Life in OUR America, Volume 2, The Livyjr Files Options

[Livyjr]

The name, to be really accurate, is WALKIN' EAGLE.

A.B.

"Troops to stay in Iraq despite 'progress'"

By Charles Aldinger

Tue Jun 21,12:54 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite reported successes against the insurgency in Iraq, a top U.S. military commander said on Tuesday the United States was unlikely to begin reducing its 135,000 troops there before elections late this year.

"At this point, I would not be prepared to recommend a draw-down prior to the election, certainly not any significant numbers," Army Lt. Gen. John Vines, commander of coalition forces in Iraq, told Pentagon reporters from Iraq.

But Vines said significant reductions could begin early next year following a referendum on a planned constitution this October and a subsequent national election on a new Iraqi government in December.

Vines spoke a day after President Bush acknowledged the Iraq war was "tough" going.

But Bush refused to back down from assertions that progress was being made.

With his popularity falling amid mounting casualties, Bush is spending the next few weeks defending the U.S.-led war and plans to mark next Tuesday's anniversary of the transfer of sovereignty with a speech.

Since the United States formally turned over sovereignty to Iraq on June 28, 2004, more than 860 U.S. troops have been killed.

Vines said, "Since that time, there's been significant progress throughout the country."

More than 1,720 U.S. troops have died in Iraq and with 80 deaths, May was the deadliest month for American forces since January, and June is on pace to match May.

The continued deployment of roughly 135,000 U.S. troops in Iraq also is putting strains on the U.S. military and the U.S. Army has fallen far behind in its recruiting.

Bush has come under fire by Democrats and even some Republicans for an overly optimistic view of the war.

Many have urged him to make a public acknowledgment of the difficulties facing the United States.

On Tuesday, an influential Republican lawmaker, Sen. John McCain of Arizona, said the U.S. effort in Iraq ranked as a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being disaster.

"The key to it is telling the American people it's going to be long and it's going to be hard and difficult," McCain told NBC's "Today" show.

COMPLACENCY

Vines warned that polls in the United States showing a majority of Americans now oppose the U.S. military presence in Iraq suggested "they don't have a good perception of what is at stake here."

"There is a bit of a complacency with elements of our population," he said, because there have been no attacks on the United States since September 2001.

"Quite honestly, I think we have a pretty clear-cut choice: We either deal with terrorism and this extremism abroad or we deal with it when it comes to us," Vines said.

Speaking as U.S. and Iraq troops continued a series of operations against insurgents in Iraq, Vines said the insurgency currently appeared to be "static," neither shrinking nor growing.

"I don't have any reason to believe there is going to be a significant change in four months, absent a political breakthrough," Vines said.

"I suspect we will probably draw down capability after the elections because Iraqi security forces are more capable."

He said U.S. forces could be cut by as many as four or five brigades early next year.

An average American brigade numbers about 3,000 troops.

"A huge, bold shift that injects a lot of risk into the situation is probably not a wise course of action," Vines said.

Some U.S. lawmakers, including a small number from Bush's own Republican Party, have called for setting a deadline to begin withdrawing American troops.

But the White House and Pentagon have rejected that saying insurgents would simply wait for a withdrawal and then renew their violence.

In an opinion piece in The Washington Post, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said "much progress" had been made in Iraq in the past year.

"There will no doubt be frustrating delays and difficult setbacks."

"But let us not lose sight of the fact that all over Iraq today, Iraqis are debating nearly every aspect of their political future."

Annan wrote as he headed to Brussels for a Tuesday conference on Iraqi reconstruction where the security situation there was expected to dominate.

A U.N. official said the purpose of the article was to highlight an international conference in Brussels and U.N activities.

It was not meant to say that "everything is wonderful in Iraq."

[jeffmoskin]

I was actually thinking of Mexico, myself, jeffmoskin, after what you said about all those Mexicans coming over our borders, anyway!

Hire them out by the bus load, to go and fight for George W. Bush in any number of places on the face of the earth, now, where he has enemies that need squashing, in the name of God, guts, glory, and the REPUBLICAN PARTY of OUR America, and the world, to boot! 

We could call them Mameluks, maybe, or something catchy like that, and give them oodles and oodles of money .....

I'm sure you meant that as a joke, Livyjr, but there's a tragic irony to it. You see, the Army now GUARANTEES citizenship to the undocumented grunt AND HIS IMMEDIATE FAMILY. Talk about incentives for enlisiting in the Army.

That's one reason why there are so many Hispanic names over in Iraq.

I just hope they come back alive and in one piece.

[Livyjr]

"Troops to stay in Iraq despite 'progress'"

By Charles Aldinger

Tue Jun 21,12:54 PM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Despite reported successes against the insurgency in Iraq, a top U.S. military commander said on Tuesday the United States was unlikely to begin reducing its 135,000 troops there before elections late this year.

"At this point, I would not be prepared to recommend a draw-down prior to the election, certainly not any significant numbers," Army Lt. Gen. John Vines, commander of coalition forces in Iraq, told Pentagon reporters from Iraq.

But Bush refused to back down from assertions that progress was being made.

With his popularity falling amid mounting casualties, Bush is spending the next few weeks defending the U.S.-led war and plans to mark next Tuesday's anniversary of the transfer of sovereignty with a speech.

Since the United States formally turned over sovereignty to Iraq on June 28, 2004, more than 860 U.S. troops have been killed.

June 21, 2005

"Rice Urges Egyptians and Saudis to Democratize"

By STEVEN R. WEISMAN, NY Times

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia, Tuesday, June 21 - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, delivering a challenge to the United States' closest allies in the Arab world, called on Egypt and Saudi Arabia on Monday to embrace democracy by holding fair elections, releasing political prisoners and allowing free expression and rights for women.

"For 60 years, my country, the United States, pursued stability at the expense of democracy in this region here in the Middle East, and we achieved neither," Ms. Rice declared at the American University in Cairo.

"Now we are taking a different course."

"We are supporting the democratic aspirations of all people."

Praising President Hosni Mubarak for taking some "encouraging" first steps toward democracy, she said Egypt's elections "must meet objective standards that define every free election," including freedom of assembly, speech and press.

As for Saudi Arabia, where Ms. Rice flew after speaking in Egypt, she said that "brave citizens are demanding accountability from their government" and that "many people pay an unfair price for exercising their basic rights."

She praised "some first steps toward openness" in the holding of municipal elections.

But she condemned depriving women of the right to vote and the arrests of some dissidents.

Ms. Rice's appeal, some of the toughest talk in the Arab world from a secretary of state, drew a mixed reaction, including criticism from Egyptian opposition groups demanding an even harder line.

On the other hand, the Egyptian foreign minister, dismissing her comments, said Egypt's planned elections were already going to be free and fair.

Some of the 600 listeners at the university complained that her call for freedom was undercut by American indifference to Israeli "war crimes," mistreatment of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, and Abu Ghraib and the continuing violence in Iraq.

The criticism was similar to what erupted last month after Laura Bush praised Mr. Mubarak for taking a "bold step" in planning multiparty elections, even as protesters were being arrested and opposition groups complained about election requirements barring independent candidates.

"We were shocked at the statements made," Hany Enan, one of the founders of an Egyptian movement demanding that Mr. Mubarak step down, said of Ms. Rice's remarks.

She added, "I don't think the content of her remarks met the expectations of the people or the opposition."

Officials traveling with Ms. Rice said they were prepared for such criticism.

"Most of the region's leaders won't like what they hear, and most people will resent it," one American official said on the condition of anonymity because he did not want to prejudge Arab reaction.

"But in the long run, her speech will make people think about the problem."

The reaction illustrated the quandary that the Bush administration faced in navigating the demands for sweeping changes and a desire not to offend close allies or to apply separate benchmarks to different countries, depending on their status as friends.

Ms. Rice criticized Egypt and Saudi Arabia for intimidating or locking up protesters, for example.

She also met with Ayman Nour, a Parliament member whose arrest this year prompted the secretary to cancel a visit to Egypt.

But she did not meet with leaders of the outlawed Islamist organization known as the Muslim Brotherhood, though it is probably the most popular opposition group.

