Kelley's thoughts on the IOM and the "Feres Doctrine"

Feres Doctrine and IOM Meeting in Texas



Barbara Cragnotti informs me that on CBS news this evening there will more information on the Feres Doctrine. I would assume on how that protects the DOD from doing about what ever it wants to do with no recourse for the Veterans/Widows…VA belongs in that category also as Veterans cannot hold them accountable for anything even at individual level.



Several E-mails have come in on the IOM Public Meeting to review the health effects in Vietnam Veterans of Exposures to herbicides and if I was attending.



This information is as follows:



The Committee to Review the Health Effects

in Vietnam Veterans of Exposure to Herbicides

(Seventh Biennial Update)



Register Online



June 19, 2008 1:00 PM–4:00 PM

Hyatt Regency San Antonio

Chula Vista Room
123 Losoya Street

San Antonio, TX



I will not be attending due to lack of funds but primarily I see no sense in arguing/debating with a wall. Without documented process and levels of evidentiary evidence that is required or what level of measurable criteria either they think is assigned by their contract or their own self-imposed requirements then any information/argument provide against a subjective processes becomes a moot point and a waste of an argument/time/resources which many of us do not have in order to compete with VA/IOM.



Until Congress establishes the level of certainty that they want and then mandate with audits to both VA and IOM then we are just spitting in the wind and tugging on the cape of those that not only have an entirely different agenda but also a conflict of interest in outcomes. Sometimes science and integrity are not on the same level.



With that said, I hope that anyone local will attend and gather up any data and send it to me or some of our folks fighting these presumptive issues, which should be concluded as presumptive persistent damaging processes; not individual single ICD outcomes that must correlate with some dose response for all victims.



The information might come out on Parkinson’s while I am gone but it looks like that is going to be a go as an associated disorder with congressional action.



Kelley
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In regards to the Feres Doctrine the military relys on it to cover up illegal acts by government agencies, even in the 1987 5-4 Stanley case the Supreme Court case which involved the only "test vet" from Edgewood Arsenal who had been given LSD without his knowledge ever to make it to Federal Court denied his claim, yet in the dissents Justice Sandra Day O'Connor stated:

Justice O'Connor's separate dissent - Nuremberg revisited

Justice O'Connor dissented in part: "No judicially crafted rule should insulate from liability the involuntary and unknowing human experimentation alleged to have occurred in this case. Indeed, as JUSTICE BRENNAN observes, the United States military played an instrumental role in the criminal prosecution of Nazi officials who experimented with human subjects during the Second World War, ante, at 687, and the standards that the Nuremberg Military Tribunals developed to judge the behavior of the defendants stated that the "voluntary consent of the human subject is absolutely essential . . . to satisfy moral, ethical and legal concepts." United States v. Brandt (The Medical Case), 2 Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals Under Control Council Law No. 10, p. 181 (1949). If this principle is violated the very least that society can do is to see that the victims are compensated, as best they can be, by the perpetrators. I am prepared to say that our Constitution's promise of due process of law guarantees this much. Accordingly, I would permit James Stanley's Bivens action to go forward, and I therefore dissent".

How many people? Stanley may have been one of 1,000 used in this project/subproject

In the 1950's, in defiance of this principle, military intelligence agencies and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) began surreptitiously testing chemical and biological materials, including LSD. These programs, which were "designed to determine the potential effects of chemical or biological agents when used operationally against individuals unaware that they had received a drug," included drug testing on "unwitting, nonvolunteer" Americans. S. Rep. No. 94-755, Book I, p. 385 (1976) (S. Rep.). James B. Stanley, a master sergeant in the Army, alleges that he was one of 1,000 soldiers covertly administered LSD by Army Intelligence between 1955 and 1958. See id., at 392.

This figure differs vastly from the 16 unwitting subjects the CIA identified as having been dosed with LSD in the United States. The CIA did not identify anyone subject to overseas testing.

III. ORLIKOW VS UNITED STATES - CIA SETTLEMENT OF SOME CLAIMS

One researcher known to have been funded by the CIA's front organization, the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology, was Dr. Ewen Cameron.

* Ewen Cameron and the Allan Memorial Institute - Subproject Subproject 68 funded by CIA from March 18, 1957 to June 30, 1960

Without conceding liability, in 1988 the CIA agreed to pay $750,000 to settle a case brought on behalf of nine plaintiffs who were subjected to federally funded mind control experiments sponsored by the CIA and conducted by prominent psychiatrist Ewen Cameron, M.D. The experiments included heavy does of LSD, electroshock and psychic driving. Beyond Nuremburg, ABA Journal March 1997, p.26.

