war zones.

Congressional investigators also are reviewing allegations that medically unfit soldiers have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan to shore up lagging troop numbers.

"My personal opinion is, is that as the war goes on, you'll see more and more soldiers with (limitations)," Graham said.

Master Sgt. Denny Nelson was sent overseas last month for a third tour in the Middle East though doctor's orders said he should not run, jump or carry more than 20 pounds because of a serious foot injury, The Denver Post reported.

Nelson was sent back to the U.S. after a doctor in Kuwait told Fort Carson officials he should never have left the United States.

My personal opinion is, is that as the war goes on, you'll see more and more soldiers with (limitations).
Maj. Gen. Mark Graham
Col. John Hort, commander of Fort Carson's 3rd Brigade Combat Team, said the 79 soldiers were among 130 who had been judged temporarily unfit for war duty, The Gazette reported.

The 79 were deemed able to perform limited duties such as straightening out paperwork at bases in Kuwait because their conditions, including sleep disorders and broken bones, could be treated by doctors in the Middle East as easily as in Colorado, he said.

Hort needed the troops so he could send other soldiers into the streets of Baghdad's suburbs.

"Those soldiers could perform limited duty that could allow healthy soldiers to perform more strenuous tasks," Hort told The Gazette from Iraq.

No soldiers with diagnosed mental illnesses were sent, he said.

Graham said commanders do not put any injured soldier in harm's way.

Sending an unfit soldier back to war means "you are not mission capable, and the soldier becomes a risk to himself and others in the unit," said U.S. Rep. Mark Udall, a Colorado Democrat. He is a member of the House Armed Services Committee, which requested an investigation by the Government Accountability Office last summer.

GAO investigators have identified other cases of unfit soldiers being deployed from Fort Drum in New York and Fort Stewart and Fort Benning in Georgia, said Brenda Farrell, director of defense capabilities and management investigations for the GAO, a nonpartisan congressional agency that audits federal programs.

"We don't have any confirmation that commanders are under pressure to fill their units," Farrell said.

The 3rd Brigade Combat Team deployed in December for the third time. The unit has been under strength, partly because of the number of soldiers who are injured.

"Almost a battalion of soldiers have had medical conditions that prevent them from coming back to Iraq with the 3rd Brigade Combat Team," Hort said.

© MMVIII The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

False statements preceded war

The study counted 935 false statements in the two-year period. It found that in speeches, briefings, interviews and other venues, Bush and administration officials stated unequivocally on at least 532 occasions that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction or was trying to produce or obtain them or had links to al-Qaida or both.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/01/27/saddam.cbs/index.html

Agent: Hussein was surprised U.S. invaded

* Story Highlights
* CBS: Hussein claimed he didn't think the U.S. would invade Iraq over WMD
* FBI agent says Hussein lied about having WMD to intimidate Iran
* But the Iraqi dictator said he wanted to start the WMD program again, agent said
* Hussein was captured in 2003 and hanged in 2006
* Next Article in U.S. »


(CNN) -- Saddam Hussein let the world think he had weapons of mass destruction to intimidate Iran and prevent the country from attacking Iraq, according to an FBI agent who interviewed the dictator after his 2003 capture.

According to a CBS report, Hussein claimed he didn't anticipate that the United States would invade Iraq over WMD, agent George Piro said on "60 Minutes," scheduled for Sunday broadcast.

"For him, it was critical that he was seen as still the strong, defiant Saddam. He thought that (faking having the weapons) would prevent the Iranians from reinvading Iraq," said Piro.

During the nearly seven months Piro talked to Hussein, the agent hinted to the Iraqi that he answered directly to President Bush, CBS said in a posting on its Web site.

"He told me he initially miscalculated ... President Bush's intentions. He thought the United States would retaliate with the same type of attack as we did in 1998 ... a four-day aerial attack," Piro said. "He survived that one and he was willing to accept that type of attack."

"He didn't believe the U.S. would invade?" Correspondent Scott Pelley asked.

"No, not initially," Piro answered.

Once it was clear that an invasion was imminent, Hussein asked his generals to hold off the allied forces for two weeks, Piro said. "And at that point, it would go into what he called the secret war," the agent said, referring to the insurgency.

But Piro said he was not sure that the insurgency was indeed part of Hussein's plan. "Well, he would like to take credit for the insurgency," he said.

Hussein had the ability to restart the weapons program and professed to wanting to do that, Piro said.

"He wanted to pursue all of WMD ... to reconstitute his entire WMD program."

Hussein said he was proud he eluded U.S. authorities who searched for him for nine months after the U.S.-led invasion, Piro said.

"What he wanted to really illustrate is ... how he was able to outsmart us," Piro said. "He told me he changed ... the way he traveled. He got rid of his normal vehicles. He got rid of the protective detail that he traveled with, really just to change his signature."

Hussein was hanged in 2006

http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/01/...ure/index.html

Official: U.S. enemies 'eating our lunch' online

* Story Highlights
* James Glassman appears before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee
* Glassman is nominated to become assistant secretary of state for public diplomacy
* He says U.S. must end misconception that it wants to weaken the Muslim world
* Glassman: "I am deeply committed to a program of vigorous communication"
* Next Article in Politics »

From Charley Keyes
CNN

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The man nominated to head public diplomacy at the State Department said Wednesday that al Qaeda is doing a better job than the Bush administration in winning friends over the Internet.

"Our enemies are eating our lunch in terms of getting the word out in digital technology," said James Glassman.

He was answering questions at his confirmation hearing before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

If approved by the committee and then by the Senate, Glassman would succeed President Bush's longtime friend and adviser Karen Hughes as assistant secretary of state for public diplomacy.

Glassman is now the chairman of the Broadcasting Board of Governors -- responsible for the radio, television and Internet networks paid for by U.S. taxpayers -- such as the Voice of America, available in dozens of languages, and Arabic language Alhurra TV and Radio Sawa.

Hughes stepped down from her State Department post in December.