"Egypt has its laws, it has its rule of law, and I'll respect that," Ms. Rice said, explaining the decision not to meet with the Brotherhood.

In her speech, she assailed Syria as a police state, and then Iran, where the election for president on Friday got no praise even though it has been more competitive than Egypt's is likely to be.

"The appearance of elections does not mask the organized cruelty of Iran's theocratic state," she said.

Her criticism of Egypt, by contrast, came in a conciliatory tone, accompanied by reminders that the United States has its own history of slavery and racism.

"The United States has no cause for false pride, and we have every reason for humility," she added.

In Riyadh, her remarks in Cairo received a curt reaction from Prince Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi foreign minister, who dismissed her appeal for the release of the dissidents.

"They have broken the law," Prince Saud said at a post-midnight news conference with Ms. Rice, adding that Saudi Arabia would use its own judgment of what changes were best.

Ms. Rice's speech had been billed in advance as a bold change for the United States.

"This is a great region of the world, the cradle of civilization," she implored her audience.

Noting that the entire region of 22 countries had a collective economy the size of Spain's, she added:

"How can that be the case?"

"It certainly isn't anything about the intelligence of the Arab people."

"It certainly isn't anything about their aspirations."

"It's about the absence of freedom and the absence of liberty."

Even critics of the American administration say the increasing calls by President Bush for democracy have helped inspire the Egyptian movement known as Kifaya, or Enough, which calls for Mr. Mubarak to step down.

He has served since 1981 without ever being challenged in an election.

Under pressure, Mr. Mubarak in February announced the first Egyptian election for president in which candidates will be able to run, but the National Assembly dominated by his National Democratic Party has been moving toward erecting an array of barriers against candidates outside its influence.

When Ms. Rice raised those problems at a news conference with the Egyptian foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, she got what appeared to be an airy rebuff.

"Who would object to fair, transparent elections?" Mr. Gheit said, turning to the secretary.

"Everybody wants fair, transparent elections."

"And it will be so, I assure you."

In another awkward exchange, Mr. Gheit reminded Ms. Rice that he had told her earlier that without "a settlement for the Palestinian problem," little could be done.

"That is crucial!" he added.

Ms. Rice, who traveled to Egypt from Jordan and Israel, where she had sought to coax the Israelis and Palestinians toward a solution, retorted with a smile, "That's what we're working on."

Mona el-Naggar contributed reporting from Cairo for this article.

[Livyjr]

I'm sure you meant that as a joke, Livyjr, but there's a tragic irony to it.

You see, the Army now GUARANTEES citizenship to the undocumented grunt AND HIS IMMEDIATE FAMILY.

Talk about incentives for enlisiting in the Army.

That's one reason why there are so many Hispanic names over in Iraq.

I just hope they come back alive and in one piece.

Just goes to show, eh, jeffmoskin, that sometimes, it's just best not to joke about something, because it could come true, and no, I was not at all aware of this, what you are talking about, although I certainly find it believable!

I actually had not heard that, at all!

Maybe he could hire Hessians, too!

And Brunswickers, as well!

They did that kind of work for the other George, and so ....

[jeffmoskin]

Just goes to show, eh, jeffmoskin, that sometimes, it's just best not to joke about something, because it could come true, and no, I was not at all aware of this, what you are talking about, although I certainly find it believable!

I actually had not heard that, at all!

Maybe he could hire Hessians, too!

And Brunswickers, as well!

They did that kind of work for the other George, and so ....

Send those Hessians and Brunswickers over here.

"Bring em on"

Seriously, though, BushCo's policy gives new meaning to the term "mercenary."

Especially when they are talking about your FAMILY.

[Abu Beacon]

Just goes to show, eh, jeffmoskin, that sometimes, it's just best not to joke about something, because it could come true, and no, I was not at all aware of this, what you are talking about, although I certainly find it believable!

I actually had not heard that, at all!

Maybe he could hire Hessians, too!

And Brunswickers, as well!

They did that kind of work for the other George, and so ....



Send those Hessians and Brunswickers over here.

"Bring em on"

Seriously, though, BushCo's policy gives new meaning to the term "mercenary."

Especially when they are talking about your FAMILY.

I have never heard that either.

Just like Livyjr, I find it believable.

A.B.

[Livyjr]

I have never heard that either.

Just like Livyjr, I find it believable.

A.B.

You know, jeffmoskin, Mr. A.B., as hard as it may be to believe from some of my own rhetoric in here, I truly believe in being charitable towards others, and that would have to include George W. Bush, and compassionate, as well, and I really wrestle with all of this, as a result!

And I do wonder about "God", and how "God" might be viewing my own actions down here on this earth of OURS, at any given time, and here, then, I always end up going back to my own "raising" as an American, as opposed to being a Frenchman, or a German, which I could be by heritage, but am not, by the circumstances of where I was born, and into what it was that I was born "into", which is an American coming onto the scene, right at the close of WWII, when Mr. A.B. was just getting back here after serving in that war, and that you, jeffmoskin, were a young person in, observing as young people do, whatever it was that you were observing, here in OUR America, the day before I was born!

And that takes us over into "values", I suppose it could be called, and there is where each of us becomes unique, I think, because in a class of children in any given school in OUR America, or in the world, probably, not every child allegedly taught the "same", ends up with the same "value system", and that could not be more apparent between myself and George W. Bush, who are the same age, and so, supposedly, should have been exposed to similar circumstances in OUR early life, unless George W. Bush was born into some parallel universe where there had been no WWII, and hence, no returning veterans, such as Mr. A.B., to influence the generation just being born, which was mine and George W. Bush's!

As a child, I was taught, right from the get-go, that life was a thing of responsibility, and so ....

And life was also a thing of "law", because THIS NATION at one time was a land of tyranny, and repression, instead, and it had fought a bloody war with England, so as to end that condition, and as a result, we were supposed to be a beacon of hope and freedom for beleaguered peoples all over the world!

And those were not just trite and empty sayings!

Or at least they were not supposed to be!

And now?

I have a lot of trouble "recognizing" anything of the America that I was brought up to know and respect in this present incumbent's administration, while at the same time, I have no trouble at all recognizing a lot of what our former enemies used to be all about, especially this thing about now having mercenaries out in the field, in the name of America, the way George III had his foreign mercenaries brought over here, in 1776 and after "to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation", and to be truthful, I find that to be quite troubling, in and of itself.

And when you couple that with the gross indifference that most people I encounter seem to have to all of this, well, one just has to wonder "if folly will always be our nemesis!"

[Livyjr]

I guess I didn't make myself clear here, jeffmoskin!

The videotape is OF AN INTERVIEW that Rensselaer County Executive John Buono did on TV Channel 13, a live interview that was broadcast all over that part of God's creation that TV Channel 13 out of Menands, New York covers!

The FBI had a copy of that interview!

The Attorney General HAS a copy of that interview!

Thanks to that LIVE interview, ON TV CHANNEL 13, everybody knows about the "eighty thousand BIG ONES", as Buono called it, in that Channel 13 interview, which was held, LIVE, in October of 1988, to justify my removal as a health officer in a corrupt county in the corrupt Empire State of New York.

The videotape is part of a public record that is actively being suppressed, right now, here in the corrupt Empire State of New York.

If I could figure out a way, I would be broadcasting that videotape on the internet myself.

Of course, IN the corrupt Empire State, where the live interview depicted on the videotape actually took place, HO HUM, what else is new?

AND THERE IT IS, in a nutshell, which is why the corrupt Empire State is listed in the TOP TEN corrupt states in America!

Go figure!

White-collar crime!

Crime committed by OUR "betters", so that they can keep up with the "Jones", I guess, who themselves are politically-connected "white collar criminals", but being of the "better sort", well, we just look the other way, Livyjr, unless you want to find yourself cross-eyed and drooling for the rest of your natural life, after taking the "cure" down there in the alleged politically-connected Samaritan Hospital in the City of Troy, New York ......

