AltWeeklies Wire
New Mexico National Guard Returns from Guantanamo Baynew
Last month, more than 70 New Mexico guardsmen came home from a year-long deployment to the US military base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba — one of the most controversial outposts in George W Bush’s "war on terror."
Santa Fe Reporter |
Corey Pein |
02-12-2009 |
War
Tags: Guantanamo Bay, New Mexico Guard
Commission on Wartime Contracting Tries -- Finally -- to Summon Truman's Spiritnew
Earlier this week in Washington was the first public hearing of a new bureaucratic body called the Commission on Wartime Contracting -- the lovechild of Missouri Sen. Claire McCaskill and Virginia Sen. Jim Webb.
At Fort Leavenworth, Officers Are Marching on the Blogospherenew

Lt. Gen. William B. Caldwell, who oversees the Army's Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, decided last year to make media savvy a requirement for graduation. Each war-college student must complete a course of "strategic communication" in order to graduate.
West Bank: Welcome to the Occupationnew

With the eyes of the world focused on the carnage in the Gaza Strip, the challenges of life under occupation in the Palestinian territory of the West Bank continue.
VUE Weekly |
Scott Harris |
01-22-2009 |
War
Obama's Weasel Words on Iraq
Obama promises to redeploy "combat troops" from Iraq. In practice, however, there's no difference between "combat troops" and "advisers." Four years from now, Americans will still be fighting, killing and dying in Iraq.
The Army's Brain Lives in Seattlenew
Cray Inc. is improving soldiers' armor, tanks, and supercomputers, thanks to millions in government contracts.
Seattle Weekly |
Rick Anderson |
12-22-2008 |
War
Program for Fallen Soldiers' Families Feels the Economic Pinchnew
Debbie Busch founded the nonprofit Helping to Unite Gold Star Survivors in 2003 to provide the loved ones of slain soldiers with support groups, summer camps and phone calls during difficult times such as birthdays, holidays and anniversaries. Six years later, Busch worries she and her tiny staff may soon have to close because of lack of funding.
Dallas Observer |
Megan Feldman |
12-22-2008 |
War
Why Aren't We Attacking Somalia's Pirates?
We bomb Afghan wedding parties like they're going out of style. Why aren't we going after Somalia's pirates?
Vets with PTSD Tackle the Scars You Can't Seenew

New cases of PTSD are flooding the VA system. Some veterans of earlier wars know what those Iraq and Afghanistan vets are in for.
Waging a PR War at Guantanamonew

U.S. officials are working hard to convince journalists that the military commission trial of Canadian Omar Khadr is fair. This is quite a feat given that Khadr is heading into a courtroom without a full investigation of charges that he was interrogated without access to legal counsel and under torture.
NOW Magazine |
Debbie Melnyk and Rick Caine |
11-03-2008 |
War
President Obama: Shut Down This Camp!
Both Obama and McCain have promised to shut down Gitmo. But neither will commit to a timeline. Now, before the election, both men should pledge to shut down America's Devil's Island on January 20, 2009.
Thousands of Wounded Vets Are Called to Fight Againnew
After nearly two years of convalescing and almost fully recovering from being shot in the shoulder and suffering a head wound from a bomb, Ismail Cabral has been told to expect to start another two-year tour of duty within the next six months. And he's not alone.
Pasadena Weekly |
Kevin Uhrich |
10-07-2008 |
War
Andrew and Freddy Velez, the First Brothers to Die in America's War on Terrornew
Carmen and Roy Velez lost two sons to the War on Terror -- one to the invasion of Fallujah and the other to suicide, which is on the rise in the Army.
Dallas Observer |
Megan Feldman |
10-06-2008 |
War
Tags: Iraq, War on terror, Army, PTSD, death, soldiers, war & peace, Andrew Velez, Freddy Velez, soldier suicide
David Noblett's Last War Was to Get His Doctor Backnew

When the Texas Medical Board suspended the license of Noblett's doctor, it left him and hundreds of other patients unable to get meds because there aren't many doctors willing to specialize in treating chronic pain, a field of medicine that is drawing the wrath of regulators.
Fort Worth Weekly |
Jeff Prince |
10-02-2008 |
War
Go to War, Get Traumatized, Get the Bootnew

Like many Iraq combat vets, Mark Siegel had trouble coping back home. So the Army kicked him out.
Seattle Weekly |
Nina Shapiro |
09-29-2008 |
War