OPERATION NEW DAWN IRAQ

September 1, 2010


Last night I did something I have not done previously; I listened to Mr. Obama give a speech on the ABC Nightly News.


Some 50,000 troops remain in Iraq, as Mr. Obama announced the “end of the war in Iraq”. Then, afterwards I listened to the commentary by Diane Sawyer and George Stephanopolous.


There were several things that struck me about this news broadcast last evening. Some of the remaining troops were interviewed by a news correspondent. The reporter asked if they felt the war was over. One soldier responded, the others looking uneasy to respond to such a direct question. The soldier responded with:


“We are combat troops; we are still here and we still have a job to do. The name’s changed, but the mission is pretty much the same.” The reporter pressed the soldier further, “So, you don’t feel like combat is done?” to which the soldier replied “Not at all sir.”


Since March 19, 2003 4,427 Americans ages 18-60 have been killed in Iraq. In the month of August alone, as the war was winding down, there were 560 IED explosions in Iraq. The last American died in Iraq 10 days ago. Not one state of the United States of America has been spared loss of life since the beginning of the war. 


I think the one statistic that was ‘quoted’ last evening that upset me the most was this one: 34,268 troops have been ‘wounded’ as of August 31, 2010. 


COME ON AMERICA – wake up, educate yourselves, get informed, understand what is going on – whatever label you want to put on “get a reality check”.


Once again the media sanitizes war and tells the American people what the government wants the American people to hear. ANYONE who believes that only 34,000+ troops have been “wounded” is ignorant to the plight of our Veterans returning with PTSD and TBI. The media once again fails our Veterans and I wonder if anyone but me caught that "wounded” statistic.


As long as the media does not broadcast the fact that PTSD and TBI are WOUNDS OF WAR the American people will NEVER get it.


I am so aggravated…………

Dad: GI shot dead seemed happy, Army failed him

"Sue Lamoureux believes that a lack of appropriate and accessible mental health treatment for military members and veterans is contributing to the number of soldier-on-police incidents across the country."

By Matthew D. LaPlante

The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated Aug 28, 2010 11:12PM

There was something different about Brandon Barrett when he came home from Army basic training in early 2007.

Bill Barrett had always been proud of his son. But now, the Marine Corps veteran noticed, “Brandon held himself higher. Joining the Army was a life-changing experience for him. It was a good change.”

But Bill Barrett now fears that his son’s experiences at war brought on another change — something deeper, something darker.

Something deadly.

The younger Barrett, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, was wearing full battle gear and carrying a loaded rifle when a police officer confronted him in downtown Salt Lake City on Friday afternoon. A police spokeswoman said Barrett opened fire, striking the officer in the leg. The officer returned fire, killing the 28-year-old soldier, whose bloodied body fell in a patch of grass behind the Grand America Hotel, near one of the city’s busiest intersections.
(click below for entire story)
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50182386-76/barrett-police-health-army.html.csp?page=1

Army vet killed, officer wounded in SLC shootout

By Matthew D. LaPlante, Sheena McFarland and Lindsay Whitehurst
The Salt Lake Tribune
Updated Aug 28, 2010 07:11PM

He was dressed for war. And he died in a hail of gunfire.  But the battlefield upon which Brandon S. Barrett waged his final fight was not in a distant, dangerous place, but rather, it would appear, in his own mind. 
 
In a situation that has become disturbingly frequent across the United States, an armed soldier squared off against a police officer in downtown Salt Lake City on Friday afternoon.  Barrett, a 28-year-old U.S. Army veteran recently home from Afghanistan, was in full battle dress, armed with an assault rifle and dozens of rounds of ammunition.  It took four minutes from the moment that a frightened witness called 911 to the time that Barrett’s bloodied body lay on a small patch of grass behind the opulent Grand America Hotel. The soldier was dead.  A police officer wounded.
 
And the fog of war was thick.
 
“It’s  heartbreaking,” said Terry Schow, director of the state Department of Veterans Affairs, who has tirelessly fought for greater mental health services for those returning from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. “This is so troubling, on so many levels, I cannot even begin to say.”And yet, Schow said, the officer may have had little choice in his response. “We understand that officer, and public safety is so very important,” he said.
(click below for complete story)
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/home/50179511-76/officer-police-lake-salt.html.csp