I tvoja poenta je sta...? 

Taj rat nije katastrofa,nego "samo" tragedija? 

Crnokošuljaš,pošto želiš verzije iz "validnijeg" izvora,pomenutoga Rosa Kaputija možeš sada naći u "Stop War Coalition" :

Fallujah remembered by a US marine who helped destroy it in 2004

izvornik : " Stop War " ( autor : Ross Caputi, ovde )

It has been seven years since the 2nd siege of Fallujah -- the American assault that left the city in ruins, killed thousands of civilians, and displaced hundreds-of-thousands more -- the assault that poisoned a generation, plaguing the people who live there with cancers and their children with birth defects.
It has been seven years and the lies that justified the assault still perpetuate false beliefs about what we did.
The American veterans who fought there still do not understand who they fought against, or what they were fighting for.
I know, because I am one of those American veterans. In the eyes of many of the people I "served" with, the people of Fallujah remain dehumanized and their resistance fighters are still believed to be terrorists. But unlike most of my counterparts, I understand that I was the aggressor, and that the resistance fighters in Fallujah were defending their city.



It is also the seventh anniversary of the deaths of two close friends of mine, Travis Desiato and Bradly Faircloth, who were killed in the siege. Their deaths were not heroic or glorious. Their deaths were tragic, but not unjust.
How can I begrudge the resistance in Fallujah for killing my friends, when I know that I would have done the same thing if I were in their place? How can I blame them when we were the aggressors?
It could have been me instead of Travis or Brad. I carried a radio on my back that dropped the bombs that killed civilians and reduced Fallujah to rubble. If I were a Fallujan, I would have killed anyone like me. I would have had no choice. The fate of my city and my family would have depended on it. I would have killed the foreign invaders.
Travis and Brad are both victims and perpetrators. They were killed and they killed others because of a political agenda in which they were just pawns. They were the iron fist of American empire, and an expendable loss in the eyes of their leaders.
I do not see any contradiction in feeling sympathy for the dead American Marines and soldiers and at the same time feeling sympathy for the Fallujans who fell to their guns. The contradiction lies in believing that we were liberators, when in fact we oppressed the freedoms and wishes of Fallujahs. The contradiction lies in believing that we were heroes, when the definition of "hero" bares no relation to our actions in Fallujah.
What we did to Fallujah cannot be undone, and I see no point in attacking the people in my former unit. What I want to attack are the lies and false beliefs. I want to destroy the prejudices that prevented us from putting ourselves in the other's shoes and asking ourselves what we would have done if a foreign army invaded our country and laid siege to our city.
I understand the psychology that causes the aggressors to blame their victims. I understand the justifications and defense mechanisms. I understand the emotional urge to want to hate the people who killed someone dear to you. But to describe the psychology that preserves such false beliefs is not to ignore the objective moral truth that no attacker can ever justly blame their victims for defending themselves.
The same distorted morality has been used to justify attacks against the Native Americans, the Vietnamese, El Salvadorans, and the Afghans. It is the same story over and over again. These peoples have been dehumanized, their God-given right to self-defense has been delegitimized, their resistance has been reframed as terrorism, and American soldiers have been sent to kill them.
History has preserved these lies, normalized them, and socialized them into our culture; so much so that legitimate resistance against American aggression is incomprehensible to most, and to even raise this question is seen as un-American.
History has defined the American veteran as a hero, and in doing so it has automatically defined anyone who fights against him as the bad-guy. It has reversed the roles of aggressor and defender, moralized the immoral, and it has shaped our societies present understanding of war.
I cannot imagine a more necessary step towards justice than to put an end to these lies, and achieve some moral clarity on this issue. I see no issue more important than to clearly understand the difference between aggression and self-defense, and to support legitimate struggles. I cannot hate, blame, begrudge, or resent Fallujans for fighting back against us. I am sincerely sorry for the role I played in the 2nd siege of Fallujah, and I hope that someday not just Fallujans but all Iraqis will win their struggle.

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Što se tiče dela mog inicijalnog posta na koji,pretpostavljam,imaš primedbe (,a bavi se samoubistvima među veteranima),da si pažljivije pogledao original na linku koji postavih kao izvornik,video bi da tamo stoji pozivanje na validnu organizaciju/sajt iz Čikaga (NewsMedill).Taj deo sam iz svoga posta uklonio da ne bi pravio zabunu,ali ako želiš širu informaciju,evo i tog originala :

War’s other casualty: Suicidal thoughts plague returned veterans

izvornik " Medill Reports Chicago " , 17.februar 2011. ( autor : Bernard A. Lubell , ovde )

Suicide among veterans is not a simple discussion. With veterans making more than half the calls to the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline since 2007, does the adage of the “ultimate sacrifice” need to be revisited?
 
