Saturday, September 26, 2009

Drones, deaths and don't waste my time

Thursday, there was a prison break in Tikrit with sixteen prisoners escaping and, by yesterday, 6 of the 16 were said to have been captured. CNN reports 2 more escapees were captured this morning during "house-to-house searches" for a total of 8 prisoners now captured.

Xinhua reports a US military drone crashed in Mosul today. Jamal al-Badrani, Mohammed Abbas and Robin Pomeroy (Reuters) note "that the drone struck the local offices of the Iraqi Islamic Party, Iraq's biggest Sunni Arab political group, the military said." Timothy Williams (New York Times) adds, "The American military said it was not clear why the small remotely operated plane fell from the sky in the Ghizlani neighborhood in west Mosul, one of the most violent areas of a multiethnic city contested by various religious and ethnic groups." Thrilled that Iraq's getting some coverage from NYT but shouldn't that report open:

For at least the second time this month, a US military drone has crashed in Iraq. Today . . .


September 14th, US Air Force announced: "An Air Force MQ-1 Predator unmanned aircraft crashed in central Iraq at approximately 12:45 p.m. Baghdad time on Sept.14. The crash was not due to hostile fire. The crash site has been secured and there were no reports of civilian injuries or damage to civilian property. The aircraft is a medium-altitude, long-endurance, remotely-piloted aircraft. The MQ-1's primary mission is conducting armed reconnaissance. A board will be convened to investigate the incident." Mike noted that in real time. So this is at least the second drone crash this month. In other violence (yes, a drone falling on a political party's office qualifies as violence) . . .

Bombings?

Mohammed Al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspaper) reports a Falluja bombing claimed the life of 1 police officer and his brother.

Shootings?

Timothy Williams (New York Times) reports 2 sisters were shot dead while waiting for a bus in Mosul, that 1 police officer was shot dead while in his car in Mosul and a second police officer was shot dead as he was out walking in Mosul.

Corpses?

Reuters adds 1 corpse was discovered in Mosul.

Grasp that only NYT caught the shootings. Again, good to see NYT covering Iraq again.

This week, 28-year-old Iraq War veteran Ryan Job passed away. Lynn Thompson (Tri-City Herald) reports that he passed away on Thursday following "major reconstructive surgery at Maricopa Medical Center in Phoenix." He was injured and blinded in a 2006 attack in Iraq. His survivors include his mother Debbie Job, his wife Kelly Job (who is expecting her and Ryan's first child), his brother Aaron, "his father Eric Job, his sister, Kelsie, and his grandmother Barbara McCormick". Thompson notes the Thursday service is to be held at Bible Church in Scottsdale (Arizona) and:

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be sent to either Camp Patriot, http://www.camppatriot.org; Sentinels of Freedom, http://www.sentinelsoffreedom.org; or the Naval Special Warfare Foundation, http://www.nswfoundation.org.

Now I'm going to make something really damn clear and if it people don't see it's their own damn fault. DO NOT use the public e-mail account to inform me of your Afghanistan War actions. I don't give a damn. Do you grasp it? Is it clear enough for you?

The Iraq War continues. It hasn't ended. I'm not interested in all the pathetic little s**ts who can't stay focused long enough to end a war. You send me that garbage again and I'm going to stop opening your e-mails. I'm not interested in it. I'm not interested in promoting the LIE that the Iraq War has ended.

A lot of do-nothings who attempt to pose as do-gooders want to rush off to protest the Afghanistan War. They think it's the 'hot' protest. I'm not interested. This site follows the Iraq War which has not ended. I have no damn desire to promote your activies or you. If fact your so damn pathetic that you should come with a warning label notifying people that you're not about ending any war, you're just about getting yourself some publicity for a few days.

In the last entry, we noted Russ Feingold and John Kerry proposing to end the Iraq War in one year and less than a month. That was in 2007 (proposed in June 2006, ending in July 2007). Thanks to bulls**ters and liars and whores, we're not seeing an end to the Iraq War. The end of 2011 will not see the Iraq War ended. That's the lie though. And worthless pieces of s**t pretend it's the end and pretend like, in 2009, ending the war by the start of 2012 is acceptable. It wasn't acceptable to John Kerry and Russ Feingold in 2006. There is no large scale peace movement. There are a few committed people and there are a lot of hitchhikers on the highway of causes who thumb a ride here and thumb a ride there and never accomplish a damn thing because they lack the ability to follow up on anything. Send me your crap on Afghanistan War protests and you don't get noted here anymore. The Iraq War continues. I don't want a press release that pretends otherwise.

That should be clear.

The e-mail address for this site is common_ills@yahoo.com.

























Ehren Watada scheduled to be discharged October 2nd

ehren watada

Gregg K. Kakesako (Honolulu Star-Bulletin) reports that 1st Lt Ehren Watada will not "seek a second court-martial" and that they've "accepted the resignation of" Ehren and quotes him stating, "The actual outcome is different from the outcome that I envisioned in the first place, but I am grateful of the outcome."

In June 2006, Ehren Watada became the first officer to publicly refuse to deploy to the illegal war in Iraq. June 22, 2006, his unit deployed at 6:45 am and, as he had stated, he refused to deploy. For perspective, that was also the day the US Senate voted to end the illegal war by July 2007 -- a proposal made by US Senators Russ Feingold and John Kerry. Only 13 US senators voted to pull all troops by July of 2007.

Back then, the death toll for US service members in Iraq stood at 2512. It currently stands at 4346 and, no, the Iraq War has not ended.

In August 2006, an Article 32 hearing was held. Watada's defense called three witnesses, Francis A. Boyle of the University of Illinois' College of Law, Champagne; Denis Halliday, the former Assistant Secretary General of the UN; and retired Colonel Ann Wright. These three witnesses addressed the issue of the war, it's legality, and the responsibilities of a service member to disobey any order that they believed was unlawful. The testimony was necessary because Watada's refusing to participate in the illegal war due to the fact that he feels it is (a) illegal and (b) immoral. Many weeks and weeks later, the finding was released: the military would proceed with a court-martial.

On Monday, February 5, 2007, Watada's court-martial began. It continued on Tuesday when the prosecution argued their case. Wednesday, Watada was to take the stand in his semi-defense. Judge Toilet (John Head) presided and when the prosecution was losing, Toilet decided to flush the lost by declaring a mistrial over defense objection in his attempt to give the prosecution a do-over.


goflushyourself

Above is Isaiah's The World Today "Go Flush Yourself" depicting Judge John Head as Judge Toliet. Eventually the courts would tell John Head to go flush himself. He was insisting that a court-martial would begin against Watada in a few weeks when no court-martial could begin.

