Category Archives: Veterans for Common Sense News

Vice President Biden Promises Foreign Policy Shifts

February 8, 2009 – The Obama administration promises sweeping changes in American foreign policy, and some U.S. adversaries are nibbling the bait. Vice President Joe Biden hit most of the right notes in his Munich speech this weekend, declaring — … Continue reading

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Shinseki Wants Electronic System to Deal with Claims Backlog

February 5, 2009 –  The Veterans Affairs Department needs an electronic claims system if it is ever to eliminate its massive claims backlog, new VA Secretary Eric Shinseki told a House committee Wednesday. “If you go into the adjudication rooms … Continue reading

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Editorial Column: Army Suicides May Pass Army Combat Deaths in January 2009

February 7, 2009 – The continued rise of OEF/OIF veteran suicides reported by the military over the past weeks isn’t very surprising news for longtime followers of this issue; but, it’s no less alarming. Swamped with conferences, classes, and organizing … Continue reading

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Feb 9, Part Two of Salon Suicide Series: Coming Home to Fort Carson – Profile of Adam Lieberman

“The Death Dealers took my life!” Adam Lieberman tried to kill himself when he returned from Iraq. Only then did the Army take his mental health seriously. Salon Editor’s note: This is the first story in a weeklong series called … Continue reading

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Private Hospital Executive: Soldiers’ Treatment for PTSD and Drug Addiction Needs Funds

February 7, 2009 – A former chief executive of Beth Israel Medical Center says a federal law that blocks Defense Department funding for methadone and other treatment programs is jeopardizing the health of soldiers battling post-traumatic stress disorder or pain-related … Continue reading

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Feb 7, Head of Associated Press Blasts Pentagon’s $4.7 Billion Propaganda Campaign and Restrictions on Reporters

Associated Press Chief Executive Officer Urges Better Press Access to Military Operations February 7, 2009, Lawrence, Kansas (AP) — The Bush administration turned the U.S. military into a global propaganda machine while imposing tough restrictions on journalists seeking to give … Continue reading

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Parents of Ex-Marine Who Killed Himself Sue VA

February 5, 2009 – The Oak Beach parents of a 21-year-old ex-Marine who died of a heroin overdose are suing the Department of Veterans Affairs, saying admissions personnel at a VA hospital in Pennsylvania incorrectly advised their son that he … Continue reading

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Movie Review: Unembedded Truth – ‘Road to Fallujah’ Iraq War Documentary

February 5, 2009 – It was with profound shame that I left the theater after the Film Festival showing of The Road to Fallujah – a hatred of myself for not having devoted every minute of my life these past … Continue reading

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Editorial Column: The Empire v. The Graveyard

February 5, 2009 – It is now a commonplace — as a lead article in the New York Times’s Week in Review pointed out recently — that Afghanistan is “the graveyard of empires.” Given Barack Obama’s call for a greater … Continue reading

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Army Re-Opens Iraq War Electrocution Investigations – Soldiers Possibly Killed by Faulty Contractor Wiring

February 6, 2009 – Amid an escalating controversy that has lawmakers and family members clamoring for answers into the electrocution deaths of soldiers in Iraq, Army criminal investigators have re-opened three additional cases that initially had been ruled accidents. Army … Continue reading

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