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IAVA Daily Brief 8.10.10
Posted by Blake Henderson on August 10 2010

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 or subscribe at www.IAVA.org/DailyNewsBrief.

MUST READS

1) Veterans for Obama? Some now have doubts
 
Relations between the Obama administration and some elements of the military veterans community, a constituency the Obama campaign carefully cultivated for the 2008 election, have grown distant and, in some cases, icy. "We have seen a huge communication breakdown between the administration and the veterans service organizations, especially at the V.A.," Paul Rieckhoff, Executive Director of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America, said.
 
2) Chiarelli rejects 'medicated' Army claim
 
Chiarelli, referencing a July Army report showing a sharp increase in Soldier suicides and an increase in serious crimes committed by GIs, said the study's claim that "data would suggest [the Army is] becoming more dependent on pharmaceuticals to sustain the force" is a concern. Chiarelli acknowledged that more than 106,000 Soldiers were on prescription medication for three weeks or more last year -- including antidepressants and anti-anxiety medication.
 
3) Sharp rise in Afghan civilian casualties, U.N. says
 
The number of civilian casualties in Afghanistan continues to climb in the first half of 2010, but more than ever, those deaths were caused by insurgents fighting the government and the American-led coalition, the United Nations said in a report released Tuesday. In a semi-annual report, the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan said the number of civilians wounded and killed in the conflict increased by nearly a third, 31 percent in the first six months of the year.
 
AFGHANISTAN

• At the beginning of August, Dutch troops left the restive province of Uruzgan, and Canadian soldiers appear set to depart next year, at the same time, the U.S. forces surging into Afghanistan are finding new ways to work with their NATO counterparts.
• Some of the new U.S. troops surging into the country this year are being sent north, to areas previously thought to be free of Taliban influence.  At a police checkpoint in the Ali Abad district in southern Kunduz, in northeast Afghanistan, only a winding river separates insurgents from government forces.

IRAQ

• The US expects attacks in Iraq to continue to spike as the holy month of Ramadan begins this week, a top American general warned after explosions in the southern city of Basra resulted in one of the deadliest weekends in months.
• On the eve of the end of the U.S. combat mission in Iraq, extremist groups "are very much alive," according to the U.S. Special Forces commander here.

MILITARY AFFAIRS

• The U.S. Defense Department plans to shed one of its 10 major military commands as Defense Secretary Robert Gates tries to pare billions of dollars from the Pentagon's operating budget by cutting the Joint Forces Command.
• Family and friends have suddenly found themselves blocked from shipping cigarettes and other tobacco products to American troops in Afghanistan and Iraq because of a new law meant to hamper smuggling and underage sales through the mail.

INSIDE WASHINGTON

• Congress will face several controversial defense issues when it returns from the summer recess, beginning with the annual defense spending bill.

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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