TBR News July 4, 2012
The Voice of the White House
Washington, D.C., July 1, 2012: “Now that the Supreme Court has validated Obama’s Health Care bill, we hear howl of animal rage from the far right in Congress. It is their determination to close down all aid programs, not tax their rich friends and do everything they can to stuff their pockets with lobbyist’s money and throw themselves at the feet of the rich and all-powerful bankers. These bankers have cut up and sold millions of home and business mortgages to foreigners and because of the structuring of these sales, are totally unable to locate the actual mortgage owners. What does this mean? It means that over 70 million Americans can never get clear title to their homes because if they pay the mortgages off or have to sell their homes to move, there is no way to gain a clear title to the home they have been paying on for years. The big banks not only do not know to whom they sold the mortgages, they do not care because they reason that when the crap hits the fan, they, like our President and most of Congress, will be long and very comfortably retired. In short, the American dream of owning a home is nothing but a Republican-engineered nightmare.”
The Broken Encirclement Plan: Nato in Eastern Europe
July 2, 2012
by Arthur D. Royster
The first serious, and successful, U.S. direct interference in Russian leadership policies was in 1953. An ageing Josef Stalin, suffering from arteriosclerosis and becoming increasingly hostile to his subordinates, was poisoned by Laverenti P. Beria, head of his secret police. Beria, was a Mingrelian Jew, very ruthless and a man who ordered and often supervised the executions of people Stalin suspected of plotting against him, had fallen out of favor with Stalin and had come to believe that he was on the list of those Stalin wished to remove. With his intelligence connection, Beria was contacted by the American CIA through one of his trusted agents in Helskinki and through this contact, Beria was supplied dosages of warfarin The first drug in the class to be widely commercialized was dicoumarol itself, patented in 1941 and later used as a pharmaceutical. potent coumarin-based anticoagulants for use as rodent poisons, resulting in warfarin in 1948. The name warfarin stems from the acronym WARF, for Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation + the ending -arin indicating its link with coumarin. Warfarin was first registered for use as a rodenticide in the US in 1948, and was immediately popular; although it was developed by Link, the WARF financially supported the research and was assigned the patent.
Warfarin was used by a Lavrenti Beria to poison Stalin. Stalin’s cooks and personal bodyguards were all under the direct control of Beria. He acknowledged to other top Soviet leaders that he had poisoned Stalin, according to Molotov‘s memoirs. Nikita Khrushchev and others to poison Soviet leader Joseph Stalin. Warfarin is tasteless and colorless, and produces symptoms similar to those that Stalin exhibited. Stalin collapsed during the night after a dinner with Beria and other Soviet leaders, and died four days later on 5 March 1953.
Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, in his political memoirs (published posthumously in 1993), claimed that Beria told him that he had poisoned Stalin. “I took him out,” Beria supposedly boasted. There is evidencethat after Stalin was found unconscious, medical care was not provided for many hours. Other evidence of the murder of Stalin by Beria associates was presented by Edvard Radzinsky in his biography Stalin. It has been suggested that warfarin was used; it would have produced the symptoms reported.
After the fall of Gorbachev and his replacement by Boris Yeltsin, a known CIA connection, the Russian criminal mob was encouraged by the CIA to move into the potentially highly lucrative Russian natural resource field.
By 1993 almost all banks in Russia were owned by the mafia, and 80% of businesses were paying protection money. In that year, 1400 people were murdered in Moscow, crime members killed businessmen who would not pay money to them, as well as reporters, politicians, bank owners and others opposed to them. The new criminal class of Russia took on a more Westernized and businesslike approach to organized crime as the more code-of-honor based Vory faded into extinction.
The Izmaylovskaya gang was considered one of the country’s most important and oldest Russian Mafia groups in Moscow and also had a presence in Tel Aviv, Berlin, Paris, Toronto, Miami and New York City. It was founded during the 1980s under the leadership of Oleg Ivanov and was estimated to consist of about 200 active members (according to other data of 300–500 people). In principle, the organization was divided into two separate bodies—Izmailovskaya and Gol’yanovskaya which utilized quasi-military ranks and strict internal discipline. It was involved extensively in murder-for-hire, extortions, and infiltration of legitimate businesses.
The gangs were termed the Oligarchy and were funded by the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the Israeli-owned Bank of New York all with the assisance of the American government.