* What the Senate Congressional Record says of the CIA funded experiments conducted by Cameron under MKULTRA

Information on Cameron's experiments and the CIA's effort to stonewall settlement of the legal case filed by nine of Cameron's victims is contained in the Senate Congressional Record:



"THE CIA'S FIRST MAJOR PROJECT IN THE AREA, CALLED ARTICHOKE, WAS RUDIMENTARY COMPARED TO MKULTRA, WHICH SUCCEEDED IT IN 1953. THROUGH FRONT ORGANIZATIONS, THE CIA CHANNELED ABOUT $10 MILLION TO DOZENS OF UNIVERSITIES AND INDEPENDENT RESEARCHERS". Congressional Record - Senate, 99th Cong. 1st Session, Volume 131 No. 106, Part 2, 131 Cong. Rec. S. 11008 citing The Experiments of Dr. D. Ewen Cameron, Washington Post July 28, 1985
"A CIA CHEMIST, SIDNEY GOTTLIEB, SUPERVISED THE MKULTRA PROJECT FROM WITHIN THE AGENCY, DOCUMENTS SHOW. A CIA DOCTOR, LT. COL. JAMES L. MONROE, WORKED UNDERCOVER AND RAN THE SOCIETY FOR THE INVESTIGATION OF HUMAN ECOLOGY, THE ORGANIZATION THAT CHANNELED MONEY TO CAMERON AND THE ALLAN INSTITUTE". Congressional Record - Senate, 99th Cong. 1st Session, Volume 131 No. 106, Part 2, 131 Cong. Rec. S. 11008 citing The Experiments of Dr. D. Ewen Cameron, Washington Post July 28, 1985.

"DURING THE WAR, CAMERON WAS PART OF AN INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF PSYCHIATRISTS AND SOCIAL SCIENTISTS WHO STUDIED THE ORIGINS AND NATURE OF NAZI CULTURE. HE PUBLISHED NUMEROUS ARTICLES ON MASS PSYCHOLOGY DURING WARTIME". Congressional Record - Senate, 99th Cong. 1st Session, Volume 131 No. 106, Part 2, 131 Cong. Rec. S. 11008 quoting The Experiments of Dr. D. Ewen Cameron, Washington Post July 28, 1985.

"TO ERASE OR 'DE-PATTERN' PERSONALITY TRAITS, CAMERON GAVE HIS SUBJECTS MEGADOSES OF LSD, SUBJECTED THEM TO DRUG-INDUCED "SLEEP THERAPY" FOR UP TO 65 CONSECUTIVE DAYS AND APPLIED ELECTROSHOCK THERAPY AT 75 TIMES THE USUAL INTENSITY. TO SHAPE NEW BEHAVIOR, CAMERON FORCED THEM TO LISTEN TO REPEATED RECORDED MESSAGES FOR 16-HOUR INTERVALS, A TECHNIQUE KNOWN AS 'PSYCHIC DRIVING,'
CAMERON AND THE CIA WERE INTERESTED IN BRAINWASHING AND THE ABILITY TO REDIRECT THOUGHT AND ACTION. THE PATIENTS DID NOT CONSENT TO THE TREATMENT AND WERE NEVER TOLD THEY WERE BEING USED FOR RESEARCH". Congressional Record - Senate, 99th Cong. 1st Session, Volume 131 No. 106, Part 2, 131 Cong. Rec. S. 11008 quoting The Experiments of Dr. D. Ewen Cameron, Washington Post July 28, 1985

"CAMERON, WHO DIED OF A HEART ATTACK WHILE MOUNTAIN CLIMBING IN 1967, HAD BEEN ONE OF THE MOST PROMINENT PSYCHIATRISTS IN NORTH AMERICA. A FORMER PRESIDENT OF BOTH THE CANADIAN AND AMERICAN PSYCHIATRIC ASSOCIATION, HE WAS SELECTED TO DIAGNOSE NAZI FIGURES, INCLUDING RUDOLF HESS, DURING THE NUREMBERG TRIALS. (HE
DECLARED HESS SANE.) BUT FOR HIS WORK ON BRAINWASHING AND MIND CONTROL, CRITICS HAVE CALLED HIM A 'MAD SCIENTIST'." Congressional Record - Senate, 99th Cong. 1st Session, Volume 131 No. 106, Part 2, 131 Cong. Rec. S. 11008 citing The Experiments of Dr. D. Ewen Cameron, Washington Post July 28, 1985

* The Legal Case of Orlikow vs United States

The nine plaintiff's filed a case in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.This case is also described in Psychiatry and the CIA: Victims of Mind Control by Harvey M. Weinstein, M.D., American Psychiatric Press, Inc. (1990). Harvey Weinstein, a psychiatrist, is the son of Cameron victim, Louis Weinstein.

