Blog post

IAVA Daily Brief 05.22.09
Posted by Michelle McCarthy on May 22

Here are some of today's top stories and happenings at IAVA.

MUST READS

(1) Release: DoD Launches Program to Fight Stigma of Seeking Psychological Health Care

Almost two weeks after the Camp Liberty tragedy, the Department of Defense launched a new program Thursday called Real Warriors to fight the stigma of seeking psychological health care.  The multimedia campaign will “promote the processes of building resilience, facilitating recovery and supporting reintegration for those with psychological wounds via an interactive web site and through radio and television public service announcements.” 

(2) Senate committee OKs advance funding for VA

The Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee approved an appropriations bill for advance funding of VA health care on Thursday by unanimous voice vote without dissent. The bill currently has 47 cosponsors in the Senate, and will require 50 votes to pass or 60 votes to overcome procedural hurdles if determined opposition tries to block the measure.

(3) Bill would regulate war-zone burn pits

Rep. Tim Bishop (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-N.H.) unveiled a bill Thursday, the “Military Personnel War Zone Toxic Exposure Prevention Act,” HR 2419,  that would bar the military from operating burn pits in Iraq and Afghanistan for longer than six months and also would require the Department of Defense to identify service members who may have been exposed to burn pit toxins.  Though the DoD has said the burn pits do not pose serious health risks, more than 200 people have contacted the Military Times reporting symptoms they believe are linked to their exposure to burn pit smoke, including lymphomas, leukemia, sudden onset asthma, chronic coughs, sleep apnea and headaches.  To date, nine class-action lawsuits have been filed against military contractor KBR which ran several of the largest burn pits in Iraq.

(4) White House says it is reviewing gays policy

Days after Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said the military has no plans to repeal “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy and that the White House had not asked for the 1993 policy to be scrapped, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters Thursday that President Obama is committed to reversing the Clinton-era policy which blocks gays’ service if they should disclose their sexual orientation. 

(5) Obama Would Move Some Detainees to U.S.

In a speech at the National Archives Thursday, President Obama said he intends to transfer some terrorist detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to highly secure facilities inside the United States and proposed “prolonged detention” for terrorism suspects who cannot be tried.  “We are not going to release anyone if it would endanger our national security,” Mr. Obama declared, adding, “As we make these decisions, bear in mind the following fact: Nobody has ever escaped from one of our federal supermax prisons, which hold hundreds of convicted terrorists.”

AFGHANISTAN

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on Thursday that he's concerned the U.S. troop buildup to roust insurgents from Afghanistan could further destabilize neighboring Pakistan.  Mullen said he believes the upcoming increase of 21,000 U.S. forces in Afghanistan "is about right" for the new strategy of trying to quell the insurgency and speed up training of Afghan security forces, but said he shared concerns that insurgents could push across the Afghan border into other countries including Baluchistan. 

Following Mullen’s remarks, the United Nations announced Friday it will seek $543 million for more than 2 million people displaced by the Taliban encroachment in northwest Pakistan.  The United States said it will pledge $110 million for the relief effort.  Iran might also announce support this weekend at a summit hosted by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in Tehran with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari and Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Two former Blackwater contractors, who are under investigation for a shooting incident that killed an Afghan and injured two others earlier this month, said Thursday that their superiors frequently distributed AK-47 assault rifles to them in Afghanistan without Department of Defense authorization.  "We were just told, 'Continue doing your job. Don't worry about it. That's above your paygrade,'" one of the contractors told the AP.  Both were fired after the incident and have since returned to the United States.

IRAQ

Stateside, a jury in Kentucky on Thursday spared 24-year-old Pfc. Steven D. Green from the death penalty, instead sentencing him to life in prison without parole for raping a 14-year-old Iraqi girl and murdering her, her parents and a younger sister in Mahmudiya, Iraq in March 2006.  Green’s trial was the first capital punishment case tried under a 2000 law allowing federal criminal courts to try crimes committed overseas by former members of the military, military dependents, contractors and other civilians.

MILITARY AFFAIRS

According to an inspector general report, clerks at the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office in Pittsburgh deliberately delayed 10 veterans' benefit claims so that about 120 VA employees could get a $300 performance bonus in 2008.  The $36,120 that the VA clerks received by delaying $4,028 in payments to GWOT veterans came from a bonus program intended to ensure that veterans' claims are handled promptly.

In a lighthearted moment at New York's annual Salute to Freedom dinner in Manhattan on Thursday, Defense Secretary Robert Gates praised an Army soldier in who drew media attention earlier this month after rushing to defend his post from a Taliban attack in eastern Afghanistan while wearing pink "I Love NY" boxer shorts and flip-flops.  "Any soldier who goes into battle against the Taliban in pink boxers and flip-flops has a special kind of courage," Gates said in remarks prepared for a speech.  "I can only wonder about the impact on the Taliban. Just imagine seeing that: a guy in pink boxers and flip-flops has you in his cross-hairs. What an incredible innovation in psychological warfare."

INSIDE WASHINGTON

In an 86-3 vote, the Senate passed a $91.3 billion military spending bill on Thursday allowing President Obama to significant ramp up the U.S. war in Afghanistan.  The bill, however, was stripped of the money President Obama sought to close the Guantanamo Bay detainee detention facility.  Under the Senate version of the bill, the Pentagon would receive $73 billion, including $4.6 billion to train and equip Afghan and Iraqi security forces; $400 million to train and equip Pakistan’s security forces, and $21.9 billion to procure new mine-resistant vehicles, aircraft, weapons and ammunition, among other items.

President Obama will mark the start of Memorial Day weekend with a final commencement speech on Friday at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, MD.  Former presidential rival Senator John McCain, whose son will graduate from the Academy this weekend, is expected to attend the commencement.

CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE

The Senate and House are not in session today.

IAVA IN THE NEWS

Outlet: USA Today

Title: Attention to War Spending Bill Raises Questions
Date: Thursday, May 21st

Representative: Paul Rieckhoff

WHAT THE BLOGS ARE SAYING

Blog: Thoughts in the Garden of the 5 Senses

Title: Honoring Your Values: Be Sensitive 2

Date: Friday, May 22^nd

Representative: IAVA, SYV

Blog: Slashgear.com

Title: Palm & Sprint Pre launch party: My Pre will be there

Date: Thursday, May 21st

Representative: IAVA

Blog: MyPre.com

Title: My Pre headed to Palm & Sprint’s Pre launch party!

Date: Thursday, May 21st

Representative: IAVA

Blog: SaintPetersblog 2.0

Title: Bill Young's addition to war spending bill raises questions

Date: Thursday, May 21st

Representative: Paul Rieckhoff