Blog post

IAVA Daily Brief 08.07.09
Posted by Michelle McCarthy on August 7

Here are some of today's top stories and happenings at IAVA.  Prefer to receive real-time updates about major stories and legislation that IAVA is tracking?  Follow us on Twitter @iavapressroom.

MUST READS

1) As DoD Reviews Marine Ban, UK Troops Encouraged to Use Twitter and Facebook in the Field

As the U.S. Department of Defense reviews a ban on social media use by U.S. Marines on military computers, Britain’s Ministry of Defence emphasized Thursday a "liberalization" of its policy for forces personnel's use of sites like Twitter and Facebook.  The MoD said Thursday that British personnel will no longer have to seek the permission of their chain of command before discussing their work online.  According to the Guardian, officials are now encouraging British soldiers in Afghanistan to use digital messaging and conversations conducted through computers to connect with family because the Taliban are mobile "tech savvy" and use of cell phones poses potential security concerns.  "The MoD's new common sense guidance allows service personnel to talk about themselves and their work online, within limits and with advice to protect their security, reputation and privacy", an MoD spokesman told the Guardian. "We will be actively seeking their feedback on how the first edition of the guidelines can be improved.”  While British officials concede that it is impossible to police troops' use of the internet, emails, and networking sites and in the end it is a matter of trust.  But in an effort to prevent security breaches, officials said military bloggers and tweeters will not have access to highly classified or sensitive information kept on special MoD IT systems.

2) Buyer: National Health Care Bill Could Still Harm Veterans

House Committee on Veterans’ Affairs Ranking Member Steve Buyer (R-IN) raised concerns Thursday about problem provisions of the national health care reform bill (H.R. 3200), citing potential harm to veterans, servicemembers and their families.  “While I am generally opposed to H.R. 3200, it is my job as a legislator and an advocate for America’s veterans to improve it as much as possible,” said Buyer in a statement.  “I am pleased that two of my six amendments to protect veterans were approved, but I will continue to work on my other amendments that were blocked last week on technicalities.”  In its current form, Buyer claims the bill can classify certain veterans enrolled in VA health care as not meeting “acceptable” health coverage standards, exposing them to punitive new taxes under the “acceptable” insurance definition in the bill.   The first of the remaining Buyer amendments would make it crystal clear that VA health care is “acceptable” coverage and ensure that veterans enrolled in VA health care would never be subject to a two and a half percent penalty tax for failing to have “acceptable” health coverage.  A second Buyer amendment would require that any new public health insurance plan implemented by Congress reimburse the VA in the same manner as other private health insurance plans. Currently, VA has authority to collect payments from private health insurance for treatment of non-service connected conditions.  The House Energy and Commerce Committee has unanimously adopted two Buyer amendments to H.R. 3200 that ensure veterans and servicemembers who choose to carry additional health insurance, along with care provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) or the Department of Defense (DOD), are not encumbered by provisions within the bill.  Buyer’s other adopted amendment ensures that the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of VA retain decision making authority for their respective health care systems, and that the Departments would never be challenged or obstructed by a secretary or commissioner from another sector of government.  To view all of the pending Buyer amendments, click here.

3) Purple Heart Day Celebrations

New Mexico joins several other states today in celebrating Purple Hearty Day to commemorate the more than 1.5 million U.S. servicemembers who have received the decoration – the oldest military decoration in the world - since its inception two centuries ago.  The Purple Heart traces its beginnings to 1782, when then-Commander in Chief of the Continental Army Gen. George Washington designed a new badge of distinction to honor enlisted men and noncommissioned officers for meritorious action in combat.  It is awarded to any member of the Armed Forces who is wounded, killed or who died as a result of a combat injury.  More than a third of the 1.5 million recipients nationwide are still living.

AFGHANISTAN

Four U.S. Marines were killed Thursday when a roadside bomb struck their vehicle in western Afghanistan, though NATO declined to say exactly where the Marines were killed or immediately release other details of the attack.  Three British paratroopers were also killed in a Taliban attack on their patrol in southern Afghanistan, raising the number of international troops slain in the first week of August to 18.  According to NATO and the British government, the soldiers' armored vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb north of Lashkar Gah in Helmand Province on Thursday before insurgents opened fire.

