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4.25.14

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Military Resistance 12D16

40 U.S. Veterans Die While On Phoenix VA Hospitals CostCutting Secret Waiting List:
Scheme Set Up By VA Managers In Phoenix To Hide The Fact That Between 1,400 And 1,600 Sick Veterans Were Forced To Wait Up To 21 Months To See A Doctor
Plans Involved Shredding Evidence To Hide The Long List

[Thanks to Clancy Sigal, who sent this in.] April 24, 2014 BY Melanie Greenwood, NEW YORK DAILY NEWS & By Scott Bronstein and Drew Griffin, CNN Investigations At least 40 U.S. veterans have died waiting for medical appointments at Phoenix Veterans Affairs Health Care system including many placed on a secret waiting list. The list was part of a complex cost-cutting scheme set up by Veterans Affairs managers in Phoenix aiming to hide the fact that between 1,400 and 1,600 sick veterans were forced to wait up to 21 months to see a doctor, according to whistle-blowing retired top VA doctor and high-level sources. Internal emails reveal managers at Arizonas VA hospital knew about the practice and even condoned it. Retiring Dr. Sam Foote, who spent 24 years with the VA system, told CNN that the Phoenix VA worked off two patient appointment lists. The "official" list shows the VA was offering timely appointments within 14 to 30 days. Foote called this a sham list because there was another secret document where waits where much longer. "The scheme was deliberately put in place to avoid the VAs own internal rules. They developed the secret waiting list, he said. According to Foote, the elaborate plans involved shredding evidence to hide the long list, with VA officials instructing staff to not make veterans appointments in the computer system.

Instead, Foote explained, when a veteran sought an appointment, "They enter information into the computer and do a screen-capture, hard-copy printout. They then do not save what was put into the computer so theres no record. That hard copy is then placed into a secret electronic waiting list, Foote said, with the paper data being shredded. He also revealed that patients wouldnt be taken off the secret list until their appointment time was within 14 days or less giving the appearance that the VA was improving waiting times. "I feel very sorry for the people who work at the Phoenix VA," said Foote. "Theyre all frustrated. Theyre all upset. They all wish they could leave cause they know what theyre doing is wrong. "But they have families, they have mortgages and if they speak out or say anything to anybody about it, they will be fired and they know that." Several other high-level VA staff confirmed Footes description to CNN and confirmed this is exactly how the secret list works in Phoenix. In the case of 71-year-old Navy veteran Thomas Breen, the wait on the secret list ended much sooner. "We had noticed that he started to have bleeding in his urine," said Teddy Barnes-Breen, his son. "So I was like, Listen, we gotta get you to the doctor. " Teddy says his Brooklyn-raised father was so proud of his military service that he would go nowhere but the VA for treatment. On September 28, 2013, with blood in his urine and a history of cancer, Teddy and his wife, Sally, rushed his father to the Phoenix VA emergency room, where he was examined and sent home to wait. "They wrote on his chart that it was urgent," said Sally, her father-in-laws main caretaker. The family has obtained the chart from the VA that clearly states the "urgency" as "one week" for Breen to see a primary care doctor or at least a urologist, for the concerns about the blood in the urine. "And they sent him home," says Teddy, incredulously. Sally and Teddy say Thomas Breen was given an appointment with a rheumatologist to look at his prosthetic leg but was given no appointment for the main reason he went in. No one called from the VA with a primary care appointment. Sally says she and her father-in-law called "numerous times" in an effort to try to get an urgent appointment for him. She says the response they got was less than helpful.

