Washington State Chapter:Military Families Speak Out

Thursday, 6 April 2006

Now Playing: Lietta Ruger on Washblog
Topic: Members Speak Out

Maria Cantwell; Now can you find the courage? Kerry's new Iraq exit plan

By Lietta Ruger at Washblog
Thu Apr 06, 2006 at 09:26:16 AM PST
Section: Diary Topic: Building the base

So Sen. John Kerry has made public his plan for an exit strategy from Iraq. And Sen. John Kerry will be coming to our neighborhood in a show of support for Sen. Cantwell. Hmmm, maybe now she can find the courage to become representative of her constituents, the people's will to get out of Iraq and listen to 72% of the troops polled who want to come home.

Kerry Joins Cantwell in Seattle
announcement at Daniel Kirkdorffer's blog.

NY Times; John Kerry speech; exit Iraq plan April 5, 2006.

Half of the service members listed on the Vietnam Memorial Wall died after America's leaders knew our strategy would not work. It was immoral then and it would be immoral now to engage in the same delusion. We want democracy in Iraq, but Iraqis must want it as much as we do. Our valiant soldiers can't bring democracy to Iraq if Iraq's leaders are unwilling themselves to make the compromises that democracy requires.
As our generals have said, the war cannot be won militarily. It must be won politically. No American soldier should be sacrificed because Iraqi politicians refuse to resolve their ethnic and political differences.
So far, Iraqi leaders have responded only to deadlines -- a deadline to transfer authority to a provisional government, and a deadline to hold three elections.
Now we must set another deadline to extricate our troops and get Iraq up on its own two feet.
Iraqi politicians should be told that they have until May 15 to put together an effective unity government or we will immediately withdraw our military. If Iraqis aren't willing to build a unity government in the five months since the election, they're probably not willing to build one at all. The civil war will only get worse, and we will have no choice anyway but to leave.

We'll see, there's time left before the election for Senator Cantwell to emerge publicly as a newly converted opponent to the never-ending war in Iraq. I won't be impressed if that happens, as it would be a 'safe' move given the shift in political dynamics. On the other hand, maybe the courage of her convictions is to stay the course and in some backwards way, I guess that is courage - foolhardy courage, but courage nonetheless.

However, if she does have a soul-searching epiphany and finds that she suddenly feels compelled to change her views on Iraq war, well I guess that plays too.

Right - whatever! Too late for too many, but I guess that ol saying 'better late than never', huh? I won't admire her if she changes her view and has some influence on an end to Iraq war but I will be grateful. If the two returning Iraq veterans in our family (both from Washington and her constituents too, right?) don't have to redeploy to Iraq, it will be an immense relief. I'd guess that extends to every other military family in our state whether they say so publicly or not. And of course, an extension of that is that military families across the nation will be relieved. What can possibly be said about the Iraqi people who have paid a heavy price ... not sure it is 'relief' they will be feeling as the civil war there is underway already.

Posted by SwanDeer Project at 12:01 AM PDT

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Sunday, 26 March 2006

Now Playing: Lietta Ruger
Topic: Media Involvement

Seattle Times weighs in; their coverage Iraq war

By Lietta Ruger at Washblog
Sun Mar 26, 2006 at 01:19:04 PM PST
Section: Diary Topic: General news/info

link
The Seattle Times: Local News: Editors strive to offer "all layers" of Iraq war, March 26, 2006

Media REACTS to the President's accusations that it is the media's fault for the growing unpopular support for the never-ending war. Seattle Times weighs in; not many reports of the 'good things' happening in Iraq for them to report on...hmmm, I wonder why those anectodal feel good stories aren't making their way to the Seattle Times? Perhaps because the rationale of doing good ie, building schools that are likely bombed shortly after or the rebuilding of infrastructure in Iraq that still leaves the people without basic services, much less an operating sovereign goverment is getting harder and harder to hold onto as a sustainable rationale. I believe it is a distorted rationale that has served as a lifeline to justify why our country is at war in Iraq. And it's a rationale politicians and media use as political footballs to secure their own positioning in the 'safety zone' of homeland while consigning our young to a war waged by this very homeland.

I can't say I'm disappointed to see media having to rethink their coverage of Iraq war this past three years. It is only an opinion, my opinion, but I found myself keenly disappointed often times in what looked to me like a cowering media (national and local) in the face of the patriotic/unpatriotic rhetoric that flourished in 2003-2004-2005. And yet, per a report from a group called Reporters Without Borders, 86 journalists and media assistants have been killed in Iraq from March 20, 2003, to March 20, 2006. That's not indicative of feint heart and some degree of earnestness in getting to the stories to make the reports.

I earnestly hope that media will find their own balance in future reporting. Reporting on the reports is not exactly what I consider 'the news' and yet it does seem to be a fact that it's dangerous in Iraq and news staff can die there, just like the troops and civilians.