More than 134,000 people made calls to the lifeline last year. Of those callers, 61 percent identified themselves as veterans, while 7 percent identified themselves as a friend or family of a veteran.



This means that nearly three-fourths of calls made to the lifeline were related to veterans’ issues.
 
“What we don’t really know is the relationship between the people who are really going to kill themselves and the population who calls,” said Dr. Dean Krahn, chief of the mental health service line at the VA in Madison, Wis.

The relationship may not be known, but the need is salient.

The Department of Veteran Affairs partnered with the lifeline in 2007 to provide these services for veterans. By dialing “1” after calling 1-800-273-TALK, veterans are routed to a lifeline that caters to their specific needs.





But the lifeline was only established in 2004, a few decades after Steve Nelson and others like him returned home from Vietnam.
 
For 35 years, Nelson never spoke about his war experiences. Instead, he found solace with drugs and alcohol to dull the memories magnified by his post-traumatic stress disorder.

“I’m so fortunate because I’ve gotten a lot of help and support from my family so I really feel good now,” said Nelson, who lives in Chicago.

But that wasn’t always the case for Nelson.

He remembers searching for his 19-year-old friend, Nick, the father of a newborn baby, the morning after an attack in Vietnam. He found his friend dead, lying on the ground, his body cold and dismembered.

“I found his body in pieces—and he was my friend,” said Nelson, his voice breaking.

Although Nelson is now in good spirits—and five years sober—he previously considered suicide as an option to “disappear.”

While the stories of all veterans are unique, there is a general uniting thread: returning from combat leaves you changed. Some veterans can cope; others cannot. Some have suicide ideation, or suicidal thoughts, and others attempt suicide.
 
One doctor who works with veterans’ mental health issues at Hines VA Medical Hospital in suburban Chicago said the transition to civilian life is difficult.
 
“One thing that our service men and women are not always good at,” said Thomas Nutter, assistant chief of mental health, “is reaching out for help when they come back.”

And some veterans end up taking their own lives.

It’s the old maxim: the ultimate sacrifice is losing your life while fighting for your country. But with the VA reporting nearly 11,000 non-fatal suicide attempts and about 700 completions in 2009, the definition of the ultimate sacrifice may need to be revisited.

Calls made by veterans to the lifeline have been increasing by about 20,000 each year.

“Part of it is the education and the efforts of the VA,” Krahn said. “Part of it is probably a jump in suicide ideation, but I’m sure it’s not a 100 percent jump.”

But only half of veterans seek out Veterans Health Administration services, provided by the VA, which means that these numbers are likely higher, according to Kristen McDonald, suicide prevention coordinator at the VA Healthcare Center in Palo Alto, Calif.

For the other half not seeking care through the VHA, finding reliable data is difficult. 

“What we’re finding is that veterans getting care from [the VA] are less likely to attempt suicide,” McDonald said. There is preliminary evidence suggesting that veterans ages 18 to 29 who use VA health care services, compared to veterans who don’t, have decreased suicide rates, according to McDonald. This decrease translates to about 250 lives per year.

In the same vein of outreach, the VA created an awareness campaign for mass-transit lines in 2008 to help veterans and their families learn about the toll-free crisis lifeline. In late 2010, Chicago became one of the 11 cities in which the campaign was expanded. Advertisements for the lifeline could be found on CTA buses and El platforms around the city.

The Army’s Health Promotion Risk Reduction Suicide Prevention Report published in July details Army suicide prevention programs.

“One of the lessons we learned when we further expanded our efforts was that the ‘one-size-fits-all’ approach does not work,” said Col. Christopher Philbrick, deputy director of the Army’s Health Promotion Risk Reduction Task Force in Washington, D.C.

“Every suicide is an individual circumstance—the causes behind them and the impacts to make a choice that most don’t consider to be a rational action are fraught with all kinds of twists and turns.”

A holistic approach to mental health, including resiliency training and understanding risk factors are cornerstones of the report. The four pillars of the prevention program are education, reducing stigma, providing resources and involving families.

