1) Occupiers are Near Prisoners
Lee Siu Hin
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=20249

BAGHDAD, Sep 22 (IPS) - They are the hated ones, the despised face of U.S.. occupation in Iraq. But the men and women who make up the U.S. forces are living in a hell of their own.

Not many of the U.S. soldiers in Iraq are quite troops either. Some are "regular army" mobilised from Germany, but many are reservists called to duty early this year.

They were told at first they would be in Iraq for just a few just months.. Now they are being told they must stay in Iraq until next spring.

Without uniforms, they would be the Joe or Jane you see on the streets of the United States. Before they were called to duty, many were students or government workers.

One soldier in battle fatigues says she is a schoolteacher, with two kids at home. Most have never seen battle or death before. But with guns and power in their hands, many now play 'boss' on the streets of Baghdad.

Officially too, these are not combat troops, but "military police" out to catch "the very bad people" from Saddam's regime.

"They do not have basic skills in civilian policing, and they are unaware of the law they are supposed to be applying," says Curt Goerig from Amnesty International. At the military camp of the 1st Battalion of the 37th Armoured Division in Baghdad, that shows.

This unit has taken over Baghdad Island, the biggest park next to the Tigris river. The park is now off-limits to the Iraqis. There are more than a thousand troops occupying the island, including some soldiers from other battalions.

Many say they came to overthrow Saddam, and to free Iraqis from a dictator. Others are just doing what they have to. "We are here because we're told to be, this is our job, you're here to do your job, and move on," says private Scanlon from Hampton Rds., Virginia.

Many soldiers acknowledge that the majority of Iraqis do not like them.

Anthony Parrish is a tank driver from task force 1st Battalion, 37th Armoured Division, and he says they have come to expect daily attacks. He learnt what to expect within the first couple of days. "We got shot, we got rounds coming at us, every time we went out, there's somebody yelling, everywhere people hanging chicken wire across the street, dropping grenades off the bridges, shooting at you, even children. We saw 13, 14-year-old children with weapons - AK-47s, rifles, handguns."

The Department of Defence (DoD) says that in the first four months of the U.S. invasion, about 300 U.S. and British soldiers died in combat and "non-combat" deaths. But both Iraqis and peace activists in Iraq doubt this figure.

The DoD says these figures relate only to fighting in or near Baghdad. They make no other figures available, and rarely report the number of injured soldiers, which is several times higher than the death toll.

With the death toll rising, and public support for the occupation of Iraq waning, the military is making sure no pictures of soldiers' bodies are shown on television. The military planners want cheerleading for the soldiers instead. There is a proposal from a producer at Fox TV û the most-loved television station by the troops û to produce something called 'COPS, the Baghdad Specials'.

Most soldiers say they just want to go home. Jason Gunn, a 37th Armoured Division tank driver says the hardest thing is not the daily attacks, but the forced separation from his loved ones. "You can deal with being shot at, because after a while you just get used to it," he says. "But when you come back in and you're by yourself, that's probably the hardest thing."

Without Iraqi friends, a soldier's life inside base is almost like being in prison.

Soldiers rarely loiter on the streets. You see them going through the streets in Humvees or tanks, or otherwise barricaded at checkpoints across the city. When they do leave base, they are gone only briefly, shopping or checking email at a cyber café, but always under cover of tanks and guns.

In some ways they are welcome. Their tremendous buying power has meant that retail business has surged in Baghdad. The soldiers usually buy electronic appliances or pirated DVDs.

The average soldier has little knowledge of the history and culture of Iraq, or of the Islamic faith. Much of what they learn is through the 'Iraq Handbook' published by the DoD.

This book is given to every U.S. soldier who comes to Iraq. Its 385 pages are divided as follows: key facts and cultural information over 24 pages; history, primarily focusing on the time period since Saddam's rise to power, 17 pages; government, politics and economy, another 17 pages. The rest of the book is on the Iraqi military and the kind of weapons it had.

Without any social and family support network, the soldiers turn to the army chaplain for guidance. He issues guidebooks, such as 'Prayers for Iron Soldiers' or 'Iron Soldiers' Spiritual Fitness Nuggets', which essentially justify going to war and killing the enemy. And, the books prepare the soldiers for action.

An example of this came one evening by way of a raid launched by the 37th Armoured Division in a northern suburb of Baghdad to catch three "very bad people". At least 100 soldiers were deployed, with the support of dozens of Humvees, tanks and helicopters. The "bad guys" were never found.

There have been several military successes û for example, the arrest of top Iraqi military commanders and Ba'ath party officials under Operation Peninsula. But the number of failures is far higher.