Glassman's comments Wednesday echoed a November speech by Defense Secretary Robert Gates in which he said the United States needs more speed, agility and cultural relevance in its communications.

"Public relations was invented in the United States, yet we are miserable at communicating to the rest of the world what we are about as a society and a culture, about freedom and democracy, about our policies and our goals," Gates said.

"It is just plain embarrassing that al Qaeda is better at communicating its message on the Internet than America."

Glassman said he agrees "with the spirit" of Gates' criticism and said he would continue the work begun by Hughes and others to use person-to-person contacts, student and cultural exchanges and new technologies to push the United States' message.

"I am deeply committed to a program of vigorous communication," he told the committee.

In September 2005, Hughes traveled throughout the Middle East as part of what she dubbed a "listening tour" to repair the U.S. image damaged after the 2003 invasion of Iraq. But she had a tough sell, and many Arabs criticized Hughes for what they called her lack of understanding of the region.

Glassman said the United States must overturn a misconception in the Muslim world that it is a military threat, that it wants to weaken and divide the Muslim world and spread Christianity.

One member of the committee, Sen. Bob Menendez, D-New Jersey, asked Glassman, "Do we broadcast what people want to hear or what they need to hear?"

Glassman replied, "We have to be honest. If we tell them lies they are going to figure that out very quickly."

Sen. Joe Lieberman, I-Connecticut, introduced Glassman to the committee, saying the public diplomacy post is "the closest thing to a supreme allied commander in the war of ideas and one of the most important posts in Washington

Originally Posted by Pink Splice

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/...n3731718.shtml

U.S. Sends Wounded Troops Back To Iraq
Short On Soldiers, Army Returns Injured Service Members To War Zone

Hooray for the Surge! We get to screw over our troops more than ever (very patriotic) and give weapons to the Sunni insurgency so that they can either blast at our folks even better later or make the coming civil war all that more deadly. Fantastic.

And where is the electricity? Where is the flowing oil? Where is the guarded border? Why are we so willing to severely damage the mental health of tens of thousands of soliders in such an uprecedented fashion?

This is all about window dressing and is only postponing and worsening the inevitable. I am glad the violence has dropped, but am very uneasy about buying the peace by arming our erstwhile (and soon-to-be-again?) enemies. It's cheap and it's dangerous. But what the heck, cover things up until the next (probably Democratic) administration has to deal with it, right?

Originally Posted by Mikebert

Here you see the mind of a true conservative. Zilch thinks it's 60 years ago.

A classic case of fighting the last war (or in this case the last 4T).

Perhaps we should have dug a bunch of trenches on the West Coast after Pearl Harbor and set up the Army of the Pacific?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22923548/

Soldier suicides reach record level, study shows
Vet's battle with depression reveals effects of long tours, lack of resources

By Dana Priest
updated 2:33 a.m. CT, Thurs., Jan. 31, 2008

Lt. Elizabeth Whiteside, a psychiatric outpatient at Walter Reed Army Medical Center who was waiting for the Army to decide whether to court-martial her for endangering another soldier and turning a gun on herself last year in Iraq, attempted to kill herself Monday evening. In so doing, the 25-year-old Army reservist joined a record number of soldiers who have committed or tried to commit suicide after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan.

"I'm very disappointed with the Army," Whiteside wrote in a note before swallowing dozens of antidepressants and other pills. "Hopefully this will help other soldiers." She was taken to the emergency room early Tuesday. Whiteside, who is now in stable physical condition, learned yesterday that the charges against her had been dismissed.

Whiteside's personal tragedy is part of an alarming phenomenon in the Army's ranks: Suicides among active-duty soldiers in 2007 reached their highest level since the Army began keeping such records in 1980, according to a draft internal study obtained by The Washington Post. Last year, 121 soldiers took their own lives, nearly 20 percent more than in 2006.
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At the same time, the number of attempted suicides or self-inflicted injuries in the Army has jumped sixfold since the Iraq war began. Last year, about 2,100 soldiers injured themselves or attempted suicide, compared with about 350 in 2002, according to the U.S. Army Medical Command Suicide Prevention Action Plan.

Wars lasting longer than planned
The Army was unprepared for the high number of suicides and cases of post-traumatic stress disorder among its troops, as the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have continued far longer than anticipated. Many Army posts still do not offer enough individual counseling and some soldiers suffering psychological problems complain that they are stigmatized by commanders. Over the past year, four high-level commissions have recommended reforms and Congress has given the military hundreds of millions of dollars to improve its mental health care, but critics charge that significant progress has not been made.

The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have placed severe stress on the Army, caused in part by repeated and lengthened deployments. Historically, suicide rates tend to decrease when soldiers are in conflicts overseas, but that trend has reversed in recent years. From a suicide rate of 9.8 per 100,000 active-duty soldiers in 2001 -- the lowest rate on record -- the Army reached an all-time high of 17.5 suicides per 100,000 active-duty soldiers in 2006.

Last year, twice as many soldier suicides occurred in the United States than in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Common factors emerge
Col. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, the Army's top psychiatrist and author of the study, said that suicides and attempted suicides "are continuing to rise despite a lot of things we're doing now and have been doing." Ritchie added: "We need to improve training and education. We need to improve our capacity to provide behavioral health care."

Ritchie's team conducted more than 200 interviews in the United States and overseas and found that the common factors in suicides and attempted suicides include failed personal relationships; legal, financial or occupational problems; and the frequency and length of overseas deployments. She said the Army must do a better job of making sure that soldiers in distress receive mental health services. "We need to know what to do when we're concerned about one of our fellows."

The study, which the Army's top personnel chief ordered six months ago, acknowledges that the Army still does not know how to adequately assess, monitor and treat soldiers with psychological problems. In fact, it says that "the current Army Suicide Prevention Program was not originally designed for a combat/deployment environment."

Staff Sgt. Gladys Santos, an Army medic who attempted suicide after three tours in Iraq, said the Army urgently needs to hire more psychiatrists and psychologists who have an understanding of war. "They gave me an 800 number to call if I needed help," she said. "When I come to feeling overwhelmed, I don't care about the 800 number. I want a one-on-one talk with a trained psychiatrist who's either been to war or understands war."