Do I want to hear the feel good reports? Sure, but not at the expense of reporting on the actual condition of the war. There were 'good things happening in Vietnam' too, but anecdotal feel good reports don't reflect the overall condition of the war itself. If I wanted 1950's newsreels of how great our military is doing in this changed world of post 9/11, I would think I would have to be somewhat stilted in my growth as an adult to embrace such as other than propaganda bits.

After intently watching television reported newscasts, talkie personality news reports, through 2003, 2004 by 2005 I quit tuning in to hang on every word, every report. With two deployed loved ones, every day of deployment is an anxious day. The final straw came for me when watching in disgust during the 2004 elections news reports without some degree of indignation as the Commander-in-Chief in war-time insulted our entire military and their families with his pardody of 'searching for weapons of mass destruction' under his desk at the White House. A fund-raising event played out to his wealthy base intended to be humorous for the occasion.

I was grateful to have internet, bloggers, independent media, and everyday citizens trying to carry forward the 'unreported' news on Iraq; our deployed service men and women in uniform and conditions on the ground in Iraq; the state of the war in Iraq. In time it became apparant though, that blogoshere reporting on both sides leaned in favor of their own agenda.

My own new activism as a military family speaking out put me in the position of doing national and local media interviews, a not entirely comfortable or familiar position for me. Initially it did have the appearance of balanced reporting; different views from military family stakeholders. Over time it became formulaic in that media seemed to want one military family speaking in what was considered oppositional to the war with another military family speaking in what was considered favorable to the war. I do have to give credit though to our own media here in Washington. I did not have what I consider to be bad or awkward experiences and am grateful for the mostly accurate reflection in reports of the interviews media has conducted with me.

I think the challenge comes in stating clearly what it is we want media to report regarding the war in Iraq. Your thoughts?

Posted by SwanDeer Project at 12:01 AM PST

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Friday, 24 March 2006

Now Playing: Lietta Ruger
Topic: Members Speak Out

Seattle PI editorial board calls out Cantwell on

Seattle PI editorial board calls out Cantwell on her war position.

By Lietta Ruger at Washblog
Fri Mar 24, 2006 at 07:55:42 AM PST
Section: Diary Topic: Legislative performance

Disclaimer: my political allegiance lies more in supporting our troops by bringing them home (and taking care of them when they get home). The efforts of our organization, Military Families Speak Out - WA state chapter are to challenge our elected officials on their position on Iraq war. Begging off taking a position in favor of 'staying the course' in alignment with the Commander-in-Chief's position does not translate to a plan of action for our troops, their families, our country.

In that we expect this 'volunteer military' in their repeated deployments x 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 to do their jobs with their very lives; it is not unreasonable to expect Senator Cantwell to do her job with a similar level of integrity. New paradigm for how this war is being managed requires new paradigm in the political playing field. Playing it 'safe' while others are dying is not an act of courage. The vested voice of military families and troops are the real stake-holders in the policies and policy-makers in this war in Iraq/Afghanistan.

Apparantly the editorial board of Seattle PI has a definite opinion about Cantwell's war position...see article below the fold. See also Joe Colgan's op-ed in Seattle PI Feb 22, 2006; The Killing Has Got to Stop (brief history; military families met privately with Sen. Cantwell in Dec 2004 to express their concerns and ask her to state clearly her position on war in Iraq. While I was invited and included, I was not able to travel up to Seattle to attend that meeting. The meeting was scheduled for 1/2 hr prior to one of her fund-raiser events and she did shift the appointment to an earlier time to allow longer than 1/2 hour meeting. We believed that was indicative of some sincerity on her part to fully hear what those most invested had to say = Joe Colgan, veteran and father of son killed in Iraq 2003; Joshua Farris, returning Iraq veteran; Elizabeth Falzone, cousin killed in Iraq Nov 2004.)

Joe Colgan, Kent, WA, is a veteran and father of Army 2nd Lt. Benjamin J. Colgan, who was killed by a roadside bomb in Baghdad in November of 2003 while serving in an artillery unit. I had the privilege of representing several of our Washington military families at presentation in Tacoma rally and march last Sunday. My presentation followed Rep. Jeannie Darnielle D- Tacoma who is also a military family with deployed loved ones. I was proud to give part of my 10 minute presentation to include Joe Colgan along with Joshau Farris (Seattle), a returning Iraq veteran.

see news articles:
Tacoma News Tribune article; Community marches against war

Tacoma Weekly article; Opponents of Iraq war march through Hilltop

In recent poll of the troops 72% say 'Bring Us Home'. Isn't it time to listen to the authentic voices?