The report also addresses the misconceptions associated with seeking help as a veteran or soldier.

“It’s the perception that if they notify someone from their organization that they will be stigmatized,” Philbrick said. “A good portion of those have the perception that if they get hold of their military branch they will not receive the support I believe they should.”

The typical non-active duty suicide is committed by a young, white male junior enlisted soldier, according to the report.

“Certainly going to war can be difficult for your mental health,” said Krahn, at the VA in Madison. “Seventeen percent come back with post traumatic stress disorder and others come back with [similar rates of] depression, and a chunk of both of those drink heavily. All three of those increase your suicide risk.”

Gunshot wounds are the most frequent cause of death in these suicides, according to the report.

“For veterans, your weapon is your security. It keeps you safe,” said Nutter, at Hines VA. “As a group, they are more likely to have weapons, and those with weapons in their homes are most likely to complete suicide.”

Nutter reads the chart of each patient who has committed suicide before he writes up an issue brief that is sent to the central VA office in Washington, D.C.

“It’s tricky to know if we have an accurate count of suicides because not everybody walks in and says their family member committed suicide,” Nutter said.

“I think in general the support our vets get when they return home is much, much improved over previous conflicts.”

The services available to veterans now are of higher quality and in more abundance than they were post-Vietnam, Nelson said. There was no such thing as PTSD until much after Vietnam, he said.

Nearly 700 soldiers committed suicide while in Vietnam, according to a spokesman for the 50th Anniversary of the Vietnam War Commemoration Commission.

While no data is publicly available, estimates of suicides committed by Vietnam veterans, depending on the source, range from 2,000 to 300,000.

“The hardest part for everybody to deal with is that lots of people care a lot about this group of people who have risked their lives for us,” Krahn said. “So we all are sort of desperate for a single, simple answer and it’s very unlikely that it’s a single, simple answer. And so I think one of the great risks is that instead of sticking with this project probably for months, years and decades, we’ll get into fights with each other about ‘we invested in this why isn’t it fixed?’”

As for Nelson, the Vietnam veteran, he now donates his time, peer counseling in Chicago neighborhoods as well as counseling other veterans in their time of need.

“I’m able to have the strength to help other people,” he said, “and I love doing that.”

Skraćeno (isti izvornik,desna strana,izdvojeno u malom okviru) :

Facts about veterans suicide
--30,000-32,000 US deaths from suicide per year among the population overall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

--About 20 percent are veterans, according to the National Death Reporting System

--About 18 deaths from suicide per day are veterans, according to NDRS

--About 5 deaths from suicide per day among veterans receiving care in Veterans Health Administrations, according to the VA

--About 950 attempts per month among veterans receiving care in VHA as reported by suicide prevention coordinators

--About 7 percent of suicide attempts resulted in death.

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Da li ti je ovo dovoljno "validno" ?

I dalje ne razumem sta hoces da kazes time ? Da ucesce u ratu ostecuje psihu ? To svi znamo da je tako. I to se ne vidi samo na tim veteranima, nego i na onima koji su ucestvovali u balkanskim ratovima 1991 - 1999.

Ne,nisam hteo da kažem da učešće u ratu oštećuje psihu (ja sam živ primer da se čovek može vratiti sa fronta kao zrelije, ispunjenije,kvalitetnije i nacionalno osvešćenije ljudsko biće nego što je bio pre odlaska na njega,a povrh svega još i  ne postati šovinista),već da Ameriku tek čeka poplava ozbiljnih problema sa veteranima koji su " širili demokratiju" u njeno ime po svetu . Tvoje je da se zapitaš zašto ovde postoji ekipa koja i dalje drži palčeve NATO-u i "koaliciji voljnih",ako oni sami sebi (svesni zločina koje su činili poslednjih 20 godina) oduzimaju život brzinom od 18 komada na dan i to po već odavno zastarelim podacima (noviji su,verovatno,još drastičniji).
Ne veruješ mojoj interpretaciji ? Prošetaj do (npr.) ovog   sajta na kome se masovno okupljaju njihovi ratni veterani desne političke orijentacije (desne,jer levičari uvek beže od oružanih sukoba) i razgledaj malo njihove stavove o svetskoj politici,islamu,ljudskim pravima,Izraelu,Balkanu,Obami itd.
Kada se tamo obavestiš o većinskoj Americi,bilo bi lepo da zamisliš kako bi to bilo da Srbiju ustrojimo prema njihovim shvatanjima.Kao desničar i nacionalista,priznajem da u takvoj Srbiji ne bih mogao da živim.

