Veterans for Common Sense

May 2, 2008, Seatle WA – West Coast ports were shut down on Thursday as thousands of longshoremen failed to report for work, part of what their union leaders said was a one-day, one-shift protest against the war in Iraq.

Cranes and forklifts stood still from Seattle to San Diego, and ships were stalled at sea as workers held rallies up and down the coast to blame the war for distracting public attention and money from domestic needs like health care and education.

“We’re loyal to America, and we won’t stand by while our country, our troops and our economy are being destroyed by a war that’s bankrupting us to the tune of $3 trillion,” the president of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, Bob McEllrath, said in a written statement. “It’s time to stand up, and we’re doing our part today.”

About 25,000 union members are employed at 29 West Coast ports, but the protest took place only during the day shift. A spokesman for the main West Coast employers’ group, the Pacific Maritime Association, said it appeared that about 6,000 workers did not show up for work, which meant that about 10,000 containers would not be loaded or unloaded from about 30 cargo ships.

The spokesman, Steve Getzug, cast the action as a strike and therefore a violation of the union’s labor contract, which is up for renewal this summer.

“What the union says and what the union does are two different things,” Mr. Getzug said. “This is genuine defiance.”

Union leaders said that the association had rejected their request weeks ago for Thursday’s one-shift work stoppage, but that local longshoremen continued to promote the protest. It went forward, the union leaders said, despite a demand on Wednesday by an independent arbitrator that they instruct members to go to work.

In many cases, dock workers were joined at port entrances or at rallies by other groups protesting the war or frustrated by economic issues or immigration policies. Some rallies seemed as much like street fairs as angry acts of resistance, with booksellers setting up stands and supporters of the presidential candidate Ralph Nader carrying banners.

On the Seattle waterfront, members of the United Auto Workers and the Service Employees International Union mixed with self-described socialists while many of the scores of police officers on the scene ate box lunches and petted their horses.

In Oakland, Calif., some truckers who said they were angry about high gas prices decided not to cross picket lines at the port.

“I got here ready to haul,” said César Lara, 41, a resident of Richmond, Calif., born in Zacatecas, Mexico. “They told me it was a picket but if I wanted to go in I could. But I’m supporting them and to end the war.”

Several drivers said truckers were planning their own nationwide work stoppage in the next several days to protest record-high gas prices and surcharges.

In Long Beach, Calif., part of nation’s largest port complex, truck drivers from California and neighboring states waited for the port security gates to reopen on Thursday evening, when union members said they planned to return to work. Nearby, in Wilmington, longshoremen met inside a hall while some union members outside read pink fliers stating the reasons for work stoppage.

Kevin Schroeder, director of Local 13’s political action committee, said, “The children of middle-class people are over there dying, so we decided to do something. We are fortunate enough to be in an organization that has a platform to do something.”

Official VA e-mail from February 13, 2008, where top VA official concealed the enormous and growing suicide epidemic from CBS Evening News. http://www.cbsnews.com/htdocs/pdf/VA_email_021308.pdf 

The e-mail was obtained by attorneys representing veterans in the lawsuit Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth v. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs www.veteransPTSDclassaction.org

May 1, 2008 – Veterans are suffering and dying because of a broken-down mental health system at the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the only remedy is a court-ordered overhaul, a lawyer for advocacy groups told a federal judge Wednesday in final arguments in a lawsuit.

“More of these veterans are dying in the United States than out in combat,” attorney Arturo Gonzalez said. “There is only one person on Earth who can do anything to help these men and women, and that’s you,” he told U.S. District Judge Samuel Conti, who presided over the seven-day nonjury trial in San Francisco.

A government lawyer called the assertions in the lawsuit “extreme and outrageous” and said the plaintiffs had failed to show the VA is neglecting or mistreating veterans.

“The VA is providing world-class health care in the mental health area,” Justice Department attorney Daniel Bensing told Conti. He said some delays are inevitable in a system that receives 840,000 claims for benefits a year, but that the agency is substantially increasing its staff and implementing measures to screen returning troops for mental trauma and the risk of suicide.

The suit was filed last year by two groups, Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth. They accused the VA of making mental health care virtually unavailable to thousands of discharged soldiers through perfunctory exams, long waits for referrals and treatment, and a prolonged and complex system of awarding medical benefits.

The plaintiffs want Conti to order the VA to carry out its own plan to improve suicide prevention and overall mental health care – issued in 2004, but still mostly at the pilot-program stage – and to direct the agency to set timetables for benefits and allow veterans to be represented by lawyers. Gonzalez said the judge should appoint a representative, known as a special master, to make sure the agency complies.

The plaintiffs’ most striking evidence came from internal VA e-mails, released in response to the suit. They reported 18 suicides a day among all veterans and 1,000 suicide attempts a month among those under VA care.