"Well, you know, we have other patients that are critical as well," Sally says she was told. "Its a seven-month waiting list. And youre gonna have to have patience." Sally says she kept calling, day after day, from late September to October. She kept up the calls through November. But then she no longer had reason to call. Thomas Breen died on November 30. The death certificate shows that he died from Stage 4 bladder cancer. Months after the initial visit, Sally says she finally did get a call. "They called me December 6. Hes dead already." Sally says the VA official told her, "We finally have that appointment. We have a primary for him. I said, Really, youre a little too late, sweetheart. " Sally says her father-in-law realized toward the end he was not getting the care he needed. "At the end is when he suffered. He screamed. He cried. And thats somethin Id never seen him do before, was cry. Never. Never. He cried in the kitchen right here. Dont let me die. " Teddy added his father said: "Why is this happening to me? Why wont anybody help me?" Teddy added: "They didnt do the right thing." Sally said: "No. They neglected Pop." CNN obtained emails from July 2013 showing top management, including Phoenix VA Director Sharon Helman, was aware of wait times and the electronic off-the-books records. They also showed that some patients were waiting 6-20 weeks to get their first appointment with a primary care physician. Foote sent letters to the VA Office of the Inspector General detailing the secret electronic waiting list and veteran deaths. Foote confirmed IG inspectors have interviewed him about the allegations. Foote says the entire secret list and the reason for its existence was planned and created by top management at the Phoenix VA to avoid detection of the long wait times by veterans. "This was a plan that involved the Pentad, which includes the director, the associate director, the assistant director, the chief of nursing, along with the medical chief of staff in collaboration with the chief of H.A.S.," he said. Rep. Jeff Miller, chairman of the House Committee on Veterans Affairs, has demanded the VA preserve all records in anticipation of a congressional investigation.

Congress has now ordered all records in Phoenix, secret or not, be preserved, including that of Thomas Breen.

YOUR INVITATION:
Comments, arguments, articles, and letters from service men and women, and veterans, are especially welcome. Write to Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657 or email contact@militaryproject.org: Name, I.D., withheld unless you request publication. Same address to unsubscribe.

FORWARD OBSERVATIONS

At a time like this, scorching irony, not convincing argument, is needed. Oh had I the ability, and could reach the nations ear, I would, pour out a fiery stream of biting ridicule, blasting reproach, withering sarcasm, and stern rebuke. For it is not light that is needed, but fire; it is not the gentle shower, but thunder. We need the storm, the whirlwind, and the earthquake. The limits of tyrants are prescribed by the endurance of those whom they oppose.

Frederick Douglass, 1852

There is no democracy without socialism and no socialism without democracy. -- Rosa Luxemburg

A Story of War That Never Gets Told

Medevac Helicopter An Khe, Vietnam. Photograph by Mike Hastie. Full Disclosure until the day I die. From: Mike Hastie To: Military Resistance Newsletter Sent: April 23, 2014 Subject: A Story of War That Never Gets Told A Story of War That Never Gets Told A couple of weeks ago a friend called me from Salem, Oregon and wanted to know if I was interested in going to a college baseball game with him and three of his old high school buddies. I said yes, so he ordered me a ticket. This past Saturday I drove to Salem from Portland to join him and his three friends who graduated from high school together in 1968. The game was being played in Eugene, Oregon, where the University of Oregon was playing Washington State

University. It was the last game of a three game series between the two schools. Oregon had won the first two games. Of the five of us, only Jerry and I were Vietnam vets. Just before the game started, the national anthem was played. All five of us stood up, but at the time I knew Jerry had a hard time with this ritual, because Jerry had a secret only I knew about. In 1994, Jerry and I and two other Vietnam vet friends went back to Vietnam to make amends to the Vietnamese people, so I knew Jerry very well, probably much better than his three class mates who were at the game. Jerry and his three high school buddies were from a small town along the southern Oregon coast. Jerry had excelled in long distance running, and continues to run marathons to this day. It is his saving grace that helps keep him alive from the stresses of war trauma and his sense of guilt. When Jerry entered the U.S. Army, he was trained in " Radio Intercept." Essentially, he was trained to break enemy radio code traffic. When he got to Vietnam, he was assigned to Bien Hoa, near Saigon. He joined a well respected crew that had a reputation for breaking Viet Cong radio codes. Because Jerry excelled at his job, he was given a more prestigious assignment of giving radio coordinates to B-52 pilots who were bombing military targets. Jerry did this for awhile, until he began to question the targets the B-52s were bombing. To deal with his stress, he began drinking more, and going on long runs around the base perimeter with his boots on. Eventually, he and a few other members of his radio crew discovered that the targets the U.S. bombers were carpet bombing were none other than civilian targets. Thats when a 19 year-old kid from a small town in Oregon began to have panic attacks. That is when he discovered there are no rules in war. The daily killing of civilians, are military targets. Thats when his belief system was shot at point-blank range. After ten months of being in Vietnam, Jerry made a decision that changed his life. One morning, he simply walked into his company orderly room, and told his commanding officer that his tour of duty in Vietnam was officially over. He was not going to work for the U.S. Government anymore. He was absolutely done with being a participant in war crimes. His commanding officer threatened him with court martial and disobeying a lawful order as an American soldier in a time of war. When Jerry continued to disobey any further orders, he was put on psychiatric hold and restricted to base. The medics put him on medication to calm his attitude.