"Soares honors vow to voters - District attorney creates unit to focus on white-collar crime cases in Albany County"

By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Wednesday, June 22, 2005

ALBANY -- Six months after taking office, Albany County District Attorney David Soares rolled out his promised public integrity unit, a bureau of prosecutors who will investigate white-collar crimes and elected officials.

First on the list is a case of absentee ballot fraud that rocked a special county legislative primary last year.

The new bureau also will focus on the interplay between public officials, private real estate development and the lobbying community.

It will report directly to Soares.

"Issues of who you are and who you know will no longer factor into the process," Soares said.

"No one is above the law."

Christopher Baynes, a veteran Drug Unit chief, will staff the unit, along with Linda Griggs, a former claims investigator with the state Insurance Department.

Samuel Spitzberg, a former U.S. Army Judge Advocate General captain, a special assistant U.S. attorney and senior associate for both Pricewaterhouse Coopers and Deloitte & Touche, will join them.

Soares said his goal is to add two other prosecutors and an investigator in the future.

He said he hoped a series of new grants would help pay the positions.

Laura Conley O'Hanlon, a veteran attorney, has been hired to work in the Appeals Unit but will assist in public integrity, as needed, Soares said.

The cum laude graduate of Albany Law School has worked for the state Tax Commission and in the Tax Division of the U.S. Department of Justice.

Unveiling the Public Integrity Unit makes good on a promise to provide one system of justice for everyone, Soares said.

Although the state attorney general's office already operates a public integrity unit, its focus is statewide, Soares said.

His will be local.

"It's time for us to step up and assume our responsibility," Soares said.

"(In the past,) this office has not prosecuted those cases as aggressively as it could have."

"I am going to do that."

The list of pending white-collar criminal actions awaiting prosecution includes the case of David W. Stephenson, an emergency room physician who was recently arrested and charged with the illegal sale of prescription drugs over the Internet.

Soares said other pending investigations have been prompted by a number of leads provided by state Comptroller Alan Hevesi.

end quotes

The new bureau also will focus on the interplay between public officials, private real estate development and the lobbying community.

And we shall see!

Soares is a Democrat in a REPUBLICAN-controlled state, and everyone is just waiting to see where this is going to go, because what he is going to tackle, if this is not just another bunch of hype, is really the "bread-and-butter" that feeds the coffers of the "REPUBLICAN MACHINE" that has been carefully constructed in the State of New York since maybe the mid-1970's to protect this exact type of conduct, and so, like us, Soares is going after a monolith, without apparent seams anywhere in its carefully constructed facade!

And so ....

Will Soares and his "White-Collar Crime Unit" end up being BRANDED as dangerous mental patients, too?

Will they too have to take the "cure", for the good of themselves, and "society"?

Stay tuned for further developments !

[jeffmoskin]

Send those Hessians and Brunswickers over here.

"Bring em on"

Seriously, though, BushCo's policy gives new meaning to the term "mercenary."

Especially when they are talking about your FAMILY.

http://www.imdiversity.com/villages/hispan...no_military.asp



The Military: What's in it for Latinos/as?

by Carol Amoruso, Hispanic Village Feature Writer

[Today is 11/30/03.]

José Antonio Gutiérrez was the second soldier to die fighting for the U.S. in Operation Iraqi Freedom. José Angel Garibay's death followed shortly thereafter. Both men entered this country undocumented, and while neither was a United States citizen at the time of his death, they are citizens now. Both had enlisted in the U.S. Marines with hopes of fulfilling their dreams. José Antonio Gutiérrez, 22, an orphan and hard-knocks poet, had hopped trains at age 11 from Guatemala before crossing the border into California. His dream was to become an architect. The military had promised him an education and he had promised to bring his sister, Engracia, to the States. José Angel Garibay came from Mexico with his mother when he was an infant. They also settled in California where she found work as a housekeeper. 21 year-old José Angel Garibay wanted to be a career soldier.

Green card draft

In a controversial decree, President George Bush announced, in July, 2002, that non-naturalized soldiers serving honorably in the "war on terrorism" could significantly step up the process of citizenship and apply immediately or upon enlisting. Citizenship could be granted within 6 months, shortcutting the normal wait of nearly 5 years civilians must endure. Once naturalized, soldiers are permitted to apply to have family members naturalized, but there are no provisions for financial or other benefits to families of the dead. Also in the decree were the provisions that allowed for the posthumous citizenship granted Gutiérrez and Garibay.

The decree gave a boost to the "green card draft," a policy that is pushed, no matter the country's mood towards immigrants, when troops are needed for combat. While the decree was welcomed by many as a just reward for service and loyalty to an immigrant's adoptive homeland, there are also many detractors. Extreme but vocal are those who want to end immigration completely along with any amenities to immigrants. At the other pole are those who see a cynical rather than magnanimous hand at play. Says Carlos Montes of Latinos Against the War in Iraq, "If someone's a resident and they're in the army, I would support their becoming citizens, but it should not be used as a carrot. "

Why enlist?

These developments underlie the basic question: What does military service have to offer young Latinos and does it offer a viable and rewarding career path?

A visit to the Armed Forces official web site is suggestive. And alluring (see http://www.todaysmilitary.com/index.php ). There is a version of the site in Spanish (the only "foreign" language) and diversity is stressed. An array of personnel, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and of varying ethno-cultural stripes, is pictured on the pages. Education and a career path within the military are most stressed as the reasons to enlist.

People who serve can receive payment for up to 100 percent of their college tuition and payment of college loans previously incurred. Careers in over 140 job categories within the military are offered after active duty is completed, with salaries comparable to entry level positions in the corporate sector. In addition, Uncle Sam will pay housing and food benefits for most enlisted personnel and their families. There is no mention on the site of the likelihood of combat; the copy makes it a point to explain that 80 percent of all military personnel serve in noncombat roles.
Solomon amendment

Recently there has been a rush on recruiting spurred by the Solomon Amendment, passed, in 1996, during the Clinton administration. While providing additional support for on-campus recruiting, the Amendment also denied federal support for programs, such as Latino and African-American Studies, at institutions with no ROTC (Reserve Officers' Training Corps) facilities, a move seen by some as arm-twisting.

Hispanic Access Initiative

Latino recruiting was given additional impetus two years later by the Hispanic Access Initiative. The Hispanic Access Initiative provides for ROTC recruiters to especially target colleges and high schools with a sizable Latino student body. Recruiters may obtain access to high school students' addresses and phone numbers and are free to contact them at home unless parents object. Says Montes, who works out of Los Angeles, "The Marines are all over the East L.A. high schools where there is a high Latino enrollment. They have carte blanche in the schools, they make presentations, they take the kids out to dinner, show them videos and get their phone numbers and addresses."

The Pentagon's goal, as stated by John McLaurin, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army for Human Resources, is to boost Latino enlistment from 10 to 22 percent by the year 2025, when the overall Latino population is projected to rise to 25 percent.
Creative, aggressive recruiting

So vigilant has been the Latino thrust that, according to several stories, recruiters are plumbing Mexico's border towns for volunteers, documented or not. Reports L.A.-based reporter Andrew Gumbel in the London daily, the Independent, "Recruiters have even crossed the border into Mexico - to the fury of the Mexican authorities - to look for school-leavers who may have US residency papers." (Pentagon targets Latinos and Mexicans to man the front lines; 9th October, 2003)

Marcos Vinicius Gonzalez, U.S. correspondent for the Mexican daily, "La Jornada," who lives in San Diego, goes further. He reports regular trips across to recruit young Mexicans, mostly in the schools. Often they are rebuffed, he says, by school authorities. In one particular incident, he relates, after school authorities would not allow the recruiters access, school personnel were ordered not to discuss the situation with the press. (Mr. Gonzalez would only speculate that the order came from the Mexican government.) Gonzalez believes there is a virtual press black-out on these recruiting efforts.

With regard to the purported illegal recruiting of the undocumented, Montes reports, " I've had a student tell me straight out: a Marine recruiter called him and he told him, 'Look, I'm undocumented, I'm not a citizen, I'm not even a resident,' and the marine recruiter told him, 'Well I can put in a word for you, I can talk to the authorities for you.'" Montes doubts that, in this and most other instances he's heard of, the recruiter could have made good on his promise. "What I'm seeing," he continues, "is that the recruiters, in order to recruit more people, are making false promises of either residency or citizenship."