There are 24 million veterans in the United States, and about 30 percent receive VA care.

The agency has not disclosed what proportion of suicidal veterans served in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the plaintiffs’ witnesses and lawyers said there was evidence that returning troops are taking their own lives in greater numbers. They said there has been a steady increase in the veterans’ suicide rate since 2001, and a comparatively high rate among veterans ages 20 to 24.

Witnesses testified the veterans’ suicide rate was anywhere from two to 7.5 times the rate among the general population.

The suicide figures have caught congressional attention. Two senators have demanded the resignation of Ira Katz, the VA official who wrote “Shh” at the top of the e-mail dealing with suicide attempts and disputed the statistics in public testimony while confirming them in internal documents. A House committee has scheduled a hearing on veterans’ suicides next week.

In Wednesday’s arguments, Bensing, the government lawyer, described the congressional dispute as a “political distraction” irrelevant to the court case.

“We don’t dispute that suicide is a major, serious problem” and that prevention “has to be a major priority,” he said. But he said the VA is regularly screening returning veterans for the risk of suicide and has set up a toll-free suicide hot line, “an exceptional step, which in all likelihood has saved many lives.”

But Gonzalez, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, said a May 2007 report by the VA’s inspector general found that 70 percent of the agency’s facilities had no system to track veterans with suicidal tendencies, and more than 60 percent lacked any suicide-prevention strategy.

He said government reports also showed that half the veterans referred to mental health specialists had to wait more than 30 days for appointments, and that the VA board that hears appeals from veterans who are denied benefits takes an average of four years to issue decisions.

“The system, your honor, has crashed,” Gonzalez said. Veterans, he said, are “dying literally every day because they are not receiving proper care.”

Witness List for Hearing, “The Truth about Veteran Suicides”

Where: 334 Cannon House Office Building

When: May 6, 2008, 10:00 a.m.

Witness Panel 1:

The Honorable James B. Peake, M.D., Secretary, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Accompanied by Gerald Cross, M.D., Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Health, Veterans Health Administration; and Ira Katz, M.D., Ph.D., Deputy Chief Patient Care Services Officer for Mental Health, Veterans Health Administration

Witness Panel 2:

Stephen L. Rathbun, Ph.D., Interim Head & Associate Professor of Biostatistics, University of Georgia; M. David Rudd, Ph.D., ABPP Professor and Chair, Texas Tech University; and Ronald William Maris, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of South Carolina

Paul Sullivan, Executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, urged Congress to enact legislation to immediately to overhaul the VA.  “Congress should legislate a presumption of service connection for veterans diagnosed [with] PTSD who deployed to a war zone after 9/11.  A presumption makes it easier for dedicated and hard-working VA employees to process veterans’ claims.”

“Epidemic of Suicides” – Veterans Combat VA in Lawsuit Seeking Adequate and Timely Healthcare 

May 1, 2008 – Alarming rates of suicide compared to previous U.S. military conflicts have united veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan in a declaration of war on their own soil against the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

Closing arguments in the first national class-action lawsuit filed against the VA by veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, were presented yesterday in Federal court in San Francisco.

The lawsuit, known as Veterans for Common Sense v. Peake, accuses the VA of systematically denying veterans desperately needed medical treatment, leading to an “epidemic of suicides,” and long delays in treatment for traumatic brain injury, post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other “invisible wounds.”

“The suicide problem is out of control,” said Gordon Erspamer, lead attorney with Morrison & Foerster who is representing Veterans for Common Sense and Veterans United for Truth in a national class-action lawsuit against the VA.

“Our veterans deserve better,” Erspamer said. “There are waiting lists to see a doctor that usually go for at least a month. If you’re suicidal, you can’t wait a month. You can’t wait three months. People placed on waiting lists have killed themselves. It’s a documented fact.”

Paul Sullivan, Executive Director for Veterans for Common Sense, who testified at the trial said, “The 12,000 attempted suicides per year shows clearly, without a doubt, that there is an epidemic of suicide among veterans.”

Veterans Wait-Listed for Months or Years

But Erspamer noted that veterans aren’t only being wait-listed for medical treatment for psychological trauma and other “invisible” wounds, but run the gamut of severe injuries.

“We’re dealing with people who are almost totally disabled. People who have lost arms, lost legs in these wars, people who have come home with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or physical brain injury. We can’t have these people waiting for months and years for the treatment they need,” Erspamer said.

Erspamer said the VA has arbitrarily denied coverage to thousands of vets, that it takes nearly a year to decide whether it will provide coverage to veterans suffering from PTSD, and takes as long as four years to address veterans’ appeals cases.

“The system is in crisis and unfortunately the VA is in denial,” Erspamer exclaimed within the marble and walnut lined Federal courtroom, urging U.S. District Court Judge Samuel Conti to appoint a special master to oversee the troubled agency.

