IAVA Daily Brief 11.23.09

 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 [1].

MUST READS

1) VA Under Secretary of Benefits Steps Down [2]

The Department of Veterans Affairs announced Friday that the Under Secretary for Benefits will be stepping down. Under Secretary Patrick W. Dunne, has run the Veterans Benefits Administration since 2006, a period in which the agency has been swamped by claims not only from wounded Iraq and Afghanistan veterans but also aging Vietnam veterans. The rise in the backlog of unprocessed claims has fueled complaints from members of Congress and veterans’ advocates. The benefits administration also came under fire this year when it was late issuing payments to colleges and students under the new G.I. Bill. In announcing Mr. Dunne’s resignation, Secretary of Veterans Affairs Eric Shinseki said: “Pat Dunne has guided the Veterans Benefits Administration through a number of challenges during his tenure as under secretary. I applaud his service and loyalty to our team and thank him for his unfailing commitment to our nation’s veterans.” Veterans’ advocates say the benefits administration has been slow to modernize. Revamping the department’s outdated computer technology, along with reducing the claims backlog, is one of Mr. Shinseki’s top priorities.

2) Gate Says Afghan Surge Could Occur Swiftly [3]

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said any new U.S. forces President Barack Obama sends to Afghanistan could move into the country swiftly, despite logistical hassles that force almost all major deliveries of troops and supplies to go by air. His wording suggested that, as expected, Obama will soon approve an increase in the already record U.S. force of 68,000 in Afghanistan. An announcement of a substantial troop increase expected in the next two weeks. "I anticipate that as soon as the president makes his decision, we can probably begin flowing some forces pretty quickly after that," Gates said.

3) Army to review how it tests body armor [4]

The Army says there will be an outside review of how body armor for its soldiers is tested. The Government Accountability Office said last month that the Army made mistakes in testing a new body armor design. And it recommended the process be reviewed before the armor is sent to troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Army maintains that no U.S. troops have been killed in combat as a result of any problems with the armor.

AFGHANISTAN

At least 13 people were killed [5] in a suicide bombing Friday morning in Afghanistan's western Farah province, police said. Among the dead was one policeman. The attack injured 29 others, including eight children, police said. The suicide bomber self-detonated next to the governor's house in the capital, Farah city.  The largely desert province bordering Iran has seen an increase in bloodshed as Taliban insurgents have spread west from their strongholds in the south and east of Afghanistan. The attack occurred a day after Afghan President Hamid Karzai was sworn in for a second five-year term.

Bomb attacks and a firefight have killed four U.S. service members [6] in the past 24 hours in Afghanistan, NATO forces said Monday, adding to the growing toll as NATO and the U.S. consider whether to send more forces to the war. Three of the Americans died in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, the military force said in a statement. Two of them were killed in a bomb attack and the third in a separate firefight. The military said the fourth U.S. service member died in the east Monday in a bomb explosion.

The United States must tighten control of Afghan aid contracts [7] as a first step toward stemming rampant corruption, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Friday. A central question as President Obama debates sending up to 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan is whether the Afghan government can become a more credible partner in the war by tackling corruption undermining its legitimacy. "The reality is that the international presence in Afghanistan has provided a significant influx of assistance dollars in contracts," Gates said. "I think the place to start is the place we have the greatest leverage and that's where we're writing the checks," he told reporters during a trip to Canada.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals isn't normally associated with military matters but after reading news reports that described how troops are hurting for chocolate [8] in Afghanistan the group decided to take action -- and the result is something warfighters will probably enjoy eating for more than one reason. PETA is making special chocolates embossed with the head of bin Laden and the words "Bin Laden bites!"  "These delicious dark chocolate 'bin Laden Bites' give a whole new meaning to the adage 'Revenge is sweet,'" says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. "Our troops deserve a chuckle, and PETA's vegan chocolates will give them that as well."

IRAQ

The U.S. military says an American soldier has been killed in action [9] in Iraq. A military statement said the soldier from the Multi-National Division - South died on Sunday. The soldier's name is being withheld until family members can be notified.

In its largest reconstruction effort since the Marshall Plan, the United States government has spent $53 billion for relief [10] and reconstruction in Iraq since the 2003 invasion, building tens of thousands of hospitals, water treatment plants, electricity substations, schools and bridges. But there are growing concerns among American officials that Iraq will not be able to adequately maintain the facilities once the Americans have left, potentially wasting hundreds of millions of dollars and jeopardizing Iraq’s ability to provide basic services to its people.