Tuesday, March 21, 2006
Iraq War: Cantwell's choice
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER EDITORIAL BOARD
It must have been a bit uncomfortable for Sen. Maria Cantwell to share the same Seattle stage with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama, not because he is among the Democratic Party's most telegenic rising young stars but because he is critical of the Bush administration's rush to war, while she supported it.
Cantwell has said she doesn't think her vote for the war was a mistake. A few months ago, she stunned the members of this newspaper's Editorial Board by talking of "our successes in Iraq."
Her Republican challenger, Mike McGavick, is unlikely to campaign against a war that is the cornerstone of a Republican administration.
But Cantwell can hardly campaign against a war her vote sanctioned, even though a large portion of the U.S. electorate and a decidedly larger portion of her own constituents are unhappy with the course of the war and President Bush's handling of it. It's a campaign issue that could bleed votes from the traditional Democratic base.
But Cantwell may be able to benefit both her re-election prospects and the nation's foreign policy. She helped lead us into this war; now it's incumbent on Cantwell to help lead us out of it.
If Cantwell is simply wedded to a stay-the-course strategy in Iraq, she's lost touch with her constituents on the central foreign policy issue.
If, however, she recognizes that we're in a quagmire that will continue to drain U.S. blood and treasure, Cantwell should bring a legitimate voice to the debate on how to best get out of Iraq.

Posted by SwanDeer Project at 12:01 AM PST

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Saturday, 18 March 2006

Now Playing: Lietta Ruger
Topic: Civic Duty

Military Families Speak Out on tragic 3rd Anniversary Iraq/Afghanistan war

Weekend of tragically marking the third anniversary Iraq/Afghanistan war. Some of the scheduled events of Military Families Speak Out - Washington state Chapter

We welcome friends and supporters of our message:

Support Our Troops
Bring Them Home Now
Take Care of them when they get home.

We've been busy this month - more below fold.

MFSO participation in events in Washington

Bellingham
WHAT: March and Rally
DATE: Friday, March 17
TIME: 3pm
PLACE: Bellingham Herald building, Chestnut and State Sts.
WHO: MFSO members will participate, including Anna Lawson whose son serves in the North Dakota National Guard and who has been deployed to Iraq.
CONTACT: mfsowa@swandeer.com

Port Angeles
WHAT: Rally and March
DATE: Saturday, March 18
TIME: noon
PLACE: Liberty Bell Veterans Park, 4th and Lincoln
WHO: MFSO member Jenny Keesey will be speaking, whose son is in the Army.
CONTACT: mfsowa@swandeer.com

Tacoma
WHAT: Cost of War Hits Home rally & march
DATE: Sunday, March 19
TIME: 1:30pm
PLACE: People's Park Tacoma, Martin Luther King Way & S. 9th St.
WHO: Lietta Ruger of Bay Center, WA, will speak. Lietta's son-in-law and nephew are both in the Army and served extended tours in Iraq; they now face the prospect of multiple tours in Iraq. Lietta brings her history as a military family spanning her childhood and early adult years, and as a young military wife during Vietnam.
CONTACT: mfsowa@swandeer.com

Louisiana

WHAT: March of Veterans, Military Families, and Survivors of Hurricane Katrina from Mobile AL to New Orleans, LA http://www.vetgulfmarch.org
DATE: 3/14 - 3/19
TIME: Rally in New Orleans, 3/19/06 10 AM
PLACE: Enter Armstrong Park (Congo Square) and begin the Rally Against War and
Injustice.
WHO: Members of Military Families Speak Out, including:
* Stacy Bannerman of Kent, Washington whose husband serves in the Washington Army National Guard, SFC Mortar Platoon, and served a year's tour of duty in Iraq. Upon return to the US, his Brigade were cut loose after a week of outprocessing, and they have gotten no post-deployment mental health counseling.

Seattle
WHAT:Sat March 18, silent vigil 9:20am Senator Cantwell fundraiser: the Palace Ballroom, 2100 5th Ave, Seattle.
WHO: Joe Colgan, veteran, military family and father of Benjamin Colgan, killed in Iraq in 2003. Military families, veterans, and citizen voters will gather behind one or two 3 ft. by 9 ft. banners (in front of the entrance to the fund raiser) with the following excerpt from Joe's Seattle PI op-ed piece:

"I write as a veteran who has a special love for our troops and their families, and as the father of Lt. Benjami! n Colgan, who was killed in action in Baghdad on Nov. 1, 2003... How many more Americans and Iraqis must perish or be maimed until the "stay-the-course" approach is discredited?
...It is time for Cantwell to help move the debate beyond pointless rhetoric by taking a clear position and holding public forums to promote a better understanding of the costs of this war and how to end it."

(See the full op-ed http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0202-30.htm )
This will be a solemn presence that conveys a clear message to both those attending the fund raiser and to the press.