The Court's opinion states: the CIA operated its covert research code named MKULTRA between 1953 and 1966. An initial CIA memoradum dated April 3, 1953 reads:

"Aside from the offensive potential, the development of a comprehensive capability in this field of covert chemical and biological warfare gives us thorough knowledge of the enemy's theoretical potential thus enabling us to defend ourselves against a foe who might not be as restrained in the use of these techniques as we are." Orlikow v United States, 682 F Supp 77, 80 ( DC 1988)

The memorandum refers to two "well-defined" fields of endeavor earmarked by the CIA. The first is listed as research to develop a capability in the covert use of biological and chemical materials. The second field, although cited to in the memorandum was erased from the exhibit. See, C.I.A. v. Sims, 471 U.S. 159, 105 S. Ct. 1881, 85 L. Ed. 2d 173 (1985).

* The Gateway and Psychic Driving

In 1955, the CIA set up a secret front organization, known as the Society for the Investigation of Human Ecology (SIHE), to fund further studies in mind control. CIA employee, Dr. John Gittinger and Dr. Wolff from Cornell, assisted in the program formation. Approximately a year later, Dr. Gittinger read an article, published in the American Journal of Psychiatry, written by Dr. Ewen Cameron from the Allan Memorial Institute of Psychiatry, and entitled Psychic Driving.

The technique involved the playback of a significant statement made by the patient though the use of a continuous loop tape recorder. Certain methods were utilized to reduce defense mechanisms and "depattern" behavior. These techniques were later detailed in an application for
research funds submitted to the SIHE. They included the use of "particularly intensive" electroconvulsive shock, sensory isolation, and drug induced continuous sleep for many days using megadoses of LSD-25. Orlikow v United States, 682 F Supp 77, 82 ( DC 1988).

Dr. Cameron characterized his work as the "gateway through which he might pass to a new field of psychotherapeutic methods." Psychic Driving, 112 Am. J. Psy. 502 (January, 1956).

* The 2 year statute of limitation barred one claim in Orlikow

In Orlikow the CIA challenged the claims of the nine plaintiff as all being untimely. The statute of limitations provides that a Federal Tort Claim must be filed within two year of when a cause of action accrues. The statute can be tolled (stopped from running) if there is fraudulent concealment of a claim, but it will begin to run again if the plaintiff could have discovered his cause of action with due diligence.

Although the CIA funding was undisclosed for many years and many key records destroyed in 1973, the CIA argued that the experiments came to light when a book by John Marks, The Search for the Manchurian Candidate (W.W. Norton & Co.: New York), was published in 1979 and various other articles were subsequently published in newspapers and journals. For clarity in analyzing the significance of this in relation to each plaintiff the Court provided a list of each plaintiff's filing date:

Name Date of actual notice Date of filing

Mr. Page February 9, 1979 March 14, 1980
Mr. Logie February 12, 1979 March 14, 1980
Mrs. Huard March, 1980 Nov. 25, 1980
Mrs. Stadler March 11, 1980 Nov. 25, 1980
Mrs. Zimmerman June 10, 1982 Feb. 4, 1983
Mrs. Langleben June 10, 1982 Feb. 4, 1983
Mr. Weinstein August, 1980 Feb. 4, 1983
Dr. Morrow Summer 1977 March 25, 1981

The claim of the ninth plaintiff, Mrs. Orlikow, was not challenged as untimely by the CIA.

* Who was named in the Stanley suit

Stanley named Joseph R. Bertino, MD; Board of Regents of the University of Maryland; H.D. Collier; Albert Dreiscach; Bernard G. Elfert; Sidney Gottlieb, M.D.; Richard Helms; Gerald Klee, M.D.; Van Sim, M.D.; Walter Weintraub, M.D.; and unknown individual federal and state agents and officers. US vs Stanley 483 US 674, footnote 2.

The names in the Stanley case are related to some of the CIA cases; Sidney Gottlieb M.D. (club foot) DR Van Sim

Dr. Ewen Cameron - Canadian researcher who has been compared to being worse than Mengele

In some of the above paragraphs DR Sidney Gottlieb has been portrayed as a chemicat who worked for the CIA etc, they mimimalized his connection to the agency, in 1953 he was given 6% of the entire CIA budget for his chemical weapons and biological experiments he ran thru the Special Operation Division at Fort Detrick (SOD) they controlled experiments at Dugway Utah or otherwise known as Deseret Center, the SHAD/112 experiments, Edgwood Arsenal experiments were part of DR Gottleibs operation as well as the Fort Detrick biological experiments, everything was connected to DR Gottlieb and the Department of Defense, when the jig was up with the Church Committee in 1973 Dr Gottlieb just destroyed most of the records kept on the programs, most of the documentation found today relates to financials at the CIA, and the studies at the military bases, but how they were all inter linked and who reported to who, and who controlled what basically went to the grave with DR Gottlieb in 1999.