There have been accusations of stealing during searches. A recent issue of Baghdad's activist-run newspaper, al-Muajaha (The Iraqi Witness) reports that a U.S. solider stole 25,000 Iraqi dinars (16 dollars) from supermarket owner Samir Adbul Rasool Al-Humdani. Amnesty International reports that an officer from the 101st Airborne Division stole three million Iraqi dinars (2,000 dollars).

The only Iraqis really welcoming of the troops are children under ten. "Hey, Mister! Mister!" a group yells, waving and talking to the troops, trying to touch their guns. It is a charming moment, relatively, until you notice the backdrop of destroyed buildings.

2) Jessica Lynch Laments Military Portrayal

By ALLISON BARKER
.c The Associated Press

PALESTINE, W.Va. (AP) - Former prisoner of war Jessica Lynch accused the military of using her capture and dramatic nighttime rescue to sway public support for the war in Iraq.

Dramatic video of U.S. commandos whisking the former Army supply clerk from a Nasiriyah hospital to a waiting chopper April 1 helped cement Lynch's image as a hero. But the 20-year-old private told ABC's Diane Sawyer there was no reason for her rescue to be filmed.

``They used me as a way to symbolize all this stuff,'' Lynch told Sawyer in a ``Primetime'' interview to air Tuesday. ``It's wrong.''

The network posted the excerpt on its Web site Friday.

Lynch suffered broken bones and other injuries when her 507th Maintenance Company convoy was attacked after taking a wrong turn in the Iraqi town of Nasiriyah on March 23.

Early reports had Lynch fighting her attackers until she ran out of ammunition and suffering knife and bullet wounds. Military officials later said Lynch wasn't shot, but was hurt after her Humvee utility vehicle was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade and crashed into another vehicle.

She was awarded the Bronze Star, Purple Heart and Prisoner of War medals while still in the hospital in Washington, D.C.

Lynch told Sawyer she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that her gun jammed during the chaos. ``I'm not about to take credit for something I didn't do,'' she said.

``I did not shoot, not a round, nothing. ... I went down praying to my knees. And that's the last I remember.''

On Thursday, Lynch won admiration in her hometown for having the courage to reveal she was raped by her Iraqi captors.

The attack is documented by medical records cited in ``I am a Soldier, Too: The Jessica Lynch Story.'' The authorized biography, written by reporter Rick Bragg, is being released by Knopf publishing on Tuesday, Veterans Day.

Family spokesman Stephen Goodwin acknowledged that the book discusses the sexual assault.

``It's important to tell the story and let it be known, but she's not going to talk about it any more,'' Goodwin said. ``She really doesn't want to say any more on this issue.''

Palestine resident Leah Eberbaugh said she admired Lynch for including the assault in the book.

``Can you imagine the humility it takes to tell the world you were raped? That's not a secret that a woman likes to tell,'' Eberbaugh said.

But Iraqi doctors who treated Lynch dismissed the rape claims.

Dr. Mahdi Khafazji, an orthopedic surgeon at Nasiriyah's main hospital performed surgery on Lynch to repair a fractured femur and said he found no signs that she was raped or sodomized.

Khafazji, speaking at his private clinic in Nasiriyah, said he examined her extensively and would have detected signs of sexual assault. He said the examination turned up no trace of semen.

Relatives are now turning their worry to Lynch's brother, Army Spc. Greg Lynch Jr., who is being deployed to Iraq, The Parkersburg News reported Friday.

Greg Lynch, a helicopter mechanic, introduced his sister at a news conference when she returned home in July to recover from her injuries.

Months later, she is receiving two hours of physical therapy five days a week and taking about 18 pills a day. She's up to about 100 pounds from a low of 70.

She still has not regained feeling in her left foot and uses crutches. She opts for a wheelchair on shopping trips to nearby Parkersburg.

Since her return to West Virginia's smallest county, population about 5,900, Lynch has made a few public appearances.

She's stopped in at Mom's Place for some home-cooking and a slice of chocolate pie. She's appeared at the county fair, raised the American flag at Wirt County High School's homecoming game and visited with schoolchildren.

Despite her public appearances, most residents have shied away from asking her about her experiences in Iraq. The family also hasn't talked about her experiences.

``You can hear that speculation but to see it in print and to know it's fact, it hurts,'' said Lorene Cumbridge, a 63-year-old cousin who lives near the Lynches.

Emzy Ashby said Iraqi lawyer Mohammed al-Rehaief, who is credited with going to the U.S. Marines after seeing Lynch slapped in the Iraqi hospital, is the hero. Al-Rehaief recently visited Palestine, but Lynch did not meet with him.