The veterans’ groups are also seeking a judge’s order forbidding the VA from turning away any veteran who shows up at a facility seeking mental health care.

Lawsuit Seek Immediate Treatment for Vets in Need

The lawsuit seeks Conti to issue a preliminary injunction to force the VA to immediately treat veterans who are at risk of suicide, or show signs of PTSD, and to overhaul internal systems that handles benefits claims. The lawsuit alleges that numerous VA practices stemming from a 1998 law violate the constitutional and statutory rights of veterans suffering from PTSD by denying veterans mandated medical care.

The two veterans groups suing the VA want Conti to order the agency to dramatically improve how fast it processes applications and how it delivers mental health care, especially when it comes to preventing suicides and treating PTSD. They state that the case is not about damage compensation.

Bush Administration Says Vets’ Class Action Is Illegal

Notably, the Bush Administration, elected for two terms in part for a “Support Our Troops” platform, has repeatedly tried to have the veterans’ suit dismissed, arguing that the groups lacked standing because they were associations, not individual veterans. The administration went so far as to argue that the entire notion of a veterans’ class-action lawsuit is illegal, claiming that veterans are required to petition individually.

Justice Department attorneys argued in court papers filed in March 2008 that Iraq and Afghanistan veterans were not “entitled” to the five-years of free healthcare upon their return from combat as mandated by Congress in the “Dignity for Wounded Warriors Act.”

Rather, the VA argued, medical treatment for war veterans was discretionary based on the level of funding available in the VA’s budget.

Multiple times during his opening statement, Justice Department lawyer Richard Lepley categorized the veterans’ groups as “special interests” and argued the changes they seek in their lawsuit – better and faster mental health care, and more rights for veterans appealing denials of benefits – are beyond the judge’s authority.

“You have no standards to judge,” Lepley told Conti. “This court shouldn’t be trying to be a substitute for what the medical professionals at the VA decide.”

But during trial, Dr. Gerald Cross, Principal Deputy Under Secretary for Health at the Veterans Health Administration, said veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan were not only entitled to free healthcare, but added, “There is no co-pay.”

Conti Rules for Due Process

During the trial, Conti, a World War II veteran himelf, dismissed the government’s claims.

“It is within the court’s power to insist that veterans be granted a level of due process that is commensurate with the adjudication procedures with which they are confronted,” Conti wrote in a January ruling.

Arguments in the first national class-action lawsuit brought on behalf of Iraq and Afghanistan war vets accused top government officials of deliberately deceiving veterans and the American public about the actual risk of suicide among vets. Government documents produced as evidence during the trial back up the allegations.

“Shh” Email: 1,000 Suicide Attempts per Month, 18 Suicides per Day

On April 21, the first day of trial, the now-infamous VA internal December 2007 email written by Dr. Ira Katz, the VA’s mental health director, was submitted as evidence. The email states that 12,000 veterans per year under VA care were attempting suicide. Widely circulated within the VA, the email, titled “Not for the CBS News Interview Request” told a tragic tale.

“Our suicide prevention coordinators are identifying about 1,000 suicide attempts per month among the veterans we see in our medical facilities,” Katz wrote. The email concludes: “Is this something we should (carefully) address ourselves in some sort of release before someone stumbles on it?”

In November Katz told CBS, “There is no epidemic in suicide in VA,” and that there were only 790 attempted suicides in all of 2007, a fraction of Katz’s estimate stated in the internal email. In the same email Katz wrote there “are about 18-suicides per day among America’s 25 million veterans.”

Senator Calls for Katz’ Dismissal

“The suicide rate is a red-alarm bell to all of us,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash). Murray said the VA’s mental health programs are being overwhelmed by Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans, even as the department tries to downplay the situation.

“I think we ought to be worried,” Murray said, adding that, as with Vietnam-era vets, some of the more violent symptoms might not show up for 50-years.

“They can be walking time bombs for decades,” Murray said. “I hope everyone in the VA understands this.”

Murray said the VA has lied about the number of veterans who’ve attempted suicide and has demonstrated a pattern of misleading Congress about the increasing number of soldiers who served in Iraq and Afghanistan who are now seeking help and straining Defense Department and VA facilities and programs.

Murray said she’s spoken with VA Secretary James Peake and demanded that he fire the man in charge of the department’s mental health programs: Dr. Ira Katz. The Denator said Peake has yet to respond to her request.

In a Feb. 5, 2008, letter, Peake told Congress that 144 Iraq and Afghanistan combat veterans committed suicide between October 2001 and December 2005.

Bob Filner (D-CA), House Chairman of Veterans Affairs, flatly called the situation a national disgrace.

