From March 14th to 16th 2008, Pacifica Radio provided coverage of the historic Winter Soldier 2008 gathering in Washington, DC.
National broadcast (April 22nd) on the first class action lawsuit brought by Iraq war veterans against the Department of Veterans Affairs. US vets suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder are alleging a system-wide breakdown in the way the government treats injured soldiers.
When young American men and women sign up to serve in the US military, our government makes a basic promise to them: that if they are wounded in the line of duty they will get the care they need. Unfortunately, for tens of thousands of veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan, that's a promise that only exists on paper.
Corporal Phillipe Louis Jean: When I Got Back from Iraq, They Tried to Deport Me
Specialist Joshua Casteel: Abu Ghraib Interrogator Meets With the Pope
Lance Corporal Jeff Key: Gay Marine Comes Out on CNN
Sergeant Todd Bowers: While I Was in Iraq, My Student Loans Were Sent to Collection
Sergeant James Dean: Afghan Vet Shot by Maryland State Troopers
1971 Winter Soldier
The 1971 WSI testimony read into the CR was all unsworn. The only vet allowed to testify before Fulbright's Committee was John Kerry, and he was not placed under oath either. That unsworn WSI testimony did allow the1971 testifiers to retract statements made and refuse to cooperate with investigations of charges without facing penalties like perjury and obstruction.
As to giving vets a voice, another Vietnam Veterans organization, the Vietnam Veterans for a Just Peace requested that they be given an opportunity to testify before Fulbright's committee with a view different than that of Kerry and the VVAW - and they were denied the opportunity to do so.