January 4, 2007, Head oversaw a pre-trial hearing. Head also oversaw a stipulation that the prosecution prepared and Watada signed. Head waived the stipulation through. Then the court-martial begins and Ehren's clearly winning. The prosecution's own military witnesses are becoming a problem for the prosecution. It's Wednesday and Watada's finally going to take the stand. Head suddenly starts insisting there's a problem with the stipulation. Watada states he has no problem with it. Well the prosecution has a problem with it and may move to a mistrial, Head declares.

The prosecution prepared the stipulation and they're confused by Head's actions but state they're not calling for a mistrial or lodging an objection. That's on the record. Head then keeps pushing for a mistrial and the prosecution finally gets that Head is attempting to give them a do-over, at which point, they call for a mistrial.

The case has already started. Witnesses have been heard from. Double-jeopardy has attached. The defense isn't calling for a mistrial and Head rules a mistrial over defense objection and attempts to immediately schedule a new trial.

He's ignoring the US Constitution which forbids double-jeopardy. He thought he could give the prosectution a do-over. That's not how the justice system works in the US, double-jeopardy is banned. In November of 2007, US District Judge Benjamin Settle ruled, "The same Fifth Amendment protections are in place for military service members as are afforded to civilians. There is a strong public interest in maintaing these rights inviolate." The military stated then that they would appeal. October 22, 2008, Judge Settle ruled there could be no retrial on the charges of missing deployment, participating in a news conference or participating in the Veterans for Peace conference. That left two charges up in the air which were questionable because the strongest charge was always going to be "missing deployment."

Watada was kept in the military all this time. His service ended in December 2006. Or should have. He was kept in the service to prosecute him. He was kept in the service and kept in limbo. His service contract expired in December of 2006 and instead of discharging him then, the military wasted his time and countless US tax payer dollars to conduct a nearly three-year assault on him. Audrey Mcavoy (Breaking News 24/7) reports that October 2nd is when the US military will discharge Ehren. At which point, Ehren can finally get on with his life.
ehren watada rosa and bob

Throughout the entire process, his mother Carolyn Ho and father Bob Watada and step-mother Rosa Sakanishi stood by him (Bob and Rosa are pictured above with Ehren), traveling the US and speaking out, going to DC and pleading with members of Congress.

Finally, October 2nd, it's supposed to be over.

The following community sites have updated since last night:

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oh boy it never ends

Friday, September 25, 2009

Iraq snapshot

Friday, September 25, 2009.  Chaos and violence continue, Talabani buries a prized request in his UN speech to emphasize a momentary one (already addressed as it turns out), the VA has a really, really bad week and ends the week on a bad note, Nouri's forming his own coalition and right now it's . . . well Nouri, and more.
 
Yesterday (6:18 pm EST), Jalal Talabani, Iraqi President, addressed the United Nations General Assemnbley.  He tapped the microphone four times before he began reading his prepared speech for the next 17 minutes and four seconds 
 
The most important challenges we face in the near future is the legislative elections due to be held in January 2010 for which the political parties have already started preparations.  The success of these elections will put the current political regime based on democracy, pluralism and the peaceful transfer of power on the right path.  The success of the elections will transfer the political process from the establishment stage to one of permanence and stability and will promote stability and security in Ira. The elections will strengthen our capabilities in building national institutions qualified to fulfill the requistes of a strong state based on law, living peacefully with its own people and neighbors and to be a key factor in the security and stability in the region.  This will reflect postively on Iraq's Arab, regional and international relations and its active return to the international community.  
The real danger currently facing Iraq is outside interference in its internal affairs which has committed the worst crimes against innocent Iraqis from various segments of society, men, women, children and the elderly.  In an attempt to destabilize security and stability achieved in Iraq during 2008 and 2009, Iraq has witnessed recently a series of bombings and terrorist attacks, the last of which was the Bloody Wednesday explosions that targeted the Iraqi Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Finance which targeted the country's sovereign institutions on 19 August 2009.  This led to many innocent victims, including many employees of the government, diplomats and administrators.  These criminal acts and large number of victims have reached the level of genocide and crimes against humainty subject to punishment under international law.  We believe these acts at this level of organization, complexity and magnitude cannot be planned, funded and implemented without support of external forces and parties and primary investigations indicate the involvement of external parties in the process. 
Therefore, the government of the Republic of Iraq puts this important matter on the table of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and requests its submission to the Security Council for the purpose of forming an independent international investigation outside the jurisdiction of Iraq and bring those found guilty to a special international criminal court.  
The Iraqi government finds itself obliged to resor to the United Nations to protect its people and stop the bleeding of innocent Iraqis and we are looking to the assistance of the international community and its support ot the Iraqi positions in the formation of an independent international commission to investigate the crimes of terrorism against the Iraqi people we request the United Nations Secretary General to name a senior offficial to evaluate the extent of foreign intervention that threatens the security and integrity of Iraq and to consider terrorist crimes as genocide.  We also look for better cooperation and coordination with the neighboring countries and other concerned states to control Iraq's boraders, exchange information, coordinate efforts and prevent the groups that support terrorism and work against Iraq under any cover.
 
It was a far cry from his speech to the United Nations September 25, 2008 when he was speaking of the importance of ensuring that women were able to participate in "all spheres of influence".  This year, almost 12 months to the day, he stood before the United Nations and wanted to open with what can be seen as an attack on Syria.  Bloody Wednesday, Black Wednesday, August 19th, whatever you call it, no one knows who was responsible.  Nouri al-Maliki had been in Damascus and met with Bashar al-Assad, president of Syria, to demand that Syria turn over 179 Iraqis residing in Syria to Iraqi authorities.  This demand wasn't new.  When Nouri was hiding out for 18 years in Syria, there were many calls from Saddam for Syria to turn Nouri and others over to Iraqi authorities.  Syria refused then to turn over anyone without proof and Syria stands by that policy today.  The demand for the 179 to be turned over came before the August 19th attacks.
 
