Again, I had to go to a foreign newspaper in order to get an article with substance. I saw a blurb in my local paper about the capture of a serial killer of homeless people in Orange County California. It’s a tragic story of four homeless men getting brutally stabbed to death. The U.S. version of events leaves you with the impression that a crazy man killed these people and our courageous police have cracked the case and saved us from this monster.
I wonder why they left out the part about him being a clean cut decorated U.S. Marine who served in Iraq and was honorably discharged in 2010. He was a fun loving polite kid when he went into the Marines. He did his tour in Iraq and came back sullen, with hands that shook, experiencing horrible headaches, and became an alcoholic. What did this kid experience in Iraq that turned him into a serial killer? This is not an isolated incident. Our soldiers are coming back from the Middle East totally fucked up. These endless wars of choice are destroying the boys we are sending over there. Do you think the neo-con chickenhawks care about these men? They only care about winning their real life game of Risk. The soldiers are just pieces on a gameboard to these psychotic fucks.
Lives are being destroyed. Families are being ruined. The four homeless men murdered by this soldier will not show up on the Iraq War casualty count, but they should. If our leaders weren’t sending our young men to kill people in foreign countries without a valid reason, declaration of war or understandable mission, these men in Orange County would still be alive and a young man would still be fun loving and trying to pick up girls on Saturday nights. The real terror in this country has not been wrought by Muslim terrorists, but our own government.
Father of Iraq war veteran who ‘killed four homeless men’ is HIMSELF homeless and lives out of a truck in a parking lot
The father of a Marine veteran suspected of killing four homeless men in Southern California is himself homeless, it has emerged.
Furthermore, just days before being arrested Itzcoatl Ocampo, 23, went to his father, showed him a picture of one of the victims and warned him of the dangers of living on the streets.
‘He was very worried about me,’ said Refugio Ocampo, 49. ‘I told him, “Don’t worry. I’m a survivor. Nothing will happen to me.”‘
His son is awaiting charges in connection with the killings of four homeless men since late December.
The father also said his son came back a changed man after serving in Iraq, expressing disillusionment and becoming ever darker as his family life frayed and he struggled to find his way as a civilian.
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Mr Ocampo, a former lawyer, said his son (pictured right in an image released by police after his arrest) came back a changed man after serving in Iraq
The father said he lost his job and home, and ended up living under a bridge before finding shelter in the cab of a broken-down big-rig he is helping repair.
Itzcoatl Ocampo was arrested Jan. 13 after 64-year-old homeless man, John Berry – believed to be a Vietnam veteran – was stabbed to death outside a Carl’s Jr. restaurant in Anaheim.
Bystanders gave chase, and police made the arrest.
Refugio Ocampo said that on Jan. 11 his son came to him with a picture of the first victim, 53-year-old James Patrick McGillivray, who was killed on Dec. 20.
‘”This is what’s happening,”‘ the father quoted his son as saying.
In addition to Berry and McGillivray, Lloyd Middaugh, 42, was killed near a riverbed trail in Anaheim on Dec. 28; and Paulus Smit, 57, was found dead outside a Yorba Linda library on Dec. 30.
Refugio Ocampo said investigators came to him on Friday night and showed him surveillance photos from a crime scene, but he did not recognize his son as the person in the images.
Itzcoatl Ocampo’s family have released these images of the young man, showing him in happier times
The victims: From left, James McGillivray was stabbed outside a shopping centre on December 20; Lloyd Middaugh was found stabbed on a riverbed on December 28; and Paulus Cornelius Smit was found stabbed outside a library on December 30
‘If he did it, it wasn’t right, obviously. But there’s something wrong with him,’ he said.
Itzcoatl Ocampo had been living with his mother, uncle, and younger brother and sister in a rented house on a horse ranch surrounded by the sprawling suburbs of Yorba Linda.
At the humble home, his mother, who speaks little English, tearfully brought her son’s Marine Corps dress uniform out of a closet and showed unit photos, citations and medals from his military service.
The son followed a friend into the Marine Corps right out of high school in 2006 instead of going to college as his father had hoped. Itzcoatl Ocampo was discharged in 2010 and returned home to find his family in disarray, the father said.