Santos, who is being treated at Walter Reed, said the only effective therapy she has received there in the past year have been the one-on-one sessions with her psychiatrist, not the group sessions in which soldiers are told "Don't hit your wife, don't hit your kids" or the other groups where they play bingo or learn how to properly set a table.

Army moves to address problem
Over the past year, the Army has reinvigorated its efforts to understand mental health issues and has instituted new assessment surveys and new online videos and questionnaires to help soldiers recognize problems and become more resilient, Ritchie said. It has also hired more mental health providers. The plan calls for attaching more chaplains to deployed units and assigning "battle buddies" to improve peer support and monitoring.

Increasing suicides raise "real questions about whether you can have an Army this size with multiple deployments," said David Rudd, a former Army psychologist and chairman of the psychology department at Texas Tech University.

On Monday night, as President Bush delivered his State of the Union address and asked Congress to "improve the system of care for our wounded warriors and help them build lives of hope and promise and dignity," Whiteside was dozing off from the effects of her drug overdose. Her case highlights the Army's continuing struggles to remove the stigma surrounding mental illness and to make it easier for soldiers and officers to seek psychological help.
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Whiteside, who was the subject of a Washington Post article in December, was a high-achieving University of Virginia graduate, and she earned top scores from her Army raters. But as a medic in charge of a small prison team in Iraq, she was repeatedly harassed by one of her commanders, which disturbed her greatly, according to an Army investigation.

On Jan. 1, 2007, weary from helping to quell riots in the prison after the execution of Saddam Hussein, Whiteside had a mental breakdown, according to an Army sanity board investigation. She pointed a gun at a superior, fired two shots into the ceiling and then turned the weapon on herself, piercing several organs. She has been at Walter Reed ever since.

‘Demonstrably severe depression’
Whiteside's two immediate commanders brought charges against her, but Maj. Gen. Eric B. Schoomaker, the only physician in her chain of command and then the commander of Walter Reed, recommended that the charges be dropped, citing her "demonstrably severe depression" and "7 years of credible and honorable service."

Her case hinged in part on whether her mental illness prompted her actions, as Walter Reed psychiatrists testified last month, or whether it was "an excuse" for her actions, as her company commander wrote when he proffered the original charges against her in April. Those charges included assault on a superior commissioned officer, aggravated assault, kidnapping, reckless endangerment, wrongful discharge of a firearm, communication of a threat and two attempts of intentional self-injury without intent to avoid service.

An Army hearing officer cited "Army values" and the need to do "what is right, legally and morally" when he recommended last month that Whiteside not face court-martial or other administration punishment, but that she be discharged and receive the medical benefits "she will desperately need for the remainder of her life." Whiteside decided to speak publicly about her case only after a soldier she had befriended at the hospital's psychiatric ward hanged herself after she was discharged without benefits.

But the U.S. Army Military District of Washington, which has ultimate legal jurisdiction over the case, declined for weeks to tell Whiteside whether others in her chain of command have concurred or differed with the hearing officer, said Matthew MacLean, Whiteside's civilian attorney and a former military lawyer.

MacLean and Whiteside's father, Thomas Whiteside, said the uncertainty took its toll on the young officer's mental state. "I've never seen anything like this. It's just so far off the page," said Thomas Whiteside, his voice cracking with emotion. "I told her, 'If you check out of here, you're not going to be able to help other soldiers.' "

Trying to move forward, stumbling back
Whiteside recently had begun to take prerequisite classes for a nursing degree, and her mental stability seemed to be improving, her father said. Then late last week she told him she was having trouble sleeping, with a possible court-martial weighing on her. On Monday night she asked her father to take her back to her room at Walter Reed so she could study.

She swallowed her pills there. A soldier and his wife, who live next door, came to her room and, after a while, noticed that she was becoming groggy, Thomas Whiteside said. When they returned later and she would not open the door, they called hospital authorities.

Yesterday, after having spent two nights in the intensive care unit, he said, his daughter was transferred to the psychiatric ward.

Whiteside left two notes, one titled "Business," in which her top concern was the fate of her dog. "Appointment for the Vetenarian is in my blue book. Additional paperwork on Chewy is in the closet at the apartment in a folder." On her second note, she penned a postscript: "Sorry to do this to my family + friends. I love you."

Staff writer Anne Hull contributed to this report.

http://www.militarytimes.com/news/20...oldier_071219/

Despite signs, suicidal GI was kept in Iraq

By Kimberly Hefling - The Associated Press
Posted : Thursday Dec 20, 2007 6:33:50 EST

SANFORD, N.C. — Pvt. 1st Class Jason Scheuerman nailed a suicide note to his barracks closet in Iraq, stepped inside and shot himself.

“Maybe finaly I can get some peace,” said the 20-year-old, misspelling “finally” but writing in a neat hand.

His parents didn’t find out about the note for well over a year, and only then when it showed up in a government envelope in his father’s rural North Carolina mailbox.

The one-page missive was among hundreds of pages of documents the soldier’s family obtained and shared with The Associated Press after battling a military bureaucracy they feel didn’t want to answer their questions, especially this: Why did Jason Scheuerman have to die?

What the soldier’s father, Chris, would learn about his son’s final days would lead the retired Special Forces commando, who teaches at Fort Bragg, to take on the very institution he’s spent his life serving — and ultimately prompt an investigation by the Army Inspector General’s office.

The documents, obtained by Freedom of Information Act requests filed by Chris Scheuerman, reveal a troubled soldier kept in Iraq despite repeated signs he was going to kill himself, including placing the muzzle of his weapon in his mouth multiple times.
Read more on the death of Pvt. 1st Class Jason Scheuerman

* An overview of Scheuerman’s last days

* Text of Scheuerman’s suicide note

* Requests needed to get data about suicides

Jason Scheuerman’s story — pieced together with interviews and information in the documents — demonstrates how he was failed by the very support system that was supposed to protect him. In his case, a psychologist told his commanders to send him back to his unit because he was capable of feigning mental illness to get out of the Army.

