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4.13.12

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Military Resistance 10D5

Public Support For The U.S. War Effort In Afghanistan Has Fallen To An All-Time Low
Two-Thirds Of Americans Think The War Has Not Been Worth Fighting
Eight In 10 Of Those Polled Say There Should Be Limits On How Long Service Members Can Be Deployed To Combat Areas
April 11, 2012 By Scott Wilson and Jon Cohen, The Washington Post [Excerpts] Overall, the Post-ABC News poll reflects a country bone-weary of war after more than a decade of fighting in Afghanistan and, until late last year, an almost nine-year engagement in Iraq. Public support for the U.S. war effort in Afghanistan has fallen to an all-time low, with only 30 percent of respondents saying it has been worth fighting. According to the poll, two-thirds of Americans think the war has not been worth fighting, equaling the most negative public assessments of the U.S. war effort in Iraq. The findings come a month after a U.S. soldier is alleged to have killed 17 Afghan civilians in what witnesses said was a house-to-house rampage. The soldier, Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, had deployed three times to Iraq before arriving in Afghanistan in December. The poll found that Americans are unsure about what, if anything, the incident reveals about the toll of the war on U.S. troops. But eight in 10 of those polled say there should be limits on how long service members can be deployed to combat areas.

DO YOU HAVE A FRIEND OR RELATIVE IN MILITARY SERVICE?

Forward Military Resistance along, or send us the address if you wish and well send it regularly. Whether in Afghanistan or at a base in the USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut off from access to encouraging news of growing resistance to the wars and economic injustice, inside the armed services and at home. Send email requests to address up top or write to: The Military Resistance, Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657. Phone: 888.711.2550

AFGHANISTAN WAR REPORTS

Foreign Occupation Servicemember Killed Somewhere Or Other In Afghanistan Wednesday: Nationality Not Announced
April 11, 2012 Reuters

A foreign servicemember died following an improvised explosive device attack in southern Afghanistan today.

Foreign Occupation Servicemember Killed Somewhere Or Other In Afghanistan Thursday: Nationality Not Announced
April 12, 2012 Reuters A foreign servicemember died following an improvised explosive device attack in southern Afghanistan today.

Pfc. Johnathon Davis, 20: Family, Faith Foremost For Griffin Soldier

Pfc. Johnathon Davis, who was the second of five sons, was an adventurous practical joker a family spokesman said. Photo: Family April 5, 2012 By Laurie Hoffman, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution Life loomed large for Pfc. Johnathon Davis. Pfc. Davis had hopes of a future as an EMT. Like his brother, he was serving his country. His high school sweetheart -- who he'd married less than two years before -- was expecting their first child.

But life was cut short. Pfc. Johnathon Frank Davis of Griffin died March 29 of wounds suffered from enemy small arms fire, according to the Department of Defense. He was 20. Visitation will be 3 to 5 p.m., and 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at Conner-Westbury Funeral Home in Griffin. A funeral service will be at 1 p.m. Saturday at First Assembly of God in Griffin. Pfc. Davis was born in Riverdale and attended Griffin High School, where he played soccer -- and met Kristen, his future wife. Family spokesman Randy Valimont, pastor of First Assembly of God said: John and his wife used to come over when they were dating. He was at our house about a week before he left for Afghanistan. He was just a wonderful kid. Rev. Valimont said Pfc. Davis, who he'd known for about 13 years, was a member of the church's Evolve youth ministry. He carried his Bible everywhere he went, and it was with him when he died, Rev. Valimont said. While Pfc. Davis's faith was firm, he also knew how to have fun. He might be the guy flicking someone's ear, recalled the pastor. But there was never anything too serious. Griffin High School Athletic Director and Assistant Principal Jamie Cassady knew Pfc. Davis as a good kid. He was always smiling. When I heard the news of his passing, that's the first thing I remembered about him. Jessica DeVoursney taught Pfc. Davis and his girlfriend as seniors at Griffin High School. That was my first class of seniors, she said. So they were pretty special to me. He had the biggest heart of anyone I know, she added. His friends adored him, because he adored them. She said Pfc. Davis visited the school before he deployed in February 2012, and they talked about the baby he and Kristen were expecting. We talked about the baby coming, and how excited he was for the baby to get here. He joked about the baby playing soccer, too. He was so full of life. Behind that smile was a sense of purpose -- and enlisting, a path to that purpose. After deployment, Rev. Valimont said, Pfc. Davis wanted to serve people as an EMT. Stationed in Afghanistan, Pfc. Davis was assigned to the 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division. Rev. Valimont said Pfc. Davis, trained as a scout, was in a group of soldiers sweeping an area when he was wounded. He was doing what he was supposed to be doing -- protecting others -- when he was killed, Rev. Valimont said. First Assembly of God will host the program God's Plan: Redeemed through Sunday. The Friday 7 p.m. service will honor Pfc. Davis, and will include a video tribute.

