Legislative Update from Lee F. Kichen, LTC, U.S. Army (Ret.)

The American People Have Spoken - Every four years, in November, Americans go to the polls to choose a President. Presidential elections are the beginning of a peaceful transition of power culminating with the Inauguration in January. Ironically, November is the month that we also celebrate the service of America’s veterans. Since before the birth of the Republic, America’s veterans fought for and secured our freedom to peacefully choose those who govern this great nation. For veterans, active and reserve personnel, military retirees and their families the impending transition is the first in forty years during wartime.

In 1969, at what was in many respects the height of the Vietnam War, Richard Nixon succeeded Lyndon B. Johnson as Commander in Chief, the Vietnam War continued for four more years under Nixon without victory. A new administration can learn much from that transition, most importantly, there is no “Peace with Honor” unless victory has been gained on the battlefield. Forty years ago, the enemy was Communism and we successfully confronted that enemy in Korea, Cuba, Vietnam and Europe, sometimes the wars were hot, sometimes they were cold. Nevertheless, we fought that enemy far from the Homeland.

Today, we are fighting Islamic terrorism and we are taking the battle to them, we effectively defeated Al-Qaeda in Iraq and are establishing a free government in that country and given the resources and the will we can finish the job in Afghanistan. We must ensure that America is never attacked.

As we look forward to an Obama administration and the 111^th Congress it is appropriate for us to look back over the past years of what we have achieved and the work that lies ahead as we continue to serve America’s Warriors past, present and future.

• Since the Bush Administration took office in 2001, the total appropriation for the Department of Veterans Affairs increased by 98%. These dramatic increases in funding for veterans’ health care were the result of three Republican and one Democratic Congresses to ensure adequate funding by increasing the appropriations over that requested by the Administration.

• For nearly twenty years, we have fought for some form of concurrent receipt of military retirement pay and VA disability compensation. In 2003 and 2004, Congress acted to address this injustice by establishing Combat Related Special Compensation and Concurrent Disabled Retirement Pay.

• Even before 9-11, we were working for comprehensive changes to the Montgomery GI Bill. Our position was that today’s servicemen and women deserved an education package comparable to first GI bill of 1944 which in essence provided World War II veterans a fully funded college education. This year, with the passage of the “Post 9-11 Veterans Educational Enhancement Act of 2008”, we achieved a “GI Bill for the 21^st Century” which provides a Global War on Terrorism Veteran tuition based on the most expensive public institution in his state, as well as a book allowance, living and housing stipends.

• We achieved legislation to end the Social Security offset to the Survivor’s Benefits Program and reinstatement of Dependency and Indemnity Compensation (DIC) for those surviving spouses who remarried after the death of their first spouse, if the marriage to the second spouse ended in death or divorce. Additionally, if a surviving spouse remarries after age 57 they could retain his or her DIC.

What’s Next?-Not since 1933 at the height of the Great Depression, when Franklin D. Roosevelt and another Democrat led Congress took the reins of the federal government, has a President and Congress faced an economic crisis which could fundamentally change the fabric of American society. Falling revenues and pressures to prop up financial institutions and other business groups, potentially threaten veterans and military benefits. We must be ever vigilant and ensure that our systems of military and veterans health care, disability compensation and survivors benefits not only remain intact but are enhanced.

· We must gain legislation ensuring that VA Health continues to be adequately and timely funded to ensure that all veterans seeking care receive nothing but world class care regardless of whether he is an 88 year old World War II veteran or she is 18 year old veteran of the Global War on Terrorism. We must never again accept a late VA budget.

· We must pressure the new Congress to recognize the selfless service of Reservists and National Guard members by ensuring all mobilization service is credited towards an early retirement.

· It is time to help Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), in his effort to end the egregious “Military Widows’ Tax” by ending the Dependency and Indemnity Compensation offset to the Survivors Benefits Annuity.

· We must gain full and complete concurrent receipt of VA disability compensation and military retirement pay for all disabled military retirement pay.

· We must gain legislation which forbids the Defense Department from arbitrarily and capriciously increasing TRICARE fees and co-payments.

This is going to be tough fight, with each and every election the number of veterans serving in the Congress dwindles. This election is no different than earlier elections. Not all the results are in, but, we could have as few as 93 or as many as 99 veterans in the 435 member House of Representatives and depending on how some still contested races turn-out and who are appointed to fill Senators Obama’s and Biden’s seats there could be as few or as many as 29 veterans serving in the United States Senate. It will be up to the Action Corps to take the lead in education these non-veteran public servants.

September Legislative Update from Lee F. Kichen, LTC, U.S. Army (Ret.)