Within a week he was sent back to the United States, where he was admitted to a psychiatric ward at Madigan Army Hospital in Tacoma, Washington. Jerry found himself in the arts and crafts room doing little projects with other soldiers who decided not to cooperate with the U.S. Government in Vietnam. Eventually, Jerry was discharged from the Army with a psychiatric diagnosis, and failure to adjust to military life. So, this is Jerrys story. This is what he had to do to maintain his moral convictions, and refuse to commit further killing in an immoral war. It took many years for Jerry to come to terms with his participation as an American soldier in Vietnam. The suffering he went through took him to another world. His deep feelings of betrayal and guilt made him suicidal for many years. These are the stories that are never revealed to the American public, because all they want to believe is that their soldiers are all heroes. Well, Jerry did one of the most heroic things in Vietnam that I have ever heard. He is one of the greatest gifts of my life. The price of peace for Jerry was against the law. Mike Hastie Army Medic Vietnam April 23, 2014 Photo and caption from the portfolio of Mike Hastie, US Army Medic, Vietnam 1970-71. (For more of his outstanding work, contact at: (hastiemike@earthlink.net) T) One day while I was in a bunker in Vietnam, a sniper round went over my head. The person who fired that weapon was not a terrorist, a rebel, an extremist, or a so-called insurgent. The Vietnamese individual who tried to kill me was a citizen of Vietnam, who did not want me in his country. This truth escapes millions. Mike Hastie U.S. Army Medic Vietnam 1970-71 December 13, 2004

The Silent Wars

From: Dennis Serdel To: Military Resistance

Subject: The Silent Wars Date: Apr 19, 2010 By Dennis Serdel, Military Resistance 2010; Vietnam 1967-68 (one tour) Light Infantry, Americal Div. 11th Brigade; United Auto Workers GM Retiree **************************************************************** The Silent Wars What are they fighting for Land and its riches what kind of riches Oil Minerals Natural Gas What else are they fighting for Positioning in the world So thats why the wars are on the other side of earth Yes Looks like a big country picking on a smaller one again You mean like Vietnam Yes a long time ago Their people just listen but all they hear is silence Yes they have their own problems many live hand to mouth they are in a rich depression Many go to work while others sit at home eating food stamps Their government keeps them poor so they will just think of their own problems and keep disconnected to the silent wars beyond Some have lost their houses the rich banks took them away Why does their rich government keep them alive while so many are broken Its some sort of distraction just their own silent wars the wars on TV mean nothing to them Many have died they die in their streets they die in their cars in the rich mans prisons men surrounded by walls so their screaming cant be heard silence is torture silence is death

written by Dennis Serdel for Military Resistance Apr 19, 2010

ANNIVERSARIES

April 25, 1945:

