Here are some of today's top stories and happenings at IAVA.
MUST READS
(1) FEATURE: And He Shall Be Judged [1]
The Pentagon said Monday it no longer includes a Bible quote on the cover page of daily intelligence briefings [2] it sends to the White House as was practice during the Bush administration. The response comes after GQ magazine revealed in its June issue yesterday that for a period in 2003, the daily reports prepared for President George W. Bush carried Bible quotes to support him at a time when Soldiers' deaths in Iraq were on the rise. Maj. Gen. Glen Shaffer, who was responsible for including them, retired in August 2003 according to officials. Read the GQ report here [1].
(2) OPINION: War’s Psychic Toll [3]
In his latest column, Bob Herbert of the New York Times reflects today on last Monday's fatal shooting of five U.S. servicemembers by Sgt. John M. Russell at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, arguing that the psychi stress of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been vast and that their destructive effects should not surprise the country. "Because we have chosen not to share the sacrifices of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the terrible burden of these conflicts is being shouldered by an obscenely small portion of the population...," Herbert writes. "We’re brutally and cold-bloodedly sacrificing the psychological well-being of these men and women, which should be a scandal. If these wars are so important to our national security, we should all be engaging in some form of serious sacrifice, and many more of us should be serving."
(3) Plunging Oil Prices Force Iraq to Cut Security Jobs [4]
Unable to offset a sharp drop in oil prices, Iraq's government is now reportedly cutting tens of thousands of security jobs and will be unable to purchase ships and aircraft that Iraqi officials had hoped would allow the country to develop a basic ability to fend off external threats by the complete U.S. military withdrawal by 2010. "The budget crisis is going to degrade the rate at which Iraqis will be able to develop their capabilities," said Lt. Gen. Frank G. Helmick, who supervises the training and equipment of the Iraqi security forces. "We're in a situation that the Iraqis have not had to face. They can't pay for it, and we don't have the money to pay for it. For the first time, the Iraqis will have to prioritize, and these will be tough choices." According to a Defense Ministry personnel audit obtained by The Washington Post, corruption has already set in with some Iraqi army majors making upwards of $70,000 a month through embezzlement. Meanwhile, U.S. officials told the Post the Administration believes as much as 25 percent of the Iraq Defense Ministry's annual payroll budget has been stolen.
AFGHANISTAN
In a meeting with reporters at the Brookings Institution on Monday, Admiral Mike Mullen [5], Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that U.S. coalition forces need more equipment, supplies and helicopters with heavy engines to accompany thousands of troops on the way to Afghanistan - particularly ahead of the long winter months. “I am hopeful that we can in the [next] 12 to 24 months really stem the trends which have been going very badly in the last three years,” Mullen said. “It is going to be a very violent 2009 and 2010.” Mullen indicated it may take at least two years to see the increasing violence start to change. Clarifying remarks he made before Congress last week warning Pakistan could be reenergizing its nuclear capacity, Mullen said: “I don’t believe they are a country near failure, yet they have this resurgent terrorist threat which is getting closer and closer to Islamabad."
In response, Pakistan's Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira [6] vehemently denied Monday Admiral Mullen's assertion that Pakistan is boosting its nuclear arsenal. “Pakistan does not need to expand its nuclear arsenal but we want to make it clear that we will maintain a minimum nuclear deterrence that is essential for our defense and stability,” Kaira said. “We will not make any compromise.” Pakistan is believed to possess more than 60 nuclear weapons under a program that began to keep pace with its "traditional" enemy, India.
On Tuesday, America's new ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry [7] joined Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a surprise visit to Farah Province to express his condolences to the families of scores of people who died during a recent U.S.-Taliban clash there. Though the U.S. disputes the toll, the Afghan government says the attack killed 140 civilians. Eikenberry spoke before a gathering of more than 1,000 people at a mosque in the capital ofthe province in an attempt to sooth tensions.
Eikenberry's visit comes a day after reports Zalmay Khalilzad [8], former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan under President George W. Bush, could assume a powerful, unelected position inside the Afghan government under a plan he is discussing with Hamid Karzai. Previously, Khalilzad, an American citizen who was born in Afghanistan, had considered challenging Karzai for the presidency in elections scheduled for this summer.
IRAQ
The U.S. military confirmed late Monday that Army Sgt. John M. Russell [9], the soldier charged with the fatal shooting of five U.S. service members at a stress clinic at Camp Liberty, has been transferred from Baghdad to pre-trial confinement at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait. Officials declined to say whether Russell would be sent on to Germany or the United States for trial.
Separately, Army Cpt. Elbert W. George [10] III of Suffolk, VA pleaded guilty Monday in U.S. District Court to stealing a bus, eight trucks, 19 generators, five trailers and other items from an Army base in Balad and then selling them for upwards of $1 million to an Iraqi businessman.
Iraqi officials on Monday released a video showing the interrogation of a man they say is Abu Omar al-Baghdadi [11], chief of the Iraqi branch of Al-Qaeda Islamic State of Iraq. At a media conference, Major General Qasim Atta, spokesman for Baghdad's security operations, showed the footage of the man explaining how al-Qaeda financed its activities in Iraq.