In addition to his wife, Kristen, survivors also include his parents, Kerry and Tracey Davis of Griffin; and four brothers, U.S. Navy Seaman Kenneth Davis of Norfolk, Va., and Steven Davis, Timothy Davis and Luke Davis, all of Griffin.

Hamilton Township High School Graduate Killed In Afghanistan

Staff Sgt. Christopher Brown in an undated photo provided by the U.S. Army

An Army carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of Staff Sgt. Christopher L. Brown at Dover Air Force Base. AP April 5, 2012 By Jim Woods, The Columbus Dispatch A Hamilton Township High School graduate, on his third tour of duty with the U.S. Army, was killed in Afghanistan this week, the U.S. Department of Defense has confirmed. The family of Staff Sgt. Christopher L. Brown, 26, was told of his death on Tuesday, Jacqueline Brown of Toledo, Brown's aunt, said last night.

The Defense Department said Brown was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, in Fort Carson, Colo. Brown was killed by an improvised explosive device while on a walking patrol, the Defense Department said. His family, who lives on the South Side, was told that he died on Monday and that his death involved a grenade attack, Jacqueline Brown said. He and his wife, Ariell, had just married in January and she was expecting their third child. The couple also have two other daughters: Charlie, who turned 8 the day before her father died, according to birth records, and Dilyn, who will turn 6 this month. His wife and children were living in Mobile, Ala. Besides his parents, he is survived by three sisters. Word of his death circulated among his former classmates at Hamilton Township, where he graduated in 2003. Krystal Brown of Groveport, who is no relation, said she sat beside him through middle and high school. They even enlisted in the military together when they were in high school, she said. Chris was very funny, she said. He had a lot of personality. He was the class clown, that was for sure. During their high-school days, he was known for bursting out in song or doing a dance. He was an attention-getter, Krystal Brown said. But he also took to life in the military. She enrolled in the Army Reserves to pay for college, she said, but the Army was Christopher Browns career. He was confident and he liked the whole military thing, she said. Veronica Denner, 28, who lives outside of Atlanta, said she heard about Christopher Browns death through Facebook. She shares similar memories of Brown from high-school days. He was a jokester who had a big personality, Denner said. He was one of those guys that you would always expect be around.

POLITICIANS CANT BE COUNTED ON TO HALT THE BLOODSHED THE TROOPS HAVE THE POWER TO STOP THE WAR

For Every 46 Resupply Convoys In Afghanistan, U.S. Forces Suffer At Least One Casualty, Army Secretary John McHugh Said Last Summer
But Theres No Guarantee Packages Will Arrive On Time And In Full To American Positions
Apr 11, 2012 By John Ryan; Army Times [Excerpts] Todays supply soldiers brave improvised explosive devices, enemy ambushes, treacherous roads and unreliable foreign truckers, all in an effort to deliver needed cargo on time. Afghanistans landlocked and mountainous landscape has forced the Army to forge a network of perilous ground and air routes, lifelines to about 65,000 soldiers at more than 15 bases and 300 out-posts, according to the Govern-ment Accountability Office. Although the 10th Sustainment Brigade has not suffered a casualty since assuming an area of operations in eastern Afghanistan in November, most supply units in the war zone have some dark days. For every 46 resupply convoys in Afghanistan, U.S. forces suffer at least one casualty, Army Secretary John McHugh said last summer. But theres no guarantee packages will arrive on time and in full to American positions. Cargo has fallen prey to inconsistent tracking and pilferage, according to an October report from GAO. A dependence on host-nation trucking companies opens supply lines to pilferage, Col. Michael Peterman, commander of the 101st Sustainment Brigade, said in a 2011 Army release. This January, 163rd Military Intelligence Battalion soldiers teamed up with Afghan forces to clamp down on illegal activity by insurgents and smugglers on routes in Kandahar province. If improper customs documents or contraband were found, taxes were levied there on site, said Maj. Lisa Winegar, the 163rds operation officer. [Well, that solves the problem. Make the Taliban pay some taxes on site. T]

When weather, unstable roads, enemy aggression or sensitivity of cargo make ground resupply impractical, the brigade looks to the skies. Planes and helicopters land supplies at outposts or drop cargo to soldiers below. Parachute-rigged pallets can deliver fuel bladders, ammunition or frozen steaks to ground troops.