Gen. Ray Odierno, the commander of American forces in Iraq, never goes anywhere without Emma Sky. [11] Despite the fact that she's British, civilian, Odierno has admitted Sky into his inner circle, where she offers advice and perspective on what life looks like to Iraq's civilians. Sky, who speaks Hebrew and Arabic, once thought she was going to change the world by solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. That didn't exactly work out, but while working for the British in Iraq, she impressed Odierno, who installed her as a special adviser after he was promoted to commander. Sky has contacts from Kirkuk to Basra, and she uses them to keep an eye on the political and social currents of the country.

A stepped-up campaign by Iraq's prime minister against Saddam Hussein loyalists is alienating Sunni Muslims [12] and stoking tensions between them and the majority Shiites ahead of key national elections. In its latest anti-Baathist attack, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's Shiite-dominated government put three men on state television Sunday to confess their alleged role in planning suicide attacks in Baghdad last month. The three, all in detention and dressed in orange prison jumpsuits, said the bombings were ordered by Saddam's Baath Party. Al-Maliki's intensified rhetoric worsens one of Iraq's most dangerous sectarian fault lines — one which the United States has long struggled to calm. Reconciliation between Sunnis and Shiites has been an elusive goal, seen as critical for Iraqi's stability — and it takes on added urgency with American forces now scheduled to leave Iraq by the end of 2011. Many fear that without U.S. troops, sectarian and ethnic rifts could re-ignite into violence.

 MILITARY AFFAIRS

The Obama administration hopes to get a little help from its NATO allies [13] after the president announces a new strategy for the war in Afghanistan. Obama is expected to announce in the next few weeks that 10,000 to 40,000 more American troops will be sent to Afghanistan. But he may also secure promises of 3,000 to 7,000 more troops from European partners. The Wall Street Journal reports that the administration is "in advanced talks" with NATO allies and that the delay in announcing a new strategy was due in part to a desire to bring more NATO countries onboard. NATO foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels Dec. 3, and some believe NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen will use the opportunity to announce an increase in the number of European troops in Afghanistan and "send a clear signal that the U.S. isn't alone" in the region.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Gen. Carter Ham, the top U.S. Army officer in Europe, has been selected to lead a 45-day probe [14] into whether it could have done more to prevent the Fort Hood shootings. Ham has discussed his experience with PTSD publicly as a way of encouraging other troops to seek help.

Former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is taking her “Going Rogue” book tour [15] to Fort Hood, Texas, site of a massacre that left 13 dead and 30 wounded on Nov. 5. Palin said she intends to donate the royalties from sales of her books at Fort Hood to the families of those killed and injured when Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly fired on fellow Soldiers. The Fort Hood visit is planned for Dec. 4, according to the New York Daily News.

The Army in Europe is bringing its library collections to deployed troops [16] using a host of online services. The program allows troops to browse Army library collections, download videos, check out books and get them delivered by mail, according to Stacy Graham, the Army’s Europe Region librarian. Customers can set up an online library account that also allows them to place items on hold, view their lending history and create reading lists, Graham said. Borrowers also can write book reviews in the same way customers do on commercial Web sites such as Amazon.com, Graham said.

INSIDE WASHINGTON

Legislation granting Air Force and Navy veterans a better shot at receiving disability benefits for Agent Orange-related illness [17] now has 204 co-sponsors in the House of Representatives, 14 short of the number needed to guarantee passage. The bill, HR 2254, is the Agent Orange Equity Act. It would grant people who served in the waters off Vietnam and the airspace above it the same presumptions as people who set foot there: that certain diseases are the result of exposure to the herbicide Agent Orange, widely used to defoliate jungle around U.S. bases and outposts. If enacted, the bill would cover veterans who had received a Vietnam Service Medal, Vietnam Campaign Medal or who served on Johnston Island, a Navy outpost, beginning April 1, 1972, and ending Sept. 30, 1977.

CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE

THE SENATE

The Senate will reconvene at 2:00p.m. on Monday, November 30

SENATE FLOOR ACTIVITY of INTEREST

No issues today

COMMITTEE HEARINGS of INTEREST

No issues today

FUTURE COMMITTEE HEARINGS of INTEREST

No issues

THE HOUSE of  REPRESENTATIVES



The House will reconvene at 2:00 p.m. on Tuesday, December 2, 2009

HOUSE FLOOR ACTIVITY of INTEREST

 No issues today

HOUSE COMMITTEE HEARINGS of  INTEREST



No issues today

FUTURE  HOUSE COMMITTEE HEARINGS of  INTEREST



December 2, 2009  Veterans’ Affairs Committee Hearing:  VA Health Care Funding: Appropriations to Programs  10:00 a.m.; 334 Cannon HOB

December 3, 2009  Veterans’ Affairs Subcommittee on Economic Opportunity Roundtable  1:00 p.m.; 334 Cannon HOB

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