He is not alone. At least 152 U.S. troops have taken their own lives in Iraq and Afghanistan since the two wars started, contributing to the Army’s highest suicide rate in 26 years of keeping track. For the grieving parents, the answers don’t come easily or quickly.

For Jason Scheuerman, death came on July 30, 2005, around 5:30 p.m., about 45 minutes after his first sergeant told the teary-eyed private that if he was intentionally misbehaving so he could leave the Army, he would go to jail where he would be abused.

When the call came out over the unit’s radios that there had been a death, one soldier would later tell investigators he suspected it was Scheuerman.

———

Scheuerman spent his early years on military posts playing GI Joe. The middle child, he divided his time after his parents’ divorce between his mother’s house in Lynchburg, Va., and his father’s in North Carolina where he went to high school.

He was nearly 6 feet tall and loved to eat. His mother, Anne, said sometimes at 10 p.m. she’d find him defrosting chicken to grill.

Likable and witty, he often joked around — even dressing up like a clown one night at church camp, said his pastor, Mike Cox of West Lynchburg Baptist Church. But he had a quiet, reflective side, too, and sometimes withdrew, Cox said.

“You always knew how he felt. He wore his emotions on his sleeve,” his mother said. “If he was angry, you knew it. If he was upset, you knew it.”

Scheuerman liked military history and writing, but decided college wasn’t for him. After a short stint in landscaping, he followed what seemed an almost natural path into the military. His mother had spent a year in the Army, and his father, a physician’s assistant, retired as an Army master sergeant. One of his two brothers also joined and is now in Afghanistan.

He enlisted in 2004 and was sent to Iraq from Fort Benning, Ga., in January 2005 with the 3rd Infantry Division. On leave a few months later, Scheuerman told his father he was having a hard time with combat and killing people.

“I’ve seen war,” his father said. “I told him that a lot of what he was seeing was normal. That we all feel it. That we’re all afraid.”

Back in Iraq, things didn’t improve. One soldier — whose name was blacked out on the documents like most others — said he saw Jason put the muzzle of his rifle in his mouth, and told investigators other soldiers had seen him do something similar.

“He said it was a joke,” the soldier said. “He said he had thought about it before but didn’t have a plan to do it.”

Scheuerman was reprimanded for not bathing or shaving and spending too much time playing videogames. He misplaced a radio and didn’t wear parts of his uniform. Sometimes, Scheuerman was singled out for punishment, one soldier told an investigator. “I don’t know why,” the soldier said. Another said his noncommissioned officers were yelling at him “more days then not.”

His platoon sergeant said in a disciplinary note that Scheuerman’s actions put everyone in danger. “If you continue on your present course of action, you may end up in a body bag,” he wrote.

In another, his squad leader said, “You have put me into a position where I have to treat you like a troublesome child. I hate being in this position. It makes me be someone I don’t like.”

Scheuerman was made to do push-ups in front of Iraqi soldiers, which humiliated him.

As he was punished, “it appeared as though he was out of touch with reality; in a world all his own,” his platoon sergeant said in a report.

After the punishment, Scheuerman slept on the floor of his unit’s operation’s center in Muqdadiyah, about 60 miles north of Baghdad.

An Army chaplain who met with him about a month before he died said his mood had “drastically changed.” He said Scheuerman demonstrated disturbing behavior by “sitting with his weapon between his legs and bobbing his head on the muzzle.” He told Scheuerman’s leaders to have his rifle and ammunition magazine “taken from him immediately” and for him to undergo a mental health evaluation.

Scheuerman checked on a mental health questionnaire that he had thoughts about killing himself, was uptight, anxious and depressed, had feelings of hopelessness and despair, felt guilty and was having work problems. But in person, the psychologist said, he denied having thoughts of suicide.

Less than a week later, Scheuerman’s mother got an e-mail from her son telling her goodbye. She contacted a family support official at Fort Benning and later received a call saying her son had been checked and was fine. Later, her son sent her an instant message and said her phone call had made things worse.

The same day as her call, Scheuerman’s company commander requested a mental evaluation, noting that the private was a “good soldier” but displays “distant, depression like symptoms.”

Visiting with the psychologist for the second time, Scheuerman said he sometimes saw other people on guard duty that other soldiers do not see, suggesting he was hallucinating. And he said that if he wasn’t diagnosed as having a mental problem, he was going to be in trouble with his leader. Yet he again denied being suicidal, the psychologist reported.

The psychologist determined Scheuerman did not meet the criteria for a mental health disorder, and that a screening test he had taken indicated he was exaggerating. He told Scheuerman’s leaders he was “capable of claiming mental illness in order to manipulate his command.”

Still, when he sent Scheuerman back to his barracks, he told the private’s leaders that if Scheuerman claimed to be depressed, to take it seriously. He recommended Scheuerman sleep in an area where he could be watched, that most of his personal belongings and privileges be taken away for his safety.

The evaluation “created in the leaders’ minds the idea that the soldier was a malingerer all along,” an officer from his unit evaluating the case as part of a post-suicide investigation would later determine.

Shortly after the psychologist’s determination and a few weeks before he died, Scheuerman’s Internet and phone communication were shut off. His parents did not hear from him again.

The night before he shot himself, his rifle — which had since been returned to him — was found in a Humvee. The next morning, one soldier said Scheuerman “was quiet and seemed depressed. He said he had a rough night and didn’t sleep well.”

Later that day, he was punished again and given 14 days of extra duty.

Scheuerman had tears in his eyes, but one of his noncommissioned officers said he was surprisingly calm before he went to his room, weapon in hand.

“I told him to go upstairs and clean his gear and change his uniform,” his squad leader told investigators. “I was soo angry with him, I went outside to smoke and talk to someone so I didn’t blow up.”

Less than an hour later, he said he heard someone yelling that Scheuerman had done something.