Remembering Joe Polowsky

[Thanks to Dennis Serdel, who sent this in.] From Wikipedia Joseph (Joe) Polowsky (19161983) was an American soldier who with others met Soviet troops on the banks of Elbe River on April 25, 1945 and later became an anti-war activist. He was the youngest son of Jewish immigrants who had immigrated from the Kiev area in the Russian Empire to the United States and worked as a taxi driver in Chicago. During World War II he was conscripted and served in the 69th Infantry Division. He belonged to a scouting party which crossed the Elbe in Torgau on April 25, 1945 and met Soviet troops on the other bank. When the Americans and the Soviets saw bodies of German civilians killed by stray artillery fire near the river the soldiers of both armies swore to do everything to prevent a new war. In 1946 Polowsky was discharged from the army. Back in the U.S., he unsuccessfully asked the United Nations to declare 25 April a World Day of Peace. During the McCarthyism era he was prosecuted for "un-American activities". Each year he commemorated the Elbe Day on the Michigan Avenue Bridge in Chicago and held a vigil. He continued to work as a taxi driver. In 1959 he met Soviet Prime Minister Nikita Khrushchev who visited the United States. A short time later he was invited to visit the Soviet Union where he again met Khrushchev in the Kremlin. Then he visited East Germany and met Walter Ulbricht.

Already ill with cancer, Polowsky held his last vigil on Michigan Avenue Bridge on April 25, 1983. He died in Chicago on October 17, 1983. In his will he asked to be buried in Torgau, and was buried there with military honors on November 26, 1983. In 1995 a high school in Torgau was named after him. He was memorialized in the Fred Small song "At The Elbe". A new rose variety was dedicated to Joe Polowsky in Torgau in 2006.

MORE:

VFP Chapter Joseph Polowsky #76

From: Dennis Serdel To: Military Resistance Newsletter Sent: April 18, 2014 Subject: VFP Chapter Joseph Polowsky #76 By Dennis Serdel, Vietnam 1967-68 (one tour) Light Infantry, Americal Div. 11th Brigade; United Auto Workers GM Retiree Back in the 80s, I started VFP Chapter Joseph Polowsky # 76 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. At the Elbe River in WWII, Joe Polowsky & other American Soldiers made a Peace Pact with the Russian Soldiers to Meet every year at the Elbe & to Stop all future Wars. One time 6 Russian Soldiers flew to Chicago & were amazed at the difference between the Workers & the Rich. As they got older, it dwindled down to just Joe going to the Elbe River until his death. I went to the National VFP Convention in Arizona after Chapter 76 was formed that year. It was run by WWII Veterans with a Navy Admiral & Army Officers. In Arizona, there were not many Vietnam Veterans & the Powers that be, tried to make a Resolution that Vietnam was never declared a War & it was just a Conflict. Upon debate I raised my hand & said that Vietnam was a War, another Vietnam Veteran spoke up & said he was in Vietnam & it was a War. In VFP Chapter #76, we made our name known by attending many Events, but just as it was taking off, my General Motors factory said, they were closing the GM factory in Kalamazoo, Michigan. I headed for Flint, Michigan & others headed for other GM factories in the nation, so I lost GM Members & others, but Chapter 76 lasted for just a little while after that. My wife attended Catholic Mass today & although I too was raised as a

Catholic, I dont believe in it anymore. But in the Catholic Times she brought back, I found the Obituary for Father John Grathwohl who was a VFP & in Chapter # 76. He was a Chaplain in Vietnam in 1968 & he told me that in Vietnam, they ordered him to make a speech on Memorial Day. I wrote a poem about him because All he did on Memorial Day, was to Speak the Name, Rank & date of Death of the Soldiers that had been killed since he was there. It had been Tet 1968 & we lost many Soldiers & it was at the height of the Vietnam WAR. Now VFP has been mostly taken over by Vietnam Veterans. SOS - Dennis

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Forward Military Resistance along, or send us the email address if you wish and well send it regularly with your best wishes. Whether in Afghanistan or at a base in the USA, this is extra important for your service friend, too often cut off from access to encouraging news of growing resistance to injustices, inside the armed services and at home. Send email requests to address up top or write to: Military Resistance, Box 126, 2576 Broadway, New York, N.Y. 10025-5657.