Any Person Whose Fields Are Destroyed, He Is Becoming Taliban

The Program Has Been Met With Hostility By Many Local Residents Who Say They Are Reduced To Poverty Without The Income From The Poppy Crop
Local Farmers Say That Eradication Is Selective, Meaning That Officials Often Exempt The Fields Of Relatives Or Of People Who Bribe Them Sufficiently
If A Son Of A Farmer Is In The Government And Wants To Destroy His Fathers Poppy Field, The Father Would Be Happy If His Son Is Killed By Taliban
April 11, 2012 By TAIMOOR SHAH and ALISSA J. RUBIN, The New York Times [Excerpts]

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan So focused are the Taliban on securing this years opium poppy crop and the support of the farmers tending it that in the early days of their spring offensive in the south, they are targeting not only the officials trying to eradicate the plants, but also the tractors they use. This year, the poppy fields that are so beautiful right now, carpeted with lithe red blossoms, are also sown with land mines the product of the increased cooperation between poppy farmers and the militants they see as protectors of their economic interests, government officials say. This year there is more poppy cultivation in Helmand, especially in places where people have confiscated the government lands and in places that were desert, said Daoud Ahmadi, the spokesman for the governor in Helmand Province. The reason is that the Taliban promised and persuaded farmers to grow poppy and told them they would protect them. One attack this week in Helmand Province, the poppy-growing capital not just of Afghanistan but of the world, was indicative of the far larger fight being taken up to control the crop across the southern opium belt, say government officials and the people who live there. The multifaceted attack included a team of three bombers, wearing police uniforms, who entered the Musa Qala district police headquarters intent on killing the police chief, who has been aggressive in his poppy-eradication efforts. Four officers died, and the chief was injured. In the bazaar outside, other Taliban fighters strategically positioned two motorcycles loaded with explosives as close as possible to the tractors used in the anti-poppy campaign, said Niamatullah Khan, the Musa Qala district governor. A third explosivesladen motorcycle detonated elsewhere in the bazaar, killing three more police officers. In Helmand, the government has embraced eradication as part of a comprehensive program to discourage farmers from growing poppies and to subsidize alternative crops. The program has been met with hostility by many local residents who say they are reduced to poverty without the income from the poppy crop. A study by the sociologist David Mansfeld, a researcher for Tufts University, noted that families who grow poppies eat meat more frequently and are more likely to be able to afford to marry off their children weddings often come with crippling costs in Afghanistan, where relatives far and near must be hosted and fed. No one wants to see his poppy field destroyed. A farmer is even ready to fight for his poppy field, said a merchant in Musa Qala who asked not to be named because the subject was so delicate. If a son of a farmer is in the government and wants to destroy his fathers poppy field, the father would be happy if his son is killed by Taliban. Complicating matters is the hold that poppy profits have on government officials.

Local farmers say that eradication is selective, meaning that officials often exempt the fields of relatives or of people who bribe them sufficiently. In Musa Qala, the police chief who is known locally only as Koka has a reputation as a ruthless fighter against the Taliban. He has made it a cause to destroy their poppy fields, but not necessarily those of others, like the policemen who work for him, said several local residents. While only a small part of the total income from poppies goes to the Taliban roughly 10 percent, according to estimates by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime but that adds up to a lot in a $4 billion-plus harvest. The police chief made a plan to eradicate the poppy fields of Taliban commanders first and then kill the poppy fields of those who are sympathetic with the Taliban, like landlords who help Taliban or those farmers whose sons or relatives are with Taliban, the merchant said. This decision really infuriated Taliban commanders, and by any means the Taliban wanted to kill Koka, so thats why yesterday they made a big effort. You cannot imagine how lucky he was to survive. Mr. Khan, the district governor, described a chaotic scene: after the bombers made their way into the police headquarters their initial attacks muffled by silencers on their pistols the chief burst out of his office. But then he hesitated, evidently confused by the attackers police uniforms. One of the chiefs officers shouted, They are not the real police, Mr. Khan said. The chief pulled out his pistol and shot one of the attackers; as he did, the mans suicide vest exploded, wounding the other two bombers and the chief himself. The chief was taken to a NATO hospital, local government officials said. The intense resistance to eradication means that there will be a substantial poppy harvest in Helmand and that the campaign may create dangerous resentment, Mr. Ahmadi said. I do not think it will be possible for the eradication campaign to destroy all the poppy fields in Helmand, he said. And any person whose fields are destroyed, he is becoming Taliban.