``There's no way she will ever be able to repay that man,'' Ashby said.

In excerpts of the ABC interview, Lynch said she doesn't remember being slapped or mistreated at the hospital, and she recalled one nurse sang to her.

She said her heroes were the soldiers who rescued her and those who died in the ambush on her unit.

``I'm just a survivor,'' she said.

11/07/03 14:45 EST

---

4) An American Hero?
From: ZNet Commentary
May 22, 2003
By Naomi Klein

Jessica Lynch and Rachel Corrie could have passed for sisters. Two
all-American blondes, two destinies forever changed in a Middle East war
zone. Private Jessica Lynch, the soldier, was born in Palestine, West
Virginia. Rachel Corrie, the activist, died in Israeli-occupied
Palestine.

Corrie was four years older than 19-year old Lynch. Her body was crushed
by an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza seven days before Lynch was taken into
Iraqi custody on March 23. Before she went to Iraq, Lynch organized a pen
pal program with a local kindergarden. Before Corrie left for Gaza, she
organized a pen pal program between kids in her hometown of Olympia,
Washington, and children in Rafah.

Lynch went to Iraq as a soldier loyal to her government. In the words of
West Virginia Senator Jay Rockefeller, "she approached the prospect of
combat with determination rather than fear."

Corrie went to Gaza to oppose the actions of her government. As a U.S.
citizen, she believed she had a special responsibility to defend
Palestinians against U.S.-built weapons, purchased with U.S. aid to
Israel. In letters home, she vividly described how fresh water was being
diverted from Gaza to Israeli settlements, how death was more normal than
life. This is what we pay for here," she wrote.

Unlike Lynch, Corrie did not go to Gaza to engage in combat she went to
try to thwart it. Along with her fellow members of the International
Solidarity
Movement (ISM), she believed that the Israeli military's incursions could be
slowed by the presence of highly visible "internationals." The killing of
Palestinian civilians may have become commonplace, the thinking went, but
Israeli doesn't want the diplomatic or media scandals that would come if it
killed a U.S. college student.

In a way, Corrie was harnessing the very thing that she disliked most about
her country -- the belief that American lives are worth more than any others
and trying to use it to save a few Palestinian homes from demolition.

Believing her florescent orange jacket would serve as armor, that her
bullhorn could repel bullets, Corrie stood in front of bulldozers, slept
beside water wells, and escorted children to school. If suicide bombers
turn their bodies into weapons of death, Corrie turned hers into the
opposite: a weapon of life, a "human shield."

When that Israeli bulldozer driver looked at Corrie' orange jacket and
pressed the accelerator, her strategy failed. It turns out that the lives
of some U.S. citizens even beautiful, young, white women -- are valued
more than others. And nothing demonstrates this more starkly than the
opposing responses to Rachel Corrie and Private Jessica Lynch.

When the Pentagon announced Lynch's successful rescue, she became an
overnight hero, complete with "America loves Jessica" fridge magnets,
stickers, t-shirts, mugs, country songs, and an NBC made-for-TV movie.
According to White House spokesman Ari Fleisher, President George W. Bush
was "full of joy for Jessica Lynch." Lynch's rescue, we were told, was a
testament to a core American value: as Senator Rockefeller put it in a
speech to the Senate, "We take care of our people."

Do they? Corrie's death, which made the papers for two days and then
virtually disappeared, has met with almost total official silence, despite
the fact that eye-witnesses claim it was a deliberate act. President Bush
has said nothing about a U.S. citizen killed by a U.S. made bulldozer
bought with U.S. tax dollars. A U.S. congressional resolution demanding an
independent inquiry into Corrie's death has been buried in committee,
leaving the Israeli military's investigation which conveniently cleared
itself of any wrong doing as the only official probe.

The ISM says that this non-response has sent a clear, and dangerous, signal.
According to Olivia Jackson, a 25-year-old British citizen still in Rafah,
"after Rachel was killed, [the Israeli military] waited for the response
from the American government and the response was pathetic. They have
realized that they can get away with it and it has encouraged them to keep
on going.

First there was Brian Avery, a 24-year-old citizen shot in the face on April
5. Then Tom Hurndall, a British ISM activist shot in the head and left brain
dead on April 11. Next was James Miller, the British cameraman shot dead
while wearing a vest that said "TV." In all of these cases, eye-witnesses
say the shooters were Israeli soldiers.