The arrival of Vladimir Putin as the new leader of Russia was at first ignored in Washington. A former KGB Lt. Colonel who had been stationed in East Germany, Putin was viewed as inconsequential, bland and colorless by the purported Russian experts in both the Department of State and the CIA.
Putin, however, proved to be a dangerous opponent who blocked the Oligarchs attempt to control the oil fields and other assets, eventual control of which had been promised to both American and British firms.
The Oligarchs were allowed to leave the country and those remaining behind were forced to follow Putin’s policies. Foreign control over Russian natural resources ceased and as both the CIA, various foreign firms and the American government had spent huge sums greasing the skids, there was now considerable negative feelings towards Putin.
The next serious moves against Russia came with a plan conceived by the CIA and fully approved by President George W. Bush, whose father had once been head of the CIA.
This consisted of ‘Opertion Sickle’ which was designed to surround the western and southern borders of Russia with states controlled by the United States through the guise of NATO membership. Included in this enricelement program were the Baltic States, Poland, the Czech Republic, Georgia and a number of asiatic states bordering southern Russia. It was the stated intention of the NATO leadership to put military missiles in all these countries. The so-called “Orange Revolution” funded and directed by the CIA, overthrew the pro-Moscow government in the Ukraine, giving the United States theoretical control over the heavy industrialized Donetz Basin and most importantly, the huge former Soviet naval base at Sebastopol.
The Georgia Train and Equip Program (GTEP) was an American-sponsored 18-month, $64-million program aimed at increasing the capabilities of the Georgian armed forces by training and equipping four 600-man battalions with light weapons, vehicles and communications. The program enabled the US to expedite funding for the Georgian military for Operation Enduring Freedom.
On February 27, 2002, the US media reported that the U.S. would send approximately two hundred United States Army Special Forces soldiers to Georgia to train Georgian troops. The program implemented President Bush‘s decision to respond to the Government of Georgia‘s request for assistance to enhance its counter-terrorism capabilities and addressed the situation in the Pankisi Gorge.
The program began in May 2002 when American special forces soldiers began training select units of the Georgian Armed Forces, including the 12th Commando Light Infantry Battalion, the 16th Mountain-Infantry Battalion, the 13th “Shavnabada” Light Infantry Battalion, the 11th Light Infantry Battalion, a mechanized company and small numbers of Interior Ministry troops and border guards.
Eventually, responsibility for training Georgian forces was turned over to the US Marine Corps in conjunction with the British Army. British and American teams worked as part of a joint effort to train each of the four infantry battalion staffs and their organic rifle companies. This training began with the individual soldier and continued through fire team, squad, platoon, company, and battalion level tactics as well as staff planning and organization. Upon completing training, each of the new Georgian infantry battalions began preparing for deployment rotations in support of the Global War on Terrorism
The CIA were instrumental in getting Mikheil Saakashvili, an erratic policician, pro-West, into the presidency of Georgia but although he allowed the country to be flooded with American arms and “military trainers” he was not a man easily controlled and under the mistaken belief that Ameriacn military might supported him, commenced to threaten Moscow. Two Georgian provinces were heavily populated by Russians and objected to the inclusion in Georgia and against them, Saakashvili began to make threatening moves.
The 2008 South Ossetia War or Russo-Georgian War (in Russia also known as the Five-Day War) was an armed conflict in August 2008 between Georgia on one side, and Russia and separatist governments of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the other.
During the night of 7 to 8 August 2008, Georgia launched a large-scale military offensive against South Ossetia, in an attempt to reclaim the territory. Georgia claimed that it was responding to attacks on its peacekeepers and villages in South Ossetia, and that Russia was moving non-peacekeeping units into the country. The Georgian attack caused casualties among Russian peacekeepers, who resisted the assault along with Ossetian militia. Georgia successfully captured most of Tskhinvali within hours. Russia reacted by deploying units of the Russian 58th Army and Russian Airborne Troops in South Ossetia, and launching airstrikes against Georgian forces in South Ossetia and military and logistical targets in Georgia proper. Russia claimed these actions were a necessary humanitarian intervention and peace enforcement.
When the Russian incursion was seen as massive and serious, U.S. president George W. Bush‘s statement to Russia was: “Bullying and intimidation are not acceptable ways to conduct foreign policy in the 21st century.” The US Embassy in Georgia, describing the Matthew Bryza press-conference, called the war an “incursion by one of the world’s strongest powers to destroy the democratically elected government of a smaller neighbor”.
