Friday, November 22, 2002

Warning To Members Of The US Military QUOTE OF THE DAY "If our young people are called to duty, certainly we'll support the action of the president... We must seek our common ground with the administration." - - Rep. Nancy Pelosi RHINO HERE: The Pelosi quote above comes from her appearance Sunday on Meet The Press. It begs questions such as will Pelosi maintain her solid stance as a proud liberal and breathe new life into the badly beaten and possibly near dead Democratic Party? Or, will she morph into a mealy mouthed compromiser like so many other now irrelevant Dems? Arianna Huffington's latest column explores this theme: http://www.ariannaonline.com/columns/files/112102.html 8:10:50 AM    comment

The U.S. Government Doesn't Give A Shit About You WARNING TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE U.S. MILITARY The U.S. Government Doesn't Give A Shit About You. A divided and reluctant federal appeals court denied claims Tuesday by World War II and Korean War veterans who said the government reneged on a promise to provide free lifetime health care if they stayed in the service for 20 years. Although the government conceded that military recruiters made the promise, the Defense Department convinced the court that there was no valid contract because the assurances were not backed up by law. http://www.cnn.com/2002/LAW/11/19/retired.veterans.hearing/index.html Think the news blurb above is a fluke, one of kind incident of the government not caring about the people who serve its military? Think again. The National Gulf War Resource Center (http://www.ngwrc.org) is an international coalition of advocates and organizations providing a resource for information, support, and referrals for all those concerned with the complexities of Persian Gulf War issues, especially Gulf War illnesses and those held prisoner or missing in action. They've just released a study, which they got from a Freedom Of Information inquiry, which shows that in spite of the fact the U.S. Government is about to send thousands of American youth into battle that may include the infamous WOMD (weapons of mass destruction) like chemical and biological agents, it turns out the military isn't prepared to protect them. The article excerpted below tells the details. 8:01:38 AM    comment

Army's Chemical Defenses Not Battle-ready Army Audit Says Up to 62% of Gas Masks and 90% of Monitors Defective by Lee Davidson, Deseret News, 10/16/02  WASHINGTON - Up to 62 percent of the U.S. Army's gas masks and up to 90 percent of the machines it uses to detect invisible chemical arms attacks may be defective. Worse, the Army isn't really sure about the condition of most equipment it would need to defend against chemical and biological attacks just as America prepares for possible war with Iraq over that country's development of such weapons. That is the conclusion of an Army Audit Agency study obtained by the Deseret News through the Freedom of Information Act. The report said the military has ordered several steps be taken to help solve the problems pointed out in the audit. Of note, many of the military's gas masks, chemical agent detectors and other protective and decontamination equipment were developed or tested at Utah's Dugway Proving Ground, sometimes with controversial open-air tests where dangerous agents floated off base. The audit agency, in a report dated last Nov. 9, wrote that its review of procedures to ensure that chemical and biological defense equipment is in good repair showed that they "were fragmented and generally ineffective." It added, "As a result, Army leaders didn't know the true abilities of units to survive and win in chemically or biologically contaminated environments."... READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE AT: http://www.ngwrc.org/article.asp?id=154 7:56:01 AM    comment

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