At Your Service!!!
Lee F. Kichen
September 2008

BATTLING INSIDE THE BELTWAY
Federal Legislative Update

Senate Completes a “Bare Bones” National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)-Last month, in this space we criticized the Senate Democrat leadership for its failure to complete work on its version of the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 09. As the legislative process unfolded this week, we fell victim to a classic example of “if you want it bad, you’ll probably get it bad.” When the Senate returned after the August recess, it was looking at over 300 amendments to the NDAA for floor consideration. Many of these amendments addressed issues we have tracked over the last twelve months. This list of amendments included proposals to expand concurrent receipt eligibility, limit TRICARE fee increases, ease Guard/Reserve retirement age restrictions, authorize TRICARE coverage for "gray area" Reserve retirees, improve benefits for military spouses, authorize a partial family separation allowance for single servicemembers assigned to remote duty, and many, many more.

On 15 and 16 Sep, the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Legislative Committee was on Capitol Hill meeting with respective Members of Congress calling for the passage of both the Military Construction/Veterans Affairs Appropriations and National Defense Authorization Acts before the scheduled end of the month adjournment. On Wednesday, 17 Sep, the Senate abruptly passed the NDAA without considering any of the 300-plus amendments. The only amendment in the final version of the bill of interest to us is Senator Bill Nelson’s (D-FL) language calling for the end of the VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation offset to DoD’s Survivor Benefits Annuity, thus abolishing the so-called ”Widows’ Tax”. Only time will tell if Senator Nelson’s amendment will survive Conference committee reconciliation of the differences between the House and Senate versions of the NDAA.

The work of one senator blocked the passage of many the 300 amendments. With the Congress heading towards adjournment at the end of the month, a bipartisan group of senior members of the Armed Services Committee had already agreed on a list of more than 90 amendments they would propose to approve by "unanimous consent" - which allows bypassing of the normal votes unless some senator objects. Additionally they intended to add several dozen more - including the TRICARE and concurrent receipt provisions.

In spite of a bipartisan agreement, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC) took a hard line position against $5 billion in so-called "earmarks" in the NDAA - specific provisions calling for spending on programs that were above and beyond what the Pentagon had requested. He also refused to support any unanimous consent request for any other amendments unless he got a vote on his amendment to drop the earmarks provision - which wasn't going to happen, especially in an election year.
This political brinksmanship, combined with the lack of time left on the Congressional calendar and the pending vote on the financial “bail-out” package effectively kills, in the Senate, those quality of life measures important to many VFW members and their families. In all fairness, even if the Senate bill included all the amendments we supported, it was probable that during the reconciliation process with the House, the conferees may have stripped out many of those amendments.

What is the current status of the “quality of life” issues?

TRICARE Fees. The House-passed bill would bar any TRICARE fees through the end of the next fiscal year. We had hoped to get the Senate to approve some permanent rules to restrict the Pentagon's ability to impose fee increases as well, but it now looks probable that Congress will approve the House version, and we'll face another battle when that freeze expires next year.
Concurrent Receipt. Absent something truly extraordinary, hope for further concurrent receipt progress this year probably went out the window with the loss of Sen. Harry Reid’s (D-NV) amendment. If so, this would be the first year in the last six without at least some forward movement.

Guard/Reserve Retirement Age. Under current law, Guard/Reserve members can cut three months off the Reserve retirement age (60) for each consecutive 90 days served on active duty since January 2008. Sen. Saxby Chambliss' (R-GA) amendment to credit all active duty service since 9/11/01 is nowdead, since there was no similar provision in the House bill.

Military Pay Raise. The House-passed bill calls not only for a 3.9% pay raise for 2009 (vs. the 3.4% proposed in the Pentagon budget), but would also add one-half percentage point to the military raise each year for the next five years. The Senate bill has the 3.9% for 2009, but no plus-up for the out years.

Survivor Benefit Plan. The House bill would make only modest adjustments - including authorizing payment of the new $50 special monthly payment to qualifying survivors whose sponsors died on active duty. The Senate bill, thanks to our own Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), includes the full repeal of the VA benefits deduction from SBP, so that's at least still in play.
MILCON/VA Appropriation and Veterans Benefits Bills Remain on Hold-As reported last month, the Military Construction/Veterans Affairs Appropriation still remains stalled in the Senate. In all likelihood, unconscionable delays by The Congress will result in this very important funding bill dying when Congress adjourns the end of this month forcing VA to operate under a Continuing Resolution until the new Congress takes action. This inaction effectively funds VA at current year’s level, precludes new hiring and establishing new programs until Congress approves the FY 09 appropriation.