“At that point, I knew I was already too late,” he said.

Scheuerman’s body was discovered in a closet, blood streaming from his mouth.

———

Initially, Scheuerman’s father said he trusted the Army would investigate his son’s death and take action.

“I did not want to believe that it was as bad as I thought it was, so I chose not to make hasty judgments,” Scheuerman said from his kitchen table, sitting beside his ex-wife, whom he plans to remarry. “I chose to systematically try to get all the information that I could and once I received all the information I could, my worst fears were realized.”

Each document that arrived brought more pain.

When a copy of his son’s suicide note appeared, Scheuerman broke down crying. In the note, his son said he wanted to say goodbye, but his ability to contact the family was taken away “like everything else.” He said he’d brought dishonor on his family and his Army unit.

“I know you think I’m a coward for this but in the face of existing as I am now, I have no other choice,” Scheuerman wrote. “As the 1st Sgt said all I have to look forward to is a butt-buddy in jail, not much of a future.”

Chris Scheuerman wants to see a more thorough investigation, and some of his son’s leaders punished — perhaps even criminally charged — and the psychologist brought before a medical peer review committee. “We will not see a statistical decrease in Army suicides until the Army gets serious about holding people accountable when they do not do what they are trained to do,” he said.

Citing privacy, Maj. Nathan Banks, an Army public affairs officer, declined to discuss the case.

Eventually, Jason Scheuerman’s father sought the assistance of Rep. Bob Etheridge, D-N.C., who spoke with Army Secretary Pete Geren on Oct. 1 and asked him to initiate an investigation by the Inspector General’s Office. Geren agreed.

The Scheuermans say they hope the investigation will bring about changes that will prevent other suicides.

“The people that I trusted with the safety of my son killed him, and that hurts beyond words because we are a family of soldiers,” Scheuerman said.

Originally Posted by Pink Splice

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22923548/

Soldier suicides reach record level, study shows
Vet's battle with depression reveals effects of long tours, lack of resources

If this administration and it's Republican (and few Democratic) defenders are so "patriotic" and "pro-military", how can they let this happen?!? How can this allegedly "honorable" and "wonderful" General Petraeus do this to his troops? As Jim Webb has pointed out, the pressure they are putting these soldiers under is not only unprecedented, it's unconscionable. And the most disappointing thing is how John McCain of all people is supporting this.

Ah, but the Surge! To keep that going we need to shorten stays at home and lengthen (and increase the number of!) tours in the field. Never crossed anyone's mind that we need MORE troops! But no, that would require real manhood. That would require standing up for what you believe in (and that one claims to believe in so enthusiastically) and face the consequences by raising taxes (say, on the rich) or proposing a draft. No, it's not worth that. Instead what's it's worth is f*cking over those who actually are honorable and wonderful Americans (to hell with Petraeus), arming those who killed thousands of our soldiers, and putting off the actual hard work and choices to a later time.

I almost cannot concieve a more cowardly and irresponsible group of people than Bush and his supporters.

http://www.motherjones.com/news/feat...war-index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/...ain/index.html

U.S.: 'Demonic' militants sent women to bomb markets in Iraq

* Story Highlights
* NEW: U.S. says women detonated their bombs in suicide attacks
* But Iraqi officials say attackers had mental disabilities
* Women's explosive belts detonated by remote control, security official says
* Death toll in two market attacks in Baghdad rises to 98
* Next Article in World »

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Two mentally disabled women were strapped with explosives Friday and sent into busy Baghdad markets, where they were blown up by remote control, a top Iraqi government official said.
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The bombs killed at least 98 people and wounded more than 200 at two popular pet markets on the holiest day of the week for Muslims, authorities said.

In both bombings, the attackers were mentally disabled women whose explosive belts were remotely detonated, Gen. Qasim Atta, spokesman for Baghdad's security plan, told state television.

An aide to Atta said that people referred to the bomber at central Baghdad's al-Ghazl market as the "crazy woman" and that the bomber at a second market had an unspecified birth disability. Video Watch how bombers target large crowds »

The nationalities and identities of the women have not been released.

U.S. military officials referred to the two attacks as suicide bombings, saying both women detonated the explosive devices. The U.S. attributed the attacks to al Qaeda in Iraq and made no reference to the mental conditions of the women.

"By targeting innocent Iraqis, they show their true demonic character," said Lt. Col. Steve Stover, spokesman for the Multi-National Division-Baghdad.

"They care nothing for the Iraqi people; they want to subjugate them and forcefully create a greater Islamic sharia state," he said, referring to Islamic law.

One bomb blew up at al-Ghazl animal market around 10:30 a.m., killing 69 and wounding more than 140.

The second blast happened about a half-hour later in the New Baghdad neighborhood pet market, killing 29 people and wounding 67.

Al-Ghazl pet market is a popular destination where people buy and sell cats, dogs, monkeys and other animals. Attackers have struck the market on Fridays -- its busiest day -- several times in the last year or so.

A January 2007 bombing killed 15 and wounded 52 at the pet market, and 13 people died and 58 were wounded in a November attack.

The violence, the bloodiest series of attacks in the capital since August, broke a brief stretch of relative calm as attacks and deaths dropped at the time of the 2007 increase in U.S. troop strength known as the surge.

On Thursday, a parked car exploded in a predominantly Shiite district in the Iraqi capital, killing five civilians and wounding eight others, the Interior Ministry said.

The attack occurred after a string of roadside bombings that wounded 21 people, ministry said. In one, a bomb near the deputy minister of electricity's convoy wounded at least five people.

Also Thursday, a spokesman for the Polish military said Poland will withdraw its troops from Iraq by the end of October.

October 31 will be the last day of the Polish presence in Iraq, Maj. Dariusz Kacperczyk said in Warsaw.
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New Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has promised to bring troops home from Iraq, where the country has been one of the larger contingents apart from the United States and Britain.