Previous Military Families Speak Out events in March 2006 events noting this tragic 3rd year anniversary;

Seattle
WHAT: Meeting with KOMO 4 TV news representatives to discuss discuss with KOMO 4 their past and future news/media coverage of terrorism and war in Iraq these past 3 yrs = adequate or inadequate and why?
DATE: Friday, March 17, 2006
WHO: Backbone Campaign, Amy Lacenski of Military Families Speak Out

Tacoma
WHAT: Forum Speak Out for Military Community
DATE: Wednesday, March 1, 2006
PLACE: Tacoma Unitarian Church
WHO: Military Families Speak Out, Gold Star Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War and the Olympia Movement for Justice and Peace. Purpose was to reach out to military families of Fort Lewis.

Lietta Ruger, the state chapter coordinator
for Military Families Speak Out (MFSO), says that
"the aim of the forum is to engage with other military families in Washington in discussion of the war, the mission, and support for the deployed troops.
We hope to reach across division and splits and
find some common ground for both sides of the
discussion. We share in common the support of the
troops deployed and have reason to be proud of them."

Media coverage included invitation and interviews in Fort Lewis Ranger and Tacoma News Tribune. http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/military/story/5557760p-5002219c.html
Also TNT reporter was at the event; article in TNT
reporting on the event
http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/5561030p-5004695c.html

Posted by SwanDeer Project at 12:01 AM PST

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Wednesday, 15 March 2006

Now Playing: Lietta Ruger
Topic: Take Care of Them

Washington newspaper account of local Army Sgt wounded

Hi Friends,

In Washington state, the newspaper in Vancouver, WA (The Columbian) published the below article on Dec 26, 2005. The story of a local wounded soldier, Army Sgt Brian Radke.

It is personal for us in that the father of the wounded soldier, Dave Radke, was the Administrator of the Community Services Office (Dept of Social and Health Services) in Vancouver where both Arthur and I were employed and met each other.

Note: This family is not connected to MFSO in any way.

Since then, Arthur and I have gone on to transfer to other CSOs across the state until we wound up in the current CSO in South Bend, WA. I left state service shortly after the invasion in Iraq to give more full time attention to my daughter and her 3 children (my grandchildren) when her husband deployed to Iraq and to give more full time attention to giving voice to bringing the troops home. Arthur stayed on cause..well, ya know, someone in the family has to have earning power.

When this article came to our attention it was significant for not only the personal connection to the soldier's father, and that Sgt Brian Radke is about same age as our 2 Iraq veterans, but also because it is a comprehensive, descriptive article of a Washington army Sgt's injury experience.

Our Washington newspapers run coverage on first hand accounts in quite different ways, and what is striking about the tone of this article is that it avoids pro/anti and partisan messages to focus on real first hand experience, keeping attention on the soldier; on the troops; on the real need to take care of them when they get home; on the potential longevity of recovery from all the wounds physical and less visible.

And as secondary is the courage it takes the military families to persevere in the life-changing aftermath of loved ones deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan.

I phoned the Radke household in Vancouver and spoke to Brian's parents, Dave and Lynne Radke to offer our empathy and in common experiences with deployed loved ones. I wanted to obtain Dave's permission to share the article amongst my own networking and affiliations and explained a bit about my affiliations and activities.

I do not wish to disrespect the troops or their families and felt I needed permission before passing this article along to my networking. The Radke's have stature in their community in Vancouver, WA as well as across the state and are well-respected, which makes the tone of the article all the more significant to me.

They are not to my knowledge affiliated with any of our military family and veteran coalitions, which makes it all the more powerful as they are a military family speaking their own experience and truth independently.

Warning though, there are sections of the article which are graphicly descriptive of injuries and recuperation in Walter Reed. Of note, Sgt Brian Radke has been visited by Congressman Murtha, and the article speaks some to Murtha's reaction and action; SOD Rumsfeld, and the article speaks some about Brian's reactions to the Rumsfeld visit.

A couple days after the Rumsfeld visit, in a ceremony at nation's capital Senator McCain pinned purple heart to Sgt Brian Radke.

Link to article; 'Trying to Heal'. It is copyrighted so I'm reluctant to print it out for distribution.

Posted by SwanDeer Project at 12:01 AM PST

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Sunday, 5 March 2006

Now Playing: Stacy Bannerman
Topic: Members Speak Out

CommonDreams.org

No Deals for Democrats: Quit Bargaining with the Lives of Our Loved Ones

Published on Sunday, March 5, 2006 by Stacy Bannerman

It’s easy to make deals with soldiers’ lives when it’s not your soldier. It’s pretty simple to postpone coming up with an exit strategy when your loved ones are already home.

What’s not so easy is sitting across from a familiar stranger, someone who looks like your loved one, but isn’t, not quite. What’s even harder is dining next to an empty chair, day after day, month after month, and year after year. Taking your meals at the bedside of what’s left of your son lying in intensive care at Walter Reed Army Medical Center is a whole different degree of difficult.