In addition to not completing a VA funding bill, Congress appears to be on the verge of abandoning major veterans’ issues in a rush to leave town to run for re-election. Partisan disagreements are preventing The Congress from passing major veterans’ health and benefits bills last year, and the situation appears to be repeating this year. Veterans’ benefits legislation is tied up over a dispute about whether to increase pensions to Filipino Scouts and provide monthly stipends to World War II Merchant Marines. Health care legislation is bogged down, in part, over gun-ownership restrictions for veterans diagnosed with or being treated for mental health issues. While Congress has passed a veterans’ cost-of-living adjustment bill and a “GI Bill for the 21st Century”, it has failed to pass legislation to improve mental health programs, expand health care for women veterans, improve diagnosis and treatment of traumatic brain injuries, and help families who are caring for severely disabled veterans. The Senate passed S. 1315 which included more generous benefits for Filipino Scouts, the House Veterans Affairs Committee has not cleared H.R. 760. In a compromise that could end the contentious debate over whether the U.S. still owes a debt to Filipinos who served alongside American troops in World War II, the House Veterans Affairs Committee approved a plan September 17 for a one-time payment to surviving veterans instead of an annual pension. But if veterans were to take the payments spelled out in H.R. 6897 — $15,000 for U.S. citizens and $9,000 for non-citizens — they would waive the right to ever receive another pension for their World War II service if the federal government were to someday pass a more generous bill. About 18,000 Filipinos would qualify for payments under the bill, according to estimates prepared by the Congressional Budget Office. With Congress heading towards a September 26th adjournment, the odds of veterans’ benefits bill passing are not good.

VFW National Legislative Committee Sets Priorities for 2009-The Veterans of Foreign Wars National Legislative Committee convened in Washington, DC for its annual priority setting session 13-16 Sep 08. Department of Florida Legislative Chairman Lee F. Kichen, National Legislative Committee members A.E. “Gene” Hall and Al Wallace joined fellow VFW National Legislative Committee members in formulating the following priorities for the 111th Congress:

VA Health Care
The VFW calls on Congress to pass a sufficient budget for the Department of Veterans Affairs so that it can properly care for all of America’s sick and disabled veterans.

The VFW urges funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs to be sufficient, predictable and timely, ending the trend of the last decade wherein VA’s budget has been delivered months late.

Congress must ensure that the unique health care and benefits challenges of OEF/OIF veterans are met, to include increased funding for Traumatic Brain Injuries and other related disabilities, as well as improved access to care, especially for veterans suffering from mental illness and for the growing number of women veterans accessing the system

The VFW calls on Congress and VA to increase priority given to women veterans by providing adequate services by hiring specialized health care providers and by providing training in gender-specific issues to help address shortfalls in gender-specific care and mental health care services for PTSD, Military Sexual Trauma and other needs.

The VFW urges the Department to improve outreach so that all veterans are aware of the range of health care services and benefits available to them, especially with female, minority and rural veterans, who may be less aware of their rights than other groups of veterans.

VA Benefits and Compensation
The VFW asks Congress to provide adequate resources to enable the Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) to reduce the current backlog of claims.

To protect the needs of current and future veterans, the VFW opposes any changes to the current definition of “line of duty,” structural changes to the programs for disability and survivors’ benefits, or curtailment of veterans’ or beneficiaries’ rights of entitlement or to appeal benefit decisions.

Seamless Transition
The VFW demands a truly seamless transition for those men and women serving in uniform who are transferring from the Department of Defense to the Department of Veterans Affairs. We envision a system with a truly integrated electronic medical record that travels wherever the service member is stationed eventually to VA where it follows the veteran to wherever he or she receives health care.

The VFW urges Congress and the Administration to improve the transition services and benefits provided to our veterans to ensure a steady and safe return to civilian life, including viable training, employment and education programs that address the realities of the current and future job markets to provide meaningful careers and not just temporary jobs.

Military Quality of Life
The VFW calls on Congress to fully fund all programs that enable our troops to succeed in their mission. We must ensure our active duty, guard and reserve members are provided increased pay, affordable health care, and adequate housing and work facilities for themselves and their families.

Florida Veterans of Foreign Wars Push for VA Appropriation Reform-The inability of Congress to pass on time either a Veterans Affairs funding bill or Defense authorization presents a clear and present danger to America’s warriors past and present and their families. Every year we castigate the Congress for its slow roll on these two important bills. While attending the this year’s fall Legislative Committee meeting, Past Department Commander Gene Hall, Department Legislative Chairman Lee F. Kichen and former Department Political Action Committee Al Wallace were able to meet with twenty members of the Florida Congressional delegation or members of their staff. Hall, Kichen and Wallace emphasized the importance of passing an on time MIL/VA Appropriation Bill.

