The Army Cleans House
John Barry, NEWSWEEK

Aug. 11 issue - In a move widely seen within the Pentagon as a purge, a dozen or more Army generals are being ushered into retirement as the Army's new chief of staff, Gen. Peter Schoomaker, takes over. In advance of Schoomaker's swearing-in last Friday, the Army's acting chief, Gen. John Keane - who is himself retiring - spoke with a list of three- and four-star generals, thanked them for their services and told them it was time to go. Sources say Keane first contacted half a dozen names, but by the end of the week the list had reportedly grown to 11 - "with more to come within 30 days," according to one Army source. The Army has a total of 50 three- and four-star generals. A senior Pentagon civilian called the move "housecleaning."

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has made no secret of his dissatisfaction with what he sees as unimaginative Army leadership. Schoomaker, too, is critical of a culture he sees as risk-averse and change-resistant. In comments made privately but now circulating widely in the Pentagon, Schoomaker said recently: "Rumsfeld might think we're at war with terrorism, but I'll bet he also thinks he is at war within the Pentagon ... It's a war of the culture."

The list of retirees was, sources say, drawn up in discussions between Rumsfeld, Schoomaker and Keane. Most of those going are being axed not for personal failings but to open up job slots that are viewed as key to Army transformation. But Pentagon spokesman Larry DiRita said any suggestion the moves were at Rumsfeld's behest was "utter nonsense."

Rumsfeld's Shake-Up Bid Demotes Reserves
Esther Schrader, 12 July 2003, Los Angeles Times

With the war in Iraq severely straining the military, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld this week ordered radical changes that, if adopted, would dramatically reshape the military services and the reserves to create a force that could mobilize for war within 15 days. In a memo Wednesday to the secretaries of the Air Force, Navy, Army and to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Rumsfeld called for shifting a broad range of professional specialties from the reserves to active-duty military. The proposal is running into opposition from senior Navy and Air Force officials, who warn that moving these jobs into the active-duty force would drive up costs. Reserve officials say they were stunned by the proposal, which they fear would shrink the role of citizen soldiers into irrelevance. Rumsfeld's office could not be reached for comment.

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As the war on terrorism continues, more than 370,000 Army troops are deployed away from home and family in 120 countries around the world. About 138,000 are reservists, many in certain specialties that are being called up again and again. Another 67,000 reservists from the other military services are also deployed. Current and former army officials and military experts are warning, with growing urgency, that the all-volunteer military, 30 years old this month, cannot long tolerate the pressure.

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In the months leading up to and during the war, every one of the military services began "stop-loss" orders, preventing soldiers on active duty from retiring even if they wanted to and, critics say, effectively turning the idea of the volunteer military on its head. Although those orders have been lifted, if current deployment rates continue as expected, tens of thousands of active-duty troops and reservists can expect a life continually on the road. Because of the relative lack of troop strength, a typical soldier spending 2003 in Iraq may come home this winter only to be deployed again in late 2004 or 2005. The typical reservist might be deployed for another 12 months over the next few years.

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But Rumsfeld's central proposal to shift some specialized units from the reserves to the regular Army is already meeting resistance. Senior defense officials who oppose the proposal say shifting specialties like civil affairs from the reserve force to the active-duty military will increase costs to taxpayers. For what it takes to pay for one such active-duty unit, they say, they can field three reserve units, by drawing on civilian reservists who already possess the skills the Army would have to pay to develop in its ranks. "It's far more cost-effective having these capabilities in the reserve," one defense official said. The officials also say that many reserve units can be mobilized much more rapidly than Rumsfeld gives them credit for. But Army officials say that only by mobilizing almost exclusively active-duty soldiers can the nation be ready for war in 15 days, Rumsfeld's goal. "It makes sense to go to 15 days," one official said. "We've been working on that."

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US: 248
Julian Borger, 4 August 2003, The Guardian

US military casualties from the occupation of Iraq have been more than twice the number most Americans have been led to believe because of an extraordinarily high number of accidents, suicides and other non-combat deaths in the ranks that have gone largely unreported in the media. Since May 1, when President George Bush declared the end of major combat operations, 52 American soldiers have been killed by hostile fire, according to Pentagon figures quoted in almost all the war coverage. But the total number of US deaths from all causes is much higher: 112.