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Sen. Akaka Requests Documents And Investigation Of Veterans Affairs

Sen. Akaka Requests Documents And Investigation Of Veterans Affairs PTSD Diagnosis Following Disturbing Email
Politics | Military | Congress | Health | Sports | Entertainment | more...

By admin - Posted on May 19th, 2008
Tagged: Casualties • Congress • Daniel K. Akaka • Health • Military • Senate • Texas • VA • Veterans
May 16, 2008 -- WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, sent a letter to Veterans Affairs Secretary James Peake today, in response to a recently disclosed email from a VA mental health professional which suggested that time and money could be saved if VA stopped diagnosing veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder. Akaka also made a statement on this matter earlier today, calling the email "disturbing and disappointing."

A copy of the letter is copied below:

May 16, 2008

The Honorable James B. Peake, MD

Secretary of Veterans Affairs

810 Vermont Avenue

Washington, DC 20420

Dear Secretary Peake:

I am writing regarding recent events at the Temple, Texas, VA Medical Center. The suggestion that diagnoses of PTSD should be avoided due to cost and time considerations is deeply troubling, and merits close investigation.

VA has a responsibility to take seriously the effects of combat trauma, yet there are some who fail to appreciate the significance of this responsibility. The sentiment expressed in an email by the Program Coordinator for the PTSD Clinical Care Team at the Temple VAMC is clearly inappropriate, and I applaud your strong statement reiterating VA's commitment to proper screening and diagnosis. Further, I share your hope that this is indeed isolated to a single facility and practitioner.

I have asked the Office of the Inspector General to undertake an immediate review of the diagnosis patterns at Temple, and the role that Department guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of PTSD may have played in those patterns. I have also asked the IG to examine the Compensation and Pension decisions based on Compensation and Pension exams performed at the Temple VAMC for any irregularity.

I know you understand how imperative it is that VA conducts Compensation and Pension exams and decisions according to evidence based clinical guidelines. Without a thorough exam, an appropriate decision is impossible. The report from the Institute of Medicine (IOM) entitled Post Traumatic Stress Disorder: Diagnosis and Assessment (2006) stated that "An optimal assessment of a patient consists of a face-to-face interview in a confidential setting with a health professional experienced in the diagnosis of psychiatric disorders...[T]he process of diagnosis and assessment will likely take at least an hour or could take many hours to complete." VA's own Best Practice Manual for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder Compensation and Pension Examinations recommends a three hour time allotment for completing an initial PTSD examination, with additional time needed for complex cases.

Unfortunately, Committee oversight indicates widespread inadequate evaluation of veterans claiming service-connection for PTSD due to combat exposure and military sexual trauma. Recently, two Compensation and Pension examination reports indicated that exams last between 30 and 35 minutes. Veterans often report to the Committee that during exams they were not asked about their military experience and received superficial evaluations. Veterans' advocates report the reluctance of some VA examiners to provide a diagnosis of PTSD, even for veterans previously diagnosed with PTSD. VHA managers have expressed the view that "the VISN does not get any funding to do Compensation and Pension examinations."

These reports are deeply unsettling. I know that you agree with me that it is entirely inappropriate to attempt to save time or money by limiting the quality of medical examinations and the support given to Compensation and Pension units at VA medical centers.

To fully address the quality of Compensation and Pension exams and decisions, I suggest that a team of experts from the National Center for PTSD conduct a comprehensive study of the issues at hand. Such a study should review examinations for PTSD from a statistically valid national sample to assess 1) the amount of time taken to conduct PTSD examinations; 2) the adequacy of the examination, including the need for any additional testing of claimants; 3) the number of cases in which a "rule out PTSD" diagnosis was provided; and 4) whether or not another diagnosis was provided to veterans in cases where the evidence suggested that a diagnosis of PTSD is determined to be more appropriate.

Furthermore, as Chairman of the Committee with oversight jurisdiction over these matters, I request that VA provide to the Committee all records from January 1, 2001, to the present relating to any and all guidance given to any VA staff regarding the diagnosis of PTSD in veterans. "Guidance" includes formal and informal guidance, advice, and recommendation, regardless of format or medium.

I also ask, to avoid future problems, and to ensure proper conduct of Compensation and Pension exams and decisions, that you issue guidance to VHA and VBA clinicians, administrators, and support personnel to ensure that sufficient care and time is spent on each Compensation and Pension exam and decision.