That same month, Itzcoatl Ocampo’s friend, Cpl. Claudio Patino IV, 22, of Yorba Linda, was killed in combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan.
‘Once he received the news he was never the same,’ said the suspect’s younger brother, 17-year-old Mixcoatl Ocampo. He said his brother visited Patino’s grave twice a week.
Refugio and Mixcoatl both described a physical condition Itzcoatl suffered in which his hands shook and he suffered headaches. Medical treatments helped until he started drinking heavily, both said.
‘He started drinking like crazy, too much, way too much,’ the father said.
A neighbor who is a Vietnam veteran and the father both tried to push Itzcoatl to get treatment at a veterans hospital, but he refused. Refugio Ocampo said he wanted his son to get psychological treatment as well.
‘He started talking about stuff that didn’t make any sense, that the end of the world was going to happen,’ he said.
While Refugio Ocampo lives away from his family, they remain close. He saw his children every day, and his wife brings food to the parking lot where the truck is located in the city of Fullerton. He and his two sons went to get haircuts together just a day before the arrest, the father said.
Refugio Ocampo, who said he was educated as a lawyer in Mexico, immigrated with his wife and Itzcoatl in 1988 and became a U.S. citizen. He described building a successful life in which he became a warehouse manager and bought a home in Yorba Linda. In the past few years he lost his job, ran out of savings, lost his house and separated from his wife.
Standing near the truck where he sleeps, the father fought back tears as he described the changes he saw in his son in the year since returning home.
‘Before, he had the initiative to do things, the desire. But after the military, he didn’t have any of that,’ he said.
That was far from the son who in high school was a polite and motivated student, he said.
A school friend, Brian Doyle, portrayed Itzcoatl Ocampo as a fun-loving teen who liked to hit on girls when he joined the military. After he was discharged and returned home he became isolated and trusted no one, said Doyle, 23.
Doyle had difficulty describing the change he saw in his friend from high school.
‘He went from being a tall, geeky kid, really fun-loving…,’ he said, trailing off.
Doyle said he once offered his friend a self-help book based on Eastern philosophy that he had found useful but Itzcoatl Ocampo rejected it.
Doyle said he tried to find out what was going on with his friend but didn’t press it, never imagining something like the serial killings.
‘Everyone’s got their issues, you know,’ he said.
Anaheim Police Chief John Welter has said investigators are confident they have the man responsible for the string of murders that struck fear into Orange County’s homeless since Dec. 20.
Prosecutors have yet to file charges.
On Saturday, mourners wept and placed flowers at the scene of the latest victim, John Berry.
Since mid-December a task force of police officers, sheriff’s deputies and FBI agents had been looking for the single suspect they believed was responsible for the attacks.
He was found between 8pm and 9pm Friday in a Carl’s Jr. parking lot at the intersection of La Palma Avenue and Imperial Highway in Anaheim, police said.
Marilyn Holland, an Anaheim resident who befriended the victim and regularly brought him oatmeal raisin cookies, said he was uncharacteristically nervous since police warned him to stay vigilant in the days after the killings began.
‘He told me he thought he was being followed,’ Holland said.
‘I told him after pay day I was going to get him a cellphone, so he could call 911 if anything happened. Normally he would refuse help but he was willing to accept the phone because he was scared.’
Holland was paid Friday but didn’t get the chance to get the phone to her friend.
Several witnesses reported an assault in progress, and officers arrived to find the homeless man dead near a trash bin in the restaurant parking lot.
Witnesses followed a man who ran from the lot and led police to him, Anaheim police Sgt. Bob Dunn said.
‘We were having dinner in the area and saw about 40 police cars scream into the parking lot. I ran over and hugged my friend, screaming, “Please tell me it’s not John!” But it was,’ Holland said, fighting back tears.
Police set up a large containment area at the crime scene in a search for the killer and scoured nearby neighborhoods, including a mobile home park, Dunn said.
A police bloodhound traced the scent from Ocampo’s belongings back to the scene where the attack occurred, about 10 miles northeast of the Disneyland Resort, authorities said.
