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IAVA Daily Brief 10.27.09
Posted by Terrell Frazier on October 27

Here are some of today's top stories and happenings at IAVA.  Prefer to receive real-time updates about major stories and legislation that IAVA is tracking?  Follow us on Twitter @IAVAPressRoom.

MUST READS

1) Iraq Blast Toll Continues to Rise, Includes Children

Iraqi officials reached a tentative agreement on a new election law Monday, even as workers continued to recover more bodies amid the wreckage from Sunday’s bomb blasts — including more than 30 children from two day care centers. The death toll climbed to as much as 155, with more than 500 wounded and an unknown number still missing. Styling the bombings as an attack on Iraq’s national unity government, Iraqi leaders swiftly responded with a compromise agreement on a new election law that had eluded them for weeks. The Iraqi Defense and Interior Ministries launched an investigation of security breaches that allowed the bombings to occur, according to a statement by Defense Minister Abdul Qader Mohammed Jasim.

2) Obama Tells Troops He Will Not Rush Decision on Afghanistan Strategy

President Obama pledged on Monday not to "rush the solemn decision" to send more troops to battle in Afghanistan as he weighs military options on what to do next in the troubled war.  "I won't risk your lives unless it is absolutely necessary," Obama told service men and women at Naval Air Station Jacksonville. He promised a "clear mission" with defined goals and the equipment needed to get the job done.  Obama, who is in the process of weighing options put forward by the Pentagon that include various levels of increased troops, spoke of the latest example of the dangers and sacrifices there -- helicopter crashes that killed 14 Americans in the deadliest day for the U.S. mission in Afghanistan in more than four years.  "Fourteen Americans gave their lives. And our prayers are with these service members, their civilian colleagues and the families who loved them," Obama said. "They were willing to risk their lives, in this case to prevent Afghanistan from again becoming a safe haven for al-Qaida and its extremist allies." 

3) Gates: Wounded troops face too much bureaucracy

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Monday that troops injured in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to face too many bureaucratic hurdles. Paperwork alone for them can be “frustrating, adversarial, and unnecessarily complex,” Gates said. Gates spoke at a mental health summit with Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki. By appearing publicly together, they sought to reinforce their commitment to tackling veterans’ health issues and the stigma associated with seeking mental health care. Among U.S. troops who have fought in the recent wars, Gates says brain injuries and mental health ailments are “widespread, entrenched and insidious.”

AFGHANISTAN

Three Drug Enforcement Administration employees were among the 14 Americans killed Monday when three helicopters crashed in Afghanistan. They were the first DEA personnel to lose their lives in the country. Enemy fire was ruled out as causing the crash in the southern region that killed four Americans, according to NATO’s International Security Assistance Force.

The Pentagon's top military officer oversaw a secret war game this month to evaluate the two primary military options that have been put forward by the Pentagon for the Afghanistan war, senior military officials said. The exercise, led by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm. Mike Mullen, examined the likely outcome of inserting 44,000 more troops into the country to conduct a full-scale counterinsurgency effort aimed at building a stable Afghan government that can control most of the country. It also examined adding 10,000 to 15,000 more soldiers. The Pentagon war game did not formally endorse either course.

Peter Bergen, CNN’s national security analyst, focuses on how American support for the war in Afghanistan has waned in recent years and how the U.S. risks losing support of the Afghan people if it does not do better job of providing basic public services. Although once considered “the forgotten war,” he said recent visibility has brought a host of issues concerning to the American public to light, such as Afghanistan’s drug trade, a resurgent Taliban and rising U.S. casualties.

IRAQ

Iraq veteran Anthony Martinez recalls his initial skepticism regarding the Post-9/11 GI Bill. Unfortunately, Anthony says, ‪his initial impulse was correct, as he refers to the VA's handling of education payments as an "epic failure." Like many other veterans, the delays continue to cause serious headaches for Anthony, as he was forced to use his $3,000 emergency payment to pay down just a slice of the $6,000 in personal debt he assumed to cover the cost of his education and housing -- all of which he says should have been covered through the Post-9/11 GI Bill.

Iraq renewed calls on Monday for a U.N. inquiry into the support given by foreign countries to insurgents after twin suicide blasts against government buildings in Baghdad killed more than 150 people. Foreign Minister Hoshiyar Zebari said Sunday's bloodshed reinforced the need for the international community to help Iraq defend itself against bomb attacks as it emerges from years of sectarian conflict unleashed by the 2003 U.S. invasion. "The bloody Sunday explosions strengthen Iraq's demand to the U.N. and the Security Council to nominate a senior international envoy to come to Iraq and evaluate the degree of interference targeting stability in Iraq," Zebari told al-Arabiya television.