About 900 Polish troops are in Iraq, with most in Diwaniya, some in Baghdad and others in the southern city of Kut. Twenty-two soldiers from Poland have died during the nearly 5-year war in Iraq.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/...men/index.html

By Arwa Damon
CNN

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The images in the Basra police file are nauseating: Page after page of women killed in brutal fashion -- some strangled to death, their faces disfigured; others beheaded. All bear signs of torture.

The women are killed, police say, because they failed to wear a headscarf or because they ignored other "rules" that secretive fundamentalist groups want to enforce.

"Fear, fear is always there," says 30-year-old Safana, an artist and university professor. "We don't know who to be afraid of. Maybe it's a friend or a student you teach. There is no break, no security. I don't know who to be afraid of."

Her fear is justified. Iraq's second-largest city, Basra, is a stronghold of conservative Shia groups. As many as 133 women were killed in Basra last year -- 79 for violation of "Islamic teachings" and 47 for so-called honor killings, according to IRIN, the news branch of the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

One glance through the police file is enough to understand the consequences. Basra's police chief, Gen. Abdul Jalil Khalaf, flips through the file, pointing to one unsolved case after another. Video Watch Khalaf show evidence of the brutality »

"I think so far, we have been unable to tackle this problem properly," he says. "There are many motives for these crimes and parties involved in killing women, by strangling, beheading, chopping off their hands, legs, heads."

"When I came to Basra a year ago," he says, "two women were killed in front of their kids. Their blood was flowing in front of their kids, they were crying. Another woman was killed in front of her 6-year-old son, another in front of her 11-year-old child, and yet another who was pregnant."

The killers enforcing their own version of Islamic justice are rarely caught, while women live in fear.

Boldly splattered in red paint just outside the main downtown market, a chilling sign reads: "We warn against not wearing a headscarf and wearing makeup. Those who do not abide by this will be punished. God is our witness, we have notified you."

The attacks on the women of Basra have intensified since British forces withdrew to their base at the airport back in September, police say. Iraqi security forces took over after British troops pulled back, but are heavily infiltrated by militias.

And tracking the perpetrators of these crimes is nearly impossible, Khalaf says, adding that he doesn't have control of the thousands of policemen and officers.

"We're trying to trace crimes carried out by an anonymous enemy," he says.

Amnesty International has raised concern about the increasing violence toward women in Iraq, saying abductions, rapes and "honor killings" are on the rise.

"Politically active women, those who did not follow a strict dress code, and women [who are] human rights defenders were increasingly at risk of abuses, including by armed groups and religious extremists," Amnesty said in a 2007 report.

Sometimes, it's just the color of a woman's headscarf that can draw unwanted attention.

"One time, one of my female colleagues commented on the color of my headscarf," Safana says. "She said it would draw attention ... [and I should] avoid it and stick to colors like gray, brown and black."

This extremist ideology enrages many secular Muslim women, who say it's a misrepresentation of Islam.

Sawsan, another woman who works at a university, says the message from the radicals to women is simple: "They seem to be sending us a message to stay at home and keep your mouth shut."
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After the fall of Saddam Hussein in 2003, Sawsan says, the situation was "the best." But now, she says, it's "the worst."

"We thought there would be freedom and democracy and women would have their rights. But all the things we were promised have not come true. There is only fear and horror."

Originally Posted by Pink Splice

"We thought there would be freedom and democracy and women would have their rights. But all the things we were promised have not come true. There is only fear and horror."

As the British Commander told it, pulling out of the city decreased the over all amount of violence in the city. Much of it was directed at the foreign presence. With the foreigners out of the area, few people have died.

But the identity of the victims has changed...

http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...te-cnn-partner

Murder or Exhaustion in Iraq?
Friday, Feb. 08, 2008 By JIM FREDERICK/CAMP LIBERTY, IRAQ

A trial unfolding in a makeshift courthouse in a dusty corner of the U.S. Army's main Baghdad base camp complex is demonstrating in stark and dramatic terms just how far some American soldiers are being pushed on the battlefield, just how doggedly the Army is willing to pursue serious alleged crimes like murder — and just how interested the Iraqi government is in the process.


Part of an elite parachute infantry sniper-scout platoon, Sgt. Evan Vela is accused of murdering an unarmed Iraqi that his five-man squad had taken captive after the man breached their hideout. The squad was conducting a mission on May 11 last year near the city of Iskandariyah, which is 30 miles south of Baghdad and the southern-most point of Iraq's infamous "Triangle of Death." Vela is also accused of helping to plant an AK-47 on the body to make the kill look more justified. If found guilty of murder, he faces a maximum sentence of life in prison. Two other soldiers have already been tried on similar charges in the same death, as well as the deaths of two other Iraqis. In separate courts martial that took place in nearby Camp Victory late last year before juries comprised of officers and enlisted soldiers, the two soldiers were both acquitted of the murder charges but convicted of planting evidence on the bodies.

As the first day of testimony in what is expected to be a four day trial kicked off on Friday before an eight-person jury of both officers and enlisted soldiers, Vela's civilian defense attorney James Culp argued that his client was not guilty of murdering Genei Nesir Khudair Al-Janabi because, at the time Vela pulled the trigger, he was so sleep-deprived and dehydrated after four days of non-stop battlefield action that he was neither in control of his actions nor fully aware of what he was doing. "It was a terrible accident," Culp said outside the courtroom during a recess, "but Evan didn't intentionally shoot anyone."

On the witness stand, Sgt. Robert Redfern, another soldier on that patrol, described a combat schedule leading up to the shooting that tested the limits of human endurance. In great detail, he chronicled two back-to-back two-day missions that included nighttime hikes while carrying 150 lb. packs in what may be the most dangerous area of the country. During the day, the soldiers had no choice but to bake in the open sun in 120 degree heat as they tried to conserve the three or four liters of water per man they had carried in. And, since they were either traveling or conducting surveillance around the clock, no one was allowed to sleep more than 15 minutes at a time. "By the second day, I could barely stand," said Redfern. Some soldiers began administering hydrating IVs to each other just to stay mobile and fend off headaches. By sunup of the fourth day, the ailing group holed up in a hideout to try to get a few hours of uninterrupted sleep. Each soldier took a one hour guard roation while the others slept.