Ocampo was being held without bail on suspicion of murder, Dunn said.
A task force of law enforcement officers from Anaheim, Placentia, Brea, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and the FBI had been formed to investigate the killings of the three other homeless men.
James Patrick McGillivray, 53, was killed near a shopping center in Placentia on Dec. 20; Lloyd Middaugh, 42, was found near a riverbed trail in Anaheim on Dec. 28; and Paulus Smit, 57, was killed outside a Yorba Linda library on Dec. 30.
Police and advocates have been urging those living on the streets to head inside or buddy up in the wake of the killings.
The identity of the Friday night victim was not officially released but nearby residents said the man, known as John, was well known.
Krista Schegetz, who had known John for five or six years, told the Orange County Register she had warned him about the killings.
‘When the second one happened, I didn’t know if he’d heard,’ said Schegetz. ‘I know he reads the paper. But I wasn’t sure and I said just please be careful.
‘He was very solitary. When I first met him, I asked him if there was anything he needed, and he said “I have everything.”‘
‘He was the nicest guy you can imagine,’ Kevin Christensen told the Register. ‘I wanted to warn him there was a serial killer loose, and he said “Don’t worry about it.”‘
John’s murder comes after the deaths of three homeless men in ten days last month. Each man, found dead in Orange County, was alone at the time of the killings and stabbed repeatedly.
James McGillivray, 53, was found killed with multiple stab wounds outside a shopping center in Placentia. Eight days later, Lloyd Middaugh, 42, was found along a riverbed trail in Anaheim.
Paulus Cornelius Smit, 57, was found stabbed to death on December 30 in a stairwell outside a library. His daughter told NBC he had been stabbed 15 to 20 times in the chest and that his bicycle had been stolen.
‘He was a proud man,’ Julia Smit Lorenzo, who said her father enjoyed making bicycles from scratch, recounted. ‘He wouldn’t walk away from a situation or into one. It looks like he was ambushed.’
She added: ‘He was street smart. Homelessness was one thing I overcame. He succumbed to it.’
It is not yet known for certain if the killings are linked, but a task force is investigating a connection.
‘Each victim was stabbed multiple times,’ Anaheim Police Deputy Chief Craig Hunter said. ‘There are some additional similarities between the victims that we are not going to discuss.’
No information was released on the man they took into custody, but Hunter said ‘in a very general sense’ he matched the description of the man suspected for the earlier deaths.
But police are not assuming they have solved the serial killings. ‘We are certainly not letting down our guard,’ Hunter said.
Authorities had released grainy photographs from surveillance video of a man in dark clothing wanted for questioning. Video also showed a white Toyota Corolla driving past the scene an hour before the murder.
Police had urged homeless people to seek shelter and visited homeless camps across Orange County to warn transients of a serial killer is on the loose.
On Friday, the Orange County sheriff’s deputies union had announced a $5,000 reward for information leading to an arrest.
Tom Dominguez, president of the Association of Orange County Deputy Sheriffs, told City News Service: ‘This guy is a serial killer preying on some of the most vulnerable people in society.
‘We have to do whatever we can to stop him from killing anyone else. If a reward can get someone to talk and help find him, it’s worth every penny and more.’
They have also been stopping and questioning motorists around the locations of the crimes.
VickiS says:
What a disturbing story. Thank you for using your blog as a forum to get the information out there. Following is a link to a piece that aired on Frontline (PBS) last year about 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st Batallion, 506th Infantry, out of Ft. Carson, Colorado. A very upsetting documentary about how messed up some of these young men are when they come back to the States after tours in Iraq. Some of these guys had mental health issues when they enlisted, some were given lots of heavy duty psych meds while serving. Several committed horrible crimes when they returned to the States. There are many dimensions to this issue. I urge everyone to watch. Here’s the link:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/woundedplatoon/view/
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18th January 2012 at 4:24 pm
Administrator says:
Ironic that one of the homeless men stabbed to death by the Iraqi War veteran was a Vietnam War veteran. And so it goes.
Do you see any connection?