Iraqi authorities scrambled to step up security in the capital, tightening hundreds of checkpoints that already dot the city, snarling traffic for hours, in the wake of blasts that have killed 155.  Security reinforcements flooded into the streets, after authorities said they had intelligence showing other targets were next. "Baghdad security operations decided to step up security and to increase the number of forces especially near government institutions. We have intelligence information that these institutions will be targeted in future attacks," said Maj. Gen. Qassim al-Moussawi. The damage from Sunday's bombings was even worse than originally believed, with three major government buildings destroyed or severely damaged, all within a few hundred yards of each other. The first blast hit the Justice Ministry and the Ministry of Municipalities and Public Works across the street, followed by a second explosion at the Baghdad Provincial Administration, akin to City Hall. An investigation showed that the two vehicles — a minivan and a 26-seat bus, each packed with thousands of pounds of explosives — likely had to pass through multiple security checkpoints before reaching their targets, al-Moussawi said.

MILITARY AFFAIRS

Army Secretary John McHugh suggests the Army is big enough to meet the needs of two wars and a predicted an era of persistent conflict. McHugh acknowledged in a wide-ranging interview with Army Times that the Army is heavily stressed, strained and drained after years of combat deployments and is facing challenges stemming not only from the wars but also from a Defense Department-wide review of strategy and capabilities that could change the Army’s size, shape and missions. “The right size of the Army is not just a matter of numbers,” McHugh said. “You can find yourself in an era of persistent conflict where 10 million troops may not be enough.” The Army, McHugh said, does not necessarily have to be larger than it is now — and may even be smaller as a result of the Quadrennial Defense Review, due to be completed early next year. “The unsettling thing to me about persistent conflict, other than that you have no rest, is that in this era, there is no one defined threat,” he said. “And normally, if normal is the right word, we have configured our forces against one enemy or one type of enemy. We don’t have that luxury anymore. “It is a daunting challenge, but we do think, within a number that could be close to the current end strength or perhaps a little bit less, if you configured those forces properly and resourced those forces correctly, you could meet the range of challenges,” he said.

Defense Department school officials have started tracking H1N1 cases while also making plans to continue children’s education if schools must close because of an influenza pandemic. Officials planned to issue a data call to schools this month, asking them to start weekly reporting of the number of confirmed cases of H1N1, said Elaine Kanellis, a spokeswoman for the Department of Defense Education Activity. School officials had been tracking cases of all types of reported flu, Kanellis said, but stopped because most were self-reported and had not been confirmed, and the information was not useful to officials. Meanwhile, superintendents must submit their schools’ continuing education plans to DoDEA by the end of October.

In a commentary on U.S. News & World Report, Peter Roff said that more focus needs to be put on the needs of troops as the Obama Administration weighs its options in Iraq and Afghanistan. While he argued that issues like more armor, better healthcare or an end to the conflicts are important, what they need “more than anything else” is expressions of respect and gratitude from the American population.

INSIDE WASHINGTON

Calling for a broad, patient war strategy, John Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said Monday that Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the American military commander in Afghanistan, was trying to do too much in a relatively short time. Senator Kerry, who traveled recently to Afghanistan and Pakistan, said his conversations with General McChrystal covered the importance of a “smart counterinsurgency” approach. “But I believe his current plan reaches too far, too fast,” Mr. Kerry said at a gathering here of the Council on Foreign Relations, an independent research organization. Alluding to his and the country’s experiences in Vietnam four decades ago, Mr. Kerry called for a “redefined strategy” that would focus “on what is achievable as well as critical, and empower the Afghans to take control of their own future.”

In a bipartisan opinion piece on The Hill, Rep. Michael McMahon (D-NY) and Rep. Thomas Rooney (R-FL) highlighted the “grim” statistics regarding the number of suicides by American troops. They cite statistics confirming that at least 117 suicides this alone requires Washington to move beyond partisanship to provide military personnel and veterans with proper mental health care. As a start, they said the issue of suicide must be de-stigmatized and then go on to highlight a number of recommendations to help servicemembers deal with their invisible wounds. 

CONGRESSIONAL SCHEDULE

THE SENATE

The Senate will convene at 10:00 a.m.

SENATE FLOOR ACTIVITY of INTEREST

No issues today

FUTURE COMMITTEE HEARINGS of INTEREST

November 5, 2009  Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee Hearing on cooperation between the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Indian Health Service.  10:00 a.m.; 418 Russell

THE HOUSE of  REPRESENTATIVES


The House will convene at 10:30 a.m.

HOUSE FLOOR ACTIVITY of INTEREST

No issues today

HOUSE COMMITTEE HEARINGS of  INTEREST



No issues today

FUTURE  HOUSE COMMITTEE HEARINGS of  INTEREST



October 28, 2009  Full Veterans‚ Affairs Committee Markup of Pending Legislation  10:00 a.m.; 334 Cannon

November 19, 2009  Veterans‚ Affairs Subcommittee on Health Hearing:  Review of VA Contract Health Care: Project HERO

A wide-range of views, positions, and publications are represented in these articles. These views, positions and publications are not endorsed by nor do they necessarily represent the views of IAVA

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