Resistance Action
Apr 11, 2012 The Associated Press KABUL, Afghanistan Roadside bombings on Wednesday killed a local Afghan government official.

Sarhadi Zewak, a spokesman for Laghman province, said the head of Dawlat Shahi district, died Wednesday when his motorcycle hit a roadside bomb. He was on his way to his office with a school headmaster, who was injured in the explosion, Zewak said. Separately, the Helmand provincial governor's office said three local Afghan policemen were killed in Musa Qala district on Tuesday when a bomber on a motorcycle blew himself up near their vehicle. The three were responding to an earlier attack that killed four policemen at the district police headquarters building. In Tuesday's bombing, three attackers wearing vests laden with explosives parked their car outside the police building and walked toward the entrance, said Daud Ahmadi, a provincial spokesman. Ahmadi said police killed one attacker and the other two blew themselves up inside the compound. However, an Associated Press photographer at the scene Tuesday saw two attackers who were fatally shot and the remains of a third who had blown himself up.

IF YOU DONT LIKE THE RESISTANCE END THE OCCUPATION

Confusion Reigned In Aftermath Of Afghanistan Massacre:

There Was Not Only Confusion But Spin, Disinformation And Outright Lies
April 11, 2012 Jon Stephenson; McClatchy Newspapers. Stephenson, a McClatchy special correspondent, was the first Western journalist to reach the scene of the massacre at Najiban, Afghanistan. ****************************************************************** NAJIBAN, Afghanistan One month after Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales allegedly went on a killing spree here in southern Afghanistan, the saying that the first casualty of war is truth continues to hold true in the deaths of eight adults and nine children in the villages of Najiban and Alkozai. In the days following the attack, in the Panjway district of Kandahar province, confusion reigned as villagers, local officials and officials from the U.S.-led coalition sorted through the grim details of the killings. The conflicting accounts of what happened in the early hours of March 11 are still being pieced together as Bales whom U.S. officials have

called the sole suspect sits in a U.S. military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., awaiting his first court appearance. What's clear, however, is that the narrative in Afghanistan of the most devastating civilian massacre of the decade-long U.S.-led war was shaped by several Afghan leaders who tried to exploit the massacre for political purposes. It's also clear that a severe trust deficit mars the presence of U.S. forces in an area that American officials not long ago described as under control, and which they view as crucial to Afghanistan's long-term stability. Many local and international journalists faced challenges in their search for the truth behind the killings. In the fog of information and with Afghan leaders including President Hamid Karzai under public pressure to respond to the tragedy there was not only confusion but spin, disinformation and outright lies.

Come Quickly, They Were Told. There's Been A Massacre.

For reporters in Kandahar, news about the killings started trickling in shortly after sunrise that day. Come quickly, they were told. There's been a massacre. They grabbed their notebooks and cameras, scrambled for their cars, and headed for Panjway. Near the district center, a convoy carrying two senior Afghan officials Haji Agha Lalai, the head of Kandahar's provincial council, and Asadullah Khalid, Afghanistan's minister of tribal and border affairs and formerly governor of Kandahar province linked up with reporters. Their vehicles roared along a paved road that winds its way past fields and farms, flanked in places by hills and mountains. Soldiers and policemen stood to attention outside the many checkpoints and bases that punctuate the landscape. Turning onto a dusty road, they came to the small but heavily fortified joint U.S.-Afghan base known as Camp Belambay. A crowd of local villagers sat nearby while Afghan soldiers stood guard at the main gate, nervously cradling their assault rifles. The officials were ushered inside along with Afghan journalists who'd reached the scene. The dead, who had been shot and in some cases stabbed, lay shrouded in blankets just outside the base. Khalid and Agha Lalai were shown the bodies. They were really angry, said one Afghan journalist, who asked not to be identified to protect his job. They were very upset because the bodies were burnt, the children were burnt. It was a horrible scene. Khalid called President Karzai to report the news. Are the media there? Karzai asked him, according to two Afghan journalists who witnessed the phone call. Make sure the media know. Make sure they see everything.