In an April 22, 2008, letter Sen. Daniel K. Akaka (D-Hawaii), chairman of the Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee called for the resignation of Dr. Ira Katz from his post as the chief mental health officer at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

“Dr. Katz’s personal conduct and professional judgment have been called into question,” Akaka wrote. “I believe veterans, and the Department of Veterans Affairs, would be best served by his immediate resignation.”

Senator Hillary Clinton stumping last week in Ft Wayne, Indiana, weighed in on the VA controversy sweeping Washington, with observations that recall her generations’ battles with Vietnam vets.

“They are generally neglected, as in Walter Reed,” Clinton said. “Vets ask, ‘Where do I go to get my brain back?’”

Clinton pointed out that traumatic brain injury funds were cut in Bush’s latest budget. She said that the government has a duty to give service back to the vets after their service and sacrifice.

“We have the greatest military in the world but force is a last resort not a first resort,” Clinton said.

RAND Corporation Study

A recent RAND Corporation study strongly suggests that suicide and suicide attempts, traumatic brain injury, PTSD, and the psychological toll on the troops in Iraq and Afganistan, many involving multiple rotations, is disproportionately high compared with the physical injuries of combat.

Since the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York City and Washington, approximately 1.7 million U.S. troops have been deployed for Operation Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom (OEF/OIF) in Afghanistan and Iraq. In the face of mounting public concern over post-deployment health care issues confronting OEF/OIF veterans, several task forces, independent review groups, and a Presidential Commission, have been convened to examine the care of the war-wounded and make recommendations.

Concerns have been most recently centered on two combat-related injuries in particular: PTSD and traumatic brain injury. With the increasing incidence among returning veterans, concern about depression is also on the rise.

The RAND Corporation’s study said approximately 300,000 U.S. troops sent into combat in Iraq and Afghanistan are suffering from major depression and PTSD, and 320,000 have received traumatic brain injuries.

“There is a major health crisis facing those men and women who have served our nation in Iraq and Afghanistan,” said Terri Tanielian, a researcher at RAND who worked on the study. “Unless they receive appropriate and effective care for these mental health conditions, there will be long-term consequences for them and for the nation. Unfortunately, we found there are many barriers preventing them from getting the high-quality treatment they need.”

Vets Need Treatment Presumption

“Seeking help from the Department of Veterans Affairs involves a two-track system,” according to the veterans’ complaint filed before the court. “A veteran will go to the Veterans Health Administration for diagnosis and medical care, and a veteran goes to the Veterans Benefits Administration to apply for service-connection and disability compensation.”

The brief states: “The VA is failing these veterans as they move along both of these parallel tracks. They are not receiving the healthcare to which they are entitled – and where they do receive it, it is unreasonably delayed – and they are not able to get timely compensation for their disabilities, which means that they have no safety net.

“These two problems combine to create a perfect storm for PTSD veterans: They receive no treatment, so their symptoms get worse; and they receive no compensation, so they cannot go elsewhere for treatment. The failings of these two separate but interrelated systems are what this action seeks to address.”

Paul Sullivan, Executive director of Veterans for Common Sense, urged Congress to enact legislation to immediately to overhaul the VA.  “Congress should legislate a presumption of service connection for veterans diagnosed [with] PTSD who deployed to a war zone after 9/11,” Sullivan said. “A presumption makes it easier for dedicated and hard-working VA employees to process veterans’ claims. This results in faster medical treatment and benefits for our veterans.”

Warnings Signs Ignored

Chris Scheuerman, a retired Special Forces master sergeant, testified before a Congressional committee in March. He said there is an urgent need for mental health reform in the military.

Scheuerman said his son, Pfc. Jason Scheuerman, went to see an Army psychologist because he had become suicidal. The Army psychologist wrote up a report saying Jason Scheuerman “was capable of (faking) mental illness in order to manipulate his command,” according to documents the soldier’s father turned over to Congress.

“Jason desperately needed a second opinion after his encounter with the Army psychologist,” Chris Scheuerman testified before the Armed Services Committee’s Military Personnel Subcommittee.

“The Army did offer him that option, but at his own expense,” Scheuerman said. “How is a PFC (private first class) in the middle of Iraq supposed to get to a civilian mental healthcare provider at his own expense? I believe a soldier should be afforded the opportunity to a second opinion via teleconference with a civilian mental healthcare provider of their own choice.”

Jason Scheuerman shot himself with a rifle July 30, 2005. The 20-year-old’s suicide note said, “Maybe now I can get some peace.”

PAXIL = Peace?

It has been reported during the trial on KPFA radio, April 21, that 15-minute monthly VA “quickie” face time sessions with mentally affected vets has been ending with the usually young vet being prescribed PAXIL, a well known and widely prescribed anti-depressant. In fact, Frank Schoenfeld, assistant chief of mental health the Regional VA, San Francisco, admits it’s not fool proof.