Montes pointed out, on the other hand, that it was discovered after José Antonio Gutiérrez' posthumous citizenship was conferred that he was undocumented. And he mentioned the recent case of Juan Escalante, recently returned from his tour of duty in Iraq to face possible dismissal from the Army and the deportation of his parents because Escalante is undocumented. Escalante's parents' lawyer is charging that the 2002 Bush decree protects the family because it mentions both "aliens and noncitizen nationals."

High profile Latinos

Latinos not persuaded to sign up on campus, in high school, or on the streets, may be encouraged to enlist inspired by high-ranking, high-profile Latinos. Three-star general, Ricardo S. Sanchez, is in charge of all coalition ground forces in Iraq. Sanchez grew up poor in a poor town in deep South Texas, son of a single mother who struggled to obtain an education for her six children and for herself. He began working at age 6 and joined the J[unior]ROTC in high school before winning an Army/Air Force scholarship to Texas A&I College. Sanchez is one of only nine Hispanic generals ever to serve in the U.S. Army.

Another high-profile Latino is Louis Caldera, Secretary of the Army under Bill Clinton. The son of poor Mexican immigrants, Caldera forged his way to both Harvard business and law schools. Caldera became a vigorous campaigner for Latino recruitment, bolstered by the Hispanic Access Initiative.

Combat bound

Latinos are the most likely group to see combat. A recent study conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center (www.pewhispanic.org) revealed that while nearly 10 percent of all enlisted personnel are Latinos, close to 18 percent find themselves on the front lines. They also occupy the lowest rungs of the military hierarchy. A generally lower educational level may partially explain these numbers, obviating significant advancement up the ranks which moves one out of harms way. Moreover, since a large number of Latinos are not citizens, they are also prevented from achieving positions requiring security clearance.

Like Gutiérrez and Garibay, Latinos seem to gravitate towards the Marines. 14 percent of the Marine Corps is Latino. These high numbers may be due to the aggressiveness of Marine recruiting, especially in the West. Marines have the highest casualty rates among all branches of the service.

With no data available from the Pentagon, and based only on empirical evidence and observation, it appears that a great number of the Iraqi war casualties are Latinos. Dr. Jorge Mariscal of the University of California at San Diego, guestimates, by the surnames reported and the CNN footage and web site bios of the fallen, that approximately 20 percent are Latino.

Rodolfo Arcuña, Profesor of Chicano studies at the California State University, Northridge, sees the targeting of Latinos and other third world youth as insidious. It's an aspect, he says, of "the Bush factor," or, "let the others do the dying for you." In a printed article, Arcuña pointed out that Latinos have traditionally been clay ducks on the military firing line. In Vietnam, he noted, "80,000 Latinos served, incurring about 19 percent of all casualties." The majority of these soldiers had been drafted—compulsory service was ended in 1973—from amongst the poor and working class, not privileged nor savvy enough to secure deferrals as university students, or fudged poor health or psychological deferrals, nor enter temporary exile in Canada or Europe, as had done many middle class youth.

Patriotism prompts

Serving in the armed forces can mean more than salary, career and educational opportunity. Just as the greatest wavers of American flags after 9/11 seemed to be immigrants, it is understandable that the most vulnerable amongst us would want to sign on to a society they could wear like a protective badge of patriotism. Most brown-skinned immigrants fear being confused for terrorist ilk by Joe (and Jane) America. Moreover, many feel new-found patriotism and gratitude that this country has given them more than they had before they came. But, this is a tough economy, especially for the hard-working (Latino) immigrant with few skills: trades are not easily come by, salaries, when justly paid, can be pitiful, benefits usually out of reach: an offer of a steady pay check with benefits, attached to the promise of travel and maybe escaping your grim surroundings, can be an offer that can't be refused, especially when pitched by a zealous achiever who may even speak your own language. The potential of combat, even death, may be repressed or naively seen as an adventure.

Some believe that a return to the lottery draft would be more equitable and begin to level the playing field along racial and economic lines. Congressman from Harlem, Charles Rangel, is amongst them. Rangel maintains that, if the sons and daughters of the powerful in this country were eligible to serve, even be put on the front lines, they would think twice about committing troops to fight wars.

Fallout

The bright eyes may become clouded by misfortune, and the buoyant tails deflated by disillusionment after a tour of duty, especially in the war and morale-ravaged lraqi arena. Says Montes, "Sure, they get them out of East L.A. or the barrio, but they put them into a system where they're trained to kill. Then they send them to desert training, jungle training, teaching them to kill, then they go in and get killed. A lot of Latinos are getting killed now."

If the soldier escapes the battlefield alive—of course, the great majority will--he or she, may still be a victim of great hardship. The Pentagon has revealed that an inordinate number, over 4,500, of troops have been evacuated out of Iraq for reasons other than injuries. What these reasons are, the military would not reveal. The first cause is usually illness. Over one hundred cases and two deaths from pneumonia have been acknowledged, an alarmingly high number. Pneumonia is known to be one of the side effects of the Anthrax vaccination all troops must take and of the fallout from Depleted Uranium. When it was announced that the Pentagon would be using the insidious spent radioactive compound in its bombs, there arose a great but unheeded outcry. The military also reports 17 suicides in Iraq and 24 other deaths the cause of which has not been released. An additional 504 soldiers have been evacuated for psychiatric reasons.

Many of the evacuees returned Stateside have been deprived of care. The Pentagon recently admitted to deplorable conditions at Fort Stewart where Gulf returnees are being held pending medical and other interventions. They are crammed into cement training barracks with no indoor latrines. CNN and other news feeds report waiting times of up to 45 days to get needed medical attention or under a necessary procedure, such as an MRI.

The soldiers have also had to grin and bear the unexpected upping of their deployment to the Persian Gulf as well as a cut of 25 percent in their combat pay.

Alternatives

Both Montes and Arcuña propose that the alternative to military service for young Latinos is not the streets, or, at best, the factories and restaurant kitchens, but an education. Montes notes that he has seen many returnees, who enlisted because of the promise of learning a trade or getting a good job, come home empty handed and empty-pocketed, with no training and no job, the three or fours of years active duty all come to naught. He also notes that "the research I've done is that 57percent of the people that join the armed forces never use the GI bill [providing for college tuition]. These youth, if they had the right preparation and training in [high] school, they could go straight to college."

Says Arcuña, "I'm totally against joining the military as a way out. I say go to college and get a good job." He notes that the Pentagon spends between $8,000 and $10,000 to recruit each Latino. Both activists support using that money for educational alternatives, to keep Latinos in school and to further their education as well.

Bottom line

Perhaps the bottom line is not who serves, where, and what's to be gained by military service. But a lesson taken from amongst the last words, written to a friend, of undocumented, Guatemalan, poet, Marine, Lance Corporal José Antonio Gutiérrez:
"The only thing I do not understand is, why wars? Why do we fight against other human beings if, at the end of our time – friends or enemies – we all end up in the same place, buried in cemeteries and many times forgotten."

[Livyjr]

http://www.imdiversity.com/villages/hispan...no_military.asp

The Military: What's in it for Latinos/as?

by Carol Amoruso, Hispanic Village Feature Writer

[Today is 11/30/03.]

But a lesson taken from amongst the last words, written to a friend, of undocumented, Guatemalan, poet, Marine, Lance Corporal José Antonio Gutiérrez:

"The only thing I do not understand is, why wars?"

"Why do we fight against other human beings if, at the end of our time – friends or enemies – we all end up in the same place, buried in cemeteries and many times forgotten."

Well, thanks for that, jeffmoskin!

It's interesting that some time ago, within the last two years, I was talking with some recruiters, and they told me point-blank that without at least a "green card", someone could not serve in OUR military!

However, during Viet Nam, there were non-citizens serving, and so, I wondered!

And why wars?

Obviously, that young man just does not understand what "GLOBALIZATION" is really all about, does he?

I wonder how come George W. Bush isn't hiring Germans, though, like the Roman Emperors did, and "Fat George" of England?