MILITARY AFFAIRS
The U.S. Army reportedly plans to break up its $160 billion modernization plan and give the high-tech fighting Future Combat Systems [12] tools to all its 73 existing combat brigades instead of just a handful as originally planned. The decision to field the robots, precision missiles and surveillance tools across the Army's force essentially dissolves what has been one of the service's top weapons programs for the past 10 years. A spokseman for the program, Paul Mehney, is calling the new approach a "more holistic modernization effort."
Meanwhile, an advisory group of retired generals and admirals said in a report issued Monday that reducing America’s reliance on oil [13] and dealing with climate change are critical for future national security. The retired, high-ranking military officers concluded that overreliance on oil, and not only foreign oil, will leave the United States vulnerable to unstable and hostile countries. “U.S. dependence on oil weakens international leverage, undermines foreign policy objectives and entangles America with unstable or hostile regimes,” said the report, written by the Military Advisory Board of CNA, a nonprofit research organization.
INSIDE WASHINGTON
Reps. Mike Coffman (R-CO) and Jim Marshall (D-GA) sent a letter Monday to VA Secretary General Eric Shinseki asking the Department of Veterans Affairs to investigate whether some veterans are falsely claiming to have been prisoners of war [14]. The request follows April reports that the Department of Defense has identified a total of about 580 surviving POWs from the Vietnam War and the first Gulf War in 1991, but the VA is paying disability benefits to about 1,250 purported POWs.
In case you missed it yesterday, an interesting feature on President Obama's new White House receptionist, Darienne M. Page [15], an Iraq veteran who worked as paralegal in Baghdad, taking depositions in the Abu Ghraib prison.
CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE
THE SENATE
The Senate will convene at 10:00 AM.
FUTURE COMMITTEE HEARINGS of INTEREST
THE HOUSE of REPRESENTATIVES
The House will convene at 10:30 AM.
FLOOR ACTIVITY of INTEREST
Suspensions (10 Bills)
1) H.R. 2182 - Enhanced Oversight of State and Local Economic Recovery Act (Rep. Towns – Oversight and Government Reform)
2) H.R. 1170 - To amend chapter 21 of title 38, United States Code, to establish a grant program to encourage the development of new assistive technologies for specially adapted housing (Rep. Boozman – Veterans’ Affairs)
3) H.R. 1088 - Mandatory Veteran Specialist Training Act of 2009 (Rep. Herseth Sandlin – Veterans’ Affairs)
4) H.R. 1089 - Veterans Employment Rights Realignment Act of 2009 (Rep. Herseth Sandlin – Veterans’ Affairs)
5) H.Res. 360 - Urging all Americans and people of all nationalities to visit the national cemeteries, memorials, and markers on Memorial Day (Rep. Roe – Veterans’ Affairs)
6) H.R. 466 - Wounded Veteran Job Security Act (Rep. Doggett – Veterans’ Affairs)
COMMITTEE HEARINGS of INTEREST
IAVA In The NEWS
Outlet: America Foreign Press Services
Title: Rolling Thunder Plans ‘Saluting Our Troops’ Program [16]
Date: Monday, May 18th
Representative: Patrick Campbell
Outlet: The Leaf Chronicle
Title: Stress Must be Relieved [17]
Date: Tuesday, May 19th
Representative: IAVA
WHAT THE BLOGS ARE SAYING
Blog: Sam Spade's San Francisco
Title: Jobs Offered for U.S. Veterans [18]
Date: Tuesday, May 19th
Representative: IAVA
Links:
[1] http://men.style.com/gq/features/landing?id=content_9217&loc=interstitialskip
[2] http://www.military.com/news/article/crusader-talk-on-2003-iraq-reports.html
[3] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/opinion/19herbert.html?_r=1
[4] http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/05/18/AR2009051801769.html
[5] http://militarytimes.com/news/2009/05/military_mullen_afghanistan_051809/
[6] http://militarytimes.com/news/2009/05/ap_pakistan_nuclear_weapons_051809/
[7] http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hvWEqwq3CrRvaQCmt21MfoYhjZJQD989BK380
[8] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/19/world/asia/19diplo.html?_r=1&hp
[9] http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5j0T67Iip9wg-AtYopQF1cZ271ZFgD98934V01
[10] http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jTxed7HS1Msqpsz_Jzmso74R0lLQD988S8602?loc=interstitialskip
[11] http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ijev7LGQYm3RzJQy-t4ZxfbBX3qQ
[12] http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jfAo2eItf80ltmrSow8FjROOMxNAD988TC080
[13] http://militarytimes.com/news/2009/05/ap_security_energy_policy_051809/
[14] http://www.kdvr.com/news/sns-ap-co--toomanypows-congress,0,2215902.story
[15] http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/us/politics/18rotus.html?scp=1&sq=rotus&st=cse
[16] http://elitestv.com/pub/2009/05/rolling-thunder-plans-saluting-our-troops-program
[17] http://www.theleafchronicle.com/article/20090519/OPINION01/905190312
[18] http://www.samspadesf.com/2009/05/jobs-offered-now-for-u-s-military.html