Posted on 09/16/2004 7:07:11 PM PDT by churchillbuff
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) - Soldiers from a combat unit at Fort Carson say they have been told to re-enlist for three more years or be transferred to other units expected to deploy to Iraq, the Rocky Mountain News reported Thursday.
Hundreds of soldiers from the 3rd Brigade Combat Team were presented with that message and a re-enlistment form in a series of assemblies last week, two soldiers who spoke on condition of anonymity told the newspaper.
"They said if you refuse to re-enlist with the 3rd Brigade, we'll send you down to the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, which is going to Iraq for a year, and you can stay with them, or we'll send you to Korea, or to Fort Riley (in Kansas) where they're going to Iraq," said one of the soldiers, a sergeant.
The second soldier, an enlisted man, echoed that view: "They told us if we don't re-enlist, then we'd have to be reassigned. And where we're most needed is in units that are going back to Iraq in the next couple of months. So if you think you're getting out, you're not."
The sergeant told the News the threat has outraged soldiers who are close to fulfilling their service obligation.
"We have a whole platoon who refuses to sign," he said.
An unidentified Fort Carson spokesman said Wednesday that 3rd Brigade recruitment officers denied threatening the soldiers with more duty in Iraq.
"I can only tell you what the retention officers told us: The soldiers were not being told they will go to Iraq, but they may go to Iraq," said the spokesman, who confirmed the re-enlistment drive is under way.
One of the soldiers provided the form to the News. If signed, it would bind the soldier to the 3rd Brigade until Dec. 31, 2007.
An Army spokesman, Lt. Col. Gerard Healy, said sending soldiers to Iraq with less than one year of their enlistment remaining "would not be taken lightly."
"There's probably a lot of places on post where they could put those folks (who don't re-enlist) until their time expires," he said. "But I don't want to rule out the possibility that they could go to a unit that might deploy."
Extending a soldier's active duty is within Army authority, since the enlistment contract carries an eight-year obligation, even if a soldier signs up for shorter terms. Members of Iraq-bound units can be retained for an entire year in Iraq, even if their active-duty enlistment expires.
"I don't want to go back to Iraq," the sergeant told the News. "I went through a lot of things for the Army that weren't necessary and were risky. Iraq has changed a lot of people."
The enlisted soldier said the recruiters' message left him "filled with dread."
"For me, it wasn't about going back to Iraq. It's just the fact that I'm ready to get out of the Army," he said.
Definitely and I don't know.
I am only responding to him because of the lurkers; I want them to know the truth, not the DNC's version of truth.
Thanks!
http://explanation-guide.info/meaning/Weapons-of-mass-destruction.html
Weapons of mass destruction: Meaning (information, definition, explanation, facts)
Weapons of mass destruction (WMD) are weapons designed to kill large numbers of people, typically targeting civilians and military personnel alike. They are generally considered to have a psychological impact rather than a strictly military usefulness.
Though the phrase was coined in 1937 to describe aerial bombardment, the types of weapons today considered to be in this class are often referred to as NBC weapons or ABC weapons:
nuclear weapons (including radiological weapons)
biological weapons
chemical weapons
They are also known as weapons of indiscriminate destruction, weapons of mass disruption and weapons of catastrophic effect.
Churchillbuff,
I have given you several opertunities to respond to my posts. I have not disrepected you in anyway. Why the persist refusal to respond to my posts or questions. What are your true intentions here. Just to disrupt, and cause people to get up in arms over your posts, or are you trying to bring civilize debate to these articles. If it is the later you have failed. In the several times that I have come across you here a Free Republic you have always avoided answering direct questions, and post inflamtory rhetorical articles with little or no fact to them. I appricate good debate and intellectual exchange. Once again if that was you intention you have failed. I suggest that if you want to post articles such as yours you'll get more of the rise you are looking for out of the democratic underground. If not please stop wasting bandwith with you rhetoric two step clintonian answers, and finally before you ever post anything about the military again serve a few years then you earn the right to Bit** about recruiting and retention practices.
email this print this Posted on Wed, Sep. 15, 2004
U.S. (Powell) backs off claims of WMDs
By Barry Schweid
The Associated Press
The Bush administration is apparently ready to abandon a major reason it gave the world for going to war with Iraq: Saddam Hussein's purported storehouses of chemical and biological weapons the administration said he was prepared to use against the United States.
Secretary of State Colin Powell, who made the claim in a dramatic prewar presentation to a skeptical United Nations in 2003, virtually withdrew it Monday during testimony before the Senate Government Affairs Committee.
"There was every reason to believe there were stockpiles," Powell said. "There was a question about the size of stockpiles, but we all believed there were stockpiles."
However, Powell said in response to questions from Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, "it turned out that we have not found any stockpiles."
Moreover, Powell said, "I think it is unlikely that we will find any stockpiles."
The job now, he said, is "to go back and find out why we had a different judgment."
Since the war, Powell said, he had found that "some of the sourcing that we used to give me the basis upon which to bring forward that judgment to the United Nations was flawed."
Powell did not elaborate on what he may have thought went wrong. Before speaking to the United Nations, where sentiment was strongly against war and for continuing inspection searches, Powell spent four days in consultation with then-CIA Director George Tenet and other CIA officials.
Sarin chemical artillery shell.
Sarin chemical artillery shell.
You cannot deny it's existence.
Tuesday, May 18, 2004
By Liza Porteus
NEW YORK — Tests of the artillery shell that detonated in Iraq on Saturday have confirmed that it did in fact contain an estimated three or four liters of the deadly sarin (search) nerve agent, Defense officials told Fox News Tuesday.
