Pentagon Holds Thousands of Americans 'Prisoners of War'

Pentagon Holds Thousands of Americans 'Prisoners of War'

alternet.org

He was not, however, going to talk about the three soldiers listed as missing in action on the Department of Defense website. He was referring to those who have been the victims of stop-loss, the device by which the president can, "in the event of war," choose to extend an enlistee's contract "until six months after the war ends." The "War on Terror" is this president's excuse for invoking that clause. Because that war will, by definition, continue as long as we insist that there is a difference between the terror inflicted on our innocents and the terror inflicted on theirs, American soldiers are effectively signing away their freedom indefinitely when they join the military. They are prisoners of an ill-defined and undeclared war on a tactic -- terrorism -- that dates back to Biblical times and will be with us indefinitely.

According to U.S. News and World Report, there are at least 60,000 of them.

(visit the link for the full news article)

This is yet another tragedy of this disgusting Invasion / occupation that recieves almost ZERO coverage from the MSM---STOP-LOSS REDEPLOYMENTS. Soldiers, having served their tours and done their time, are being FORCED to redeploy under this scum-bag admin's orders and serve several back-to-back tours, and it is taking it's toll on them big time...This is likely one of the reasons we're seeing such an enormous suicide rate and explosion of mental problems---These men are literally being held indefinitely as prisoners of war by their own leaders. More crapping on our military by the Pentagon. Sickening.

Pentagon studies have shown that each deployment leaves a soldier 60 percent more likely to suffer serious mental health problems. In support of that, as this president sends soldiers back into combat as many as five times in as many years, the U.S. Army Medical Command Suicide Prevention Action Plan acknowledges that suicides among active-duty soldiers in 2007 were up 20 percent from 2006, their highest level since the Army began keeping such records in 1980. And the number of suicide attempts has increased sixfold since the Iraq war began. There were several in the I-30 Infantry Battalion, and Goldsmith holds his sergeant major responsible. Like Goldsmith, these young soldiers are being told not only that they are prisoners, but that they are disposable. They are our children, and their deaths are on the hands of those who hold their freedom hostage.

alternet.org
(visit the link for the full news article)

I take a contract seriously so if I signed up for 2 or 4 years I would make sure that is what the agreement says. This war and the additional hardships placed upon soldiers, their families and communities are completely unneccesary.

How we have squandered the opportunity to make a real positive change in the world in light of the Global Goodwill we had after 911 is one of the greatest tragedies in the history of the United States.

NEO-Conservatism has utterly failed the American people.

"For the duration of the emergency plus six months."

That's the terms they used during World War 2 when men were drafted. Nothing new here.

reply to post by jerico65


Different times, different circumstances.

Notice there is not draft either...

"Alternet"??? That's like quoting info from wiki, huffington or the daily kos.

It's damn sure fortunate that most of the people here weren't alive in WW2, or we'd all be speaking German. Face it, people, the war against Saddam (not Iraq) liberated over 40 million people. Many of you won't vote, or will wait to see if it's raining, or if the lines are too long, yet Iraqi people voted at the extreme risk of being shot at, suicide-bombed or killed.

Also face the fact that lasting peace has NEVER been achieved by negotiations, diplomacy or appeasement; only by total victory. Name me one time in the past 70 years where diplomacy resulted in peace when dealing with tyrants or dictators.

Money spent and lives lost are never what makes the determination to end a conflict / war. That's just plain foolishness. Check the death lists of the first three days of WW1 and 2, or the first 6 months after the conflict in Viet Nam.

Americas total national debt is less than 10% of our GDP; very manageable, and right about thew 60 years average. Why is this war so expensive? Because of the knowledge that wars are inevitable, so we design and build planes and missiles with more accuracy to reduce collateral damage, for one.

Use your heads..... if there were even half the number of people mentioned in the article who were just "missing", you don't think it would be noticed and all over the news? ATS has become just one more place where those of like mind come to vent to others who feel the same way.

This is as bad as the other piece about Sean Penn and some author; boy..... now there's two geniuses who know so much about despots, dictators and geo-politics that the armies of the world should have contacted them first. If only we'd known.....

reply to post by zappafan1


Difference:

Stopping an imperialistic regime from running rampant across Europe and attempting to take over the world.

or

Forcing our governmental system on an area that is not yet ready to handle such a change.

They Iraq war and WWII are completely different. I think we are both aware of that. Even then, many free-thinkers such as myself were alive during the WWII era. We tried to remain neutral, but it just wasn't possible.

Perhaps you should take a step back and re-evualate the situation.

Can you name one good thing the Iraq war did for this country?

Notice I said this country, by the way. I'm for helping Iraqis, but that is not the 1st thing that should be on the US's agenda.

*Edited to add:

Oh, and did you know that it was your party that was usually anti-war and world policing? I assume you are pseudo-republican, aka neo-conservative, because you are the only people left in this country who actually buy this BS.

*edited a second time to add:

You're an insult to Zappa, his fans, and his beliefs:

Zappa Quotes

• The man in the White House ... He's got a conscience as black as sin! There's just one thing I wanna know — How'd that asshole ever manage to get in?'
  
  
• We're involved in sort of a low key war against apathy. Most of what we do is designed to annoy people to the point where they might just for a second question enough of their environment to do something about it. As long as they don't feel their environment, they don't worry about it — they're not gonna do anything to change it. Something's gotta be done before America scarfs up the world and **** on it. (1968 - BBC television)
  
  
• Government is the Entertainment Division of the military-industrial complex.
  
  
• A lot of things wrong with society today are directly attributable to the fact that the people who make the laws are sexually maladjusted.
  
  
• It pays to make the U.S. school system a crock of **** because the dumber the people are that come out, the easier it is to draft them, make them into docile consumers, or, you know, mongo employees. There are plenty of yuppies out there with absolutely nothing upstairs. Graduate airheads with PhDs and everything but they don't know anything. And what do they listen to? Certainly not my records.
  
  
• The illusion of freedom will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way, and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theatre. (1977)
  
  
• If we can't be free, at least we can be cheap
  
  
• Without deviation from the norm, progress is not possible.
  
  
• The person who stands up and says, 'This is stupid,' either is asked to behave or, worse, is greeted with a cheerful 'Yes, we know! Isn't it terrific!'
  
  
• You can't be a real country unless you have a beer and an airline. It helps if you have some kind of a football team, or some nuclear weapons, but at the very least you need a beer.
  
  
• Go ahead Senator, I already hold you in contempt.
  To Sen. Slade Gorton R-WA during the "Tipper Gore Musical Obscenity" Hearings. Gorton had just warned Zappa he might be held in contempt of Congress for his expressions of attitude. Sen Gordon failed his next re-election attempt.
  
  
• ...if a million more agree, this ain't no great society, as it applies to you and me, our country isn't free, if all that you could ever be is just a lousy janitor, unless your uncle owns a store...

[edit on 26-3-2008 by Sublime620]

[edit on 26-3-2008 by Sublime620]

[edit on 26-3-2008 by Sublime620]