A few journalists were taken the short distance to a nearby house at Najiban, where at least 11 of the victims were shot and stabbed. The mood inside was tense. On the way they passed a massive hole in the road. Villagers and Afghan officials have told reporters that this was the site of a homemade bomb blast that struck a U.S. armored vehicle a day or two prior to the slaughter. They have also said that, prior to the killings, U.S. military personnel had threatened Najiban residents with retaliation for the bomb attack. U.S. officials later said they had no record of either incident. We don't have any indication that ... the attack that's being described occurred, and certainly no evidence that there were any threats of retaliation by U.S. soldiers, said a Pentagon spokesman, Navy Capt. John Kirby. The discrepancy between the villagers' claim and the response of the U.S. military is just one of many examples of confusion and disagreement that surround the killings. According to the Afghan journalist, who works for an international news agency, Kandahar's governor, Tooryalai Wesa, originally told local journalists that there were no casualties. Just as inaccurate was a Taliban spokesman's claim that 50 villagers had been killed. Meanwhile, Afghan government officials in Kandahar warned local journalists against reporting a high number of casualties. Sometimes (Afghan) officials downplay incidents, the journalist said, but we still report the truth. By the morning of Day Two, the numbers had settled at 16 killed and five wounded U.S. officials would later charge Bales with 17 murders but the motive behind the attack was far from clear. Why did this happen? an elder from Panjway asked Agha Lalai in a meeting with villagers at his sprawling Kandahar compound. Agha Lalai couldn't furnish a compelling answer. He was drunk, an Afghan army colonel said of the killer. Few looked convinced. As elders took turns to speak that morning there were varying accounts of the shooting spree. Some said they'd been told only one attacker was involved. Others said they'd heard that there were multiple attackers. One suggested that the shooter was a Republican trying to damage President Barack Obama's re-election chances. There was silence. Earlier that day, Shah Wali Karzai one of President Karzai's brothers and a prominent local figure seemed distressed but philosophical about the attack.

You know, there are extremists in every country, Shah Wali, a soft-spoken man who once lived in the U.S., told McClatchy at his home. There are also Afghans who are killing foreign troops in Afghanistan. He added: We have to look at the bigger picture fighting terrorism in Afghanistan. It would be a tragedy if the foreign forces left.

Day Three
On Day Three, it was obvious not everyone agreed with this sentiment. In Najiban, Shah Wali Karzai, his brother Qayum, Agha Lalai and Khalid led an official delegation to a memorial service for the victims. After prayers for the deceased, the delegation members rose one by one to speak in the courtyard of a mosque. Villagers who had gathered interrupted them frequently and vociferously. We don't want these Americans here, said one local, as U.S. helicopters thundered nearby and jets roared overhead. We don't want this base. Moments later, as the dignitaries left the mosque, gunfire and explosions erupted. Taliban? asked one reporter, as villagers and security men scrambled for cover. Yes, said a soldier. Taliban. Some of the villagers have insisted that no Taliban are present in the area, and in January Maj. Gen. James Terry, then the commander of coalition forces in the area, told reporters that after intense operations against the Taliban, we now control the decisive terrain that the insurgents have owned up until this point, including Panjway. But those claims seemed to evaporate in the lengthy firefight that ensued after the memorial ceremony. One Afghan soldier was killed and four others wounded. Perhaps the most perplexing aspect of the massacre was the claims by some villagers that a large number of U.S. soldiers took part in the killings. Some have claimed without evidence that more than 15 servicemen were involved. Dutch journalist Bette Dam, who spent a week in Kandahar investigating the killings, told McClatchy that most of these accounts were coming from people who weren't actually there or from people who were in the area but didn't actually see the attack. One of the people Dam spoke to who said he'd witnessed the attack admitted his mind was confused. Another, a woman from Najiban who said her husband was murdered in front of her by a single U.S. soldier, claimed also to have seen a group of Americans outside the house in the dark. Dam said she did not believe the people she spoke to were intentionally misleading her or had been pressured to give false accounts. Instead, she thinks the locals genuinely believe that there were multiple attackers because they're so accustomed to night raids on their homes by groups of soldiers.

