CREWS: Homosexuals in the Military Demand Special Privileges.

 *Source: The Washington Times

Toleration doesn’t cut both ways.

 

  

By Col. Ron Crews

Tuesday, September 25, 2012

The American armed forces exist to defend our nation, not to conduct social science lab experiments in which our troops serve as human subjects. Try telling that to this administration.

The first anniversary of the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” Sept. 20, has come and gone. Now, there is mounting evidence that proves our warnings were not idle chatter. The threat to freedom posed by this radical sexual experiment on our military is real: It is grave and it is growing.

Activists inside and outside our government who pushed the repeal have deployed a smoke screen around the fact that once the military was forced to exalt homosexuality in the ranks, the all-too-foreseen consequence reared its ugly head.

Senior military officials have allowed personnel in favor of repeal to speak to media while those who have concerns have been ordered to be silent. Two airmen were publicly harassed in a Post Exchange food court as they were privately discussing their concerns about the impact of repeal. A chaplain was encouraged by military officials to resign his commission unless he could “get in line with the new policy,” demonstrating no tolerance for that chaplain’s religious viewpoint. Another chaplain was threatened with early retirement, and then reassigned to be more “closely supervised” because he had expressed concerns with the policy change, again demonstrating no tolerance for that chaplain’s religious viewpoint.

At an officer training service school, a male serviceman sexually harassed another male serviceman through text messages, emails, phone calls and in-person confrontations. The harassing male insisted the two would “make a great couple.” The harassed serviceman reported the harassment, but the command failed to take disciplinary action.

Service members engaged in homosexual behavior protested a service school’s open-door policy for all students that prohibited the closing of room doors for the purpose of hiding sexual behavior. The protesters claimed that they had a right to participate in sexual behavior with their same-sex roommates.

A senior chaplain was stripped of his authority over the chapel under his charge because, in accordance with federal law, he proclaimed the chapel to be a “sacred space” where marriage ceremonies would only be between one man and one woman.

The Navy has allowed sailors openly engaged in homosexual behavior to choose their bunkmates. Imagine in this new age of “tolerance” if a sailor asked to be moved from a close-quarters berthing area because of his concern about another sailor’s sexual appetites. We already know what would happen, because tolerance has never been a two-way street.

Obviously, the recent “study” (aka propaganda) claiming that the repeal went off without a hitch should be shredded post-haste. It has no connection to reality.

This is just the first wave in the first year of the assault on the constitutionally protected freedom of our service members. Remember, the groups that forced their sexual experiment on the armed forces represent the lesbian, homosexual, bisexual and transgender community. It’s only a matter of time before a man who claims to be transgender demands to be placed with women during training, in the showers and in the barracks. The women in the units will have no recourse, especially if their objection to living, changing, bathing and bunking with a man is based on sincerely held religious beliefs. They would have two choices: Either accept this outrageous imposition silently or be charged with bigotry, hatred, intolerance and every other name the advocates of this agenda can throw at them. Neither choice is acceptable. When “sensitivity training” is in full force, these women just might face discipline and punitive separation merely for speaking up and requesting a reasonable measure of privacy and protection of their religious freedom.

This outrageous social science lab experiment could have been easily prevented. The Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty has worked closely with members of Congress to enact legislation, which has already passed the House, to protect freedom of conscience for chaplains and those they serve.

Even more outrageous is that we have to ask Congress to protect freedom of conscience for chaplains and those who serve in the military. The fact that Congress excluded a religious freedom protection amendment (authored in partnership with Alliance Defending Freedom), to the repeal sends a clear message that our current leadership does not consider, much less respect, the constitutional implications of their actions while they bow in allegiance to the powerful and aggressive lobby of those who supported the repeal.

Col. Ron Crews, a retired Army chaplain, is executive director for Chaplain Alliance for Religious Liberty.

The Army Has Issued Anti-Suicide Nasal Spray To Keep Troops From Taking The 'Easy Out'

*Source: Business Insider



The military suicide rate doubled in July. That's one of our troops, almost every day.

To come up with an answer, the Army recently gave 3 million dollars to a university of Indiana research center, and those researchers came back with this: Anti-Suicide Nasal Spray.

Katie Drummond of The Daily reports researchers found a naturally occuring neurochemical called thyrotropin-releasing hormone, or TRH, that has euphoric, calming, anti-depressant effects. News of the nasal spray comes as a relief to some, who had to endure spinal taps for injections of the medicine.

The Pentagon, which tracks military suicides, reported that troops have committed the act at an 18 percent increase over the same period last year. Now, more troops die by their own hands that by the hands of the Taliban in Afghanistan.

The spray is only possible because of advances in "nanotechnology delivery systems." Researchers plan to run a full battery of trials over the next few years, and hopefully put the spray not only in the hands of soldiers, but civilians as well.

The scientists say that applications go beyond anti-depression medications.

US Troops Surround Syria On The Eve Of Invasion?

*Source: Russia Today

A former official from within the ranks of the Federal Bureau of Investigation is reporting that US and NATO forces have landed outside of Syria and are training militants to overthrow the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.

