From: Michael Letwin
Sent: Friday, January 02, 2004 4:07 PM
To: 1199 Members; ALAA MEMBERS
Subject: Antiwar Bulletin
CONTENTS
1. Video: Dying for What in Iraq?
2. G.I. Deaths Hit 1972 Level, Out of View 3. The G.I. Wounded 4. Iraq Body Count 5. G.I. Counseling Sessions
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1. Video: Dying for What in Iraq?
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2 . G.I. Deaths Hit 1972 Level, Out of View
There were 506 [G.I.s killed in Iraq and Afghanistan] by the time the newspaper closed last Friday. Since then, another seven have died. The newspaper has said this is the deadliest year for the U.S. military since 1972, when 640 were killed in Vietnam. . . .
And the dead are brought back here almost furtively. There are no ceremonies or pictures of caskets at Dover, Del., air base, where the dead are brought. “You don’t want to upset the families,” George Bush said. That the people might be slightly disturbed already by the death doesn’t seem to register.
The wounded are flown into Washington at night. There are 5,000 of them and for a long time you never heard of soldiers who have no arms and legs.
[Source: Their Photos Tell the Story, Newsday/Long Island, December 30, 2003, at: < http://www.newsday.com/news/columnists/ny-nybres303605595dec30,0,3326303.column?coll=ny-news-columnists >
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3. The G.I. Wounded
Since the war started, more than 2,300 American soldiers in Iraq have been hurt in combat, many by artillery shells and homemade bombs that spray shrapnel. Bulletproof vests and helmets protect vital organs. But as the insurgency continues, doctors say that severe facial injuries, along with wounds to the arms and legs, are becoming a hallmark of this war. . . .
The inchlong piece of steel, part of the artillery shell’s casing, sliced through [Sgt. Feldbuschs] right eye, tumbled through his sinuses and lodged in the left side of his brain, severely damaging the optic nerve of his left eye and spraying bone splinters throughout his brain.
Two weeks later, at the Brooke Army Medical Center, doctors removed the shrapnel and reconstructed his face with titanium mesh and a lump of fat from his stomach in place of his missing eye, so the hole would not cave in.
[Source: A Soldier’s Return, to a Dark and Moody World, NY Times, December 30, 2003, at: < http://www.nytimes.com/2003/12/30/national/30SOLD.html?ex=1074075342&ei=1&en=31a9b576f70e96c7 >]
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4. Iraq Body Count
http://www.iraqbodycount.net/
http://lunaville.org/warcasualties/Summary.aspx
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5. G.I. Counseling Session: January 27
NLG Workshop for Lawyers to Provide Counseling for Military Personnel Jan. 27, 6 to 9 p.m., in the Wellington Conference Center at New York Law School, 47 Worth St Contact Colin Starger <colinstarger@yahoo.com>
**Marti Hiken, of the NLG Military Task Force, recently reported: “My latest information is that 40% of the troops in Iraq will be reservists by March. The total number of troops will drop from 130,000 to 110,000 by May. From January to March, thousands of troops will be deployed to Iraq, at which time all the troops in Iraq now will be brought home and new ones installed. The number of wounded GIs coming home, so the Pentagon states, is up to 11,000.”
“Teresa at CCCO reports that January will most likely be one of the busiest months for GIs calling for help. I don’t have the statistics for the GI RIghts Hotline for December right now, but the calls have been running between 2200 to 3500 calls/month for the last three months. I’ve been getting up to five calls/day from GIs, families, counselors and other lawyers. I got one from a GI’s mother in Tennessee at 5:30 a.m. this morning. Actually most calls are coming from the South –Tennesse, North Carolina and West Virginia.”
More information:
G.I. Rights Hotline: < http://girights.objector.org/ > NLG Training: <http://www.nylawyer.com/news/03/12/122203g.html>
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