Initially the Bush Administration seriously considered a military response to defend Georgia, but such an intervention was ruled out by the Pentagon due to the inevitable conflict it would lead to with Russia. Instead, Bush opted for a softer option by sending humanitarian supplies to Georgia by military, rather than civilian, aircraft. And he ordered the immediate evacuation of all American military units from Georgia. The huge CIA contingent in the Georgian capital fled by aircraft and the American troops, mostly U.S. Marines, evacuated quickly to the Black Sea where they were evacuated by the U.S. Navy. British and Israeli military units also fled the country and all of them had to leave behind an enormous amount of military eqipment to include tanks, light armored vehicles, small arms, radio equipment, and trucks full of intelligence data they had neither the time nor forersignt to destroy.
The immediate result of this demarche was the defection of the so-called “NATO Block” eastern Europeans from the Bush/CIA project who saw the United States as a paper tiger that would not, and could not, defend them against the Russians. In a sense, the Russian incursion into Georgia was a massive political, not a military, victory.
The CIA was not happy with the actions of Vladimir Putin and when he recently ran for reelection, they poured money into the hands of Putin’s enemies, hoping to reprise the Ukrainian Orange Revolution but the effort was in vain and now, the Russian parliament intends to take up a bill Tuesday designed to hamper and frustrate civil society groups that accept money from abroad.
We’re all screwed.
July 1, 2012
by Vermont Trotter
It only takes a little bit of research to quickly come to understand that paper assets will lose all value when the crash finally makes it to our shores. And all of the assets are paper … or a series of 1’s and 0’s.
It is an open secret that every ounce of gold and silver has been sold many times over. If you are holding certificates of ownership of gold or silver, when it comes time to collect your hard metal, there will be nothing but the sounds of crickets. And we aren’t even going to begin to touch the laser die cast, silver and gold electroplated, tungsten slugs.
Your 401K is now a 201K or worse yet, a 101K.. Listening to friends talk about how their retirement accounts are dwindling recalls those damn word problems Ed Rice would beat into me in the 10th and 11th grades. I used to ask Ed (I called him Mr. Rice – Ed would NOT have done) why math is important. Now we know. If the hole in the bottom drains faster than the spigot up top fills, the container will drain to empty. I wonder if he could craft a word problem to find that day?
Then there is the Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Federal Reserve. The DTCC is black box which is supposed to keep track of who owns what. Problem is, no one knows what goes on inside the black box and if you pay any attention to Patrick Byrne at Overstock dot com and the Deep Capture blog, it isn’t pretty. I think the term is “Naked Sales”. Who says you can’[t sell what you ain’t got?
Paper assets have become meaningless. You don’t own the stocks, you don’t own the gold or silver, heck, even the money in your bank account is nothing but a series of zeroes and ones. Heck, it’s gotten to where the banks will let you deposit your check using a smart phone. If that isn’t a zero or a one, I don’t know what is. Nothing is real anymore.
Well, here’s a shockeroo for you. Irrespective of the word “Real”, Real Estate is a paper asset too. Sure, your house is tangible, but you aren’t going to move it. You can’t put it into the back of your pick up truck and cart it with you when you move 100 miles away. The way you prove ownership of your “Real” estate is with paper which is recorded at the county courthouse. That means real estate is really a paper asset.
Enter MERS and the total and unimaginable fraud by the national banks perpetrated upon the American people which it hides. Reams have been written about it but for those who haven’t really studied it, let me net it out to you. In order for the banks to securitize your note, they had to “de-recognize” the note in order to provide a value basis for the mortgage backed securities being issued. If they didn’t, they would be double booking an asset. After removing the note from the general ledger, it no longer exists and if the note doesn’t exist, neither does the mortgage or deed of trust.
It that’s true (which it is) then who owns the real estate? You? Heavens to Murgatroid no. The lending institution or the people you make your note payment to? They want you to believe that, but no, they don’t own it.
Then who does? No one knows. Sure isn’t you though because the PAPER at the courthouse says you don’t. Problem is, it doesn’t belong to the person the courthouse says it is either. So you see, when it comes time to collect your paper assets back, it’s all gone. All of it. Even the ground under your feet.
