Post-War Suicides May Exceed Combat
Deaths, U.S. Says By Avram Goldstein - Bloomberg.com
- May 05, 2008 The number of suicides among veterans
of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan may exceed the combat death toll because
of inadequate mental health care, the U.S. government's top psychiatric
researcher said. Full Article
Who Will Serve? By JORGE MARISCAL - CounterPunch In late December 2006, the Bush administration
reversed its previous position and agreed to a permanent expansion
of the Army and Marine Corps. In reality, the size of the two "ground
services" has grown steadily since 2001 when Congress approved
a temporary increase of 30,000 to the Army and authorized additional
increases to the Army and Marines in 2005 and 2006. The current
proposal would make these increases permanent and by 2012 achieve
the objective of an active-duty Army of 542,400 and a Marine Corps
of 190,000. Full Article
‘Blue Dogs’ Force Delay of
War Bill By Josh Rogin and David Clarke
- May 7, 2008 - Congressional Quarterly House Democratic leaders Wednesday faced
an unexpectedly stubborn revolt by the conservative Blue Dog Coalition
that forced them to postpone plans to bring the supplemental war
spending bill to the House floor this week. Full Article
Condi Stomps the Mullahs Philip Giraldi - Anti-War.com - May
6, 2008 The war drums are again beating. It's beginning
to look like the neocons have cranked up their useful idiots in the
Bush administration for a fall offensive, target Iran. And maybe also
Syria, Lebanon, and the Palestinians. Full
Article
Iraq after the Surge
I & II Part
I: The New Sunni Landscape Many factors account for the reduction in
violence: the surge in some cases benefited from, in others encouraged,
and in the remainder produced, a series of politico-military shifts
affecting the Sunni and Shiite communities. But there is little
doubt that U.S. field commanders displayed sophistication and knowledge
of local dynamics without precedent during a conflict characterised
from the outset by U.S. Part II: The Need for a New
Political Strategy But on their own, without an overarching
strategy for Iraq and the region, these tactical victories cannot
turn into lasting success. The mood among Sunnis could alter. The
turn against al-Qaeda in Iraq is not necessarily the end of the
story. While some tribal chiefs, left in the cold after Saddam’s
fall, found in the U.S. a new patron ready and able to provide resources,
this hardly equates with a genuine, durable trend toward Sunni Arab
acceptance of the political process.