There is something else that Jessica Lynch and Rachel Corrie have in common:
both of their stories have been distorted by a military for its own
purposes. According to the official story, Lynch was captured in a bloody
gun battle, mistreated by sadistic Iraqi doctors, then rescued in another
storm of bullets by heroic Navy SEALs. In the past weeks, another version
has emerged. The doctors that treated Lynch found no evidence of battle
wounds, and donated their own blood to save her life. Most embarrassing of
all, witnesses have told the BBC that those daring Navy SEALs already knew
there were no Iraqi fighters left in the area when they stormed the
hospital.

But while Lynch's story has been distorted to make its protagonists appear
more heroic, Corrie's story has been posthumously twisted to make her, and
her fellow ISM activists, appear sinister.

For months, the Israeli military had been looking for an excuse to get rid
of the ISM "troublemakers." It found it in Asif Mohammed Hanif and Omar
Khan Sharif , the two British suicide bombers. It turns out that they had
attended a memorial to Rachel Corrie in Rafah, a fact the Israeli military
has seized on to link the ISM to terrorism.

Members of ISM point out that the memorial was open to the public, and that
they knew nothing of the British visitors' intentions. As an organization,
the ISM is explicitly opposed to the targeting of civilians, whether by
Israeli bulldozers or Palestinian bombers. Furthermore, many ISMers
believe that their work may reduce terrorist incidents by demonstrating
that there are ways to resist occupation other than the nihilistic revenge
offered by suicide bombing.

No matter. In the past two weeks, half a dozen ISM activists have been
arrested, several deported, and the organization's offices have been raided.
The crack down is now spreading to all "internationals," meaning there are
fewer and fewer people in the occupied territories to either witness the
ongoing abuses or assist the victims. On Monday, the United Nations special
coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process told the Security Council that
dozens of UN aid workers had been prevented from getting in and out of Gaza,
calling it a violation of "Israel's international humanitarian law
obligations."

On June 5 there will be an international day of action for Palestinian
rights. One of the key demands is for the UN to send an international
monitoring force into the occupied territories. Until that happens, many
are determined to continue Corrie's work, despite the risks. Over forty
students at her former college, Evergreen State in Olympia, have already
signed up to go to Gaza with the ISM this summer.

So who is a hero? During the attack on Iraq, some of Corrie's friends
emailed her picture to MSNBC asking that it be included on the station's
"wall of heroes," along with Jessica Lynch. The network didn't comply, but
Corrie is being honoured in other ways. Her family has received more than
10,000 letters of support, communities across the country have organized
powerful memorials, and children all over the occupied territories are
being named Rachel.

It's not a made-for-TV kind of tribute, but perhaps that's for the best.

5) Hispanic Soldiers Die in Greater Numbers in Iraq
Miriam Kagan
http://www.ipsnews.net/interna.asp?idnews=20226

WASHINGTON, Sep 19 (IPS) - One of the first U.S. soldiers to die in Iraq, Jose Gutierrez, was an orphaned Guatemalan who at the time of his death was not even an American citizen.

As U.S. casualties in Iraq continue to mount, so does the worry in the country's Latino community that its children are dying in unusually high numbers and are being lured into dangerous service with targeted recruiting by the Armed Forces.

Many in the community worry that Hispanic men and women are being disproportionately exposed to risk and sent to the front lines.

According to the Pew Hispanic Center, while Latinos make up 9.5 percent of the actively enlisted forces, they are over-represented in the categories that get the most dangerous assignments -- infantry, gun crews and seamanship -- and make up over 17.5 percent of the front lines.

These worries have been exacerbated during the recent conflict in Iraq. As of Aug. 28, Department of Defense (DOD) statistics show a casualty rate of more than 13 percent for people of Hispanic background serving in Iraq.

The casualty rate for Hispanics during the Iraqi engagement has been ''unfortunate and tragic'', says Teresa Gutierrez, of Act Now to Stop War and End Racism (ANSWER).

''The people who are fighting the war are youths who cannot find jobs or afford university fees because there is an economic draft in the army that is particularly relevant to Latinos,'' she told IPS.

Recent census numbers reveal why the U.S. government might be interested in specifically targeting Latinos.

According to the 2000 Census, Latinos have surpassed African Americans as the largest minority group in the country. Hispanics now comprise 12.5 percent of the U.S. population, and are the fastest growing minority.

In 2000, one in seven 18-year-olds was of Hispanic origin, a number that is expected to climb to more than one in five during the next 15 years, found the census.

Also, more than 50 percent of the Hispanic population (almost 18 million people) lived in Texas and California, states that are historically large recruitment centers for the Armed Forces.

While DOD officials denied knowledge of any programme specifically targeted at Latinos, past actions by the U.S. government paint a different story.

According to 'The Army Times' newspaper, in 2001 Army Brigadier General Bernardo C. Negrete told a DOD audience, ''we've made significant improvement by going after Hispanics in a manner we've never done before''.

