August 6, 2008 archive

I caught this report over at Huffington:

US Vets Return to Middle East to Help Iraqi Refugees

I’m on the first day of a rapid-fire visit to Jordan, the kingdom in the Middle East which has provided a safe haven for an estimated 750,000 refugees from Iraq who have traveled the shorter but more dangerous route to get here.

I’m traveling with a small delegation from the newly founded Iraq Veterans Refugee Aid Association (IVRAA) — co-founders of the organization, Luis Montalvan, a former US Army captain, and former US Marine captain Tyler Boudreau, plus photographer Paul Park — on a mission to try to assess the situation faced by Iraqi refugees, and the burden that hosting those refugees has placed on the Hashemite kingdom.

We also hope to work out what, if anything, we can do to help provide relief to either or both.

(Cross-posted on Kos — with links)

Last night Barack Obama joined Hip Hop star Nelly in a performance of Tip Drill before 50,000 screaming fans at “Ho-Fest 2008” at Detroit’s Ford Field.

The high point of the night was when Obama invited his wife Michelle onstage and re-enacted the famous Tip Drill video.  The crowd went crazy as Michelle and Barack performed the hilarious credit card move.

The performance was immediately condemned by:

NBC, ABC, CBS the NY Times, the Washington Post, MSNBC, CNN, FOX, Lifetime, Oxygen, Emily’s List, NOW, NARAL, PUMA, the Family Research Council,  the White Citizens Council, Focus on the Family, Family Circus, Planned Parenthood, NARAL and the United League of Purity Balls.

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The following is by Mary V. Horning the mother of a US Marine now on his second deployment to that country. Her inquiry concerned who is responsible for shoddy work done by contractors in Iraq.

Q. Who has responsibility for shoddy contracting resulting in electrocutions and fires on military sites in Iraq?  Where is the accountability?  Why are our servicemen and women risking injury and dying in showers and housing units in Iraq?

Q. Will Halliburton contractors continue to be awarded electrical contracts based on past sub-par performance?

Q. Will military personnel be compensated for their losses resulting from electrical fires and if so, at what percentage of their losses?

Q. Why are Marine troops currently in Afghanistan having their deployments extended?  Will Marine troops in Iraq be extended as a result of Marines originally scheduled to deploy to Iraq now heading to Afghanistan?

Q. With the same military units being called to serve in Iraq and Afghanistan on a repeat basis (with soldiers and Marines now spending more time out of country than in), what are the plans to reduce this burden on these military personnel?

Q. With studies showing that those military personnel serving repeated combat tours are much more likely to exhibit post-traumatic stress and other mental health issues, what is being done to address this growing problem?