Just across the border, two Taliban fighters said Friday that Baitullah Mehsud, the leader of Pakistan’s Taliban militia, was killed Wednesday in a C.I.A. missile strike during a meeting to determine which of his top deputies would replace him. American officials have not yet confirmed his death, and Pakistani leaders emphasized they did not have irrefutable evidence of the killing.  “A lot of evidence is pouring in from the area that he’s dead,” said Rehman Malik, the Pakistani interior minister, “But I’m unable to confirm until there is solid evidence.”  According to the New York Times, the Taliban fighters in northwest Pakistan, a senior leader reached by telephone in Orakzai Agency and a local Taliban fighter in Waziristan, said that Mehsud had been receiving kidney treatment from a relative in his father-in-law’s house in the remote village of Zanghara when the building was struck by missiles fired from a remotely-piloted drone.  “Taking Mehsud off the battlefield would be a major victory,” an American counterterrorism official said Thursday speaking on condition of anonymity. “The world, and certainly Pakistan, would be a safer place without him.”  Mehsud and his military network have been blamed for a wave of violence across Pakistan, including the 2007 assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

IRAQ

A suicide car bomb devastated a Shiite mosque in Rasheediyah, north of Mosul, on Friday killing at least 30 Shiite pilgrims and trapping dozens more underneath the rubble.  In Baghdad, roadside bombs targeting Shiites returning from the southern holy city of Karbala killed an additional seven pilgrims.  No group has claimed responsibility for the bombings though officials are raising concerns that insurgents are stepping up attacks, hoping to re-ignite sectarian violence that nearly tore the country apart in 2006 and 2007.

On Thursday, a provincial judge has sentenced a 15 year-old Iraqi girl who claimed her husband’s female relatives strapped explosives on her to seven and a half years in prison for attempting to blow herself up at a police checkpoint in northeastern Iraq in August 2008.  The sentence comes amid a rising number of female suicide bombers in Iraq, which has prompted U.S. and Iraqi forces to step up efforts to train more female police to search women for explosives.

MILITARY AFFAIRS

In a boost to the U.S. Army, Forbes magazine has ranked West Point as the best college in America citing cadet’s work ethic and drive to succeed as well as the fact that they graduate without student debt.  The U.S. Military Academy beat out No. 2 Princeton and third-place California Institute of Technology in the America’s Best College report.  West Point was ranked No. 6 by the magazine in 2008.

Meanwhile, U.S. Army is investigating an anti-war group’s claim that it was infiltrated by a civilian Army employee, in violation of federal law barring the Army from conducting domestic law enforcement.  Members of the anti-war group claim John J. Towery, a criminal-intelligence analyst for the Force Protection Division at Fort Lewis in Washington, attended meetings and protests and administered an e-mail list for Olympia Port Militarization Resistance over the past two years. Towery reportedly identified himself as an anarchist named “John Jacob.”  His team at the Force Protection Division includes civilian and military workers who support law enforcement and security operations to ensure the security of Fort Lewis personnel.

INSIDE WASHINGTON

Senators Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts said Thursday they are prepared to block 10 of President Barack Obama’s nominees for senior administration posts at the Pentagon and Justice Department in protest over a proposal to house Guantanamo detainees at the Fort Leavenworth prison in their Midwestern home state of Kansas.  The list of blocked nominees includes a fellow Republican member of Congress — Obama’s pick for Army secretary, Rep. John McHugh of New York.  The senators were reacting to reports that the administration is eyeing the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks at Leavenworth and a soon-to-be-shuttered state maximum security prison in Michigan as possible places to establish a heavily guarded site to hold the 229 suspected al-Qaida, Taliban and foreign fighters now jailed at the Guantanamo Bay detention camp in Cuba.  Officials outlined the plans earlier this week on condition of anonymity because the options are under review, and the White House has not confirmed the proposal.

CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE

THE SENATE

The Senate will convene at 9:30 a.m.

FUTURE COMMITTEE HEARINGS of INTEREST

August 28, 2009 - SVAC will conduct a field hearing on the state of VA’s services on Maui, to include an OIG report of the same.  10:00 a.m.; Maui Cultural Center (Vasquez)

THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

The House is on recess until September 8^th.

WHAT THE BLOGS ARE SAYING

Blog: People’s Weekly World

Title: Vets and families cheer new GI Bill

Date: Thursday, August 6^th

Representative: IAVA

A wide-range of views, positions, and publications are represented in these articles.  These views, positions and publications are not endorsed by nor do they necessarily represent the views of IAVA.