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
Thank you
The way this administration has abused our military, our national honor, our treasury, and our troops is shameful. We need our returning veterans to be able to continue their education and have proper healthcare so they can help bail America out of the mess that Bush has created. Thank you for helping others to know how our returning troops are being treated, I hope this will be a step toward changing what is happening. Again, thank you Sgt Bowers and the rest of the people you are working with.
Marine Corps reservist Todd Bowers
Too bad you fell for the propaganda and lies of the administration and put yourself in harms way in this illegal war in Iraq. You also fell for the lie, as many have, to get loans for college. Stop running to the government and credit cards to bail yourself out of financial ruin. Buck up Sgt. Bowers. Learn the history of the Federal Reserve and the corporations that run this country's government. Sound like I'm unappreciative that you put your life on the line for our country? Perhaps. However, at least I know that you were willing to do so, but we need to be protecting this country from within its borders, not in some foreign country. While you were fighting in Iraq for our freedoms, we are losing them daily here. When many get back from the war, they're gonna find out that the freedom they thought they were fighting for no longer exists in this country. Posse Commititus is gone. Now our troops can act as police and even take arms against us. Habeas Corpus is gone. Now we can secretly be taken from our homes and put in jail with out being charged for a crime under the guise of terrorism. Yep, I'm mad that so many soldiers fell for the propoganda. I wish you all had ran to Canada to avoid the military or at least refuse to register with the selective services, WHICH IS ILLEGAL according to the Constitution! Doesn't anyone read the law of the land? NO, because the frickin government run public schools don't teach it because the government doesn't want them to know what their rights are! Didn't you hear what Bush thinks about it? "Nothing but a g-ddamn piece of paper."