April 25, 1974: Portugal:

Most Honorable Anniversary Soldiers Rise Up To Overthrow A Dictator

Socialist Worker.co.uk Carl Bunin Peace History April 23-29 A peaceful uprising by army and civilians, known as the carnation revolution (Revoluo dos Cravos), ended 48 years of fascism in Portugal. The regime killed four before giving into the popular resistance. 25 April 2004 By Manny Thain, Socialist World.net [Excerpts] It started at 12.25 am on Thursday 25 April 1974 when the rebel song, Grandola Vila Morena, played on the radio. By early evening the end of dictatorship was announced. The Movimento das Foras Armadas (MFA), radical mid-ranking officers, had executed the plan devised by Captain Otelo de Carvalho. Troops secured Lisbon and the second city, Porto. Key installations were taken, ministers arrested.

THE news of the regimes downfall spread like wildfire. People flooded the streets. MFA vehicles were mobbed by adoring crowds. Thousands of school students marched, shouting Down with fascism. Red carnations, the symbol of the revolution, blossomed in rifle barrels and festooned the streets in this festival of freedom. The ex-dictator, Marcello Caetano, cowered in National Guard barracks. He was the successor to the fascist regime consolidated in the early 1930s by Antnio Salazar. Paramilitary groups terrorised left-wing and industrial militants. Independent trade unions and the right to strike were illegal. The secret police had a massive network of agents and informers. Torture was systemic. But it was the armed African liberation struggles - especially Angola, Guinea-Bissau and Mozambique - begun in the early 1960s, which drove the final nails into the coffin of the fascist regime. Many mid-ranked officers had been influenced by the Marxism they read in counter-insurgency training. Radicalisation continued in Africa with the brutal repression meted out to the people fighting for their freedom. A policy of fast-tracking new officers fuelled the anger. The MFA set up a junta of national salvation to rule until a provisional government was formed. Elections were promised within a year. It announced freedom of association and expression, and an amnesty for political prisoners. Having suffered at the hands of bosses and landowners linked to the regime, workers drove them out of the factories and off the land. The editor of the daily, Dirio de Notcias, was forced out on 7 June after print workers seized the presses, publishing a front-page article exposing his fascist connections. Homeless people occupied empty properties. Shipyard and underground workers went on strike for a 50% pay rise. Car workers won a 40-hour week. Bakery and textile workers struck. Train and tram conductors refused to collect fares. General Antnio de Spnola was made acting president. The son of a friend of Salazar, Spnola had impeccable fascist credentials. He had, however, called for the easing of direct colonial rule, which gave him a certain amount of support. Spnola made one more pathetic bid for power, on 11 March 1975.

But the paratroopers he mobilised mutinied. The fact that six members of the Esprito Santo banking family were implicated in the coup fiasco fuelled further outrage.

Army Establishes Excellency Excellent Center Of Excellently Excelling Excellence

Photo Credit: US Army April 21, 2014 By Frederick Taub, The Duffle Blog With much fanfare, the Chief of Staff of the Army announced the opening of the latest cross-branch U.S. Army School designed to indoctrinate officers and crush any dissenting thinkers, sources confirmed today. The Excellency Excellent Center of Excellently Excelling Excellence or E2CE3 because this is the Army is the logical conclusion of the nightmarish hodgepodge of good ideas that some sadistic lunatic in the Pentagon came up with in combining completely different branches of the service together into a schoolhouse in the name of pecuniary considerations. Thanks to a recent revision of the oxymoronically named Army Writing Guide banning all adjectives and adverbs save variations on excellent, the Dept. of the Army related that creating monikers for these cesspits of egotism has never been easier. Examples of this new order include the Maneuver Center of Excellence in which armor and infantry officers glare at each other and argue about who really won the World War