The artillery shell was left as a roadside bomb, the U.S. military said Monday. Two U.S. soldiers were treated for minor exposure to the nerve agent when the 155-mm shell exploded before it could be rendered inoperable.
The soldiers displayed "classic" symptoms of sarin exposure — most notably dilated pupils and nausea, officials said. The symptoms ran their course fairly quickly, however, and as of Tuesday, the two had returned to duty.
Lethal dose of Sarin: 0.5 milligrams.
Density: 1.089 g/cm3
Grams per liter: 1,089g
Lethal doses per liter: 2,178,000
Lethal doses of sarin contained in this shell: 6,534,000 to 8,712,000
LOL.
And tonight Powell was interviewed by Hannity and when asked if WMD could have been moved to another country or buried, Powell said it was possible.
Oh, then you didn't hear Powell tonight on FNC.
When asked if WMD could be buried or moved to another country he said it was possible.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1137857/posts
WMDs, Nerve Agents, and Organophosphates (about those Iraqi "pesticides"...)
Gulflink.com / Kentucky Regional Poison Center
Nerve agent (excerpt)
Nerve agents are organophosphate compounds. Nerve agents are normally divided into G-agents (fluorine- or cyanide-containing organophosphates) and V-agents (sulfur-containing organophosphates). The principal nerve agents are tabun (GA), sarin (GB), soman (GD), cyclosarin (GF), and VX
Nerve agents are all viscous liquids, not gases per se. However, the vapor pressures of the G-series nerve agents are sufficiently high for the vapors to be rapidly lethal. GB is so volatile that small droplets released from a shell exploding in the air may never reach the ground. This total volatilization means that GB is largely a vapor hazard. G-agents are potent inhibitors of the enzyme acetylcholinesterase, which is required for the function of many nerves and muscles. People poisoned by G-agents may display the following symptoms: difficulty breathing, drooling, excessive sweating, nausea, vomiting, cramps, twitching, jerking, staggering, headache, confusion, drowsiness, coma, and convulsions. The number and severity of the symptoms depend on the quantity and route of entry of the nerve agent into the body.
When a nerve agent is inhaled, a prominent symptom is the pinpointing of the pupils (miosis) and a dimness of vision. Nerve agents are cumulative poisons. Repeated exposure to low concentrations, if not too far apart, will produce symptoms.
Gulflink
Organophosphate Pesticides - Introduction (excerpt)
The organophosphates have replaced DDT as the leading pesticides because of their rapid breakdown into environmentally safe products. However, they have far more immediate toxicity than DDT and other related products.
There are more than 40 organophosphate pesticides on the market today and all can have acute and sub-acute toxicity. They are used in agriculture, homes, gardens, and in veterinary practice. They are all inhibitors of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) and cause similar symptoms. In 1999, more than 13,000 cases of organophosphate poisoning were reported to US poison centers, with more than 3000 cases seen in the emergency department (ED) and 83 fatalities.
Carbamate insecticides have a similar action of inhibition of acetylcholinesterase. However it is a temporary bond, usually lasting less than 12 hours. Additionally, the carbamates have less penetration across the blood-brain barrier than the organophosphates.
Kentucky Regional Poison Center
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/887355/posts
Tests Confirm Sarin in Iraqi Artillery Shell
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1138247/posts
Gallon of Sarin in Iraqi Artillery Shell
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1137979/posts
Two US Soldiers injured in Sarin laced IED explosion (per Gen Kimmitt)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1137038/posts
You have no excuse for being so woefully misinformed.
You'lllove what churchillbuff is claiming.
He's claiming that the government has denied WMD existence in Iraq, denies the Sarin artillery shell IED, and read his latest screed in post 205.
If that doesn't make you laugh at him, nothing will.
He's really spinning and trying to squirm out of it.
Perhaps we've found another of JohnGalt's fractured personalities, or maybe one of his disruptor disciples?
What's wrong?
You don't like having your lies confronted?
Don't like being confronted on your clintonian two step?
You denied there are WMD's in Iraq, I showed you specifically an instance of at least one being found, and you blithely iignore it as if your denial will change reality.
Having been an artilleryman myself, I know what a WMD is, and I know what an artillery shell is.
I served my country, and am personally offended at your repetition of Lib manufactured lies such as people being threatened unless they re-enlist.
You still have yet to respond to any of THOSE points brought forth, you merely march on like one of Moby's marching morons, spouting your screed and misleading people with your tripe.
If you were honest, honorable, and forthright, you'd be useful and productive.
You have no honor and no honesty.
In your own words, what would you accept as proof of a Weapon of Mass Destruction?
you talkin to me? you talkin to me? --- or to Colin Powell? (see post no. 205)
Yes I'm talking to you.
You honorless excuse for an air breather.
Colin Powell isn't the one lying to people here in thread.
YOU are.
Yes I'm talking to you.
I served my country.
Can you say the same?
IN YOUR OWN WORDS, what would you accept as proof of a Weapon of Mass Destruction?
You have no honor, no honesty, and your loyalties are questionable.
You dodge direct questions, lie, and are intellectually dishonest.
You have all the debating skill of Micheal Moore.
You obviously hate the military, you have lied about them non-stop in your article.
Why don't you signup?
I'd take your leftist tripe slightly more seriously if you actually signed up and saw things first hand.
But you have no credibility.
You are a liar, and a disrupter.
You state leftist issues, and when asked about it you refuse to answer.
You are low on the same level as Dan Rather and his forged memos.
The all important and usually overlooked small print on the enlistment contract. Shame on these soldiers for not knowing (or claiming not to know) their signed committments. Shame on the 3rd BCT retention office for using a heavy handed tactic (if, in fact, they did) in order to meet their retention goals. Kudos to LTC Healy for putting this issue in perspective and at least offering a solution.
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