Diane Benson’s 26-year-old boy was still unconscious when he arrived at Walter Reed after being hit by a roadside bomb in Tikrit, north of Baghdad. Latseen Benson, in the 101st Airborne, had his legs blown off, along with part of an arm. If he survives—and it’s still a pretty big if—he will never again sit in his old chair at his mother’s table. Negotiate that, Senator Clinton.

Anne Roesler’s son just returned from his third deployment to Iraq in three years. Before he left in August, he told his mom that, if he made it back this time, it would take years for him to recover. Iraq War veterans are already exhibiting post-combat mental health challenges at unprecedented levels.

Part of the reason for the escalating psychological problems is that while soldiers were typically sent for one tour-of-duty in Vietnam, more and more troops are serving two, three, and sometimes four rotations in Iraq. Another complication is the moral ambiguity of fighting a war without front lines, and where the combatants are, or are dressed as, civilians, some of them women or teens. Iraqi law allows the use of children as soldiers, and at least 1,000 youths are believed to be serving in the Iraq military, a figure that doesn’t account for the adolescents providing assistance to insurgency forces.

There is considerable psychological distress associated with going into a country under the auspices of liberating and helping a people, only to have those people rise up against you, and it lingers long after the war has ended.

This nation’s leaders told our soldiers that the people of Iraq would be overjoyed to see them. Forty-five percent of Iraqis think that the insurgents’ attacks on American troops are justified. Eighty percent of Iraqis want the troops out now, as do a majority of Americans.

When this administration sent my husband to Iraq, they told him he’d be building schools. Instead, he killed schoolchildren. Now, how is he supposed to deal with that? How does the wife deal with being woken up in the middle of the night by her husband, holding an imaginary gun to her head?

The only deals that interest politicians are the ones that will keep them in office. They speak of “phased withdrawals,” a gradual drawing-down of forces, which has been tried before.

It didn’t work in Vietnam. It’s sheer arrogance or stupidity to think it will succeed in Iraq.

Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) said an immediate pullout “would cause more problems for us in America." Does “us” refer to you folks on Capitol Hill? What about the nearly 70 percent of Americans who want the troops out of Iraq? Or do you mean the soldiers who are serving in Iraq, and the families left behind? Because, I assure you, the problem for “us” is not an immediate withdrawal of troops.

The problem, for those of us with loved ones in uniform, is that our soldiers are fighting and dying for a lie.

Bargaining with the lives of our soldiers is not leadership. It is moral cowardice and an egregious failure of office of the highest order. I’ve come to expect that from the Bush administration, but surely the Democrats can do better. With the exception of Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), too many Democrats are trying to make deals with the lives of our soldiers. Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean recently endorsed a report by former assistant Defense secretary Lawrence Korb. The ‘strategic redeployment’ concept sets out a plan for a phased troop withdrawal over an 18 month period.

Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) recently stated that he thinks: “In 2006, American troops will begin to leave Iraq in large numbers. By the end of the year, I believe we will have redeployed at least 50,000 troops."

But Biden, Dean, and far too many other Democrats are remarkably silent about the 80,000 or more troops that would remain in Iraq. And they’re mute when it comes to the 800-plus soldiers who will most likely get killed between now and then, bringing the U.S. body count to around 3,000. That’s playing Russian roulette with our loved ones. If the Democratic leaders don’t play that game with their families, they’ve got no right to play it with ours.

Stacy Bannerman is a contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus and on the Advisory Board of Military Families Speak Out. Her book “When the War Came Home: The Inside Story of Reservists and the Families They Leave Behind,” will be released by Continuum Publishing in March 2006. Her husband deployed to Iraq with the Army National Guard 81st Brigade in March 2004, and returned home on March 11, 2005.

Posted by SwanDeer Project at 12:01 AM PST

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Saturday, 25 February 2006

Now Playing: Lietta Ruger
Topic: Local Lobbying

Progress!

02/25/2006

Last week Lietta received the following from the Senior Legislative Assistant for Senator Mark Doumit. Senator Doumit (coincidentally our state senator from our legislative district) is the co-chair of the Senate Ways and Means Committee in the Washington State legislature..

Hello, I want to let you know that a budget proviso was included in the Senate's proposed budget for $150,000 for a Military Department to study the scope and adequacy of training on exposure to depleted uranium received by Washington state members of the National Guard serving during the first Gulf War or reccently in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is similar to the bill that you had contacted us about and I hope this comes as good news. Your message bringing it to our attention was very, very helpful.

Posted by SwanDeer Project at 12:01 AM PST

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Saturday, 18 February 2006

Now Playing: Arthur Ruger
Topic: Take Care of Them

Why the Depleted uranium study on behalf of the WA Natl Guard is important

By Arthur Ruger
Sat Feb 18, 2006 at 03:49:02 PM PST
Section: Washington State Topic: Legislation

I want to follow up on Lietta's recent article Depleted uranium study WA Natl Guard IS funded! Tx Sen Doumit

Led by Senator Mark Doumit and the Senate's Ways and Means Committee, Washington State has a chance to act in a profoundly wise manner. They will join other wise legislators across the country who have not been fooled by Pentagon's and Republican adminisration's shush-now pooh-poohing of the serious, tragic and potentially calamitous medical /financial impact of the use of depleted uranium in American weaponry in Iraq and the Middle East.

