Blog post

IAVA Daily Brief 05.29.09
Posted by Michelle McCarthy on May 29

Here are some of today's top stories and happenings at IAVA.

MUST READS

(1) DOJ Asks Judges to Block Abuse Photos

At the request of the White House, the Department of Justice asked a federal appeals court Thursday to halt the release of disturbing images of detainee abuse, claiming the photos could incite violence against U.S. troops in Pakistan as well as in Iraq and Afghanistan. The court papers filed in New York on Thursday cite two partially secret statements from two U.S. generals David Petraeus and Ray Odierno. In the new filings, Petraeus, who oversees U.S. military operations in the Middle East and Central Asia, said the images could also lead to more violence in Pakistan because it deals with Taliban attacks. The request follows a report in the Daily Telegraph on Wednesday that the images depict photos of rape and sexual assault by U.S. troops against detainees at Abu Graib and other detention centers. However, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Thursday the Daily Telegraph newspaper had shown "an inability to get the facts right".

(2) Casey says U.S. can fight N. Korea, too

U.S. Army Chief of Staff General George Casey said Thursday that the United States would be prepared to fight if war broke out between South Korea and North Korea. “The short answer is yes,” Casey said during an appearance at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “[But] it would probably take us a little bit longer to shift gears” away from the type of counterinsurgency fighting that now occupies the Army. Casey’s remarks come as North Korea rattled its neighbors again Friday firing a short-range missile off its east coast, the sixth such firing since the secretive country conducted an underground nuclear test on Monday. However, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates, flying to Singapore to meet with Asian defense ministers, said he has not seen any moves by North Korea’s military that would prompt the United States to add to the roughly 28,000 troops already in South Korea. “I don’t think that anybody in the [Obama] administration thinks there is a crisis,” Gates told reporters aboard his military jet early Friday morning.

(3) Center to speed new medical tech to war zones

The Georgia Institute of Technology unveiled Tuesday a new center designed to get medical technology to combat zones more quickly. Christened the Georgia Tech Center for Advanced Bioengineering for Soldier Survivability, the center will concentrate on techniques to reduce infection, rebuild bone and reconnect tissues. “The goal of the center is to rapidly move new technologies from the laboratory to patients so that we can improve the quality of life for our veterans as they return from the wars the United States is fighting,” said Barbara Boyan, director of the new center. The new center is funded by the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, the Army Institute of Surgical Research’s Orthopedic Trauma Research Program, and the Defense Department.

(4) Error Left 39,000 Out Of 'VA Retro Pay'

Military.com reported Thursday that as many as 39,000 disabled military retirees have been left out of the VA Retro Pay program by mistake, according to officials at the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) who are calculating the amount of money owed. All recipients have served in the military for 20 or more years and all have disabilities that qualified them for one of two relatively new entitlements: Combat-Related Special Compensation (CRSC), which began in 2003, or Concurrent Retirement and Disability Pay (CRDP), which started in 2004. DFAS officials said the Department of Veterans Affairs, which jointly administers VA Retro Pay, did the computer runs that identified only 133,000 retirees as likely to be eligible for back pay.

AFGHANISTAN

U.S. forces said a U.S. and Afghan army patrol killed 35 militants in Zabul province on Thursday when the patrol's convoy came under attack. The incident happened on the same day the U.S. military said American and Afghan troops killed 29 militants in neighboring Paktika province in a firefight in Wor Mamay district.

Across the border, a day after claiming responsibility for a deadly attack that killed at least 26 in Lahore, the Taliban warned people to evacuate several large cities in Pakistan saying they were planning “major attacks” in retaliation for cooperation with the United States. “We want the people of Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Multan to leave those cities, as we plan major attacks against government facilities in coming days and weeks,” a Taliban leader told Reuters. Hours later, three bombs detonated in Peshawar, northwest of Pakistan’s capital, and one exploded in Dera Ismail Khan, in the country’s troubled west, killing at least 11 people and wounding dozens.

IRAQ

An American soldier was killed when a grenade exploded near his patrol in restive Nineveh province in northern Iraq on Friday, according to military officials.

Separately, radical Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr ordered Thursday the "depravity" of homosexuality be eradicated from Iraq. However, he warned against violence saying "the only remedy to stop it is through preaching and guidance… there is no other way to put an end to it.” Sadr’s comments follow a rash of brutal killings against homosexuals living in and around Baghdad.

MILITARY AFFAIRS

William McIntosh, president of the National D-Day Memorial foundation, said Thursday it may be forced to close the memorial due to a lack of donations amid the recession. The memorial, which honors the Allied invasion of Nazi-occupied France during World War II, gets about $600,000 a year from visitors. It counts on donations for another $1.6 million annually.

INSIDE WASHINGTON

The White House announced Thursday that President Barack Obama will visit U.S. soldiers wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan at the Landstuhl medical center in Germany during his visit to Europe next week. Last fall, Obama became embroiled in a campaign flap during his 2008 White House run, when he decided not to visit the facility during his swing through Germany as part of a campaign-style trip to Europe and the Middle East.

VA Secretary Eric Shinseki met with U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) on Thursday to discuss how the VA can ease the serious healthcare access problems facing veterans in rural Alaska. The meeting followed a letter Murkowski sent to Shinseki last week (read here) in which she underscored that many Alaska veterans are effectively disenfranchised from utilizing their earned VA healthcare benefit due to the distance between their homes and the nearest VA facility. In some cases, veterans in Fairbanks and Southeast must fly to Seattle for treatment that the VA can't provide in their hometowns, often at their own expense.

Meanwhile, the services are will reportedly ask Congress for another $1.5 billion in the $85 billion, 2009 wartime supplemental funding bill to cover unbudgeted benefits increases and the costs of having more military personnel on the active-duty rolls. Per the current request, the Army would get $1.2 billion in extra money, the Navy $210 million, the Air Force about $79 million and the Marine Corps about $44 million on top of the Obama administration request.

CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE

The Senate and House are not in session today.

IAVA in the NEWS

Outlet: Houston Chronicle

Title: They served U.S., now they face a job hunt

Date: Friday, May 29th

Representative: IAVA

WHAT THE BLOGS ARE SAYING

Blog: Herbal C2 HQ

Title: Former Squadronmate at IAVA

Date: Thursday, May 28^th

Representative: Steve Taylor