II, and the Fires Center of Excellence, which irrationally blends the Field Artillery, a strictly offensive branch and the Air Defense Artillery, an eponymously defensive one. Renowned Duffel Blog contributor Brig. Gen. J.B. Jay Burton informed us that a pet project of his, combining Explosive Ordnance Disposal and the Chemical Corps into a singular organization dubbed simply The Branch of Excellence has recently received the approval of the Secretary of the Army and is awaiting Defense Secretary Chuck Hagels signature. I am very proud of the potential behind E-two-C-E-three, said Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno, while wiping perspiration from his shiny bald head. What exactly makes it so excellent? Im afraid thats classified. The official crest is still being created by the Army Heraldry Center of Excellence, but I am confident that not one most bogus dude will be able to make his or her way through its hallowed halls without emerging a most triumphantly excellent character on the other end! Odierno grinned broadly, eyes as black and pitiless as a sharks gleaming over yellowed, slab-like teeth. Of course, in order to get funding for this most excellent center, I had to cut an excellent drug deal with Congress that involved a 15% cut to basic pay to everyone without one of these on their shoulder, said Odierno, smugly rubbing imaginary dust from his four-star shoulderboard. But I told them My soldiers dont mind losing pay, as long as they can get even better training! After finishing his comments and cannily dodging questions about actually important topics, Odierno brought up the two first graduates of the E2CE3, introducing them William S. Preston Esq. and Theodore Logan, both lieutenant colonels. What has your time at the new Army Center of Whatever taught you? The question floated limply up from the apathetic crowd of reporters like a week-old birthday balloon. Lt. Col. Preston paused briefly, leaning towards his companion to murmur a few indistinguishable words before returning to the microphone. He cleared his throat. Be excellent to each other, he proclaimed beneficently. Lt. Col. Logan raised his hand, Party on dudes!

CLASS WAR REPORTS

A Win For Our Side:

Auto Parts Workers At The Piston Automotive Factory In Toledo, Ohio, Went On Strike For Union Recognition At 9 A.M. April 17And By 5 P.M., The Boss Had Given In

Workers who build brakes and struts for Jeep used the tightness of the "just-in-time" supply system to threaten a shutdown of the profitable vehicle, as they struck for recognition. Photo: Paul Wohlfarth April 17, 2014 by Jane Slaughter, Labor Notes [Excerpts] This article was updated with new information after management gave in and recognized the UAW at 5 p.m. April 17. Auto parts workers at the Piston Automotive factory in Toledo, Ohio, went on strike for union recognition at 9 a.m. April 17and by 5 p.m., the boss had given in. The 70 workers make brake systems and struts for the new Jeep Cherokee, built by Chrysler in a plant across town. Because of Chryslers tight just-in-time delivery system, their strike could have quickly shut down production of the profitable Cherokee. Piston. Workers said 75-80 percent had signed cards asking for representation by the United Auto Workers, but management refused to recognize them. A unions typical next step is filing for an election with the National Labor Relations Boardbut that gives the boss a chance to drag out the process and put workers through an anti-union wringer.

Strikes for recognition, once common, have become rare. UAW Regional Director Ken Lortz said the union informed Chrysler, as a courtesy, about the potential for interruption, as one of their suppliers was not listening to us as closely as we thought they should. The parts made at Piston Automotive used to be made in-house at Jeep, Lortz said. But in 2002 the company created a supplier park and outsourced a wide array of vital components to suppliers. The parts were then made by what the auto industry calls a first-tier supplier, Dana, which agreed to card-check recognition of the UAW. But last year Jeep decided it wanted the parts cheaper, and non-union Piston underbid. Striker Trina Lawson said workers approached the UAW when they learned that other supplier plants paid more than the $12.55 made by experienced workers at Piston. Lawson cited instances of managers picky, childish intimidation and said workers were sometimes made to work through their breaks or lunches. Sarina McLaughlin, who torques bolts for the knuckles and puts trailing arms on the rear brake line, said sometimes managers tell workers two minutes before quitting time that they have to stay overand then dismiss them at 12 minutes after the hour, before extra pay would kick in. Asked why she backed the union, McLaughlin said, In 1982 I was making $10.54 an hour at a union Safeway bread plant in Houston. They only want to pay us $12.55 and that was 32 years ago; thats all I got to say. Cigarettes have tripled, gas has quadrupled, she added. Those people up there in the office couldnt support their family on $12.55 an hour. She said even temporary workers were on the line. Lawson said the morning of the strike, the plant manager gave a speech inside the plant, threatening workers with points on their record or loss of holiday pay, and warning them that a walkout would shut Jeep down and they all walked out anyway. Shutting Jeep down was the plan, after all. Lortz said workers walked out before the meeting was over, to be met by cheering UAW staff. Some got phone calls while on the picket line, telling them theyd been terminated. But the strike settlement guaranteed no retaliation. In 1997 the UAW used a similar strategy to take advantage of the outsize power that just-in-time gives to supplier workers. Seat builders at Johnson Controls, a supplier to Ford, stopped production of Fords Expedition SUV (profit: $10,000 per vehicle) to pressure for a first contract.