“Yes, PAXIL is a trade name prescription drug that is well known to the public,” Schoenfeld said. “However it has strong side effects (include depression) that make its use somewhat questionable in these cases.”

But plaintiffs’ Attorney Arturo Gonzalez produced internal VA e-mails that contends 18 veterans a day are committing suicide. Kussman countered that the figure, provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, included all 26 million veterans in the country, including aging Vietnam veterans who are reporting an increased number of health problems.

Kussman said that suicide prevention was a VA priority and that the agency instituted new measures in the past 18 months; including training its workers to identify suicidal patients and establishing a 24-hour suicide hot line for veterans.

A change Is Gonna Come

Under cross examination by veterans’ lawyer Sidney Wilensky, Dean of Catholic University’s Law School, William Fox, who previously litigated a case in front of Judge Conti 35 years ago, made his case for VA reform.

“I liken the F-minus performance of the VA currently to the judicial situation that led to the historic desegregation ruling of Brown v. Topeka, Kansas School Board, in 1954,” Fox said. “Congress only has the power to repeal the 62-year-old rating schedule that has kept legitimate claims from being addressed in a timely fashion. The VA itself can internally reform the rest of the challenges. I strongly recommend the Social Security model of delivery too, as a solution.”

As the plaintiffs’ team of lawyers held an impromptu press conference yesterday following closing arguments in the trial, echoes of former Bush era calamities seemed to reverberate throughout the legal teams’ afterthoughts. Gonzalez seemed to speak for America’s frustration, disappointment, and sense of loss.

“Why is this happening?” Gonzalez asked. “The reason this is happening is because the American people don’t know about the alarming suicide rates and that is just another cost to this war that they [the Bush adminstration] don’t want people to know about. If the public knew about the money spent and wasted, and exactly how many of our young men and women are killing themselves, they would be outraged. They don’t want the public to know the truth.”

Following the trial yesterday, vet advocates packed up their evidence boxes and high-tech trial gear. They left the courtroom optimisitc Judge Conti will initiate the required changes to fix a broken system.

Plaintiff Attorney Sid Wolinsky predicts a virtual vet tsunami of veterans’ claims during the next decade if a judicial decision reverses the effects of the broken bureaucracy.

Currently, there are no plans being implemented to accommodate as many as 700,000 new claims predicted to occur over the next 10-years by Nobel Prize winning economist Joseph Stiglitz.

“It’s clearly a broken bureaucracy and dysfunctional system as it stands today owing to the sheer amount of evidence we presented,” Stiglitz said. “This judge can make the determinations. The court can effect those changes for our veterans and reverse course. They deserve that.”

After fighting the good fight for over a year for those who fought unquestioningly in Afghanistan and Iraq, Gordon Erspamer summed up the case: “Justice delayed is justice denied.”

April 30, 2008, Washington, DC – U.S. Senator Daniel K. Akaka (D-HI), Chairman of the Veterans’ Affairs Committee, and Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), a senior member of the Committee, held a press conference today to call for improved mental health care for veterans.  Akaka and Murray were joined by Joe Violante, National Legislative Director for Disabled American Veterans and Ralph Ibson, Vice President for Governmental Affairs at Mental Health America. 

“Too many veterans return from combat with physical and invisible wounds.  Most receive care to treat the physical problems, but many do not receive the care they need for psychological trauma.  Far too many service members fear that disclosing mental health concerns will hurt their career.  We must engage in a national effort to identify and reach out to returning service members and veterans at risk for severe mental health problems.  No expense can be spared to find and help those suffering from the invisible wounds of war.  We must treat veterans’ mental health care as what it is: a cost of war,” said Akaka.   Chairman Akaka renewed his call for prompt action on S. 2162, the Mental Health Care and Other Improvements Act of 2008, a bipartisan mental health and substance abuse bill currently pending in the Senate.  S. 2162 would improve veterans’ mental health and substance abuse care, enhance mental health outreach, and improve VA research on the invisible wounds of war. 

Senator Murray stated, “We all agree that the VA is the best possible place for our veterans to receive the mental health care they need and deserve.  But in order for the VA to work for our veterans, VA leadership must be honest about their needs.”

Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) stated, “Thousands of veterans out there are suffering from PTSD and other mental health issues and are at risk of suicide.  This is a genuine crisis, and it requires an urgent, stepped-up response from the VA. Yet recent reports have shown us that it’s going to require another act of Congress to make the VA acknowledge and pursue this problem. Our bill is very straightforward, and it will be simple and inexpensive to implement. I hope we can move forward with this vital measure immediately.” Senator Harkin planned to attend today’s event, but was unable to participate due to action on the farm bill.