Probably because he is getting a better deal on Mexicans?

That old bottom-line!

Economics!

Go with the best deal you can get, and since they are only mercenaries, who really cares where they come from, or how they die, since mercenaries are property, anyway, like suitcases and cattle!

[Livyjr]

Economics!

Go with the best deal you can get, and since they are only mercenaries, who really cares where they come from, or how they die, since mercenaries are property, anyway, like suitcases and cattle!

"U.S. Spy Plane Pilot Dies in Asia Crash"

By PATRICK QUINN, Associated Press Writer

1 hour, 40 minutes ago

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A U.S. Air Force U-2 spy plane involved in a mission in Afghanistan crashed while returning to its base in the United Arab Emirates, killing the pilot, the military said Wednesday.

U.S. Central Command said the crash occurred in "southwest Asia," a term that can be a substitute for the Middle East.

"The Airmen of the 380th Air Expeditionary Wing mourn the loss of a true American hero in the service of his country," said Col. Darryl Burke, the unit's wing commander.

The wing has been based at the al-Dhafra air base near Abu Dhabi, in the United Arab Emirates, since early 2002.

The wing flies various types of aircraft, including aerial refueling tankers.

It was visited in August by Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Burke appointed an interim investigation board to determine the cause of the crash.

It was not clear when the results of the investigation would be completed.

The location of the crash could not be released "due to host nation sensitivities," U.S. Air Force Capt. David W. Small, a Central Command spokesman, said in an e-mail when asked for more information.

In Washington, Lt. Col. Barry Venable, a Pentagon spokesman, said the plane had completed a mission related to Operation Enduring Freedom and crashed while returning to its base.

A U.S. security team was at the site of the crash, he said.

The U-2 operates at an altitude of more than 70,000 feet, beyond the range of most surface-to-air missiles.

It has been used by American forces for decades.

In January 2003, a U-2 crashed in South Korea.

The pilot ejected to safety, but four Koreans on the ground were injured.

A U-2 was shot down May 1, 1960, over Soviet territory while photographing Soviet missile installations.

After parachuting to safety, pilot Francis Gary Powers was captured and later convicted as a spy.

He was held for almost two years before being traded for a KGB captive.

end quotes

Ah, yes, the famous U-2 incident, and Francis Gary Powers!

How could anyone then alive forget that!

Another one of those times when the world was going to end in a puff of smoke, and a huge flash of light, all over an incident of trespassing!

I remember it well!

And how could I not?

After all, that is all we heard about for weeks and weeks afterwards, as I remember it, anyway!

Mental trauma!

Boy, was there a ton of it in those days, or what, jeffmoskin?

[Livyjr]

White-collar crime!

Crime committed by OUR "betters", so that they can keep up with the "Jones", I guess, who themselves are politically-connected "white collar criminals", but being of the "better sort", well, we just look the other way, Livyjr, unless you want to find yourself cross-eyed and drooling for the rest of your natural life, after taking the "cure" down there in the alleged politically-connected Samaritan Hospital in the City of Troy, New York ......


"Soares honors vow to voters - District attorney creates unit to focus on white-collar crime cases in Albany County" 
 
By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Wednesday, June 22, 2005

ALBANY -- Six months after taking office, Albany County District Attorney David Soares rolled out his promised public integrity unit, a bureau of prosecutors who will investigate white-collar crimes and elected officials.

First on the list is a case of absentee ballot fraud that rocked a special county legislative primary last year.

The new bureau also will focus on the interplay between public officials, private real estate development and the lobbying community.

"Lobbyist May Have Cost Tribe Millions"

By ADAM NOSSITER, Associated Press Writer

Wed Jun 22,10:28 AM ET

ELTON, La. - Though far removed from Washington, the Coushatta Indian tribe quickly learned the cost of influence in the Capitol:

"Wire all funds."

"Professional Services, $3,405,000.00," one of the tribe's lobbyists, now under investigation, wrote the Coushattas in 2002.

Other invoices such as this one from Michael Scanlon, a business partner of lobbyist Jack Abramoff, carry similar commands for large sums."

Before it was all over the tribe had spent $32 million of its casino profits on a lobbying effort that many now question as exorbitant, and tribal members had ousted their leadership.

Along the way, Abramoff directed the tribe to make tens of thousands of donations and once directed tribal leaders to cancel $55,000 in checks to House Republican leader Tom DeLay and divert them to other groups.

DeLay's Texans for a Republican Majority and Americans for a Republican Majority never reported receiving any checks from the Louisiana tribe to federal or state regulators, their reports show.

The donations, however, are recorded in memos and ledgers kept by the tribe.

"Enclosed please find a check for $10,000 to the Texans for a Republican Majority."

"This check needs to be reissued to America 21," Abramoff, now under criminal investigation, wrote the Coushattas in a May 2002 letter obtained by The Associated Press.

America 21 is a Nashville, Tenn.-based Christian group focused on voter turnout that helped Republican candidates in the pivotal 2002 elections that kept DeLay's party in control of the House.

Months earlier, the tribe was asked to cancel a $25,000 check to Americans for a Republican Majority and send that money instead to a group called Sixty Plus that helped Republicans in their two-year effort to get a Medicare prescription drug benefit through Congress.

People familiar with Abramoff's transactions with the Coushattas, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because of ongoing grand jury and Senate probes, said Abramoff redirected the checks at the request of one of DeLay's assistants.

The aide asked Abramoff to get the checks changed, expressing concern that donations from tribal casinos shouldn't appear on the rolls of DeLay's conservative political groups, the sources told the AP.

Don McGahn, a lawyer who represents one of DeLay's groups, said he had no immediate comment Tuesday.

Andrew Blum, a spokesman for Abramoff, declined to comment.

Abramoff is under investigation by the Senate and a federal grand jury over allegations he and a colleague overcharged Indian tribes for their lobbying.

Abramoff, whose ties to President Bush and DeLay are also under scrutiny, denies wrongdoing.

Kent Cooper, a former federal election regulator, said the transactions show how powerful leaders and special interests can hide money from a system that relies on public disclosure as its ethical safeguard.

"This shows how easy it is for interest groups, lobbyists or politicians to manipulate or redirect money into whatever avenue is dark and free of roadblocks, and the average person never sees any of it," Cooper said.

Tribal leaders who provided $32 million for Abramoff's lobbying efforts now question why money they intended to benefit DeLay causes was often disguised or routed elsewhere.

"There's a pattern of trying to keep high profile entities out of the picture," Coushatta council member David Sickey said.

"To me it tells me there's some effort at concealment."

The Coushatta tribe had hired Abramoff, a well-connected Republican lobbyist and fundraiser for Bush, to lobby in Washington on various pieces of legislation affecting their casinos such as the Indian Gaming Act, labor provisions and efforts to make it tougher to approve new gambling facilities, according to lobbying reports filed on Capitol Hill.

The tribe was flush with cash at the time from its booming casino.

Internal memos show Abramoff specifically advised the tribes when to send political donations and to whom.

Invoices show that among the charges was a $185,000 payment for use of a Washington arena skybox Abramoff leased.

The AP reported earlier this year that DeLay treated some of his donors to a May 2000 performance of the Three Tenors opera singers in Abramoff's skybox.

A few weeks later, DeLay took a trip to Europe arranged by Abramoff.

The House leader reported that the trip was paid for by an interest group, when in fact it was underwritten in part by Indian tribes.

DeLay has said he was never told that tribes bankrolled his trip.

The Senate Indian Affairs Committee chaired by Republican John McCain of Arizona was set to examine the relationships between Abramoff and the tribes at a hearing Wednesday in Washington.

In August 2001, more than a year after the skybox and European trip, the Coushatta tribe was told that a $25,000 check to DeLay's Americans for a Republican Majority should be "voided and reissued" to Sixty Plus, the tribal memos show.

Later, one of Abramoff's assistants would ask the tribe to void and reissue a second check to ARMPAC, this time for $20,000.

"Jack Abramoff asked me to forward these checks to you that have been returned from the various groups because they need to be reissued with either different addresses or names," the assistant wrote in April 2002.

