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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message -----
<DIV style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A
title=tanstl@aol.com href="mailto:tanstl@aol.com">David Sladky</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>To:</B> <A title=undisclosed-recipients:
href="mailto:undisclosed-recipients:">undisclosed-recipients:</A> </DIV>
<DIV><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, March 04, 2010 11:42 AM</DIV>
<DIV><B>Subject:</B> "Mass Casualties": The Dark Underbelly of Occupation, an
Army Medic's Account</DIV></DIV>
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<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.39in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.5in"
align=justify><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 20pt" size=5><B>"Mass Casualties": The
Dark Underbelly of Occupation, an Army Medic's Account</B></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt" size=4>by Dahr
Jamail</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><FONT style="FONT-SIZE: 16pt" size=4><FONT
style="FONT-SIZE: 13pt" size=3><A href="http://www.truthout.org/"
target=_blank>Truthout</A> - 2010-02-18</FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0in"><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.39in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.5in"
align=justify><BR><BR></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.39in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.5in"
align=justify>"Look around," the drill sergeant said. "In a few years, or even a
few months, several of you will be dead. Some of you will be severely wounded or
so badly mutilated that your own mother can't stand the sight of you. And for
the real unlucky ones, you will come home so emotionally disfigured that you
wish you had died over there."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>"It was
Week 7 of basic training ... eighteen years old and I was preparing myself to
die," said Michael Anthony in "Mass Casualties: A Young Medic's True Story of
Death, Deception and Dishonor in Iraq." The book is more than a simple memoir
about a difficult experience. It is an insider's scathing testimony of an
ongoing illegal and unethical military action in a distant, once-sovereign
state, by the US. Perhaps, this fresh account will raise some outcry over an
issue that has all but dropped out of the American public's radar.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>Following
the family legacy of military service, Anthony enlisted in the military at 17.
The image he had nurtured of the idealism of military life, however, ran aground
upon his arrival in Iraq, where he served as a medic in an operating room (OR)
at a US military base.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>"Mass
Casualties" is a collection of Anthony's personal journal entries from his time
in Iraq. It includes his introspections on and insights into the inherently
irrational and meaningless nature of military life. The rawness of the narrative
reveals how the occupation broke down the young soldier's spirit and almost
desensitized him into believing "my job isn't to feel."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>The late
historian and Author Howard Zinn held the book in high regard. "Michael
Anthony's memoir is not about the politics of Iraq. Instead it takes us deep
inside the war, inside and outside the operation room, the barracks, the talk of
the soldiers, the feeling of the situation ... unique and powerful," Zinn wrote.
</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>The young
author makes no attempt to shield the reader from the reality of war. In one
instance, he gives a graphic description of working on an Iraqi patient who had
received shrapnel from proximity to a suicide bomber. The shrapnel embedded in
the patient's body happened to be bone fragments of the suicide bomber.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>"I've got a
belly full of bacon and eggs and I'm about to have my arms elbow deep in
someone's stomach," he wrote of his first days there, "In the OR we only do
three surgeries at a time because that's the number of beds we have. Even worse
is that in one of our rooms we have two OR beds placed only a few feet apart.