Joe Violante of Disabled American Veterans stated, “The Disabled American Veterans has a growing concern about the effects of wartime exposures on our newest generation of veterans.  Fortunately, however, under the leadership of Chairman Akaka and Senator Murray, veterans’ health care has become a priority of this Congress.  Not only has the Department of Veterans Affairs been provided the resources necessary to care for the medical needs of our sick and disabled veterans, but both Senators Akaka and Murray have introduced legislation, S. 2162 and S. 2799, respectively, to address the mental health care needs of veterans.  DAV applauds both of them for their long-standing commitment to veterans.”

Ralph Ibson of Mental Health America stated, “While dedicated VA professionals are making a profound difference in the lives of many veterans with war-related mental health problems, it is equally clear that VA is not reaching huge numbers of those vets. Given the prevalence of PTSD alone, and the tragic experience with not treating such disorders, we call on VA to mount a vigorous peer-to-peer outreach program to ensure that all returning veterans get needed counseling and mental health treatment.  We applaud Chairman Akaka and Senator Murray for their leadership in placing a spotlight on these invisible wounds of war.”

Today’s press conference followed last week’s call from Akaka and Murray for the resignation of VA’s top mental health official, after reports that he was involved in an attempt to cover-up the number of veterans attempting suicide. 

Akaka said, “Recent missteps illustrate the gaps in mental health care, and the entire VA system needs to respond immediately to ensure that all veterans receive the care they need.”

Senator Murray said, “At a time when the VA needs to be restoring the faith of our veterans and the American public, the apparent cover-up of rising suicide rates undermines that effort.  The VA’s top priority should be caring for our veterans, not covering up the truth.”

April 30, 2008, Washington, DC – U.S. troops won’t have to reveal all their mental health counseling when applying for security clearances under a change the Pentagon hopes will ease the stigma of seeking help for combat stress, The Associated Press has learned.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates plans to announce the new policy Thursday, according to several defense officials.

Thousands of troops are coming home from Iraq and Afghanistan with war-related anxiety, depression and post-traumatic stress. But many hesitate to get psychiatric care because they fear that could cost them their security clearances, harm their careers and embarrass them before commanders and comrades.

April 30, 2008 – At least half-a-dozen active-duty military officials have been working closely with a task force headed by the far-right fundamentalist Christians planning religious events at military installations around the country to commemorate Thursday’s National Day of Prayer.

In working directly with the National Day of Prayer (NDP) Task Force and agreeing to work as event coordinators, these military officials not only violated constitutional provisions governing the separation of church and state but they also signed an oath that states they “believe that the Holy Bible is the inerrant Word of The Living God” and that “Jesus Christ is the Son of God and the only One by which I can obtain salvation and have an ongoing relationship with God,” according to materials posted on NDP Task Force’s website.

Furthermore, the declaration signed by the military officials says that they promise to “ensure a strong, consistent Christian message throughout the nation” and that National Day of Prayer events scheduled to take place at their military installations “will be conducted solely by Christians.”

Lisa Crump, manager of the NDP Task Force’s local coordinators, said that volunteers who are interested in becoming event coordinators, including members of the military, must complete click here “a simple application with contact data and statement of faith, confirming your commitment to Christ is all that’s needed to get you on the way to becoming a [National Day of Prayer] Task Force volunteer coordinator.”

Mikey Weinstein, the president and founder of the government watchdog group the Military Religious Freedom Foundation blasted the military’s participation with the task force saying it endorses a discriminatory policy.

“It is not likely possible to conceive of a more blatant, heinous and noxious constitutional violation by our United States military than it’s filthy, disgusting participation with the so-called National Day of Prayer “Task Force” and it’s incontrovertible fundamentalist Christian supremacy agenda of unconstitutional religious exclusion,” Weinstein said. “Further, please immediately note that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation fully intends to include this despicable collusion in our current Federal litigation against the Department of Defense as yet another stunning example of a pernicious and pervasive pattern and practice of unconstitutional rape of the precious religious liberties of our honorable and noble United States soldiers, sailors, marines and airmen.”

The NDP Task Force, which portrays itself as the official organizer of the National Day of Prayer, is headed by Shirley Dobson, wife of Focus on the Family’s James Dobson, who has close ties to President Bush.

Although the task force is not directly tied to any federal agency, it has coordinated many of its activities this year with active-duty military chaplains and other military personnel at bases around the country. That would appear to violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment prohibiting individuals from using the machinery of the state to promote any form of religion. The Constitution protects the rights of the public to worship, or not, as they see fit.

But the military has not been adhering to these strict regulations.

Indeed, two weeks ago, at Fort Carson Army Base in Colorado, the community events office sent out an email to everyone on the base along with a flyer announcing an event scheduled at Fort Carson in observance of National Day of Prayer. The email included a message from Specialist Brian Havens, who closed his note with “In Christ.” Havens is identified on the Task force website as an event coordinator, indicating that he signed the Task Force’s “Statement of Faith” application and agreed to uphold the NDP Task Force’s Christian policies.