The National Organization of the VFW and the other major organizations comprising the Partnership for VA Health Care Budget Reform are proposing a simple solution to the problem of late VA appropriation bill. Our proposal calls for a one year advanced appropriation of VA health care. This proposal has the support of the Chairmen of the Senate and House Veterans Affairs Committees, Senator Daniel Akaka and Representative Bob Filner filed companion bills that will, hopefully, lend timeliness and predictably to funding VA Health. In our discussions with Congresswomen Corrine Brown (D-FL3), Ginny Brown-Waite (R-FL5), Kathy Castor (D-FL11), Congressmen Gus Bilirakis (R-FL9), Vern Buchanan (R-FL13), and Cliff Stearns (R-FL6) we sensed a real enthusiasm for this proposal.

Mr. Bilirakis suggested that we seek out the support of C.W. “Bill” Young (R-FL10) Ranking Member of the Appropriations Committee. Ms. Castor indicated that she will discuss this proposal with Chet Edwards (D-TX17), Chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee on Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. While we acknowledge that there is virtually no chance of this bill passing this year, we will full court press this measure when the 111th Congress convenes in January 2009.

August Legislative Update from Lee F. Kichen, LTC, U.S. Army (Ret.)

BATTLING INSIDE THE BELTWAY

Federal Legislative Update

United States Senate Walks Away from Two Key Bills

Senate Democrat Leadership Delays 09 Defense Authorization Act-Once again Congress delays two bills that are crucial to active and reserve service members, veterans, military retirees and their families. Due to the usual partisan bickering Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) pulled the FY 09 National Defense Authorization Act from the floor. Ironically, the House of Representatives finished its version of this bill in May.

The authorization bill is the key vehicle for nearly all military personnel changes, and the Senate is scheduled to consider amendments to prevent undue TRICARE increases, ease compensation penalties for disabled retirees and military widows, plus up military pay raises, and fix Reserve retirement inequities, among others. All issues discussed in earlier “Battling Inside the Beltway” columns.

But it's hung up in the Senate because some senators won't agree to limit amendments to defense-related issues. The single biggest issue is that some Republicans insist on being able to add amendments to expand oil-drilling. But Sen. John Warner (R-VA), the elder statesman and former chairman of the Armed Services Committee, isn't among them. Warner voted to move on with the defense bill and limit amendments to defense issues. But that effort gathered only 51 votes...9 short of the 60 needed to end the debate and move on. While we recognize that Congress has the responsibility to produce some meaningful energy legislation, we don’t believe that this important bill should be delayed because of partisanship.

Given that Congress will adjourn early in October to allow members to return to the District to campaign, it is a safe bet that this bill will not be done before adjournment. Unless there is a post election lame duck session, it is likely that this bill won’t be finished until next year.

The nightmare scenario is that the oil-drilling fight could delay Senate action so long that Senate leaders feel compelled to drop nearly all defense bill amendments -- including some that military people really need -- just to get the bill passed and go home. Some fear it could scuttle the defense bill altogether -- an unthinkable scenario in time of war. These amendments include the one sponsored by Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) which would end the so-called “Widow’s Tax” by abolishing the prohibition against the concurrent receipt of both the Survivors’ Benefits Annuity and VA Dependency and Indemnity Compensation. Senator Mel Martinez (R-FL) is also a cosponsor of this important amendment.

Senate Allows Veterans Affairs Funding Bill to Languish-To quote that great American philosopher Yogi Berra, “…it must be déjà vu all over again…” The Senate also left the FY 09 Military Construction/Veterans Affairs Appropriation on the table as it blew out of The Capital for the August recess. On August 1, the full House of Representatives passed the Fiscal Year 2009 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations bill, H.R. 6599, with a nearly unanimous vote of 409 to 4. The 2009 bill builds on the historic increases for veterans and troops passed into law last year, and, if signed into law, it would be the largest funding increase in the 78-year history of the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

For the VA, the bill would provide $47.7 billion in health and other discretionary funding, $4.6 billion above 2008 and $2.9 billion over the Administration's request. These funds would provide substantial relief in improving veterans' medical care, hiring more claims processors, conducting new research, expanding VA efforts to combat homelessness, and helping VA make improvements to its facilities. The Veterans Health Administration estimates VA will treat more than 5.8 million patients in 2009 including more than 333,275 veterans of Iraq and Afghanistan (40,000 more than 2008).