Like George W. Bush, Nouri used an attack to push through things he already wanted.  Nouri and others thought Turkey would be the one to lean on because Turkey does conduct raids in (and assaults on) northern Iraq.  Their 'right' to do so was just renewed and the hope of Nouri and his allies was that the desire to renew would mean Turkey would automatically side with Iraq against Syria. That's why Iraqi officials made idiotic statements in the last few weeks on Arabic TV claiming that Turkey agreed with Iraq and said the 'proof' offered by Iraq that Iraqis in Syria were responsible for the August 19th bombings was irrefutable.  Turkish officials didn't say that, nor did they feel that.  Their role was to get the two sides to come together.  That's how they saw it.  It's doubtful that Turkey's desire for continued raids could have been leveraged by Nouri to begin with but the fact that Iraq suffers from a drought and needs Turkey for water further undercut any hopes that Iraq could strong-arm Turkey.
 
So yesterday Jalal Talabani took the matter to the United Nations.  Not to the Arab League.  They don't want to take it to the Arab League because a Cairo meeting this month did not go well for Iraq and indicated that other governments saw Iraq's 'evidence' to be as weak as did Syria.  Despite attempting to bypass the Arab League, Talabani claimed to the United Nations yesterday that "we seek to establish better relations with the Arab and Islamic countries and we are committed to the decisions of the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Conference."
 
How much can one person beg for?  Traditionally, you beg for one thing.  Jalal was begging non-stop.  After demanding an international inquiry, he then went into how Iraq should be spared of its debts and obligations.  Is Iraq a new country?  No.  And the 20 million-plus Iraqis that lived there before the start of the illegal war (approximately 26 million was the CIA estimate in 2002; they estimate 28 million today which apparently includes external refugees and corpses in the count) are still in Iraq.  So what's going on?
Under a United Nations mandate authorizing the foreign occupation of Iraq -- issued after the illegal war started (no UN mandate was issued on the illegal war) -- Iraq was seen as a ward that needed protection -- not only from foreign forces but also from the international community.  The treaty masquerading as a Status Of Forces Agreement was wanted by the White House and by Nouri.  Nouri wanted it so that Iraq was no longer a 'ward of the state'.  As such, Jalal Talabani pressed the UN to lift Iraq's debts, "Therefore, we request a clear resolution issued by the Security Council to terminate all resolutions issued under chapter VII which affected the sovereignty of Iraq and led to financial obligations which are still binding on Iraq because the situation which necessitated the adoption of those resolutions no longer exists.  We and the Iraqi people look forward to the day when Iraq is released from chapter VII sanctions."
 
To some degree, Talabani's second round of begging will most likely be met.  However, he will forever be criticized historically for making that his second request and not his first and only request.  Nouri's petty-grudge war resulted in the Iraq basically being taken out of receivership on the internaional stage becoming request number two and not the primary one.  This request was the one the non-representative government in Baghdad had worked the last three years on and suddenly it became a secondary issue in Talabani's speech.  With news from Alsumaria that Foreign Minister Hosheyar Zebari has declared Syria, Turkey and Iraq have agreed "to form a Turkish-Syrian-Iraqi investigtation committee," Talabani's decision to emphasize August 19th over the economic issues looks like an even bigger mistake.
 
Yesterday, there was a prison break in Tikrit with sixteen prisoners escaping -- one of whom was later caught, five of whom had been sentenced to death. Steven Lee Myers (New York Times) notes the curfew and that "American search dogs and aircraft" are being used to hunt for the escapees. Ned Parker and Saif Hameed (Los Angeles Times) reported this morning that two of the sixteen have now been captured and that 4 "prison guards were under investigation on suspicion of helping the detainees escape. The prison director was dismissed and detained while under investigation, officials said."  BBC News reports 5 of the escapees have now been caught and that the "police detain 100 staff for questioning about the breakout."  Nada Bakri (Washington Post) adds, "Authorities said Friday that at least 100 prison officials and guards, including 10 officers, have been arrested and three special committees formed to investigate the prison breakout in Tikrit." Bakri also notes that with 5 of thte 15 escapees back in custody, the curfew in Tikrit has been lifted.  Iran's Press TV notes that posters of the escapees "have been distributed across Tikrit and other cities in Salaheddin province to ensure that the 10 remaining jail breakers will not remain long at large."  Reuters notes Iraqi officilas are now saying 6 of the 15 escapees have been captured.
 
In other prison news, Anne Tang (Xinhua) reports Nouri al-Maliki, thug of the occupation, stated of allegedly violent prisoners in Iraqi prisons, "Those people, who had been involved in killing Iraqis must be punished. [. . .] We hear voices calling for release of criminals under claim that they have been defending rights of minorities and (religious) sects, forgetting that those criminals had been behind catastrophes." Nouri's words are laughable since he's so tight with the League of Righteous (responsible for an assualt on a US base in which 5 US service members were killed, responsible for the kidnapping of 5 British citizens in Baghdad -- four of whom are known to be dead -- those are the crimes they've claimed credit for). He's so tight with them that he got their leader (and the leader's brother) released from a US prison earlier this year and has met with them repeatedly. Despite the fact that a fight British citizen is either still held hostage or dead. Thug Nouri runs with his own. And his pretense to care for Iraqi lives is laughable when he sits on billions and Iraqis struggle for something as simple as potable water.
 
 
In Iraq today 15 Iraqi soldiers were killed in Baashiqa.  Xinhua reports that the 15 were in northern Iraq attempting "to blow up a large arms and ammunition depot" but things went horribly wrong.  In addition to the 15 dead, another is reported injured.  BBC has the bombing taking place while the soldiers were transporting "confiscated bombings to a disposal area". However, Nada Bakri (Washington Post) reports, "The explosion took place in a lot where security forces store and detonate explosives and ammunition confiscated from insurgents." Steven Lee Myers (New York Times) explains, "Officials described the blast as an accident but provided few other details."  Gulf News adds, "Witnesses said American soldiers had cordoned off the area.  The US military did not immediately respond to queries for additional details."
 
In other reported violence today . . .
 
Mohammed al Dulaimy (McClatchy Newspapers) reports a Baghdad roadside bombing injured two police officers. Reuters notes two other Baghdad roadside bombings from yesterday which injured four people and an attack on a Mosul military checkpoint which claimed the life of 1 Iraqi soldier and left another injured.
 