Da divna li naslova :


" The American Empire is over and the descent is going to be horrifying ! "

izvornik : MOXNews ,01.januara ,  razgovor sa Krisom Hedžisom , autorom istoimene knjige

i ?

A ?

Pa,zaista,nista... ti ionako pretendujes na servisiranje automata za kafu na Nemackim pumpama,tako da se ovo tebe i ne tice mnogo.

Balkanska veza u Tampi?

Kosovski Albanac Sami Osmakac, koga je FBI uhapsio zbog planiranja terorističkih napada na Floridi, prihvatio je radikalni islam posle puta u Tursku. Amerikanci ispituju moguće "bočne" veze na Kosovu, ali i drugde na Balkanu. Porodica, koja se zvala Osmankaj došla iz mesta Ljubižda na Kosovu.

Plan Samija Osmakaca da samoubilačkim napadom u Tampi ustane u odbranu islama okončao se onog trenutka kada su ga uhapsili agenti Federalnog istražnog biroa. Istragom je utvrđeno da je mladić rođen na Kosovu radikalni islam prihvatio tokom boravka u Turskoj. Američki obaveštajci ispituju moguće "bočne" veze sa islamistima na Balkanu.

"Po prirodi stvari, pokušaćemo da otkrijemo gde je boravio u Turskoj i da li je, tom prilikom, išao i na druga mesta, Kosovo, na primer, gde je rođen", rekao je za Internet portal Radio-televizije Srbije zvaničnik jedne od američkih obaveštajnih službi, koji je želeo da ostane anoniman.

Kako navodi porodica osumnjičenog, Sami je planirao da se preseli u Meku u Saudijskoj Arabiji, gde bi učio islam, ali mu to zbog vize nije pošlo za rukom.

Stigao je do Turske, ali je zbog problema sa vizom morao da se vrati kući na Floridu prošlog leta. Na aerodromu je zadržan šest sati prilikom dolaska u SAD, navodi njegov brat Avni.

Kosovski Albanac Sani Osmakac uhapšen je u ponedeljak u akciji Federalnog istražnog bira zbog planiranja terorističkih napada.

Put u Tursku, kako se čini, bio je ključni momenat u životu Samija Osmakaca, jer se taj momak, po povratku, dramatično promenio. Prethodno, radio je u prodavnici balkanske hrane u Sent Pitersburgu na Floridi.

"Predao se veri prošle godine", rekao je njegov otac Aslam američkoj televizijskoj mreži Ej-Bi-Si. "Ali, on nije terorista. To je neka greška".

U Samijevu odbranu stao je i njegov brat Avni, koji je rekao da vlasti pokušavaju da ga zatvore "samo zato što je musliman". "To je sve fikcija. Sve su izmislili".
ljubizda.jpg
Kuća porodice Osmankaj u Ljubiždi

Porodica Osmakac došla je u Ameriku iz sela Ljubižda kod Prizrena, na Kosovu. Pre dolaska u SAD prezivali su se Osmankaj.

FBI je objavio i transkript njegove oproštajne poruke u kojoj se vidi kako sedi skrštenih nogu sa pištoljem u ruci. Iza njegovih leđa, na zid je naslonjen "kalašnjikov".

"Moja poruka je: Ukoliko ne prihvatite islam, završićete u paklu", rekao je Osmakac. Plan koji je Osmakac osmislio podrazumevao je seriju eksplozija automobila bombi, uzimanje talaca, i na kraju samoubistvo. Osmakac je, navodno, želeo da u vazduh digne i mostove u Tampi.

Ma koliko takav plan delovao nerealan, stručnjaci FBI tvrde da je Osmakac bio "zastrašujuće" temeljit u planiranju i da je ovakav plan "lako mogao da uspe".

U slučaju da bude osuđen samo po jednoj tački optužnice, ovom naturalizovanom Amerikancu poreklom sa Kosova preti kazna doživotnog zatvora.

Komšije porodice Osmakac su šokirane saznanjem da je pored njih živeo terorista, a uhapšenog opisuju kao povučenu osobu koja je u poslednje vreme sve više ubeđivala ljude u ispravnost islama, ali da im nikako nije ličio na potencijalnog teroristu.

More, ko je sa Šiptarima imao posla ni pakao mu neće biti težak.