Newsgroup: it.arti.cinema
Titolo: [OT] Americani in Iraq

Chi l'avrebbe detto!?
http://snipurl.com/9uz9
ciao,
bax
-- 
http://bax.blogspot.com
"I BOND sono come le obbligazioni, ma quando compri
un BOND ti senti molto piu' fico. E' come andare al PUB
invece che all'osteria...."
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http://snipurl.com/9uz9
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/10/18/national/18guard.html?hp&ex=1098158400&en=
b6cde713635fabbc&ei=5094&partner=homepage
THE G.I.'S
Soldiers Saw Refusing Order as Their Last Stand
By NEELA BANERJEE and ARIEL HART
Published: October 18, 2004
JACKSON, Miss., Oct. 17 - What does it take for a man like Staff Sgt.
Michael Butler, a 24-year veteran of the Army and the Reserve who was a
soldier in the first Persian Gulf war and a reserve called up to fight in
the current war in Iraq, to risk everything by disobeying a direct order in
wartime?
On the morning of Oct. 13, the military says, Sergeant Butler and most of
his platoon, some 18 men and women from the 343rd Quartermaster Company,
refused to deliver a shipment of fuel from the Tallil Air Base near
Nasiriya, Iraq, to another base much farther north.
The Army has begun an inquiry, and the soldiers could face disciplinary
measures, including possible courts-martial. But Jackie Butler, Sergeant
Butler's wife, and her family in Jackson say he would not have jeopardized
his career and his freedom for something impulsive or unimportant.
The soldiers, many of whom have called home this weekend, said their trucks
were unsafe and lacked a proper armed escort, problems that have plagued
them since they went to Iraq nine months ago, their relatives said. The time
had come for them, for her husband, to act, Ms. Butler said.
"I'm proud that he said 'no,' " Ms. Butler said. "They had complained and
complained for months to the chain of command about the equipment and
trucks. But nothing was done, so I think he felt he had to take a stand."
Other soldiers completed the mission the platoon turned down, the military
kept functioning, and the Army has cast the incident as isolated.
But as the soldiers involved in the refusal in Tallil and others begin to
speak out, it is growing more apparent that the military has yet to solve
the lack of training, parts and equipment that has riddled the military
operation in Iraq from the outset, especially among National Guard and
Reserve units.
Brig. Gen. James E. Chambers, commander of the 13th Corps Support Command,
which the 343rd reports to, said at a news conference in Baghdad on Sunday
that he had ordered two investigations into the incident and the concerns
expressed by the 18 soldiers "regarding maintenance and safety.''
General Chambers said preliminary findings showed that the unit's trucks
were not yet armored and were among the last in his command to get such
protection, because they usually functioned in less dangerous parts of Iraq.
None of the trucks in his command were armored when they arrived in Iraq,
General Chambers said. He told reporters that he had ordered a safety and
maintenance review of all trucks in the 343rd.
"Based on results of this investigation other actions may be necessary,''
the general said, but he added, "It's too early in the investigation to
speculate on charges or other disciplinary actions.''
General Chambers described the episode as "a single event that is confined
to a small group of individuals.''
A number of Army officers contacted in recent days said such an apparent act
of insubordination was very unusual, particularly among such a large number
of soldiers in a single unit and especially since the military is all
volunteer.
The incident has prompted widespread interest among military families who
have complained in months past of inadequate equipment and protection for
their soldiers.
Nancy Lessin, a leader of Military Families Speak Out, which opposes the
war, said she had been flooded with calls and e-mail from families with a
simple message: What had happened to the reservists echoed the conditions
their own soldiers experienced in Iraq: a shortage of armored vehicles,
especially for part-time soldiers' units; convoy missions through dangerous
stretches without adequate firepower; and constant breakdowns among old
vehicles owned, especially, by National Guard and reservist units.
"This is absolutely striking a nerve," Ms. Lessin said. "People are saying,
'This is the same thing that happened to my son,' and if the Army tries to
spin this as 'just a few bad apples,' people need to know that these are
common problems and what these soldiers did required a tremendous amount of
courage."Nothing seems to separate the men and women who defied their
command in Tallil from the tens of thousands of others now in Iraq, their
families say. The 343rd was drawn mainly from Southern states like the
Carolinas, Alabama and Mississippi, and the military said Friday that the
343rd had performed honorably during its tour in Iraq.
The soldiers in the platoon are described as devoted to the military and
unabashedly patriotic. A wall of Sergeant Butler's living room is covered
with certificates and citations from the Army. Another member of the 343rd,
Specialist Joe Dobbs, 19, of Vandiver, Ala., had his bedroom painted the
dark blue of the American flag. And another soldier in the unit, Sgt. Justin
Rogers of Louisville, Ky., liked to walk around town in his uniform when he
was home on leave, said Chris Helm, a 14-year-old high school student and
his first cousin.
When Sergeant Rogers went home for a two-week leave in July, his brother
Derrick asked whether the war and all the deaths were worth it. "His answer
was simple," Derrick Rogers said. "He said, 'If I didn't feel like it was
worth it, I wouldn't be there.' ''
Ms. Butler did not want to speak for her husband on his feelings about the
war. Better he should do that when he is finally home, she said, which is
scheduled to be sometime next year. But Sergeant Butler knew he would be
called up, once the war against Iraq was begun in March 2003. Late last
year, he reported to Rock Hill, and quickly, his confidence was shaken, his
wife said. He saw that the equipment to be shipped with his unit was "not
very good," Ms. Butler said.
Once the unit arrived in Iraq, the inadequacy of the platoon's equipment and
preparedness was thrown into sharp relief against the dangers the country
posed. Although the unit is based near Nasiriya in the Shiite-controlled
south, which is not as volatile as Sunni-dominated areas, the whole country
has been convulsed by battles and uprisings during most of the 343rd's tour
of duty. "This is not the first time that there has been a problem with
these charges and stuff, with them not having armor, not having radios,"
said Beverly Dobbs, mother of Specialist Dobbs. "My son told me two months
ago - he called me, he said, 'Mom I got the scare of my life.'
"'I said what's wrong?'" Ms. Dobbs said. "He said, 'They sent us out, we
come under fire, our own people was shooting and we didn't even have radios
to let them know.' They're sending them out without the equipment they need.
I don't care what the Army says."
Families that spoke to the soldiers this weekend received slightly differing
accounts of what happened the morning of Oct. 13. They all said, however,
that fuel the soldiers had to deliver was unusable because it had been
contaminated with a second liquid. They all said the soldiers were under
armed guard. General Chambers denied both assertions. Relatives say that
Sergeant Butler, Sgt. Larry McCook of Jackson and Specialist Scott Shealey
of Graysville, Ala., have been identified as three of five "ringleaders" of
the incident and reassigned to other units on the air base. Specialist
Shealey's parents said their son said in a telephone call that he was going
to be discharged.
"He'll be home in three to four weeks, that's what he's being told," said
Ricky Shealey, Specialist Shealey's father, a retired Postal Service
supervisor and former sergeant in the Army. "He's depressed," Mr. Shealey
said. "He just can't believe it's happening."
Ms. Butler said her husband did not know what he might be facing and had
heard nothing about a discharge. Other families said the military had yet to
contact them to explain the situation. The families have not hired lawyers
yet, in large part because they are uncertain what charges might be brought
against their relatives.
Some families are reaching out to one another through e-mail and phone
calls, offering help and discussing strategy. They have contacted their
members of Congressmen. Others, like Ms. Dobbs and her family, are glued to
television news, awaiting some clarification of the incident.
Ms. Butler has her big family to lean on, and on this Sunday, the day after
the phone call from her husband, they went to church and turned to their
neighbors, friends and faith. Ms. Butler went to the altar rail of Zion
Travelers Missionary Baptist Church and told the congregation: "My husband
has been in the Army more than 20 years, but refused to take those men in
that convoy. He said it would be suicidal.''
"So, I'm going to ask you to pray for me," she said, "because he is not
going to take no other men's children into the land of death."
She bowed her head, and so did everyone else. "Lord, Sister Butler needs
you," the Rev. Daniel Watkins said, shutting his eyes tight. "Her husband,
he needs you. All the soldiers in Iraq, they need you."
Monica Davey contributed reporting from Chicago for this article, and
Richard A. Oppel Jr. and Dexter Filkins from Baghdad.
Goh-e az dahanet gondetar nakhor pedar sukhteh
UFV: From Hell/ Lo Straniero Senza Nome/ Sbatti il Mostro in Prima Pagina/
In Compagnia dei Lupi/ Shangri - La/ La Mala educación/ Mannaja/ Cipolla
Colt/ Zamri, umri, voskresni!