Moving to political news.  September 11th on Al Jazeera's Inside Iraq (a transcript excerpt is in this snapshot), Kassim Daoud repeatedly insisted to host Jasim Azzawi that there was still the possibility that Nouri al-Maliki might join the Shi'ite alliance.
 
Jasim Azzawi:  al-Maliki has refused to join the new bloc that has been created and you are a member of that bloc, the Iraqi National Alliance primarily because of the presence of Ibrahim al-Jaafari and perhaps because of Moqtada al-Sadr.  Can Maliki win without your bloc?
 
Kassim Daoud: Well that's a very difficult question. I mean it's premature to answer the question like this to comment that the Alliance, actually, is still open to everybody. We announced it as a bloc which has to be the foundation for the national mandate or the national enterprise. We cannot say that Maliki didn't join us so far, the negotiation is still going on.
 
Jasim Azzawi:  Kassim Daoud, it seems to me that his answer is final.  He wanted to be the sole candidate to run for the premiership as well as he wanted a limitation on to Ibrahim al-Jaafari and Moqtada al-Sadr blocked.  That has become amply clear.
 
Kassim Daoud: Well the problem before you is clear but for me since I'm an insider, actually, I'm not looking at the situation as it is.  The guy having sort of a political mandate, he would like to pursue with his mandate.  The Alliance would like to -- their own mandate so I cannot say the negotiation terminated.  I think still we have room although the room is probably slim but I think that we cannot give such a sharp answer till we have to wait for probably too more weeks.
 
Jasim Azzawi: Slim indeed it is.
 
Slim indeed. Alsumaria reports  that Nouri has revealed he's creating his own coalition and "will announce" it in the next week. The coalition will be Dawlat al-Qanun (State of Law) and will be a mixed coalition as Nouri attempts to paint himself more secularist due to the January 2009 elections in 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces indicating that fundamentalists were not popular with the people. Caesar Ahmed and Ned Parker (Los Angeles Times) report on the plans by the politicaly party SIIC (Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council) which include recruitment and appearing open (possibly being open, but time will tell on that) and to point out the current government's broken promises: "The cleric critiqued the government's management of electricity and vowed his list would improve basic services. He heaped scorn on the country's current electricity minister, Kareem Wahab, for failing to improve power." 
 Alsumaria also reports that the Kurds are calling for elections to take place in Kirkuk and not be postponed "under the pretext of voters' register incomplete scrutinizing."  The upcoming elections are scheduled for January 2010 and the fate of Kirkuk will not be, according to Nouri, addressed then.  Despite the Iraqi Constitution long ago calling for a referendum on Kirkuk (disputed territory claimed by both the KRG and the centeral government in Baghdad). 
 
On the topic of the elections, they're often presented as the saving moment for Iraq that will change everything.  Last week Marc Lynch (Foreign Policy) offered another take after recounting the US government's distaste for the recent elections in Lebanon, Iran and Afghanistan:
 
The similarity in American thinking about the role assigned to elections in the Iraqi and Afghan case bears particular attention. In each case, the elections are supposed to do very specific things for American strategy: legitimate the political order, bring excluded challengers into the political process, resolve enduring political conflicts, create a political foundation for the counter-insurgency campaign.  In Afghanistan, the opposite appears to have happened.  Should this worry those assigning the same hopes to Iraq?             
This is not to say that the scheduled Iraqi elections don't matter (even if it were an American decision to hold them, which it most assuredly is not).  The looming elections have very clearly profoundly shaped Iraqi politics.  The jockeying over electoral coalitions, questions about Maliki's power or vulnerability, and reshaping of both intra-communal and inter-communal politics have dominated the Iraqi political arena for months.  The outcomes will matter in important ways-- Shia politics could fragment or reunite, Maliki could emerge as the power broker many hope for or fear, Sunni groups might find a better entree into the ruling coalition, particular groups may rise or fall --- and in contrast to most Arab elections, the outcomes are not pre-ordained.        
 But things could go in bad directions as easily as in good directions -- or, even more likely, could shuffle the deck without producing any miraculous breakthroughs in national reconciliation.  Certainly the 2005 elections produced their fair share of negative results -- worsening the spiral towards civil war, locking in communal representation, and paralyzing the government for months over the inability to agree on a Prime Minister.  The January 2009 provincial elections were seen, by contrast, as a great success.  But as the Times pointed out the other day, disillusionment with the results of the provincial elections -- which carried similar weight in U.S. thinking -- has grown in Anbar as new leaders fall into old habits.  
 
Scholar F. Gregory Gause (Abu Dhabi's The National Newspaper) also questions whether too much emphasis is put on the elections:
 
But neither immediate security concerns nor short-term electoral politics will determine the future of Iraq. Ultimately, political stability in Iraq will depend on how Iraqis (and, for the near future, the American government) define the kind of state they want to have. Do they want a strong centralised government? Or do they want to empower regional governments and carefully divide and circumscribe power in Baghdad? Neither quantifications of terrorist violence nor the 2010 parliamentary elections will answer that question.   
[. . .]
There is certainly an argument to be made that what Iraq needs now is strong leadership. State-building is rarely done effectively by committee, and Iraq is still in the midst of rebuilding the institutions that were hollowed out by Saddam Hussein and then upended by the American occupation. The core of al Maliki's appeal, and his argument for a new term as prime minister, is that only a strong leader can build the institutions necessary to maintain security, promote economic development and prevent the political fragmentation of Iraq. Of course, a strong leader is no guarantee of such progress. Plenty of kleptocratic states are headed by strongmen; Zimbabwe is no model for state development. But it is hard to see how al Maliki's rivals in the Kurdish leadership or in the sectarian Shia Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI), which in the past has advocated a Shia regional government on the model of the KRG, could rally Iraqis across ethnic and sectarian lines to support the rebuilding of the state.              
But after the disastrous experience of Saddam's rule, perhaps Iraqis would prefer a central government that is both weaker, in terms of its authority over the provinces, and more divided, with a separation of powers in Baghdad – so that no single figure can consolidate power, even if that means relatively inefficient governance. The risk of a new dictatorship, in this view, trumps arguments about security and efficiency and the logic of centralised state power. The political groups forming coalitions against al Maliki will make that argument in the upcoming elections. The major Kurdish parties, invested in their own autonomy in the KRG, certainly see things this way. Even Arab parties that in the past have advocated strengthening the centre are reluctant to ally with al Maliki, at least right now.
 