I appreciate your strong repudiation of the Temple VAMC psychologist's email, and your commitment to serving veterans. The trauma of combat can leave veterans with serious and long-term invisible wounds, and VA's mission is to care for those veterans. VA must err on the side of presuming that those who have been exposed to service in a theater of war may be marked by that service. Our commitment to veterans demands nothing less.

Thank you for your attention to these issues. I look forward to working with you to ensure that veterans are getting the care and benefits they deserve.

Sincerely,

Daniel K. Akaka

Chairman

Source: Senator Daniel K. Akaka

Sen. Akaka Requests Documents And Investigation Of Veterans Affairs

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In my own case in March 2003 they referred me to the PTSD team to Rule Out PTSD, they put me thru 3 months of interviews and MMPI tests and others I don't know who was more shocked with the disagnosis of PTSD me or my shrink. I had multiple stressors in my 15 years of military service, but for the claims purposes they tend to focus on one sole incident in my case they settle on a non combat issue as the 4 general court martials of the men who beat me unconcious and robbed me at Fort Wainwright, Alaksa in Feb 1975 showed the atempted murder of me and robbery, they were sentended to 15 years in Leavenworth. The other 3 men involved in the incident turned government witnesses and were given Filed grade Article 15's reduced to E1 and given Bad Conduct discharges, they ignored the stressors from the DMZ in Korea in 1976, the training accidents at Fort Irwin where I watched a man have his head ripped off between two tanks on Super Bowl Sunday 1982. Things you just never forget.

Both of my PTSD C&P exams lasted less than 15 minutes and none of them were ever conducted according to the VA standards, the first time in March 2005 they awarded me 50% on appeal and after letters to President Bush and VP Cheney about the chemical weapons tests I was used in during 1974 at Edgewood Arsenal and the run around the VARO in Columbia SC was giving me, in April 2006 they awarded me a 100% P&T for PTSD and then tried to claim I agreed to drop all the other issues related to chemical weapons and drug exposures at Edgewood Arsenal in 1974, I never have. The issues are still on appeal and my lawyer is preparing the case for the BVA hearing. The VA has a lot of problems handling claims especially those invlovling the Cold War experimental programs that were classified.

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Raymond man to chair committee on Gulf War vets

Raymond man to chair committee on Gulf War vets

RAYMOND (May 19, 2008): Charles L. Cragin of Raymond, a 36-year veteran of the U.S. Navy and a former candidate for governor of Maine, has been chosen to chair a federal committee advising officials on issues related to veterans of the Gulf War.

Cragin was appointed to the advisory committee on Gulf War veterans by Dr. James Peake, secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. The committee will advise Peake on the full spectrum of health care and benefits issues that confront veterans who served in the Southwest Asia theater of operations during the Gulf War period, 1990-91.

"It is a great honor to join this distinguished group of Americans in evaluating how America has responded, and how it should respond in the future, to the unique issues presented by the dedicated men and women who went in harm's way during the Gulf War of 1990-1991," Cragin said in a press release.

Currently a senior government affairs counselor for Maine Street Solutions, based in Augusta and Washington, D.C., Cragin will join on the committee 13 other distinguished members from throughout the United States.

"Gulf War veterans made an invaluable contribution to national security and peace in a volatile region," Peake said. "This new panel will ensure that VA benefits and programs adapt to the needs of these veterans, just as our services have adapted for veterans of other conflicts."

Cragin is a former senior U.S. Department of Defense official, chairman of the Board of Veterans' Appeals of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, and the 1982 Republican nominee for governor of Maine. He retired from the U.S. Navy in 1998 at the rank of Captain following over 36 years of service in both the enlisted and officer ranks.

The committee will hold meetings, invite testimony and receive information, including from the Departments of Veterans Affairs and Defense, and any other federal department or agency. The committee will submit to Peake a report no later than 18 months after the date of its first meeting.
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The committee will submit to Peake a report no later than 18 months after the date of its first meeting.

Is it just me or does anyone else find this hilarious Secretary Peake will NOT be the Secretary of the VA in 18 months, he will lose his job in Jan 2009 when the Bush Administration leaves, so this committee which if it is a continuation of the past committee's will continue to ignore the open and honest testimony of DR James Binn and DR Haley of Texas, and the continued resistance of using animal studies that show many medical problems related to mustard agent and Sarin gas exposures and the use of bug repellants by the military during GW1.

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Purple Heart for PTSD?

Purple Heart for PTSD?

Idea sparks debate among troops, defense officials
By Kelly Kennedy - Staff writer
Posted : Monday May 19, 2008 6:31:50 EDT

A quick question tossed at Defense Secretary Robert Gates — Should veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder receive the Purple Heart? — has created a maelstrom in the blogosphere.