One villager told me that every house in that area has been searched (by groups of soldiers) more than once, said Dam. Such is the antagonism and distrust toward U.S. forces that an Afghan soldier based at Belambay who reportedly told investigators he'd seen only one U.S. soldier leave the base that night was described as brainwashed by some local members of Parliament who backed the theory of multiple attackers. A high-ranking Afghan army officer told McClatchy that Afghan investigators have seen a U.S. surveillance video that shows a single soldier leaving and returning to the base alone on the night of the killings. But skeptical Afghans have claimed the video could have been faked. Given that level of distrust, perhaps no amount of evidence could have convinced skeptics that there was only one attacker. Some Afghan officials appeared to be guided by political considerations in allowing the multiple attacker theory to gain traction. Meeting in the presidential palace with relatives of the victims five days after the killings, Karzai openly questioned the U.S. account of a lone gunman. Pointing to one relative, he said: In his family, in four rooms people were killed children and women were killed and then they were all brought together in one room and then set on fire. That, one man cannot do. Yet the testimony Karzai relied on was from the same Panjway residents whom McClatchy and others had interviewed people who had lost relatives but not witnessed the killings firsthand. An even more incendiary allegation came from a delegation of Afghan parliamentarians who conducted their own inquiry. They said they had found that not only 15 to 20 U.S. soldiers had been involved, but that some of the deceased women had been sexually assaulted. A group of relatives of the dead issued a press statement vehemently denying the claim and accusing the lawmakers of making it up for political advantage. The lawmakers subsequently appeared to drop the claim. Last week, Karzai's chief investigator, Gen. Sher Mohammad Karimi, the Afghan army chief who had previously told an Australian TV news program that he believed the killer had one or two accomplices told McClatchy that he had heard testimony from survivors that only one man was involved. Karimi said that this testimony was clear and consistent, and he conceded that a highly trained soldier could have committed the murders alone. The people of Najiban and Alkozai may never accept this. They've told politicians and reporters that they have years of negative experiences with the U.S. military. They say that repeated night raids in particular have left them alienated, angry and afraid. Karimi said that even if Bales is convicted as the lone attacker when he faces a courtmartial in the U.S., the relatives of the Panjway victims might still suspect a cover-up.

And even if he's executed, people will say, 'No, the U.S. is lying, they're cheating us. He should be tried here (in Afghanistan).' So, you cannot please (these) people.

MILITARY NEWS

DoD Scum Gave Troops Deadly Malaria Drug To Save Money:

Shortly After Commercial Use Began, Anecdotes Surfaced About Side Effects Including Hallucinations, Delirium And Psychoses
Multifocal Brain Stem Injury Brain Damage Likely Caused By Mefloquine
How Much Does A .50-Caliber Round Cost? Theyre Worried About $4 A Pill And Theyre Willing To Spend $5 For A Round?
Navy Cmdr. Bill Manofsky who was medically retired in 2004 for PTSD and neurological problems, including loss of balance, that he said were documented in his medical records as mefloquine-related said if cost concerns are an issue, they shouldnt be. He said if DoD wants to protect the troops from malaria as well as mefloquines potential side effects, it should ban mefloquine and pay the higher cost of Malarone.

Apr 11, 2012 By Patricia Kime - Staff writer; Army Times [Excerpts] Navy Sonar Technician (Surface) Seaman Douglas Corrigan placed a Skype call to his wife March 25, 2011, from Rota, Spain, shortly after taking his first dose of the antimalaria medication mefloquine. Preparing for a mission to a malaria-endemic region, his unit watched a video on the illness, and corpsmen dispensed two drugs: daily-dose doxycycline, and mefloquine, taken weekly. Corrigan doesnt remember getting a choice. He received a blister pack of mefloquine and was told it could cause nightmares. He told me he didnt feel good, recalled Nicki Corrigan, his wife of three years. He said, I dont feel like myself anymore. It was a really weird thing for him to say. Corrigans personality changed radically, she said. The straight-laced husband and father began chewing tobacco, drinking and carousing. He climbed outside a three-story building to see whether he would feel fear. Months later, at home, he was found tiptoeing around his basement, pursuing imagined intruders. He ranted psychotically and complained of daily headaches. Medical tests showed no traumatic brain injury, nor did doctors believe he had posttraumatic stress disorder. They began suggesting he had a personality disorder or was a malingerer, faking his problems to get out of the military. Finally, an ear, nose and throat doctor at National Naval Medical Center Bethesda, Md., offered another diagnosis: multifocal brain stem injury brain damage likely caused by mefloquine. He has a lesion. On his brain, said Nicki, a registered nurse. Mefloquine has drawn attention since the Armys former top psychiatrist, retired Col. Elspeth Cameron Ritchie, wrote a column in Time magazine listing it among several drugs that may have induced psychoses in Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, charged in the shootings deaths of 17 Afghan civilians March 11. But Defense Department concerns about mefloquine date back further and some close to the issue say the most recent bout of scrutiny, which began with a meeting last Aug. 24-25 of DoDs Joint Prevention Medicine Group to discuss mefloquine policy, stems from the Corrigan case. You have a sailor with permanent brain damage, said an Army doctor familiar with the debate. Its very serious. Mefloquine was developed under the Armys malaria drug discovery program, which ran from 1963 to 1976.