That's when Al-Janabi startled the group. There is conflicting testimony over who was supposed to be on guard at the time, but Sgt. Michael Hensley, the group's commanding officer, pinned the man down and searched him. Some time after that, Vela shot him in the head with a nine mm. pistol.

In his testimony today, Hensley, one of the soldiers already acquitted for his role in the death (but guilty of planting the AK-47), endeavored to justify the killing, saying that Al-Janabi would not stop yelling, crying and "flopping around like a fish" despite repeated efforts to silence him. It was then that Hensley says he decided, for the safety of his men, that Al-Janabi had to die. "I thought that he was trying alert insurgents," Hensley said. "I felt like I had no choice or we would be further compromised." He says he asked Vela, who had a pistol trained on the man, if he was ready, and then he told him to shoot. Vela pulled the trigger and the man died of that single bullet to the head. When asked why he didn't shoot Al-Janabi himself, Hensley said, "Vela happened to be the one with the pistol. I would have gladly shot him myself."

Iraq's Minister of Human Rights, Wijdan Mikhail Salim, however, does not see the case as either a justified kill or a horrific accident by an exhaustion-impaired soldier. She was attending today's proceedings, she told TIME, because, "I want to be sure that any American soldier who wrongs an Iraqi will go on trial. [Vela] killed an Iraqi man, an unarmed man. He must be punished."

Al-Janabi's son, who testified briefly in court today, is similarly looking for punishment. When asked in an interview outside of court what sentence he thought would be the minimum acceptable one, he answered through a translator, "Execution. But since I understand that execution is not possible in this case, it should at least be a life sentence."

Vela's family, however, believes the sergeant has become a political sacrifice to U.S.-Iraqi relations. According to Vela's father Curtis Carnahan, who, along with Vela's wife, flew to Baghdad to attend the trial, "My son's commanding generals want somebody to be guilty of something so they can appease their Iraqi counterparts. They have tried this killing two times already and have no murder convictions to show for it. I don't think my son did anything wrong and I am optimistic the jury will agree."

http://www.time.com/time/world/artic...inline-sidebar

Who Killed the Americans in Karbala?
Thursday, Jun. 14, 2007 By MARK KUKIS/ISKANDARIYAN

January's attack on U.S. forces at the Iraqi government complex in Karbala has become a kind of epic unsolved mystery among troops at Forward Operating Base Iskan, where soldiers from the unit involved are based. There is no shortage of theories among the roughly 30 troops who were there as to whom was responsible for the attack. Many soldiers believe the attackers, who appeared wearing U.S. military uniforms and speaking English, were Iranian operatives from the notorious Quds Force. Some think the assault party that entered the complex in a convoy of SUVs was a rogue cell of the Mahdi Army. Still others suspect the hit team was a kind of all-star insurgent squad, with skilled fighters from the Mahdi Army, Iran and the Badr Brigade, another Shi'ite militia.

While much has been said about the attackers who stormed the compound from the outside, little has been revealed about the possible involvement of Iraqi Police who were inside at the time. But the final report of the official military investigation into the incident says there is some evidence to suggest that Iraqi Police who'd been working with U.S. forces in Karbala for over a year helped orchestrate the attack.

"There are indicators that information was exchanged between the attackers and the Iraqi Police [IP] prior to this attack," says the report, a copy of which was obtained by TIME. "Senior IP leadership at the station knew the coalition battle drills, and often watched them practice. The attackers knew exactly where to find the officers and which rooms were occupied by the Americans. The back IP gate was left unlocked and unmanned, and the Iraqi vendor and civilian workers absented themselves just prior to the attack."

What's commonly understood about the attack is that a crack team of gunmen sneaked into the Karbala police station, where about 30 U.S. soldiers were normally at work on training programs and other initiatives aimed at building up local security forces. The attackers, who carried U.S.-style weapons, killed one American soldier after getting into the compound and then abducted four others, executing them a short distance away as the attackers fled, evading capture by abandoning their vehicles and shedding their bogus American uniforms and mock weapons.

Findings of the investigation suggest that at least some of the Iraqi Police the Americans were training ultimately turned on them prior to the attack and perhaps cooperated in it. And many of the soldiers who were there definitely feel betrayed by Iraqi Police they had grown to trust to some degree. U.S. troops who fought the attackers Jan. 20 say many of the Iraqi Police on hand did nothing to help them during the fight and seemed indifferent afterward. None of the Iraqi security forces on hand sustained any injuries, according to the report. The attackers fired only on the Americans.

"No one was shot," says Sgt. Michael King, describing the Iraqi Police immediately after the attack. "No one twisted an ankle. No one jammed a thumb. Nothing." The investigation report adds that one senior Iraqi Police official even seemed happy after the attack as he talked into a cell phone and walked among the wreckage of the aftermath laughing.

The military has shown its report to the families of the soldiers killed in the attack but not released the findings publicly. Military officials say they are still at work trying to kill or capture figures thought to have had a role in the attack party that came from the outside. But so far there have been no arrests of Iraqi Police suspected of involvement.
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http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/...nis/index.html

Admiral: Al Qaeda in Iraq 'killing off' former allies

* Story Highlights
* Admiral: Al Qaeda in Iraq targeting Sunnis who oppose government, U.S. presence
* Documents found in torture chamber support coalition claims, analysts say
* One document shows groups uniting against U.S., vowing not to attack civilians
* Officials: U.S. has paid Sunnis and some Shiites $148 million to help fight militants

BALAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Video provided to CNN shows an al Qaeda in Iraq firing squad executing one-time allies -- fellow Sunni extremists -- who were not loyal enough to the terror organization, coalition military analysts said.

Analysts say the video shows al Qaeda in Iraq operatives executing nine Sunni men deemed disloyal.

In the video provided by coalition military officials, armed men wearing masks are shown standing behind nine kneeling men, all of whom are wearing blindfolds or hoods with their hands presumably tied behind their backs. The video shows the men being executed.