A month later, the request came in to reroute the $10,000 donation from Texans for a Republican Majority to America 21, the Christian organization that works on voter turnout.

A ledger titled "Coushatta Requests" shows thousands of dollars next to the names of dozens of congressmen and political action committees, Democrat and Republican alike — though mostly Republicans.

A tribal official said the "requests" were actually demands made by Abramoff.

The men who signed the invoices for Abramoff and his colleague Michael Scanlon have been thrown out of office in tribal elections over the last several weeks.

"We still haven't gotten to the bottom of it," said Verlis Williams, on his first day on the job at the tribal council office.

"We have no idea of the extent of it."
___

Associated Press writers John Solomon and Sharon Theimer in Washington contributed to this report.
___

On the Net:

The documents cited in this story can be viewed at: http://wid.ap.org/inv/050621tribaldonations.html

[Livyjr]

"Lobbyist May Have Cost Tribe Millions"

By ADAM NOSSITER, Associated Press Writer

Wed Jun 22,10:28 AM ET

ELTON, La. - Though far removed from Washington, the Coushatta Indian tribe quickly learned the cost of influence in the Capitol:

Along the way, Abramoff directed the tribe to make tens of thousands of donations and once directed tribal leaders to cancel $55,000 in checks to House Republican leader Tom DeLay and divert them to other groups.

Abramoff, whose ties to President Bush and DeLay are also under scrutiny, denies wrongdoing.

The Coushatta tribe had hired Abramoff, a well-connected Republican lobbyist and fundraiser for Bush, to lobby in Washington on various pieces of legislation affecting their casinos such as the Indian Gaming Act, labor provisions and efforts to make it tougher to approve new gambling facilities, according to lobbying reports filed on Capitol Hill.

And since we are on the subject of George W. Bush, and influence-peddling, of course .......

"Afghan Violence Shatters Pakistan Alliance"

By PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press Writer

Wed Jun 22,12:42 PM ET

KABUL, Afghanistan - Three months of intense fighting has killed more than 550 people and rattled confidence in Afghanistan's future.

As the battles — and the bodies — have piled up, senior Afghan officials are pointing an accusing finger at a familiar foe: Pakistan.

An alleged plot by three Pakistanis to assassinate the U.S. ambassador has wiped away the thin veneer of civility between Kabul and Islamabad, with Afghan officials saying it is evidence their eastern neighbor is not doing enough to stop terrorism, or is complicit in it.

The rift is bad news for Washington — which counts both countries as essential allies in the war on terrorism.

Afghan officials have charged for weeks that Taliban and al-Qaida agents were slipping in from Pakistan — and that they were behind two deadly suicide bombings, the kidnapping and killing of Afghan security forces, and several major confrontations with the U.S.-led coalition.

Defense Minister Rahim Wardak told The Associated Press last week that rebels were receiving support from "regional powers" rattled by Afghanistan's request for a long-term U.S. and NATO presence.

"There is no doubt that there are countries in this region that have their own designs, and have had from long ago, and they are always trying to exploit the vacuums that have been created here," Wardak said.

He didn't single out any country, but strongly hinted he was referring at least partly to Pakistan.

Officials here say Islamabad is eager to resume its traditional role as regional power broker, and feels threatened by Kabul's warm relations with Pakistan's archrival, India.

Pakistan vehemently denies any involvement in terrorism, saying it has done more than any other country in the fight against al-Qaida.

About 70,000 Pakistani troops have fanned out along the border, and Islamabad boasts turning over 700 al-Qaida suspects to the United States.

In Islamabad, Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed expressed outrage at the Afghan statements.

"Let us make it clear that Pakistan as a state is not involved in any unlawful activity on the Afghan soil, and such claims and allegations from the Afghan side must stop," he said.

"No Taliban leaders are hiding here."

Ahmed said his government supports Afghan President Hamid Karzai, despite domestic sentiment against the policy.

"We have paid a political price by supporting him, but this support will continue," he said.

Pakistani political analyst Talat Masood said that both countries have a history of blaming each other for their woes, and that the public war of words was a dangerous distraction.

"The more they blame each other publicly, the more their relations are strained and the cooperation gets worse, to the advantage of the militants," he said.

Washington has been forced to walk a tightrope to try not to offend either side.

President Bush phoned Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf on Tuesday, according to White House press secretary Scott McClellan.

Pakistani and Afghan officials say Musharraf and Karzai also spoke Tuesday, with Musharraf pledging total cooperation.

U.S. military spokesman Col. James Yonts said Monday that foreign militants, backed by networks channeling them money and arms, had come into Afghanistan to try to subvert parliamentary elections slated for September.

He said that for "operational security reasons" he could not identify the networks, nor say who supported them.

Since March, more than 550 people — including at least 29 U.S. troops and more than 360 rebels — have been killed in a surge of violence across the south and east.

Fighting on Tuesday alone claimed more than 85 lives in one of the bloodiest single confrontations since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban.

Afghan calls for Pakistan's help in stopping the violence have grown more strident.

After the assassination plot against U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad was revealed, Kabul officials took the gloves off.

"Some senior members of the Taliban, including some who are involved in killings and are considered terrorists, are in Pakistan," presidential spokesman Jawed Ludin said Tuesday at a Kabul news conference.

Violence is worst near the border, Ludin said.

"Our people are dying, our schools are getting burned, our mosques are getting blown up and our clergy are getting assassinated," he said.

"Some provinces of the country, especially in regions that are close to Pakistani soil, are insecure in many ways."

A senior official close to Karzai scoffed at suggestions that rogue elements of Pakistan's intelligence service, InterServices Intelligence, or ISI, might be supporting militants without Musharraf's knowledge.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the issue's sensitivity, said Pakistan had played a major role in keeping Afghanistan's October presidential election safe, sealing the border and going after terrorists.

But that cooperation has ended, and Afghan officials say they now think Pakistan was less than sincere.

Ludin said he was not giving up on relations improving, but he offered only cautious optimism.

"Neither Afghanistan nor the international coalition against terrorism will achieve success if we don't get the level of cooperation from Pakistan that we have had in the past," he said.

"We are hopeful and we are confident that that (cooperation) will be forthcoming ... but at the moment as far as the situation goes, we still have more work to do."
___

Munir Ahmad in Islamabad, Pakistan contributed to this report.

[Livyjr]

And since we are on the subject of George W. Bush, and influence-peddling, of course .......

"Afghan Violence Shatters Pakistan Alliance"

By PAUL HAVEN, Associated Press Writer

Wed Jun 22,12:42 PM ET

KABUL, Afghanistan - Three months of intense fighting has killed more than 550 people and rattled confidence in Afghanistan's future.

As the battles — and the bodies — have piled up, senior Afghan officials are pointing an accusing finger at a familiar foe: Pakistan.

An alleged plot by three Pakistanis to assassinate the U.S. ambassador has wiped away the thin veneer of civility between Kabul and Islamabad, with Afghan officials saying it is evidence their eastern neighbor is not doing enough to stop terrorism, or is complicit in it.

The rift is bad news for Washington — which counts both countries as essential allies in the war on terrorism.

"People say, how can I help on this war against terror?"

"How can I fight evil?"

"You can do so by mentoring a child; by going into a shut-in's house and say I love you."

- George W. Bush laying forth his own plans on how to whup Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, and the French, Washington, D.C.; September 19, 2002

[Livyjr]

"How can I fight evil?"

- George W. Bush; September 19, 2002

Well, George, why not start here, 'cause this sure sounds like TAY-RIZM to me, anyway, and everyone knows, TAY-RIZM is sure evil:

"Giant Popsicle Melts, Floods NYC Park"

34 minutes ago

NEW YORK - An attempt to erect the world's largest popsicle in a city square ended with a scene straight out of a disaster film — but much stickier.

The 25-foot-tall, 17 1/2-ton treat of frozen Snapple juice melted faster than expected Tuesday, flooding Union Square in downtown Manhattan with kiwi-strawberry-flavored fluid that sent pedestrians scurrying for higher ground.

Firefighters closed off several streets and used hoses to wash away the sugary goo.