Turning to the US where Gregg Zoroya and Mary Beth Markelein (USA Today) report, "Nearly a month into the fall college semester, the Department of Veterans Affairs has paid benefits for fewer than half the former Iraq and Afghanistan veterans requesting under the new post-9/11 G.I. Bill, according to a VA estimate." And they quote the director of the VA Education Service, Keith Wilson, stating, "We realize we're not meeting everybody's expectations."  David Zucchino (Los Angeles Times) notes Amber Oberg's expectations. The army veteran has been attending UC Davis for a month. And the promised funding? Hasn't arrived. Oberg states, "I didn't expect to get out of the military and then have to wait and wait for the education money that was promised me. Now she and her kids are in danger of being homeless as she waits for the promised monthly housing payment of $1,736. Across the country, veterans check the mail looking for the promised funding. Audrey Hudson (Washington Times) reports John Kamin has been waiting and thought he had good news yesterday only to open the envelope and discover he was being notified that he might "be called back into active duty." He tells Hudson, "It felt like salt in the wound. That was really disheartening."  Jessica Calefati (US News  & World Reports) explains that "some 70,000 eleigible veterans who filed claims for this school year are still waiting for their first checks."  After a very bad week for the VA, they knew it was time to spin into action.  Kimberly Hefling (AP) reports that the department stated late today "that checks will be issued starting Oct. 2."  That link, by the way, also includes an earlier report by Hefling on VA Secretary Eric Shinseki making statements.  I am saying this, he is either ignorant of what he is speaking on or he is lying through his teeth.  He pushes the problem off on the colleges.  The VA program is no different than the US Pell Grant program.  There is no delay in the Pell Grants so for him to claim it's the colleges screw up reveals extreme stupidity on the subject matter or a gross eagerness to lie. He also tries to hide behind drop and add periods.  What an idiot.  Drop and add periods.  Anyone who has gone to college and received assistance is damn well aware that the assistance starts at the start of the semester.  They're also damn well aware that students have many, many more weeks to drop classes.  We'll go with stupidity because it wasn't just college tuition, it was book allowances, living allowances and more.  Shinseki embarrasses himself and that's also part of the reason for the late announcement that checks will be out starting October 2nd.  They don't want people digging to deep into his spin.  When the entire department already looks incompetent, it's not a good idea to go into the weekend with the focus on the director's stupidity.  If you're late to the party on the VA's bad week, you can refer to Wednesday's "Iraq snapshot" covering a hearing which Kat covers in "Crooks in the VA" and there was more on Congress addressing veterans issues in Thursday's "Iraq snapshot" and Kat's "House Veterans Affairs Committee."
 
The homeless problem continues to grow while the VA offers excuses and, no doubt, promises of a toll free number on the way that will be the 'answer' to everything. Thom Patterson (CNN, link has text and video) reports on the homeless veterans and notes the numbers for Iraq War and Afghanistan War veterans could be over 7,000 with the VA estimating "about 10 percent of all homeless veterans are women." Iraq War veteran Angela Peacock shares her story with Patterson which includes raped while serving, PTSD, self-medicating leading to a drug addiction, loss of spouse, eviction from apartment. For more on the issue, we'll drop back to the June 3rd snapshot, when US House Rep Bob Finer chaired the House Committee on Veterans Affairs committee for the hearing entitled "A National Commitment to End Veterans' Homelessness:"    

The number of women veterans who are homeless is rising. [Vietnam Veterans of America's Marsha] Four observed, "There certainly is a question of course on the actual number of homeless veterans -- it's been flucuating dramatically in the last few years. When it was reported at 250,000 level, two percent were considered females. This was rougly about 5,000. Today, even if we use the very low number VA is supplying us with -- 131,000 -- the number, the percentage, of women in that population has risen up to four to five percent, and in some areas, it's larger. So that even a conservative method of determinng this has left the number as high as [6,550]. And the VA actually is reporting that they are seeing that this is as high as eleven percent for the new homeless women veterans. This is a very vulnerable population, high incidents of past sexual trauma, rape and domestic violence. They have been used, abused and raped. They trust no one. Some of these women have sold themselves for money, been sold for sex as children, they have given away their own children. And they are encased in this total humiliation and guilt the rest of their lives." About half of her testimony was reading and about half just speaking to the committee directly. Click here for her prepared remarks. We'll come back to the issue of homeless women veterans in a moment.            
[. . .]                     
Marsha Four: I believe, sir, that there are very few programs in the country that are set up and designed specifically for homeless women veterans that are seperate. One of the problems that we're run into in a mixed gender setting is sort of two-fold. One the women veterans do not have the opportunity to actually be in a seperate group therapy environment because there are many issues that they simply will not divulge in mixed gender populations so those issues are never attended to. The other is that we believe, in a program, you need to focus on yourself and this is the time and place to do your issue, your deal. In a mixed gender setting, let's say, interfering factors. Relationships are one of them. Many of the veterans too come from the streets so there's a lot of street behavior going on. Some of the women -- and men -- but some of the women have participated in prostitution and so there's a difficult setting for any of them to actually focus on themselves without having all these other stressors come into play. So we feel that's an important issue.
 
While some veterans go homeless, efforts are made to deport the spouses of some deceased veterans.  Most recently, the September 17th snapshot, we noted Kristin M. Hall (AP) report Hotaru Ferschke, a military widow. Her husband, Sgt. Michael Ferschke, died serving in Iraq August 10, 2008. They had tried to have children for some time and when they learned she was pregnant, he was already in Iraq so they got married by proxy and the US military recognizes the marriage but the US Immigration and Naturalization Service plays dumb. She and their son Michael "Mikey" Ferschke III, are now facing deportation. INS is stating that the proxy marriage could be a fake because it wasn't consumated. Consumated? He remained in Iraq and they're not counting their long relationship prior to the proxy marriage. Her mother-in-law, Robin Ferschke told Hall, "She's like my daughter. I know my child chose the perfect wife and mother of his child."

Bob Yarbrough (Volunteer TV.com) observes, "Too bad we can't legislate common sense. If we could, Hotaru Ferschke would be raising her son in Maryville without fear of being kicked out of America." Tim Morgan (National Ledger) adds, "What should become of her and her son - should they not get to stay in the US for her husband's ultimate sacrifice? Right now Hotaru Ferschke, and the baby are living in Tennessee with his parents." Matthew Stewart (Daily Times Staff) reports that Second Battle, a documentary about Hotaru's struggle and those of another military widow, was shown at Maryville College and Stewart notes, "Ferschke and his bride had been together in Japan for more than a year, and she was pregnant when he deployed.  They married by signing their names on separate continents and did not have a chance to meet again in person after the wedding" and he quotes immigration attorney Brent Renison stating, "She is being denied because they are saying her marriage is not valid because it was no consummated -- despite the fact that they have a child together."
 