The Food and Drug Administration approved it for preventive use in 1989 and it was marketed under the brand name Lariam. But no safety and efficacy reviews were ever done on a normal civilian population. The Army performed tests on prisoners in Illinois and Maryland in 1975 and 1976. Shortly after commercial use began, anecdotes surfaced about side effects including hallucinations, delirium and psychoses. A 2004 Veterans Affairs Department memo urged doctors to refrain from prescribing mefloquine, citing individual cases of hallucinations, paranoia, suicidal thoughts, psychoses and more. That same year, then-Assistant Defense Secretary for Health Affairs Dr. William Winkenwerder ordered a study to assess the rate of adverse side effects associated with antimalaria medications. He ordered the study after questions arose over its possible role in several murder-suicides at Fort Bragg, N.C., in 2002 and suicides in Iraq among deployed troops. The DoD memo says troops given mefloquine must be counseled on its possible effects and must not be suspected of having any mental health concerns. In 2011, U.S. Central Command and U.S. Africa Command issued memos barring mefloquine use except when doxycycline or another preventive drug called Malarone cannot be taken. Roche, the manufacturer of Lariam, stopped marketing it in the U.S. in 2008, but it is still available in more than 50 countries. The mefloquine now taken by U.S. troops is a generic version. Navy Cmdr. Bill Manofsky who was medically retired in 2004 for PTSD and neurological problems, including loss of balance, that he said were documented in his medical records as mefloquine-related said if cost concerns are an issue, they shouldnt be. He said if DoD wants to protect the troops from malaria as well as mefloquines potential side effects, it should ban mefloquine and pay the higher cost of Malarone. How much does a .50-caliber round cost? Theyre worried about $4 a pill and theyre willing to spend $5 for a round? he said. Theres no question malaria poses a risk. In 2011, 124 service members contracted the potentially fatal disease 91 in Afghanistan, 24 in Africa and nine elsewhere. The year before, 113 troops contracted malaria; one died. Nicki Corrigan and others have contacted lawmakers, including Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Jim Webb, D-Va., to press for congressional hearings.

Douglas Corrigan is currently undergoing a Medical Evaluation Board to determine if he is still fit for military service.

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nations ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose. Frederick Douglass, 1852

The philosophers have only interpreted the world, in various ways; the point is to change it. -- Karl Marx, Theses on Feuerbach

Freedom Of Speech

From: Mike Hastie To: Military Resistance Newsletter Sent: Sunday, April 08, 2012 Subject: Freedom of Speech Freedom of Speech Photo by Mike Hastie G-8 in Pittsburgh, Pa. Photo and caption from the portfolio of Mike Hastie, US Army Medic, Vietnam 1970-71. (For more of his outstanding work, contact at: (hastiemike@earthlink.net) T) One day while I was in a bunker in Vietnam, a sniper round went over my head. The person who fired that weapon was not a terrorist, a rebel, an extremist, or a so-called insurgent. The Vietnamese individual who tried to kill me was a citizen of Vietnam, who did not want me in his country. This truth escapes millions.

Mike Hastie U.S. Army Medic Vietnam 1970-71 December 13, 2004

ANNIVERSARIES

April 13, 1919 A Hero Imprisoned For Opposing Imperial War

Carl Bunin Peace History April 13-19 Socialist and labor leader Eugene V. Debs was imprisoned for opposing U.S. entry into World War I. While in prison, he received nearly one million votes for President in the 1920 election (as he had in 1912).

April 14, 1988: Very Happy Anniversary Next To Last Government To Invade Afghanistan Withdraws In Defeat

Happy Russian soldiers going home. Carl Bunin Peace History April 9-15 April 14, 1988: The Soviet Union signed an agreement to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan after ten years of humiliating defeats at the hands of Afghan resistance forces.