"Al Qaeda in Iraq, which is foreign led and foreign dominated here inside Iraq, is killing off other Sunni groups that are certainly not supportive of the government of Iraq, currently, or of the foreign occupation, but are not sharing the same ideology that al Qaeda in Iraq has," Rear Adm. Gregory Smith said.

The video was recovered late last year during a raid on a compound near Samarra that was being used for killing and torture, a coalition official said.

A number of documents -- some found in the same raid -- bolster the coalition notion that al Qaeda in Iraq is waging a violent campaign against its former allies, intelligence analysts said. Video Watch how the documents could aid coalition forces »

Samarra is the site of a February 2006 attack on al-Askariya Mosque, revered by Shiites. The attack set off a wave of sectarian violence between Shiites and Sunnis, who were suspected of perpetrating the attack. The northern Iraqi city lies in Salaheddin province, one of four provinces where coalition forces have beefed up operations against Sunni militants.

Coalition officials say the documents are indicative of a deep rift among the militant groups fighting coalition forces. Al Qaeda in Iraq "would like nothing more than to aggravate the situation," Smith said last week.

Al Qaeda in Iraq has a history of documenting its actions, the analysts said.

One document found in the Samarra raid shows the execution of a woman believed to have helped Iraqi police. Another describes the murders of 12 men who al Qaeda in Iraq felt were not sufficiently loyal.

In another document, al Qaeda in Iraq criticizes jihadist groups that it says are following "a false path," according to the analysts.

The analysts said one document also describes the stance of six Sunni splinter groups being targeted by al Qaeda in Iraq. The document, signed by leaders of the groups, outlines their opposition to the U.S. presence in Iraq but includes a pledge to avoid attacks on civilians.

Coalition officials said the documents and video may reflect a move toward reconciliation among some Sunni factions.
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In recent months, the U.S. has paid Sunnis and some Shiites $148 million to help fight extremists, military officials said. These groups have taken on many monikers, including Awakening Councils, Concerned Local Citizens and Sons of Iraq.

Coalition officials said they are trying to determine whether the documents found last year are a reason to expand efforts to bring more Sunnis into the fight against al Qaeda in Iraq.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080224/...ca_st_pe/gates

Gates: Turkey raid won't solve problems

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer Sat Feb 23, 9:57 PM ET

CANBERRA, Australia - Turkey's military assault into northern Iraq will not solve the terrorist problem there, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Sunday, calling for greater political and economic initiatives by the Turks to win over supporters of the Kurdish rebels.

Speaking as the Turkish military continued its first major ground incursion into Iraq since 2003, Gates said it will take a broader approach, similar to U.S. and coalition efforts in Iraq and Afghanistan, to erode support for the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party, or PKK, in northern Iraq. And he called on the Turks to bring a quick end to the incursion.

"I think all our experience in Iraq and Afghanistan shows us that while dealing with a terrorist problem does require security operations, it also requires economic and political initiatives," Gates told reporters. He said a consistent message from the U.S. to the Turkish government is that military efforts must be supplemented by other political and economic outreach to Kurds.

"After a certain point people become inured to military attacks," he said, "and if you don't blend them with these kinds of nonmilitary initiatives, then at a certain point the military efforts become less and less effective."

Gates, who is wrapping up a three-day visit to Australia, said the U.S. has continued to provide the Turks with intelligence for its military operations. And, noting that Turkey warned the U.S.-backed Iraqi government of the incursion, he said such communication and coordination must continue.

"In terms of the current operation," Gates added, "I would hope it would be short, that it would be precise and avoid the loss of innocent life, and that they leave as quickly as they can accomplish the mission."

He would not specify how soon he hoped the Turks would halt the assault, saying only, "The shorter the better."

The Turks have consistently complained that the Iraqis and the U.S. have not done enough to combat the PKK's guerrilla operations, as rebels carry out attacks on Turkey from bases in the heavily mountainous Kurdish region in Iraq. The rebels have been fighting for autonomy for more than 20 years.

Iraqi officials have said they are concerned that the attacks will destabilize the northern region, but Gates said he does not see it that way.

Turkey has assured the U.S.-backed Iraqi government that the operation would be limited to attacks on rebels, and there have been conflicting reports on the size and the scope of the assault. The United States and the European Union consider the PKK a terrorist group.

In other comments Sunday, Gates said he will talk to State Department and other officials when he returns to Washington about whether it would be possible to allow Australia to buy Lockheed's F-22 Raptor, a fighter jet barred by U.S. law from being sold overseas.

Given the importance of the issue to the Australians, Gates said it is an issue he intends to pursue. But he acknowledged he is unsure what the prospects would be for any change in law making that possible.

During a news conference Saturday, Australia's Defense Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said he wanted the option of buying fighters. Gates said he had no objection to the sale, but noted it required Congress to amend the law.

Also while in Canberra, Gates and Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte met with leaders of the new center-left government — with one goal being to gain some insight into China.

Australia has been expanding its economic ties with China. And the message Saturday from Canberra's top diplomat was that the U.S. should pursue a more positive dialogue with China.

At the close of a daylong series of meetings, Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith said at a news conference that his nation's growing trade relationship with China will not hurt its strong and long-standing ties with Washington.

"It can be a win-win," Smith said, acknowledging that China was discussed. "We can have a very good economic relationship with China, which doesn't adversely impact upon our relationship with the United States. On the contrary, we encourage the United States to have a good, positive, constructive dialogue with China."

China's military buildup and its effect on the Asia-Pacific region have raised concerns among U.S. defense officials. Smith said he has told Chinese officials they must be more open about the modernization of the country's military.

Tensions between the U.S. and China have intensified in recent months. Late last year, China refused to allow three U.S. Navy ships to dock in Hong Kong. This past week, China expressed skepticism over whether the Pentagon's missile firing to bring down a disabled U.S. spy satellite was necessary. The U.S. had criticized Beijing for shooting down a defunct Chinese satellite in 2007.