Winding down, we'll note the opening of Sherwood Ross' "PENTAGON TAKING OVER U.S. FOREIGN POLICY" (Veterans Today):

The Pentagon has virtually replaced the State Department in making U.S. foreign policy, The Nation magazine charges.                     
"Quietly, gradually---and inevitably, given the weight of its colossal budget and imperial writ---the Pentagon has all but eclipsed the State Department at the center of US foreign policy-making," reporter Stephen Glain writes in the Sept. 28 issue.                    
In addition to new weapons and war fighters, the Pentagon's budget "now underwrites a cluster of special funds from which it can train and equip foreign armies---often in the service of repressive regimes---as well as engage in aid development projects in pursuit of its own tactical ends."            
Although these programs technically require State Department approval and are subject to Congressional review, Glain writes, "legislative oversight and interagency coordination is spotty at best."         
Meanwhile, the Pentagon "is pushing for full discretionary control" over large sums that Glain points out "would render meaningless the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act, which concentrated responsibility for civilian and military aid programs within the State Department."          
 
 
This is the opening to "'We Made them Millions, and they Complain About Insurance,' Lupe Chavez, a housekeeper at the San Francisco Hilton, tells her story to David Bacon" (ColorsNW):

I was born in Santa Tecla, near San Salvador. My father was a big rig driver and my mother was a stay at home mom. We had a big family -- four brothers and two sisters. When I was old enough, I worked in the Armando Araujo coffee and soap factory. We Salvadorenos are hard working people.
From the time I was twelve my aunts took me with them whenever they had a demonstration. They were teachers, and taught me that we have to fight for what we need, because that's the only way to achieve anything. Even before the war, it was dangerous to be involved with a union. After the war started, many died protesting.
I was nineteen years old when I came to the U.S. to care for an elderly woman. My family was very poor and when the opportunity came I didn't hesitate. The woman eventually returned to El Salvador, but I stayed on with her family. I thought I was going to earn money and help my family, but they didn't pay me for an entire year. They told me I had to repay the transportation fee and all the money they'd spent on me.
A friend of my grandmother told me I was being treated as a slave. She said she'd rescue me, so I found my passport where they'd hidden it, grabbed my bag and left. But my rescuer took me to another home, to care of another elderly woman. They hardly paid me anything -- just $100 a month. When I said I wanted to go to school, they told me immigration officers would get me.

David Bacon's latest book is Illegal People -- How Globalization Creates Migration and Criminalizes Immigrants (Beacon Press) which just won the CLR James Award. Bacon can be heard on KPFA's The Morning Show (over the airwaves in the Bay Area, streaming online) each Wednesday morning (begins airing at 7:00 am PST).
 
TV notes. Washington Week begins airing tonight on many PBS stations and joining Gwen around the table are John Harris (Politico) Doyle McManus (Los Angeles Times), Karen Tumulty (Time) and Nancy Youssef (McClatchy Newspapers). Meanwhile Bonnie Erbe will sit down with Linda Chavez, Melissa Harris Lieface, Irene Natividad and Genevieve Wood to discuss the week's events on PBS' To The Contrary. Check local listings, on many stations, it begins airing tonight. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes offers:

McChrystal
As the news from Afghanistan moves to the front pages of Americans' newspapers, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, tasked with turning things around there, tells 60 Minutes that the spread of the violence in Afghanistan was more than he expected. David Martin reports. | Watch Video

The Liquidator
The man in charge of recovering assets from Ponzi scheme king Bernard Madoff says there is about 18 billion still out there that he hopes to recover for victims of the scam. But it won't be easy. Morley Safer reports.

A Living For The Dead
Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Elvis are dead and now, so is Michael Jackson. But as Steve Kroft reports, they are very much alive when it comes to earning money for their estates.

The season premiere of 60 Minutes, this Sunday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
 

Prisons in Iraq . . . and England

Yesterday, there was a prison break in Tikrit with sixteen prisoners escaping -- one of whom was later caught, five of whom had been sentenced to death. Steven Lee Myers (New York Times) notes the curfew and that "American search dogs and aircraft" are being used to hunt for the escapees. Ned Parker and Saif Hameed (Los Angeles Times) report that two of the sixteen have now been captured and that 4 "prison guards were under investigation on suspicion of helping the detainees escape. The prison directo was dismissed and detained while under investigation, officials said." Think back to the previous entry and how no official from the VA's been dismissed. No heads have rolled. Veterans are in danger of losing their housing, have to beg or feel like they're begging universities to wait on tuition, etc. And no heads have rolled. A Congressional hearing this week on the VA officials hiring friends and family and awarding them bonuses they don't earn and college tuition that's not related to their jobs hasn't resulted in any heads rolling. 16 prisoners escape yesterday in Tikrit and already the prison director's fired. It may just be for-show accountability, but that's more accountability than the VA's been forced to face in the US. Parker and Hameed report:

The most prominent escapee was identified as Waleed Ayash, a suspected leader of the militant group Al Qaeda in Iraq who the government blames for the killing of police and civilians in Dhuluiya, another town in Salahuddin.
Salahuddin Gov. Muttashar Hussein Alaywi, told the U.S.-funded Al Hurra satellite news channel that prison guards were probably to blame for the escape.


Also on Iraqi prisons, Anne Tang (Xinhua) reports Nouri al-Maliki, thug of the occupation, stated of allegedly violent prisoners in Iraqi prisons, "Those people, who had been involved in killing Iraqis must be punished. [. . .] We hear voices calling for release of criminals under claim that they have been defending rights of minorities and (religious) sects, forgetting that those criminals had been behind catastrophes." Nouri's words are laughable since he's so tight with the League of Righteous (responsible for an assualt on a US base in which 5 US service members were killed, responsible for the kidnapping of 5 British citizens in Baghdad -- four of whom are known to be dead -- those are the crimes they've claimed credit for). He's so tight with them that he got their leader (and the leader's brother) released from a US prison earlier this year and has met with them repeatedly. Despite the fact that a fight British citizen is either still held hostage or dead. Thug Nouri runs with his own. And his pretense to care for Iraqi lives is laughable when he sits on billions and Iraqis struggle for something as simple as potable water.

