MetaFilter posts tagged with iraq and military

Women at Arms: In Their Own Words

gman — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 14:27:11 -0800

Three female US soldiers talk about their experiences in the military. (sound starts automatically) Related: G.I. Jane Breaks the Combat Barrier

Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Blazecock Pileon — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 05:04:50 -0800

A Gay Soldier's Husband — In the backdrop of the conservative activist Supreme Court's recent decision against hearing a challenge to the US military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy, one gay American relates the difficulties he faces having a partner on active duty in Iraq. In Iraq itself, death squads continue to murder gay and lesbian Iraqis, while American occupying forces look the other way.

Jesus killed Mohammed: The crusade for a Christian military

chunking express — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:35:30 -0800

Jesus killed Mohammed: The crusade for a Christian military.

to take brass and fire into his mouth

batmonkey — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 21:21:09 -0800

Army reports highest rate of soldier suicides for three decades in 2008. Even the up-and-coming are at risk. Stars & Stripes mentions that leadership may bear some blame. Will twice the money for family programs help? [title: line from "Eulogy", PFC B. Miller 1980-2004]

Friendly fire coverup

homunculus — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 23:58:27 -0800

New friendly fire coverup: Army shreds files on dead soldiers. "Hours after Salon revealed evidence that two Americans were killed by a U.S. tank, not enemy fire, military officials destroyed papers on the men."

Team Lioness - Female Soldiers in Combat in Iraq

nooneyouknow — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 11:49:13 -0800

Team Lioness is the name given to a group of female soliders, (and the documentary about them) who were some of the first women in modern American warfare to engage in frontline combat — something that is officially forbidden by the military. "The female support soliders were assigned to the 1st Engineer Battalion and they were recruited to accompany Marine units during raids. Originally, the female soldiers were there to search and detain any women they came upon and to guard the unit's Arabic interpreter. Over time, however, as the situation in Ramadi deteriorated, the Marine units transitioned into a more offensive role, baiting insurgents into firefights in order to draw them out. Until officers higher up the chain got spooked over the possibility of a female soldier killed in combat and quietly disbanded the unit, members of Team Lioness were often right in the thick of things, including some of the fiercest urban firefights of the Iraq War."

The Wars of John McCain

homunculus — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 19:30:30 -0800

The Wars of John McCain. "John McCain believes the Vietnam War was winnable. Now he argues that an Obama administration would accept defeat in Iraq, with grave costs to American honor and national security. Is McCain’s quest for victory a reflection of an antiquated pre-Vietnam mind-set? Or of a commitment to principles we abandon at our peril? Is there any war McCain thinks can’t be won?"

Baghdad Nights

homunculus — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 14:12:29 -0800

Baghdad nights: evaluating the US military ‘surge’ using nighttime light signatures (PDF). A team of UCLA geographers using satellite imagery to track the amount of light emitted in Baghdad at night found that electricity use in Sunni neighborhoods fell prior to the surge and never returned, indicating that ethnic cleansing by Shiite militias drove the Sunnis away before the surge began and was largely responsible for the subsequent decrease in violence. [Via Passport]

We regret to inform you.

lullaby — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 13:10:13 -0800

In Their Boots is a new online "magazine show" about the impact of the wars on US servicemembers and their families. The latest episode features the founder of the American Widow Project, a new documentary and an organization dedicated to helping out other war widows across the country.

US Military Presence Worldwide

homunculus — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 13:35:22 -0800

Mission Creep: "Bush and Rumsfeld may be history, but America's new global footprint lives on." Here's the Table of Contents for the whole series.

Soldier's Legacy

wittgenstein — Sat, 02 Aug 2008 11:22:08 -0800

"The blogger Andrew Sullivan linked to the Blade account and encouraged readers to complain to the Post. “I can see why outing someone who is alive and closeted is unethical,” he wrote. “Inning someone who is dead and was out is a function of utterly misplaced sensitivity, rooted in well-intentioned but incontrovertible homophobia.”" A Soldier's Legacy.

Battlemind

Rumple — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 13:28:56 -0800

Battlemind: Armor for Your Mind is a U.S. Army website designed to help, in part, families deal with deployment, including a series of cartoons and videos intended for children whose parents may be sent to or be returning from warzones. Part of the Army's Behavioral Health program, these give intriguing insight into military culture. Cartoons featuring Mr. Poe & Sgt. Drew are oddly juxtaposed with the harrowing account of a Golden Gate suicide survivor: Thus, I ended up leaping off that bridge and at the moment of free fall, I said God, please save me, I don’t want to die. And I always used to say to me, Kevin you are in two feet of water and you are drowning, stand up. If you are in two feet of water right now stand up, walk forward, it’s okay to ask for help.

Military tattoos in the age of Iraq

thatwhichfalls — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 19:52:03 -0800

The Skins They Carried. Military tattoos in the age of Iraq.

The second type of military tattoo is for soldiers who want to make their uniform permanent. Some do this for practical reasons, tattooing dog tags complete with military ID and Social Security numbers onto their torsos in case they become separated from their heads during combat. These tattoos, called “meat tags,” can be elaborate: One Killeen variation shows the dog tags in an open wound, wrapped around an exposed rib.