It seems the reasoning behind the idea — to lessen the stigma of mental health disorders — also works against the proposition.

“It would lessen the meaning of the award,” a Marine said about the military’s oldest combat medal.

“I’d be ashamed to wear it,” chimed in a soldier.

“It’s an insult to those who have suffered real injury on the battlefield,” wrote an Army intelligence officer.

The dust-up began May 2 when Gates was on a visit to Red River Army Depot, Texas. During a brief media availability, a reporter asked Gates if the Pentagon might consider awarding Purple Hearts to troops with combat-related PTSD.

“It’s an interesting idea … I think it’s clearly something that needs to be looked at,” Gates said.

John Fortunato, who directs the Restoration and Resilience Center in Fort Bliss, Texas, added fuel to the fire by saying the medal could help service members understand that PTSD is a common by-product of war.

“These guys have paid at least as high a price, some of them, as anybody with a traumatic brain injury, as anyone with a shrapnel wound,” Fortunato said, adding that not recognizing PTSD as a wound deserving of the Purple Heart “says this wound isn’t worthy.”

Fortunato made his comments to the Pentagon’s internal American Forces Information Service, which folded them into an article posted May 5 on the official Defense Department Web site. But by Thursday, calls to Fortunato were being referred to the Pentagon — he was no longer talking about the issue.

At a news conference Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell said Gates will, in fact, look into the issue.

“I should point out that they’ve looked at this before and they determined ... that it was not appropriate to make PTSD a qualification for the Purple Heart,” Morrell said. “But I can tell you that the department is exploring PTSD as a qualifying wound through the [Defense Department] Awards Advisory Group. There is no timetable at this point for them to provide a recommendation.”

Gen. George Washington created the Badge of Military Merit to honor anyone who served with distinction during wartime. In 1932, Gen. Douglas MacArthur decided it would go only to those wounded or killed in action. Rules for who may receive it are strict: The injury must occur during combat, can’t be self-inflicted and can’t result from an accident.

But illnesses don’t qualify — and PTSD is considered an illness, not an injury.

“I thought it was a brilliant idea when it first came up,” said Charles Figley, who co-edited “Combat Stress Injury Theory Research,” and is a professor at the Florida State University Traumatology Institute. “But the science is just not there to be able to determine if there was an injury.”

Figley had hoped that considering PTSD a combat injury would reduce some of the stigma associated with it. In fact, many of the bloggers attacking the idea say it would denigrate the medal — and they don’t consider PTSD the same thing as a battle wound.

“It’s not like you come down with PTSD in the middle of a battle,” said Maj. Brian Stoll, an Army reservist who works as an engineer and in civil affairs. “It’s after the fact. It’s not caused by combat — it’s caused by the stressors surrounding combat.”

Of course, if the 300,000 service members with symptoms of PTSD and major depression cited in a recent Rand Corp. report hadn’t gone to combat, they wouldn’t have combat-related PTSD. But Stoll said the criteria should be “that you bled for your country.”

Stoll also noted that not everyone who experiences combat gets PTSD, so “it’s a result of how you react to stress, and it goes back to your upbringing and what kind of family you had.”

Stoll was diagnosed with PTSD after a tour in Iraq in 2003-04. But he said he is cured and believes PTSD is preventable.

“All you’re doing is you’re giving that soldier an identity as someone with a mental issue,” he said. “They’re not as resilient. I guess I’m a traditionalist — I don’t believe PTSD is a combat wound.”

Figley strongly disagreed.

“There has to be something tangible, something to show recognition that it’s real,” he said. “There needs to be an indication that they put their lives at risk — mentally. There should be some kind of red badge of courage.”

The next step, he said, is finding biological markers so PTSD is more easily assessed, as well as changing the attitude about PTSD.

“We need to keep the conversation going rather than pushing this to the side,” he said. “That’s the important thing.”
Idea sparks debate among troops, defense officials

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To say that PTSD is not an injury is to not understand the problem. The veterans that suffer from PTSD most ofthen deny they have been harmed by it, due to this very argument, it's mental, you are weak, "suck it up" "be a man" etc, there is not one veteran that has a severe case of PTSD that doesn't wish he had lost an arm or a leg, something to show the world that yes the war damaged me. But that isn't the case you have to deal with the war, or your own personal hell on a permamnent loop in your brain and it never goes away. Your life is usually more screwed up than any "legitimate" awardee of the Purple Heart, I was infantry I don't know anyone sane that wanted to "win" a purple heart" we called them the "I forgot to duck" awards look at what the Republicans did to John Kerry's Purple Hearts with their "band aid purple hearts" at the 2004 convention. I don't care one way or another the PTSD isn't leaving with or without awarding the Purple Heart but the men and women that have severe and chronic PTSD are just as injured as an amputee.