That's Iraqi prisoners. Turning to UK prisons, Alan Travis (Guardian) reports, "The number of former servicemen in prison or on probation or parole is now more than double the total British deployment in Afghanistan, according to a new survey. An estimated 20,000 veterans are in the criminal justice system, with 8,500 behind bars, almost one in 10 of the prison population."

Dropping back to Iraqi legal systems, Florida attorney Miguel R. Acosta is also an Air Force Captain and he writes about criminal investigations in Iraq in "Prosecuting high-threat detainees" (Florida Bar News):

As I stepped off the plane at the Air Force base in western Baghdad in April, my excitement was high despite jet lag and lack of sleep. Having been born and raised in Tampa, I'd survived many steamy Florida afternoons, which unknowingly prepared me for the hot air that hit my face that morning.
I was sworn in to The Florida Bar in September 2007 and officially began practicing law for the Air Force in May 2008. Now in my fourth month of a six-month deployment to Iraq, my official title is Joint Task Force 134, Office of Criminal Investigations, Multi-National Division South liaison attorney (try fitting that on one line of a business card).
For simplicity, let's just call my office OCI. Militarily speaking, Iraq is broken up into four divisions: north, west, south, and Baghdad. The goal of OCI is to successfully facilitate the prosecution of the high-threat detainees in Iraqi criminal court. The southern division consists of nine of Iraq’s 18 provinces. My job, as the liaison attorney to the south, is to manage the criminal investigations of the high threat detainees in those nine southern provinces.
For whatever reason, OCI has never had an attorney embedded with the unit in charge of the south. What that means is that the lucky (or unlucky) OCI attorney eventually assigned to the south would walk into completely uncharted waters.

Iraqi President Jalal Talabani addressed the United Nations yesterday. Gulf News notes he declared recent attacks to have "reached the level of genocide." Alsumaria adds, "Liberating Iraq from international tutorship was the main focus of Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's address before the United Nations General Assembly. Iraqi President considered that circumstances which placed Iraq under UN Charter Chapter VII have come to an end." And for all the idiot gas bags (and reporters) out there pretending they know the first damn thing about contract law? If the UN mandate had been renewed before it again expired December 31, 2008 (instead of being replaced with the SOFA), the government of Iraq couldn't be 'liberated' from 'international tutorship.' The SOFA is a contract between the US and Iraq with no intermediary. Extending the UN mandate again would not have allowed this sort of 'independence' which is why the White House and Nouri wanted it. And Nouri really wanted it. Which is why Huff & Puff liars always reveal their inability to grasp the issue and that their faces are pressed against the glass from the outside when they start saying Bully Boy Bush was 'forced' to do this or that. The Bush White House did the strong-arming. As witnessed by the number of US 'diplomats' rushed in to Iraq for the lead up to Parliament's November vote on the SOFA. Fang Yang (Xinhua) covers the speech and includes direct quotes from it:

"The most important challenges we face in the near future is the legislative elections due to be held in January 2010 for which the political parties have already started preparations," the president said.
"The success of these elections will put the current political regime based on democracy, pluralism and the peaceful transfer of power on the right path," he said. "The success of the elections will transfer the political process from the establishment stage to one of permanence and stability and will promote stability and security in Iraq."
"The elections will strengthen our capabilities in building national institutions ... (for a) strong state based on law, living peacefully with its own people and neighbors, and to be a key factor in the security and stability in the region," he said. "This will reflect positively on Iraq's Arab, regional and international relations and its active return to the international community."
Meanwhile, he said, "The real danger currently facing Iraq is outside interference in its internal affairs which has committed the worst crimes against innocent Iraqis from various segments of society, men, women, children, and the elderly."


Brian Montopoli (CBS News) reports on a new CBS News-New York Times poll which reveals that despite the overexposure (or maybe because of it) most Americans still do not favor what Trina, Ava and I rightly call ObamaBigBusinessCare (the press pretends it's "health care" or "health care reform" or "health insurance reform"). Only 47% of Americans favor it despite the publicity blitz. On the Iraq War, 54% approve of his 'plan' -- continuation of Bush policies. Who knew Bully Boy Bush would be so popular after he left office?

Barack continues all of Bush's policies. From Sherwood Ross' "PENTAGON TAKING OVER U.S. FOREIGN POLICY" (Veterans Today):

The Pentagon has virtually replaced the State Department in making U.S. foreign policy, The Nation magazine charges.
"Quietly, gradually---and inevitably, given the weight of its colossal budget and imperial writ---the Pentagon has all but eclipsed the State Department at the center of US foreign policy-making," reporter Stephen Glain writes in the Sept. 28 issue.
In addition to new weapons and war fighters, the Pentagon’s budget “now underwrites a cluster of special funds from which it can train and equip foreign armies---often in the service of repressive regimes---as well as engage in aid development projects in pursuit of its own tactical ends."
Although these programs technically require State Department approval and are subject to Congressional review, Glain writes, "legislative oversight and interagency coordination is spotty at best."
Meanwhile, the Pentagon "is pushing for full discretionary control" over large sums that Glain points out "would render meaningless the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act, which concentrated responsibility for civilian and military aid programs within the State Department."
Some idea of Pentagon dominance over diplomatic approaches may be gleaned from the Pentagon's $664 billion annual budget compared with State’s $52 billion. "Washington employs more military band members than it does foreign service officers," Glain notes.

TV notes. Washington Week begins airing tonight on many PBS stations and joining Gwen around the table are John Harris (Politico) Doyle McManus (Los Angeles Times), Karen Tumulty (Time) and Nancy Youssef (McClatchy Newspapers). Meanwhile Bonnie Erbe will sit down with Linda Chavez, Melissa Harris Lieface, Irene Natividad and Genevieve Wood to discuss the week's events on PBS' To The Contrary. Check local listings, on many stations, it begins airing tonight. And turning to broadcast TV, Sunday CBS' 60 Minutes offers:

McChrystal
As the news from Afghanistan moves to the front pages of Americans' newspapers, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, tasked with turning things around there, tells 60 Minutes that the spread of the violence in Afghanistan was more than he expected. David Martin reports. | Watch Video


The Liquidator
The man in charge of recovering assets from Ponzi scheme king Bernard Madoff says there is about 18 billion still out there that he hopes to recover for victims of the scam. But it won't be easy. Morley Safer reports.