It is the brilliant ones at the Goldman Sachs, Citi, B of A, Chase, US Bank, Wells Fargo, USB, Deutche Bank, RBS, HSBC the Federal Reserve and all of the others who did such a magnificent job of screwing the pooch for all of us. Your paper gold, your paper stock certificates, your paper money will all be worthless and irretrievable when the crash which so many of us see coming finally wipes it all out. That includes your real estate.
So think on this as you celebrate the 4th of July and do NOT watch the firework shows being cancelled all over the country. Jefferson was right. Banks are more dangerous than standing armies and you can rest assured as you wake up every morning that the very ground under your feet has been stolen from you. You are a lease holder with ownership rights.
Bend your knee to your new master. Kiss the ring of Lord Blankfein, the Marquis of Goldman Sachs and remember it well. You can massage your throat and swallow (good boy) or you can be like Madame DeFarge who keeps her knittting. Madame DeFarge doesn’t forget. And neither should you.
Netanyahu Worked Inside Nuclear Smuggling Ring
Counterespionage debriefing reveals how Israel targeted U.S.
July 4, 2012
by Grant Smith
On June 27, 2012, the FBI partially declassified and released seven additional pages from a 1985–2002 investigation into how a network of front companies connected to the Israeli Ministry of Defense illegally smuggled nuclear triggers out of the U.S.* The newly released FBI files detail how Richard Kelly Smyth — who was convicted of running a U.S. front company — met with Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel during the smuggling operation. At that time, Netanyahu worked at the Israeli node of the smuggling network, Heli Trading Company. Netanyahu, who currently serves as Israel’s prime minister, recently issued a gag order that the smuggling network’s unindicted ringleader refrain from discussing “Project Pinto.”
As revealed in previously released FBI files and the tell-all book Confidential: The Life of Secret Agent Turned Hollywood Tycoon Arnon Milchan, the Hollywood producer was recruited into Israel’s economic espionage division (LAKAM) in his 20s and learned how to establish front companies and secret bank accounts for smuggling operations. Arnon Milchan encouraged Smyth, a California engineer, to incorporate MILCO in 1972 and serve as a front for the Israel-based Heli Trading’s (also known as Milchan Limited) acquisitions of sensitive military technologies on behalf of the Ministry of Defense. Smyth fled the U.S. after being indicted for violating the Arms Export Control Act in the mid-1980s. In July 2001, Smyth was arrested in Spain by Interpol and returned to the U.S., and in November, he was convicted of exporting 800 nuclear triggers (called krytrons).
FBI agents interviewed Smyth on April 16-17, 2002, at the U.S. attorney’s office in Los Angeles. The secret interview report details how during a trip to Israel Smyth was “spotted” by Milchan, who claimed he worked as an exclusive purchasing agent for the Ministry of Defense. Smyth was introduced around to high military officials including then-general Ariel Sharon. Smyth was also put in contact with Benjamin Netanyahu, who worked at Heli Trading Company. According to the FBI report, “Smyth and [Netanyahu] would meet in restaurants in Tel Aviv and in [Netanyahu’s] home and/or business. It was not uncommon for [Netanyahu] to ask Smyth for unclassified material.”
Milchan pulled Smyth into his glamorous, star-studded movie circuit. “While in the United States [Smyth] met with [Milchan] numerous times in Los Angeles. … Milchan and Smyth would have dinner frequently and would visit one another’s house often … it was quite common for [Milchan] to invite [Smyth] to various Hollywood parties and introduce [Smyth] to celebrities.”
During the 2002 Smyth counterintelligence debriefing, the FBI learned that the Ministry of Defense ordered and paid Heli Trading for krytrons. Heli in turn sourced them from MILCO in a clandestine operation codenamed Project Pinto. The report reveals how MILCO illegally shipped prohibited articles under general Commerce Department export licenses rather than smuggling them out via Israeli diplomatic pouches. The last time Smyth saw Milchan was in 1985. The Ministry of Defense issued a burn notice on Smyth after discussions with U.S. officials about the krytron smuggling. According to the FBI report, “Shortly thereafter, [Smyth] fled the United States.”
A March 2012 statement by the co-authors of Confidential claims that “Hollywood mega-producer and former secret agent Arnon Milchan has been asked directly by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres to avoid any public discussion of the book Confidential, asserting that the matter is too sensitive at this time.” Although the book’s authors point to the escalating tensions over Iran’s nuclear program, Netanyahu’s own hands-on involvement in nuclear weapons–related covert action against America is presumably a far more compelling reason for the gag order.