STUCK ON STUPID

Government Takes 30 Years To Fix KIAs Misspelled Name On Vietnam Veterans Memorial

Apr 11, 2012 The Associated Press BUFFALO, N.Y. A western New York family's 30-year effort to have a loved-one's misspelled first name corrected on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial is nearly over. Sen. Charles Schumer says the National Park Service has told him Roland Settimi's first name will be corrected on the memorial wall in Washington, D.C., by Memorial Day. When the memorial was completed in 1982, Settimi's first name was engraved as Ronald. Surviving family members have been trying to have the mistake corrected. They recently sought help from Schumer, who asked the parks service to make the correction. Settimi was a 20-year-old Army medic from Niagara Falls when he was killed in action in 1969. Schumer is joining members of Settimi's family Wednesday at the Vietnam Memorial in Buffalo to announce the impending correction.

DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

CLASS WAR REPORTS

Bahrain:
Impoverished Residents Widely Loathe The Sunni Royal Family And Call For Its Removal
The Snake Is Long, But If You Cut Off Its Head It Will Be Easier
I Like It Like This, A Supporter Of The Movement, Who Gave Only The Name Raba, Said In Reference To More Violent Methods. It Makes Us Stronger

An antigovernment protester in Sitra, a small town in Bahrain, hurls a Molotov cocktail at riot police in an armored personnel carrier in late March. Reuters April 10, 2012 By ALEX DELMAR-MORGAN, Wall Street Journal [Excerpts] SITRA, Bahrain On a recent Saturday in this dilapidated Shiite town, young men battled riot police amid clouds of tear gas. Overturned trash bins and burning tires littered the roads. Boulders and rocks were scattered across the roads, put there by protesters seeking to slow police vehicles. Calm has mostly been restored to Bahrain's capital, Manama, where authorities put down a mass Arab Spring uprising early last year with the backing of Saudi troops. But clashes like the recent one in Sitra are widespread in small towns and villages across the country, threatening the prospect for political dialogue between the country's Sunni rulers and the mostly Shiite opposition. Violence has intensified as protesters call for the boycott of a Formula One race planned in Bahrain this month and demand the release of a jailed activist who has been on a hunger strike for two months. Some of Bahrain's recent protests are organized by a secretive group, the Coalition of February 14th Youth, named after the day Bahrain's mass protests broke out last year. The anonymous, decentralized group, which uses social-networking sites to organize protests, is emerging as a challenger to the mainstream opposition Wefaq. No one knows the exact size of the February 14 group, which first drew attention organizing protests last autumn. Protesters associated with the movement say their policy is to defend themselves from excessive police force, but security forces say

unprovoked attacks by protesters with Molotov cocktails and other homemade explosives are rising. In contrast to Wefaq, which takes a peaceful approach toward negotiations for political reforms and doesn't call for the removal of the monarchy, a goal of the youth movement is to overthrow the king. The group denies it is influenced by Iran, according to activists familiar with it. An international report into rights abuses early last year in Bahrain, ordered by the king, found no evidence of Iran's involvement in the unrest. Wefaq commands huge numbers at its political rallies and says it doesn't feel threatened by more radical elements. It admits, however, that the February 14 movement is gaining strength and that violence poses a threat to negotiations. Wefaq says the government is unwilling to engage in serious dialogue. Clashes have centered in places like Sitra, one of Bahrain's poorest towns and a flash point in the country's turbulent history. Protests take place almost daily in this Shiite stronghold where impoverished residents widely loathe the Sunni royal family and call for its removal. Late last month, many protesters in Sitra held red, white and yellow February 14 flags as they battled security forces. I like it like this, a supporter of the movement, who gave only the name Raba, said in reference to more violent methods. It makes us stronger. The government sees the February 14 movement as part of a broader group of hard-line youth. They and anybody else with extreme views are a threat to Bahraini society, a Bahrain government spokesman said. [Hopefully.] The government is particularly sensitive to protests reaching the capital as it tries to revive tourism and breathe life into its economy. Early last year, at the height of the unrest, demonstrators camped for weeks at Manama's Pearl Roundabout, bringing the city to a standstill. Even as protests flare in small towns, the government has kept the capital largely quiet, helping to paint a picture of normal life. It is also seeking to repair its image after the international report accused security forces of using widespread torture and excessive force against protesters early last year. Last month, the United Nations criticized the excessive use of tear gas in Bahrain by police. Activists say 10 people died in March alone, most of them from teargas inhalation. Obviously, the government wants to make it look like things have returned to normal, but the damage from a public-relations point of view is huge, Mr. Stephens said. In Abu Saiba, a village west of the capital, a protester who gave his name as Husain takes to the streets at night with a scarf wrapped around his face to engage in battles with police.

The snake is long, but if you cut off its head it will be easier, he says, referring to Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, the king's uncle, who has been in office for 41 years and is a major focus of anger among Shiites.

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