The Senate Appropriations Committee has reported a separate funding bill, S. 3301 but was not scheduled for a vote before the summer recess. Please write your U.S. Senators to urge them to schedule a vote on veterans funding for fiscal year 2009 immediately after they return to Washington in September. It is intolerable that as VA expects to care for over a third of a million injured and ill veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, plus continues to care for millions of sick and disabled veterans of prior military service, that yet another year would begin without full VA funding. Unless the Senate acts quickly, then conferences with the House, this new funding for veterans will be in jeopardy and at minimum will be significantly delayed, perhaps as long as March 2009.

House Votes on Key Veterans’ Program Bills-At least the House of Representatives completed work on some important bills before the summer recess. Although hope is not a method, let’s hope the Senate will get to work on these bills before next St. Patrick’s Day. These important bills address disability, financial, tax, reemployment, and health care protections for veterans and military families.

• VA Disability System Reform: H.R. 5892 would implement a number of recommendations of the Veterans Disability Benefits Commission. The bill would require the VA to provide immediate payment for unquestioned disabilities such as amputations rather than holding up claims until all conditions are evaluated. It would also require a plan to modernize the VA disability rating schedule and address quality of life issues, change evaluator incentives to improve processing quality, and require the VA to establish special offices to assist survivors and dependents. In addition, it would allow a survivor or dependent to proceed with a VA claim if the veteran dies before it is adjudicated.

• Mortgage Foreclosure Protections: H.R. 3221 would prohibit foreclosure on property owned by a servicemember for nine months (vs. 90 days) following deployment. It would also increase, through the end of 2008, the maximum guaranty amount for mortgages backed by the VA.

• VA Health Care and Counseling: H.R. 6445 would exempt vets who have catastrophic, non-service-connected disabilities from paying copayments for hospital or nursing home care and loosen restrictions on counseling for those vets' family members

• Reemployment Rights: H.R. 6225 would strengthen protections for reservists denied reemployment benefits by state or private employers

• Armed Forces Student Rights: H.R. 6225 would limit interest on loan debts to 6% for members on active duty. It would also require colleges to refund tuition and fees for students forced to leave school because of military orders and reinstate those students on return with the same academic status held prior to service

• Cellphone Contracts: H.R. 6225 would let servicemembers terminate or suspend personal services contracts (e.g., cellphone or cable TV) entered into before being notified of PCS or deployment orders and penalize providers who violate the law

• Spouse Domicile: H.R. 6225 would let spouses of active duty members maintain the same state of domicile as the servicemember for state taxation purposes and voter registration

• Roth Thrift Saving Plan (TSP): A provision in H.R. 1108 would allow servicemembers and federal workers a "Roth TSP" option, entailing taxable deposits into the federal retirement savings plan and tax-free withdrawals in retirement

• In-state Tuition: H.R. 4137 would require all states to continue in-state college tuition rates for a military dependent previously granted such rates if the military parent is re-assigned outside the state.

Pacifism, militarism, patriotism

This article was brought to my attention by Marj Baldwin of Sarasota, FL. Marj is a WW II veteran of the Woman's Army Air Corps. Article written by Jeff Watson - THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE.

Some Americans live with a curious kind of courage. Convinced that violence, retaliation, and war are always wrong, some pacifists put their lives on the line for peace—sometimes in a war zone. Others believe that war is never wrong. Endorsing armed conflict as a necessary evil, some militarists in our culture sensationalize the drama and technology of combat.

In between these moral end-zones is 100 yards of playing field. For many, the playbook of life includes the possibility of a “just war” and of warriors with integrity. That is how Joshua saw it, when he barked out commands: “Do not be afraid …. Be … courageous … the Lord your God fights for you.” Even the Carpenter’s Son surprised people when he said: “[I]f you don’t have a sword, sell your cloak and buy one.”

It was his love of country that pushed Jacklyn Lucas toward the volcanic island of Iwo Jima. According to Flags of Our Fathers, the North Carolinian: “…[F]ast-talked his way into the Marines at 14…. Assigned to drive a truck in Hawaii … he stowed away on a transport out of Honolulu … landed on D-Day without a rifle … grabbed one lying on the beach and fought his way inland …. Jack and three comrades were crawling through a trench when eight Japanese sprang in front of them … his rifle jammed. As he struggled … a grenade landed at his feet. He yelled a warning … rammed the grenade into the soft ash. Immediately, another rolled in …. Lucas, 17, fell on both grenades …”

Surviving 21 surgeries, Lucas would be forgiven his desertion in Hawaii and become the nation’s youngest recipient of the Medal of Honor.