* The FBI referred an additional 164 pages of the Mandatory Declassification Review to another government agency — presumably the CIA — for further review. The additional pages will likely never be released. The CIA has refused requests for similar documents in order to preserve intelligence sources and methods abroad.
U.S./NATO now has bases and/or military operations in Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Lithuania, Estonia, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan. At the same time NATO partnerships are expanding into the Asia-Pacific region to include the likes of Australia, Japan, South Korea, and very likely India. NATO expansion throughout Eastern Europe and into Asia-Pacific will further Chinese and Russian fears of containment.
Additionally, when a U.S. interceptor missile launched from an Aegis warship in 2008 struck a falling American spy satellite orbiting 130 miles over the Pacific Ocean, fears that these MD systems could be used as anti-satellite weapons also surfaced.
To be correctly understood MD must be viewed in a much larger context than is presently done by most critics. The current global competition for declining scarce resources is driving much of the world’s conflict today. Canada’s recent announcement that it will spend $35 billion to expand its warship-building program in coming years is clearly connected to the reality of melting ice in the Arctic regions, which makes it possible for oil and gas corporations to drill there. The U.S. is already lining up Canada, Norway and other Arctic allies to stand against Russia in this push-and-shove for control of these resources.The fact that Russia has the world’s largest supply of natural gas, and significant supplies of oil, indicates one likely reason the U.S. and NATO are military surrounding her.
Students hijack US drone in mid-air for $1,000 wager
June 30, 2012
Indian Express
On a dare, Texas college researchers hacked into and hijacked a drone of the US Homeland Security before the eyes of the officials operating it.
Using a technique called ‘spoofing’ where a signal from hackers imitates the one sent to the drone’s on-board GPS, the Researchers managed to take control of a small but powerful drone in mid-air.
The hostile takeover of the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) owned by the college was done before the weary eyes of DHS officials, Fox News reported.
During the experiment conducted at the University of Texas stadium, the small red drone soared into the sky following a clear set of commands entered into its computer.
Shortly after, the aircraft veered to the side, making it obvious that it was no longer following its original orders. Then, the drone hurtled toward the ground as if given a self-destruct command and was saved in the last moment.
And the hijacking was just for a USD 1,000 wager.
But the incident has unnerved American Homeland security officials, as the spoofing has made it possible for anyone with a USD 1,000 and a plan to turn a harmless UAV into a missile and crash it into a building.
The hijackers team led by Professor Todd Humphreys at Austin Radio-navigation Laboratory said his team for a few hundred dollars was able to build the most sophisticated spoofing system yet that tricked the drone into following a new set of commands.
“Spoofing a GPS receiver on a UAV is just another way of hijacking a plane,” Humphreys said.
The stadium display was not the first time government officials witnessed spoofing in action.
Last Tuesday, officials from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Department of Homeland Security watched as Humphreys’ team repeatedly hijacked a drone from a remote hilltop in the desert of the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.
The implications of the experiments are both far-reaching and unsettling since the government is currently considering plans that will allow local law enforcement agencies and other groups to employ scores of drones in US airspace.
It is believed that a US drone was brought down in Iran last December when someone jammed its GPS system
Drones have been widely used in Iraq, Afghanistan and Yemen to take out terror suspects. Domestically, the use of UAVs has been limited to southern border patrols.
h ttp://www.indianexpress.com/news/students-hijack-us-drone-in-midair-for-1-000-wager/968701/0ss
Casualty Lists- DoD
June 01, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Staff Sgt. Roberto Loeza, 28, of El Paso, Texas, died May 25 in Charkh, Logar province, Afghanistan, when enemy forces attacked his unit with indirect fire. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 41st Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas.
June 02, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Staff Sgt. Alexander G. Povilaitis, 47, of Dawsonville, Ga., died May 31, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when the enemy attacked with an improvised explosive device.
Povilaitis was assigned to 14th Engineer Battalion, 555th Engineer Brigade, Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
June 02, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
They died May 27, in Chak-E Wardak District, Afghanistan, when their unit was attacked by enemy forces.
Killed were:
Spc. Kedith L. Jacobs, 21, of Denver, Colo, and
Pfc. Leroy Deronde III, 22, Jersey City, New Jersey.
Spc. Jacobs was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas.