And in 2002 the union shut down Jeep production to force recognition and first contracts at four other Johnson Controls plants. George Windau, a skilled trades worker at Jeep, said at the time that the strike was so devastating on production simply because of the just-in-time supply philosophy used in the plants, which relies on a steady and continuous flow of these parts from Johnson Controls. When Labor Notes noted the power on display by Piston workers, McLaughlin laughed. Im loving it, she said.

DANGER: CAPITALISTS AT WORK

OCCUPATION PALESTINE

BTselem Volunteer Arrested For Arguing With Soldiers Who Invaded His Home:
The Soldiers Knocked His Camera Down And Pepper-Sprayed His Face

8 Apr 2014 BTselem - The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories [Excerpts] On Friday 28 March 2014, Shadi Sidr a volunteer with BTselems camera project in Hebron was in the street outside his home with his brother and a neighbor. Soldiers who had gone up to the roof of the house filmed the three Palestinians and aimed their weapons at them. Sidr entered the house to protest these actions. Sidr went back outside after he received an apology from one of the soldiers. Yet the soldiers did not stop filming, and Sidr went back into the building. This time he argued at length with the soldiers and filmed the exchange: Sidr demanded that the soldiers explain their presence in his home; the soldiers said Sidr was in their way and therefore must leave the premises. Not only did the soldiers not explain their presence, they even tried to apprehend Sidrs brother and his neighbor, both of whom were completely uninvolved bystanders. When Sidr objected to their arrest, the soldiers knocked his camera down and peppersprayed his face. Sidrs mother, who was inside the house at the time, sustained a reaction to the pepper-spray and had to be taken to hospital for treatment. The soldiers then handcuffed and detained the three Palestinians. The soldiers held the men for hours, with no justification, without taking them to a police station and without offering any medical assistance to Sidr, whose eyes had been hurt by the pepper-spray. The three men were finally taken to the Hebron Police only at around 10:30 P.M. some eight hours after the incident began. They were subsequently released without even being questioned. Throughout the West Bank soldiers are allowed virtually unrestricted access to Palestinian homes, entering without having to justify their actions to the occupants. This state of affairs is particularly common and invasive in Hebrons H2 area, with its constant Israeli military presence. In this case, in addition to violating the sense of security of the homes occupants, violating their privacy, property and normal routine, the soldiers response to Sidrs requests to explain their presence in his home is extremely disturbing. The soldiers clearly felt that they are not bound to provide any explanation whatsoever to the homeowner.

Their subsequent conduct seems to indicate that they detained the three men for hours on end solely for punitive purposes, as punishment for Sidrs persistence in trying to obtain an explanation for their presence on the roof of his home. BTselem sent a complaint to the Legal Advisor in Judea and Samaria regarding the unjustified detention.

Palestinians Get Shit On, As Usual:

Zionists Planning To Confiscate Private Palestinian Land For Sewage Plant Serving Only Other Zionists
Israeli Civil Administration Planning To Confiscate The Land Despite Courts Decision
10 April 2014 The Middle East Monitor The Israeli Civil Administration is planning to confiscate 180 dunums (180,000 square metres) of private Palestinian land belonging to the residents of the villages of Ein Yabrud and Silwad near the West Bank city of Ramallah to build a sewage treatment plant to serve the Mateh Binyamin settlement bloc. Several years ago the villages residents petitioned against the project taking their case to the Israeli High Court through the Yesh Din organisation. The court ruled on their side, but Israeli media revealed today that the Israeli Civil Administration was planning to confiscate the land despite the courts decision. Israels Walla news site said the Israeli Environmental Protection Ministry and Civil Administration endorsed a new scheme which aims to legalise the confiscation and submitted it to the governments legal adviser for approval. Although Palestinians will lose their land to the project, they will not benefit from it. Yesh Din, an Israeli human rights group, said the courts deliberations revealed the existence of criminal aspects to the project and questioned the governments motives to confiscate 180 dunums to establish a project which needs much less space.