A Living For The Dead
Marilyn Monroe, James Dean and Elvis are dead and now, so is Michael Jackson. But as Steve Kroft reports, they are very much alive when it comes to earning money for their estates.


The season premiere of 60 Minutes, this Sunday, Sept. 27, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.


Turning to public radio, this morning on NPR's The Diane Rehm Show (begins airing on most NPR stations and streaming online live at 10:00 a.m. EST). The panel for the first hour (domestic focus) is Lynn Sweet (Chicago Sun-Times), Chris Cillizza (Washington Post) and Juan Williams (NPR and Fox News). The panel for the second hour features Moises Naim (Foreign Policy), Thom Shanker (New York Times) and Nancy Youssef (McClatchy Newspapers).


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60 minutes
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More VA screw ups

Nearly a month into the fall college semester, the Department of Veterans Affairs has paid benefits for fewer than half the former Iraq and Afghanistan veterans requesting under the new post-9/11 G.I. Bill, according to a VA estimate.
Keith Wilson, director of the VA Education Service office, said about half of the 50,000 veterans owed money for tuition and expenses have been paid. Others are still waiting .
Another estimated 60,000 veterans are waiting for money under an older version of the G.I. Bill, Wilson says.
"We realize we're not meeting everybody's expectations," he says.

The above is the opening to Gregg Zoroya and Mary Beth Marklein's "Over half of vets still waiting for G.I. Bill money" (USA Today). The money quote, of course, is VA official Keith Wilson declaring, "We realize we're not meeting everybody's expectations." Actually, I believe that's become the motto for officials in the VA: "We realize we're not meeting everybody's expectations." David Zucchino (Los Angeles Times) notes Amber Oberg's expectations. The army veteran has been attending UC Davis for a month. And the promised funding? Hasn't arrived. Oberg states, "I didn't expect to get out of the military and then have to wait and wait for the education money that was promised me. Now she and her kids are in danger of being homeless as she waits for the promised monthly housing payment of $1,736. Across the country, veterans check the mail looking for the promised funding. Audrey Hudson (Washington Times) reports John Kamin has been waiting and thought he had good news yesterday only to open the envelope and discover he was being notified that he might "be called back into active duty." He tells Hudson, "It felt like salt in the wound. That was really disheartening."

A lousy week for the VA continues and you have to wonder at what point they'll find themselves called to the carpet as their obvious and repeated incompetence indicates they need to be.

The homeless problem continues to grow while the VA offers excuses and, no doubt, promises of a toll free number on the way that will be the 'answer' to everything. Thom Patterson (CNN, link has text and video) reports on the homeless veterans and notes the numbers for Iraq War and Afghanistan War veterans could be over 7,000 with the VA estimating "about 10 percent of all homeless veterans are women." Iraq War veteran Angela Peacock shares her story with Patterson which includes raped while serving, PTSD, self-medicating leading to a drug addiction, loss of spouse, eviction from apartment. For more on the issue, we'll drop back to the June 3rd snapshot, when US House Rep Bob Finer chaired the House Committee on Veterans Affairs committee for the hearing entitled "A National Commitment to End Veterans' Homelessness:"

The number of women veterans who are homeless is rising. [Vietnam Veterans of America's Marsha] Four observed, "There certainly is a question of course on the actual number of homeless veterans -- it's been flucuating dramatically in the last few years. When it was reported at 250,000 level, two percent were considered females. This was rougly about 5,000. Today, even if we use the very low number VA is supplying us with -- 131,000 -- the number, the percentage, of women in that population has risen up to four to five percent, and in some areas, it's larger. So that even a conservative method of determinng this has left the number as high as [6,550]. And the VA actually is reporting that they are seeing that this is as high as eleven percent for the new homeless women veterans. This is a very vulnerable population, high incidents of past sexual trauma, rape and domestic violence. They have been used, abused and raped. They trust no one. Some of these women have sold themselves for money, been sold for sex as children, they have given away their own children. And they are encased in this total humiliation and guilt the rest of their lives." About half of her testimony was reading and about half just speaking to the committee directly. Click here for her prepared remarks. We'll come back to the issue of homeless women veterans in a moment.
[. . .]
Marsha Four: I believe, sir, that there are very few programs in the country that are set up and designed specifically for homeless women veterans that are seperate. One of the problems that we're run into in a mixed gender setting is sort of two-fold. One the women veterans do not have the opportunity to actually be in a seperate group therapy environment because there are many issues that they simply will not divulge in mixed gender populations so those issues are never attended to. The other is that we believe, in a program, you need to focus on yourself and this is the time and place to do your issue, your deal. In a mixed gender setting, let's say, interfering factors. Relationships are one of them. Many of the veterans too come from the streets so there's a lot of street behavior going on. Some of the women -- and men -- but some of the women have participated in prostitution and so there's a difficult setting for any of them to actually focus on themselves without having all these other stressors come into play. So we feel that's an important issue.


Lance Springer II died while serving March 23, 2007 in a Baghdad bombing. He was 23-years-old and from Fort Worth, Texas. Marjorie Korn (Dallas Morning News) reports that Evanna and Lance Springer (Lance II's parents) and their children Chris and Michelle will be attending the Weekend of Remembrance in DC which will include a Gold Star Family Dinner tonight, a tribute and picnic tomorrow. From Korn's article:

Springer said one way he copes with the loss of his son is to share his experience with others. He and his wife have become friends with the family of the soldier buried next to their son at the Dallas-Fort Worth National Cemetery.
"There is an instant bond, and we have made several very close friendships with other Gold Star Families," he said.


Meanwhile Kimberly Hefling (AP) reports on siblings whose brothers and sisters died serving in Iraq and Afghanistan preparing for the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors in Las Vegas. The organizer's spokesperson is Ami Neilberger-Miller and she tells Hefling, "Your spouse really joins you in life kind of late in life. . . . Your parents will leave you late in your life, but you expect your siblings to be with you through all of this. You expect for them to be at your wedding. You expect for them to be with you when you bury your parents. You don't expect to be watching your family go through that." Her brother, Christopher T. Neilberger, died serving in Iraq August 6, 2007 from a bombing.

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oh boy it never ends