Pfc. Deronde was assigned to F Company, 125th Brigade Support Battalion attached to 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas.
For more information related to this release, media may contact the 1st Armored Division public affairs office at 915-744-8406 or 915-203-3769.
CORRECTION: June, 2, 2012; no. 457-12: The unit for Spc. Jacobs was corrected to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas. The unit for Pfc. Deronde was corrected to F Company, 125th Brigade Support Battalion attached to 2nd Battalion, 5th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas.
June 04, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Gerardo Campos, 23, of Miami, Fla., died June 2 in Maiwand, Afghanistan, when enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire. He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
June 04, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Lance Cpl. Joshua E. Witsman, 23, of Covington, Ind., died May 30 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.
This incident is under investigation.
June 07, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Pfc. Vincent J. Ellis, 22, of Tokyo, Japan, died June 4, in Landstuhl, Germany, from wounds suffered June 1, on Forward Operating Base Salerno, Afghanistan, when enemy forces attacked his unit with improvised explosive devices and small arms fire. He was assigned to the 1st Squadron, 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.
June 08, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
They died June 6, in Qarah Bagh, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when their helicopter crashed. They were assigned to the 1st Squadron, 17th Cavalry Regiment, 82nd Combat Aviation Brigade, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
Killed were:
Capt. Scott P. Pace, 33, of Brawley, Calif., and
1st Lt. Mathew G. Fazzari, 25, of Walla Walla, Wash.
For more information media may contact the 82nd Airborne Division public affairs office at 910-432-0661/0662 or 910-813-3891.
CORRECTION: June 8, 2012 — Capt. Pace’s age, 33, is corrected from 39.
June 09, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Cpl. Anthony R. Servin, 22, of Moreno Valley, Calif., died June 8 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 2nd Battalion, 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.
This incident is under investigation.
June 09, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Pfc. Brandon D. Goodine, 20, of Luthersville, Ga., died June 7 in Maiwand, Afghanistan, of wounds sustained when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. He was assigned to the 4th Squadron, 73rd Cavalry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
June 09, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a sailor who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Master Chief Petty Officer Richard J. Kessler Jr., 47, of Gulfport, Fla., was found deceased in his berthing compartment June 8 on board USS Enterprise (CVN 65). He was assigned to Enterprise as a logistics specialist. Enterprise is currently deployed to the Fifth Fleet area of responsibility conducting operations in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
June 12, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Pfc. Nathan T. Davis, 20, Yucaipa, Calif., died June 9, in Tore Obeh, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when his vehicle was attacked with an enemy improvised explosive device.
Davis was assigned to the 1st Battalion (Airborne), 501st Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.
June 12, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Spc. Bryant J. Luxmore, 25, New Windsor, Ill., died June 10, in Panjwai, Afghanistan, of injuries suffered when he encountered enemy, small arms fire.
Luxmore was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 64th Armor Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.
June 14, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Cpl. Taylor J. Baune, 21, of Andover, Minn., died June 13 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif.
June 14, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Sgt. 1st Class Barett W. McNabb, 33, of Chino Valley, Ariz., died June 12, in Khakrez, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when he was attacked by an enemy improvised explosive device.
McNabb was assigned to the 562nd Engineer Company, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
June 17, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Sgt. Nicholas C. Fredsti, 30, of San Diego, Calif., died June 15, in Spedar, Afghanistan, when insurgents attacked his unit with small arms fire. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
June 17, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
They died in Panjwa`l, Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when insurgents attacked their unit with an improvised explosive device. They were assigned to the 18th Engineer Company, 1st Battalion, 37th Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
Killed were:
Sgt. Joseph M. Lilly, 25, of Flint, Mich., who died June 14, and
Spc. Trevor A. Pinnick, 20, of Lawrenceville, Ill., who died June 12.
June 19, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Pfc. Jarrod A. Lallier, 20, of Spokane, Wash., died June 18 in Zharay, Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when individuals in Afghan Police uniforms turned their weapons against his unit. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Fort Bragg, N.C.
For more information the media may contact the 82nd Airborne Division public affairs office at 910-432-0661 or 910-813-3891.
CORRECTION: June 19, 2012; Information corrected from “enemy forces attacked his unit with small arms fire and grenades” to “individuals in Afghan Police uniforms turned their weapons against his unit.”