Pragmatism: finding common ground
According to the American Jewish Historical Society, the battle for Iwo Jima lasted five weeks non-stop. Among the 70,000 Marines who would raise the lag over Suribachi, 1,500 were Jewish—including the first Jewish chaplain ever appointed to the Corps: Rabbi Roland Gittelsohn.

Caring for the fearful and fallen of all faiths, Gittelsohn earned three decorations for his ministry under enemy fire. On that tragic rock, the nation would suffer 25,000 casualties and lose 6,000 of its beloved sons.

To dedicate the massive cemetery on the island, the division quickly organized a joint ceremony. Assigned to deliver a nondenominational sermon, the Rabbi began his preparations. To the surprise of his superiors, the majority of Christian chaplains objected. To save further embarrassment, the rabbi suggested three services.

Delivering his same eulogy to a smaller assembly, this son of Abraham was heartened to spot three Christian chaplains in his audience; one borrowed his meditation and privately distributed it throughout his regiment. Copies were soon traveling home with heartfelt letters from lonely GIs. Unknown to the rabbi, his shunned remarks were soon carried across the wire services, in Time magazine, and even in the Congressional Record.

“Here lie men who loved America because their ancestors … helped in her founding, and other men who loved her with equal passion because they … or their own fathers escaped from oppression to her blessed shores. Here lie officers and men, Negroes and Whites, rich men and poor … together. Here are Protestants, Catholics, and Jews together. Here no man prefers another because of his faith or despises him because of his color. Here there are no quotas …. Among these men, there is no discrimination. No prejudices. No hatred. Theirs is the highest and purest democracy …. Whosoever of us lifts his hand in hate against a brother, or who thinks himself superior to those who happened to be in the minority, makes of this ceremony and the bloody sacrifice it commemorates, an empty, hollow mockery. To this … as our solemn duty … do we … now dedicate ourselves: to enjoy the democracy for which all of them have here paid the price …”

The Twelve Myths about War by LTC Ralph Peters, U.S. Army (Ret.)

The following are excerpts from a November 2007 article in the American Legion Magazine by Ralph Peters, a retired Army officer, military expert and author. He lists the twelve myths about war. It is time to re-read what Colonel Peters said then and apply his wisdom to today's reality of victory over Al Qaeda in Iraq. For the full article go here.

Myth No. 1: War doesn't change anything. This campus slogan contradicts all of human history ...We need not agree in our politics or on the manner in which a given war is prosecuted, but we can't pretend that if only we laid down our arms all others would do the same. Wars, in fact, often change everything. Who would argue that the American Revolution, our Civil War or World War II changed nothing? Would the world be better today if we had been pacifists in the face of Nazi Germany and imperial Japan?...But of one thing we may be certain: a U.S. defeat in any war is a defeat not only for freedom, but for civilization. Our enemies believe that war can change the world. And they won't be deterred by bumper stickers.

Myth No. 2: Victory is impossible today. Victory is always possible, if our nation is willing to do what it takes to win. But victory is, indeed, impossible if U.S. troops are placed under impossible restrictions, if their leaders refuse to act boldly, if every target must be approved by lawyers, and if the American people are disheartened by a constant barrage of negativity from the media...In the timeless words of Nathan Bedford Forrest, "War means fighting, and fighting means killing." And in the words of Gen. Douglas MacArthur, "It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it."

Myth No. 3: Insurgencies can never be defeated. Historically, fewer than one in 20 major insurgencies succeeded. Virtually no minor ones survived...The good news is that in over 3,000 years of recorded history, insurgencies motivated by faith and blood overwhelmingly failed. The bad news is that they had to be put down with remorseless bloodshed.

Myth No. 4: There's no military solution; only negotiations can solve our problems. In most cases, the reverse is true. Negotiations solve nothing until a military decision has been reached and one side recognizes a peace agreement as its only hope of survival. It would be a welcome development if negotiations fixed the problems we face in Iraq, but we're the only side interested in a negotiated solution. Every other faction - the terrorists, Sunni insurgents, Shia militias, Iran and Syria - is convinced it can win. The only negotiations that produce lasting results are those conducted from positions of indisputable strength.

Myth No. 5: When we fight back, we only provoke our enemies. When dealing with bullies, either in the schoolyard or in a global war, the opposite is true: if you don't fight back, you encourage your enemy to behave more viciously. Passive resistance only works when directed against rule-of-law states, such as the core English-speaking nations. It doesn't work where silent protest is answered with a bayonet in the belly or a one-way trip to a political prison. We've allowed far too many myths about the "innate goodness of humanity" to creep up on us. Certainly, many humans would rather be good than bad. But if we're unwilling to fight the fraction of humanity that's evil, armed and determined to subjugate the rest, we'll face even grimmer conflicts.