Una cosa simile era accaduta mesi fa con militari italiani, mi pare in
Afghanistan. Si rifiutarono di volare con dei mezzi che non garantivano
loro sicurezza a causa della scarsa manutenzione. "The italian way..."
Non so come sia finita, se corte marziale, Voghera o cosa.
Andrea:_NQ
--
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Andrea Mazzoleni - email: 
noqu...@despammed.com
web: 
www.no4er.it
 - support: 
www.canottierisile.it
ICQ#: 32168396 - In IRC (Azzurra)  #astronomia AKA Noquarter
"...over the hills and far away!"

 Non so come sia finita, se corte marziale, Voghera o cosa.
Sono stati assolti, perche' avevano ragione.
P.
-- 
VOI gridavate cose orrende e violentissime e VOI siete imbruttiti. IO
gridavo cose giuste e ora sono uno splendido quarantenne.


No, non per scarsa manutenzione, semplicemente "non garantivano la
sicurezza" nel caso qualcuno sparasse loro contro.
Ho letto qualche giorno fa che pare li abbiano assolti.
Ora mi farebbe piacere che mi indicassero un mezzo militare che
garantisca la sicurezza dei suoi occupanti, credo che avrebbe un
successo strepitoso...

 successo strepitoso...
Tutti gli elicotteri miitari hanno un sistema di contromisure (falsi 
bersagli) che si attivano automaticamente all'avvicinarsi di un missile.
Quell'elicottero non li aveva, rendendolo obiettivo molto facile.
Nota che lo stesso elicottero in dotazione alla morina ne e' invece 
provvisto. 
P.
-- 
- Houston, we have a problem.