June 21, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of three soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
They died June 20, in Khowst province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their unit with small arms fire and an improvised explosive device. They were assigned to the 133rd Military Police Company, 51st Military Police Battalion, Florence, S.C.
Killed were:
1st Lt. Ryan D. Rawl, 30, Lexington, S.C.,
Sgt. 1st Class Matthew B. Thomas, 30, Travelers Rest, S.C., and
Spc. John D. Meador II, 36, Columbia, S.C.
June 22, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Sgt. Jose Rodriguez, 22, of Gustine, Calif., died June 19, in Kandahar province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered from enemy, small arms fire. Rodriquez was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment, 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 2nd Infantry Division, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash
June 23, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Lance Cpl. Eugene C. Mills III, 21, of Laurel, Md., died June 22 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
June 25, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Maj. Paul C. Voelke, 36, of Monroe, N.Y., died Jun. 22 in Mazar E. Sharif, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Heavy Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, Fort Stewart, Ga.
June 25, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Pfc. Steven P. Stevens II, 23, of Tallahassee, Fla., died June 22 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, Calif.
June 25, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Lance Cpl. Hunter D. Hogan, 21, of Norman, Ind., died June 23 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 8th Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Lejeune, N.C.
June 26, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a Marine who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Lance Cpl. Niall W. Coti-Sears, 23, of Arlington, Va., died June 23 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. He was assigned to 1st Battalion, 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Twentynine Palms, Calif.
For more information media may contact the Twentynine Palms Public Affairs Office at 760-830-6213.
Correction: June 28, 2012 — Lance Cpl. Coti-Sears’ last name has been corrected from Cotisears to Coti-Sears
June 27, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the death of a soldier who was supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
Staff Sgt. Matthew J. Leach, 29, of Ferndale, Mich., died June 26, in Kandahar, Afghanistan. He was assigned to the 1/334th Regiment, 1st Brigade, 104th Training Division (Leader Training), Fraser, Mich
June 29, 2012
The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who were supporting Operation Enduring Freedom.
They died June 27, in Maidan Shahr, Wardak province, Afghanistan, of wounds suffered when enemy forces attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device.
Killed were:
1st Lt. Stephen C. Prasnicki, 24, of Lexington, Va., assigned to 4th Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team, Warner Barracks, Bamberg, Germany, and
Sgt. James L. Skalberg Jr., 25, of Cullman, Ala., assigned to 4th Battalion, 1st Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 1st Armored Division, Fort Bliss, Texas.
Nan Levinson, Moral Injury and American War
June 28, 2012.
by Nan Levinson ,
“It’s a day of picnics and patriotic parades, a night of concerts and fireworks, and a reason to fly the American flag.” That, at least, is how the federal government describes July 4th on its official website, USA.gov. “Independence Day,” it tells us, “honors the birthday of the United States of America and the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.”
As you may recall, however foggily, from grammar school social studies classes, that document struck a decidedly anti-military tone, castigating America’s then-ruler for having:
“kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
“He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
“He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
“For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us.”
Today, of course, America’s rulers have saddled the country with a large standing army, created an exceptionally powerful military establishment largely divorced from civilian life, created secret laws and enforced abridgments of basic civil liberties while quartering among us, at military bases all over America, large bodies of troops.
Given these developments, it’s hardly surprising that, over the years, the signing of this country’s foundational document as it was launching its anti-colonial War of Independence has somehow been wrapped in “warrior” values that go with the neo-colonial wars we have been fighting in distant lands. In fact, Independence Day has become prime-time for military recruiting. The Navy’s high-flying Blue Angels, for example, are taking their aerial acrobatics to the skies above Boston Harbor as part of this July 4th’s festivities. Meanwhile, the “Golden Knights,” the Army’s trick parachute team, will dramatically descend on celebrations in St. Louis. It’s military à go-go all day long.
With so many martial myths afoot, the time seems ripe for a candid discussion of the troops we’re so often called upon to “support” on July 4th and every other day of the year. In her first piece for TomDispatch, journalist Nan Levinson examines the veterans of our post-9/11 wars, their “sacred wounds,” “moral injuries,” and just what America’s uniformed sons and daughters have experienced during the last decade of far-flung occupations. With new military interventions blossoming all the time, the subjects she raises ought to be at the forefront of American minds. If U.S. troops find themselves morally injured, shouldn’t we ask: Who put them in the position to suffer such wounds in the first place?