Earlier last year, the Connecticut House voted 144-0 to approve the kind of legislation Doumit and company gave life to and moved closer to the Governor's desk for signature.

Depleted Uranium is not a figmentary notion in the minds of conspiracy theorists - the sort of people easily dismissed and discredited by political manipulators and suppressed by Pentagon authorities.

More and more attention is drawn to this issue requiring that more and more authorities address the issue; a situation that itself debunks the old DU-debunking in the early years of the war.

Bored on a Saturday moving into the afternoon, out of curiosity I googled "depleted uranium victims" and rather than click "web" on Google, I clicked "images."

What came up included victim pictures of greater tragedy and criminality than anything we've seen in the original and now recent 2nd issuances of photos from Abu Ghraib.

These D.U. pictures are so numerous, one can only conclude the legitimacy of the problem or fall back on a stubborn insistence that camera-clickers from all over the world have conspired to attempt the most massive and hideous fraud ever perpetrated.

Denying and refusing to believe the D.U. tragedy will eventually be tantamount to denying the Holocaust.

After seeing those pictures, I again googled "depleted uranium" and clicked on "web" to see how easily one can become informed about whether or not our legislature is wasting time by looking into DU effects on our National Guard and the regular military members who reside in this state.

Well, I'll tell ya ... Our legislators are not wasting time. Any who try to diminish the effort or its importance have been just plain been lazy ... too lazy to even Google.

Manuel Valenzuela is a social critic and commentator, international affairs analyst, current events observer, Internet columnist and author of Echoes in the Wind, a novel now published by Authorhouse.com.

His articles appear regularly at his blog, Valenzuela's Veritas and at Information Clearing House as well as at other alternative news websites from around the globe.

The following are excerpts from his lengthy article, The Killing Fields: Ghosts of the Walking Dead.

Lengthy yes, but - I promise you - an article worth reading in its entirety.

The Killing Fields
Meanwhile, all around Iraq and its cities a clandestine yet deadly killer lurks, invisible and unseen, devastating in its capacity to destroy human DNA, a silent death sentence that has and will befall hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of unsuspecting human beings, both Iraqi and American.
This killer festers in the air, water, food supply, vegetation and ground, infiltrating the porous bodies of human beings, cementing itself for life.
It lingers on streets and rivers and buildings and homes, carried by wind and rain and through the daily weather patterns of Mesopotamia.
... Depleted uranium is a silent mass murderer, a clandestine nuclear bomb whose mushroom cloud is never seen exploding, yet the radiation and heavy metals excreted from the weapons it envelopes when they strike their target, the heat evaporating uranium particulates into the air, become airborne contagions that latch onto our carbon and organic bodies.
It attacks our organs and our bones, our nerves and blood, mutating our DNA genetic sequence, destroying our immune systems, penetrating our reproductive systems and causing various terminal cancers.
... Depleted uranium used fifteen years ago is now being felt where American ordnance was dropped from the sky above, as lands, food supply, water and air once contaminated, inhaled and ingested release the WMD lingering in their midst.
Child deformities, stillbirths, mutated fetuses, miscarriages and birth defects have been springing up for quite some time now, as the DU embedded in the sperm and eggs of parents transfers over to the embryo.
The mutations taking place, along with the deformities now apparent yet hardly ever seen in human society, are gross distortions of human normalcy, creating beings the likes of which have never been seen before. The photos of what DU can do to newborn babies and fetuses are available on the Internet.
Entire regions, towns and neighborhoods are experiencing clusters of these mutations in their newly born babies, with doctors unable to explain the sudden rise in defects and deformities that did not exist previously.
... Iraq has been transformed into a vast killing field, a wasteland overrun by the remnants of America's silent WMD, a cheap and money saving weapon...
... Already, 11,000 American soldiers, veterans of the first Gulf War, have died thanks to Gulf War Syndrome, cancer and disease. Over 350,000 veterans, out of 700,000 who served, have asked for serious disability, most of these veterans being in their late twenties and early thirties, in the prime of their lives, cleared as healthy before the war in military conducted medical physicals.
Depleted Uranium is the most likely culprit, as many more get diagnosed with terminal diseases and illnesses every year. Many veterans of Gulf War One and now the Iraq/Bush War have themselves been giving birth to deformed and defective children, much like their Iraqi counterparts.
Depleted Uranium, it seems, does not discriminate nor does it need a passport to infect human beings. It has been imported into America by our returning soldiers, a great percentage of which most likely have remnants of depleted uranium buried deep inside them.
How many American veterans of Gulf War One and the Iraq/Bush War will in the next few decades succumb to cancer or destroyed immune systems? How many of their children will be born like those in Iraq, unable to live more than a few days or months because their bodies are infested with DU, their appearance no longer presenting the appearance of a human child?
It is estimated that 40,000 to 80,000 more veterans will die in the next twenty to thirty years as the effects of DU run their course. How many more will produce offspring with genetic birth defects, gross mutations of fetuses, miscarriages and stillborns?
... In their whispered plea can we also see what might happen to tens of thousands of our own men and women, themselves hosts carrying the demons of the Iraqi Killing Fields back home.
Is the price of what America has done in our name worth our silence and indifference?