''We're giving our recruiters goals to meet in order to bring the Hispanic population in the Army on par with the general population in the country.''

Negrete's plans called for achieving that parity by 2006.

Another tactic suspected of targeting Hispanics is an executive order signed by U.S. President George W. Bush in July 2002, expediting naturalisation for aliens and non-citizen nationals who serve in active-duty status during the administration's ''war on terrorism''.

The order, effective for all military personnel who enlisted after the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001, allows non-citizens to apply for citizenship immediately upon arrival at their first military base, rather than having to wait the usual three to four years.

According to Bush, persons ''serving honourably in active-duty status in the Armed Forces'', do a service to their new country so they should be granted citizenship more quickly than via regular channels.

DOD numbers reveal 35,000 non-citizens currently in the active Armed Forces, 15,000 of whom became eligible for expedited naturalisation under the executive order.

Department officials strenuously denied that the order was targeted at the Hispanic population.

While two army recruiters in the Washington area denied using the expedited citizenship order as a selling point during recruitment pitches, both told IPS that they mention the ''benefit'' as one part of the recruitment package.

But both recruiters insisted that no potential recruits had asked for expedited citizenship and that Latinos who express interest in joining the military do so for ''patriotic reasons''.

One recruiter did say that since the executive order was passed his office had seen a sharp increase in applications from people of Hispanic background. But both recruiters denied targeting Latinos, and said they were unaware of any policies specifically targeted at that group.

A Defense official told IPS that while he was not ''aware of any particular effort to recruit any particular ethnic group, there are programs that appeal to certain groups''.

Gutierez said that any DOD official who denies the existence of targeted ethnic recruiting needs only to ''check their own website and promotional materials''.

While only 12 percent of Latinos in the United States ever qualify for a university education, she lamented, many are recruited into the Armed Forces with promises of financial help and job security.

According to Gutierrez, once recruited, many qualified applicants stay in the military, foregoing college.

''What can we say of the young Latino men who sacrificed their lives in Iraq?" asked Jorge Mariscal, a professor at the University of California, San Diego, in the Apr. 18, 2003 issue of 'Counterpunch'.

"That they fought without knowing their enemy, played their role as pawns in a geopolitical chess game devised by arrogant bureaucrats, and died simply trying to get an education; trying to have a fair shot at the American Dream that has eluded the vast majority of Latinos for over a century and a half.''

6) DoD Identifies Army Casualties

No. 838-03
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov 10, 2003
(703)697-5131(media)
(703)428-0711(public/industry)

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of three soldiers
who were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Pvt. Kurt R. Frosheiser, 22, of Des Moines, Iowa, was killed on Nov. 8
in Baghdad, Iraq. Frosheiser was the driver of a vehicle on mounted patrol when his
vehicle struck an improvised explosive device. Frosheiser was assigned to 2nd
Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, 1st Armored Division, Baumholder, Germany.

A UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter went down on Nov. 7 in Tikrit, Iraq.
There were six soldiers killed in action on board the helicopter. The names of four
soldiers killed in the incident were previously announced on Nov. 9. Also killed
were:

Capt. Benedict J. Smith, 29, of Monroe City, Mo. Smith was assigned to
101st Aviation Regiment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), Fort Campbell, Ky.

Command Sergeant Major Cornell W. Gilmore I, 45, of Baltimore, Md.
Gilmore was assigned to the Judge Advocate General Office, Headquarters Department
of the Army, Pentagon.

These incidents are under investigation.

[Web Version: http://www.dod.mil/releases/2003/nr20031110-0632.html]

No. 839-03
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Nov 10, 2003
(703)697-5131(media)
(703)428-0711(public/industry)

DoD Identifies Army Casualties

The Department of Defense announced today the deaths of two soldiers who
were supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Staff Sgt. Gary L. Collins, 32, of Hardin, Texas, was killed on Nov. 8,
in Fallujah, Iraq. Collins was riding in a Bradley Fighting Vehicle when it hit an
improvised explosive device. The soldier died of his injuries. Collins was
assigned to 1st Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division, based in
Fort Riley, Kan.

Sgt. Nicholas A. Tomko, 24, of Pittsburgh, Pa., was killed on Nov. 9 in
Baghdad, Iraq. Tomko was the door gunner in a convoy vehicle when his team came
under small arms attack. The soldier died of his injuries. Tomko was assigned to
the 307th Military Police Company, U.S. Army Reserve, New Kensington, Pa.

These incidents are under investigation.

[Web Version: http://www.dod.mil/releases/2003/nr20031110-0633.html]