According to Chris Rodda, the senior research director for The Military Religious Freedom Foundation, Weinstein tried to persuade one military chaplain to disassociate himself from a Task Force event in Missouri.

Rodda said she and Weinstein were “surprised” to come across the name of Chaplain Kevin L. McGhee of the Missouri National Guard. According to the NDP Task Force website, Maj. McGhee is scheduled to participate in the NDP Task Force prayer rally at Missouri State Capitol.

This is the same Chaplain McGhee who, last year, came to the defense of Chaplain Bob Larsen, when Larsen converted from Christianity to Wicca and applied to be the first Wiccan chaplain in the U.S. Armed Forces. When Larsen’s application was denied, and he was removed from the chaplain corps, McGhee, who was Larsen’s supervisor at Camp Anaconda in Iraq, said that a “grave injustice” had been done, and that “What happened to Chaplain Larsen — to be honest, I think it’s political. A lot of people think Wiccans are un-American, because they are ignorant about what Wiccans do.”

MRFF informed Chaplain McGhee during a conference call last week of the discriminatory nature of the Missouri State Capitol event and the pledge on the part of its organizers to exclude non-Christians and asked him to reconsider his participation. McGhee has not responded to an email sent yesterday from MRFF asking if he still planned to participate.

This is not the first time the military has come under fire for work it has conducted on behalf of Focus on the Family and other Christian fundamentalist organizations.

ast August, the Pentagon’s inspector general responded to a complaint filed in 2006 by Weinstein’s organization alleging that Defense Department officials violated military regulations by appearing in a video promoting Christian Embassy, a subsidiary of Campus Crusade for Christ.

The inspector general agreed and issued a scathing, 47-page report that was highly critical of senior Army and Air Force personnel for participating in the video while in uniform and on active duty.

The report recommended that Air Force Maj. Gen. Jack Catton, Army Brig. Gen Bob Caslen, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks, Maj. Gen. Peter Sutton, and a colonel and lieutenant colonel whose names were redacted in the inspector general’s report, “improperly endorsed and participated with a non-Federal entity while in uniform” and the men should be disciplined for misconduct. Caslen was formerly the deputy director for political-military affairs for the war on terrorism, directorate for strategic plans and policy, joint staff. He now oversees the 4,200 cadets at the US Military Academy at West Point Caslen told DOD investigators he agreed to appear in the video upon learning other senior Pentagon officials had been interviewed for the promotional video.

The Army generals who appeared in the video appeared to be speaking on behalf of the military, but they did not obtain prior permission to appear in the video. They defended their actions, according to the inspector general’s report, saying the “Christian Embassy had become a ‘quasi-Federal entity,’ since the DOD had endorsed the organization to General Officers for over 25 years.”

Historically, the National Day of Prayer has been non-denominational. Former President Harry S Truman signed a bill proclaiming National Day of Prayer into law on April 17, 1952 so individuals of all faiths could pray together. In 1988, President Reagan designated the first day of May to be recognized as the National Day of Prayer.

But, for a number of years, the National Day of Prayer has been all about promoting fundamentalist Christianity. Dobson’s task force seems determined to turn the half-century old holiday into its own personal recruitment tool by proselytizing to members of the armed forces and the public in hopes of converting people to evangelical Christianity, according to task force documents posted on the group’s website.

The theme of Thursday’s 57th annual event is, “Prayer! America’s Strength and Shield,” which is based on Psalm 28:7: “The Lord is my strength and shield; my heart trusts in Him and I am helped.

Weinstein said the events scheduled for Thursday, specifically those planned by active-duty military officials, underscore the growing trend and the influence fundamentalists have inside the armed forces.

“When United States military personnel knowingly engage in deliberately public activities absolutely demanding the prerequisite of a written, official acknowledgement of acceptance and supremacy of one particular religious worldview to the total exclusion of all others, it is not merely an ‘issue’ or a ‘problem,’ Weinstein said in an interview. “Let’s call it what it is; a national security threat internally to this country every bit as formidable in magnitude as those external national security threats posed by the Taliban, al Quaida, the insurrectionists and the jihadists. It’s as simple and wretched as that.”

In addition to the NDP Task Force events being held on military bases, there will be widespread military participation in non-military NDP events. In Washington state, military flyovers are scheduled to take place at the Calvary Chapel South ball field in Kent, according to the task force website, and the Christian radio station, Praise 106.5 FM, said the Whidbey Island Naval Station will be providing a flyover at the Skagit County event in Mount Vernon.

In order for a military flyover to take place, a form must be filled out and filed with the Pentagon describing the event and, after a review; the proposal is either approved or denied by Pentagon public affairs. The flyovers scheduled for The National Day of Prayer do not appear on the military’s list of eligible flyover events, raising questions about whether the usual application process was completed and approved by the Pentagon.