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18th January 2012 at 4:59 pm
Muck About says:
A fairly easy call. Itzcoatl Ocampo never came back from Iraq. Mentally, he never decoupled from a war zone where anyone “out there” is an enemy and will kill you if you don’t kill them. He also likely suffers from a 24 hour case of PTSD where everyone he meets is “out there”.
The VA screwed the pouch big time with this boy. I bet he wasn’t even debriefed and examined for PTSD or other lasting effects of close combat.
Too bad.. Another wreck left behind by a worthless war we never should have gotten into in the first place.
The way things are going now, I’d make a bet that within 6 weeks or less, there is a full blown 3-way civil war in progress between Sunni, Shiite and Kurd factions. Iraq will eventually end up as three countries with never ending fighting going on in the oil producing parts of the place. That sure means “Mission Accomplished” for the good ol’ USA, right?
MA
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18th January 2012 at 5:18 pm
AWD says:
Mostly poor minorities and rural kids join the military, at least as grunts. The are promised money for signing, money for college, foreign travel, hookers, you name it. Then they get put through the meat grinder.
Ron Paul rising above the chickenhawks….
War is a human meat grinder…
and money…
But the criminal politicians and their owners, the military-industrial complex gets rich!!!!!!!!!
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18th January 2012 at 5:24 pm
Jackson says:
In addition to the American soldiers with scrambled brains and forlorn futures who’ve come back from the Mid-East war, there are the thousands who’ve committed suicide, and the tens of thousands of crippled men who’ll live stunted lives from now on. And then there are their affected families and friends.
Has it been worth it? If you love the State and it’s empire, all this loss is acceptable. Collateral damage is the term. Or how about calling it “Low Life Loss” since almost all those grunts, overseas or at home, aren’t things most Americans have much to do with or care much about?
Measured against the plenty good money to be made what does it matter if someone else’s son comes home in a box or that we wonder why some Marine goes berserk and kills a few folks we don’t know?
“Lives are being destroyed. Families are being ruined….The real terror in this country has not been wrought by Muslim terrorists, but our own government.”
Close but no cigar, Administrator. The real terror is that so few care about what being done in our name and with our money and that seemingly nothing can be done about it.
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18th January 2012 at 5:32 pm
flash says:
Hey, hey, USA , making US killers the old-fashioned way.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZ7tRfgmBvk
Everybody wants to know why he couldn’t adjust
Adjust to what, a dream that bust?
He was a clean-cut kid
But they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
They said what’s up is down, they said what isn’t is
They put ideas in his head he thought were his
He was a clean-cut kid
But they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
He was on the baseball team, he was in the marching band
When he was ten years old he had a watermelon stand
He was a clean-cut kid
But they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
He went to church on Sunday, he was a Boy Scout
For his friends he would turn his pockets inside out
He was a clean-cut kid
But they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
They said, “Listen boy, you’re just a pup”
They sent him to a napalm health spa to shape up
They gave him dope to smoke, drinks and pills
A jeep to drive, blood to spill
They said “Congratulations, you got what it takes”
They sent him back into the rat race without any brakes
He was a clean-cut kid
But they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
He bought the American dream but it put him in debt
The only game he could play was Russian roulette
He drank Coca-Cola, he was eating Wonder Bread
Ate Burger Kings, he was well fed
He went to Hollywood to see Peter O’Toole
He stole a Rolls-Royce and drove it in a swimming pool
They took a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
He could’ve sold insurance, owned a restaurant or bar
Could’ve been an accountant or a tennis star
He was wearing boxing gloves, took a dive one day
Off the Golden Gate Bridge into China Bay
His mama walks the floor, his daddy weeps and moans
They gotta sleep together in a home they don’t own
They took a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
Well, everybody’s asking why he couldn’t adjust
All he ever wanted was somebody to trust
They took his head and turned it inside out
He never did know what it was all about
He had a steady job, he joined the choir
He never did plan to walk the high wire
They took a clean-cut kid
And they made a killer out of him
That’s what they did
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18th January 2012 at 5:42 pm
Administrator says:
Report: Suicide increase threatens volunteer military’s future
Military suicides are such a serious and growing problem that they threaten the future of the voluntary military, a new report warns.