The Rapture is Not an Exit Strategy

fourcheesemac — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 05:59:49 -0800

“People like you are not holding up the Constitution ..." Or so said Major Freddy Welborn, Specialist Jeremy Hall's commanding officer in Tikrit. "Last month, Specialist Hall and the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, an advocacy group, filed suit in federal court in Kansas, alleging that Specialist Hall’s right to be free from state endorsement of religion under the First Amendment had been violated and that he had faced retaliation for his views. In November, he was sent home early from Iraq because of threats from fellow soldiers." (NY Times)

Can you trust a television military analyst?

Mo Nickels — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 18:32:25 -0800

Television military analysts are wooed, courted, and privileged by the Pentagon. An in-depth investigative report by the New York Times uncovers logrolling, shilling, touting, back-scratching, and just plain bias on the part of the experts that television networks put on the air to talk about the war. Some of them appear to be as good as owned by the Defense Department. "The effort, which began with the buildup to the Iraq war and continues to this day, has sought to exploit ideological and military allegiances, and also a powerful financial dynamic: Most of the analysts have ties to military contractors vested in the very war policies they are asked to assess on air. Those business relationships are hardly ever disclosed to the viewers, and sometimes not even to the networks themselves."

Winter Soldier

homunculus — Thu, 13 Mar 2008 10:15:30 -0800

Winter Soldier: Iraq & Afghanistan. "Like Vietnam vets did decades ago, a group of soldiers are poised to speak out about atrocities they say the U.S. committed in Iraq and Afghanistan."

Admiral Fallon

homunculus — Wed, 05 Mar 2008 16:59:59 -0800

The Man Between War and Peace. "As head of U. S. Central Command, Admiral William 'Fox' Fallon is in charge of American military strategy for the most troubled parts of the world. Now, as the White House has been escalating the war of words with Iran, and seeming ever more determined to strike militarily before the end of this presidency, the admiral has urged restraint and diplomacy. Who will prevail, the president or the admiral?" [Via Think Progress.]

The Pritzker Military Library

Bora Horza Gobuchul — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 15:07:36 -0800

The Pritzker Military Library, a "public institution for the study of the citizen-soldier as an essential element for the preservation of democracy." Found while doing some after-film research on Charlie Wilson's War, the site is a trove of largely non-partisan, often refreshingly candid military perspectives. Particular highlights are video and audio interviews with Jim Lovell and Congressional Medal of Honor winners.

The Saddam Sessions

kliuless — Sun, 27 Jan 2008 22:33:50 -0800

Saddam's Confessions - Given Saddam Hussein's central place in the American Consciousness over the last couple decades and particularly in recent years, I found 60 minutes' interview with FBI interrogator George Piro pretty fascinating.

Charlie 1-26

homunculus — Sun, 16 Dec 2007 10:00:45 -0800

Blood Brothers: 15 months of combat hell forever change the members of Charlie 1-26. Part 1: To Adhamiya and back. Part 2: ‘I’ve seen enough. I’ve done enough.’ Part 3: ‘Not us. We’re not going.’ Part 4: Picking up the pieces. [Via Danger Room.]

Left of Boom - The struggle to defeat roadside bombs

srboisvert — Sun, 30 Sep 2007 02:08:51 -0800

Left of Boom - The struggle to defeat roadside bombs. [washpo - flash & flash video]

Military baiting, killing Iraqis

null terminated — Mon, 24 Sep 2007 00:29:57 -0800

"Hey look at this shiny trinket, I think I'll pick it up and see what it---OH GOD MY FACE." A Pentagon group has encouraged some U.S. military snipers in Iraq to target suspected insurgents by scattering pieces of "bait," such as detonation cords, plastic explosives and ammunition, and then killing Iraqis who pick up the items, according to military court documents.

The killing of Jamie Dean

homunculus — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 22:25:26 -0800

The killing of Jamie Dean. "Police in rural Maryland staged a military stakeout and shot a troubled Army vet. As his family plans to sue, they are asking how a soldier being treated for PTSD could be shipped to Iraq."

Kerr Magee had applied to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to call their waste an "experimental fertilizer" and just spread it over the top of the land.

mek — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 00:59:35 -0800

Depleted uranium is now understood to have many medical consequences unique to its modern application as munitions, due to its incendiary, aerosolizing behavior when pulverized. (Rosalie Bertell explains, youtube) It has become a leading candidate for the cause of Gulf War syndrome, and was associated with massive increases in cancer and birth defects in Basra. The EU has called for a moratorium on its use four times, and WHO is deeply concerned with its consequences, but the USA (with Canadian complicity) and Russia continue to use it in Iraq and elsewhere. (prev: 1 2 3 4 5)

The War as We Saw It

homunculus — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 17:46:03 -0800

The War as We Saw It. A powerful op-ed about Iraq written by seven infantrymen and noncommissioned officers with the 82nd Airborne Division who will soon be heading home, it has received surprisingly little attention.