Snapple had been trying to promote a new line of frozen treats by setting a record for the world's largest popsicle, but called off the stunt before it was pulled fully upright by a construction crane.

Authorities said they were worried the thing would collapse in the 80-degree, first-day-of-summer heat.

"What was unsettling was that the fluid just kept coming," Stuart Claxton of the Guinness Book of World Records told the Daily News.

"It was quite a lot of fluid."

"On a hot day like this, you have to move fast."

Snapple official Lauren Radcliffe said the company was unlikely to make a second attempt to break the record, set by a 21-foot ice pop in Holland in 1997.

The giant ice pop was supposed to have been able to withstand the heat for some time, and organizers weren't sure why it didn't.

It had been made in Edison, N.J., and hauled to New York by freezer truck in the morning.

end quotes

Sounds like TAY-RISTS probably used a laser, or something anyway, maybe a gamma-ray concentrator, to melt this giant ice-pop in the hopes of shutting down New York City and scaring all of America half-to-death in the process, so that the TAY-RISTS could then conduct an airborne invasion of Dubuque, Iowa to force America to have to capitulate, and pull its troops out of Fernando Poo, and Togo, too!

[Livyjr]

"People say, how can I help on this war against terror?"

- George W. Bush; September 19, 2002

And for some "home-town" news of the war agin tay-rah, or is it the war on tay-rah, or is it a war of terror?

"Jailed soldier awaits decision - Military says hearing on court-martial not yet set for Schaghticoke man accused of killings"

By TIM O'BRIEN, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Like the civilian justice system in many states, the military has the death penalty for soldiers convicted of murder.

But an execution hasn't happened since 1961.

The issue has come up as public interest has grown in the case of Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez, 37, of Schaghticoke, who is charged with two counts of premeditated murder in the deaths of two of his commanders in Iraq.

He will likely face a court-martial and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Martinez, a soldier in the 42nd Infantry Division, is accused of killing Capt. Phillip T. Esposito and 1st Lt. Louis E. Allen June 7 in Tikrit.

The last American soldier executed was Army Pvt. John A. Bennett, who died April 13, 1961, after being convicted of raping and trying to murder an 11-year-old girl while stationed in Austria.

"There was a 15-year period where there was no death penalty," said Eugene Fidell, president of the National Institute of Military Justice.

President Ronald Reagan reinstated it, but no one has been put to death under it since.

"Eventually some president is going to have to make the decision," Fidell said.

"Neither President Clinton nor President Bush has done so."

"In the military, you can't have an execution without the affirmative personal approval of the president of the United States."

Martinez is being held in a military facility in Kuwait.

Locally, Martinez' family has declined to discuss the case.

In the days since Martinez' arrest became public Thursday, his family's home on River Road in Schaghticoke has been posted with multiple no-trespassing signs.

Col. Russ Catalano, rear detachment commander with the 42nd Infantry Division, spoke to the family.

"I visited the family to inform them of the charges that were placed against Sgt. Martinez," he said.

"I needed to provide them with information on what services are provided to them: counseling, the Red Cross."

Catalano said he knew Martinez when the two worked together at the Watervliet Arsenal for about three years.

Martinez handled the receipt and distribution of equipment and supplies and supervised about five other employees, he said.

"I know him professionally."

"I was his third-tier supervisor," Catalano said.

Whenever Martinez was given an assignment, he said, "he always made sure it got done."

"I never had a problem with him."

The next step for Martinez is for the Army to hold an Article 32 hearing, where a commander decides whether to recommend that the case go to a general court-martial and whether it should be considered a death penalty case.

"In an Article 32 proceeding, there is generally a lieutenant colonel or above, a senior officer, who sits and listens to evidence," said Mark Sacco, an Albany attorney who served as a Marine Corps lawyer until 2003.

Those hearings are much different from a civilian grand jury.

"You can actually see the evidence against you, and you can question it and challenge it," Sacco said.

Col. Bill Buckner, chief of public affairs at Camp Victory in Baghdad, said via e-mail Tuesday no hearing has been set for Martinez and no decision has been made on where it will be held.

The hearing officer makes a recommendation to the general who oversees the soldier's division.

The general can accept the recommendation or reject it.

Should Martinez face a court-martial, he can seek to have at least one-third of the jury be made up of enlisted personnel of his rank or higher.

It takes two-thirds of the panel to convict; but unlike civilian juries, they only vote once.

"When they vote, if it's 6-6, that's an acquittal," said Charles W. Gittins, a Middletown, Va., attorney who handles only military cases.

If it is a death penalty case, there must be at least 12 members to hear it.

If not, a minimum of five is needed unless the accused opts to have a single judge.

If a guilty verdict is issued, the court-martial moves to a penalty phase with the same jurors hearing evidence.

The death penalty can only be considered if there was a unanimous finding of guilt.

After hearing evidence, each member writes down what penalty he or she proposes, Gittins said.

The members vote on each possible penalty, starting with the least serious.

A sentence of 10 years or less in prison requires two-thirds of the members to approve.

A sentence of 10 years or longer requires approval from three-fourths of the members.

A death penalty verdict must be unanimous.

The general who convenes the case is the first level of appeal.

After that, the defense can take its case to the Army Court of Criminal Appeals, a three-member panel of uniformed lawyers.

The case then goes to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, five civilian judges appointed by the president who serve 15-year terms.

Death penalty cases must be heard by this court, Gittins said.

[jeffmoskin]

Ah, yes, the famous U-2 incident, and Francis Gary Powers!

How could anyone then alive forget that!

Another one of those times when the world was going to end in a puff of smoke, and a huge flash of light, all over an incident of trespassing!

I remember it well!

And how could I not?

After all, that is all we heard about for weeks and weeks afterwards, as I remember it, anyway!

Mental trauma!

Boy, was there a ton of it in those days, or what, jeffmoskin?

In case you were wondering what ever became of Mr. Powers...




http://www.combat-diaries.co.uk/diary26/di...pter5warren.htm


On August 1, 1977, Francis Gary Powers was killed when the traffic helicopter he was flying for a Los Angeles radio station ran out of fuel. The New York Times reported: "The 47 year old aviator, who had survived the downing of his U-2 over the Soviet city of Sverdlovsk on May 1, 1960, died when he Bell Jet Ranger helicopter crashed near a Little League baseball field in the San Fernando Valley suburb of Encino. George Spears, a cameraman for the television station KNBC, also died. The initial indications were that the helicopter had run out of fuel. James Turner, an official of the Federal Aviation Administration control tower at Van Nuys had received a message from an unidentified helicopter pilot at 12:36. The pilot said he was low on fuel and was granted approval for an expedited, direct approach to the airport. Francis Gary Powers crashed at 12:38 p.m. An official of KNBC checked in by radio with his supervisors at the station at about 12:25 p.m. said he was returning to Van Nys for fuel and asked what his next assignment would be. He was told he would probably be assigned to cover another brush fire near Los Angeles this afternoon. Station officials said he mentioned nothing about being short of fuel. One witness told a fireman that the tail rotor of the helicopter fell off before the crash, but this was not immediately confirmed." Powers had worked for KNBC for nine months. The National Transportation Safety Board investigated the crash, and determined that it was a case of too long a flight with too little fuel, because it found the tank and fuel lines totally empty. The National Transportation Safety Board never examined the instruments (which were largely intact) to determine whether the readings they registered to Francis Gary Powers were accurate. [NTSB Powers Rep.; NYT 8.2.77; Ross & Wise Inv. Gov. p226]


And now you know the rest of the story.

[Livyjr]

In case you were wondering what ever became of Mr. Powers...

http://www.combat-diaries.co.uk/diary26/di...pter5warren.htm

On  August 1, 1977, Francis Gary Powers was killed when the traffic helicopter he was flying for a  Los Angeles radio station ran out of fuel.

The New York Times reported: "The 47 year old aviator, who had survived the downing of his U-2 over the Soviet city of Sverdlovsk on May 1, 1960, died when he Bell Jet Ranger helicopter crashed near a Little League baseball field in the San Fernando Valley suburb of Encino."

Incredible, jeffmoskin, just incredible!