This means we'll often have two surgeries going on at the same time in the same
room. Not the most sterile setup in the world, but we're short on staff and
short on space, just not short on patients."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>Here is an
account that chronicles the impact of war on the individual psyche as well as
the collective consciousness of those that participate in it. We are shown the
swift process of dehumanization that all soldiers undergo on the ground, to the
extent that the lines distinguishing "friend" from enemy get blurred.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>After
hearing about a woman in his unit being "gang-banged" by three Marines at his
base the soldier writes: "I wish I could just forget everything and go back to
thinking that everyone in the military is an American hero. I wish I still had
someone to look up to, although I know it's impossible. None of it seems to make
sense, and I can't understand how people can do what they do."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>The
author's morale, like that of his peers, plummets within weeks of his arrival in
Iraq. Nothing had prepared him for the melting of backgrounds and personalities
that the Army is. His associates in the battle field are not easy people: "What
an outfit: people in their thirties, married with children, all of them having
affairs. One was a heroine addict; the other has slept with eleven men in the
past three months. One guy tired to kill himself and another kidnapped a drug
dealer. Alcoholics, chain smokers, compulsive gamblers - who am I to
judge?"</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>The reader
is exposed to the factors leading to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a
serious condition that has been affecting veterans and active duty soldiers
alike, in epidemic proportions since the beginning of the occupation.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>Anthony
writes of a suicide prevention class he and his fellow-soldiers are required to
attend:</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.39in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.5in"
align=justify>... they also tell us that people who are suicidal usually become
depressed from big changes happening in their lives. They say that depressed
people become withdrawn and will not enjoy everyday activities. They'll sleep a
lot. I couldn't help but laugh when I heard this ... because I looked around the
room and everyone fit the criteria. We've all had a huge change in our lives
coming to Iraq. Everyone here is withdrawn and sleeps as much as possible, and
our everyday activities consist of running for our lives and working on
near-death patients. Who wouldn't be depressed and want to spend time alone? We
work long hours at unpredictable times, and we see the same people twenty-four
hours a day, seven days a week. What I never understood from these classes is
how are we supposed to spot the real suicidal people when everyone has suicidal
symptoms?</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>There is a
suicide attempt in his unit, but the higher-ups opt not to write it up because
nobody wants the hassle of doing the paperwork.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>Matters
inevitably worsen under abusive commanders. While he is resigned to the binding
contract that "... says that all my decisions are to be made by somebody else
who is my superior," he does not feel particularly comfortable about it. "I've
seen him yell at a female soldier while she sobbed uncontrollably. This is the
guy who's supposed to be, I mean is, our leader in Iraq."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>When
Anthony's unit is moved from Mosul to Al-Anbar province in central Iraq to set
up a new hospital, the unit commander leads the men to believe that he would be
working at another hospital for a month, but actually he was back in the US
taking a class at a war college because he needed the course in order to be
promoted. The medic finds it unconscionable: "I start to feel nauseous - we are
in the middle of fighting a war and our leader has given himself a month-long
VACATION."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>As the book
progresses, the shift in Anthony's stance from his original reverence of the
military to a defined mistrust of it, becomes evident. So much so that he said,
"All it took for me to respect someone in the military was for that person to
refuse a direct order."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>The irony
is not lost on the reader who sees the young soldier getting apprehensive about
returning to civilian life and autonomous decision making, as his year of
service draws to a close.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>Grappling
with his own guilt, he has difficulty reconciling himself to the sentiments
behind the care packages that come from home. "These people are sending us
everything they have, and most of us don't deserve it. They aren't sending
provisions to the heroes they think we are. It is going to us doing shit jobs
and others who are criminals; people doing drugs, committing crimes, molesters,
adulterers, people doing anything they can to only help themselves. The worst
part about these old people sending me this package is they think they're
helping."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>Mindful of
his own boyhood spent idolizing the Army and playing with GI Joes in the
backyard, Anthony is filled with remorse: "Soon the letters from the third and
fourth graders will start to come. Those are the most depressing of them all.