Myth No. 6: Killing terrorists only turns them into martyrs. It's an anomaly of today's Western world that privileged individuals feel more sympathy for dictators, mass murderers and terrorists - consider the irrational protests against Guantanamo - than they do for their victims...Want to make a terrorist a martyr? Just lock him up. Attempts to try such monsters in a court of law turn into mockeries that only provide public platforms for their hate speech, which the global media is delighted to broadcast. Dead, they're dead. And killing them is the ultimate proof that they lack divine protection. Dead terrorists don't kill.

Myth No. 7: If we fight as fiercely as our enemies, we're no better than them. Did the bombing campaign against Germany turn us into Nazis? Did dropping atomic bombs on Japan to end the war and save hundreds of thousands of American lives, as well as millions of Japanese lives, turn us into the beasts who conducted the Bataan Death March? The greatest immorality is for the United States to lose a war.

Myth No. 8: The United States is more hated today than ever before. Those who served in Europe during the Cold War remember enormous, often-violent protests against U.S. policy that dwarfed today's let's-have-fun-on-a-Sunday-afternoon rallies. Older readers recall the huge ban-the-bomb, pro-communist demonstrations of the 1950s and the vast seas of demonstrators filling the streets of Paris, Rome and Berlin to protest our commitment to Vietnam. Imagine if we'd had 24/7 news coverage of those rallies. I well remember serving in Germany in the wake of our withdrawal from Saigon, when U.S. soldiers were despised by the locals - who nonetheless were willing to take our money - and terrorists tried to assassinate U.S. generals. The fashionable anti-Americanism of the chattering classes hasn't stopped the world from seeking one big green card. As I've traveled around the globe since 9/11, I've found that below the government-spokesman/professional-radical level, the United States remains the great dream for university graduates from Berlin to Bangalore to Bogota. On the domestic front, we hear ludicrous claims that our country has never been so divided. Well, that leaves out our Civil War. Our historical amnesia also erases the violent protests of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the mass confrontations, rioting and deaths. Is today's America really more fractured than it was in 1968?

Myth No. 9: Our invasion of Iraq created our terrorist problems. This claim rearranges the order of events, as if the attacks of 9/11 happened after Baghdad fell. Our terrorist problems have been created by the catastrophic failure of Middle Eastern civilization to compete on any front and were exacerbated by the determination of successive U.S. administrations, Democrat and Republican, to pretend that Islamist terrorism was a brief aberration.

Myth No. 10: If we just leave, the Iraqis will patch up their differences on their own. The point may come at which we have to accept that Iraqis are so determined to destroy their own future that there's nothing more we can do. But we're not there yet, and leaving immediately would guarantee not just one massacre but a series of slaughters and the delivery of a massive victory to the forces of terrorism.

Myth No. 11: It's all Israel's fault. Or the popular Washington corollary: "The Saudis are our friends." Israel is the Muslim world's excuse for failure, not a reason for it...Even if we didn't support Israel, Islamist extremists would blame us for countless other imagined wrongs, since they fear our freedoms and our culture even more than they do our military.

Myth No. 12: The Middle East's problems are all America's fault. Muslim extremists would like everyone to believe this, but it just isn't true. The collapse of once great Middle Eastern civilizations has been under way for more than five centuries, and the region became a backwater before the United States became a country...And we need to work within our community and state education systems to return balanced, comprehensive history programs to our schools. The unprecedented wealth and power of the United States allows us to afford many things denied to human beings throughout history. But we, the people, cannot afford ignorance.

Ralph Peters is a retired Army Lieutenant Colonel, strategist and author of 22 books, including the recent "Wars of Blood and Faith: The Conflicts That Will Shape the 21st Century.

It's official! Vietnam War hero is now a true American

New York Daily News, Wednesday, July 9th 2008, 9:26 PM

With his combat medals on his chest, Vietnam War hero Rudy Thomas Sr., takes citizenship oath Wednesday at Brooklyn Federal Courthouse. This disabled Vietnam veteran paratrooper with three Purple Hearts is no longer a man without a country. Wednesday, 40 years after limping home from Vietnam, Rudy Thomas, 64, a Trinidadian immigrant, took the Oath of Citizenship in the Brooklyn Federal Courthouse.

Now he is an official American hero.

'For the last 40 years I thought of myself as a proud American,' Thomas was saying yesterday, waiting in the large courtroom on the 2nd floor with 250 new citizenship applicants from 40 countries to be sworn in by Federal Judge Nina Gershon.