Whistleblower Sibel Edmonds, formerly a translator with the FBI, wrote over the weekend that American soldiers are among the NATO troops that have mysteriously and suddenly landed on the Jordanian and Syrian border. According to her, several sources internationally have confirmed the news, although the US media has been instructed to temporarily censor itself from reporting the news.

Additionally, Edmonds says that American and NATO forces are training Turkish troops as well, to possibly launch a strike from the north of Syria.

Edmonds writes that an Iraqi journalist based out of London has confirmed that US forces that vacated the Ain al-Assad Air Base in Iraq last week did in fact leave the country as part of President Obama’s drawdown of troops, but rather than return home, the soldiers were transferred into Jordan during the late hours of Thursday evening. Another source, writes Edmonds, informs her that “soldiers who speak languages other than Arabic” have been moving through Jordan mere miles from the country’s border with Syria. Troops believed to be NATO/American-affiliated have been spotted between the King Hussein Air Base in al-Mafraq and the Jordanian village of Albaej and its vicinity.

Nizar Nayouf, a correspondent for Edmond’s Boiling Frog Post whistleblower site, says an employee of the London-based offices of Royal Jordanian Airlines has further confirmed that at least one US aircraft transporting military personnel has brought American troops into Jordan in recent days. Nayouf, the former editor-in-chief of Sawt al-Democratiyya (Democracy's Vote), had previously been sentenced to a decade behind bars for critiquing the Syrian government. He later won several human rights awards and the 2000 UNISCO prize for press freedom.

Since the uprising of rebel forces opposing al-Assad’s regime over Syria nearly a year ago, American officials have been critical of the country’s government but insist that they have otherwise distanced themselves from becoming involved in the protests. Following the deaths of dozens of protesters in the spring of 2011, the United States imposed strict sanctions against the official government of Syria.

Navi Pillay, the United Nations’ high commissioner for human rights, revealed this week that the uprising in Syria has caused over 5,000 deaths since it began in early 2011. In the case of the crackdown against former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s regime, NATO involvement began only one month into the uprising. Nine months later, the total death toll of the Libyan Civil War is estimated to be close to 30,000.

In her report, Edmonds says that NATO troops have been training soldiers just outside of Syria since as early as May, and that US media is prohibited from reporting on it until today. The Turkish paper Milliyet also reports that defected Syrian colonel Riad al-Assad is preparing troops to take over the Syrian government as well.

Hero Soldiers 'Thrown in the Trash': Military Dumped Body Parts of Dead Servicemen Killed in Iraq and Afghanistan in LANDFILL

*Source: DailyMail

* THIRD scandal over how the Army treats its dead
* Bodies at Arlington National Cemetery put in WRONG graves
* Military lost body parts and shipped fetal remains in cardboard boxes

Body parts belonging to U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq and Afghanistan were routinely cremated and then dumped in a landfill site.

For five years, between 2003 and 2008, staff at the Dover Air Force base mortuary, Delaware, disposed of parts that could not be identified or were later recovered from the battlefield.

Family members were not told what happened to their relatives - and the company running the landfill site was not even informed what was being thrown away.

A damning new report reveals the military mishandled the remains of soldiers returning through Dover Air Force Base

It is the third scandal engulfing the Army in its treatment of its dead.

Gari-Lynn Smith, portions of whose husband’s remains were disposed of in the landfill after his 2006 death in Iraq, told the Washington Post she was 'appalled and disgusted' by the way the Air Force had acted.

She said: 'My only peace of mind in losing my husband was that he was taken to Dover and that he was handled with dignity, love, respect and honour.

'That was completely shattered for me when I was told that he was thrown in the trash.'

Lt Gen Darrell G Jones, the Air Force’s deputy chief for personnel, said the body parts were cremated, then incinerated, and then taken to a landfill by a military contractor.

He likened the procedure to the disposal of medical waste. The Dover mortuary changed its policy to burying the parts at sea in June 2008.

Dover's mortuary processed over 4,000 sets of remains from 2008 to 2010, most of which were Iraq and Afghanistan war dead

It is not known how many body parts were disposed of, during the five years, at the King George County site, operated by Waste Management Inc.

The scandal is the latest to hit the military base which receives all America's war dead and prepares them for burial.

Earlier this week it was revealed that body parts belonging to deceased soldiers were lost or sawed off without the family’s permission.

An 18-month probe into Dover's mortuary, pictured here, revealed one soldier had his arm cut off by staff without the family's permission

A damning report found that an arm bone belonging to a dead marine was hacked off without asking his parents by staff at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

An ankle and some soft tissue went unaccounted for due to ‘gross mismanagement’ and may have been mixed in with the remains of other soldiers.

Whistleblowers also claimed that the fetal remains of dependents of military personnel were shipped from Germany back to the U.S. in cardboard boxes that had already been used.

Three officials have been disciplined at Dover - but none have lost their jobs.