So what happens when we question the leaders who have done this on our behalf and in our name?

Valenzuela is a gifted writer who captures passion in his words and expresses that passion well.

To supplement Valensuela's thoughts, I recommend the following as well.

Depleted Uranium - A Hidden Looming Worldwide Calamity
found at Global Research.CA

These are what we ought to be sharing with our legislators.

Posted by SwanDeer Project at 12:01 AM PST

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Thursday, 16 February 2006

Now Playing: Lietta Ruger
Topic: Local Lobbying

Depleted Uranium Bill (SENATE BILL SB 6732) Made it out of Committee!

Please contact members of the Senate Ways and Means Committee to tell them SB 6732 is on the way and why it needs to be passed.

Group and Friends,

Thank you for your attention and taking rapid action below...much appreciated. Please send along a quick email reply once you've taken action. Questions? please ask...

MFSO, Washington state chapter congratulations to the team that put this together and put it forth; thank you.

Respect, Peace, Solidarity

Lietta Ruger, member Military Families Speak Out
military family with 2 Iraq veterans,
PO Box 335
Bay Center, WA 98527
home phone: 360-875-6380
cell phone: 360-942-9169
email: rugerla@centurytel.net

website: Military Families Speak Out, Washington state

RAPID ACTION REQUEST

SENATE BILL SB 6732 (studying military uranium exposure) made it out of committee! Senate Health, voted "majority, do pass, and refer to Ways and Means."

View online progress and reports at SB6732

Also including text of the pdf adobe report of the State Senate hearings held on this bill in Olympia Feb 2, 2006.

Suggestion that you send e-mails or call those that you know or are in your districts on the Senate Ways and Means and alert them that the Senate Bill 6732 is coming.

Use two or three sentences about what it will do and why it needs to be passed this year (troops are coming home).

Suggestion not go into great detail about anything, just let them know we want their support.

These are the names and a comment or two about the Committee members of the Senate Ways and Means.
Please act rapidly as this will be a very short turn around for them.

Margarita Prentice, D, 11, Chair, lives in Renton, is a nurse.
Karen Fraser, D, 22, Vice-Chair, Lives in Thurston, was part of Nuclear Waste Round Table.
Mark Doumit, D, 19, Vice-Chair, Grays Harbor area,
Joseph Zarelli, R, 18, Ranking Minority, Woodland area, 6 years active duty 82-89.
Dale Brandland, R, 42, Belllingham, Navy 68-69, Sheriff.
Darlene Fairlay, D, 32, Redmond/Edmonds, ex overseas volunteer.
Mike Hewitt, R, 16, Walla Walla, Tri-Cities.
Jeanne Kohl-Welles, D, 36, Seattle, All around person.
Linda Evans Parlette, R, 12, Wenatchee, BS in Pharmacy, Health care is an interest.
Craig Pridemore, D, 49, Vancouver, current active duty vet.
Marilyn Rasmussen, D, 2, Pierce County, Fort Lewis, Tacoma.
Debbie Regala, D, 27, Tacoma, Pierce, Doing something with Habitat.
Pam Roach, R, 31, Auburn, Has done international teaching, volunteer?
Mark Schoesler, R, 9, Spokane, farmer.
Mrs. Pat Thibaudeau, D, 43, Seattle, interest in health.

SENATE BILL REPORT
SB 6732

As Reported By Senate Committee On:
Health & Long-Term Care, February 2, 2006

Title: An act relating to exposure to depleted uranium and other hazardous materials by members and veterans of the national guard.

Brief Description: Studying military uranium exposure.

Sponsors: Senators Franklin and Rasmussen.

Brief History:

Committee Activity: Health & Long-Term Care: 2/2/06 [DP-WM].

SENATE COMMITTEE ON HEALTH & LONG-TERM CARE

Majority Report: Do pass and be referred to Committee on Ways & Means.

Signed by Senators Keiser, Chair; Thibaudeau, Vice Chair; Franklin, Kastama, Kline and Poulsen.