Additionally, Marine color guards are scheduled to appear at the National Day of Prayer celebration in Bakersfield, Calif., and the Concert of Prayer in Wheeling, West Virginia. The Niagara Falls Air Reserve Base Honor Guard is slated to appear at the “Call To The Wall” in Wheatfield, New York. The National Day of Prayer Noon Rally at the Phoenix, City Hall features the Luke Air Force Base Honor Guard, and the Fort Huachuca Select Honor Guard will appear at a service in Patagonia, Arizona.

Becky Armstrong, a spokeswoman for the National Day of Prayer task force, dismissed charges that the task force was discriminating against non-Christians.

“All Americans are free to exercise their First Amendment rights to organize events that observe the National Day of Prayer in a manner that reflects their religious perspective,” Armstrong said.

Lawyers for the veterans fought to get testimony from Dr. Michael J. Kussman, the under secretary for health at the V.A. Asked on the stand whether he was playing down the traumatic stress issue, Dr. Kussman said, “It is unfair and inappropriate to stigmatize people with a mental health diagnosis when they are having what most people believe are normal reactions to an abnormal situation.” Gordon P. Erspamer, the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, said [Kussman’s] answer indicated that the V.A. had failed to recognize the problem. “That is 19th-century thinking about PTSD and mental health issues,” he said, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder, a combat trauma.

Closing Arguments in Suit on Veterans’ Mental Care

May 1, 2008, San Francisco, CA — The issue of whether veterans with mental health problems are neglected or whether their sheer numbers are overwhelming the system divided closing arguments on Wednesday in a class-action lawsuit in federal court here.

Arturo J. Gonzalez, the lawyer arguing on behalf of the Veterans for Common Sense and the Veterans United for Truth, the two groups who brought the lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs, said that the agency had failed to fully put into effect an action plan it developed four years ago.

The fact that it takes more than 180 days to process a veteran’s claim for benefits represents a “pattern of neglect,” Mr. Gonzalez said, adding that anyone who enters an appeal has to wait four and a half years for a resolution.

“I don’t know how any veteran can stand it and stick with it and get to the end of this process,” Mr. Gonzalez said.

He also emphasized the high rate of suicide attempts, 1,000 a month, among the 5.6 million veterans that the V.A. treats, as a sign that mental health issues need far greater attention.

Daniel Bensing, who made the closing arguments for the V.A., noted that 838,000 claims were filed last year, an increase of 25 percent, because of the jump in veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan and a surge from aging Vietnam veterans. While acknowledging the delays were lengthy, he said that the increase in claims for help was one of four factors causing problems.

The others he cited were that the claims are highly complex, not least because the ties linking veterans’ military records to their medical problems have to be investigated; that the claims process is an open one that allows veterans to add information at any time; and budgetary limitations.

While acknowledging suicide as a serious problem, Mr. Bensing also emphasized that change takes time given that the V.A. runs the largest health care system in the country. “It cannot all be done immediately like plaintiffs seem to think,” he said.

The plaintiffs were not seeking monetary damages but want the judge, Samuel Conti, to intervene to force the V.A. to run more efficiently. The judge, who is expected to rule in June, said he would concentrate on what legal role the Federal District Court should play. Mr. Bensing said it should be up to Congress to change the system.

Lawyers for the veterans fought to get testimony from Dr. Michael J. Kussman, the under secretary for health at the V.A.

Asked on the stand whether he was playing down the traumatic stress issue, Dr. Kussman said, “It is unfair and inappropriate to stigmatize people with a mental health diagnosis when they are having what most people believe are normal reactions to an abnormal situation.”

Gordon P. Erspamer, the lead lawyer for the plaintiffs, said the answer indicated that the V.A. had failed to recognize the problem. “That is 19th-century thinking about PTSD and mental health issues,” he said, referring to post-traumatic stress disorder, a combat trauma.

Underlying the arguments were the long-debated questions swirling around the PTSD diagnosis itself, which experts said one trial will not settle. One view maintains that all veterans suffer some mental trauma, while others argue that the symptoms among veterans with PTSD are more sustained and definitely need treatment.

Several experts also noted that the suicide statistics were not a reliable index as to whether the treatment program was viable because it is severe depression that usually leads to suicide and not post-traumatic stress disorder. PTSD can prompt depression, but it is not automatic.

“Suicide can be a red herring in all this,” said Dr. Mardi Horowitz, professor of psychiatry at the University of California, San Francisco, who helped pioneer stress diagnosis for Vietnam veterans in 1980. “There are abnormal events and there are normal responses. The question is when it goes over an ambiguous line and becomes a diagnosable mental disorder.”

Soldiers relieved to escape combat usually do not develop the problems right away; they develop later, which is why the role of the V.A. is considered so crucial.