Yesh Din attorney Shlomi Zacharia said that although Israel has vowed not to confiscate private Palestinian land for the benefit of the settlements, it plans to legitimise the confiscation and provide retrospective coverage for legal violations it has committed against the Palestinians and their properties.

Prayers From Palestinians Of Qaryut Village Met With Violence From The Israeli Army:
Israeli Soldiers Arrived Immediately, With One Soldier Yelling: Go Back Home!
A Resident Of Qaryut Responded; Inshallah (If God Wills It), This Is Our Home

Photo by ISM April 19, 2014 International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team Qaryut, Occupied Palestine

The people of Qaryut began weekly demonstrations three weeks ago, due to the Israeli militarys decision to close the main road near to the village. Yesterday, the 18th April, approximately 300 from the village, of which 100 were children, decided to come to the hill to pray rather than to march. Israeli soldiers arrived immediately, with one soldier yelling: Go back home! A resident of Qaryut responded; Inshallah (if God wills it), this is our home. The prayer began despite the provocative military presence on the hill, during the prayers Israeli soldiers surrounded the gathering, one solider removed a Palestinian flag from its place in the ground. As prayers finished, one of the villagers declared to the army that it was their intention to leave the area, repeating over and over that they brought a message of peace. However, within a few steps of the peoples return to the village, Israeli soldiers started shooting tear gas at their backs. Due to the rocky terrain, many were unable to get away from the tear gas that the soldiers continued to fire. 15 people had to be treated by paramedics due to several tear gas inhalation, however it was difficult to access those in need because of the difficult conditions underfoot. Stun grenades were also used extensively by the Israeli forces. Qaryut is surrounded by a number of large illegal settlements, including Eli and Shilo. The road closure could mean losing the part of the hill where prayers took place today. Loss of the road leading to the main route from the village to Ramallah has already caused significant economic hardship and many other problems.

To check out what life is like under a murderous military occupation commanded by foreign terrorists, go to: http://www.maannews.net/eng/Default.aspx and http://www.palestinemonitor.org/list.php?id=ej898ra7yff0ukmf16 The occupied nation is Palestine. The foreign terrorists call themselves Israeli.

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DANGER: POLITICIANS AT WORK

[Thanks to SSG N (retd) who sent this in with caption. She writes: Cheap propaganda comes across for what it is. Cheap propaganda.]

Vietnam GI: Reprints Available

[THEY STOPPED AN IMPERIAL WAR]

Edited by Vietnam Veteran Jeff Sharlet from 1968 until his death, this newspaper rocked the world, attracting attention even from Time Magazine, and extremely hostile attention from the chain of command.

The pages and pages of letters in the paper from troops in Vietnam condemning the war are lost to history, but you can find them here. Military Resistance has copied complete sets of Vietnam GI. The originals were a bit rough, but every page is there. Over 100 pages, full 11x17 size. Free on request to active duty members of the armed forces. Cost for others: $15 if picked up in New York City. For mailing inside USA add $5 for bubble bag and postage. For outside USA, include extra for mailing 2.5 pounds to wherever you are. Checks, money orders payable to: The Military Project Orders to: Military Resistance Box 126 2576 Broadway New York, N.Y. 10025-5657 All proceeds are used for projects giving aid and comfort to members of the armed forces organizing to resist todays Imperial wars.

Military Resistance Looks Even Better Printed Out

Military Resistance/GI Special are archived at website http://www.militaryproject.org .

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