The scandal at Dover Air Force base began after complaints by three whistleblowers - civilians who worked as embalmers or technicians - who sparked an 18-month investigation by the Air Force Inspector General.

A separate probe was carried out by the Office of Special Counsel, an independent federal investigative agency which looks into claims by whistleblowers.

Among the most egregious instances was when the family of one marine asked to see his dead body one more time - so staff at Dover hacked his arm bone off.

The heat from a bomb attack in Afghanistan had caused the soldier’s arm to fuse at 90 degrees to his body so he was unable to fit into his uniform or his casket.

But instead of speaking to his family to see what was for the best, staff went ahead and trimmed it anyway.

The investigation found the two body parts that went missing were a piece of an ankle belonging to a soldier killed by a bomb in Afghanistan in April 2009.

The investigation found two body parts went missing entirely, including a piece of an ankle belonging to a soldier killed by a bomb in Afghainstan and a small piece of flesh belonging to an airman who died in plane crash in Afghanistan

The second was a small piece of flesh belonging to an airman who died in plane crash in Afghanistan in July 2009.

The investigation did not discover what happened to them - but raised the possibility they fell out of the plastic bags where they were being stored in the morgue refrigerator and got mixed in with the remains of others.

The whistleblowers also drew attention to shipping of fetal remains belonging to relatives of military personnel back to the U.S.

Instead of being transported in the more dignified aluminium cases they were shipped in re-used cardboard boxes.

In a statement accompanying her report Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner said the findings were ‘deeply troubling’.

She said: ‘The mortuary for the United States military should boast the best conditions and best practices of any mortuary.’

The report added that there was a ‘pattern of the Air Force’s failure to acknowledge culpability for wrongdoing relating to the treatment of remains of service members and their dependents.

The Dover scandal comes just months after it was revealed Arlington National Cemetery had 211 graves either mislabelled or containing the wrong person's remains

It said: ‘While the report reflects a willingness to find paperwork violations and errors, with the exception of the cases of missing portions, the findings stop short of accepting accountability for failing to handle remains with the requisite ‘reverence, care and dignity befitting them and the circumstances’’.

Among the other findings was a chilling insight into the chaos at Dover including one incident in July 2009 when the remains of two airmen killed in in Afghanistan were brought in.

One unnamed employee admitted that it was ‘hard to keep track of everything’ and that the medical examiners were ‘messing with the bags a bit’.

He said: ‘And then they would walk to the back, and then they’d come back and - it was - it was a really hectic day.’

Earlier this year a report by the Army Inspector’s Office found that at least 211 graves at Arlington National Cemetery, Virginia, had been incorrectly labelled or had the wrong body in them.

There were also cases of remains being moved without families' consent or graves left empty when they should have remains in them.

The cemetery is considered sacred ground and has been the final resting place of the nation's veterans since 1864.

More than 300,000 servicemen and women are now buried there.

General Norton Schwartz, the chief of staff of the Air Force, apologised for the mistakes made at Dover.

He said: ‘We understand the obligation of this work, the sanctity of this work, the need for reverence, the need for dignity and respect of our fallen, just as if these were our sons and daughters’.

An Army and FBI probe is still investigating the outrage at the nation’s most hallowed military graveyard.

Iraq Kicks US troops Out Of The Country

*Source: RussiaToday

President Obama announced this afternoon that US troops will finally be out of Iraq by the year’s end.

Though this had been the president’s plan since he first campaigned for office, until the very last moment US diplomats and leading military officials tried to ink a secret plan that would allow Americans to stay in Iraq for years to come.

"After nearly nine years, America's war in Iraq will be over," President Obama announced this afternoon from the White House in Washington DC.

To many, the move comes too little, too late — with 4,400 Americans killed in Iraq since the war began under President George W Bush; some top-brass at the Pentagon have insisted only months earlier, however, that a withdrawal in 2011 might not be wise.

Commenting on the planned withdrawal earlier this year, US Defense Secretary Robert Gates said he own message to troops in Iraq was that Americans “just be present in some areas where they still need help.”

Meanwhile, America tried inking a deal with Iraq that would grant US troops immunity for war crimes overseas that would lend to ongoing military presence into 2012, despite the president’s initial campaign promise to withdraw troops as soon as possible. Obama today says that the move to withdraw is with “full agreement about how to move forward” from both countries, but also comes after Iraq was unwilling to extend powers to the American military that would put them above the law.

Bottom line: Iraq told Obama to get out.

The US and Iraq had debated keeping residual forces overseas long after the proposed withdrawal would take place, but with no guarantee over the legal loopholes US servicemen would be granted, a full removal of troops will occur by January 1, 2012, says Obama today.

As recently as April of this year, Secretary Gates told reporters, "I think there is interest in having a continuing presence,” but noted that it would come to whether or not Iraq would want American military men to stay. It shouldn’t be that much of a surprise then that, following a video conference with Iraq prime minister Nouri al-Maliki this morning, Obama announced his plans to end the operation.

According to Iraq Body Count, 100,000 civilians have been killed in the eight-plus years of the war. Fiscally, it costs America over $800 billion.