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Commentary: Propaganda and the media

Commentary: Propaganda and the media

By Joseph L. Galloway | McClatchy Newspapers
Once upon a time, it was widely believed that one of the greatest sins the U.S. government or its temporary political masters could commit was to turn a propaganda machine loose on the American people.

Congress viewed this so seriously that every appropriations bill passed since 1951 has contained language that says no public money “shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States” without the lawmakers' prior approval.

The Bush administration has been caught violating the propaganda ban before, notably in 2005 in the case of radio host Armstrong Williams, who was paid to endorse President Bush’s No Child Left Behind law.

Particularly abhorrent to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), which oversees compliance with the ban, is an agency’s use of “covert propaganda” or “covert attempts to mold opinion through the undisclosed use of third parties.”

This is why alarm bells should be ringing all over Washington about The New York Times’ disclosure that then-Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld encouraged a secret Pentagon program to care for and spoon-feed more than 50 retired senior military officers whom the administration deemed reliable friends who could be counted on “to carry our water” on the television and cable networks.

Feeding the military analysts “key and valuable information” in secret briefings by Pentagon and White House officials, the idea went, would make them the go-to guys for the networks and encourage the networks to “weed out the less reliably friendly analysts . . . .”

This 2005 memorandum, addressed to then Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs Larry DiRita, added: “This trusted core group will be more than willing to work closely with us because we are their bread and butter.”

Asked about the case of Col. Bill Cowan, who says he was fired as a military analyst for Fox News and cut off from the briefings for criticizing the war effort, DiRita told Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com: “I don’t know anything. I saw that in the story. I’ve heard other assertions to that effect. It was certainly not the intent.”

In a follow-up e-mail exchange between DiRita and Greenwald, Rumsfeld’s former mouthpiece — now Bank of America’s chief spokesman — elaborated on what he said he didn't remember: “I simply don’t have any recollection of trying to restrict him (Cowan) or others from exposure to what was going on.”

DiRita added: “There are plenty of examples to the contrary — reaching out to people who specifically disagreed with us. One example I recall is Joe Galloway — a persistent critic and apparently popular with military readers. He came in and met Secretary Rumsfeld and we had other interactions.”

Now that’s a real knee-slapper: Me as a poster boy for how Rumsfeld and DiRita “reached out” to their harshest critics even as they stroked and promoted and schemed to embed the old reliables to wax enthusiastic about a war that was going from bad to worse.

Let the record show that Rumsfelds' folks reached out to me on these few occasions:

In early summer of 2003, half a dozen of us were invited to an off-the-record lunch with Rumsfeld in the Pentagon. The defense secretary seemed to have a poor grasp of the reality on the ground in Iraq and was still declaring that we'd do no nation-building there. He saw no insurgency, only a handful of “dead-enders".


In October 2005, DiRita called to invite me to travel with Rumsfeld to the Middle East and Australia. I declined because it conflicted with a long-booked graduation speech I was to give at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz. to a class of new Air Force F-16 fighter pilots that included my nephew. DiRita was stunned that I wouldn't drop a bunch of fighter pilots to be schmoozed by his boss.


In November 2005, DiRita invited me to a “one-on-one” lunch with Rumsfeld at the Pentagon. This one I accepted. I arrived to find across the table Rumsfeld, the then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Marine Gen. Peter Pace; Army Vice Chief of Staff Gen. Dick Cody; Joint Staff Director Lt. Gen. Walter Sharp and DiRita. We went at it hammer and tongs for an hour and a half over their conduct of the war and the errors that were costing the lives of American soldiers. As I left, I told Rumsfeld that I'd continue to point out those mistakes every week in my column.


In April 2006, DiRita sent me an e-mail telling me that my most recent column was “silly". That column had discussed an expensive war game the Pentagon conducted about a U.S. attack on a thinly disguised country that obviously was Iran.
A retired Marine general, Paul Van Riper, had been the commander of the “enemy” forces, and he used unconventional tactics to destroy the U.S. Navy flotilla in the Persian Gulf, leaving thousands of sailors and Marines dead. At that point, the commanders stopped the war game, reset everything and imposed new rules forbidding Van Riper from employing those tactics.

Van Riper walked out, furious, and requested an investigation. DiRita complained in his e-mail that I was silly to blame Rumsfeld for this and for covering up the investigators’ report. After all, he wrote, Rumsfeld couldn’t be expected to know retired generals several levels below him or to bear responsibility for such matters. His complaint sparked an escalating e-mail war that most reckon DiRita lost. The entire exchange was posted on the Internet and can still be found there.