The study from the Center for a New American Security says the upswing in suicides during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq will undercut recruitment and public confidence.
“America is losing its battle against suicide by veterans and service members,” the report says. “As more troops return from deployment, the risk will only grow.”
The report says that suicides have climbed steadily since in recent years.
Department of Defense statistics show the upswing — there were 309 suicides among active-duty and reserve troops from all branches of the military in 2009, compared with 160 in 2001. That’s a rate of 18.4 suicides for every 100,000 troops in 2009 compared with a rate 10.3 per 100,000 in 2001.
The Army reported a record-high number of suicides in July 2011 with the deaths of 33 active- and reserve-component service members categorized as suicides, according to the report.
“The military must take care of its own,” the report says. “Although a goal of no suicides may be unachievable, the increasing number of suicides is unacceptable.”
The Army has the most severe problem although all the services are working to fight the problem.
The report lists a number of recommendations including better accounting of how many suicides actually occur among active-duty and retired military, how service members can be monitored more carefully, especially between once-a-month training sessions for Guard and Reserves, and improved efforts to limit or destroy excess prescription medications that can used in suicides.
The report authors, Dr. Margaret C. Harrell and Nancy Berglassit, call on Congress to fund additional mental health care providers.
“There is a national shortage of mental health care and behavioral health care professionals, a factor linked to higher rates of suicide,” the report says. “Congress should permanently establish expedited or direct hire authority allowing military hospitals to hire behavioral health care providers.”
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18th January 2012 at 8:02 pm
Administrator says:
408,167 veterans with a primary or secondary diagnosis of PTSD received treatment at VA medical centers and clinics in 2010; this number, combined with another statistic – by the VA’s own estimation, only about 36 percent of the veterans who are eligible for its benefits and programs sign up to receive them – suggests that many, perhaps tens of thousands, are simply being missed by an overburdened system.
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18th January 2012 at 8:07 pm
Administrator says:
Divorce Rate Among Afghanistan, Iraq War Vets Increases by 42 Percent
The divorce rate among military couples has increased 42 percent throughout the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a recent study shows, adding to the woes of U.S. military veterans returning from the Middle East who already have to tackle war-related problems like post-traumatic stress disorder and high unemployment rates.
Couples’ plans to pursue divorce gain plausibility with each subsequent month a service member is deployed, according to new research by Family Life, a nonprofit that focuses on marriage and parenting issues. The first 90 days after deployment are the most critical for military marriages, the organization says.
“That window is the proven time frame during which people develop habits and set the tone for the future of their marriage. It’s critical for military couples to establish healthy habits quickly as they struggle to reconnect and restructure their families,” Family Life Founder and President Dennis Rainey said in a statement.
Some of the most common issues touching fresh veterans are a rushed transition to civilian life, renegotiating roles with the partner, realizing both spouses have changed during deployment, and possibly the influence of post-traumatic stress disorder, the organization claims.
“Civilians often don’t understand that, though the battle overseas may be over, our troops must now come home and fight for their marriages,” Air Force wife Valerie Gaff of Family Life said. Gaff has experienced the challenges of an 18-year military marriage and now works with the organization to help others in a similar situation.
Gaff’s husband, Air Force Master Sergeant Todd Gaff, received orders to deploy to Afghanistan in 2001. It was to be only the first of 13 duty calls to the Mideast he was to receive.
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18th January 2012 at 8:13 pm
Administrator says:
As Wars End, Young Veterans Return to Scant Jobs
By SHAILA DEWAN
COLUMBUS, Ohio — In Afghanistan, Cpl. Clayton Rhoden earned about $2,500 a month jumping into helicopters to chase down improvised explosive devices or check out suspected bomb factories.
Now he lives with his parents, sells his blood plasma for $80 a week and works what extra duty he can get for his Marine Corps Reserve unit.
Corporal Rhoden, who is 25, gawky and polite with a passion for soldiering, is one of the legions of veterans who served in combat yet have a harder time finding work than other people their age, a situation that officials say will grow worse as the United States completes its pullout of Iraq and as, by a White House estimate, a million new veterans join the work force over the next five years.