Kids writing letters supporting something they know nothing about, only that
they're told to support their country and the war."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>If for
nothing else, "Mass Casualties" gains immense importance in its honest portrayal
of a young soldier's vulnerability as he struggles hard to cope with his
shattered illusion about the Army. It is not difficult to share his angst as he
reflects, "I think about why I'm fighting this war and my eyes tear up. I think
of all the people we've killed. I think of all the people's families - mothers,
fathers, siblings - and how they'll never see them again ... I think about the
war and I feel nothing. I think about life and death, mine and everyone else's,
and I feel nothing. I think about myself and I don't care if I live or die. On
these nights, mortars go off and I won't get out of bed. I'll lie in bed as the
bombs go off. I tell myself it doesn't matter if I live or die, nothing matters
- I like it when I feel nothing."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>To "take
the edge off" being in Iraq, he tries everything from heavy smoking to excessive
pain medication and reported, "Here's what my days are like, I wake up in the
morning and smoke to get rid of my headache, then I walk to work, in a hundred
and twenty degrees of heat, and then spend all day covered in blood. Then I go
home, take some pills, and fall asleep."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>In a frank
admission of his fears and lamenting the breaking of his spirit he said, "We're
warriors on the battlefield but cowards in our own minds and hearts."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>Anthony was
back from Iraq and driving home from a lecture he had delivered on PTSD and
suicidal veterans when he learned of the Fort Hood shootings [allegedly] by
Nidal Hassan that left dozens dead and wounded.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>He told
Truthout that the incident came as no surprise to him and, "Stories like that
reminded me that there's absolutely nothing a soldier can do to not get deployed
overseas. The Army has a policy that if a soldier says they're suicidal or
homicidal, they still get sent overseas. Why? Because if every soldier who said
they're suicidal or homicidal didn't get sent overseas then anyone who doesn't
want to go would just say they're suicidal or homicidal. So the Army in turn
just sends everyone, no matter what.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-LEFT: 0.39in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.5in"
align=justify>"I had a friend who didn't want to go to Iraq so he purposely
failed five drug tests in a row (smoking pot and doing coke) he still got sent
to Iraq. There was one guy in my unit who didn't want to go to Iraq, he told our
commanders he was suicidal, they said he still had to go. The soldier then went
and got a swastika tattooed on his shoulder, he told the commanders that he was
racist and hated everyone except white people; commanders said he still had to
go to Iraq. The next day he takes a bottle of pills and tries to kill himself -
and I'm sure if he were physically capable of it, he still would have had to go
to Iraq. There was a guy in my unit who was on anti-depressant medication; our
commanders said they couldn't deploy him on that medication that he should stop
taking it. The next day he tries to stab someone and is put in jail, he still
went to Iraq with us. There are more and more of the same stories ... There's
literally nothing you can do to not go to Iraq and I think that's why suicidal
and homicidal patients aren't getting the care they need because before it's
time to go overseas, you're going no matter what, and after you get back, the
government doesn't care."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>Rather than
feeling happy or proud of his time deployed in Iraq, Anthony captures a feeling
that must be all too common for returning troops who simply want out.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>Recounting
to Truthout one particular occasion when he realized that things had gone very
wrong with him, Anthony said, "Everyone comes home changed. For me I noticed it
my first week back. I went to visit my brother in San Diego and it was the end
of October and for Halloween my brother and I went to this bar ... My only
concern was chain-smoking and chain-drinking ... We go to this bar and I've just
gotten back and I'm still in this mood like, "Nobody knows what it was like.
Nobody knows where I just came from and went through." My brother and I go to
this empty table and we start drinking beers and I'm chain smoking cigarettes,
then three biker guys come up to us, they look at me and say, 'You guys are at
our table' and as the guy says 'table' I turn around and blow my cigarette smoke
in his face while saying, "Table was empty when we sat down, go find another
one." It all went downhill from there. One of the guys put his hand on my hand
(which was holding my beer) and pushes it away; another guy turns his back
towards me and starts roughly leaning towards me as if to butt me out, and at
this I get angry and in my head. I'm telling myself 'These guys have no idea
where I just came from; these dumb bikers think they're so tough, I'd like to
see them overseas' etc. And I'm getting madder and madder and we're saying
things back and forth and finally I'm so angry, that I turn my empty beer bottle
over and I lift it up to smash it over this guys head ... From there I just
started laughing; I stubbed my cigarette out, flicked it at the guy and walked
away. It wasn't until a few minutes later when I calmed down and grasped how
crazy it was what I was about to do. Then I realized that maybe I didn't return
home the way I [I was when I] left."</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>"Mass
Casualties" is not the first and is not going to be the last indictment of the
US occupation of Iraq. There have been films, reports, books, blogs and dozens
of testimonies at Winter Soldier events that have exposed various ugly aspects
of the occupation as witnessed and enforced by the "heroes" in uniform. Each
tale comes with its share of guilt, despair and remorse at having been complicit
in wanton destruction under an obviously false façade of patriotism.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in" align=justify>Perhaps,
this latest account in its unsophisticated and gut-level rejection of the lie
that the US military has come to represent will make people sit up and take
notice ... and action.</DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-BOTTOM: 0.2in; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0.1in"
align=justify><EM>Bhaswati Sengupta contributed to this report.</EM></DIV>
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