So much for the Rumsfeld/DiRita outreach to their critics. They were much too busy hand-feeding horse manure to their TV generals, who in turn were feeding the same product to the American public by the cubic yard.

There’s little doubt that this program violated the laws against covert propaganda operations mounted against the American public by their own government. But in this administration, there’s no one left to enforce that law or any of the other laws the Bush operatives have been busy violating.

The real crime is that the scheme worked. The television network bosses swallowed the bait, the hook, the line and the sinker, and they have yet to answer for it.

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

I agree, it's illegal to use public office's and assets to "push propaganda" onto the American public ar best they ate guilty of supidity, at worst they have committed or prepetrated a "fraud" that has cost 4079 American lives, left another 30,0000 wounded and another tens of thousands lef with PTSD and other mental illness's. and the VA has recently beem found to be telling their mental halth professionals at a Texas VA Medical Center, the Senate has had mutiple members call for investigations, into the matter.

President Bush, VP Cheney and Secretary Gates and Peake, please quit trying to run this war on the cheap and take care of the wounded, physically and mentally, instead of denying them the proper care, this goes way beyond saving dimes and nickles, this is about doing right and wrong. I know what I think is right or wrong, what do you think?

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Interns for Congressional offices

Subject: from Scott M.R. Baker

Good Evening!

I operate a internship resume distribution list for Congressional offices looking for interns. If any of you know of any college students looking for an internship on Capitol Hill for the Fall of 2008, please have them email at scott.baker@mail.house.gov with the text of "Yo Baker!" in the subject line.

Take care


If any of you military/veterans that want some experience working in Congressional staff offices or committee's or have college age children wanting an opportunity to apply, you should contact Scott and please let him know you learned of this thru my website thank you Mike

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US congressmen confirm AO effects

US congressmen confirm AO effects

(17-05-2008)

WASHINGTON — United States congressmen have confirmed that the deadly defoliant Agent Orange had affected both US troops and Vietnamese people. Because of this, it said that "the victims of the toxic chemical should be compensated and supported".

The US House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and the Global Environment convened a hearing on Agent Orange (AO) in Washington on May 15.

The hearing, entitled "Our forgotten responsibility: What can we do to help victims of Agent Orange," was co-chaired by chairman of the subcommittee, Congressman Eni F.H. Faleomavaega, and vice chairman of the committee, Congressman Manzullo.

Representatives from the US Department of State and non-governmental organisations, together with scientists, lawyers and American war veterans attended the hearing.

US congressmen spoke of the US Army use of Agent Orange during the American War in Viet Nam and the serious effects the toxic chemical had on human beings and the environment.

Congressmen said that many nations such as Japan , Germany and Iraq were provided with millions of US dollars in aid to help victims after wars, including those affected by chemical weapons and other toxic chemicals, hence AO victims should be compensated in the same manner.

However, the US Government and chemical producers in the US continued to deny responsibility for AO victims, the congress noted.

Doctor Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, former Vice Chairman of the National Assembly and former Director of the Tu Du Obstetrics and Gynecology Hospital of Viet Nam, said the subcommittee’s first-ever hearing would provide the Congress and the public with an insight into the challenges faced by AO victims.

Phuong, who is a member of the Viet Nam-US dialogue group on AO/dioxin, hoped that the US Congress support would create more effective ways to help AO victims in both Viet Nam and the US.

She said the Government of Vietnam had doled out more than $50 million each year to support AO victims as well as millions for environmental restoration projects, including the planting of salt-marsh forests. In addition, social organisations and the public had actively contributed to activities and campaigns to assist AO victims.

the US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State, Scot Marciel, said the US Government would continue pursuing constructive measures to co-ordinate with the Government of Viet Nam and other partners in dealing with AO related issues.

Representatives from the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Vietnam Veterans of America all called on the US Government and companies which supplied AO to the US troops during the Viet Nam war to take responsibility for AO victims. — VNS
US congressmen confirm AO effects

The Vietnam War ended in 1975 officially, it has now been 33 years and their are still children being affected by the toxic soup we dumped on Vietnam in the 60s and 70s, regardless if the chemical companies made it under contract for the military, we have responsibility for the damage we left in it's wake, I read a German medical study written in 1974 and it mentions the toxic mess being used in South east asia by the US Government and the doctor was wondering how many kinds of cancer and other medical problems would be borne out of this chemical usage. Turns out he was right and yet our nation refuses to admit liability. By the way the Doctor that wrote that statement was the German doctor in charge of treating the Wermacht soldiers from WW2 that had been used in the 3rd Reich's chemical weapons program, the German government was medicaly and financially taking care of the people harmed by exposures in their war programs. The Doctors name was Karl Heinz Lohs

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