Veterans’ joblessness is concentrated among the young and those still serving in the National Guard or Reserve. The unemployment rate for veterans aged 20 to 24 has averaged 30 percent this year, more than double that of others the same age, though the rate for older veterans closely matches that of civilians. Reservists like Corporal Rhoden have a bleak outlook as well.
In July 2010, their unemployment rate was 21 percent, compared with 12 percent for other vets.
“There’s been an upsurge in young people going into the military and not staying for a full 20-year career,” said Jane Oates, the assistant secretary for employment and training at the Labor Department, which has worked to improve the three-day transition assistance program for outgoing soldiers and enlisted companies like Facebook to reach them. “I think transitions have been difficult, with too few jobs out there and lack of clarity about what the employer wants.”
The employment gap cannot be explained by a simple factor like lack of a college degree — despite their discipline and training, young veterans fare worse in the job market than their peers without degrees.
Employers and veterans seem to view each other as alien species. Managers, few of whom have military experience themselves, may fear the aftereffects of combat or losing reservists to another deployment. They may have difficulty understanding how military accomplishments translate to the civilian world.
Young veterans, whose work history may consist entirely of military service, often need to learn basics like what to wear to a job interview. More important, many say, they are overwhelmed by the transition from combat to civilian life.
“It’s shell shock for a lot of them, going from such a structured lifestyle to a lifestyle that’s got so many variables,” said Daniel Hutchison, 29, who uses his own combat disability check to finance a shoestring transition assistance group, Ohio Combat Veterans. “They’re dealing with all the emotional things they went through, and they feel like they’re alone.”
The Obama administration has championed veterans’ maturity, management skills and even their promptness. Employers have jumped on the bandwagon, and large companies like JPMorgan Chase and Verizon have signed a pledge to hire a total of 100,000 veterans by 2020. More than 220,000 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan are out of work.
Over a decade of war, the requirement that companies restore reservists to their old jobs has placed a heavy burden on businesses, said Ted Daywalt, who runs VetJobs.com in Georgia. “Nearly 65 to 70 percent of employers will not now hire National Guard and Reserve,” he said. “They can’t run their business with someone being taken away for 12 months.”
Though employers typically ask about military service and status on job applications, it is illegal to discriminate based on that information.
Corporal Rhoden said his reserve duties had interfered with one job to the point that he quit. “I’ve tried restaurants, shipping facilities, construction, snow removal businesses, landscaping — pretty much anything that you don’t need a college degree to do,” he said.
Veterans have been coached to write résumés that emphasize leadership skills instead of “the killing or capture of 350 Al-Qaeda associates,” raising some skepticism.
“I’m not necessarily convinced that they have great marketable skills,” said Rachel Feldstein, the associate director of New Directions, which offers drug rehabilitation, job training and other services to veterans in San Diego. “If you train someone to be a sniper, those are not necessarily skills that are transferable.”
Young veterans face stiff competition for the jobs that fit them best, like policing. In Columbus, Dustin Szarell, 30, said he was passed over for work in the Akron Fire Department and as a juvenile corrections officer in favor of candidates who had experience in those fields.
The Obama administration has stepped up hiring of veterans, adding more than 85,000 to the government payroll since the 2008 fiscal year. On Saturday, President Obama praised returning veterans and said “it is time to enlist our veterans and all our people in the work of rebuilding America.” The administration is trying to shape a “career-ready military” whose medics and electricians can more easily attain the licenses they need to work as civilians. As of October, the G.I. Bill that pays for college can also be used for vocational training or apprenticeships.
But many young vets are still working through the aftermath of combat.
In interviews, some veterans said employers overestimated these problems. “They have this misconception that we’re all struggling from P.T.S.D. in its most severe form, we’re all going to rage out,” said Sgt. Kobby Nyen, 25, a Marine reservist and student. “Even a Marine with P.T.S.D. has discipline.”
But others acknowledged that coping was an issue. “I don’t know who in their right mind would want to hire me when I got back from Afghanistan, because I was a disaster,” said Jeff Mancino, 24, who is now studying to become a psychologist. “I was 22 and I had to go to rehab — what kind of 22-year-old does that?”