'I came home. My discharge papers said I was an American citizen. For the past 30 years I worked as a counselor at the State Department of Veteran's Affairs. My first American-born son, Rudy Jr., became a New York City police officer. He was shot dead on the Fourth of July in 1993...'

When you fight in the uniform of the U.S. Army's Airborne and stain the soil of a foreign land with your blood and then lose a police officer son in the war back home you kinda think you've earned a place setting at the American table.

'When I was in Vietnam the only thing I ever thought about was going home,' he said. 'Home to me was not Trinidad, which I left when my grandparents brought me here when I was a little boy. Home was Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.'

And typical All-American Brooklynite that he is, Rudy Thomas saluted the flag as he buried his son, and got on with his heartbroken American life.

He sired two more, named Rudolph Pierre III, 13, and Isaiah, 10, and worked and paid taxes and never traveled anywhere outside of America again.

'A few years ago my grandfather died and I applied for my first passport to go back to Trinidad for the funeral,' he says, tapping his spit-shined shoes and adjusting his combat vest covered in battle medals.

'That day a clerk at the passport office told me that I was an illegal alien, that I was not a citizen of the U.S.A. I was crushed. Told him it was a mistake. That the Army told me back before they sent me to Vietnam the first time that the military had naturalized me as a citizen, allowing me to fight in a foreign war. I showed him my discharge papers that said I was a citizen...'

His passport was denied. He was the only member of his family unable to attend his grandfather's funeral. Rudy Thomas, with his three Purple Hearts earned in defense of an ungrateful nation, was marked down as an illegal.

Already walking with a limp from his war wounds, and officially disabled with post traumatic stress disorder, Thomas began the slow, agonizing battle with the federal bureaucracy, trying to win back his dignity in the skittery paranoia of post-9/11 America.

Everywhere he turned he was stung by friendly fire.

'It was like a third tour of 'Nam,' he says. 'First I fought for my country. Now I was fighting with my country.'

Thomas, part of a New York Vietnam Veteran's Exhibit still running at the Brooklyn Historical Society, reached out to organizer Phil Napoli, a history professor at Brooklyn College. Napoli suggested Thomas contact this reporter. When he did. Rudy Thomas told his story in this space on June 5.

By 10 a.m. that day Sen. Chuck Schumer's office took up Rudy Thomas's cause and expedited a clear path through the bureaucratic jungle to yesterday's swearing in.

'I want to thank Professor Napoli and the Daily News and Senator Schumer who got me here today,' Thomas said yesterday.

'There was a point when I was starting to give up hope. I was afraid I was going to be deported by the country I fought for. I could hardly sleep last night in fear that I wouldn't be here on time this morning.'

But here he was in the courtroom yesterday, sitting with Napoli, and fellow 173 Airborne Vietnam vet Lucian Vecchio, himself a federal administrative judge, and Rudy's two proud sons sitting across the room when Judge Gershon climbed the steps to the bench.

Everyone in the room rose.

'Welcome new citizens,' Judge Gershon said. 'This is a very happy day for all the families here today. But first I want to say we do have a military veteran taking the oath today.' She motioned for a startled Rudy Thomas to stand, which he did with the help of his cane. 'Mr. Rudy Thomas was awarded three Purple Hearts in his service in Vietnam and today we are delighted to
welcome you to citizenship and we thank you for your service.'

A tear escaped down Rudy Thomas's face as the entire room of newly minted American citizens exploded in applause.

'I wish my son Rudy were here for this,' Thomas said.

'Believe me, he is,' said fellow vet Vecchio, giving him a comrade-in-arms hug.

'A grown man isn't supposed to cry,' said Thomas, wiping his eyes.

'If you've been to 'Nam he does,' said Vecchio.

THEN the ceremony was over, he was given his certificate of naturalization #30435522 and he was surrounded by friends and family, and other beaming new Americans lining up to shake his hand.

And then Rudy Thomas went home with his kids, at long last an official American hero.

A Navy Seal's Funeral

PO2 Mike Monsoor was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor posthumously for jumping on a grenade in Iraq, giving his life to save his fellow SEALs.

During Mike Monsoor's funeral in San Diego, as his casket was being moved from the hearse to the grave site at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery, SEALs were lined up on both sides of the pallbearers route forming a column of two's, with the casket moving up the center. As Mike's casket passed, each SEAL, having removed his gold Trident from his uniform, slapped it down embedding the Trident in the walnut casket.

The slaps were audible from across the cemetery; by the time the casket arrived at graveside, it looked as though it had a gold inlay from all the Tridents pinned to it. This was a fitting send-off for a warrior hero.