News from the Internet

:: Documents obtained by The Australian reveal that almost 400 serious adverse reactions have been reported to the Therapeutic Goods Administration, some involving children as young as three. Parents being urged by schools to medicate their kids for ADHD had better think twice. Every time behavioural issues become a "medically treatable problem", you can bet that there's a pharmaceutical company out there pushing their product no matter what the risks.

:: In October, Tumpey and a team led by Dr. Jeffery Taubenberger of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology announced they had achieved a remarkable feat. Not only did they discover the virus' entire genetic code, they brought it back to life in a tightly controlled laboratory at CDC offices in Atlanta. The virus that had swept the globe, infecting more than one-fourth of the world's population, existed on earth once again. This sends a shiver up my spine. Why is the Armed Forces involved in this research? Are they looking at weaponizing this? Is this how they intend to REDUCE the world's population?

:: The article indicates that the military is putting pressure on mental health professionals treating these soldiers to minimize the extent of their problems and to declare them fit for return to Iraq and combat. For example, some Army doctors are reporting that they are being told to diagnose combat-stress reaction instead of the more serious post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Further, the article reports that professionals treating emotionally disturbed soldiers “are under pressure” to approve their redeployment to Iraq.

:: In reality, the Bush Administration went to war to attain two objectives: 1. Seizing Iraq’s vast oil reserves, and turning Iraq into a base to dominate the Middle East; 2. Destroying one of Israel’s two main enemies( Iran being the other).

:: US occupation forces in Iraq struggle just to defend their bases and vulnerable supply lines. Their fruitless, Vietnam-style search-and-destroy missions, like the recent ‘Operation Swarmer,’ are a sure sign of strategic failure and senior officers too stupid or arrogant to draw obvious lessons from recent guerilla wars. The US military is repeating many of the same mistakes that led to its defeat in Vietnam.

:: Iraq minister says US, Iraqi troops killed 37 - "They were all unarmed. Nobody fired a single shot at them (the troops). They went in, tied up the people and shot them all. They did not leave any wounded behind," he told Reuters. /more/

Sending mentally ill soldiers back to Iraq

:: Reckless disregard for soldiers’ welfare and for Iraqi lives
As the US military has difficulties recruiting and retaining soldiers for its never-ending war of occupation in Iraq, the armed services are resorting to increasingly desperate means of coping. The Stop-Loss option in soldiers’ contracts has allowed soldiers to be kept in uniform months or years after their term of service has expired. The National Guard has been sent overseas to a previously unprecedented extent. And military standards have been lowered, so that drug or alcohol abuse, pregnancy, and poor fitness no longer necessarily lead to dismissal of new recruits.

Now word comes that “mentally ill” troops are being sent back to Iraq. [See: Some troops headed back to Iraq are mentally ill] This article refers to “a little-discussed truth fraught with implications,” but the implications discussed all have to do with the effects on the soldiers being returned, and these soldiers’ “effectiveness in combat.” In many instances, being returned to combat, and to a state of constant tension, will exacerbate the soldier’s problems, the article -- correctly -- suggests. /more/