The other unreported cost of the war for the US is the number of American wounded, 827 since Operation Iraqi Freedom began. Unofficial figures are in the thousands. About half have been injured since the president's triumphant appearance on board the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln at the beginning of May. Many of the wounded have lost limbs.

The figures are politically sensitive. The number of American combat deaths since the start of the war is 166 - 19 more than the death toll in the first Gulf war. The passing of that benchmark last month erased the perception, popular at the time Baghdad fell, that the US had scored an easy victory. According to a Gallup poll, 63% of Americans still think Iraq was worth going to war over, but a quarter want the troops out now, and another third want a withdrawal if the casualty figures continue to mount.

In fact, the total death toll this time is 248 - including accidents and suicides - and as the number of non-combat deaths and serious injuries becomes more widely known, the erosion of public confidence is likely to continue, posing a threat to Mr Bush's prospects of re-election, which at the beginning of May had seemed a foregone conclusion. Military observers say it is unusual, even in a "low-intensity" guerrilla war such as the situation seen in Iraq, for non-combat deaths to outnumber combat casualties.

FULL ARTICLE

RE-LYNCHING CYNTHIA MCKINNEY
Greg Palast, 21 July 2003

The reason I find the brouhaha over my correcting the record on McKinney so astonishing is that the complaints came in the main, NOT from defenders of the Times or NPR, but from those who do, in fact, believe that Bush DID know of, or even plan, the attack of September 11. These objectors are beside themselves with misery over losing the comfort of a kind of endorsement of their views extracted from the misreading of McKinney. From this crowd came the most vitriolic attacks – citing Saint McKinney's words despite her repeated objections.

And let's be blunt about a nastier side of this story: NPR and the Times wouldn't have done it to a white male congressman. And I'm not guessing. Recently, the nation's papers reported that Republican Senator Grassley called for an investigation of intelligence failures before the September 11 attack, demanding explanation for the Administration's failure to act on incoming intelligence. Senator Bob Graham did the same. Neither Grassley nor Graham was not called a 'looney' or a 'loose cannon' as NPR so graciously allowed others to label the uppity black woman McKinney. Apparently, they fell under the Times' Stupid White Senator exemption.

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Voting and Democracy: The Challenges Ahead
Don Hazen, AlterNet
30 July 2003

Voting security irregularities have put the populace on edge. The solution? Push hard on reform opportunities now, and don't stay home on Election Day

The Theft of Your Vote Is Merely a Microchip Away
Thom Hartmann, Berkeley Daily Planet
1 August 2003

Are computerized voting machines a wide-open back door to massive voting fraud? The discussion has moved from the Internet to CNN, to UK newspapers, and the pages of The New York Times. People are cautiously beginning to connect the dots, and the picture that seems to be emerging is troubling.

Beyond Voting Machines: HAVA and Real Election Reform
Miles Rapoport, AlterNet
30 July 2003

The Florida 2000 election proved to Americans of all political persuasions that our election laws are broken. Yet the debacle also created an opening for voting reform that we have not seen for decades

The Voting Rights Struggle of Our Time
Kim Alexander, AlterNet
30 July 2003

California is at the forefront of the paper trail debate with electronic voting machines. Thanks to a state task force, there's still time to weigh in on the controversy

Spying, Secrecy and The University
David N. Gibbs, 7 April 2003, CounterPunch


"The prospect of domination of the nation's scholars by Federal employment, project allocations, and the power of money is ever present--and is gravely to be regarded."

Dwight D. Eisenhower

US Scraps Nuclear Weapons Watchdog
Julian Borger, 31 July 2003, The Guardian

Hawks in the Pentagon and the energy department are pushing for the development of tactical nuclear weapons with yields of less than 5 kilotons and hardened "bunker buster" nuclear bombs, designed to penetrate deeply buried targets, where enemy leaders or weapons may be hidden. According to the leaked agenda for the Omaha meeting in early August, Pentagon and energy department officials will discuss how to test small numbers of these new weapons, and whether this will require a break from the moratorium on nuclear tests.

Critics argue that the new weapons will blur the distinction between conventional and nuclear arms, and trigger a new arms race. "The Bush administration is considering policy changes that will alter the role of nuclear weapons in national defence," Mr Markey said. "Given the importance and sheer complexity of the issues raised ... why was the only independent contemplative body studying nuclear weapons disbanded - and disbanded in such a surreptitious fashion?"

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