Often, the veterans Mr. Hutchison of Ohio Combat Veterans sees need much more than a job. Recently, he traveled 50 miles to Logan, Ohio, to meet Ethan Tomblin-Brooks, 24, who lives in a shell of a camper in his parents’ driveway and gets construction work about once a week.
Mr. Tomblin-Brooks, who was injured in Iraq, said he had registered with the Veterans Affairs department but had not heard back. Army psychologists first diagnosed P.T.S.D., then bipolar disorder, but Mr. Tomblin-Brooks said he had no money for treatment, and no transportation.
Mr. Hutchison said he would help him get medical benefits, then tried to gently explain how little work is available in construction. Mr. Tomblin-Brooks, who has a G.E.D., was at a loss to suggest another prospect.
If he could, he said, he would rejoin the Army. “I kind of like being told what to do,” he said. “It makes it a little easier than figuring it out on your own.”
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18th January 2012 at 8:17 pm
ron says:
The wars and why theyre fought is just some of the many mistakes made by our government.If you really think about it,the government makes few good decisions.
Energy independance? NAFTA and free trade? Raise the dept ceiling,dont cut agency.It just goes on n on.
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18th January 2012 at 9:52 pm
Colma Rising says:
“……At home and abroad, these events will reflect the tearing of the civic fabric at points of extreme vulnerability – problem areas where America will have neglected, denied, or delayed needed action.”
( http://www.theburningplatform.com/?p=27063 , P1,….. S&H 4th T.)
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18th January 2012 at 2:27 am
flash says:
We the US will bomb ‘em back to the stone age and be back home in time for Christmas….bet on it!
We should declare war on North Vietnam. . . .We could pave the whole country and put parking strips on it, and still be home by Christmas.
–Ronald Reagan, 1965
Tell the Vietnamese they’ve got to draw in their horns or we’re going to bomb them back into the Stone Age.
–Gen. Curtis LeMay, May 1964
http://lewrockwell.com/margolis/margolis277.html
Brewing Up a Fool’s War in the Gulf
by Eric Margolis
“With Iraq defanged and Syria in turmoil, Iran is the last major Mideast state that refuses to be part of the US sphere of influence – what I call the American Raj.
As Iran’s noisy defiance grows, Washington fears its influence and prestige will suffer unless it brings the annoying mullahs to heel. The so-called “Arab spring” has a confused Washington ready to lash out, as Libya showed. A crisis in the Gulf could derail US plans to reassert its influence over the Mideast.
Iran’s nuclear program has become the symbol of that nation’s fiery nationalism. Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, insists the West is determined to keep the Muslim world technologically backward. Iran’s nuclear program is a great technological leap forward for all Muslims, asserts the ayatollah.
Embarrassingly for Washington’s hawks, two recent US national intelligence estimates so far support the ayatollah’s assertions that Iran’s nuclear program is strictly for power generation.
However, US allies on the UN’s Atomic Energy Agency continue to raise questions as to the intent of the Iranian program, without producing any hard proof of warlike intent.
Israel is straining every muscle to push the US into war against Iran, as it did in 2002-2003 with Iraq, thus sparing itself the difficult task. The recent string of murders of Iranian scientists appears designed to provoke Iran into a retaliation that would set in motion a full-scale war. So far, Iran has refrained from any retaliation.
The powerful US pro-Israel lobby and its Christian fundamentalist allies (now 44% of all Republican voters) have gotten Congress to impose new sanctions aimed at sharply curtailing Iran’s oil exports – in effect, economic all-out warfare that could spark a shooting war. A war, like Afghanistan and Iraq, that the US bankrupt government will finance through borrowed money, not taxes. “
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18th January 2012 at 6:24 am
flash says:
No truer words ever spoken , but it seems escaping the fate of the ignorant is still not an option. George Santayana
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LSTc-5Fn_Y
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”,
http://www.tpromo2.com/gko/files1/entangle.htm
George Washington
On Foreign Entanglements
1796
Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages, which might be lost by a steady adherence to it? Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! Is it rendered impossible by its vices?
In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habitual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times, it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations has been the victim.
So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter, without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions, by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluged citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.