Staff: Sharon Swanson (786-7447)

Background:

Depleted uranium is what is left over when most of the highly radioactive isotopes of uranium are removed for use as nuclear fuel or nuclear fuel weapons. The depleted uranium is used in armor-piercing munitions and in enhanced armor protection for some Abrams tanks.
Heavy metals such as uranium, tungsten, and lead have chemical toxicity properties that, in high doses, can cause adverse health effects.
Depleted uranium was used extensively in place of tungsten for ammunition by the United States and United Kingdom in the first Gulf War. A report issued by the Hague Peace Conference, dated May, 1999, states that at least 320 tons of depleted uranium was "lost" during the first Gulf War and that much of that was converted at high temperature into an aerosol, creating a mist or fog.
Once inhaled, very small particles of depleted uranium can reside in the lungs for years, slowly passing through the lung tissue into the blood. Uranium can be stored in bone, lymph, liver, kidney, or other tissues. Eventually, all uranium that gets into the bloodstream ends up in the kidneys prior to expulsion through urine.

Summary of Bill: Effective October 1, 2006, the Adjutant General of the Washington State National Guard is required to assist any eligible member or veteran in obtaining federal treatment services, who:

l) Has been assigned a risk level I, II, or III for depleted uranium exposure by his or
her branch of service;
2) Is referred by a military physician; or
Senate Bill Report - 1 - SB 6732
3) Has reason to believe that he or she was exposed to depleted uranium during service.
Eligible member is defined as a member of the Washington National Guard who served in the Persian Gulf War, or in an area designated as a combat zone during Operation EnduringFreedom or Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The bill directs the Adjutant General to submit a report on the scope and adequacy of training received by members of the National Guard on exposure to depleted uranium.
Additionally, the report must include an assessment of the feasibility and cost of adding pre-deployment training concerning potential exposure to depleted uranium and other toxic chemical substances and the precautions recommended under combat and non-combat conditions.

The report is due by October 1, 2006.

A task force which includes the Secretary of the Department of Health, or designee, the Adjutant General, the Director of Veterans Affairs, six legislative members, and additional members totaling fifteen is created. The task force is directed to complete several tasks by January 31, 2007, specifically:

1) initiate a health registry;
2) develop a plan for outreach to affected military personnel; and
3) prepare a report on potential exposure to depleted uranium
and recommendations for precautions to be taken.

Appropriation: None.

Fiscal Note: Available.

Committee/Commission/Task Force Created: Yes.

Effective Date: Ninety days after adjournment of session in which bill is passed.

Testimony For:

The United States government and military has a history of lying to its veterans.
In Vietnam, it was agent orange. Many veterans returned home to a life of cancer, children with birth defects, and eventually death. The military claimed to not know about agent orange.
Our new veterans returning home from Iraq face similar challenges. We need to force the military to perform the proper tests to determine uranium poisoning.
The current test only looks for uranium in urine. That test is only good for thirty days. The conclusive testing must look at blood results, tissue testing, and must be able to detect microscopic particles.
Depleted uranium becomes microscopic. Troops breath it in and it settles in the lungs.
In Mississippi, returning Persian Gulf male veterans are 1.7 times more likely to father children with birth defects. Female Persian Gulf veterans are 2.4 times more likely to give birth to a child with birth defects.
This is only the beginning.
England and Germany are conducting the proper tests. The United States needs to do the same for their veterans.

Testimony Against: None.

Who Testified:

PRO:
Terrence Zander, Veterans for Peace

Jerry Muchmore, Veteran

George Hill, M.D.

Peter Von Christierson, Depleted Uranium Study Team

Col. Ron Weaver, Washington Military Department

Harvey Brooks, National Association of Black Veterans

Note: Written testimony by MFSO was provided and entered into the testimony record. While time was allotted to MFSO representative (Lietta Ruger) to give oral testimony, due to the time limitations allowing for approximately 2 minutes to each testimony, choice made for MFSO representation to provide written testimony and yield more time to others presenting oral testimony.

Posted by SwanDeer Project at 12:01 AM PST

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Now Playing: Lietta Ruger
Topic: Local Lobbying

Depleted uranium study WA Natl Guard IS funded! Tx Sen Doumit

By Lietta Ruger at Washblog
Thu Feb 16, 2006 at 08:23:36 AM PST
Section: Diary Topic: Legislation

From email I received from my State Senator Doumit's office;

Hello, I want to let you know that a budget proviso was included in the Senate's proposed budget for $150,000 for a Military Department to study the scope and adequacy of training on exposure to depleted uranium received by Washington state members of the National Guard serving during the first Gulf War or reccently in Iraq and Afghanistan. This is similar to the bill that you had contacted us about and I hope this comes as good news. Your message bringing it to our attention was very, very helpful.

Sincerely,

Vickie Winters
Sr. Legislative Assistant for Senator Doumit
...snipped

Posted by SwanDeer Project at 12:01 AM PST

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