I never did know what had become of him after he was released by the "EVIL EMPIRE", and now, I do!

Kind of makes you wonder, don't it, about whether or not God or nature really ever intended for this one guy to be a "flier"!

SAY .....

You don't think he ran out of gas, over there in Russia, too, do you, and that being shot down business was just a ruse to cover that up?

[Livyjr]

And for some "home-town" news of the war agin tay-rah, or is it the war on tay-rah, or is it a war of terror?

"Jailed soldier awaits decision - Military says hearing on court-martial not yet set for Schaghticoke man accused of killings" 
 
By TIM O'BRIEN, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Wednesday, June 22, 2005

Like the civilian justice system in many states, the military has the death penalty for soldiers convicted of murder.

But an execution hasn't happened since 1961.

The issue has come up as public interest has grown in the case of Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez, 37, of Schaghticoke, who is charged with two counts of premeditated murder in the deaths of two of his commanders in Iraq.

He will likely face a court-martial and could face the death penalty if convicted.

Martinez, a soldier in the 42nd Infantry Division, is accused of killing Capt. Phillip T. Esposito and 1st Lt. Louis E. Allen June 7 in Tikrit.

"Motive still unclear in alleged 'fragging' - Schaghticoke soldier involved in dispute with insurance company over fire at his house"

Albany, New York Times Union
Staff and wire reports
First published: Monday, June 20, 2005

A Schaghticoke soldier accused of killing two of his superior officers is in a legal dispute with Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. after the insurer accused him of burning down his Cohoes home in 2002 to collect on a policy whose value had been doubled six weeks before the fire.

On Sunday, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the motive for the alleged "fragging'' in Iraq is unknown.

"I don't know of any of the dynamics behind it."

"It may come out at trial."

"We have to wait for all the facts to come out.''

Staff Sgt. Alberto Martinez previously told fellow National Guardsmen, "If I can't sell my house, I might as well burn it down,'' the insurer said in court pleadings obtained by the Times Herald-Record of Middletown.

Martinez, 37, denied any involvement in the fire.

Police records show the cause was determined to be accidental.

Martinez is suing Liberty Mutual for payment on the policy.

"We believe that the plaintiff, utilizing his knowledge of electrical wiring, has cleverly created the impression that this fire was of electrical origin,'' Liberty Mutual lawyer Thomas O'Connor wrote in court papers in September.

Martinez has an associate degree in electronics.

The military says Capt. Philip Esposito of Suffern, Rockland County, and 1st Lt. Louis Allen of Milford, Pa., were in Esposito's room at an Army base in Tikrit outside of Baghdad on June 7 when they were killed by what at first seemed like enemy mortar fire.

But the Army said forensics investigators ruled that out when they determined the blast pattern at the scene was inconsistent with a mortar attack.

On Thursday, the Army charged Martinez with two counts of premeditated murder.

He is being held in Kuwait.

Martinez's family refused to speak with reporters.

His civil lawyer, Eugene Spada, told the Times Herald-Record that the trial in the insurance case was scheduled to begin in September.

Martinez, who is married and has two teenagers, joined the National Guard in 1990.

Esposito, 30, was a 1997 graduate of West Point and worked at the Salomon Smith Barney investment firm in New York City.

He is survived by a wife and 19-month-old daughter.

Allen, 34, taught high school science in Tuxedo, Orange County, and lived in Milford, Pa., with his wife and four sons, ages 1 to 6.

[Livyjr]

"Motive still unclear in alleged 'fragging' - Schaghticoke soldier involved in dispute with insurance company over fire at his house"

Albany, New York Times Union 
Staff and wire reports
First published: Monday, June 20, 2005

A Schaghticoke soldier accused of killing two of his superior officers is in a legal dispute with Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. after the insurer accused him of burning down his Cohoes home in 2002 to collect on a policy whose value had been doubled six weeks before the fire.

On Sunday, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said the motive for the alleged "fragging'' in Iraq is unknown.

"I don't know of any of the dynamics behind it."

"It may come out at trial."

The military says Capt. Philip Esposito of Suffern, Rockland County, and 1st Lt. Louis Allen of Milford, Pa., were in Esposito's room at an Army base in Tikrit outside of Baghdad on June 7 when they were killed by what at first seemed like enemy mortar fire.

But the Army said forensics investigators ruled that out when they determined the blast pattern at the scene was inconsistent with a mortar attack.

On Thursday, the Army charged Martinez with two counts of premeditated murder.

He is being held in Kuwait.

"As families grieve, soldier awaits fate - Suspect in killings could face death penalty as kin buries 1 of 2 officers slain in Iraq"

By TIM O'BRIEN, Staff writer, Albany, New York Times Union
First published: Saturday, June 18, 2005

If found guilty of murdering his commanding officers, a Schaghticoke soldier could be sentenced to death, a military spokeswoman said Friday.

Staff Sgt. Alberto B. Martinez, 37, is accused of killing two commanders on June 7 at Forward Operating Base Danger in Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit.

Martinez was charged Wednesday with two counts of premeditated murder after military officials say he blew up his superiors and tried to make it look like a mortar attack.

"If tried as a capital case, his sentence could be death," said Capt. Patricia Brewer, a military spokeswoman at Central Command in Iraq.

The charge, along with supporting evidence, will be forwarded through the chain of command for review and recommendations on how to proceed, military officials said.

Details on any possible motive for the attack could not be obtained Friday.

Officials had first believed the explosion was a mortar attack that struck the window on the side of the building where Capt. Phillip T. Esposito and 1st Lt. Louis E. Allen were located at the time.

Three days after it happened, however, a criminal investigation was announced when explosive ordnance personnel determined that the blast pattern was inconsistent with that of a mortar attack.

Martinez was deployed to Iraq earlier this year after first being sent in May 2004 to Fort Drum for pre-deployment training.

A member of the Army National Guard's 42nd Infantry Division since 1990, he served as a supply specialist.

Brewer said the decision on whether to try Martinez as a capital case will be made by the commander of the 42nd Infantry.

Martinez is being held in a military jail in Kuwait.

"The soldier is represented by the Army Trial Defense Service," she said.

Martinez could also seek a private defense attorney, but it was not known Friday if he had done so.

Martinez, who lived in Cohoes prior to moving to his father's home in Schaghticoke, is the first soldier charged with "fragging" -- or killing a superior officer -- since the Iraq war began.

However, the charges against Martinez are the second time a U.S. soldier has been charged with killing fellow Americans during the Iraq war.

Hasan Akbar was sentenced to death in April after being found guilty of staging an attack on fellow soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division.

That 2003 attack came in Kuwait and killed two officers and wounded 14 soldiers.

A person answering the phone at Hector Martinez's Schaghticoke home Friday said the family would have no comment.

In July 2003, Martinez became a full-time employee of the National Guard as supply sergeant in Headquarters Company.

His base pay was $2,859.90 per month.

He was deployed with many state Guard soldiers after the World Trade Center attacks, and he received medals for that service, including the Global War on Terror Service Medal awarded this year.

The dead soldiers were buried this week, Esposito in Nanuet, Rockland County, on Wednesday and Allen on Friday in Middletown.

Esposito graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1997 and had lived in Suffern, Rockland County, with his wife and 19-month-old daughter before being activated by the New York National Guard.

According to the Journal News of Westchester County, Maj. John Schurtz, Esposito's commanding officer when he served in Fort Hood, Texas, eulogized Esposito as the best second-in-command an officer could ask for.

He described him as a meticulous officer who had high standards for himself and his soldiers.

"Phil anguished for a long time over being in the military and trying to raise a family."

"He made no secret that that was one of the most difficult choices he had to make," Schurtz said after the public eulogy.

Allen, of Milford, Pa., is survived by his wife and four young sons.

According to the Middletown Times Herald-Record, Capt. Mark Walsh, a friend of Allen's, described him as a devoted teacher and family man who loved kids.

Just before Allen was deployed, Walsh ribbed him for allowing his boys to run around the home.

Allen told him, "Eh, you gotta have the kids running around the house," Walsh said.

"That's the last thing I heard him say."

O'Brien can be reached at 454-5096 or tobrien@timesunion.com.