As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils! Such an attachment of a small or weak, towards a great and powerful nation, dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.
Against the insidious wiles of foreign influences (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens), the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy, to be useful, must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defence against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation, and excessive dislike of another, cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite, are liable to become suspected and odious; while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.
The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign nations, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop.
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18th January 2012 at 6:30 am
flash says:
Foreign entanglements?…nope…none here….nothing to see .now move on.
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2012/01/13/false_flag?page=0,0
Buried deep in the archives of America’s intelligence services are a series of memos, written during the last years of President George W. Bush’s administration, that describe how Israeli Mossad officers recruited operatives belonging to the terrorist group Jundallah by passing themselves off as American agents. According to two U.S. intelligence officials, the Israelis, flush with American dollars and toting U.S. passports, posed as CIA officers in recruiting Jundallah operatives — what is commonly referred to as a “false flag” operation.
A spate of stories in 2007 and 2008, including a report by ABC News and a New Yorker article, suggested that the United States was offering covert support to Jundallah. The issue has now returned to the spotlight with the string of assassinations of Iranian nuclear scientists and has outraged serving and retired intelligence officers who fear that Israeli operations are endangering American lives.
“This certainly isn’t the first time this has happened, though it’s the worst case I’ve heard of,” former Centcom chief and retired Gen. Joe Hoar said of the Israeli operation upon being informed of it. “But while false-flag operations are hardly new, they’re extremely dangerous. You’re basically using your friendship with an ally for your own purposes. Israel is playing with fire. It gets us involved in their covert war, whether we want to be involved or not.”
The Israeli operation left a number of recently retired CIA officers sputtering in frustration. “It’s going to be pretty hard for the U.S. to distance itself from an Israeli attack on Iran with this kind of thing going on,” one of them told me.
Jundallah head Abdolmalek Rigi was captured by Iran in February 2010. Although initial reports claimed that he was captured by the Iranians after taking a flight from Dubai to Kyrgyzstan, a retired intelligence officer with knowledge of the incident told me that Rigi was detained by Pakistani intelligence officers in Pakistan. The officer said that Rigi was turned over to the Iranians after the Pakistani government informed the United States that it planned to do so. The United States, this officer said, did not raise objections to the Pakistani decision.
Iran, meanwhile, has consistently claimed that Rigi was snatched from under the eyes of the CIA, which it alleges supported him. “It doesn’t matter,” the former intelligence officer said of Iran’s charges. “It doesn’t matter what they say. They know the truth.”
Rigi was interrogated, tried, and convicted by the Iranians and hanged on June 20, 2010. Prior to his execution, Rigi claimed in an interview with Iranian media — which has to be assumed was under duress — that he had doubts about U.S. sponsorship of Jundallah. He recounted an alleged meeting with “NATO officials” in Morocco in 2007 that raised his suspicions. “When we thought about it we came to the conclusion that they are either Americans acting under NATO cover or Israelis,” he said.
While many of the details of Israel’s involvement with Jundallah are now known, many others still remain a mystery — and are likely to remain so. The CIA memos of the incident have been “blue bordered,” meaning that they were circulated to senior levels of the broader U.S. intelligence community as well as senior State Department officials.
What has become crystal clear, however, is the level of anger among senior intelligence officials about Israel’s actions. “This was stupid and dangerous,” the intelligence official who first told me about the operation said. “Israel is supposed to be working with us, not against us. If they want to shed blood, it would help a lot if it was their blood and not ours. You know, they’re supposed to be a strategic asset. Well, guess what? There are a lot of people now, important people, who just don’t think that’s true.”
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18th January 2012 at 6:59 am
ssgconway says:
The local VFW is hosting a fundraiser for an Iraq vet – homeless and disabled – who’s still waiting for the VA to help him. His wife, who went on to the streets with him, passed away Dec. 29. The children are in foster care. It made the local shopping guide – should’ve been the lead story on the 6 O’clock news. I want to think that only the invisibility of these stories is the only reason for the lack of national outrage, but I believe that at least part of the answer is that most people are oblivious – and willfully so.
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18th January 2012 at 9:08 am