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
veteran suicides
i am very curious to know how many returned soldiers have committed suicide since they came back?
i heard that over 85,000 had done that after Vietnam over several years. is that figure correct?
peace lover
GI Coffeehouses
Aimee, Aaron,& friends,
During the Vietnam war we had GI Coffeehouses outside of many bases here in the U.S. They became a controversial meeting place for both servicemembers and anti-war activists to come together and find common ground. They were also highly successful in helping vets to overcome the sort of cultural mind-numbing that prevents them from seeing a bigger picture. Now, decades later, during this latest example of U.S. hegemony there is, to my knowledge only one such place outside of Fort Drum in upstate New York.
I've pitched the idea to some vet activists of establishing more GI coffeehouses at key military bases nation-wide, but they felt their organizations were already over-extended. Perhaps the greater anti-war/occupation community can help, especially national groups who have more resources.
Having a lot of on-line presence is good and important, but nothing beats F2F contact and the physical presence of alternative viewpoints. Something to think about.
Question
Were all the panels broadcast? I'm not finding the one with the two fathers of sons who died in Iraq.
we did not broadcast some of the evening panels live
however, we did tape the panel with the fathers of sons who died in iraq and will be posting it shortly.
Thank for your Radio Station and Content
Thanks so very much for your radio station and content, for the first time in 6 years I heard an honest news report from KPFA on my car radio that called the resistance fighters in Iraq anti-occupation fighters.
It is so pleasurable to hear news radio in which I don't have to catch and filter out the constant propaganda and media mindmeld with slick words and phrases mixed into seemingly factual discussion of this mass genocide we have in Iraq and Afganistan now.
I listen to the soldiers talk on this radio station after being driven away from a KGO news talk hour where their afternoon host had on four soldiers who had nothing but praise and happy talk to share about their time in Iraq as well as the host and callers being screened to have nothing but praise filtered in.
I finally had enough of being lied to constantly by media companies owned by right wing corporations and presented as unbiased or even progressive as a front.
They want to promote consumerism as people are murdered in Iraq and their lives are destroyed and all they want to talk about is how brave the foot soldiers are, some celeb gossip, and how we need some material possession or service to make our lives more fulfilled.
Keep up the good work, we need voices in our struggle against the supporters of oppression in every country including the US.
VIETRAQISTAN
I have an intense hatred of this VIETRAQISTAN war. Again, most of America has been duped into supporting it. FOOLS JUST NEVER LEARN.